Twenty Great Classic Anime Openings

As anime began to flourish in Japan in the 1970s, greater and greater attention was paid to crafting the opening title sequences to a given show. Theme songs evolved from being essentially chants that extolled the virtues of the characters or robot or ship that was being featured into legitimate rock numbers that didn’t have much of anything to do with the show itself, apart from perhaps thematically. And the best and fullest animation was always done in the opening titles, the better to make the show seem attractive to potential viewers. Accordingly, many of the openings of this period function akin to MTV-style music videos, fast-paced graphics combined with propulsive music to generate excitement. They were often a lot more gripping and entertaining than the shows they fronted for, and you don’t need to be familiar with–or even ever watch–the shows they were designed for to enjoy them. So here are twenty great anime openings from the 1970s and 1980s.

20) ARMORED TROOPER VOTOMS: Perhaps the ultimate expression of the “real robot” movement that depicted the titular vehicles as military ordinance rather than oversized super heroes with personality, Votoms had both sides in its conflict using identical robots, and each of them was as disposable as the next. Among my crowd, a common comment was that the title of the show sounded like a venereal disease: “He came back from the war with a bad case of Votoms.”

19) GIANT GORG: A pretty great mid-1980s robot show that wasn’t focused on the robot per se–it literally doesn’t show up until the very end of the fifth episode. GIANT GORG was more of a world-spanning high adventure series, with lost civilizations and DaVinci Code mysteries to be unraveled. It also looked great.

18) SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO: Almost has to be included as it’s the series that set off the push for animated projects aimed at an older audience, this opening shows its age a little bit–it isn’t anywhere near as frenetic as some. But that theme song still maintains its sweeping power and the concept alone is epic. The music got transliterated into the theme song of the American translation STAR BLAZERS, making it familiar to viewers of a certain age.

17) LIGHTSPEED ELECTROID ALBEGAS: An almost forgotten combining robot show today, Albegas had a catchy theme song and some appealing designs.

16) SIX GOD COMBINATION GODMARS: The first opening for Godmars wasn’t anything to write home about, but as the series was popular enough to run for 64 episodes, a new version was created for the back third, and that one kicks. Godmars was the ultimate combining robot, a massive thing that was so complex it was almost impossible to animate made up of six other robots that would put themselves together to form the colossal beast. The first of its kind, the idea was used again and again by subsequent shows and toys.

15) LUPIN THE THIRD PART TWO: The longest running and best of the Lupin III television series dedicated to the master thief and his gang of criminals, Part Two had four separate openings over the course of its 155-episode run. But the best and most iconic of them is the third one, seen here, with its funkier take on the theme music and its perfect introduction to the show’s five main characters. Unfortunately, I could only locate a version of it with the American title card swapped into it in place of the original Japanese one, but it’s better than nothing.

14) MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM ZZ: More overtly comedic than its two predecessor series, GUNDAM ZZ isn’t a great show, and it was definitely divisive among the fans. But one of the things it had going for it was a ripper of an opening title sequence, with it’s anthem theme song “Anime Ja Nai” (“It’s Not Just Animation”)

13) PSYCHO ARMOR GOVARIAN: Another mostly-forgotten series, Govarian is remembered mostly due to the fact that its lead robot based its design on Go Nagai’s classic robot Mazinger Z. But it had a nice opening theme song.

12) SUPER HIGH SPEED GALVION: Another obscure pick, and not a great show at all. But its title sequence and especially its theme song “Lonely Chaser” completely captured the feeling of speed and velocity, which was the selling point of the concept.

11) SPACE COBRA: This smooth, funky opening captures the European Heavy Metal flavor of its show. Cobra is a famed outlaw and space pirate who went underground to elude Pirate Guild bounties on his head, changing his face and wiping his memory. His hole card is the Psycho-Gun, a mind-fired weapon mounted on his left arm, typically concealed with a bionic hand.

10) STAR MUSKETEER BISMARCK: Recognized in the United States as the show that SABER RIDER AND THE STAR SHERIFFS was built out of, BISMARCK has a great, peppy theme song sung by 1980s anime-ubiquitous performer Mio and gets across its space western vibe effectively.

9) MAZINGER Z: A foundational show in the robot genre, MAZINGER Z’s opening holds up even today despite its age. It’s straightforward and strong and weighty, and also fast–it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

8) SUPER DIMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS: Better recognized in the west as the central show in ROBOTECH, that dub jettisoned all of the original’s music, which was actually a factor in the plot. This is probably the most influential series on the list in terms of teh impact that it had, it’s Valkyrie transforming plane design has never been bettered and it functions as both a robot show and a ship show, with the soap opera plots being the thing that brought people back every week.

7) SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK: This one’s just pretty, evoking both the romantic expanse of the sea of stars and wonderfully capturing the ethos of its lead character. “Throwing away my life, I live.”

6) SUPER ELECTROMAGNETIC ROBOT COMBATTLER V: There’s no more kick-ass robot opening in the 1970s nor any more electrifying robot opening that COMBATTLER V. It takes the formula introduced with MAZINGER Z of declaring the powers and virtue of the lead hero robot that had become teh basis for every such show’s opening and turns it up to eleven.

5) MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM: This opening was absolutely impossible to find online for years, as its theme song borrowed (read; stole) its music from a Neil Sedaka song, prompting lawsuits. But it’s a beautiful opening, with well-delivered animation, great graphics and a song that works despite its odd origins.

4) SCIENCE NINJA TEAM GATCHAMAN: BATTLE OF THE PLANETS, which adapted this show for the west, had a pretty good opening theme, but nothing can compare to this original, which is powerful and penetrating and immediately gets the heart pumping for this science fiction super hero series.

3) AURA BATTLER DUNBINE: A terrific theme song provides the foundation for the opening graphics for this show about a contemporary Japanese kid who finds himself transported to a fantasy realm in which colossal buglike robots powered by aura energy are used as knights.

2) HEAVY METAL L GAIM: This one’s got a similar pedigree to DUNBINE, and came along a year later. Same singer, different song, and more of an emphasis on STAR WARS-style space western graphics. Also, a great robot design despite it wearing suspenders.

1. COMBAT MACHINE XABUNGLE: My pick for the hands-down best opening title sequence of the era, this one has everything. A terrific, pounding theme song, terrific character designs starting with the Charlie Brown-esque lead hero Jiren, a transforming robot that almost looks plausible, and that terrific four-point perspective fly-by down the body of the Battleship-Robot at the end. The show itself has its virtues, but nothing could live up to this opening.