Best Anime Openings

[wobinidan]

I don't think there is any inference made in the novel or anime about Satō or the other hikikomori character (Megumi's brother) being autistic. The author of the original novel, Tatsuhiko Takimoto, who based the story on his own experiences as a hikikomori, is not autistic either (one important detail that was censored from the anime is that in the novel, Satō's paranoia and delusions are brought on by drug abuse, rather than symptoms of mental illness).

I didn't know that about the drugs in the comic, is it common for that topic to be censored from anime?

I find the show so heavily laden with autism themes, that I'm reluctant to say that anyone definitely *doesn't* have autism, since people who mask their autism or who don't have apparent verbal or developmental difficulties have gone undiagnosed historically. The show is a bit of a mirror for that, and while I know not all social awkwardness and agoraphobia is caused by autism, the characters, including Misaki and Hitomi and Yamazaki, are all pushed to the edges of society by social norms in a way that strikes me as very familiar from my last few years learning about autism.

I believe the cool kids these days say it's 'autism coded'.

It's just nice to see a show that's about people like me, I guess. And by that I mean shut-in losers who have a panic attack when they are around too many billboards.

[wobinidan]

Oh shit new page responsibility I went off topic fuck fuck fuck

The intro to Elfen Lied is surprisingly up on youtube despite anime boobies but I post here a cover because it's very good and also SFW

[buzby]

I didn't know that about the drugs in the comic, is it common for that topic to be censored from anime?

It was in the novel first and carried over in toned down form (from hard drugs to psychedelics bought from the internet) in the manga adaptation. Another element that was greatly reduced in the anime version was Satō's loli porn addiction - in the anime it only really comes into play when he is taking voyeur photos of schoolgirls as reference for the eroge he is making with Yamazaki (who is also a drug user in the novel and manga, which greatly contributes to his mania and instability). This also seems to be an autobiographical element, as the author has history liking Instagram accounts that post pictures of underage girls.

Misaki in the anime more or less follows how she was written in the novel,  a relativly innocent teenage girl with a tragic backstory who latches onto Satō and tries to manipulate him into 'needing' her. In the manga adaptation however, she doesn't have the tragic backstory but does have a weird personality that led her to be isolated with no friends. When she latches onto Satō, she is much more manipulative and even sadistic, brainwashing him and almost starving him to death. A fair chunk of the story arcs featured in the anime  (the eroge, suicide group, pyramid scheme etc.) were adapted from the manga, where they had been added to extend the chapter count from the original single-volume light novel.

Regarding censorship in anime, drugs are probably the biggest taboo. Pretty much any fetish under the sun is fair game (especially now as for shows with more questionable ecchi content they produce different cuts for TV and streaming) but drug use is a definite no-no.

[letsgobrian]

(from Late Night! The Genius Bakabon)

The idea that drug use is a definite no-no isn't quite true. In both Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo the heroes accidentally get high. In Lupin III: The Blood Spray of Goemon Ishikawa, Fujiko Mine uses a bong, and drug bores immediately went online to complain she wasn't doing it right. Megalobox 2 has a painkiller addiction subplot. Japan Sinks 2020 features a marijuana farm. As does this year's Heavenly Delusion, and there it passes without comment.

But often drug use will be just off screen, minimised or fictionalised. I was looking for clips earlier this year and I had in my head that Akira was laden with pills but turns out I was thinking about the later chapters of the comic, and the anime has barely any. The recent Edgerunners has a subplot about David needing pills to counter his cyberpsychosis, and while we often see him getting them, the taking of them is often more abstract.

[Mister Six]

Released two years before Cowboy Bebop, but with a similar retro vibe, the intro to Gunsmith Cats:

[idunnosomename]

only didn't post this earlier because I recently mentioned it in the musical fuck my hat thread (Steve and Jasmine Rodgers of Bôa are the children of Paul Rodgers from Free/Bad Company/etc, via his 1971 marriage to Machiko Shimizu)

but its just so good. sign of a great anime opening is when you just want to watch it every time. this one particularly takes on new meaning each episode as you learn more about who Lain is.

Series itself really aged well imo. it's only as complicated as you want it to be. core story is quite simple really

[letsgobrian]

I used to love Lain, but when I revisited it, I felt it worked better as a snapshot of a certain type of 90s tech obsessive than enjoyable sci-fi. Which was then born out a short while later when writer Chiaki J Konaka revealed himself to be a very online reactionary loon via the medium of a Digimon Tamers stage reading that raged against Political Correctness and Cancel Culture.

[Marbles]

I watched Lain for the first time just the other month and thought it worked really well (unfortunately the real Lain of today is middle-aged mentals who think twitter = reality, which isn't quite as visually arresting...)

Back to the thread, dunno about Best, but I'm currently finding The Apothecary Diaries OP pretty unskippable:

Also I would hardly call Patlabor a particularly "good" opening, but I am entranced by the sweet 80s vibes:

[Urinal Cake]

I feel Lain still holds up. There is much of that 90s/ 2000s cyberspace thing but the competing philosophy of the Internet, the human aspects all are still very good.

Sad the creator became more reactionary.

[Dickie_Anders]