The 5 Best Anime Opening Songs That Pump You Up When You’re Feeling Down

The right intro song can make you stick around for an entire series, even if the plot’s still warming up. Think of Game of Thrones or even The Jeffersons. That music instantly pulled you in. Anime’s no different, of course. After years of bingeing everything from classics to the latest seasonal drops, we’ve all probably got a playlist of intros that won’t leave our heads. 

What’s funny is how often these openings lean on rock and even heavy metal. If you’ve seen the memes, you know exactly what I’m talking about. 

Sure, everyone’s list might look a little different, but some tracks just demand to be played on repeat. They’re meant to hype us up for the show, but they’re also able to hype us up for life in general. Here are some of the best anime intro songs that do exactly that.

1. Durarara!! – Uragiri no Yuuyake by Theatre Brook

Durarara!! gave us one of anime’s strangest legends with Celty Sturluson, the headless rider tearing through Ikebukuro’s streets. Yet what hooked fans from the start wasn’t just the chaos. It was Theatre Brook’s opening track. The catchy lyrics made it impossible not to sing along, even badly. Translated, one of the lines reads: “You can change if you believe/The future isn’t meaningless”. That hits hard.

2. Samurai Champloo – Battlecry by Nujabes featuring Shing02

Samurai Champloo broke the anime mold with hip-hop beats instead of the usual rock anthems. Its intro, “Battlecry” by Nujabes featuring Shing02, doesn’t get the same recognition as the show itself, but it should. It’s slick, timeless, and, if we’re honest, it’s still one of everyone’s all-time favourites. If you need a battle cry before you take on the world, this might be a good place to start.

3. Naruto – Haruka Kanata by Asian Kung-Fu Generation

The second season of the show gave us Haruka Kanata by Asian Kung-Fu Generation, a Japanese hard rock track that’s one of our favourite anime intros. With 101 million YouTube views, the lyrics hit hard, even if you don’t understand a word. Translated to English, however, the song goes: “We’re speeding through life / Squeezing it for all of its worth / Our feet are tied / But we still keep going farther”. You can spin the full track anywhere and still feel every ounce of the energy it brings to an episode.

4. Attack on Titan – Guren No Yumiya by Linked Horizon

Attack on Titan has switched up its theme music across seasons, but the first opening still stands out the most. It blends rock, symphony, choir, and a guitar solo into a track that tells its own story. The later themes hold up, but this one sets the bar for everything that follows. I bet you could play this anywhere and everyone will stop and feel inspired.

5. Cowboy Bebop – Tank! by The Seatbelts

Cowboy Bebop dropped in the late ’90s, and its opening still sticks. The lyrics are minimal. “I think it’s time we blow this scene / Get everybody and the stuff together / Okay, three, two, one, let’s jam!” But the jazz-infused beat and bass carry all 25 episodes. No other song fits. And to this day, for many people it’s been a go-to track on cloudy day. It’s just the right pickup after a miserable day. And the show is not bad either.