It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to pick my favorite anime opening of the year. It's somewhat of a compromise; I doubt anyone really wants to hear another maundering discussion about how the year went, and everything that happened in it. Besides, it's hard to remember all that crap. A year is a long time. Well, in some ways it's a long time, in others it can pass with disturbing swiftness. And in a third way, it passes without one being able to remember just what things were like when it started.
Thus, the biggest challenge for me in picking the best anime opening is remembering what belongs to this year. It's not a trivial task; there are plenty of anime released ever year. Some, I will never hear of. Most, I'll never watch. Only a few actually have openings I'll list to; I try to grab whatever I can, but since I'm in effect doing so illegally, I can't pretend that I have a representative sample. With all those caveats, though, I still managed to compile a fairly good list of all the anime openings I'd listened to this year, and was ready to crown the winner.
Then I remembered To Aru Majutsu no Index II.
A Certain Magical Index is a series of light novels, which in turn have spawned at least three anime series so far. Index isn't really my favorite; I prefer Railgun, and even there, it suffers from a few flaws. Nearly every opening and ending, though, is top notch. In future weeks I intend to go over "masterpiece," which is quite possibly my favorite Mami Kawada song ever, and it is not a coincidence that she does most of the series' opening songs.
So, why pick this over some of the other candidates, like Angel Beats!, Asobi ni Iku Yo, and Ore no Imouto? Well, when I listen to opening songs, I really listen most of all to the beat. Beautiful singing is nice, and that's why Angel Beats! was actually in the lead until I remembered this song. But this is... most in the way of what an anime opening should be. It grabs your attention, and it doesn't let go. You know, just by listening to it, that exciting things are going to happen in this series. Not that Angel Beats is devoid of action, but it's Key. And you know what that means.
No Buts! is somewhat typical of Mami Kawada. A hint of industrial flavor, a strong bass, and some synth thrown in for fun. And yet, just melodic enough to keep from being straight techno. Or, put in other words, it's not a KOTOKO song. Actually, I think it's the guitars that really carry this song. Most of the time, they're carrying with the drums, but there are a couple instances where they break, starting and stopping with a rather sudden intensity that reminds me a bit of Bela Bartok and the Concerto for Orchestra.
I also like the chord progressions in this song. Not being musically trained, I've no idea what they are, or why I like them, but I do like the added sort of urgency. And urgency is a word I use a lot with Mami Kawada. It's... almost, I think, a European power metal vibe. Which would I suppose go along with the industrial flavor I mentioned earlier.
The lyrics are, as always, secondary, but there's little whining in this one. Much as the title suggests, this is a song about saying to hell to what stands between you and what you want. It's a very motivational opening, one that lately has become somewhat rare. Five our of five stars, and in my opinion, the best anime opening of the year.
Here's to a bumper crop of new, kick-ass openings in 2011.
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