Awesomeness

The ending sequence for Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu is legendary for its ability to incite otaku into getting their fat asses off their comfy chairs and goofy-dance to its groovy beat. Don't believe me? Watch the video and tell me it doesn't at least give you urges:



The clip below is probably the greatest parody of the Haruhi dance ever created. It totally rocks (ba-dum-ching!). Sera, I salute thee!

Live the Yankee Life

The above opening clip is from Spike's Kenka Banchou 2 ~Full Throttle~ for the Playstation 2. A banchou (番長/"group leader") is an authority figure in a group of juvenile delinquents -- specifically, the kind of delinquents who ascribe to the yankii (ヤンキー/"yankee") philosophy and dress code (think Onizuka from GTO). As a matter of fact, the tutorial portion of Kenka Banchou 2 will teach you about the rules ("no matter what happens, be a man! Establish your life around your manliness!") of yankii-hood and teach you some really classic maneuvers (such as the eye beam -- a banchou way of staring at somebody so intensely that the target breaks out in buckets of sweat). The loading screens will teach you some of the most important words in the yankii lexicon, such as otoko (漢/"man" in the context of one who lives his life honorably) and aniki (兄貴/"big brother" in the context of a senior delinquent of the same affiliation).

As for the game itself, it's said to play like a 3-D version of River City Ransom. I don't know about that, but then, I'm still chuckling over the whole idea of someone making a game series about yankii to begin with.

The opening theme, Otoko no Kunshou (男の勲章/"Emblem of Manhood"), is performed by Shima Daisuke. The song was originally released as a single in 1982 but has been co-opted recently as theme music for Shima's segment of the variety program Radical!!.

Update - Here's the opening video from the first Kenka Banchou PS2 game:

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri

Got another vid for you guys: this is the opening sequence for the PS2 port of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (ひぐらしのなく頃に/"When Cicadas Cry"), which is pretty much the most acclaimed doujin soft product since Tsukihime. The PS2 version, dubbed Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri (ひぐらしのなく頃に祭/"When Cicadas Cry Festival"), contains the first seven chapters of the intense murder mystery (Onikakushi-hen/鬼隠し編/"Demon Hiding Chapter", Watanagashi-hen/綿流し編/"Cotton Drifting Chapter", Tatarigoroshi-hen/祟殺し編/"Curse Slaying Chapter", Himatsubushi-hen/暇潰し編/"Time Wasting Chapter" [nothing says "filler" better than this title], Meakashi-hen/目明し編/"Eye Opening Chapter", Tsumihoroboshi-hen/罪滅し編/"Sin Expiating Chapter", and Minagoroshi-hen/皆殺し編/"Wholesale Killing Chapter"), as well as three new chapters meant to resolve the storyline (Taraimawashi-hen/盥回し篇/"Tub Spinning Chapter", Tsukiotoshi-hen/憑落し篇/"Haunt Dispelling Chapter", and Miotsukushi-hen/澪尽し篇/"Channel Marking Chapter").



The opening theme, Nageki no Mori (嘆きノ森/"Lamenting Forest"), is performed by Ayane (彩音).

Rozen Maiden

A couple of opening sequences from the two PS2 installments of the Rozen Maiden franchise.

Rozen Maiden ~duellwalzer~:



Rozen Maiden ~gebetgarten~:



The first game takes place during the Rozen Maiden (first season) timeline, while the second is a retelling of the events of Rozen Maiden ~träumend~. Both games are hybrid types that are mostly visual novel and partly... something else. That "something else" is a (simple) shooting game in duellwalzer/Duel Waltz and a Mai-Otome ~Otome Butoushi!!~-esque aerial fighting game in gebetgarten/Prayer Garden.

The theme songs are performed by ALI PROJECT, whom most people remember for Kopperia no Hitsugi, the opening theme of Noir.