#ed analysis

Introduction

For this anime season, my favorite anime was Go For It, Nakamura-kun!! The anime centers around Nakamura, a high school boy who wants to become friends with his crush Hirose, giving a fresh spin to the BL genre. What stood out most to me were the unique ending sequences for each episode, each acting as a visual and musical reflection of Nakamura’s emotional state.

The endings of Go For It, Nakamura-kun!! function as emotional extensions of Nakamura’s interiority, using retro music, fantasy imagery, and tonal shifts to externalize feelings that remain suppressed in the main narrative.

In this blog, I’ll analyze the meaning of each episode’s ending, focusing on how the musical tone, lyrics, and visualization connect to Nakamura’s emotional progression.

EP1: “First Love” by Kozo Murashita

This ED introduces the emotional “language” of the series. Specifically, it tells the viewers that the series will follow Nakamura’s romantic emotions toward Hirose.

The episode ends with Nakamura’s dialogue: “I’m shy, gay, and in love with Hirose Aiki.” This line flowing directly into the ED makes the ending feel almost declarative. The series openly frames Nakamura as gay from the very beginning instead of relying on ambiguity or “maybe it’s admiration,” which is rare in BL anime.

While Nakamura openly names his feelings in the narration, he remains unable to voice them directly to Hirose. The lyrics “好きだよと言えずに (not being able to say I like you)” captures this contradiction precisely—Nakamura can confess to us, but not yet to the person he loves.

Rather than ending on embarrassment or comedy, the ED softens the atmosphere. It reframes Nakamura’s awkwardness as sincerity rather than ridicule. The nostalgic tone allows a timeless feeling for Nakamura’s emotions toward his crush. The ED tells viewers to emotionally invest in Nakamura instead of merely laughing at him.

EP 2: “WON’T BE LONG” by DA BUBBLE GUM BROTHERS

The ED contrasts with Nakamura’s mood after the episode. Visually, Nakamura is sad, embarrassed, and unable to face Hirose directly since he is hugging his knees and looking down. Musically, the song pushes forward energetically.

The lyrics “もうすぐさ届くまで (almost there until I reach you)” especially imply that Nakamura will recover eventually. The title and repeated lyrics “won’t be long” represent Nakamura’s endurance, that would make the hopeful contrast even stronger.

So instead of the ED precisely reflecting his current emotional state, it reflects emotional potential or a future where he can openly express affection. The ED’s optimism exceeds Nakamura’s current self-perception.

EP3: “Tonight is Boogie Back” by Scha Dara Parr featuring Kenji Ozawa

The urban feel of the ED romanticizes Nakamura’s yearning.

Background-wise, the car moving through the city creates emotional distance and movement without resolution. Meanwhile, Nakamura staring at Hirose turns the ED into pure longing. This distinction shows the series gradually shifting emotional tone. It also gives a bittersweet feeling to the ED.

The hopeful lyrics “すべてがうまくいくはずさ (everything will go well)” feels almost ironic against Nakamura’s gaze. His feelings remain unresolved, yet the song imagines a version of the night where things do go right. This gives the ED a dreamy, cinematic quality, suspended between fantasy and possibility.

EP4: “I Won’t Lose” by Barbee Boys

The ED becomes an emotional aftermath. Nakamura’s joy spills through directly into the credits, with him swaying, doing air guitar, and singing. This ED works because Nakamura finally acts instead of just fantasizing. Protecting Hirose creates emotional payoff, and the ED becomes the overflow of emotions he cannot contain afterward. 

The dancing matters because Nakamura is usually so physically restrained, often with hesitation. But in the ED, his body moves freely and his happiness becomes visible. That freedom is incredibly important.

The title and lyrics “負けるもんか (I won’t lose)” directly mirrors Nakamura protecting Hirose from the bullies, especially because Nakamura usually retreats. But in this episode he doesn’t. This emotional courage makes the ED more earned.

The ED temporarily liberates Nakamura from self-consciousness. And because the joy comes specifically after helping Hirose, it makes the romance feel emotionally reciprocal rather than an entirely one-sided fantasy.

EP5: “Fly-day Chinatown” by Yasuha

The ED creates anticipation for emotional movement into the next episode.

This song is incredibly popular globally, especially after the city pop boom online. Popular nostalgic songs work differently from obscure insert tracks because audiences bring pre-existing emotions into them. So the ED instantly activates familiarity, warmth, and collective nostalgia. That emotional shorthand deepens the atmosphere immediately.

The lyrics “真夜中の人ごみに (in the nighttime crowd)” represent movement in the city, which represents transition between episodes. This would fit both Chinatown and Nakamura’s emotional movements.

The series uses culturally familiar music to make Nakamura’s emotions feel collectively recognizable rather than isolated.

EP6: “The World’s Hottest Summer” by PRINCESS PRINCESS

This ED is the emotional peak of Part 1. 

The episode flows into the ED rather than stopping. That creates emotional continuity instead of separation. And because Hirose finally acknowledges their friendship, the ED transforms longing into partial fulfillment.

Ending on a shared photo visually confirms something Nakamura has wanted since Episode 1: to exist beside Hirose.

The song’s summer imagery, with lyrics like “8月の風を抱きしめて (hugging the August breeze),” makes the ending feel fleeting yet unforgettable, much like the photograph itself. Both capture a moment Nakamura wants to preserve—the brief joy of finally being acknowledged as Hirose’s friend.

The ED captures happiness, yearning, and emotional intensity all at once. This song makes the audience think: “go for it, Nakamura-kun!”

Conclusion

The endings chart Nakamura’s emotional progression more openly than the episodes themselves. Because throughout Episodes 1-6, the narrative remains awkward and comedic on the surface, but the EDs gradually reveal increasing emotional sincerity, intimacy, and hope. That gives the endings a cumulative emotional effect rather than making them feel disconnected week-to-week.

The song for these credits is “I AM STANDING” by RUANN and you can find the lyrics here.

These credits are beautiful but pretty straightfoward, I feel, compared to the previous two, so this will probably be a little lighter on analysis and a lot of my just, uh, describing what’s happening and relating it to the lyrics.

The credits open on flickering darkness, and a little spotlight shows. It gives the impression of a dark, rainy night with a full moon flickering into view. The moon expands, and both Young Rei and Present Rei show up, looking like shadows. The lyrics go:

As the scenery was about to fade away, I was searching for something.

Rei’s world is utterly devoid of color, and has been since he was very young. He wanders through the dark night, silhouetted by a moon that guides him even as everything else fades away. He’s searching for some sort of light and color in this dark world- hes searching for hope. We see his body floating against a cityscape fading into fog, he’s being swallowed by it, and in danger of fading himself.

 In order to make my weak self appear strong, I took a mask in hand.

We get more of them against the colorless cityscape and darkness,and the lyrics specifically reference Rei wearing a “mask” to hide his “weakness”. Note his glasses are opaque, and fitting the trend of these openings and credits, this shows that he is closed off, repressing his emotions, hiding his true self.  

There’s also a bit where young Rei and older Rei move their heads slowly against the darkness and leave creepy after-images. What’s notable is that the little spotlight/moon flickers behind them and whenever Rei tries to move his head towards it, tries to see it, it flickers away from his field of vision. He’s searching for this light, and it’s close, but it eludes him.

Walking along the riverside, the frozen sounds of my footsteps are buried easily by the trains that pass me by.

We get our first hint of color when Rei walks into the water. Continuing the motif of water as emotion, we have Rei facing his emotions here, he goes in barefoot, cold, vulnerable, and the sound of his footsteps are drowned out by the crashing of the waves. These aren’t calm waters. But still Rei faces them and walks on. And this alone is so much better than standing in the dark, not moving forward at all. The color here shows that this action represents hope for Rei, his first step towards a brighter life.

The credits for the first cour have an overall much more optimistic tone than the opening did. In the opening, Rei is underwater throughout most of it, but here, although the water threatens to rise in the first moments, it never gets above his head. He also successfully swims against it and launches himself into the sky. The water throughout the show has symbolized depression, so this is a clear demonstration of him legit triumphing over it. And unlike the opening, he is not dragged back into the water after reaching land, but stays there. He even meets his younger self and smiles at him, indicating a willingness to face his past and even sympathize with his younger self and forgive what he sees as his past mistakes.

The atmosphere is much brighter than the opening too- in the opening when Rei reaches land it’s very dark and eerie with rainbow lights only being in the distance. Here, the cityscape starts out blank, but bright colors quickly bleed in and fill everything with soft light (and it’s very pretty as an animation- like the rest of the show, these credits are absolutely gorg). 

The sisters also appear physically here, while they do not in the opening (though they may have been symbolized by the hand reaching out). Here they are part of the cityscape, the refuge Rei is trying to reach. They are here to meet him. Hina’s notably alone on a bridge-like thing though, nearer to the water than Akari and Momo, which probably refers to the breakdown she had on the bridge.

Speaking of bridges, Rei meeting his younger self on the bridge here reinforces the idea i have that the bridge symbolizes human connection.

The credits are almost a sequel to the opening- they have the same motifs, but the opening is about struggle and setbacks, while the credits are about clear recovery.

Time for some credits analysis! We finally take a full look at the absolutely gorgeous third ending credit sequence for March Comes in Like a Lion, Once again, I’ve looked up the lyrics this time to try to gain some insight- the song here is “Cafune” by Brian the Sun and you can find the lyrics here.

I have to admit I’m not sure on how to approach the red string bit at the beginning here- the obvious and most common thing that comes up in anime is “the red string of fate”, the destined connection between romantic lovers, but that doesn’t really fit with this show, or the rest of the credits sequence, since Rei is the only one who shows up in it. (nor does the other common meaning for “red string”, the Jewish tradition of warding evil spirits, really fit). Of course, there are times when “red string can have a non-romantic meaning and simply be about “twin souls” who have an important story together. That could refer to a lot of people for Rei, but considering the arc of this part of the season in particular, I’d say its Rei and Hina. 

The lyrics here do fit the imagery:

Why do you smile? The night I trace with my fingers wears on. 

The fingers are “tracing” the string, then come together to make a square. Within that square, a hand rises up from the water and clouds as a bright sun shines. Going with the common imagery of this series, this means someone is being saved from “drowning” emotionally, and these other hands might have something to do with it. The supportive connection between Rei and Hina, perhaps. And paired with the lyrics, it represents Rei’s growing understanding of her, his wonderment at how she can smile through her pain, and HIS emerging understanding of his own capacity for joy.

After this, we switch to a pretty beautiful image or Rei, stripped bare and vulnerable, with flowers growing all around him, even on his skin. He covers both eyes, but them takes one hand away. This seems to represent his “growth” to a degree- he covers or locks himself away, feeling vulnerable, but the exposure of one eye shows him starting to open up and show that vulnerability to others. The flower motif also references a later line in the song.

The next image is of a smoggy place with train tracks, where an image of Rei running along the tracks alone fades into nothingness. This imagery pretty clearly references the lyrics that are paired with it.

In the corner of a world far too large, my heart just melts away. 

It’s pretty straight forward, Rei feels alone in a big, empty dark world while on a journey leading nowhere, so he begins to fade.

Our next image is of Rei laying on the watery ground, shirtless (and very skinny, as anyone would expect) as flowers grow around him. Then a bird materializes from his palm and flies away. Once again, the lyrics reflect this imagery.

We have a little extra time before I have to leave, and since we’re midway through the second cour now, I thought I’d take a look at the (gorg as always) credits and what I think they represent.

The main motifs here are “flight” and “sun” which brings to mind one particular myth:

YEP THAT ONE, THANX ED.

The arc here is definitely reminscent of icarus and the sun. Rei is in winter (his depression) and he sees a way out of it by grasping the sun (winning the title match, probably). So he yanks the sun out of the sky, leaving behind an eclipse with a red umbra (representing him “eclipsing” his true desires by avoidng the sisters perhaps?) and he holds it close to him. But then FIRE, the heat of the sun is far too much, and he falls, shedding feathers. His fall in the match against Shimada perhaps, especially since the next image is him isolating himself in his room, which is exactly what happened. There’s a wilting rose in the corner, very fairy-tale esque, beauty and beat, sleeping beauty...his forced sleep and entrapment, basically.

Then our pal water comes back:

Waves of water lap at his feet. His feelings come in waves, they’re unstable, not calm. He’s notably not completely dragged under, but he’s pretty soaked and bedraggled and alone.

But the bird takes flight and though soaked, he looks up with apparent determination. He’s ready to fly and try again.

He faces the sun head on, and rather than trying to steal it, this time simply reaches up and creates his own light. After failing to “steal” or “take” a victory by force, he instead decides to learn from his opponent and connect with them and thus, develop his own skill and place in the world. I think that’s probably an allusion to him choosing to learn from Shimada after losing. And winter is gone now, flower petal rise up, spring and change is coming.

The last shot has Rei walking into the city, to be among others for the first time in the sequence. The sun is in the sky where it belongs, shining down on everyone and giving them warmth. Again, this could refer to joining the workshop under Shimada and becoming closer to others.

SNOW RETURNS