Summer 2011 OPs – part 2

Get ready for a cuteness overload! This is the second part of my OP collection for Summer 2011 shows (Part One is here). My only real aim here is to collect most of the opening credit sequences (OPs) from new shows. I depend on others to upload them to Youtube, so the order they arrive in is out of my control.

The shows covered in this post are presented in alphabetical order (not personal preference!):

1. Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel: Kyun Kyun Tokimeki Paradise!!
2. Mayo Chiki
3. Morita-san wa Mukuchi
4. Usagi Drop (Bunny Drop)
5. Yuru Yuri

Special BONUS Service: IdolM@ster ED “The World Is All One”.

Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel: Kyun Kyun Tokimeki Paradise!!

This one made me physically nauseous. It was like a J-pop version of Alvin and the Chipmonks. Based on this OP, the show seems to be what would happen if Sailor Moon was about much younger girls. I don’t intend to watch the show to find out, although Caraniel says the actual show is much better. .. Well, her exact words are: “The most horrific and traumatising part of the episode is the OP.” So I guess that means it gets better from here on out.

Mayo Chiki

Generic J-pop, which is perfect, because it looks like the show is a generic ecchi RomCom.

Morita-san wa Mukuchi

I know very little about this series, and honestly I don’t see anything here to make me think I should. I guess I could say this was spectacularly UNDER-whelming.

Usagi Drop (Bunny Drop)

Visually this was pleasant. I like seeing different animation styles in the OP or ED. It also seems to fit what I understand of the basic theme, a single man taking care of a little kid. Musically it was a bit of a disappointment, though, because it sounds like a retro pop-rock tune. Eeh? I thought this was going to be Puffy? I really enjoyed their Punk tune in the OP to Hataraki Man.

Yuru Yuri

I actually don’t mind this kind of Bubblegum Pop music … when I’m in the right mood. Here’s my theory about this style of music. The song is basically designed to showcase the vocalists who have no artistic control over the song whatsoever. As a result, these songs usually have high production value, and very well crafted pop qualities, such as a killer hook. This song is exactly like that. It has an infectious hook that any five year old could learn to sing along with. The rest of it is actually clever (not artistically profound, clever), with a hint of Ska in the verse. Visually  it looks just like what you would expect. I’m not often in a bubbly, silly mood like this, but I could see having a copy of this song to play just in case.

Final thoughts

My fave of this batch was Yuru Yuri, but I don’t think I would peg it higher than the better OPs from part one (in particular Blood-C is kind of growing on me). I’m still hoping one of the remaining series will have a really interesting OP, so look forward to next time, everybody!

Bonus

IdolM@ster apparently didn’t have an OP this week, but I thought it would go well with the other shows here, so instead this is the ED (or the 1st ED? I guess they might have a lot of these given the premise of the show).