Welcome–and welcome back to Otaku Thursday! For Star and I, con season is here and we are working away at preparing cosplays for Sakuracon that’s happening in a little over two weeks. As we con crunch, as we con crunch every year, we decided to relax a little and spend this Otaku Thursday watching anime endings and ranking them, as we do, from one to five. You all know the drill by now. Without further ado, here are our top five anime endings of Winter 2023!
5 ) “Hidamari no Saido” by konoco, Handyman Saitou in Another World
We haven’t been following this anime, and while I’m sure to some the ending is lackluster, we are impressed. This ending stood out to us as being the only one this season to really do something different–and that different thing is that it is nearly all claymation. Super unique.
4 )”Himegoto * Crisisters” by Onimai Sisters, Oniichan wa Oshimai!
Star really loves this ending. Again, we aren’t watching it, but Star really wants to know. The animation, the bright colors–they are really cool. BUT what really makes this is the fluidity of the ending and the way it’s framed. We get different angles, lenses–it’s constantly moving and busy but never messy.
3 ) “un_mute” by Maaya Sakamoto, Revenger
A simplistic ending but one that really showcases the beauty of the show. What I appreciate the most of this is, well yes the song, but also that the animation is so crisp and clear. What I mean by that, is that in the show, there’s a lot of pretty scenery but we don’t always get the time to appreciate it. That’s pretty much all this ending is–an appreciation of the beautiful art–and the song is a banger.
2 ) “rebind” by TRUE, Mononogatari
Wow. So once again, we have a really good song for sure. But the storyline of this ending is really what gets us. They wrap up so many things into this ending that really hint at bits and pieces of the anime. When you first watch it, you wonder why we’re following a wedding and why she’s getting married…but then. Then you get it and it’s just really beautiful.
1 ) “Mada Tooku ni Iru” by Maaya Sakamoto, The Fire Hunter
Coming in at number one is the ending to a decidedly lukewarm show. Where Fire Hunter was a bit of a letdown narratively for its first season, the ending theme is gorgeous. The song is amazing and constantly gets stuck in our heads (side note: I’ve never heard of Maaya Sakamoto but I think I’m a fan now between this song and the Revenger ending). What I really adore about this ending though is the simple complexity. Where it really is just images sliding along as the silhouette of the girl and the dog walk, we’re met with bright brilliant colors and gorgeous images. What’s more is that all of these images sliding in and out in these brilliant colors, patterns, and art styles–are actually all things from the anime. The more we watch, the more we realized was in the ending. So where it seems random at first, it actually calls back to all the important moments and characters from the show. While the show may be lukewarm, it’s ending is a true masterpiece.
Those are our picks for top 5 anime endings of winter 2023! Not as hard to choose as we thought, though there are many good ones. As winter anime continues to wind down, we’ll be getting ready to choose out top five anime of the season. I’m not sure we have solid picks just yet, so it’ll be as much a surprise to us as you when we do choose! But in the meantime, forgive us while we come out with some more thoughtless content as we get ourselves for this year’s Sakuracon.
Stay weebtastic,
xoxo
Luna
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