Summary
Major and minor spoilers ahead!As all anime fans know, one never skips the opening…unless one wants to go into the showwithoutknowing every major plot reveal. All but the most simplistic anime openings like to pack in as many characters and story beats as possible, many of which were supposed to be surprises. Even the simpler ones can be pretty heavy with foreshadowing: one viewing of “Grain” will have viewers worried forMonster’s Kenzou Tenma way before his life goesthatfar down the drain.
Many times, the opening will hide blatant spoilers in plain sight, through stylization and symbolism that’s harder to interpret: seeKaguya-sama: Love is WarorPuella Magi Madoka Magica.Other times, it will flat-out lie to viewers to make story events hit harder (case in point: Yuuji and Junpei will never be as happy as they are at that picnic in the firstJujutsu Kaisenopening). But these are the openings that do not care one bit about hiding anything.
10Future Diary Telegraphs Its Final Reveals
Based on the manga by Sakae Esuno
Future Diarycenters around humans armed by God with future-predicting cell phones in a battle royale to decide his successor, so some supernatural nonsense is expected. However,major plot reveals late in the show center around the manipulation of realityitself by decidedly human characters. So, it’s interesting to note who disappears rather than dies, and who seems to be fighting a different opponent than the other Diary holders.
The second opening might be even worse in this regard: while the use of blue in the visuals is important, it’s the English lyrics of the song “Dead END” viewers should be paying attention to. By the time this opening premieres, a certain character’s big secret is still very much a secret. But those who listen carefully enough to catch it will get a heads-up as to where the plot is headed.
9Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Spoils the Manga’s Ending
Based on the manga by Hiromu Arakawa
The number one thing that shounen anime openings spoil is fights:with one watch, viewers can know every matchup that’s coming over the course of an arc, even if the outcomes aren’t clear.Brotherhood’s openings telegraph almost every single major fight, from Mustang killing Lust, to Greedling turning on the Homunculi (after the previous opening showed Ling among the villains), to Scar versus Wrath.
It’s “Period,” the fourth opening, that takes the cake. The manga’s final chapters were still months from being published, but that doesn’t stop a major loss of Edward’s from being shown front and center in a retroactive spoiler. And as inspiring as it is to see everyone on Ed’s side, the fourth ending “Shunkan Sentimental” does spoil every single change of allegiance in the back half of the anime to show it, with a bonus visual of a certain transmutation circle activating.
8Naruto Shippuden’s Later Openings Give Away Major Reveals
Based on the manga by Masashi Kishimoto
“Guren” is performed by Japanese rock band DOES, who also contributed songs to the openings ofGintamaandSpace Brothers.
The final arcs ofNaruto Shippudenespecially are full of twists and turns, with unexpected deaths, revivals, and some of themost shocking reveals inNaruto.It’s unfortunate that it has such good openings,because all of themare so very determined to spoil as many upcoming plot points as possible.Dishonorable mention goes to “Guren,” the fifteenth opening ofShippuden.
Shown well before they aired are everything from Obito, fully unmasked and fighting Kakashi, to the Hokage resurrected together by Kabuto, to Hashirama and Madara’s childhood friendship. The jinchuuriki of the Ten-Tails is even shown fully unveiled in the final shot. But most egregiously, though the dead body that a shocked Naruto is holding is shown in shadow, the next shot of Hinata crying is a pretty huge hint about who it is.
Naruto
Cast
Naruto is an action-adventure anime series based on the manga series created by Masashi Kishimoto. The titular Naruto Uzumaki is a fearsome Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit sealed inside him, which once wreaked havoc on his village. Shunned by his community yet determined to earn their respect, Naruto dreams of becoming the greatest ninja, the Hokage. This series follows his journey through the Ninja Academy as he continues to train and grow, hoping to prove himself to his peers- and himself.
7Juuni Taisen’s Opening Spells Out Who Dies When
Based on the light novel by Nisio Isin and Hikaru Nakamura
Themost brutal death games in animeare battle royales: a large group of people thrown together to slaughter one another until there’s one winner left. Much of the appeal of this subgenre isfeeling the suspense build with each death, as the pool of combatants gets smaller and fiercer.With a show likeJuuni Taisen,in which all twelve warriors are powerful, well-trained, and clawing to win, how can anyone predict who will and won’t make it?
Just watch the opening. The combatants not only appear in the reverse order of the Eastern zodiac, starting with the Rat, but also in the reverse order in which they die. Though it may seem subtle at first, the frequency with which this opening shows the warriors standing in a straight line together or appearing one after the other in rapid succession, in the same order each time, starts to clue attentive viewers in.
6Shiki Spoils Its Vampire Transformations
Based on the novel by Fuyumi Ono
Shiki are among the scariest andbest vampires in anime, slipping into unsuspecting towns and steadily transforming their human inhabitants 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. It’s all the survivors can do to stay alive and stay human.
Normally,the danger of corruption and which hero will fall to it is a scary and suspenseful question.Or, it would be, if the first opening didn’t spoil the characters who wind up turned into a shiki. Flashing an ominous-looking skeleton in front of them rather than showing the actual transformation is a slightly more subtle way of showing it, but the fact remains that it’s impossible to unsee once the viewer realizes what’s going on.
Shiki
When many deaths occur in the quiet village of Sotoba, Doctor Toshio Ozaki initially suspects an epidemic but soon becomes convinced that something else is causing them.
5Bokurano’s Opening is a Collage of Spoilers
Based on the manga by Mohiro Kitoh
Bokurano’s final episodes differ considerably from the manga: dark as the anime can get, 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 they’re entering one of thescariest non-horror anime.Roped into an inescapable fight against mysterious monsters, they risk their lives to pilot the mecha Zearth. There’s representing a story through creative visuals, and then there’sstraight-up cobbling the opening together from actual clips of the show.
At first, they won’t mean much out-of-context. But the more they watch, viewers realize that many take place right before something awful happens, from Chizu meeting Kako at the pool just before he attacks her to Maki looking horrified at a wide expanse of stars, priming them to tense up when they actually appear in-show. Details that appear simply stylistic, such as Kokopelli’s continued appearance, to lights rising from the Earth, to even the word “uninstall” itself, turn out to be incredibly significant.
4One Piece Openings Toss Out Manga Spoilers Left and Right
Based on the manga by Eiichiro Oda
One Pieceis famously one of thelongest-running anime of all time, based on the even longer-running manga.The vast majority of the anime’s openings spoil plot points and reveals,with some of the most infamous being the third opening, “Hikari E,” showing Nico Robin among the heroes when she still has a full twenty episodes to go as a villain, and the twelfth opening “Kaze wo Sagashite” keeps characters hidden but shows several major moments of the Impel Down Arc.
One might excuse this all on the grounds that the anime expects viewers to be keeping up with manga already. However, that doesn’t hold water for the twenty-second opening, “OVER THE TOP,” which is spoilers from beginning to end, including Luffy’s newest Gear form and the identity of one of the Nine Red Scabbards. This was notably shocking to fans because this particular reveal hadn’t even happened in the manga yet!
One Piece
Created by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece is a multimedia franchise that began as a manga series and follows the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates as led by Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy, an enthusiastic pirate with a thirst for adventure, is afflicted by a mysterious curse that gives him various powers he uses to protect himself and his friends. The manga eventually gave way to the anime series, with the two being some of history’s longest-running anime and manga series. Along with over fifty video games made over the years, the series entered the live-action world with Netflix’s 2023 adaptation.
3Vampire Knight Reveals Yuuki’s True Nature Early On
Based on the manga by Matsuri Hino
At Cross Academy, classes are split between the Day Class of humans and the Night Class of vampires, whose beef with each other is nothing compared to the bitterness between the vampires Zero and Kaname, who fight for the affections of their classmate Yuuki. As ahuman in a fantasy romance, Yuuki seems to be the audience surrogate, overwhelmed by a world she doesn’t belong to.
The first season’s opening gives viewers a good idea of how the story isactuallygoing to go. Turns out Yuuki is actually a Pureblood vampire, powerful enough to match both her love interests. This reveal happens 21 episodes into a 26 episode anime, and would probably have been a huge twist if viewers hadn’t already seen Yuuki downing a tubeful of blood like a shot and sporting bright red eyes in every opening of the first season.
2JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Openings Tell The Whole Story
Based on the manga by Hirohiko Araki
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventurefavors openings that stylistically portray the entire story of its arc from beginning to end,which, naturally, spoils quite a bit.Phantom Bloodmay be the most blatant, but the most infamous instance is “Bloody Stream,”Battle Tendency’s opening. Watching someone’s bubble turn red with blood immediately before a grieving Joseph puts on a familiar headband makes it clear who will only be a memory by the end.
The other parts’ openings are no less showy. Haven’t been spoiled on what Dio’s Stand does? Better not pay too much attention to all the imagery used in “Sono Chi no Kioku." Thought Okuyasu was just a one-shot villain? Nope, there he is with the heroes in “Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town.” And if viewers missed “Fighting Gold"’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hints of who’s going to die inGolden Wind,they definitely won’t miss “Traitor’s Requiem” skipping straight to the ending.
JoJo Bizarre Adventure
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is an anime adapted from Hirohiko Araki’s manga, following the Joestar family whose members discover their unique supernatural abilities. Spanning multiple generations and diverse settings, each arc explores different members' battles against malevolent forces, blending action, horror, and fantastical elements.
1Erased Reveals Its Killer In Its Opening
Based on the manga by Kei Sanbe
When Satoru is sent back in time to solve the murders of his classmates, all viewers have to do to solve the mystery alongside him is not watch the opening. If they do, they mightcatch several quick but very clear glimpses of the killer.The most visible shot of the killer shows them much older than they first appear, spoiling that Satoru will fail to stop them as a child.
However, the other takes place on a rooftop that viewers will recognize later, where an unknown figure shoots Satoru, implicitly in the face. Blink and they’ll miss it, but look closely and the smirking face of the killer, gun in hand, can be seen reflected in the shards of Satoru’s broken glasses. With each successive episode, their image becomes clearer until it’s plain as day.
