[meme] My top OP/EDs of 2018!

10: Apron Boy (Today's Menu for the Emiya Family)

Emiya-san Chi no Kyou no Gohan OP/Opening HD

Pretty simple, but it does a good job at showing what the series is: a cooking show in a happy AU where you'll get to see your favourite characters (provided they're from the mainline) goofing off and being friends. I couldn't not add it.

9: Pray (Angels of Death)

Angels of Death - Ending (HD)

Mostly for the song, but the visuals are pretty great too; much like with the show's OP, everything that looks like a metaphor both actually is one and turns out to be literal later in the series.

Key words in the song being translated onscreen to draw attention to them was a pretty interesting touch.

8: Even... if (Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory)

Full Metal Panic! IV – Opening Theme – Even...if

This succeeded in every way in feeling like a Full Metal Panic! OP by.. not feeling like one.

The FMP of the 2000s looked like a gentle romance in the OPs, confusing viewers who ended up watching a hybrid of a goofy school romcom and a real-type mecha about the pain of war. The IV OP instead embraces and shows off these elements of the show. It's the type of opening FMP should have had years ago.

7: Rainbow Planet (Planet With)

Planet With - Official Ending

Fitting for a show that goes the Code Geass route of making the mysterious, tragic masked rival the main character instead, this uses him as a force that's maybe ominous, maybe helpful, but definitely not something that's "supposed" to be in the story as it was planned.

The enemy "heroes" are shown as they are on the outside, but reflected in Souya's shadow to show the inner pain they hide from everyone else, the pain his power exposes in them.

6: Wish me luck!!! (Harukana Receive)

Harukana Receive - Official Ending

I really like the aesthetic in here, both drawing in class in sketchy pen and the eternal loop of characters in the love hexagon or whatever it is drawing one another. Adorable. Not sorry about all the yuri that's going to end up on this list, that's just how it is.

5: Make My Story (My Hero Academia)

My Hero Academia Season 3 – Opening Theme 2

HeroAca always has strong OPs, and each follows through on the last, particularly in regards to the evolving symbolism of Deku's place in the story and world in relation to All Might.

This one in particular has a lot of little details you'll miss on the first viewing (or the first five) that end up relating to the story arc's content. This is one to rewatch after you're done.

4: Distance (Hinamatsuri)

HINAMATSURI - Opening (HD)

Hinamatsuri was a big surprise of the year, and this OP was one even my friends wouldn't skip. The subtle spoilers for later in the show serve less to ruin plot points and more to show, wait, that's what that was?

It starts to evolve as the show goes on, too, most notably removing Utako from the end of the OP once Nitta realizes she's basically the worst and falls out of love with her. The song is really powerful, too.

3: Hectopascal (Bloom Into You)

【やがて君になる】EDテーマ「hectopascal」試聴動画

The pastels and movement really work for this one, and the song itself bumps this one up; the sound reflects Yuu's feelings, from slow and stunted while the idea of romance is buzzing all around her world to finding her own kind of love and happiness that isn't like what she was always told it had to be. Plus the song keeps getting stuck in my head.

Speaking of dealing with comphet, Yuu and Rikka would have a lot to talk about...

2: youthful beautiful (SSSS.GRIDMAN)

SSSS.GRIDMAN - Official Ending

There are people out there who don't think this ED is about how Rikka keeps being pushed towards dudes by the world around her and just wants to run off with Akane. I don't understand those people. Shipping aside (and it's not subtle), it also shows that this may be Yuuta's show, but Rikka and Akane are the heart of and reason for the story.

The fact that it depicts an entirely different school with decay, distorted colours, and different uniforms gives some insight into Akane's idea of what the world is and what it should be.

1: The Girls Are Alright (A Place Further than the Universe)

A Place Further Than the Universe - Official Opening

I couldn't pick anything else.

The symbolism in Yorimoi is strong, and the OP is full of it, from the prominent stop sign on the road showing Mari's stagnant life to the girls' collaboration being shown in the chalk drawing and especially the contrast between stillness and dynamic motion, a major theme of the show.

It's not only cute and endearing to see them goofing off, it's also following the current trend of showing off a show's characters in the OP not one after the other but in how they interact with one another and with their world.