What hooks people into a show? Is it because of the stirred-up drama or sensational hilarious comedy sketch found in the cold opens? Are the characters that engaging from the get-go? I think openings play a major role within a show’s success. They tell a mini-story about the anime, showing off animation styles, introducing certain themes and motifs of the shows. There’s so much to sift through and analyze about it, that there are content creators who spend A LOT of time breaking down and dissecting these 1:30~ clips. We can even look at one of the world’s most popular show, Shingeki no Kyojin, affectionately titled Attack on Titan or AoT for short, and how each opening gives a specific emotion associated with it. From the ‘dystopian’ war cry of the first opening to the more anthem-driven second opening featuring the Levi squad and the Survey Corp, openings make a big difference to the overall feel of the show.
Endings are just as important, for not only are they the credit sequence to acknowledge the hard work of the animators and creators who made the show, but there are other visual elements that make a lasting impact to the audience that the ending can tell the audience. Admittedly, I’m the type of watcher who skips the endings to watch the next episode because I don’t have a ton of time to watch weekly episodes–unless it’s Shield Hero… (I’ll also be doing my personal take on that show later this summer, so watch out for that!)
Now that I ranted for too long, here’s the actual mini-lesson:
Lesson Plan Template:
Unit Topic: Understanding Motifs and Themes Through Anime Openings
Target Audience: 10th grade
Learning Objective: Students will be able to use their working knowledge on motifs and themes and aptly apply them to a living work, video production.
Materials:
- Graphic Organizer – Comparing motifs and themes found in Attack on Titan’s second and third openings
- Laptops
- Editing Software
- Access to Youtube and other media platforms
Instruction:
- Do-now: What is your working definition on motif and theme?
- Teacher will go over with students on the concepts
- Students will watch Attack on Titan’s second opening and write down their take on motifs and themes expressed throughout the opening. Then, they will watch the third opening and again write their take on the opening.
- Students will do a turn-and-talk, sharing their thoughts and notes
- Teacher will go over the organizer.
- Teacher will then go over the project: Create an Anime opening! By yourself or in pairs, you will get a chance to create an “anime-style” opening. Using [insert editing software here], you will use clips and song choice to make an opening sequence your own. What is your favorite anime or show? How will you convey the best or sensational parts condensed into a minute and a half?
- Students will also prepare a three — five-minute presentation on the clips and music choice as well as the motifs and themes chosen to display within your opening.
Assessment of learning Objective/Closure:
- Each student will present their opening to the class. Rubric may be used. (I usually prefer to create a rubric with students so they may know exactly how they will be created in regard to criteria)
- Students will receive an organizer to document and note motifs, themes and other thoughts they may have.
Learning Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.5
Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.6
Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.7
Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” and Breughel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.5
Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
Feel free to make use this lesson and make changes to it. Let me know how I can improve the lesson project. Thank you for reading!
-Class dismissed!
Daily life of Anime and ELA 