Summary
Anime openings are known for setting the tone and mood of a series, but sometimes they can give away too much. Here are some anime openings that spoil major plot points and plot twists: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – The first opening, “Again,” shows Ed’s arm being restored, which doesn’t happen until much later in the series. Naruto Shippuden – Many later openings reveal important revelations, such as Obito’s unmasking and the Hokage’s resurrection.
Major and minor spoilers ahead! As any anime fan knows, one never skips the opening… unless one wants to watch the show without knowing every major plot revelation. All anime openings, except the simplest ones, like to cram in as many characters and story beats as possible, many of which are supposed to be surprises. Even the simpler openings can be quite heavy on foreshadowing: just one viewing of “Grain” will have viewers worried about Monster’s Kenzou Tenma before his life comes crashing down to that point.
Many times, the opening will hide plot spoilers in a blatant way, through stylization and symbolism that are harder to interpret: see Kaguya-sama: Love is War or Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Other times, it will lie to the viewer to make the events of the story more difficult to grasp (prime example: Yuuji and Junpei will never be as happy as they were at the picnic in the first Jujutsu Kaisen opening). But these are openings that don't bother hiding anything.
10 Future Diary Telegraphs Reveal Final Things
Based on the manga by Sakae Esuno
Future Diary focuses on humans equipped with God-like cell phones that predict the future in a battle royale to decide a successor, so some supernatural nonsense is to be expected. However, The main plot revealed at the end of the chapter focuses on reality manipulation. themselves by characters who are clearly human. So it's interesting to note who disappears instead of dying, and who seems to be fighting a different opponent than the other Diary keepers.
The second opening could be even worse in this regard: while the use of blue in the image is important, it’s the English lyrics to “Dead END” that viewers should pay attention to. By the time this opening comes out, a certain character’s big secret is still a secret. But those who listen carefully enough to catch it will know where the plot is going.
Based on the manga by Hiromu Arakawa
The first thing that the shounen anime's opening reveals is the battles: Watching it once, viewers can see every fight that's going to happen throughout an arc, even if the outcome isn't clear. The opening of Brotherhood foreshadows almost every major battle, from Mustang killing Lust, to Greedling betraying the Homunculi (after the previous opening showed Ling as one of the villains), to Scar versus Wrath.
It was “Period,” the fourth prologue, that took the top prize. The manga’s final chapters were still months away, but that didn’t stop Edward’s loss from taking center stage in a cliffhanger. And while it was inspiring to see everyone siding with Ed, the fourth epilogue, “Shunkan Sentimental,” teased out all the shifting allegiances of the anime’s second half to show for it, with a bonus image of a certain transformation circle activating.
These 8 Naruto Shippuden Prologues Reveal Important Information
Based on the manga by Masashi Kishimoto
“Guren” is performed by Japanese rock band DOES, who also contributed opening themes to Gintama and Space Brothers.
The final arcs of Naruto Shippuden are especially full of unexpected twists and turns, with unexpected deaths, resurrections, and some of the most shocking revelations in Naruto. It's unfortunate that while it had such a good start, because they are all determined to reveal as much of the upcoming plot as possible. Unfortunately, that includes “Guren”, the fifteenth opening theme of Shippuden.
Shown before the broadcast was everything from Obito, completely unmasked and fighting Kakashi, to the Hokage being resurrected by Kabuto together, to Hashirama and Madara's childhood friendship. The Ten-Tails' Jinchuuriki was even shown completely naked in the final shot. But the most embarrassing thing was that, although the corpse that the shocked Naruto was holding was shown in shadow, the subsequent shot of Hinata crying was a pretty big hint as to who it was.
7 Juuni Taisen Prologues That Reveal Who Will Die When
Based on the light novel by Nisio Isin and Hikaru Nakamura
The most brutal death game in anime is the battle royale: a large group of players slaughter each other until only one winner remains. Much of the appeal of this subgenre is The thrill increases with each death, as the warriors become fewer and more ferocious. With a show like Juuni Taisen, where all twelve warriors are strong, well-trained, and determined to win, how can anyone predict who will succeed and who won't?
Just look at the opening. Not only do the warriors appear in reverse order of the Eastern zodiac, starting with the Rat, but they also appear in reverse order of the order in which they died. While it may seem subtle at first, the frequency with which this opening shows the warriors standing in a straight line or appearing one after another in rapid succession, in the same order each time, begins to clue the viewer in.
6 Shiki ruins his vampire transformation
Based on the novel by Fuyumi Ono
Shiki is one of the scariest and most awesome vampires in anime, sneaking into unsuspecting towns and constantly turning human residents into monsters. It takes a few deaths before the people of Sotoba realize that their town is under attack by the undead, and by then, it's almost too late. The only thing the survivors can do is stay alive and remain human.
Normally, The dangers of corruption and which hero will suffer is a terrifying and suspenseful question. Or, it would be, if the first opening sequence didn't reveal the characters eventually turning into shiki. Showing an ominous-looking skeleton in front of them instead of showing the actual transformation would have been a slightly more subtle way to show it, but the fact is still impossible to not see once the viewer realizes what's going on.
5 Bokurano's opening is a collection of spoilers
Based on the manga by Mohiro Kitoh
The final episodes of Bokurano are significantly different from the manga: the anime may be dark, but the manga's ending is much bleaker!
When a middle school class discovers an alien on an innocent trip to the beach, they have no idea that they are stepping into one of the scariest non-horror anime. Drawn into an inevitable battle against mysterious monsters, they risk their lives to pilot the mecha Zearth. Being able to express a story through creative visuals, and then having Spliced together the opening sequence from actual clips of the show.
At first, they wouldn’t make much sense out of context. But the more you watch, the more you realize that many of the scenes that take place right before something bad happens, from Chizu meeting Kako at the pool right before he attacks her to Maki staring in horror at a vast starry void, are tense when they actually appear in the episode. Details that seem purely stylistic, like Kokopelli’s constant appearances, to the light rising from the Earth, even the word “uninstall,” turn out to be incredibly important.
4 opening scenes of One Piece reveal the content of the manga left and right
Based on the manga by Eiichiro Oda
One Piece is famous for being one of the longest running anime of all time, based on an even longer manga series. Most anime openings reveal plot details and plot details, Some of the most infamous are the third opening, “Hikari E”, which shows Nico Robin as one of the heroes when she still has twenty episodes left to play the villain, and the twelfth opening “Kaze wo Sagashite” which keeps the characters hidden but shows some key moments of the Impel Down Arc.
One could excuse all of this because the anime expects viewers to keep up with the manga. However, that is not the case with the twenty-second opening, “OVER THE TOP”, which reveals everything from beginning to end, including Luffy’s latest Gear form and the identity of one of the Nine Red Scabbards. This is a real shock to fans because this particular reveal didn’t even happen in the manga!
3 Vampire Knight Reveals Yuuki's True Nature From the Start
Based on the manga by Matsuri Hino
At Cross Academy, the classes are divided into the Human Day Class and the Vampire Night Class, whose discord with each other is nothing compared to the bitterness between the two vampires Zero and Kaname, who fight for the affections of their classmate Yuuki. As a As the human in a fantasy romance, Yuuki seems to be a surrogate for the audience, overwhelmed by a world she does not belong to.
The opening of the first season gives viewers a good idea of how the story will actually play out. It turns out that Yuuki is actually a pureblood vampire, powerful enough to suit both of her love interests. This revelation happens 21 episodes into the 26-episode anime series, and would have been a major twist if viewers hadn't seen Yuuki drink a vial of blood as a shot and show off her glowing red eyes in every opening of the first season.
The 2 opening scenes of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure tell the whole story
Based on the manga by Hirohiko Araki
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure like opening paragraphs that have a descriptive style that tells the whole story from beginning to end, which of course gives away quite a bit. Phantom Blood may be the most obvious, but the most infamous is “Bloody Stream,” the opening of Battle Tendency. Seeing someone’s bubble turn red with blood right before a grieving Joseph puts on his familiar headband makes it clear who will be just a memory by the end of the film.
The other openings are no less intriguing. Have you been spoiled by what Dio’s Stand does? It’s best not to pay too much attention to all the visuals used in “Sono Chi no Kioku.” You thought Okuyasu was just a one-off villain? No, he’s there with the heroes in “Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town.” And if viewers missed “Fighting Gold’s” blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hints about who dies in Golden Wind, they certainly won’t miss “Traitor’s Requiem” as it skips straight to the ending.
1 Erased reveals the killer in the opening
Based on the manga by Kei Sanbe
When Satoru is sent back in time to solve his classmate's murder, all viewers have to do to solve the mystery with him is not watch the opening. If they do, they can can catch a glimpse of the killer a few times but very clearly. The clearest shot of the killers shows them to be much older than they initially appear, revealing that Satoru would not have been able to stop them when they were still children.
The other scene, however, takes place on a rooftop that viewers will recognize later, where an unnamed figure shoots Satoru, implicitly in the face. Blink and you'll miss it, but look closely and the killer's smirking face, gun in hand, can be seen reflected in the shards of Satoru's broken glasses. With each subsequent episode, their image becomes clearer until it's as clear as day.