I haven't watched this show but the song sounds nostalgic already, if that makes sense.
Lain is a classic. Highly influential piece of pop culture. And even though its story is metaphorical it accurately predicted our incredibly online age, with its strange cultural and psychological problems.
Great answer
Cowboy Bebop
Trigun
Tank! from Bebop and H.T. from Trigun still give me happy chills when I hear them. Both shows have such great music.
Somehow I forgot about Ping Pong the Animation! Such a touching sports anime and the OP is great too.
I think it's really easy to overlook Ping Ping.
I didn't know or care about the sport at all going in, but the show presented it in such a way that you can't help get invested in the characters. On top of that it's just a excellently told story with a lot of good drama, and I think it says a lot about people and their relationship to sports/hobbies/art/etc. I hope other people will give it a try. :)
I usually watch an OP once for a show and then skip it each time afterwards. That being said, there are a handful that I remember making the choice to always watch each episode. In no particular order:
“How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift?” just jumped up a few places in my watchlist. Looks fun to watch
I wrote a little bit about it a while back when I posted a clip for Thanksgiving. Overall, it is a piece of lighthearted fun that was perfect for watching an episode before bed. It also tried to be educational about how to properly work out, while at the same time using those educational segments as an excuse to include a bit of ecchi.
+1 for how heavy are the dumbbells you lift
I have many, but the ones I can remember are:
OPs:
Oregairu S1-3
Elfen Lied
Umineko (both VN and TV)
Violet Evergarden
Nichijou
EDs:
Erased
White Album 2
Golden Time
Clannad (Dango Daikazoku)
The best part about the Nichijou OP is that Hyadain sang all the parts himself. He just pitched his voice up for the parts that sound like female backing vocals. Lends an extra touch of Nichijou-type humor to the whole thing.
Attack on Titan - The Rumbling for me personally, had no right going as hard as it did!
Neon Genesis Evangelion's intro is an absolute bop as well
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Never skipped it.
Cruel Angel Thesis - Evangelion
Kuusou Mesorogiwi - Mirai Nikki
Bacchikoi amd Heroes Come Back - Naruto Shippuden
Basically Everything from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. If I had to pick, sheet, I'd say Stone Ocean. Canzioni Preferite is the best non-opening song though!
I liked how they did it with Naruto, changing it up every so often and using some pretty good songs.
Really making me wrack my brain here, but that's what I got for now, tried to pick a few that a lot of folks probably wouldn't be all too familiar with. Of course there's plenty more I like that have already been mentioned here like Sorairo Days and the like.
Both of Gundam Wing's openings are good OP 1 & OP 2
Fate Stay/Night UBW second opening to Brave Shine by Aimer.
Um...Sailor Moon?
Sexy Commando
Can't choose between these openings so here's a small list:
Golden time s2
The worlds finest assassin
Death parade or really any BRADIO work
Dr. Stone s1 and s2
OddTaxi
The helpful fox senko
Zombie land saga
Bochi the rock
Evangelion (A cruel angels thesis)
Going through this exercise, I really like jazzy, hip hop, and, sometimes, heavy metal openings. (Still get chills from Attack on Titan's "Rumbling" OP.) I've hyperlinked each song below for specificity (and nostalgia).
Didn't make the list, but shoutout to Bleach for having one of the most memorable soundtracks in all of anime.
I was waiting for someone to mention Yu Yu Hakusho. SMILE BOMB is a fantastic song!
I also love PopTeamEpic season 2's opening, PSYCHO: LOGY and the ending theme for season 1, Poppy Pappy Day
Kaguya opening 1 (Love Dramatic) for it's smoothness
One Piece Opening 13 (One Day), it has a very "complete" feeling for how encompassing the arc is
Gundam Wing Opening 2 (Rhythm Emotion), is basically what made me enjoy music as a kid
Full Metal Alchemist (OG) opening 2 (Ready Steady Go) . It's got so much energy
Yu-gi-oh opening zero (Kawaita Sakebi). For some reason it's become so iconic that I think it's more well known than the openings for the mainline series (I blame abridged but I remember listening to it before abridged came out)
Original Death Note intro.
I liked the angel bears intro enough thar I let it play I usually skip past them all honestly.
Little Busters!
Probably kino's journey, kino no tabi, the original. Captures the spirit of calm wanderlust perfectly. Itinerance.i love the ending too.
Serial Experiments Lain
I haven't watched this show but the song sounds nostalgic already, if that makes sense.
Lain is a classic. Highly influential piece of pop culture. And even though its story is metaphorical it accurately predicted our incredibly online age, with its strange cultural and psychological problems.
Great answer
Cowboy Bebop
Trigun
Tank! from Bebop and H.T. from Trigun still give me happy chills when I hear them. Both shows have such great music.
Those would be my choices too. Amazing stuff
The song is named Tank.
Those horns are just perfect.
The end theme is also great.
Lain is a great anime with a great opening, but cowboy bebebop/tank not being on top makes zero sense.
We're off to outer space
We're leaving mother earth
To save the human race
Our Star Blazers
Evangelion
Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop, obviously
The first season intro of Dr. Stone.
Drifters! Gospel of the Throttle goes so hard.
Cowboy Bebop - Tank
Trigun - HT
Neon Genesis Evangelion - Cruel Angel's Thesis
Lupin III Part 2 - Opening 1 bad video but best i could find sadly...
City Hunter - Love, Don't Leave Me
Ping Pong the Animation - Tada Hitori
The Tatami Galaxy - Maigoinu to Ame no Beat
Gunbuster - OP
Samurai Champloo - Battlecry
Re: Cutie Honey - Cutie Honey Theme
Paranoia Agent - OP
Macross - OP
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Sorairo Days
Detective Conan - OP1 or OP3
Nadia the Secret of Blue Water - Blue Water
Dragon Ball Z - Cha La Head Cha La
Death Note - OP1
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2 - OP
I could probably do more...
Now, endings are another story...
Somehow I forgot about Ping Pong the Animation! Such a touching sports anime and the OP is great too.
I think it's really easy to overlook Ping Ping.
I didn't know or care about the sport at all going in, but the show presented it in such a way that you can't help get invested in the characters. On top of that it's just a excellently told story with a lot of good drama, and I think it says a lot about people and their relationship to sports/hobbies/art/etc. I hope other people will give it a try. :)
I will paste what I answered in a similar thread from !anime@ani.social a little while back that might be of interest to you:
I usually watch an OP once for a show and then skip it each time afterwards. That being said, there are a handful that I remember making the choice to always watch each episode. In no particular order:
“How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift?” just jumped up a few places in my watchlist. Looks fun to watch
I wrote a little bit about it a while back when I posted a clip for Thanksgiving. Overall, it is a piece of lighthearted fun that was perfect for watching an episode before bed. It also tried to be educational about how to properly work out, while at the same time using those educational segments as an excuse to include a bit of ecchi.
+1 for how heavy are the dumbbells you lift
I have many, but the ones I can remember are:
OPs:
Oregairu S1-3
Elfen Lied
Umineko (both VN and TV)
Violet Evergarden
Nichijou
EDs:
The best part about the Nichijou OP is that Hyadain sang all the parts himself. He just pitched his voice up for the parts that sound like female backing vocals. Lends an extra touch of Nichijou-type humor to the whole thing.
Gurren lagann
https://youtu.be/FwgMxjhXkKo?si=FKU4d8eDfE37fm4H
https://youtu.be/6bYFC2NSahg?si=7K9vUzk9upcOAOE-
Might be cheating with an end credits sequence, but I would say Psycho Pass' first ending sequence
Honorable mentions:
Chill Category
Ergo Proxy
High Energy Category
Steins Gate
Some that come to mind:
Ghost in the Shell—hands down one of the best movie openings across the board.
For series:
Cowboy Bebop
Space Dandy
Chainsawman
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
One I have doubts anyone else might mention is Lupin the Third.
Definitely a tie with a few:
• Mushishi (The Sore Feet song and not Shiver, which is also great)
• Logos Naki World (Hellsing)
• Kibou no Kakera by Nana Kitade (Demsahita Powerpuff Girls Z op 1)
• Rewrite by Asian Kung-fu Generation (FMA '03 op 4)
• Detective Conan op 1 (the one from the Funimation English dub)
Pilot Candidate. Just for the music.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CuNToaNBb1s&pp=ygUXcGlsb3QgY2FuZGlkYXRlIG9wZW5pbmc
Attack on Titan - The Rumbling for me personally, had no right going as hard as it did!
Neon Genesis Evangelion's intro is an absolute bop as well
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Never skipped it.
Cruel Angel Thesis - Evangelion
Kuusou Mesorogiwi - Mirai Nikki
Bacchikoi amd Heroes Come Back - Naruto Shippuden
Basically Everything from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. If I had to pick, sheet, I'd say Stone Ocean. Canzioni Preferite is the best non-opening song though!
I liked how they did it with Naruto, changing it up every so often and using some pretty good songs.
Perfect Openings
YuYu Hakusho - Hohoemi no Bakudan or SMILE BOMB my personal GOAT.
G Gundam - FLYING IN THE SKY
G Gundam - TRUST YOU FOREVER
Naruto - Yura Yura by Hearts Grow If I had to choose one.
Naruto Shippuden - Toumei datta Sekai by Hata Motohiro
Nagi No Asukara - Ebb and Flow by Ray
Sword Art Online - Crossing Field by LiSA hate the show all you want you can't deny this is a 10/10 opening
Kill la Kill - Sirius by Eir Aoi
Bleach - D-tecnolife by UVERworld
Good Stuff
Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas - The Realm of Athena by EUROX
Saint Seiya Omega - Pegasus Fantasy (Version Omega) by Make-Up
R.O.D. the TV super underrated imo
Tower of God - TOP by Stray Kids I'm just used to the JPN version.
Gundam Wing - Just Communication by Two-Mix
Noragami - Kyōran Hey Kids by The Oral Cigarettes
Mushishi - Shiver by Lucy Rose
Nisemonogatari - Platinum Disco performed by Yuka Iguchi because everyone already knows Renai Circulation
Arpeggio of Blue Steel - Savior of Song by nano ナノ
Shuffle! - YOU by Yuria
.hack//SIGN - Obsession by SEE-SAW
.hack//Legend of the Twilight - NEW WORLD by Round Table feat. Nino
Highschool of the Dead by Kisida Kyodan & the Akebosi Rockets
Ikki Tousen - Drivin Through the Night by m.o.v.e slightly NSFW
Queens Blade Rebellion - Inochi no Uta ga Kikoeru by Tamura Naomi apparently YouTube hates this opening lol
Really making me wrack my brain here, but that's what I got for now, tried to pick a few that a lot of folks probably wouldn't be all too familiar with. Of course there's plenty more I like that have already been mentioned here like Sorairo Days and the like.
Fate Stay/Night UBW second opening to Brave Shine by Aimer.
Um...Sailor Moon?
Sexy Commando
Can't choose between these openings so here's a small list:
Zombie land saga Bochi the rock Evangelion (A cruel angels thesis)
Going through this exercise, I really like jazzy, hip hop, and, sometimes, heavy metal openings. (Still get chills from Attack on Titan's "Rumbling" OP.) I've hyperlinked each song below for specificity (and nostalgia).
Going back 10+ years ago: Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, Cowboy Bebop, Gintama, YuYu Hakusho, and One Piece are the anime openings that come to mind.
More recently: Love is War, Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Samurai Champloo, One Punch Man, My Hero Aca, Black Clover are all top tier.
Didn't make the list, but shoutout to Bleach for having one of the most memorable soundtracks in all of anime.
I was waiting for someone to mention Yu Yu Hakusho. SMILE BOMB is a fantastic song!
I also love PopTeamEpic season 2's opening, PSYCHO: LOGY and the ending theme for season 1, Poppy Pappy Day
Kaguya opening 1 (Love Dramatic) for it's smoothness
One Piece Opening 13 (One Day), it has a very "complete" feeling for how encompassing the arc is
Gundam Wing Opening 2 (Rhythm Emotion), is basically what made me enjoy music as a kid
Full Metal Alchemist (OG) opening 2 (Ready Steady Go) . It's got so much energy
Yu-gi-oh opening zero (Kawaita Sakebi). For some reason it's become so iconic that I think it's more well known than the openings for the mainline series (I blame abridged but I remember listening to it before abridged came out)
Original Death Note intro.
I liked the angel bears intro enough thar I let it play I usually skip past them all honestly.
Little Busters!
Probably kino's journey, kino no tabi, the original. Captures the spirit of calm wanderlust perfectly. Itinerance.i love the ending too.
Vinland Saga, Initial D, Cyberpunk Edgerunners