After a few months on hiatus, OP/ED Op-Eds is back to highlight the best opening and closing themes. This time, we’re going to look at the closing sequence to the 2009 mystery-thriller Eden of the East. An excellent show in its own right, Eden of the East had a great, modern urban sensibility to it, something that’s reflected perfectly in its clever, artsy ED. Unusually, it’s the visuals that are the star here rather than the music

Now don’t get me wrong, ‘Futuristic Imagination’ is a decent enough tune to my ears, although it’s maybe a touch on the bland side. But really, it’s what’s happening on screen that makes this one memorable, as the animators cut loose on a fantastic paper cutout stop motion scene. There’s incredibly clever use of the setting as we get cutout characters, explosions made of balled up paper and pencil missiles. Check out the wonderfully imaginative touches like the’missiles’ leaving tears in the paper behind them as they race across the sky. My favourite part of this undoubtedly has to be when cutout Akira pulls silhouette Saki up ‘out’ of the paper, creating a white and black contrast that’s both a great artistic flourish and a neat little bit of symbolism. The entire sequence would have taken an incredible amount of work, but it’s undoubtedly worth it.