Recently I’d been on a search for “good opening from recent non-anime cartoons,” recent being the operative word here, so no Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors or Batman: The Animated Series. As I asked friends and looked around myself, nothing really came to mind, and I had to wonder why that was the case. Eventually, I realized that what I was looking for wasn’t necessarily a “good” opening, but rather a “dramatic” one. At that point, it was obvious why I was having so much trouble: dramatic cartoons just aren’t really part of the current landscape. Then I remembered Oban Star Racers, the French-Japanese collaborative animation, and it led me down a more interesting path.
Of all the countries that aired Oban, America was the only one to have a completely different song used in its opening. Every other country which aired Oban, be it France, Japan, Germany, or whatever got essentially the same song, localized and translated to their respective languages. They all share the same animation. So I felt, why not compare them?
American
Japanese (keep in mind that the French version for example has the same tune)
And a Youtube Doubler link for good measure.
I think what bothers me about the American opening is that it doesn’t bother to capture the feel of the show. It’s as if the song was trying to trick the viewer into thinking Oban was something completely different, though not quite in a Nelvana Cardcaptors kind of way.
I honestly don’t know where I’m going with all this, and I don’t have a super-important point to make. Consider this post the first step to something. What that is, I have no idea.
OGIUE MANIAX 
I liked the Japanese version better because the song’s a lot less hokey than the American version (not that the Japanese version is hokey-free, mind you).
Is it just me, or does the American version remind you of Pokemon a little?
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You should watch the OP to Superjail, man. Of course, they re-animate it for each episode.
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Alot of these anime openings in American releases sound alike. Say, for example Bakugan.
Also, trying to compare songs by playing at the same time doesn’t work. =/
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Reminds me that I want to find out if there’s a longer version of the Oban Star-Racers ED. That was some great stuff. :3
And lol Cardcaptors. A mystic adventure. A quest for all time. Each card possesses a power of it’s own. We’ve got to find them to bring to power home!
I did like the Batman: The Animated Series, though a lot of that probably also had to do with the accompanying music as well. There aren’t too many “Western” openings that bother to set a grandiose tone, even though the show’s scope my be very epic in nature, like Avatar. :/
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Word up on the crappiness of US OPs. I honestly feel embarrassed for American viewers as a people every time I see a cheesy no name band squealing mindless lyrics over random cut scenes from the show. I gives you no sense of the show’s content or character and I honestly feel it makes an otherwise good show less appealing to anyone over the age of 8.
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