What Is the Best Anime Opening of Fall 2021?

What Is the Best Anime Opening of Fall 2021?

First Community Event

DoubleSama Discord server QR code
DoubleSama Discord server

Starting in 2022, I’m hosting events over on my Discord server. Anyone who joins the server and accepts the rules is eligible to participate. You get bonus server XP and an event-specific role badge for participating. Come hang out with us.

For the first event, we did a bracket to determine what the best anime opening (OP) of the fall 2021 season was. This bracket ran from January 1st – 31st, with a new OP matchup for community members to vote on each day.

Our next community event is planned to begin on March 1st and will be another bracket to determine the best OP from the winter 2022 season. So if you’re interested in participating, you know where to go.

32-Seed Bracket

Since we did a single-elimination bracket over 31 days, that means we started with 32 anime. How I decided on which 32 were going to make the cut was I opened MyAnimeList and selected the 32 most popular anime of the season.

But, doing so cut out 3 anime I had watched during this season. So, I chopped off the bottom 3 anime on my list of 32 which I was pretty sure nobody in my Discord server watched and replaced them with the final 3 series I watched.

The seeding for the bracket was simply based on where each anime ranked popularity-wise. So the most popular anime of the season was the 1st seed and the least popular (of the 32) was the 32nd seed. The result was the following seeding chart (Japanese names used):

  1. Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu.
  2. Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu Part 2
  3. Takt Op. Destiny
  4. Mieruko-chan
  5. Platinum End
  6. Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru
  7. Blue Period
  8. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Ressha-hen
  9. 86 Part 2
  10. Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi
  11. Saihate no Paladin
  12. Ousama Ranking
  13. Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasareta node, Henkyou de Slow Life suru Koto ni Shimashita
  14. Shinka no Mi: Shiranai Uchi ni Kachigumi Jinsei
  15. Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu
  16. Sakugan
  17. Taishou Otome Otogibanashi
  18. World Trigger 3rd Season
  19. Isekai Shokudou 2
  20. Kyuuketsuki Sugu Shinu
  21. Heike Monogatari
  22. Build Divide: Code Black
  23. Deep Insanity: The Lost Child
  24. Sankaku Mado no Sotogawa wa Yoru
  25. Selection Project
  26. Visual Prison
  27. Muv-Luv Alternative
  28. Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi – Ni no Shou
  29. Puraore! Pride of Orange
  30. Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Dai Mankai no Shou
  31. Lupin III: Part 6
  32. Yakunara Mug Cup mo: Niban Gama

Now that you see the contenders, I’d like for you to make a prediction regarding the OP you think should or did win. Also, how many of these anime have you watched?

Counting the Votes

I know it’s probably going to be hard to read the filled-out bracket pictured below. So if you want a better look at the matchups and the final vote tallies for each, you can check out the bracket here.

Best Anime OP of Fall 2021 bracket
Best Anime OP of Fall 2021 bracket

Let’s just highlight some of the interesting matchups from the first round since it would take a while to go through each of them individually. The first winner that I don’t particularly agree with is Mieruko-chan beating Puraore! Mieruko-chan won 9-4, but I voted for Puraore! in that matchup.

The next one of interest, at least to me, is that Lupin III: Part 6 defeated Mushoku Tensei Part 2 7-3. I agree with this victory since Mushoku Tensei doesn’t really have an OP. But I still expected Mushoku Tensei to get more votes.

The second round wasn’t all that interesting, so moving onto the third round, Komi finally defeated Demon Slayer 10-3 and Heike Monogatari finally defeated Mieruko-chan 9-1. My Senpai Is Annoying also beat Lupin III 9-2 and Takt Op. Destiny blew Build Divide out of the water 8-0.

In the semifinals, Komi beat Heike Monogatari and My Senpai Is Annoying beat Takt Op. Destiny. Of those four, I think Takt Op. Destiny was the odd one out. The other three OPs are far better, in my opinion.

Of course, that means the finals were between Komi and My Senpai Is Annoying. Komi won in the end and is also the one I voted for in this matchup.

Crowning the Winner

Komi Can't Communicate anime series cover art
Komi Can’t Communicate

Despite the fact that I didn’t watch Komi Can’t Communicate and don’t have any plans to watch it, I have to acknowledge that it has the best OP of the season. After watching all the OPs in the first round of the bracket, it was pretty clear to me that Komi was going to be the winner.

I’m not the biggest fan of the song used in the Komi OP; it’s alright. But what makes the Komi OP the best of the season for me are the visuals. The art and animation are great.

As for the second place OP, I have to admit I didn’t remember the My Senpai Is Annoying OP being as good as it was. It’s a good OP, and in my review of the series, I called it nothing special. I was wrong.

The Heike Monogatari OP (which tied for third place with Takt Op. Destiny) is the only OP to convince me to watch the series. I haven’t started Heike Monogatari yet. But I loved the OP and it looks like a very good anime so it’s been added to my list.

And the last OP I want to mention in this section on “winners” is probably unexpected: Build Divide. The Build Divide OP definitely isn’t bad despite losing in round 3. However, I think the song used for it is really good. I do like EGOIST so maybe there’s some bias there. But it’s still a good song.

Conclusion

Do you agree with the best OP of the fall 2021 season as decided by my Discord community? What about the other matchups? Are there any you would have voted for the losing option in? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this look at our first community event, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to participate in future events and discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Toma for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heike tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

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