The 7 best anime openings of 2023
30.12.2023 - 14:07
/ polygon.com
/ Best
2023 was a banner year for anime. From beloved continuing series like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Jujutsu Kaisen to long-awaited passion projects like Pluto and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, there was pretty much something for every type of anime fan. While we’ve already published our picks for the best anime of the year and where to watch them, we also wanted to highlight one of the important yet overlooked elements of any great anime: the opening title sequence.
Opening title sequences in anime have a lot of purposes, from crediting the staff of animators who pour their hearts and craft into creating an excellent production to foreshadowing significant moments in the series itself. Combined with a particularly memorable theme song, a well-done title sequence has the potential to create a lasting impression on audiences and fans, if not even possibly eclipsing the quality of the show itself.
With that in mind, we’ve pulled together a list of some of our favorite anime openings of the year to highlight the work of the animators who created them while sharing our favorite anime theme bops.
Director: Masamichi Ishiyama
Music by: Necry Talkie
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was one of the year’s big surprises, despite being highly anticipated. The anime adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s action rom-com comic series turned the story of Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers’ whirlwind romance on its head, reinventing its world as a way of reintroducing characters that fans knew and loved.
Chief animation director and character designer Masamichi Ishiyama’s opening sequence was the perfect reintroduction of Scott to new and old fans of the series, taking the video game-inspired visuals of the comic and injecting them with vibrant anime flair. Aside from a very clever blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to the opening sequence of the 2004 anime Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, what makes the opening sequence for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is for how much it doesn’t tease the big twist of the series. It’s just a brilliant distillation of what made Scott Pilgrim such a beloved hang-out in the first place, and that’s all that it really needs to be. Combine that with an awesome track “Bloom” courtesy of the Japanese pop rock band Necry Talkie, and you’ve got a certified banger.
Director: Yuki Kamiya
Music by: King Gnu
This season of Jujutsu Kaisen took a significantly darker turn, and the series’ second opening title sequence encapsulates that. Just as Shōta Goshozono took on the role of directing the show’s second season from previous director Sung Hoo Park, so too did Yuki Kamiya inherit the role of crafting this season’s opening title sequences from Jujutsu Kaisen’s former animation director Shingo Yamashita.
Of the two sequences