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I picked out some of my favorite openings and endings for this season below. Honestly speaking, after doing this a couple seasons now for these posts, this season has been fairly disappointing on the OP/ED front for me. I think my favorite season in recent memory was Winter 2024, which was full of great stuff.
From shows I am watching
- Oshi no Ko ED - Burning - I wasn't sold on this ED to begin with, but it has grown on me a lot as the season has gone on. They use it to great effect to end each episode with a bit of a musical outro, just like they did last season. (This has also been the most screentime for Ruby so far...)
- My Wife Has No Emotion ED - Wave - I might be disappointed in this adaptation of a manga I really enjoyed, but the ED is one of my favorites this season. Maybe I will just watch this in place of the actual episodes this season.
- My Deer Friend Nokotan OP - Shikairo Days - This has been stuck in my head for a long time. I wrote more about this OP down below the list as there is a lot to say.
- Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian - ED(s) - This show is going above and beyond by having a different ED for each episode covering a well known song. My favorite so far is this one. I hope we get a cover of Chiisana Koi no Uta before the season is over.
From shows I am not watching
- Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! ED - LOVE 2000 - A fascinating blend of live action, animation, stop motion, and analog film that creates a pretty unique ED.
- Red Cat Ramen ED - Honjitsu no Osusume - Just a really fun song that fits the summer vibe perfectly.
- Grendizer U ED - Protect You - After a slow start, this song really picks up and never slows down again.
Alright, I promised more discussion of Shikatan's OP. I ran across a fan summary of an interview with the people that created the OP and it is full of interesting info. I think my favorite bit was how open the anime studio left things to the musical artists:
Fujimori commented that ordinarily, these initial discussion meetings begin with a detailed discussion of what kind of song they are looking for, with reference materials in great detail. For example, pages or cut outs from the manga, image art, storyboard clips or other information that helps the director figure out a direction for the song.
For Shikairo Days, Fujimori was given nothing and he was told make a song that says the manga's title "Shikanoko nokonoko koshitantan" over and over and given NO other instructions on what kind of style of music or song it would have, or whether the song would even have any other lyrics, and they were given essentially a blank slate other than to be told the title should get stuck in peoples' heads.
Other interesting bits are the importance they placed on four syllable words and phrases (the first verse is entirely this) to keep the rhythm and catchiness of the title. It was so catchy in fact, that the first draft was immediately approved and is what was used for the show:
Fujimori commented that typically when the music production side delivers the OP, it's extremely common that they get back a series of requests for edits or changes, and a collaborative editing process begins between the msuci side and the anime production side to adjust the OP to the anime's needs.
Waga's Shikairo Days got zero retake requests and was immediately OK'd to go, so the OP piece that's used in the anime is essentially the first draft that Waga delivered with zero changes.
There is lots of other interesting bits in that interview, and I encourage you to check it out (even if it means opening up reddit)!
