Top 5 Costumed Characters

Happy Halloween, Everybody!

We're celebrating the season by listing the Top 5 Costume-Wearing Characters in Anime.

#5 - Shunsuke Akagi as Eagle Mascot (Dai Guard)

[Check it out at the 01:30 mark.]

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Before Akagi was the lead pilot of giant robot Dai Guard, he was just another office worker for the 21st Century Defense Corporation, putting in some extra hours with the PR team as the company mascot. Don't worry, Akagi, you'll be fighting Heterodynes in no time!

#4 - Eri Ninamori as Jack/Marquis de Carabas in Puss 'n Boots (FLCL)

As class president and mayor's daughter, Ninamori has a lot to live up to. This includes making sure she gets starring role in the school play. In the BEST episode of FLCL, we learn that Ninamori is human just like everyone else. But what about those glasses? You'll just have to watch.

#3 - Chiyo-Chan as Penguin (Azumanga Daioh)

The cute gets cuter when child genius Chiyo dons a penguin costume for the school's cultural festival. Just don't trip her.

#2 - Isaac Dian & Miria Harvent as _____ & _____ (Baccano!)

Take your pick for costumes. Isaac and Miria do every time they go on another heist.

#1 - Ed as Pumpkin-head (Cowboy Bebop: The Movie--Knockin' on Heaven's Door)

Ed gets the #1 vote because she's actually going Trick or Treating--well, sort of, to search for a bad guy. Enjoy Ed and faithful Ein on their haunting adventure, starting at 05:45.

Do you have a favorite costumed anime character? Share below. Now go get some candy!

Top 5 Anime Openings

For our first Top 5 list, why not begin with beginnings? Sure, okay! We hear that the beginning is a very good place to start . . .

Openings are critical to draw the viewer in and make him or her want to see more. An outstanding opening has the perfect combination of catchy music, clever credits, and awesome animation to keep us from skipping over it during our DVD viewing-marathons.

Here are our top five favorite anime openings with comments and courtesies of YouTube (no ownership or copyright claims here, just showing what's available):

#5 - Baccano!

A relatively new anime with a cast list longer than the show's death toll (poor gangster thugs), this show's opening gives a deftly woven roll call of the main players accompanied by a stylish jazz tune called "Gun's & Roses." (That's how it's spelled, too. Even so, Axl called; he wants five bucks for royalties and an apology from Slash.)

#4 - Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight

We dare you to watch this opening and not get chills. Who knew flower petals in the wind could be so invigorating? Unfortunately, this magnificent opening only sets you up for major disappointment when you watch the actual show. The episodes are so stiff and sappy that it makes the 1980s Saturday morning cartoon Dungeons & Dragons look like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.

#3 - His and Her Circumstances

File this one under "fun." The zany opening encapsulates this teen romantic comedy/dramedy with some of Studio Gainax(Neon Genesis Evangelion)'s unconventional animation techniques.

#2 - Cowboy Bebop

"Tank!" = the classic opening that exudes cool. Everyone remembers where they were when they saw this opening late Thursday nights at the dawn of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. As a testament to maestro Yoko Kanno's utter greatness, she composed both this toe-tapper AND the epic opening to Lodoss War: Heroic Knight (#4 above).

#1 - Read or Die: OAV

You only have three chances to enjoy this opening during the OAV's trio of episodes, but it's worth it! The animation is top-quality with some of the best cityscapes in any anime. No cheap shortcuts here. We get to see the main characters in original action sequences, enticing you with more story beyond this all-too-brief mini-series. (And the =ahem= shapely silhouettes displaying the credits do some enticing too.) Top it off with some funky/classy spy music and you've got a winner!

So what are your thoughts? What openings do you love? Share below!

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Top Five, actually. This is Top 5 Anime, courtesy of the creators of Anime Pocky Reviews.

If you want reviews of shows, go check out our Anime Pocky Reviews blog. But if you want our Top Five Lists of all kinds of anime categories--genres, characters, animation, music, fun--then this is the #1 site for you!

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