(Warning: the op starts off with some really bad English. Also, please ignore the black bars on the screen, those were used to keep the video from being pulled.)
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu op – Perfect Area Complete
I’m sure by now you can pick out most of the trademarks yourself. One thing I’ll point out is that the credits synch to the music, which I didn’t notice it at first, and it was after noticing that I realized the trend in Oonuma’s ops. The opening song is pretty generic seiyuu stuff, but the lyrics are actually pretty fun and fit well with the series.
Unfortunately, because Funimation are a bunch of fascist pricks who want you to buy this series even though they gave it the shittiest English title ever, and they want you to watch it streamed with five commercial interruptions even though their uploads have SHIT quality, the ending video isn’t available on youtube in it’s natural form. This sucks a *lot* because I adore this ed.
If you have a Nico Nico Douga account, you can watch the video here. At the very least, you aren’t totally fucked, though; one person uploaded the video mirrored, which you can watch below.
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu ed 1 – BAKA GO HOME!
Notable here are the song lyrics written in English all over the backgrounds of every shot. This ed also has multiple versions—after episode 12, the video is altered around the 1 minute mark where you see the character group shots, and the female characters that play counterpart to each male are seen standing back-to-back with them. It’s a nice touch, but THE MAN doesn’t want you to see it.
Lastly, there’s the second ed, and once again, if you’ve been watching all of the videos up until now, then you’ll see that this is practically a purposeful hodgepodge of Oonuma’s tropes.
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu ed 2 – Hare Tokidoki Egao
It’s worth noting that the crowd shots around the minute mark match up to those in the first ed, so the alternate version is like a fusion of that moment in each ed. Thankfully, someone uploaded a video comparing the two eds as well as the alternate version of the first one.
That does it for Oonuma Shin’s op/ed chronicles (for now). I feel like there was a sort of mantle passed down from Shinbo to Oonuma, since both of them are utterly fucking spectacular at making ops and eds. Shinbo still has most of my favorites, but I think Oonuma’s emotional opening evolution throughout the ef series is pure genius as well.
My Sword Is Unbelievably Dull 
Credit text being timed to match the lyrics is pretty common. I started noticing this while making OP/ED subs for Shugo Chara!! Doki and realizing that their timing tended to match up with the credits a lot.
I can see a lot of the other stuff, though.
Also, go watch the OP and ED for Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimittsu if you haven’t already. They’re pretty awesome.
I’ll be sure to look out for it more in the future.
I’m about to start an all-series HidaSketch marathon, actually, so I’ll be seeing that soon~
Although Shinbo (SHAFT) isnt really my cup of tea, this was a great read. Shinbo is something like an acquired taste I guess.
I love Shinbo just because he strikes right to the heart of things I love. I love gothic imagery and crucifixions and such, so a lot of his shows appeal to me, and then he has the comedies which I feel are genius in their saturation. HidaSketch is also great in how it can perfectly blend artsy visuals meaningfully into a normal and interesting story.
I totally get people not liking Shinbo, because he’s really only going to appeal to people either predisposed to liking his stuff, or fans who don’t know it yet that watch a show and realize their love.
Matching music to imagery reminds me of the OP for Arakawa Under the Bridge, which is literally Etsuko Yakushimaru’s lyrics made into animation.
VERY interesting about the last episode of ef. I’ve never seen the show, and now I’m quite tempted to. ;)
God, but that English title for BakaTest really is awful.
Definitely see ef. It held by #1 spot for almost a full year before Eureka Seven stole the throne. Amazing series.
And yeah, fuck Funimation.
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The third op of Pani Poni Dash has more influence of Oishi Tatsuya than Shinbo or Oonuma. Oishi Tatsuya’s style can be directly seen in Maria+Holic, Bakemonogatari Hitagi Crab and infamous Negima!? OP.
Shinbo + Oishi + Oonuma is called ‘Team Shinbo’. Shinbo for overall direction, Oishi for typography and CG+vector usage, Oonuma for abstract metaphors and colouring. That’s pretty much how past Shaft was formed.
Thanks for the tip! I read your post about SHAFT and it was amazing, by the way~