Found out Gintama had 11 different opening themes just for the first 50 episodes

I was scrolling through the Gintama wiki after rewatching episode 24 and realized they swapped openings like every 10 episodes. Did any other long runner pull that kind of stunt back in the 2000s?

3 comments

3 Comments

drew_reed621mo ago

106 episodes total and they swapped openings 20 times. That's almost a new theme every five episodes. Most shows back then stuck with one or two per cour. Monogotari changed theirs often but not that fast. Did they run out of budget for longer openings or just love changing the vibe?

the_viola1mo agoMost Upvoted

Lol "run out of budget" - nah, Shaft was just flexing their weirdness at that point. 20 openings in 106 episodes is either some mad genius artistic choice or they had a bet going in the writers room about who could make the most surreal intro possible. I'm still not over that one where the characters are just floating geometric shapes for 90 seconds.

susan6491mo ago

Read something online about how the director really liked switching up the mood for each story arc. @drew_reed62 I think they did it to match the different tones of each part, not for budget reasons. Some arcs are more serious and others are more playful, so the opening changed to fit that vibe.