Okay, so with the current expansion of my anime tastes, it just dawned upon me that not only does this thread still exist, butthere's a few criminal omissions I made in my original post. Most of the picks I originally posted still stands, but...it would be characteristically dishonest and haunt me forever if I didn't mention these three:
Yes, I realize I already mentioned this one, but I need to make a clear distinction in order to empathize just how much better the Japanese opening is. Why? Because it sums up the situation between
Macross, and its bastardized, renamed localization (which I only just recently found out about)
Robotech. The tone, the music, the style, it's drastically different in its original form...singing more about the fanciful and endearing journey of youth, one of the many things
missing from the
Robotech version of the series, which I strongly suggest everyone avoid. It's a far better intro, from a far better version of the show, and I've edited out my previous, misinformed input on
Robotech from my original post.
I don't really have to elaborate what makes this intro so great. You're watching it yourself, right? It's the dankest anime intro in human history. Even the
characters sing along with the lyrics....and with enough watches, you'll find yourself doing the same. It's inevitable: I was doing it subconsciously and
unwillingly around the third episode of the series. It's absolutely contagious.
(Skip to 0:41 to bypass that exposition in the beginning) How iconic and famous is this song? It's been covered and sung by
dozens of famous artists in Japan: male, female, trance, rock...it's one of THE most memorable openings in anime history, and concentrates the epic, 80's, sweaty visage of incomprehensible manliness that is
Fist of the North Star. And somehow, this is a love song.
Because back then, love songs in anime weren't sappy drivel about whining after your senpai. They were hard-rock ballads about obliterating hordes of enemies, just to get to your true love. It just doesn't get any more awesome or classic than this.
EDIT: If you really want to drown in the 80's, here's the
live version.