Six of the best anime openings that are better than their show

A great opening theme song sets the tone for an anime. In fact, sometimes the right anime opening song will elevate an average show, making it seem better than it has any right to be. It might be the visuals or just a song that slaps too hard to be contained by a mediocre show, but these are the best anime openings that were just too good for the show they were featured in.

The best anime openings that were better than the show

In order to fend off the inevitable angry comments, I’ll preface this with the disclaimer that not every show on this list was necessarily “bad”. Some were just disappointing when compared to the hype around them or they might never have gotten better than the opening minute or two when a great song was playing. I have pretty strong opinions when it comes to music, so this is all just down to my (correct) personal taste.

Crossing Field

Spoiler alert: this is not the first time you’ll see LiSA on this list. That’s because she is a phenomenal singer who has lent her talents to some of the biggest anime titles of the past decade. She performed the opening song for the first season of Sword Art Online, setting the scene for Kirito’s first adventures in the NerveGear. While the show was incredibly popular, the only thing bigger than its hype was its numerous pacing issues. It should have ended far earlier, in my opinion, but this song is still brilliant.

Double Shuffle

The best anime opening songs are effortlessly cool, which is what you get with Double Shuffle by Nana Mizuki. This song never feels like it is reaching for greatness. Rather, it does a cool dance into greatness without giving it a second thought. This is in stark contrast with the first season of Tomodachi Game, which takes the Squid Game formula and does far less with it. It gives away the best twist halfway through the season and everything beyond that is just a letdown.

Good Morning World

Dr. Stone has a lot of issues, from its overreliance on flashbacks to its reluctance to let a bad guy just be bad. Senku is a fun protagonist that proves that science is the way forward, even in a new stone age, but the show picks the absolute worst moments to overexplain every single detail. However, the opening song by Burnout Syndrome is so good I didn’t realise I didn’t like the show until the second season kicked off and the theme song changed.

Gurenge

If there is a show that is defined by its baffling pacing, it is Demon Slayer. Watching Tanjiro engage in an incredible fight scene only to then spend the next 15 minutes on a flashback to why the demon wasn’t always a terrible person is beyond frustrating. However, once again, LiSA manages to give the show an anime opening song that is far more epic than the show it featured on. The woman doesn’t miss when it comes to delivering epic, soaring vocals. It also helps that literally every opening song for Demon Slayer has been stellar.

Kiss of Death

Despite having some great character designs and a stellar cast, both in the Japanese and English dubs, Darling in the Franxx was a confusing mess of a show that couldn’t seem to settle on a plotline. It jumps the shark so hard in the final few episodes that I thought I’d fallen asleep and woken up watching a different show. I doubt I’m alone when I say that the best part of the show was the anime opening song by Mika Nakashima. Kiss of Death has all the drama and powerful emotion that Darling in the Franxx lacked throughout its single season.

The Rumbling

While Attack on Titan has had its share of big moments, its “final” season has suffered greatly from the fact that very little has actually happened. Not even Buff Girl Mikasa hasn’t been able to save it for me. Fortunately, the second part of the fourth season has been elevated with a fantastic anime opening song in the form of SiM’s The Rumbling. The track has all the drama and action that the anime has been lacking for the past several years.

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Trent Cannon

Trent is a fan of anything that doesn't take itself too seriously. He is frequently hilarious and adorable. If 240 character takes on gaming, anime, or rat pictures are your thing, follow him on Twitter.

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