#opening analysis

Okay, okay, so hear me out:

Here in this scene, we're so familiar with, from the Season 2 intro:

I noticed something strange. And so, also want to take this opportunity to discuss the symbolic nature of this scene. With focus on Soukoku.

FIRST: In this first shot of Chuuya and Dazai, (the picture above) when they are walking toward one another, they both wear their present-day outfits, their present looks, their present day height-difference, this is clearly their present day-self.

They don't seem to be looking at each other, but it's a bit hard to tell what happens as they cross, considering the moment before they would have crossed or touched in any way, the scene switches to Akutagawa and Atsushi.

As shown in the pictures here, they never got any closer than this. Check it out yourself if you're in doubt, I promise you. The frame right after this SKK picture/frame (the one right above) is just white and then SSKK appears (picture above), seemingly having taken their places after crossing, now walking away from each other.

Notice that it is Akutagawa and his shadow who are replacing Dazai's shadow and place, not Atsushi. But Atsushi is the one who's walking in the same direction as Dazai.

Had the scene continued with SKK, and had SKK crossed each other, it is Atsushi who's where Dazai would have been, while Akutagawa is where Chuuya would have been.

Fabulous show of how their roles are today.

Akutagawa and Chuuya remain in the mafia, they are the ones, actually on the "same road", in that regard. But Akutagawa looks up and wants more from Dazai, wants to be on the same road as him and so, his shadow is placed after Dazai's. But only Dazai's shadow, not the real him. Akutagawa can't reach him. And even though they are standing in the exact same spot in those two frames, they are walking in opposite directions. Though, keep in mind, this intro is from S2.

Characters have developed since then.

Soukoku never actually walked away from each other in THIS shot, but they don't ever look at each other either.

They would clearly be able to see each other in this position, and yet still, they don't look at each other, making it feel like they very deliberately, on purpose, choose not to or perhaps avoided looking at one another.

As mentioned, this is the opening from season 2, which is the season in which the Double Black episode came, Soukoku's first team-up in years. With this in mind, this angle of looking at it fits better.

Perhaps it was hinting at some possible awkward or tense air between them after so long.

This is a spectacular detail to have in an intro, in the intro, if you ask me.

(But I mean, I would also simply say that in whatever scene something Soukoku-related is included ehe))

BUT! We're not done! We haven't even touched the subject of this strange thing I mentioned.

After the shot of Shin Soukoku, they switch back to Soukoku, there's that short flash, and then we see Dazai.

In his PAST Port Mafia Outfit. It's not like I haven't noticed this fact before, I just first took it into consideration now, ESPECIALLY because... Take a look at Chuuya.

I see nothing weird in Dazai flashing back to his Port Mafia outfit in this one scene in an opening, that's not the strange thing I noticed. A cool show of his past in the mafia with Chuuya and then on, and I thought:

How Cool! They are walking towards each other in their present outfits, and then walking away from each other in their past outfits.

That's some really awesome details!! Like, even though they weren't looking at each other -while in their present outfits- they still walked towards each other, and the moment you would think something would happen, they swift to their "past selves" Where they didn't have quite the same relationship yet you could say.

However.... There's just that, that...

Chuuya ISN'T in his PAST outfit from that time??

He's obviously still in his present outfit? While you clearly see from the back of Dazai in the very same frame that he's still in his Port mafia Outfit-??

And no, this is not a past Chuuya, this must be Chuuya from the present..! Not only clothes, but his hair also looks like it does in the present, and his hair changes a lot in design compared to Dazai's.

I know he HAS had that specific outfit for some time, but in the start his hair looked like this in it:

So this shot -

Has to be AT LEAST some years after the AGE 15 time, likely simply just in the present.

But then ... WHY?

An error, nahhh, how likely is that - and then again, maybe, I don't know much about how they make it work exactly.

But if not, here comes the interesting, why?

Showcasing some distance between them?

Is it Chuuya thinking of the past? Thinking of past Dazai?

Dazai thinking about Chuuya in the future? Sees him as better than him in some way?

He's also in this present outfit from behind when we see Dazai from his front in past clothes-

Perhaps there's some meaning to them not being able to see each other while this weird error in time occurs?

All of this could be possible in my ears. Some more likely than others.

But who knowssss........!

I honestly like the idea of this symbolyzing some distance between them.

Look at it like this:

They walk toward one another, about to meet again.

But they both avoid openly contact. Or perhaps simply don't know what to do.

It flashes to Shin Soukoku to show how they reflect Soukoku.

It flashes to a sort of half past, half present Soukoku again. Perhaps still showing the connection between sskk and ssk, but also as to show Dazai's and Chuuya's "current state" at that moment.

Dazai in his past clothes, he "hasn't moved on". He's stuck somewhere? Feeling the same way? The same things?

Chuuya on the other hand has "moved on". He's changed? Thought he could forget about Dazai?

But the thing is.. They both look like they are trying to get away, to forget about the other one.

Or perhaps they are both thinking about the other but in different ways.

With the way they walk away from one another with those neutral, somewhat sad and serious expressions.

Yet one is in the past and the other in the future.

Interpret that however you want!

———

Of all the movie references and hidden details in the Chainsaw Man OP, the one I adore more than any other is this damn snail. Those green eye stalks indicate the snail Makima is feeding Denji is infected with Leucochloridium Paradoxum, a parasite that mind controls snails and leads them to their death by making them more appealing to predators. Sound familiar? But the symbolism is even more perfect than that as snails are also viewed as quite a high class dish in the form of escargot. Put it all together and you have an absolutely impeccable metaphor for Denji and Makima’s relationship: She tempts him with the allure of a higher quality of life but is secretly manipulating him and driving him to his death.

Symbolism is a key part of anime OPs, but I can’t think of a single one in recent memory that has packed this much meaning into a single metaphor. I can’t wait to see people breaking it down even more in the coming days!

So, as we all know Otoha (we love Otoha) has made the new opening for Black Butler S4. This in case you missed it 0-o

A wonderful opening. SADLY WITH A LOT OF EASTER EGGS. ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF DORA ON CRACK WE WILL DISCUSS THE EASTER EGGS I FOUND.

TRUST ME. THIS IS WORTH READING.

So starting from the beginning and also linking the translated ENGLISH LYRICS of this song from this video:

We will start the analysis (Photos will be provided at the BIG EASTER EGGS while time stamps in both.)

SPOILER WARNING FROM MANGA DO NOT APPROACH IF NOT READ !!!!!!!!!!

So at time stamp 0:17 in the official intro, we have Bizzare doll bandages (Oh wow I am so smart).

At time stamp 0:25 in the official intro, near the shattered glass of Bluewer we see Claudia's P. locket AGAIN.

At 0:28 in the Of. In. we have Sebastian covering Ciel with his cape resembling the darkness that 'ate him' (haha ya get it) when he made the contract

At 0:33 we have a very old and dry 'Tree of Life' ew XD

At 0:36 for people that didn't notice behind Ciel, it's the Headmaster/ Undertaker.

NOW. at the time stamp 0:41 till 0:43 IF YOU PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE GLASS REFLECTION BEHIND THE OBVIOUS PEOPLE YOU CAN SEE REAL CIEL HOLDING IT. I KNOW THIS IS SHOCKING BUT ONCE YOU SEE IT'S AMAZING.

At time stamp 1:03, Black butler became Attack on Titan XD

NOW. At time stamp 1:06 we see this

This is followed by the lyrics from the video I linked:

This is Undertaker speaking and the silhouette we see is Claudia P. I came to this conclusion because of the scene in Book of Circus that Undertaker holds her locket THIS SCENE

And has a monologue of the warnings he has given. HERE COMES THE LYRICS OF THE INTRO: ' EVEN THE FEELINGS OF CURSING SOMEONE ARE TAKEN IN LIKE AN OFFERING' It fits perfectly.

9. At time stamp 1:11 we see Ciel... OR IS IT. That is in fact REAL CIEL.

This is based again on the lyrics of the video I linked which are these:

It speaks for itself. ITS THE REAL CIEL AND NEXT TO HIM IS NOT SEBASTIAN BUT UNDERTAKER IN HIS CLOAK.

10. At time stamp 1:12 we see the lockets again (Undertaker)

11. At time stamp 1:24 we see the witch arc forest and the dead bodies that were thrown in there.

Possibly speed run to a Season 5 and 6 0-0???????? Green Witch arc and Blue Star??

I will finish this one here but I am not done with the full song of Otoha that I will probably reblog here tomorrow as it has more Easter eggs concerning some characters.

When playing through In Stars and Time a couple of months ago, I recalled the first opening to a show which so happens to feature a timeloop power by the main character, Subaru. I figured I would talk about the first opening of the show and make some comparisons and and similarities they both share. Hope you enjoy reading!

SPOILERS FOR ISAT AND THE FIRST FEW EPISODES OF REZERO S1!! ---

While I was playing In Stars and Time, there was one song in particular that came up when I was playing as Siffrin. His mental state going into a downward spiral reminded me of a certain protagonist in an anime I watched a couple of years ago called Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World. To briefly explain the show, it follows this guy named Subaru who is transported to this fantasy world full of dragons, half-elfs, and other standard fantasy things. The twist is that after dying for the first time by an assassin known as Elsa, he learns that can return to a specific point before Subaru dies. There’s a lot of other stuff that goes on in the show and this aspect of having an ability to return after dying reminded me of Siffrin, alongside the trauma both characters experience in the show. 

That said, the first opening of Re:Zero called Redo by Konomi Suzuki reminded me a lot of In Stars and Time and I think there’s a few lyrics I really liked that I wanted to briefly discuss. Note I will be using the English cover by LeeandLie since it has a decent translation of the song and is a freakin’ banger. Anyways, there’s two separate lyrics I enjoy that translate well to ISAT: “My own past

It led me into a trap

But I can't

Can't believe that it's true I'm begging you

Please tell me it's a lie

Cause I feel I've lost all control

To break free”

Throughout the story of ISAT, there are mentions of the place that cannot be said by anyone in the world because of its mysterious disappearance. This area happens to be where the King and Siffrin are both from. Going through both Act 4 and 5, we see Siffrin increasingly become more anxious about not being able to remember where he is from or even who he is. I feel that this slowly starts to eat away at his sanity and not being able to know if he really has a family. He practically has no one to call someone that is close to him like any of the members of the party. This leads back to the fight with the King in Act 3 where he tries to say the name of home with the King. It physically hurts him and I feel that he never forgets that going into Act 4 and Act 5. It tugs at him that he cannot say or remember his home without it causing him pain. You get the memory to read and decode books in the castle from your homeland but I don’t recall him ever getting to actually say his home’s name in dialogue outside of the King fight. The “Cause I feel I've lost all control” lyric really hits me because of  what Act 5’s entire script is like; Siffrin is losing control of himself. He does everything right for the last four acts and even when he was so close to breaking out the loop, there was always something he had to fix. After abandoning his team members and heading to the castle alone, his dialogue in the castle is practically quiet. He doesn’t emote, he doesn’t go anywhere unnecessary, and he doesn’t make a single mistake. The problem is that man is NOT OKAY because of the several deaths he’s been through. Hell. Siffrin stops fighting when facing the King due to him just growing tired of losing all of his progress once the loop resets. Siffrin’s own past and the worry of everyone leaving him like before is what makes him lose control of himself in wanting to not be forgotten again.

“All our feelings light the night sky

I'll make a wish, and hope that it comes true this time

So the next version of me

They have a meaning

I can see the promise we made

Becomes a guiding light I know will never fade

So I will take this oath for your sake

Until the end

If I could change my tears into strength and power

Surely I'll find the future I see in my mind

Bring it to life”

This song feels made for ISAT despite it coming out years before this game even existed. Each version of SIffrin is the same person and just like Subaru, he is able to remember the memories he had in each loop. This is a blessing and a curse for both of them since they can keep the memories and information from previous loops with them to figure out problems in the next loop. The downside is that the pain they experience each loop and the mental they both share both decline drastically as they go through every loop. That can mentally fuck up someone whether it is a rogue hero or a normal dude from the real world. Recall back at the beginning of In Stars and Time where Siffrin makes a promise under the Favor Tree. There’s a few choices you can choose based on each of the party members and that promise is revealed at the end of Act 5. This ‘promise’ Siffrin keeps with him throughout the entire adventure and what starts out as a small thing grows into a HUGE part of the story and transforms into the quality that makes the last three acts so powerful. What he wishes for is to not let any of their party members go home as without them, he has nothing. Siffrin makes an unconscious oath to himself to never say the promise outloud and not tell anyone about his loops in fear of them becoming worried for him. If there is a future where he can be with this party forever then it is a future holding onto and that’s what prompts him to get to know all of his party members more personally.

 This seemingly goes well in Act 3 with everyone’s activities fulfilled and it appears that this will be the run that ends the cycle of loops..but it doesn’t. Funny enough, the game ends with the worst ending where Siffrin says some pretty mean things to Bonnie, Odile, Mirabelle, and Isabeu. I think this was a good direction to take since even with the power of the loops at his disposal, the future for Siffrin is always the same. Siffrin constantly will remain alone with himself after fighting the King without a direction to go. (depending on what you chose a wish to Favor Tree) What happens at the end of Act 5 is that he finally says his promise and comes clean about his fear of being alone. This changed his fate in my opinion impacted *more* than he did while in each of the loops. He not only was able to use his strength to save the ones he loves but also in the end, be given a life that he could finally smile and rest peacefully in. Siffrin defied his own fate and his dream was finally fulfilled.

This was just a little thought that I had while playing the game and since then, this song has been on my mind for this game. I hope to one day make an animatic of ISAT with this song specifically as an “anime opening” for it. But that is for another day. Hope you enjoyed reading!

Hi guys! I know I’m usually around TDP fandom, but I’m an anime watcher too, thus this announcement. In the uncoming days I’ll post an analysis shot-by-shot of the last opening, “Last Chapter” by nano.RIPE, because there are just so many jewels in it.

Okay, so today I’d like to talk about something that I’ve been mulling over in great detail ever since the start of Volume 6. Specifically, the closing shot of the opening:

Now, like every other WhiteRose shipper, I was quite happy to see Weiss being a very supportive partner/potential-girlfriend to Ruby.

HOWEVER, I must preface this by saying this post is not necessarily meant to hype up WhiteRose and/or try to convince you that it’s endgame. That having been said, as we’ll soon see it’s going to be pretty hard not to see some serious Ruby/Weiss implications.

The main point I’d like to explore here is just how MASSIVELY significant this shot is compared to the previous OPs of the series.

The first thing that really jumped out at me was, of course, Ruby and Weiss themselves. When you compare this closing shot to those of the previous OPs, it REALLY stands out. All the previous Openings either closed out on a shot of Ruby alone (Volumes 1 and 2) or a shot of all four members of Team RWBY (Volumes 3, 4 and 5), either emphasizing Ruby as the Protagonist, or emphasizing all four girls as the ‘Joint Protagonists’. Also, in the latter case, all four girls are presented in equal standing, with no one being give focus over the others. Also, all four are shown together, but also independently without really any physical contact going on.

This closing shot on the other hand, chucks all that right out the window. Here, the previously equal distribution of focus between Team RWBY is now completely unbalanced.

First, we have Blake and Yang, who are shoved WAY into the background in this shot. Instead of the middle of the shot, both are sharing the same space as Qrow, Oscar, JNR and Maria.

Then we have Ruby and Weiss, who in contrast have been pushed right into the spotlight. Whereas in previous OP closing shots, Team RWBY was divvied up along the middle of the shot, here Ruby and Weiss are front and center, clearly intended to be the center of attention. And of course we have what Ruby and Weiss are doing. Gone is the basic ‘standing together’ pose, and instead we have something far more dynamic: Ruby looking tired and haggard while she holds onto Weiss, while Weiss helps Ruby up while looking concerned for her partner.

I don’t think I have to explain how much of a massive departure this is from previous OPs. Instead of all four members of Team RWBY sharing equal focus, Ruby and Weiss have been pushed to the forefront, not only emphasizing these two characters individually, but also emphasizing the relationship between them as well.

And this isn’t even the biggest part:

The thing is, all this jumped out at me back when I first saw the Volume 6 Opening nine weeks ago, and back then I thought it was pretty damn interesting, and I was looking forward to seeing not only some serious character development for Ruby, but also seeing Weiss being there to help her partner.

However, looking back on the OP now, I noticed something rather odd: While this closing shot emphasizes Weiss helping and supporting Ruby, so far this volume their dynamic has been the opposite. Weiss has been in some kind of emotional turmoil multiple times this volume, and every time, Ruby has stepped up to help and support her. Obviously, I thought this was kinda weird. But then I went back and watched the other Openings (specifically 3, 4 and 5) and realized something VERY significant:

The closing shots of the OPs don’t show Team RWBY as they are during the volume. They show Team RWBY as they are at the END of the Volume!

Volume 3: Team RWBY looking dejected while all facing away in different directions, symbolizing how they were essentially defeated at the end of the volume, and are heading down very different paths from one another.

Volume 4: Team RWBY standing far apart from each other while facing the same direction, symbolizing how at the end of the volume they are still separated by great distance, but are now all headed in the same direction which will eventually see the team reunited.

Volume 5: Team RWBY finally reunited, charging forward together into battle against the image of Salem. Bonus points for this clearly happening in the Haven Academy entrance hall where Team RWBY is actually fully reunited at the end of the volume.

And now we come to Volume 6. It’s hard to say what exactly the events this could be symbolizing, but if the trend continues I think we can be sure that whatever events transpire to close out Volume 6, Ruby and Weiss are going to be right at the center of it. In fact, given how much everyone else is pushed to the background in this shot, I’d go as far to say that this Volume will close out on Ruby and Weiss, and ONLY Ruby and Weiss.

How might this play out? Personally, I’m leaning towards Ruby and Weiss somehow getting separated from the rest of the group. Maybe only Weiss and Ruby are able to get passage to Atlas, with the rest of the group having to find their own way in?

Additionally, Ruby’s probably not going to be in good shape at the end of the Volume. Possibly injured, most likely completely drained physically and emotionally by whatever happens during the final battle. Likewise, Weiss will be the one watching over her and helping her recover, which in turn would make a nice reversal to the dynamic they’ve had through the Volume.

Yeah. That part. Each of the dragons had a respective glow in relation to the dragonic part of their body, Kija’s claws flashed white, Shin-ah’s eye flashed blue, and Jae-ha’s leg flashed green. Zeno on the other hand, didn’t have any yellow flash, but was, like all the others was simply outlined in the glow colour of his dragon.  

It is this very point that there is a big piece of foreshadowing. All the others had a body part that flashed in that sequence, identifying that part as each Dragon’s gift. Zeno is the only one who doesn’t have this flash, and doesn’t need it. Why? Because Zeno’s entire BODY is the Yellow Dragon’s gift! 

(Cough I kinda liked the second OP more simply because of how Yona was pretty badass looking in her main action shots in that OP. Also, the first OP introduced characters we weren’t supposed to meet yet AKA IT WAS FREAKING SPOILERISH. The second OP was actually more subtle in its foreshadowing, and the scenes actually made more sense in relation to the arc it was telling. Though the first part of that OP was great in the way it incorporated the myth of King Hiryuu into it.)

The second half of Darling in the FranXX is upon us as marked by the climatic 15th episode and the new OP as of episode 16. The old OP hid numerous secrets that we didn’t fully understand til the later episodes such as a brief shot where we see Hiro holding hands with young Zero Two. This newer OP brings with it a whole host of other secrets to unpack and we can start doing it today! While there is some more obvious foreshadowing going on such as Zero Two disappearing in the end and leaving Hiro alone (Press F to pay respects), what I really want to focus on is how this OP contrasts with the first one and how that very contrast predicts a lot of whats going to happen in this second half. Lets get right into it!

The main thing going on here is color. This show is no stranger to using color as symbolism with red being the color of human blood and often being used to symbolize all things human. The same is true for blue which is klaxosaur blood and symbolizes all things klaxosaur. We get this the most when they talk about mixing blue and red with the union of Zero Two and Hiro. 

But while this blending of colors with Hiro and Zero Two is mentioned quite briefly in the first OP, we see that the majority of the OP takes a single color as the focus: Red

Not only is it bathed in red, but the red is complimented with grays mainly in the form of grayed out characters. These muted colors are a direct reference to how most humans here lack lifeless, without personality and without purpose. Of course our team of heroes is a different experiment being conducted and we see color briefly flash by in their later individual shots and then in full color when piloting their Franxx. The moment where color bursts into full is when Hiro falls down Zero Two’s rabbit hole and falls in love with her.

So how does this relate to the second OP? Well if red was our primary color for the first we’ve now done a 180 and made blue our primary color.

Its also important to note that there isn’t a single bit of the OP where our main characters are framed without color. Only the elite asshole and two caretakers don’t have their own color in the first screenshot symbolizing their continued lack of personality and ability to think for themselves. 

This color change becomes increasingly important when we consider what those color represented in terms of humans and klaxosaurs. If part one was all about finding out the dirty little secrets of the humans than part two seems likely to be about the klaxosaur’s and their secrets. We’ve already gotten hints to their human connections in episode 15 when its pointed out that the inside of their cores seems to contain human-looking objects.

Where blue takes on a different meaning is its use as the sky in both the first and second OPs. This blue is noticeable a different shade than the color of klaxosaur blood and symbolizes freedom as the sky often does. What adds to this in an interesting way is the way birds factor in to the symbolism of the show, namely the bird that only has one wing and can only fly with the help of another. They make it clear this is an obvious reference to Hiro and Zero Two but in this OP we get much clearer visual indicators of this as you can see from the last screenshot above where Zero Two kissing Hiro gives Hiro his wing. And of course the screenshot above it clearly shows Zero Two with a single wing. 

Both OPs end with the main color of blue or red dissolving away and the characters flying which indicates to me that both sides of this war are bad in their own ways and neither of them offer a true solution. Of course we’ll find out the secret of the klaxosaurs soon enough but its becoming increasingly likely that they are more civilized than we’re led to believe at first. One interesting thing to note is that Zero Two being held by the klaxosaur hands might indicate them helping her achieve her goals as they’re literally moving her towards the sky.