Tell me about your favorite anime beginning and ending!

[mrgasbag]

Tell me about your favorite anime beginning and ending! The reason can be anything...music, beat, lyrics, animation, etc. You could also have multiple favorite beginning and if so rank them in order of your liking!
My favorite beginning -
1. Trinity Blood(begging and ending)
2. One Piece the original beginning
3. Naruto Shippuden (the new song)
4. Fate Stay Night

[senile_seinen]

OK - I'll go there:

1. Read or Die OVA OP. As I've described it in a blog entry, "My all-time favorite theme to a spy movie that never was." The music is great and the animation is perfect (and very well done). Together, they set the mood for the show better than any other OP I can name.

2. Welcome to NHK OP. Puzzle is an OK tune, but is lively and has a good beat. The animation - well, the animation is there to show you that this is not the cheap, grungy Gonzo production you were fearing. It's original, clever, cool, and topical to the show's subject matter.

3. Gunslinger Girl OP. The Delgados justify their existence by providing "The Light Before We Land" to go with the perfect animation. Again, it's an ideal mood-setter for the show you're about to see, and the lyrics resonate with the themes of the show rather creepily.

4. Kanon 2006 OP. Yes, it's sappy. Yes, it goes to an erogame-based anime (and a remake at that). It somehow just works, especially after the Makoto arc completes.

5. Texhnolyze OP. Heavy industrial music and matching animation that looks like found-footage film work, but isn't. Perfect for the urban dystopia that is Lukuss.

6. Serial Experiments Lain OP. The music is moderately memorable, but the hazy and off-center animation sets the tone for the show very well.

6. The Cat Returns ED. Somehow Tsuji Ayano's Kaze ni Naru just wraps the show up well.

Honorable mentions: The ED to Tonari no Totoro, Majo no Takkyuubin, and Steamboy, all of which continue the plot through the end credits. I tend to be a credit-watcher anyway, so really appreciate this sort of vignette ending to the show. Besides, the music is generally good, too...well, the original music is. I can't speak for Disney.

[Niw]

Originally Posted by senile_seinen

6. The Cat Returns ED. Somehow Tsuji Ayano's Kaze ni Naru just wraps the show up well.
.

Gotta just agree with you here. I saw this movie surprisingly on TV a bit over a week ago and the ending song really caught my attention. I thought it fit the mood perfectly and was a beautiful song in general. Now that I know the name I suppose I have to... ehm... get my hands on it.

Other than that umm... Sure there's a lot of good anime songs but I'd have to say one special one for me is Bleach's 3rd (I think) ending, Houki Boshi by Younha (spelling might be wrong). It pretty much represents the whole storyline of that part of Bleach which was pretty emotional for me at least, and the song is awesome anyway. It used to almost make me cry.

[gin]

the eternal recurrence of the same

opening:
ghost hound
end theme:
darker than black

[purplemo]

1) Utakata ED "Itsuka Tokeru Namida" - Fits the mood at the end of EVERY episode perfectly (not many shows can claim that). It's also a beautiful song with some pretty visuals in the ED sequence too.

2) Outlaw Star ED1 "Hiro no Tsuki" - Gorgeous song, gorgeous stills, but doesn't match the show.

3) Samurai Champloo ED "Shiki no Uta" - Wonderful, just wonderful. Visuals work well, nice tune for the show.

4) Simoun ED "Inori no Uta" - Great song, boring visuals. Can't really say it matches the show or not since I've not seen enough of it.

5) Strawberry Panic OP2 "Kuchibiru Daydream" - One of the few more upbeat Japanese songs I like. Kinda fits. The visuals at least fit the song well.

6) Utawarerumono ep26 ED "Kimi ga Tame" - Great song, fits the mood perfectly (since it plays during the show)

7) Kannaduki no Miko ED "agony" - Another more upbeat song that doesn't match the show and has boring visuals.

8) Full Moon wo Sagashite ED2 "Eternal Snow" - Written literally for the show, it's a great melancholy song that matches the show perfectly.

9) Licensed by Royal ED "Negai no Toki" - Complete misfit, but beautiful song.

10) Samurai 7 ED "Fuhen" - Nice song almost in the vein of Shiki no Uta, coupled with boring visuals.

11) Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori ED "Aizome" - PERFECT FIT. Great melancholy feel, and some really acid-trippy dark visuals (however that works)

12) Outlaw Star ED2 "Tsuki no Ie" - See #2.

13) Elfen Lied OP "Lilium" - Great mood setter with some great Klimt artwork (rip).

14) Soukyuu no Fafner ED "Separation" - Another melancholy work to set the general mood of the show. Boring visuals.

15) Kannaduki no Miko OP "Re-sublimity" - See #7.

16) Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto OP "Kouya Ruten" - Gets the blood pumping, pretty sequences, great song and OP all-around.

17) Gunparade Orchestra ED "Futari ga Wasurenai" - Good melancholy song. Matches the later mood. Uses stills of the girls in a non-ecchi manner (thumbs up).

18) Higurashi no Naku Koro ni OP "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni" - Psychedelic and matches the mood of the visuals and show perfectly. Gets knocked all the way down to 18 because the song, while it fits, doesn't really stand alone well (and that factors heavily for me regardless of the criteria).

19) Le Portrait de Petit Cossette ED "Houseki" - Mood setter. The visuals are one frame only, but it works very well.

20) Kita e: Diamond Dust Drops ED "Aitai" - Another great mood setter. Visuals include stills of all the girls, but they match the mood very well.

I think Utakata has probably the best OP/ED combo in terms of great songs, great visuals, and matches the show's mood perfectly (which Utakata's pair does for almost EVERY episode).

@senile: The Delgados wrote that song well before GSG. They're a pretty good . . . indie (I guess) band. So are Boa, the group that Lain's OP was taken from.

[Tachikoma]

how many of these are we going to have?

"whats up people" Deathnote 2nd open
"rise" ghost in the shell 2nd gig open
'living inside the shell" Ghost in the shell 2nd gig close
"jun" cromartie high school open
lucky stars open (use to hate it but i grew on me)
"tank" cowboy beebop open

[wanryavka]

Asterix-First Bleach op.

Don't know the name but the ed for High School Girls. *Would be much obliged if anyone could tell me.*

Let me be With You-Chobits op

Fure Fure Pon!-ed for Goshuushou-sama.

The op for Hitohira.

and the op for Gunbusters 2.

These last two are my current favs. They just got a good beat to them and the animation is nice. Especially for Gunbusters. Maybe It's about time I actually watched Gunbusters...

[senile_seinen]

Originally Posted by purplemo

4) Simoun ED "Inori no Uta" - Great song, boring visuals. Can't really say it matches the show or not since I've not seen enough of it.

@senile: The Delgados wrote that song well before GSG. They're a pretty good . . . indie (I guess) band. So are Boa, the group that Lain's OP was taken from.

I liked the ED song to Simoun as well, and agree about the visuals, which is why it didn't make the list. I really liked the first few bars of the OP song (great lyrics, good voice work, great visuals) as well, but then the drum machine kicked in...

Yes, I know who the Delgados were/are and when they were 'big.' I'm not a big fan, hence my comment that they justify their existence by providing the OP to GSG.

I probably should have included the OP to Tonari no Totoro simply because it's such a good mood setter as well. Again, you miss this entirely if you're listening to the Disney diva-du-jour rendition.

@marmar: The Chobits OP missed my list by a little as well, mostly because I'm not a huge fan of the R&B genre. That said, it's a great example and a great mood-setter again.

[wolfangel87]

Ayashi no Ceres OP - Scarlet - great piano playing!
La Corda D'Oro - OP and Ending - I just love all the music in the series
Death Note - First OP
Peach Girl - OP - I love to sing it!
Romeo X Juliet - OP by Lena Park - it is soooo sad!!!

[Succubus]

Serial Experiments Lain -> the opening song is just so fabolous..the best OP song ever plus the creepiness of the animation..."present day, present time"

School Days -> definitely the most memorable ending for me O_O who would`ve thought that this ordinary romace/love triangle thing could end up so ... umm...tragic