Anime title sequences

[brasswatchman]

Let's talk about anime title sequences. For a long time, I've been kind of fascinated by these - not only visually, but also from a marketing point of view. Whereas the front credits for most American shows arguably tend to be kind of perfunctory - "here's the characters, here's who plays them, here's some clips from the show okay we're done let's go" - and certain British shows spend even less time on them (though I'll admit there's something kind of nice about their brevity) - most anime I've seen just pours all kinds of effort into their opening sequences. They often include a lot of material that's not included in the show itself. In a lot of ways, Japanese animators treat their front credits the way Hollywood treats trailers - it's the marketing pitch for the show, basically, and the pitch is everything.

I can almost see them all sitting down and saying, "Okay, we've got one minute to get people to watch the rest of the show. What can we show them that'll make them do that?"

It seems to me that most anime title sequences I've seen take either one or (more often) a combination of four possible approaches:

1. The 'promotional artwork' approach - this kind of title sequence basically says: "Hey, here are our characters, don't they look cool in this shot?" While all anime title sequences usually involve this kind of thinking to a certain extent, the key thing about this category is that there's really no attempt to clue the audience in on who the characters are or what the story is about. The visual spectacle is basically everything. Example. Another example.
2. The fake fight sequence - fake in that the fight sequence portrayed in the credits never actually takes place in the show. Again, the emphasis is on the characters looking cool, but there's usually some kind of information (even if buried) on what the central conflict of the story is - or - at the very least - why the characters are fighting. Example one. Example two (at least towards the end).
3. The atmospheric montage - While this variety of title sequence may contain reveal something about the characters and their relationships, the emphasis is mostly on the atmosphere of the show - sort of like trying to communicate a general sense of what the show is or what it's like to the viewer without providing much in the way of context or details. The music can play a pretty big role in these. Example one. Example two.
4. The thematic montage - This kind of title sequence really tends to focus on the show's story or on one of its major themes. The distinction between this and the atmospheric montage is slight - I guess I would define this kind as really containing at least some specific information about the show's story and/or the show's characters. Said information might not be apparent or make much sense to the viewer upon first watching, but it's there, and may make more sense as the viewer becomes more familiar with the show. From that point of view, come to think of it, you could see these kind of title sequences acting as a kind of "primer" for the show. Example one. Example two.
   
   (And yes, the characters still look cool. But again, one minute to sell a show to the audience. What else are they going to do?)

So after all of this, there's probably one question I haven't answered: why on earth have I been thinking about this so much? Well, part of the answer is that it's just in my nature to overthink things that other people wouldn't give a second glance. But the other part is that I've often wondered if it's possible to adapt certain techniques or conventions from anime title sequences for live-action productions. And I might just have an excuse to experiment with this a little at some point here in the near future.

Stay tuned, everyone... that's all for now.