10 Greatest Anime Openings Of All Time

10. Death Note

Death Note had the unenviable task of living up to the hype surrounding the immensely popular manga when it debuted on screens in October 2006. With creators determined to capture the magic of the source material, they did not disappoint. As a medium, TV can provide a host of sensory options not available to the printed page, building the atmosphere of its story before it’s even really started.

The viewer is bombarded by a series of frantic images as The World by Japanese rock band Nightmare (later replaced with the heavier What’s Up, People? by Maximum the Hormone) plays furiously in the background. Eye catching, scary and practically bursting out of the screen with energy, Death Note’s opener commands the attention of the viewer.

There are many anime openings one could consider charming, catchy, moving, even beautiful. Death Note leaves such adjectives at the door, providing a ferocious audio-visual frenzy of hot-tempered emotion. In this regard, Death Note’s opening is a perfect fit for the anger and pain of the lead character, Light Yagami, and the budding darkness within his troubled spirit.