The Best Anime of 2017

The Best Theme Songs of 2017

Mike Toole

"Aozora no Rhapsody" by fhána (Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid)

Easily the most catchy piece of 2017's groovy anime music scene is the beginning of "Aozora no Rhapsody", the opening tune to Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. I'm not necessarily referring to the entire song, but just the first eight bars, in which a gleeful chorus hollers "Chu chu yeah! Please me!" over a whimsical strings riff. The rest of the song is pretty good too, but that first part is absolutely instrumental. Er, I mean, it's crucial.

James Beckett

"Umarun Taisou" by SisterS (Himōto! Umaru-chan R)

This ending earns its title as best of the year for one simple reason: Every week, without fail, I would watch Himōto! Umaru-chan R's closing credits sequence all the way through to the end, and I would enjoy every second of it. The song itself is a joyous celebration of the friendships that the second season of the show did such a good job of building on. The bright, poppy visuals highlight all four of the main girls of the series embracing their inner Himouto and succumbing to the sweet temptation of just collapsing in to comfort and relaxation. It's absolutely infectious, to the point where I find myself humming the refrain of “daradaradaradara” to myself whenever I need to find a moment of zen. To have any ending theme stand out so much for me is unusual in and of itself; for a song to become as much of a mainstay of the year as this one had means its something special, indeed.

Amy McNulty

"fake town baby" by UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond)

Unison Square Garden churns out nothing but catchy tunes when it comes to anime openings and endings, and this year's opening to BBB&B is no exception. Though the English is a bit wonky at the beginning of the song, it's a catchy tune as the tempo builds, and the guitar riff just makes it all the more toe-tapping. The visuals pop off the screen and are choreographed well to the song's rhythm. This is one opening I was never even tempted to skip each week.

Lauren Orsini

"Rapture" by Panorama Panama Town (Juni Taisen: Zodiac War)

While the anime itself was a mixed bag, the opening theme was an earworm from the first episode. A slower song with a sonorous melody and an unrelenting drum beat, it quickly found its way to my alt rock playlist for daily rotation. I know I'm not alone because I've seen some truly inspired covers of it on YouTube. And though I need to just pick one song, the ending theme is worth another listen as well. I wish the show itself had taken a cue!

Rebecca Silverman

"GO" by Bump of Chicken (Granblue Fantasy the Animation)

So this is the second year in a row I've chosen the opening theme from a fantasy adventure series. There's just something about fantasy shows that seems to inspire songs that urge you to go on an adventure, but where my last year's pick, the opening theme to Tales of Zestiria the X, was rousing, Bump of Chicken's “GO” instead gives the impression of the comfort of long travels with people you like. It's a quiet adventure song, more a “walk through rolling hills” than a “go kill the monster” vibe, and that suits Granblue Fantasy's more laid-back feel and the comfortable group dynamic of its heroes. “GO” both fits the show and is a nice song in its own right.

Lynzee Loveridge

"Shinzou wo Sasageyo!" by Linked Horizon (Attack on Titan season 2)

Linked Horizon created another ear worm this year. It doesn't quite reach the meme status of “Guren no Yumiya” from the first season, but many of the ingredients that made the first so catchy are reprised for the season's new theme. Chorus I can yell along to despite knowing minimal Japanese? Check. A swelling of instrumental and vocal tension leading up to a big moment? Check. Dinosaurs in the accompanying animation? Triple check. The anime itself didn't leave much of an impression on me despite the hype, but its opening song definitely delivered the goods.

Chris Farris

"The Other Side of the Wall" by Void_Chords feat.MARU (Princess Principal)

Some anime wait until after the premier to slot the opening theme in, but Princess Principal wisely included it in the very first episode. Along with the bombastic, one-of-a-kind English-language vocals in the song, what really put this one over my other choices (both Re:CREATORS intros) was the outstandingly-implemented visuals. It's a sequence that just gets you pumped to watch the series every time it starts, and contributes to the overall awesome atmosphere of Princess Principal itself. Even if we never quite found out what that giant lizard was all about.

Paul Jensen

"Aozora no Rhapsody" by fhána (Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid)

The opening theme of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid was a fantastic match for the style and tone of the series. With a peppy song and some wonderfully weird visuals, the whole sequence was bursting at the seams with the same quirky vibe that made the show so charming. The song is also so damn catchy that it gets stuck in my head every time I think about the show. And, of course, who can say no to a bunch of dancing dragons?

Gabriella Ekens

"Heikousen" by Sayuri (Scum's Wish)

For my OP/ED of the year, I'm going to have go with this ambitious little number crafted to send off a show premised on plumbing the sexual neuroses of a bunch of squirrelly young adults. Scum's Wish's ED, Sayuri's Parallel Line, captures the raw, untidy emotions of these teens with her powerful fraying vocals. The song's lyrics emphasize their isolation, the all-consuming nature of their emotions, and their attempts to find connection through shallow physicality. The visuals, meanwhile, are a kaleidoscope of yonic imagery. The characters' bodies meld together, spilling their insides in a manner representative of the show's emotional content. If you want your anime capped off with artsy little aesthetic exercises, Scum's Wish possesses the year's premiere example of that.

Nick Creamer

"Rapture" by Panorama Panama Town (Juni Taisen: Zodiac War)

Looking back, this hasn't been a particularly impressive year for anime OPs. My top crop are all roughly in the same “solid OP, but not something I'd return to” range, from Kemono Friends' buoyant theme song to Girls' Last Tour's cheerful dancing. Overall, I'd say my favorite is probably Juni Taisen. The OP isn't necessarily the most visually impressive (though I appreciate both its frame-in-frame first half and smartly executed CG second half), but the overall combination of visuals and song always hyped me up and got me in the right mindset for an episode, which is ultimately one of the best things an OP can do. In a fairly weak year, Juni Taisen kinda wins this one by default.

Theron Martin

"The Other Side of the Wall" by Void_Chords feat.MARU (Princess Principal)

No closer in 2017 made much of a lasting impression on me, but there were a number of great and memorable openers. Ultimately I narrowed it down to a toss-up between the jazz-infused, English-language opener for Princess Principal and the dark, techno-styled “Jingo Jungle” by MYTH&ROID, which served as the opener for Saga of Tanya the Evil. Both had great songs and excellent visual presentations, but the use of all-original animation and more perfectly-fitting lyrics ultimately tipped the scale in the favor of the former.

Anne Lauenroth

"LET iT END" by SiM

It was a tough choice between ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.'s Shadow and Truth by ONE III NOTES and Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul's first opening, LET iT END by SiM. While the former does a wonderful job at subtle foreshadowing and inviting interpretation to a song oozing cool, the latter couldn't be farther from my kind of music. But that didn't matter, because there was hype – Bahamut was coming back! And LET iT END was solely concerned with building up the hype in badass black, white, and red. At that point, I was so excited to see the show making an unexpected return that I was more than glad to jump on the stylish hype train. Then Bahamut lost all its joy and abandoned its character writing for the convenience of a plot that felt more and more like something conceived on the back of a restaurant menu at 3 AM the night before. I choose LET iT END because I want my Bahamut hype back.