Adventures of NoLo

Oh, this is a tough one! Magical girl series have a history of incredible OPs so it was hard to narrow down 5, but here are my top picks!

5) “Koi wo Suru Tabi ni Kizutsuki Yasuku…“ Cuiling (Nurse Angel Ririka SOS)

If you want to know what it was like to be alive in 1995, listen to this song. It is like being slapped over the head with an entire year’s worth of music trends. Which isn’t to say it is bad (I think it is wonderful) just that it is very of a particular era. I quite like all the Nurse Angel themes, but this one stands out because of its sense of urgency and the juxtaposition between its lyrics and its techno beat.

4) "Mahoutsukai Sally no Uta” - The Three Graces (Mahoutsukai Sally)

Sally kicked off the animated magical girl trend and her OP theme isn’t just a classic anime OP, it is a memorable TV theme up there with any live-action show from the same era.  Mahariku maharita yanbara yanyanyan! Mahariku maharita yanbara yanyanyan!

3)  “Fushigi Iro Happiness” - Obata Youko (Magical Emi)

I have a soft spot for Magical Emi in general despite it not being as memorable as Creamy Mami, but one area in which it reigns supreme is its opening theme. What an upbeat, optimistic, and catchy AF track! “Delicate ni Sukishite” could never, sry.

2) “Wedding Wars ~Ai wa Honoo~” - Nakajima Erina (Wedding Peach)

I have a severe Wedding Peach bias but I think it is justified with this OP choice because frankly, the second Wedding Peach theme is an absolute banger. While the first OP is quite twee and sweet, as the series ups the stakes the second OP is dramatic and emotive (in an incredibly 90s anime way). The sequence should be mentioned too, although it still has stock footage in it, the original parts that were animated are great and sync wonderfully with the song. A+ must-have.

1) “Cutie Honey” - Maekawa Youko (Cutie Honey)

No apologies, this song has always slapped and will continue slapping until the heat death of the universe. The Cutie Honey theme has been interpreted so many ways over the years because it is goddamn catchy and the original anime series was a hell of a lot of fun. While I enjoy this track in almost any form, the original is still the best and it has a sequence other Honey adaptations (and plenty of unrelated anime series) still reference and parody to this day. All hail the queen.

To pass the time until my next big models are done, here are some Ocarina of Time wallpapers I rendered from 2010 to 2012. The textures are all pixelated because at the time, I didn’t know how to render textures with transparency in the way that the Nintendo 64 can.

Here are the rest of my Ocarina of Time wallpapers from 2010 to 2012. For the Shadow Temple, I went out of my way to create a normal map for the floor and walls using a high-quality model of a skull. As for the Spirit Temple, I don’t think it will surprise anyone that the mirror reflections in the game are completely unrealistic.