Summary
Narutois a franchise all about an obnoxiously loud kid dressed in bright orange who wants tobe the leader of an entire ninja village, a type of assassin known for being quiet and stealthy. Yet somehow, he manages to pull this off over the course of both the original series and laterShippuden.
All jokes aside Naruto, and by extension his son Boruto, are some of the more iconic Shonen protagonists out there, and the openings forNaruto,Shippuden, andBoruto: The Next Generationare almost always fantastic. So, let’s go over some of the best openings across all three series and talk about why exactly they’re so good.
Updated January 11th, 2024 by Jacob Buchalter:As time passes, seasons change, kids grow up,and the Naruto/Boruto franchiseadds another few openings to its ever-expanding repertoire of absolute ‘bops’. While the series as a whole can be a topic of debate across the anime fan community due to the series' pacing, amount of filler, and the quality of the ‘new generation’ AKA Boruto’s generation, theNaruto franchise is still so incredibly iconic. And, a sizeable portion of what makes this series stick out in the memories of so many people can be attributed to the openings. With that bit of explanation out of the way, let’s take a look through the entire list of Naruto Original Series, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto: The Next Generation openings and see which ones belong on here.
Disclaimer:Spoilers forNaruto,Naruto Shippuden, andBoruto: The Next Generationmay be found below. Also, it’s worth mentioning these aren’t ranked in any particular order and are only really separated by the series the openings belong to.
76-100
A
C
Just like any anime opening, there’s a lot of symbolism going on in the fourth opening of theBoruto: The Next Generationseries calledLonely Go. Whether it’s Boruto walking alongside Naruto only for him to disappear in a cloud of smoke (AKA a Shadow Clone because he’s never around in person) or Sarada pulling along Sasuke only for him to fade away (as if it was a Genjutsu), there’s a lot of little subtle bits of imagery sprinkled throughout. Funnily enough, however, Mitsuki seems to only get compassion from Orochimaru in their little scene,which just feels so ironicconsidering who Orochimaru is and their morals compared to Sasuke and Naruto.
In any case, most of this OP isn’t actually going over a lot of what is currently going on in the anime at this point, which can be a positive or negative thing, depending on who’s asking. Either way, the visuals, vocals, and animation of this opening are top-notch, even if they’re made for an arc of the anime that is primarily labeled as filler.
256-281
B
As soon as anyNarutofan sees the name Kana-Boon as the performer of this opening, they’ll get immediately excited. For those who don’t know, Kana-Boon is one of the most beloved performers for theNarutoopenings, as they’re behind the most iconic Shippuden opening,Silhouette. And, it’s immediately very clear once the OP begins thatKirarirariis meant to be Boruto’s ‘version’ ofSilhouette.
Both songs start with these polaroid-esque film reel clips of previous iconic moments in the series before showing the primary ‘cast’ of the upcoming arc. Then, from there, both openings (right around the point of the climax of the song) build-up to the protagonist desperately ‘chasing’ after something, with Naruto chasing after Sasuke and Boruto chasing after his father. Granted, in generalSilhouettestill easily beatsKirarirari, but it’s still a great opening. Plus, that moment where Boruto has the same little ‘stumble’ in his run chasing Naruto as Naruto did chasing Sasuke is a genius enough detail to get this opening on the list all on its own.
101-126
B-
So many of theBorutoopenings are full of homages and references to moments inShippudenopenings, andGolden Timeis no different. The slow introduction of characters building up to a chorus right as the main cast confronts some epic enemy in battle is pretty standard for almost everyNaruto/Borutoopening. But the real homages come at the part of the opening song where Boruto is chasing his father’s back, as he so often does, as well as this little crystal of light, only to have it fade away in his hand. This is a nod toShippudenOP 18,Line, in which all of the characters throughout thatNarutoopening are constantly chasing after their goal/dreams (personified as these crystals of light) with pure desperation.
By the end of the OPLine, Naruto manages to grasp his ‘dream crystal’ with confidence, likely an allusion to himeventually becoming Hokage, while Sasuke destroys his for the sake of his revenge (though he does eventually pursue strength for a different reason).
Boruto, however, doesn’t destroy his dream ‘crystal’ of becoming a great man like his father but doesn’t exactly catch it either, proving that he’s not the same as his dad, and he’s still got a long way to go. Of course, outside of this, the OP itself is fantastic as Fujifabric does an incredible job with a song that is both unique and full of energy. The only real downside overall is that the visuals don’t really have anything to do with anything in regard to the story.
151-180
C+
Just like howGolden Timehad this unique energy and flow to it, Sambomaster’sStarting and Growingdoubles down on this energy and even amplifies it inBoruto’sseventh OP. Somehow, this OP manages to capture the bright, stark colors that a lot of the earlier Boruto OPs are known for, while also capturing that raw solemn energy that anotherNarutoOP called Rhapsody of Youth excelled at capturing the most.
And there are a lot of important little hints to pick up about upcoming events such as theshadowy introduction of Kawakiin the beginning, the steady progression of Boruto’s Karma, or even just the fact that the ever-lazy Chocho isn’t running like the rest of the kids are. It’s the firstBorutoopening that feels like an actual tonal jump into something more serious (which fans hope Part 2 continues) and has a lot of similarities to Pain’s invasion back in theShippudendays. The only problem is that this opening is a bit of a tease, as the actual events that play out in the OP wouldn’t happen until a bunch more filler was out of the way.
232-255
Finishing up theBorutosection with another ‘banger’, it’s the opening titledGold, and wow is this one a beauty to look at visually. The first twenty to thirty seconds of this OP are so incredibly stunning in a visual sense, do a great job introducing the characters and their gimmicks (such as Sarada’s Sharingan), and the action that follows after (along with the chorus) is equally as engaging.
There’s a real change in tone with this one, as it seems like theBoruto openings have fully finished transforming into their own take on the classicShippudenOPs. And, for any fans of theBorutomanga, this openingfeels like things are finally starting to pick upthanks to Kawaki’s appearance. And, while this OP suffers from the same problem asGolden Timein that the kids are just fighting some random mobs in it rather thanactually important antagonists, it’s still just so nice to look at.
480-500
It feels odd that the final opening song of theShippudenseries doesn’t quite get the best letter grades, but sadly those grades are accurate.Empty Heartis both a bittersweet farewell and a celebration of the series/journey up to now. A lot of different parts of this song have homages to other openings from the series, which is always a nice touch.
This was the opening for the final arcs of the main series that mostly just cleaned up character stories to set up forBoruto: The Next Generation. The song itself is beautiful and perfectly matches the tone the visuals are going for, and the whole opening just paints a clear picture of how much things have changed for these characters since it all started back in the year 2002.
206-230
Moving ontoLovers, the opening that was there throughout most of the Five Kage Summit a lot of the beginning of the Fourth Shinobi World War. As per usual withNaruto openings, it starts with Sasuke and Naruto facing each other down. However, this time, Sakura (one of the series' most underutilized characters) is quite literally directly in the middle of the frame. Then, from there, the opening song goes from group to group, showing the Akatsuki, Sasuke’s group called Taka,the Kage and their closest advisors, and the important members of Konoha.
As far as music goes, the group called 7!!, otherwise known asSeven Oops, does a fantastic job making an incredibly memorable song that has both unique pacing and a lot of heart. It’s a bit more of an emotional opening compared to an action-packed one, but that’s not at all an insult against it.
154-179
B+
Next up is the Opening that covers probably Naruto’s most defining ‘solo’ moment in all ofShippuden,A World That Was Transparentby Hata Motohiro. This is the opening that covers all ofPain’s assault on the Hidden Leaf Villageand Naruto eventually returning to fight Pain in Sage Mode. This is one of the darkest times for the Hidden Leaf Village, as a lot of people die in Pain’s assault and the village itself is basically destroyed in its entirety.
But, it’s also the time when Naruto becomes the actual ‘hero’ of the Hidden Leaf and fully becomes a man capable enough to be within reaching distance of his dream to be Hokage. And,A World That Was Transparentdoes a fantastic job representing both sides of this arc incredibly well while also building hype for the final confrontation between Naruto and Pain.
54-77
Next up on this list isBlue Bird, a song that’s a personal favorite of manyNarutofans. A lot of thisNarutoopening goes for symbolism over over-the-top animated sequences, which works for the most part and gives it this emotional draw similar to something like theKingdom Hearts IIopening cinematic (Naruto even starts the opening falling from the sky). Honestly, the symbolism is so iconic in this particular OP (and arc as a whole) that it still gets homages inBoruto’sopenings in the current episodes.
The biggest downside for this opening is the fact that it was the opening for what most call a filler arc (which seems to be a common theme). That said, the Twelve Guardian Ninja filler arc is one of the least offensive fillers since it has a lot of interesting characters and expands upon Naruto’s wind-chakra Rasengan training much earlier than the manga.
129-153
Even thinking of this next opening songgets a lot ofNarutofans all teary-eyed.Signwas the sixth opening for theShippudenseries, and it covered some pretty significant story arcs, mainlytheTale of Jiraiya the Galantand theFated Battle Between Brothers. These two arcs are some of the most iconic moments inShippuden, whether it’s Jiraiya’s showdown with Pain in the Land of Rain orSasuke and Itachi’s long-awaited confrontation.
And, while the opening (for the most part) has a lot of clips from the actual anime itself rather than unique animation, once the chorus drops, this addition to the overallNarutoOST really goes hard, both visually and tonally.
