So the the anime-based music video for Perfect Day the top track to their latest album Today is a Beautiful Day was released a few weeks ago, and it’s pretty phenomenal. Telling the story of two girl friends who somehow grew apart, I couldn’t help but be reminded of another anime work based on a Supercell song. And it simply puts Black Rock Shooter to shame.

First of all, look at the art. Just look at it! It’s beautiful. The sparkles and feathers, the bloom and lighting give everything an almost angelic feeling. The shakycam effect is overused a bit, but for the most part it works, because the moving camera adds just a touch of reality to this world. Some of the backdrops are gorgeous, with the crisp detail and lighting reminding me of Makoto Shinkai’s works.

Like Supercell’s song’s tend to do, it captures perfectly the emotions without necessarily going into the details of what happened. The innocence of childhood friendship. The pain of having to say good bye. The shock, and then gratitude at the sudden encounter. These emotions feels stronger and more genuine than whatever Black Rock Shooter had to offer with its story about Yomi getting jealous of Mato.

And I absolutely love the blue haired girl’s design! The hard angles, especially in the hair, remind me a bit of the characters from Shiki, but they’re not nearly as harsh. I could get lost in those wondrous round blue eyes. The simplicity of her clothing is appealing, and the little flourishes like her boots or the tight loops of her necklace stand out well against them.

But what I love most are the bandages on her legs. They’re not wrapped bandages like the kind you see on Abiru or Rei, but rather the rectangular stick on kind. And they’re just plastered all over the place around her knees, as if willy nilly. Instead of giving the image of weakness as bandages tend to do, they give her a tough and masculine one, like Lark with her chipped tooth.

Anyway, Today is a Beautiful Day came out a couple of days ago, and I highly recommend it. 6 of the 13 tracks are songs that were released on singles before – most of which I talked about in my 12 Days of Christmas post – but the new tracks are great. And the final track, Watashi e (To Me) is a follow up to Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, the Bakemonogatari ED, providing some concluding remarks to that song. You can find translations to most of the new songs on Words of My Life.

I bought the limited edition with the DVD on YesAsia, but the regular edition is there as well.

Subtitled: I need an excuse to talk about my favorite OPs of the new season and might as well try to wring something worthwhile out of it. Therefore, I’m creating a new poll (in the navigation bar to the right) to ask the readers of The Null Set the question – What is the best new OP of the fall 2010 season?

Since I’m not trying to scientific, let’s start with my two favorite openings.

The first is the latest hit to grace the Noitamina anime block of programming – Kuragehime. Sure, it’s only aired one episode so it’s really a little early to say it’s a hit but that one episode was the most impressive first episode in recent memory. I think Bakemonogatari was the last time I was this excited over an anime. I absolutely love the song used here and inventive use of famous movies was just mind-blowingly awesome.

As a sequel, I thought I knew what to expect with Arakawa Under the Bridge 2 but there I was watching the OP for the first time and getting my mind blown away by Shaft. Calling it perfect would sell it short; slapping epic in front to say it was epically perfect still isn’t enough. It’s perfection is to great openings as Galaxy-sized version of Gurren Lagann is to the original version of Gurren Lagann.

No matter how Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru turns out, the opening was worth giving the show a shot. It felt weird that Shaft actually had both openings ready for the first episode. It kinda leaves me feeling nostalgic for the days when Shaft would use a place holder animation sequence for the first few episodes.

For some reason the start of the OP to Shinryaku! Ika Musume reminds me of the sound effect that went with the old video game Space Invaders. It’s also my favorite part of the OP with the rest of it being just okay.

The OP to the first episode of Sora No Otoshimono Forte was a great way to give tribute to the first season but I think in the long run I’ll enjoy the real OP more. Judging from how it contained a short sequence that went on to occur in episode 3, aka the American Sumo episode, I think most of what we see in the opening will eventually happen which means we’re set for another great season of Sora No Otoshimono.

In a rare turn-of-events, I’ve actually read a bit of the manga to The World God Only Knows before it was made into an anime. I figured the anime would end up in the “decent” category but, if the OP will be an indication to the work Manglobe will be putting into the anime adaptation then it might just become a compelling anime to watch.

Being an original production, Star Driver gives a peek into what goes on in the minds of the animators at Bones. The opening makes me think that the people at Bones have definitely been watching their share of Shaft shows. That’s not a problem to me and Shaft should be happy since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I’d like this OP more but the song hasn’t clicked yet for me.

For Ore No Imouto to get listed here is quite the accomplishment since I was almost positive about skipping it. I liked the OP but if I look at it critically, I think my surprising enjoyment of the series is adding to my opinion of the OP.

If you’ve watched J.C. Staff’s more action orientated shows like Shana or Railgun in the past then the OP to To Aru Majutsu no Index II fits right in and performs at relatively the same level as those OP that have come in the past. Which makes it hard to get really excited over it. What did excite me was the inclusion of Uiharu from Railgun because I hope that means J.C. Staff will figure out a way to give the crew from Railgun some air time in Index.

I have high hopes for this season of Shiki and the new OP for it seems like a good first step. The visuals are an big improvement over the first OP but the first one still has the edge in the song department, at least for now.

So that’s my list of the best OP of the season with Kuragehime and Arakawa Under the Bridge 2 fighting for the top spot at the moment. If I missed one that you think deserves recognition please leave a comment, I value different opinions and also there has been a few shows I haven’t watched yet and would prefer not to miss a worthwhile anime.