Top 5 Anime EDs

Introduction

After writing about my top 5 anime OSTs and top 5 anime OPs, it’s only fitting that I also write about my top 5 anime EDs. However, creating a list of my top 5 anime ED’s was much harder than the previous two lists.

Generally, EDs aren’t as impactful because they’re often overshadowed by the OP of the anime. Also, since they come at the end of an episode, they’re usually skipped (even more so than OPs).

While I tend not to skip EDs, I don’t usually pay attention to them. I often spend this time looking at my phone and checking up on anything I may have missed while I was watching the episode. Because of this, I found it very hard to actually find five EDs that I liked enough to add to this list.

I’m sure there are plenty of good ones I didn’t think of, but the fact that I didn’t remember them shows that they weren’t actually memorable to make the cut. Really you should think of this as a “top 5 anime EDs that I remembered” list.

Also, it turns out it’s much harder to find the actual ED version of anime ED songs than it was for OP songs. Because of this, only two of the entries on my list will have links to the ED animations I’m talking about. The other three will simply have links to the full versions of their ED songs.

5. The Saga of Tanya the Evil

In position #5 is the ending of The Saga of Tanya the Evil featuring the song “Los! Los! Los!” The ED for this anime can be found here.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil is something I watched a year or two ago on one of Twitch.tv’s anime streams. This, like anything else I watched on those streams I don’t count as having actually watched because the experience is different when there’s a chat, and also I missed a few episodes.

Eventually I plan to go back and rewatch this series in its entirety, but I’m afraid it won’t be as entertaining without the chat commenting on everything as it happens. Speaking of the chat, that’s actually why this ED made it onto my list.

At the end of each episode for which the song “Los! Los! Los!” was the ED, the entire Twitch chat was filled with viewers spamming “Los! Los! Los!” And, when this song wasn’t featured in the ED of an episode, there was essentially a riot.

While this doesn’t really have much to do with the content of the actual ED, the fact that an ED could get such a reaction out of so many people made this one of the most memorable for me.

4. A Place Further Than The Universe

In fourth place is the ED for A Place Further Than The Universe featuring the song “Koko Kara, Koko Kara.” I couldn’t find this song along with the ED animation, so the full song can be found here instead.

One reason I chose this ED to be on my list is most likely due to the fact that since the anime is from Winter 2018, it’s still fresh in my mind. However, I do also really like both the song and the animation for this ED.

The song is a feel-good song which goes well with the general feel-good attitude of most of this series. Not to mention it’s pretty catchy. The animation, however, is something I felt made this ED stand out.

The ED is filled with slightly animated pictures of the girls, penguins, and scenery. That alone isn’t anything special, but placed over these images are animated doodles which appear as if they’re drawn on in glowing ink.

This may not seem like much, but I thought it was a unique artistic choice. It seemed almost as though these were the doodles straight out of one of the girls’ notebooks showing what she saw and felt during their adventure.

3. Sailor Moon Crystal

The first ED of Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 is by far the best in the series and worthy of the #3 spot on my list. This ED features the song “Eternal Eternity” and can be viewed here.

Out of the 10 Sailor Guardians, the final four, Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn, are by far the most complex and interesting characters in the series. This ED features a duet between Neptune and Uranus, the two Sailor Guardians who are in a romantic relationship with each other.

This duet is one of the reasons I like this ED so much. I’m a fan of voice actors singing songs as their characters for OP/EDs (such as what happens in the Monogatari series) and having two of them do a duet just makes it twice as good.

The other duet from an OP/ED I can currently think of is the song “Kogarashi Sentament” from the Hitagi End arc of Koimonogatari which I’ll link here. The more I think about that OP, the more I feel I should have put it in my top 5 OPs.

So besides the song being a duet, what else do I like about it?

The names of Jupiter and Neptune, Michiru and Haruka respectively, are used in the song as words rather than their names. It’s wordplay like this which I think needs to be used more in general.

Other than the things I like about the song and the characters featured in it, the rest of the ED, the animation, is pretty standard as far as I’m concerned. I’ve heard the scene pictured in the image below is a Revolutionary Girl Utena reference, but I haven’t seen that so I can’t confirm it.

2. Violet Evergarden

Violet Evergarden is the most recent anime that I gave a 10/10 rating to and now it’s in second place on my top 5 anime ED list. The song featured in this ED is “Michishirube” and the full version is available here.

Now you may be thinking that this ED is simply on the list because I remembered it since I recently watched the anime, and sure, that may be part of it, but I do think this ED deserves this place.

First let’s take a look at the visuals of the ED. One of my favorite parts is the outlined figure of Violet walking through different seasons. As the seasons change, the color palette changes as well as the weather effects. It’s simple, but it’s visually appealing.

Near the beginning of the ED we also get a scene of Violet and the Major together under a starry sky which then rotates out of place. Later on in the ED we see Violet alone looking up at the stars holding her letter to the Major.

I liked these scenes because they reference how throughout the series Violet is constantly being reminded of the Major in everything she sees or experiences.

Finally, the music. Each episode of Violet Evergarden tends to end on a sad or bittersweet note and I feel the song used in the ED perfectly fits with those emotions.

By using a song that invokes the same feelings as the ending of the episode, the anime is allowing the emotions to sink in. If a song like “Los! Los! Los!” from The Saga of Tanya the Evil started playing at the end of this anime, the emotions would quickly be swept aside.

1. Madoka Magica

My favorite anime ED is from another one of my 10/10 anime, Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This ED features the song “Magia” which can be listened to in full here.

Before we begin, however, I feel that the Madoka Magica OP is necessary for some context so I’ll link a terrible 360p quality version of it here.

A major reason for my love of this ED is how it contrasts with the OP for the anime. While the OP is upbeat and generally happy and cute, the ED is the opposite. This plays into how the anime advertises itself and how it actually is.

The ED features a flickering silhouette of Madoka walking towards a light source past flickering silhouettes of the other magical girls. She then begins to run towards the light which disappears, leaving her running through the darkness alone.

In the end, we see Madoka in the fetal position inside some sort of capsule (incubator), most likely referencing how the magical girls will one day “hatch” and become witches.

In the same way that I liked the Re:ZERO OP because it told a story referencing how the series plays out, I like the Madoka Magica ED because combined with the OP it shows the two faces of the series.

I also just really like the song “Magia.”

Conclusion

And there you have it, my top 5 anime EDs (that I remembered). I think the only ED that would be replaced on this list if I actually rewatched every ED I’ve seen would be the #5 position. I do really enjoy the rest of the EDs for their content.

Are any of these your favorite EDs? Can you remember more than five? Let me know if there are any EDs you enjoy enough to watch.