The Anime OP(ening): a Corpus Study of Anison

This dataset sample presents a corpus study comprising 304 anime opening credits (OPs) released between 1969–2025, to highlight formal and audiovisual conventions in anime. This data is from a work in progress. Background: The OP serves many functions in relation to the series, including: introducing the title and protagonists, genre, themes/plot, and production credits, all of which grab the attention of viewers before the start of the episode-proper. This study enables an in-depth look on how formal characteristics work in tandem with visual images to capture viewers’ attention. Corpus sample composition: 185 entries from 200 Top Anime Chart Ranked by Popularity on MyAnimeList.net as of December 2023 88 entries from Japan Billboard Hot Animation Year-End Charts between 2013–2025 21 entries from Video Research Ltd. Weekly Anime Charts between 1993-2026 10 entries from Oricon Year-End Charts between 2013-2025 This corpus includes: OPs from multi-season anime (i.e. different OPs of different seasons are included) This corpus excludes: duplicates between the 4 charts mentioned above non-episodic anime (e.g. movies, OVAs, specials) OPs only featured in a pilot episode (in which case, the OP that represents the majority of episodes is included) Encoding: Each entry has the following information: Chart name and position (except for Oricon and Video Research Ltd.) Anime information: Anime release year and season Anime title (original title in Romaji) Direct link to MyAnimeList profile OP information: OP song title OP song artist OP music genre YouTube link to OP version YouTube link to original (full-length) version Anime demographics: OP vocalist's sex Anime main character's sex Anime's demographic These materials do not contain any audio files.