Candy Candy (1976) OP
“Candy Candy” by Mitsuko Horie
This is a somewhat typical opening, featuring a blond heroine who runs around in various outfits. Many anime of the period featured blond girls living in some kind of Western setting.
Majokko Tickle (1978) OP
“Majokko Tickle” by Mitsuko Horie
Lupin III Part II (1978)
Theme by Yuji Ohno
Galaxy Express 999 (1978) OP
“Ginga Tetsudou 999 (The Galaxy Express 999)” by Isao Sasaki and the Suginami Children’s Choir
Space Pirate Captain Harlock (1978) OP
“Captain Harlock” by Ichiro Mizuki
Isabelle of Paris (1979) OP
“Fantaisie-Impromptu” by Frederic Chopin
A rare example of classical music used in an OP.
Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) OP
“Tobe! Gundam (Fly! Gundam)” by Koh Ikeda
Anne of Green Gables (1979) OP ED
“Kikoeru kashira” by Ritsuko Ohwada
The Rose of Versailles (1979) OP
“Bara wa Utsukushiku Chiru” by Hiroko Suzuki
My favorite OP of the period from an excellent anime based on a revolutionary manga 🙂 This video contains most parts of the OP with some selected footage to fill the rest of time in the full song. Note the animation fading into a drawing, a technique Osamu Dezaki introduced (he directed later part of this anime).
Next up are 80s, the golden age of anime 🙂
What are your favorite anime openings or endings of the 70s?
Kitsune's Thoughts 
I am observing something interesting… that just when I thought I had seen all the worthwhile anime openings in the world (I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds), this comes along and shows there’s *still* a larger anime world I haven’t explored yet.
To be honest, I find the 1970s style strangely addicting. Not sure if it’s because some are just plain cute or because they’re so *different*. Well either ways– thanks for the post! 😀
Paraphrasing the major, the anime world is vast and infinite 😉
It is indeed addicting! It is cute, and I have some good memories. Also such music is one of the reasons I like Zetsubou Sensei so much 🙂
You are welcome, I am glad you enjoyed the post 🙂
Interesting!
I had never paid much attention to anime before discovering your blog. But now I find myself quite interested in the artform. Thank you for the educational aspect of your post.
I am glad you are interested! 🙂
Anime can vary quite substantially in terms of genres and art styles. I prefer, giving more personalized recommendations, based on what a person prefers, but I could give a few general ones:
Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. Academy Award winner for best animation, highest grossing film in Japanese history.
Grave of the Fireflies by Isao Takahata. Roger Ebert considers it to be one of the most powerful anti-war movies ever made. Animation historian Ernest Rister compares the film to Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and says, “it is the most profoundly human animated film I’ve ever seen.”
Only Yesterday by Isao Takahata.
I highly recommend using subtitles and listen to the original Japanese instead of English dub.
Ahhhhh… though I have rarely seen the entirety or none of these anime, I really love Bara wa Utsukushiku Chiru, but Cutey Honey is also quite great… *sighs* I am not a shojo person though.
Hmm although the anime I watched from the 70’s got to be this one.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGl991TRrUk Guess who the singer is. ^_^
Ah, yes, I recall that anime 🙂 I want to say the signer is Ichiro Mizuki because he was so prevalent then, but actually it is Yuki Hide – I like his voice 🙂
I always think of it as Ichiro Mizuki actually… ^_^ Hmmm when you get to the 80’s music.. hmm.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUOegCG3v1A
But I actually am going to write a short post soon about Umi no Triton. ^_^
Oh, I look forward to your post 🙂
Once again in blogging limbo.. but I won’t abandon it. >_< I hope.
I happen to like classic titles.
Relistening to Candy Candy and Cutey Honey, they're sooo cute. ^_^
haha That’s great! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Take your time.
I like classics too 🙂
Yup, those are cute and addicting songs 🙂
Ah, thank you for reminding about this one 🙂
Hmm, I thought I posted my comment days ago and it must have been swallowed up cos it didn’t turn up. Re-posting again. (^_^)
I have not watch any of the above 70s anime. Thanks for sharing.
I like ‘Yogiri no Honey’ , the very spirited ‘Majokko Megu-chan OP’ and ‘Hitoribocchi no Megu’. They paired well with the visual sequence. Even more amusing is ‘Grandizer’s’ patriotic sounding themes. 😆
But I think overall, the theme song I like the most is ‘Ikkyu-san’. The visual isn’t much but the song is really cute & mellow sung in that whispering voice.
Sorry about that, something must have malfunctioned because I didn’t see your comment.
‘Yogiri no Honey’ is very nice, and I am glad I found a relatively good quality audio. Yes, “spirited” is a good word to describe those – I enjoyed them as well 🙂
Indeed, ‘Ikkyu-san’ is very cute 🙂
Hi Everyone, I need help finding the name of a song that I recorded on a tape long time ago. It’s from an animated series around the time of Millennia Queen / Galaxy Express 999 (late 70s / early 80s). I can email a small portion via mp3 if anyone thinks that he/she might be able to help.
I can only make out parts of the lyric. It starts with “Anata wa….tatsunaki…”
Cheers.
To get a wider sample of potential helpers, you could upload it on youtube and ask if anyone knows what it is.
Ok, thanks I’ll do that. Didn’t realise I can get help that way.
You could post a link to your upload here if you want, and I’ll try to identify the song, but I may not be able to determine what it is.
I’ve uploaded to online storage instead as I don’t actually have a Youtube account.
Do you mind downloading from link below and let me know what you think? Sorry it took me a while to get this done.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0N1ZRUS2
Cheers.
No problem.
Unfortunately, I can’t download it now because it says: “The file you are trying to access is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.”
I’ll try again later.
Sorry about the hassle. I’ve created a youtube account now, but will have to covert mp3 to avi/mpg first before I can upload the song. Will post link ASAP.
No problem. I hope we’ll figure out the song you have eventually 🙂
I converted the mp3 to avi but Youtube doesn’t recognize the format for some reason.
Would you mind if I email you the mp3 to you instead?
Cheers
You may try.