Best Anime Openings of 2024

128 million views. Let that settle in. Bling-Bang-Bang-Born didn't just top the anime opening charts — it became a genuine crossover phenomenon, driven by a dance challenge that spread across TikTok and X and reached people who had no prior relationship with anime at all. Creepy Nuts — the duo of DJ Matsunaga and MC Ryokei — had been building toward this moment for years, and the song delivers: an unstoppable hook, hip-hop production that keeps moving at you, and a perfect tonal match with Mashle's gloriously ridiculous premise. One of the most significant anime openings ever made, not just the biggest of 2024.

Having the same act occupy the top two spots in the year's opening rankings is essentially unprecedented, and Otonoke makes the case that it's entirely deserved. 94 million views for a song that is almost completely different from Bling-Bang-Bang-Born in feel and energy: darker, more urgent, with production that mirrors Dandadan's chaotic supernatural energy. Where BBBB was an invitation, Otonoke is a provocation. Two massive songs, two completely different moods, the same duo behind both. A remarkable year for Creepy Nuts.

Ado is the most exciting voice in contemporary Japanese pop, and pairing her with producer Taku Inoue under the GEMN project name for Oshi no Ko Season 2 was the kind of casting decision that makes immediate sense in retrospect. Fatal has 72 million views and the theatrical darkness the series demands: layered production, a vocal performance that shifts registers without warning, and a song that rewards repeated listening as you pick up on details you missed the first time. Art pop as anime opening. It works completely.

natori came into 2024 as one of Japan's most-watched indie artists on streaming platforms, and Zettai Reido for Wind Breaker was the opening that confirmed the wider anime audience was paying attention. 43 million views for melodic indie rock with a distinctive vocal delivery that you cannot mistake for anyone else. The song captures Wind Breaker's street code and personal honor in sound as well as the anime captures it visually — a genuinely impressive feat for a 90-second piece of music.

Yuuri has become one of the most trusted voices in the anime opening ecosystem, and Curtain Call for My Hero Academia Season 7 hits with the weight of someone who understands the series deeply. 28 million views for an opening that functions as both a battle cry and a farewell — appropriate for a series entering its final chapters. The emotional restraint in the build, and then the moment it releases, is expertly done. Japanese singer-songwriters have a specific skill for this kind of slow-burn emotional payoff, and Yuuri executes it perfectly.

Official HIGE DANdism are the most harmonically sophisticated act working in mainstream J-Pop right now, and Same Blue for Blue Box demonstrates why they're essentially impossible to imitate. 25 million views for an opening built on unexpected chord changes, a vocal melody that keeps finding new directions, and a production that has genuine depth. Fujihara Satoshi's voice is doing things in this opening that most J-Pop singers couldn't attempt. Listen to it on headphones and pay attention to what's happening underneath the main melody.

YUNGBLUD scoring the opening for Kaijuu 8-gou was an audacious choice that paid off. The British alt-pop-punk artist brought a completely different energy to the anime opening format: raw, slightly unhinged, with a production style that doesn't conform to J-Pop norms. 20 million views and a proof of concept — international artists can work in this format without homogenizing themselves, as long as the energy is genuinely right for the series. Abyss is genuinely right for Kaijuu 8-gou.

Atarayo are one of the finest indie bands operating in Japan right now, and Boku wa... for My Heart Has a Secret is exactly the opening this coming-of-age romance deserved. 17 million views for a song that inhabits the specific emotional register of adolescent love: the part where you don't have words for what you're feeling and the feeling doesn't care. Gentle, precise, and more emotionally intelligent than most songs three times its length.

Novelbright brought their emotional melodic rock to Yubisaki to Renren, an anime about connection and communication with a deaf protagonist. Yuki no Ne works on its own terms as a song — it has a genuine warmth and sincerity — but it lands with added resonance if you're watching the series and thinking about what it means to reach someone. 14 million views for an opening that earned genuine affection from its audience.

DISH// closed out the top 10 of 2024 with Plan A for The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil, and it's a strong note to end on. Dynamic rock with real momentum, well-suited to a series set in a medieval Japanese political landscape where every decision has weight. 10 million views and a band that proved their place in the anime opening landscape is earned, not borrowed. In a year as competitive as 2024, landing in the top 10 at all is an achievement.

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