Anyone who has sat down to watch an anime TV series has probably taken note of the opening and ending credits which are quite long by modern standards and often feature higher-quality animation than in the TV show itself. To many people, these credit sequences are bothersome with many of my friends informing me that they tend to skip anime intros and outros once they have seen them a few times. However, the purpose behind these openings and endings are fascinating and I think it’s worth discussing why anime studios continue to create these sequences.
When an anime is being developed, a group called a production committee is typically established where various companies invest in the show and are awarded certain rights such as merchandising, domestic broadcast rights, overseas distribution etc. Quite often, one of the companies involved will be a music company that wishes to distribute the soundtrack of the show and, as part of the agreement, the company usually decides to promote some of their talent’s songs through the openings and endings of the anime in question.
For the eagle-eyed, you might often notice in credits that the openings and endings are made by different teams to the anime director’s. While the director might occasionally direct the opening themselves, most of the time these teams are headed by a key animator who have been granted the opportunity to prove themselves and further their career. Besides the key animator, these teams are relatively small with most consisting of only several other people.
One purpose of anime openings and endings is to act as a taster of the show, displaying the main cast and some of the plot points from the show in order to hook people into watching. Ideally these plot points are told in such a subtle way that you will only recognise them once you have witnessed them within the program (one reason why I like to continue to watch the openings and endings as I view the show). However, there can be times when plot points are displayed too clearly and the opening is accused of containing spoilers for the show.
It can be hard to judge how successful this marketing strategy is when it comes to the promotion of songs. On one hand, anime fans are known for their passion for merchandise associated with their favourite shows and an opening/ending song can sell thousands of units by virtue of being connected to the anime. However, it is rare for these songs to break into the mainstream and many artists known for their anime songs remain relatively unknown in Japan.
Interestingly, the animation and music of these openings/endings have proven popular enough with fans that a common anime DVD/Blu-Ray extra is the clean version. For those unfamiliar with the term, a clean opening/ending refers to the version that does not feature any credits obstructing the animation.
I’ve always been interested in the purpose behind the production of anime openings and endings and I hope that you’ve found this topic as fascinating as I do. Let me know your general thoughts on anime openings/endings, your favourites, whether an opening has ever convinced you to watch a show and any additional information about the production of openings and endings.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!
I’ve never been interested in animes but the moment I watched “Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre” the ending was so fascinating I couldn’t skip once, it caught my attention and I got really interested in the series. The best ending I’ve seen! I didn’t know animes were so detailed when it comes to openings and endings.
That’s cool to hear. I haven’t seen the series myself but I can imagine the opening and ending being very trippy. Yeah, they’re very important and they get a surprising amount of money and effort spent on them.