Chiming in that while I love Give a Reason the most, there's a few other Hayashibara songs that are pretty fun - I liked her stuff on Blue Seed, Bakuretsu Hunters, and Lost Universe, too.
Tossing this in, cause it wasn't here yet. Utena ED. I like this song better than the OP, and even the simple animation for it has stuck with me more than the OP has.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIzu91cdbUQ&feature=related
-Djinn
Hayashibara's stuff is good, probably defines the sound of '90s anime, for that matter, but does every song have to have 2 eight-note pickups? Give a Reason does it, Infinity does it, and so does a lot of her other stuff. Guess it just wasn't meant to be listened to all at once <_<.
And...I must say I hate the first Utena ending. Just bugs the hell out of me. Probably wouldn't if the video were less annoying to me. (I'm not a fan of the 'rotating object' school of ending videos. I much prefer the 'slow pan'.)
BGC 2040's ED was far superior to the OP. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDdWs7FJ5_c
I dislike Kekkaishi's OP because it gives away one of the better manga moments, which was Tokine developing her spear kekkai. It's fine otherwise, but I like the slow ballad that is it's first ED. You ever finish the series, Jim?
Admittedly, I left a whole lot of these out because I thought we were looking for different songs than the norm. I just kinda discounted all the J-Pop and generic OP type stuff. Narutaru is a good example though, since it's COMPLETELY not indicative of what the show holds. I have to say though, Shippuden OP 1 > Naruto OP 2.
BGC 2040's ending hurts my neck to look at. Nice song, though.
No, never finished watching the Kekkaishi anime. It's one of those series where I'm thinking the manga hasn't progressed enough for the anime to be 'done cookin.' I just really like the opening, and for a very simple reason: you think it's gonna be in minor, it's in major, and they make that work (along with a nice video, even if it does spoil the spear thing). Sappy? Absolutely. But with a lot of these openings, sappy is the name of the game.
I dunno, I do feel I like a lot of the openings I mentioned because they do just one little thing that sets them apart. I never intended to close out more traditional stuff, as long as it's good. I DID put Full Moon wo Sagashite in my initial post, and that's a freaking show about j-pop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdERUrLvIW4
Lucky Star. It will melt your mind. Be warned.
Ew.
The Oban Star racers ending was really cool, tho.
But still? Ew.
I also like how it appears to be just everyone listing every anime they can think of.
What can I say? I'm an anime opening polygamist. I have big love.
I will maintain, however, that men singing in falsetto is cool, though it probably wouldn't be if the video weren't so dark and lazily paced. More specifically, heading from a regular singing range into falsetto and still nailing it? Badass.