Heyos Everyones!!
Happy New Year!! I know this year has been hell for many people, but we can all relax now that the year’s end casts its shadow upon us and we burst into the new year! 2017 shall be a fantastic year, not just for Dowase, but for everybody as a whole. We here want to thank you all for your support this year, and we hope you will continue to follow and support us next year as well! With that, let’s move on to our final picks for the year, and again, THANK YOU!!
Ace: I couldn’t not put a song by Konomi Suzuki for one of my favorite openings!! She worked on a few shows this year, including ReZero and Ange Vierge. While I would put all her songs in my top 10, I had to put my favorite opening of the year as my final pick, Bubuki Buranki. I love this opening, from Konomi Suzuki’s fantastic performance, to all the synchronization to the music and animation. First off, the opening situates the title of the series, then afterwards switches to a shot with all the main characters in the show. Being an action show, there’s a lot of movement going on, even when these characters aren’t doing anything. (For example, the train moves as it carries our heroes to their next destination) After this, we get our first example of obvious music and animation synchronization with the two katakana symbols appearing in succession. This next part shows the protagonists of the show, while subtly showing off minor quirks or characteristics of each one. After we see them group together, the antagonists have their limelight, and it introduces each one in the same order as the protagonists; a nice contrast to each character and their respective antagonistic counterpart. In fact, it downright shows that hero getting beat down by this antagonist. After this, we’re treated to a shot showing all hope lost. But as that happens, the heart of the team, Azuma, comes up and brings them all together, shown together by this use of symbolism, and the sync of music to animation. With that, we close with some nice teamwork by the whole team, and some awesome action shots with each of them attempting to combat their antagonists. All in all, I love this opening, and I’m disappointed in was changed to such a lackluster one in the second season. Either way, this is my favorite opening of 2016. I hope 2017 will bring even more joy, and I hope you all have a safe new year!
Mark:Well boys and girls! My last but not least favorite opening for this year! And that goes to Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi (Erased). I loved everything about this opening actually from the music to just the sheer animation for it. There were so many key points to why this was so good too! First off, the song! I’m a huuuuuuge fan of Asian Kung Fu Generation, so as soon as I heard Re:Re: was going to be used I was already elated. I mean, I can already imagine Satoru singing this song about Kayo! AAAND! The opening practically explains the entire story. We have obvious indications of who “dies” who is important, who helps Satoru out, and if you look really deep there is a specific scene at the end that flashes a what could be a HUGE spoiler. And I appreciate the hell out of that! Hopefully! Next year has some really amazing shows coming out and hope you guys have an amazing 2017
Mickey: My top opening for the year, I gotta give it to Fairy Tail Zero. Fairy Tail has a very special place in my heart for essentially breaking the dam of my weebdom, and they’ve rarely disappointed with their openings and endings. The track is mega hype at the start, with a sequence of our title screen and characters accompanying the drumming to great effect. The music slows a bit for the verses, letting the shots of our heroines Mavis and Zera in their darkest hours sink in. Once the chorus hits, though, it hits hard, and what’s a shonen intro without the cast getting to show off their powers? Fairy Tail Zero doesn’t miss that opportunity, and being that this is a prequel series, it also hits the mark with a sequence that shows the some of the characters in their current incarnations, as well as their “future” versions that we saw in the main storyline. From Mavis in her mysterious crystal, to young Precht fading into the corrupted Hades, a middle-aged Makarov into the “Gramps” we all know and love, then subsequent Guild Masters Macao and Gildarts, it concludes with our main man Natsu and top villain Zeref. Central to the backgrounds of both Mavis and Natsu, there’s some serious foreshadowing with Zeref here, and even more with another main character of Zero. Nothing is fully given away, however, which is something which many long-running series tend to do. FTZ avoids the spoilers, instead finishing with some sentimental shots of the girls, and taking us back to the “Zero” text + character from the opening’s beginning. All in all, put together a well-thought out opening, some really cool visual cuts, and make it one of my favorite series, and you’ve got yourself Mickey’s No. 1 Opening of 2016!
Thanks for the Old Maplestory sound track