Best Anime Openings for Christmas Insanity (Part one)

For a Christmas season, anime publishers are sure waging an all-out war for sales. No joke.

Every company, from Funimation to RightStuf, is decking out their line-ups with loads of licensed shows, re-releases and special value deals.

With all that said, which ones are the best? I've decided to cover all the bases in a simpler, more creative way: through anime opening videos.

Why videos? Well, these particular openings easily sum up what the series is. It doesn't force people to go through the stress of watching the entire series just so they know every pro and con of the series. The openings just show the best that the series has to offer. Nothing more.

So here are links to my top 26 anime openings. I'll start with the first six:

26. Rurouni Kenshin

I had to choose 26 openings instead of 25, because I couldn't forget Rurouni Kenshin. My brother and I had a blast watching almost every episode of this show. It was probably the best anime for people who really needed something to feel good about.

And Kenshin was the type of person to make you feel good. He's funny. He's an unstoppable samurai. He's a family man too. He's always there for his girlfriend. Isn't that cute? That's why I had to include Kenshin. There's always a good Kenshin DVD in the bargain bins.





25. Welcome to the NHK
The complete series is available for only $20 now. It's a crazy satire about a social recluse who drops out of college. He hallucinates about talking kitchen appliances. It's really funny.

Now you really have no excuse to miss out on buying this series. Besides, who could ever forget the uber cute "Purupuru-pururin" song?







24. Trigun
Although I still have a grudge against the overly fantastic gun battles near the end of the series, "Trigun" is an incredibly well-animated show. The characters are spunky. The story is intensely dramatic. And it's now available in a $30+ box set.

Believe me, you can never go wrong with a tall guy toting huge semi-automatics on his red trenchcoat.

(Note: It's not available on amazon.com, because of packaging issues. Sorry! Look on other websites, such as rightstuf.com)



23. Soul Eater Opening #2
This is easily the most eclectic show from anime studio Bones. Soul Eater combines Tim Burton visuals with Rurouni Kenshin-style battles for an epic coming-of-age story. Maka is also one of the smartest and toughest female leads to ever grace an anime series.

It's a pricy series of box sets, but it will satisfy anyone who loves long shonen shows. The battles are some of the best you'll ever see in an anime series.









22. Code Geass, Second opening for R2
Sure, the story is a completely profound tale of a teenage boy who is held bent on world domination. That's why you have to get the series. Code Geass is the funniest, and the most exciting, giant robot show ever made.

The entire series still isn't cheap, but it definitely will impress anyone who watches it in its entirety.







21. Lucky Star
There really isn't any slice-of-life anime as cute and realistic as Lucky Star. For a show, it makes for a remarkable snapshot of high school life. This one also isn't cheap, but moe fans will always want to pick this series up. It has the most adorable characters imaginable.

Stay tuned for part two, coming next week.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com