My 10 Favorite Anime OPs of the 1990s

These are the ones most of my nostalgia is for.

10. King of Braves GaoGaiGar, “Yuusha Oh Tanjou!” by Masaaki Endoh

To be on the safe side, people with epilepsy might want to look away for the part from 0:36 to 0:45.

 

9. Tekkaman Blade, “Reason” by Yumiko Kosaka

 

8. After War Gundam X, “Resolution” by Romantic Mode

The second opening to what is (probably unfairly) generally the least exposed Gundam series.

 

7. Pokemon, “Pokemon theme” by Jason Paige

Sorry, Japanese purists, but the best Pokemon opening is the first English one.

 

6. Cowboy Bebop, “Tank” by The Seatbelts

But of course I can’t ignore this one. Yoko Kanno at her best.

 

5. Dragon Ball Z, “We Gotta Power” by Hironobu Kageyama

This makes DBZ the only individual series with more than one opening on all of these lists combined.

 

4. Digimon Adventure, “Butter-Fly” by Koji Wada

 

3. Getter Robo Armageddon, “HEATS” by Hironobu Kageyama

Being made mostly from clips instead of having animation made specifically for the opening is a negative, but the scenes do fit the excellent song very well.

 

2. Revolutionary Girl Utena, “Rinbu Revolution” by Masami Okui

Utena is quite possibly my favorite “anime that I don’t mention often”. Out of all the symbolism-heavy anime out there, it’s arguably still the most complex and broad-ranging. For the opening, that’s mostly distilled down to Utena, Anthy, and what must be considered the show’s most central themes.

 

And now we get to the opening from the show that happens to also be the reason Gundam X was a “failure” (due to airing opposite it):

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion, “Cruel Angel’s Thesis” by Yoko Takahashi

Still a candidate for the greatest opening of all time, with one of the most memorable songs ever and containing some “spoilers” that won’t even be recognized as such until after you’ve seen the things they “spoil”.