My Favorite Anime Openings: 12 Themes I Keep Returning To

Some anime openings outlive the episodes around them. A familiar first chord can bring back a specific scene, a season of life, or the strange urge to watch the sequence one more time instead of reaching for the skip button.

This is not an attempt to settle the impossible question of the best anime opening ever made. It is a personal list: twelve themes I still revisit because the music, the images, or a small memory attached to them never quite left me.

• Departure — Hunter x Hunter
• Hikaru Nara — Your Lie in April
• Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis — Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Sekai wa Koi ni Ochiteiru — Ao Haru Ride
• Rain, Period and Again — Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
• Uchuu Kyoudai openings 1 and 8
• My Dearest — Guilty Crown
• Irony — Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai
• Try Again — Detective Conan
• Friendship — Sukitte Ii na yo.
• Bravely You — Charlotte
• Kanashii Ureshii — Koi to Uso

Contents 12

Departure — Hunter x Hunter

Hearing the same theme across Hunter x Hunter's long run could have become tiring, yet Departure kept working for me. Masatoshi Ono's voice has the lift the series needs, and the changing visuals made the song feel less like a repeated obligation and more like a familiar send-off before the episode began.

Sekai wa Koi ni Ochiteiru — Ao Haru Ride

I still associate this song with the name Suki Desu. The phrase caught in my head in a way that felt more personal than a translation on a screen. CHiCO with HoneyWorks gives Sekai wa Koi ni Ochiteiru the bright, restless energy that suits Ao Haru Ride, and it remains a song I would gladly hear in Japanese karaoke.

Rain, Period and Again — Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has no shortage of strong openings. Again and Period are usually the first names people bring up, and I understand why. Still, Rain by SID is the one that stays closest to me: quieter at first, but perfectly matched to the weight the story has gathered by that point.

Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis — Neon Genesis Evangelion

Some songs escape their series and become part of anime culture on their own. Yoko Takahashi's Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis, often known in English as A Cruel Angel's Thesis, is one of them. I knew the chorus long before I knew every detail of Evangelion, which says plenty about how far this opening travels beyond its first episode.

Hikaru Nara — Your Lie in April

Goose House is one of my favorite Japanese groups, and Hikaru Nara explains much of that affection. Its opening for Your Lie in April has a lightness that makes the later emotional turns hit harder. I also return to the group's Oto no Naru Hou e, which carries a different mood without losing that recognizable vocal blend.

Uchuu Kyoudai openings 1 and 8

Uchuu Kyoudai is one of my favorite anime, so its openings had an easy way into this list. I have a soft spot for the first one, Feel So Moon, but the eighth opening, B.B., is the one I most want to replay. Both carry the open, hopeful feeling that makes the series special to me.

Friendship — Sukitte Ii na yo.

The first time I heard Friendship, I had the uneasy feeling that I had met it somewhere before. Something in it brought Love Hina back to mind, and that association made the song even more interesting to me. Okazaki Ritsuko's performance is gentle without disappearing into the background, which is exactly why I still remember it.

Irony — Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai

ClariS has a way of making a bright melody stick, and Irony is one of the songs I most associate with that talent. What I loved about this opening was how the series played with its transitions from episode to episode. It made the familiar song feel slightly different each time, instead of treating the sequence as a fixed piece of packaging.

Try Again — Detective Conan

Mai Kuraki has recorded several songs connected to Detective Conan, and Try Again is my favorite among them. It has the clean pop momentum I expect from a Conan opening, but it never loses the small touch of melancholy that keeps it from sounding interchangeable.

My Dearest — Guilty Crown

I do not need a long argument for My Dearest. Koeda's vocal and supercell's arrangement give Guilty Crown an opening that feels dramatic from its first seconds, then keeps widening until the final beat. Sometimes that is enough: press play and let the song do its work.

Bravely You — Charlotte

Bravely You earns its place here because it knows how to sound hopeful without becoming weightless. Lia's voice gives the Charlotte opening a sense of lift, while the sequence quietly hints that the story has more on its mind than its first bright moments suggest.

Kanashii Ureshii — Koi to Uso

Kanashii Ureshii by Frederic has the unsettled bounce that suits Koi to Uso. The song is lively, but there is something slightly off-balance in it, which makes it a better fit for the series than a straightforward romance theme would have been. It is one of those openings I return to even when I am not planning a rewatch.

Lists like this are always unfinished. A new opening can arrive and take over a spot overnight, while an old favorite can come back after years away. For now, these are the twelve I keep close.