Highlights
- Openings are crucial for anime’s success. Ufotable excels in creating stunning OPs filled with animation and music.
- Akeboshi and LiSA deliver solid but not outstanding openings for
Demon Slayer
arcs. - Kizuna no Kiseki stands out with a fittingly intense rock song, captivating animation, and a hint of upcoming events.
Openings are a huge deciding factor in determining whether a new season of anime is going to explode in popularity not. Anime studios are perfectly aware of this, and that’s why they put so much effort and resources into crafting incredible openings for their shows. Ufotable is definitely one of the best users of this practice.
The talented animation studio behind Demon Slayer has managed to create amazing OPs that are filled to the brim with beautiful animation, cinematography, and music. All of these elements have cemented Demon Slayeras a shōnen anime with some of the best openings in the entire industry. The only question remaining is: How do they all stack up against each other?
5 Akeboshi
Mugen Train Arc
- Artist: LiSA
As solid as this opening is, it’s most likely that a lot of people missed it, since it was made exclusively for the TV adaptation of the Mugen Train Arc, whereas most fans have experienced this story by watching Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train in cinemas. The good news is, they haven’t missed much.
Since the Mugen Train Arc takes place entirely within its titular vehicle, there’s not much variety in the locations and imagery of this opening. There are still a lot of really good-looking scenes, especially those that are centered on the Fire Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku. The final shot of Tanjiro trying to reach him hits especially hard after watching the arc in its entirety.
LiSA came back from Season 1 to deliver yet another great song for a Demon Slayer opening. While Akeboshi is quite solid, it’s sadly nowhere near as good as some of the upcoming openings. This song feels slow and, at times, has a weird tone that doesn’t really fit this tragic arc.
4 Mugen
Hashira Training Arc
- Artist(s): My FIRST STORY, HYDE
The Hashira Training Arc is relatively short, and focuses mainly on building up hype before the climax of the entire series, and Mugen does exactly that. It’s a lighthearted opening that shows all the characters training and preparing themselves for the inevitable final encounter against Muzan Kibutsuji. This is the calm before the storm.
Animation-wise, it looks wonderful, but it has something that no other Demon Slayer OP has ever featured: shots of every single Hashira in action, which is a great inclusion and a huge treat for the fans. The song, by the band My FIRST STORY and the musician HYDE feels very different from what viewers usually expect from the opening themes of this anime. While some parts can feel generic and bland, it has such a cheerful atmosphere that it’s impossible to dislike it.
3 Kizuna no Kiseki
Swordsmith Village Arc
- Artist(s): MAN WITH A MISSION, Milet.
At first, a loud & heavy rock song may seem uncharacteristic for Demon Slayer, but the further this excellent opening goes, it becomes the more obvious that it’s extremely fitting for this arc. After all, the Swordsmith Village Arc is one of the most intense and action-packed parts of this story, so it definitely needed a song as exciting as Kizuna no Kiseki.
The band MAN WITH A MISSION collaborated with the singer Milet in order to craft this catchy tune, and it works surprisingly well. The voices of the two vocalists are completely different, yet they complement each other perfectly, and the instrumental part also sounds great.
The animation does a good job of using satisfying imagery to describe the main location of this arc, as seeing all the swordsmiths working on their blades is really charming. It gets even better when the song reaches its chorus and the OP shows Tanjiro, Genya, Kanroji, and Tokito fighting against their enemies with dynamic animation. Eagle-eyed viewers may have even noticed that the very last shot of this opening features a small hint at something important that happens at the end of the season.
2 Zankyosanka
Entertainment District Arc
- Artist: Aimer
Zankyosanka perfectly describes the Hashira that stars in this arc: Tengen Uzui, since it’s flashy and over-the-top, yet undeniably charismatic, just like the Sound Hashira. After all, the main location of the Entertainment District Arc is a colorful place that is brimming with people, events, and all sorts of entertainment, so it’s only fitting that the opening of this season is this cheerful. Animation-wise, the highlight of this OP are the various shots of Tanjiro, Nezuko, Zenitsu, and Inosuke fighting Daki (with a small appearance by Gyutaro) alongside Uzui.
Yet the brief scene of the Sound Hashira’s tragic past teases viewers with the possibility of a dark subplot, and the use of festival imagery – such as fireworks – ties everything together. On the other hand, Japanese pop singer Aimer knocked it out of the park with this song. The beat is extremely catchy, and her voice sounds amazing. The best part, however, is the use of an entire chorus during the intro, middle, and outro of the song, since they help make this cheerful opening feel epic, which works surprisingly well.
1 Gurenge
Demon Slayer Season 1
- Artist: LiSA
The very first opening of an anime is of extreme importance. After all, this is most viewers’ first impression of a show, something that will help them determine if they will keep watching or not. Luckily, the first season of Demon Slayer featured what is possibly one of the best openings in the entire industry.
In just a few minutes, this opening manages to tell the tale of Tanjiro and Nezuko Kamado in an extremely efficient way, by showing their struggles, and the trials and tribulations they had to go through, and it culminates in some beautifully animated action scenes that give viewers a little taste of how the battles of this anime are going to look. Meanwhile, Zenitsuand Inosuke are introduced in a way that perfectly showcases their goofy personalities. The most interesting parts of this OP are the brief teases of the Upper Moons and the Hashiras, hinting at what’s to come.
Japanese singer-songwriter LiSA has been behind some of the most iconic anime OPs of all time, and this time she lived up to her reputation, since Gurenge is a catchy song that combines her beautiful voice with some amazing rock music. While it would be unfair to say that this incredible OP is entirely responsible for Demon Slayer’s initial success, it definitely helped it become even more popular.
Leave a Reply