BT: That last round…ended, I guess. Mercifully, we’re almost done.
This last round is for Thrilling Openings. Like Happy with Nonsensical, there’s some crossover here with Dramatic. The perhaps arbitrary, and perhaps subjective, difference is that these are the openings that have that little extra drive to them, a little more of a punch—something that is the essence, for the person who loves it, of the perfect song with the perfect visuals and the perfect execution. And that goes big or goes home. “Thrilling” is meaningful: these are openings that, sometimes for reasons we can’t articulate or even narrow down to one element, spark a deep emotional response.
GBS: Ah, Thrilling. This is probably the category that has the greatest number of openings that I enjoy. These are often ones I don’t skip while doing a marathon viewing of shows. In fact, I can’t even decide on one so I’m going to have to mention two, rules be damned. The first one is an old favorite (though it’s scary to think of it as “old” these days, but it goes back to 2004, with a domestic release in 2006). While it’s now called Destiny of the Shrine Maiden, I first knew it as Kannazuki no Miko (which translates roughly to “Shrine Maidens of the Godless Month”). The opening, set to KOTOKO’s “re-sublimity” is a heart-pumping roller coaster ride that pretty much takes you through the entire show in about a minute and twenty seconds. Straps yourselves in because it’s a bumpy ride.
BG: That is an exciting opening, going from romantic emotions to mecha action, bookended by flower petals, lots and lots of flower petals.
BT: Wow. There are a lot of petals.
GBS: On the moon, no less. For my second act, since I can’t just pick one, I have something a little more recent. From 2009 (but released here only last year on home video), it’s the first opening to A Certain Scientific Railgun, set to fripSide’s “Only My Railgun.” Again, heart-pounding action and a song that makes you stand up and take notice. This is more of an “introduce the cast” video, where we see all of the major players, heros and villains. It’s pure awesome though, is what it is. All of the openings to the franchise are memorable, but this one has stayed with me strongly since I saw it a while ago, before the official streams and the later domestic home video release.
BG: For a thrilling opening, I like that it provides a decent glimpse of the lighter moments with the bonds between the four main schoolgirls, and also the two Anti-Skill teachers, while still consistently adhering to a mood that represents the action and intrigue. This is really quite the multifaceted series and the opening reflects that. Most fascinating for me is the cool juxtaposition between Misaka and enigmatic researcher Kiyama on the train. That’s followed by a nice showcase of the powers and plot elements involved in the series.
BT: The curious thing about this category—the subjective thing—is the nature of that emotional response idea. I think it’s tied more so than other categories to your emotional response to the show itself. I’ve seen next to nothing of Hidamari Sketch at this point, but I can still dig the happiness of that opening to x 365 above. Now, I’ve seen a little more of the Index/Railgun franchise, yet it’s not something I’m a big fan of, and the thrilling opening to Railgun feels slightly less so to me, even as I recognize that the ingredients are all there.
GBS: The intensity of the emotional response is always going to differ a bit based upon your reaction to the show. That’s why I like to shy away from a competition of “favorites” for the most part, since a good number of people will probably equate their favorite openings with their favorite shows, regardless of the independent goodness/blandness of the opening if just taken on its own merits.
BT: A good point.
BG: As with Greg, I found it hard to narrow it down to one choice for this category. Thinking of particular genres, though, space adventures frequently feature an opening of the thrilling variety, and one opening that really fits in my mind is the one for Bodacious Space Pirates. The opening, and series itself, is directed by Tatsuo Sato, known for Martian Successor Nadesico in the late 90’s, also featuring a very representative opening for the category. The title of the series itself, with the origins of “bodacious” as a blend of “bold” and “audacious”, calls for some thrills.
The opening starts off with a rather sweeping variety of characters and locales that feature in the story. Halfway through, it gets more intense, led off by a scene of fast-paced “electronic warfare” that shows there is more than just conventional space weaponry involved in the action. The scenes of Chiaki in a spacesuit seeing a meteor shower in a barren landscape and the Bentenmaru daringly escaping from a star always get me pumped up every time I watch this. I also like how the main characters Marika and Chiaki both exude the same strong aura of determination in their expressions near the end, but in fitting with their personalities, there’s also a contrast with Marika showing a confident smile and Chiaki having more of a cool demeanor. Speaking of bookends again, this opening has an effective one in showing Marika’s homeworld, morphing into her pirate emblem when it is shown again at the end. The series itself is more slow-paced than the opening would have you think, but the sense of adventure it instills is relevant and effective regardless.
GBS: I think what makes this one work is the thumping, military beat that the song opens with and the rather martial imagery presented. It also plays a bit with the viewer, since there’s that short little pause in the middle before it moves into stage two of heavy action scenery. If anything, the only slight drawback to the whole tone of the piece is that silly logo that Marika uses, which would not frighten any real world buccaneers. Jolly Roger…not quite.
BT: You’re both wrong. The best thing with that opening is MO-O-O-O-RETSU!
Actually, you’re right about all the exciting use of imagery. But the heart of it is the song, a J-pop riff—as only J-pop can do—on an anthemic riot grrl sound puts this one at 11 and keeps it there all the way to the end. Just the driving feeling I spoke of. But a wild, carefree one, too. And a great example of an opening I quite like on a show I’m not as excited about.
And I alone will admit that I didn’t really have a problem narrowing this down, due to an overwhelming recent influence. For me, right now, there’s only one: Kyousougiga.
Everything that I love about this TV show is part and parcel with its opening, from brilliantly designed imagery and cleverly implemented theme (the camera-lens framing and diorama-like boxing that follows in and out of it ties to the show’s thematic design in eerie fashion) to a building emotional intensity that literally reaches a shattering conclusion—itself a thematic, symbolic nod to the show’s character backstories. And my goodness, that song. More than any other opening I’ve offered today, the song here, “Koko”, by Japanese pop singer Tamurapan, truly makes this opening happen, and, with SION’s “Koko made oide”, best stands on its own.
But with the visuals tied into it, it’s an extraordinary experience: the unassuming, quiet beginning over basic flat colors quickly falling into a narrowing circle, before the full orchestration kicks in for the wild ride ahead. Tamurapan’s bright singing over thundering piano chords and a racing beat, playing over uniquely staged character introductions in various ways playful or composed, produces a feeling of yearning as it crosses from one to another. And underneath it all, growing, is a constantly weaving, and thrilling, string accompaniment that breaks out full force with Tamurapan’s voice and everything else for a race across the rooftops of Looking Glass Kyoto with wild young Koto, climaxing with her smashing all of it to pieces. My, those strings. They’re the emotional current that drives the whole production forward at a breathtaking pace.
A satisfying thing about this song is how the instrumental plays at various key points in the show, bringing its thrilling effect along.
BG: I agree that it’s a very enjoyable song. The buildup is great, and as with Nichijou and Bodacious Space Pirates, I love when it goes all out at that climax near the end. Yase’s emotional expression in particular gets my attention.
BT: That piece always struck me, too. Especially after her character is explained more in the story.
GBS: I like to pay attention to the instrumental parts of songs and this one does bring you in slowly with that soft, gentle start before ramping up to the whirlwind ride. In terms of imagery, this is a case where a clash of styles actually adds to the mix rather than takes away from it. The scenes of young Koto with her two sprite/whatever sidekicks rampaging through Mirror Kyoto in a boisterous, joyous manner (which definitely brings the thrills) contrasts starkly with the “shattering” scenes that follow, where the song matches by taking on a slightly mournful tone. Normally, such tone shifts might break the overall thrilling mood, but here it’s been blended seamlessly and just gives the whole work a greater complexity and impact.
BT: Absolutely.
And just like that, we’re done. Now to figure out our final points, and who won!
