Music Awards Winter 2017

The winter season is over and with every season comes new great music but which OP's and ED's were the best of the season? Today I will be giving out four music awards for winter's set of music! The four awards are:

• Best Audio OP 
• Best Visual OP
• Best Audio ED
• Best Visual ED

For each award I will be doing a top 3. I will only be posting music for the top spot in each category but I will talk a little about the runners up as well so don't worry. Out of the 12 possible spots a show could land in, I only have six shows that are featured on here. That's not to say that other shows not mentioned here did a bad job. It just means that these six shows pulled in clutch in each respective category. I would like to remind everybody that this is based merely on my opinion so you don't have to give two shits but I hope you enjoy this little post. Also I have more awards coming up exclusively on my YouTube Channel, GiraffePants Anime, so check out my channel to see that exclusive content.Without any further interruptions, let's start these music awards!

Best Audio OP

        Let me just start off by saying that female singers really killed it this season. I generally prefer female singers but all of my OP award spots go to groups with female leads. That's insane! 3rd place in this category goes to Scum's Wish (Kuzu no Honkai) for their opening song, "Uso no Hibana" by 96neko. This Pop-Rock song was absolutely great to listen to. From that infectious guitar rift (you guys know which one I'm talking about) to the lead singer's vocals, The slightly fast paced song really represented the roller coaster of emotions this show was. Aw, and that piano bit at then end hits me good! 

In 2nd place is Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu for their opening song, "Imawa no Shinigami" by Megumi Hayashibara. I really like the feeling this song gives off. It feels for lack of a better term 'other-worldly.' The mix between Orchestral and Jazz was a very good decision. Add that with Hayashibara's voice and you have a smooth jam that gives you a bit of chills. 

Finally, in 1st place for 'Best Audio OP' is 3-gatsu no Lion for their OP, "Sayanora Bystander" by YUKI. This was my favorite song of the season! The music is good but what makes this song my favorite is YUKI's voice. It's like rough but sweet at the same time and I LOVE IT! Especially in the second half of that song; she begins to sing with much more emotion and it nails me in the heart so good! I also like the inclusion of piano; I am a big fan of pianos in my OPs so that was a plus. Overall, this is the type of song that gets me going. I like songs where I can feel the emotion; feel the very nature of the show! This song did that for me and for all these reasons it lands in my number one spot!

Best Visual OP

There were a couple of OPs this year that did a great job visually. They used a variety of different techniques to make their openings come to life! This award goes to the show that dazzled me best with their OP performance! 3rd place goes to Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid for their OP "Aozora no Rhapsody" by fhana. Kyoto Animation did a great job with this show in general but the OP is just fantastic. The whole OP just screams zany and weird much like the show. We have dragons doing silly worm dances, multiple Tohrus sprouting from each other, Fafnir's head blooming from flowers. I love the weirdness of this OP because it's just so eye catching. That and fluid animation from Kyo-Ani make this OP all the better! 

       2nd place is 3-gatsu no Lion for their OP, "Sayanora Bystander" by YUKI. Aside from the fact that this song is my favorite of the season, Studio Shaft really made the OP creative and just artistically beautiful. For example, the scene with the flowers blurring in and out was beautiful  and then when the chorus hits, we just get an explosion of animation in its glory. Rough line art and constant movement make those 15 seconds look badass! 

In 1st place is Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju for their OP, "Imawa no Shinigami" by Megumi Hayashibara. That's right, we had a little switcheroo with the #1 and #2 spot. The Opening for this show was well directed to say the least. This opening is full of meaning and symbolism that I can't touch on (case then this post would be long!!!) but If you look at the OP and start to think what happened in the show, you'll be able to notice what little scenes in the OP mean. In fact, it's kind of fun because you find new meaning in scenes every time you watch it. Anyway, this Opening lands at #1 for being full of everything an OP should be filled with like symbolism and deeper meaning. 

Best Audio ED

Onto a new award. Now, the EDs weren't as strong as the OPs but there are some golden gems worth talking about. This award goes to EDs that had killer music and awesome vocals. Starting with 3rd place is Saga of Tanya the Evil for their ED, "Los! Los! Los!" by Aoi Yuki. Aoi Yuki (the voice actress for Tanya) delivers a great song! It was actually quite unexpected but I guess for that very reason, this song makes the list. The song gives off a victorious feel; Patriotic in a way. I guess it should since the lyrics are about going to war and fighting for the empire! I especially love the part where she stops singing and just shouts out like a military commander. That part gives me the chills!

In 2nd place is Scum's Wish for their ED, "Heikousen" by Sayuri. I like this song because I think it's very beautiful. Beautiful and lonely at the same time, much like the show itself. Even the lyrics give a lonely feeling; talking about never being able to touch the one they love so they'll just have to do their best to move on! Oh god the tears are starting to roll! This song touches my heart and for that, it gets 2nd.

In 1st place is Tales of Zestiria for their ED, "INNOSENSE" by FLOW. The best way to describe this song is...'RAD!' This is the kind of song you listen to get pumped up; like a battle song! Yeah, if you haven't noticed, EDs have done a good job of representing the show! The best part is the very beginning! The guitar rip followed by the string section followed by the yell from FLOW make those beginning seconds truly epic! The 'flow' of the song (see what I did there) is pretty damn good too; It immediately gets you excited but then cools down a bit and then comes back with full force to give us a cool ending! This is my favorite ED of the season and gets the award for Best Audio ED.

Best Visual ED

The last award! There weren't a lot of EDs with great visuals. There were many that were just single shots and maybe they pan toward a direction but that's about it. I was able to find a couple of EDs that had great visuals though so lets start. In 3rd place is Tales of Zestiria again for "INNOSENSE" by FLOW. Ufotable always does good animation work but it really shows here in the ED. The beginning starts with some stills that look incredible. Each character looks like a bad-ass hero of justice and then the shot of them looking up at the lord of calamity is epic! Then there's the section where everyone jumps out to fight transition to a still posing all cool like!  This Ed definitely deserves to be up here.

In 2nd place is Scum's Wish for their ED, "Heikousen" by Sayuri. What I love most about this ed was the art style. It's very rough and almost mosaic. Everyone is nude but not graphically nude and the mirroring is interesting. It really mixed well with the song and lyrics; this is why I say the mirroring effect is interesting because it compliments the lyrics (Parallel line and what not). For these reasons, this songs gets 2nd place but who's number one.

In 1st place is 3-gatsu no Lion for their ED, "Orion" by Kenshi Yonezu. This was a nice ED to look at. I love how the blizzard was animated and just the overall minimalist style of animation. There's a light watercolor touch to the ED which is always a plus in my book and seeing Rei in some of those scenes had me choke up a bit (especially the scene with Rei in the rain). Combine that with some kickass singing from Yonezu and we have our winner. Studio Shaft did a good job this season and their ED gets 1st place in my book.

Sorry, couldn't find a video for this one so here's a shot from the ED.

I hope you all enjoyed this post! If you did, please check out my YouTube Channel, GiraffePants Anime. I got exclusive content on there such as anime episode reactions, and more reviews! I'll have more posts up as soon as possible so stand by and I'll see you all later!