We love anime for its adventurous tales, emotional characters, and unique storytelling. Animes are also famous for their intros, and occasionally, a metal song makes its way into the opening sequence. We've curated the best metal anime openings for you, and some of them are definitely playlist-worthy.
One Punch Man – "The Hero"
This track is by JAM Project, which stands for Japanese Animation song Makers. The band is well-known in the anime music industry, with members previously contributing to other animes such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and One Piece. For One Punch Man, they created a track that couldn’t be a better fit for the anime.
Death Note – "What’s Up, People?"
Those familiar with Death Note know that the series deserves a fitting intro. Specifically, this is the second opening used from episode 20 onward. The lyrics match the show’s themes of crime, stress, and fear. Since the series is one of the most popular animes of all time, fans automatically associate this song by the Japanese band Maximum The Hormone with it.
Aggretsuko – "Aggressive Girl"
This anime features a red panda lady who vents her emotions through death metal songs in a karaoke bar every evening. During the day, she tries to hide her anger behind a smile and conform. It’s no wonder that the intro matches the series perfectly. Specifically, this is the opening theme of the third season.
Demon Slayer – "Gurenge"
Solo artist LiSA really hit it big with this song: it stayed in the Japanese charts for over 140 weeks! "Gurenge" starts off quite mellow but quickly becomes intense and chaotic. While the highly energetic song isn’t classic metal and leans more towards rock, it definitely includes some elements reminiscent of our favorite genre:
Attack on Titan – "The Rumbling"
The fourth season of Attack on Titan marks a new era in the anime, and it needed an opening that packs a punch. The Japanese metalcore band SiM handled this with "The Rumbling," which opened the second part of season 4. Fans might not have expected an intro of this sort, but no piece of music could better fit an anime.
Hunter x Hunter – "Just Awake"
This song is the very first outro of the 2011 version of Hunter x Hunter, performed by Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas, a band known for its trancecore genre.
These are definitely our favorites that we came across in our research. It's no longer so surprising to see metal increasingly being embraced in Japanese pop culture. Nonetheless, we're thrilled every time a great metal anime opening blows us away!
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