BT: Must find my happy place… Oh, good. Happy Openings is next.
I’d say whatever makes you happy is good enough here, and that’s true to some extent, but this arbitrarily assumes that funny, cute, excitable, and joyful are what happy is. It is in anime, at least. For someone unfamiliar with the modes and language of anime, the peppy, slightly absurd, and vibrantly colored styles of comedic and situational anime may seem ridiculous. For us…well, it can be, yes.
But it’s so darn cute.
Speaking of cute. Sae Sawanoguchi. My pick here is something that’s been making me happy for more than a dozen years now, Magic Users Club (OVA). The opening, chiming notes around a pink heart suggests, at first, something saccharine. But soon enough, the bright vocals from the trio of lead actresses, the cheering horns, our cute and klutzy heroine frolicking in the sun: it’s just fun.
And along the way it throws in many more delights. Some that are allusions to character traits to come: Mizuha’s evil, Aburatsubo’s generous love, Takeo’s charm giving way to panic, Nanaka’s carefree indifference, Akane’s wistfulness (there’s that word again). And some that are just as clever and delightful as they are silly and cute, like Aburatsubo and Nanaka’s puppet theater, with Akane’s to-the-beat flourish. And all through it, to the lyrics about wanting to be loved and courage and trying your best (to the point, for this coming-of-age high school comedy), we have Sae. Happy, clueless, life and magic-loving Sae Sawanoguchi. Trying her best to be happy.
GBS: Sae is very cute and this opening really fits the show very well. Though it doesn’t quite make me want to say Nyanto!
BG: That’s one of my favorite openings to one of my highest favorite series. I love the different layers of happiness the opening gives us, starting right off at the beginning. We get Sae’s cheerful enthusiasm in following Takeo, as the song title alludes to, quickly turned to a characteristically quirky face from her as we get a highlight of comedic and magical elements with Aburatsubo and Miyama. My favorite part may be the bit ordinary, everyday joy with Nanaka walking-skipping around the puddle and swinging her bag around. Maybe not indicative of Nanaka’s usual attitude in the series, but it fits well with her desire for ordinariness in the face of magical weirdness. So much more that makes me happy about this opening, but Brian covered that very well.
BT: Only thing the opening’s missing is Misty Daniels. But what can you do.
BG: At least the last episode gives us a taste of her singing the opening theme.
GBS: I guess I’ll go next, though it’s hard to follow the happy juice just shared by Brian. I’ll admit that while I like cute and cheerful openings, they tend not to stick with me as strongly as dramatic, wistful, or thrilling ones. There is one that does come fairly quickly to mind for me that always brings a smile and that is the opening to the second season of Hidamari Sketch, which following the somewhat nonsensical pattern of show naming for different seasons of that franchise is called Hidamari Sketch x 365. The opening tune is sung by the four lead actresses and is some cute nonsense about girls and snacks and lazing around called “Hatena de Wasshoi.”
The imagery is largely focused on the main and supporting characters doing funny poses but mainly smiling throughout. The color palette is quite sunny and cheerful, matching the infectiously happy song and constant grinning. If the two together can’t make someone happy, then I’m not quite sure what can.
BT: Happy, yes. And bouncy. A little nonsensical, too, but more goofy fun on the anime opening Venn diagram.
BG: Being a Shaft-animated series, there had to be some degree of nonsensical in there, even if it’s not near as full-on nonsensical as some of their openings can get, like Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl. Getting back to Hidamari Sketch specifically, though, I love all of the openings of the franchise. They are so full of happiness, and this second one is perhaps one of the most representative of it. There’s all of that delightful happy dancing, and there are nods to all of the fun personalities, both the sweet bits that emphasize Hiro and Sae’s closeness, and oddness like Yoshinoya “rolling, rolling, rolling” as she’s wrapped up. The solo bit from Yuno at the end stands out and tops off the pleasantness quite nicely.
BT: The dancing is of course the fun part, but I really appreciate the precise design and pace. Very reminiscent of an opening like that for the genius Working!! series, especially the second season. Simple great art design.
BG: On the subject of the lead actresses singing the theme, I noticed it is the case with both of the first two selections. Pretty common for happy openings with a focus on cute girl characters.
GBS: Does seem to be the case quite often, doesn’t it? Thrilling, dramatic, and wistful songs tend to be left to full-time singers, but happy songs appear to be the province of seiyuu.
BG: Coincidentally, my selection for memorable happy opening will continue the trend. K-ON! has all of its theme songs performed by the in-show band of main characters, Houkago Tea Time!, with the main vocals for the openings provided by loveable airhead Yui. The openings are generally full of cute, fluffy slice of life scenes as the characters are introduced, but the one that most catches my attention is the final TV series opening from the second half of the second season. It’s a decidedly energetic opening, with the girls putting on a classroom concert and running around the school halls. There’s a message here about having fun even in the face of little mistakes, in the lyrics of the song and in a sweet scene where the girls laughing together after they try and sync up for a leg pose in the club room. They not only have fun themselves, but spread that fun to everyone around them. I always adore seeing the main girls rush to glomp their close friends in some of the last few scenes.
GBS: That’s a fun one, one where the fun goes just a little too far, since it almost looks like Yui bowls Nodoka over when jumping to hug her towards the end of the opening. Nothing fishy about this choice.
BG: Another reason this particular opening stands out to me is a rather interesting reference back to it with the later feature K-ON!: The Movie. The movie takes place late in the second season, between some of the episodes using the opening, and connects with it in a number of ways, one of which is showing the backstory behind the classroom concert shown in this opening. Kyoto Animation gave specific names and appearances to the 38 members of class 3-2 in the second season of K-ON!, and this is the opening that most prominently features that neat detail, with some classmates shown enthusiastically enjoying the classroom concert and in the foreground as the main characters run through the halls. Some of the classmates even appear around the main characters on the regular edition CD cover of “Utauyo!! Miracle”, the song featured in the opening.
BT: Pretty cool. One thing KyoAni can be counted on for is to layer in details like all of that. Even so, with the pedigree of their animation expertise I normally don’t get too enthused for the direction or originality of many of their openings. This one gets it right, however. Girls just want to have fun.
GBS: It’s a very good pick, but as I recall, before we started everything it was required that all entries in this category involve either a cat or a fish.
BT: Come on! Who made this rule? Eimi? Who let her near the rulebook?
