'I thought he was dead. It turned out he was just writing a musical.' by Kara
Monday, June 11, 2007 at 6:51 AM

No one's commented on my question about anime OPs and when they stopped using the show title. Either everyone else is as confused as I am, or the prospect of posting on the forum is just that frightening.

Sort of on the subject of OPs, I was working on some Anime-Classic fansubs not long ago, and a couple of us were speculating on deaths in the series (since this one has no trouble picking people off). I mentioned my curse of my favourite characters seeming to die brutally in pretty much anything I read or watch, and speculated on whether this would happen to a character in this particular show. I was told 'Nah, she's in the OP, so she can't die.'

Now, this is not always true. I've seen a couple shows where dead characters stick around in the OP for quite some time. However ...

When I first saw GaoGaiGar, I experienced the phenomenon of the OP actually changing. And yeah, some shows get new second OPs halfway through the series now, which could theoretically solve the problem of dead or dying characters and how to scoot them along. But in this case, it was the same song, with bits of scene changed, added, or removed entirely.

Seems producers are more than willing to do this nowadays, ten years later.

To avoid spoilers, I will not name this show. However, my curse struck fairly early in the series, and this being a character who's fairly prominent in the OP (and also a driving force in the series ... but driving forces tend to die a lot themselves, don't they?). I thought ... well, coulda fooled me. But hell, they're not gonna cut 'em from it. Even though the character is well and truly killed -- dramatic black-and-white still frames and all -- they'll stick around, because they're just that important. They wouldn't wipe a character like that.

Nope.

Next episode, gone. Switched around a few clips, put in a couple new ones, and this character practically never existed.

Seems kinda mean, don't it?

I know, I know it's just entertainment, and it's my own fault for getting that attached to a character. But I tend to have problems with character-killing. Not that I don't think it should be done, but I was realising the other day that even when I slaughter a character myself ... even one that was created as cannon fodder ... part of me feels a little guilty. (Actually, especially when they're cannon fodder -- 'They never even got to see Paris!')

This is probably not true of anyone but me. But I'll say that if I worked on an animated series, even were I to murder a main character brutally, I'd be leaving them visible. At least a bit. Just as a testimony to their bravery in combat. That and I'd be too lazy to change the OP.

If you have been ... crap.