

The final OP for _Monogatari Series Second Season_ (the Koimonogatari OP) is
sort of an 80s-throwback sort of deal, with all the hallmarks of old anime
styling - funky "lens flares", those old-school clouds, a song reminiscent of
80s-era pop, captioned lyrics - the works.

One particularly interesting feature of the OP is that it credits KAMIYA
Hiroshi and SAITOU Chiwa as the voice actors of Koyomi and Hitagi,
respectively.

![1:05 into the Koimonogatari OP - credits for voice actors for Koyomi and
Hitagi](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1rA8Ol.jpg)

No TV anime from the past two or three years that I have watched has (to the
best of my recollection) credited a voice actor in the opening credits. The
opening credits typically seem to be reserved for producers, directors,
original creators, and people like that. Voice actors are, of course, credited
in the ending credits, usually towards the beginning.

* * *

And so, the question: Was it more common back in, say, the 80s or thereabouts
for voice actors to be credited in anime opening credits (in place of _or_ in
addition to the ending credits)?

(Or, alternatively, is this aspect of the presentation of the Koimonogatari OP
just idiosyncratic / anachronistic / otherwise not in keeping with common
practice from a few decades ago?)


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anime-history theme-song monogatari-series
Was it formerly common practice to credit voice actors in opening credits?


According to Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_acting_in_Japan>

The Term **Character Voice(CV)** has been commonly used since the 1980s by
such Japanese anime magazines as Animec and Newtype, for a voice actor
associated with a particular anime or game character.

And also

> "Some voice actors — especially certain voice actresses — often have devoted
> international fan-clubs. Some fans may watch a show merely to hear a
> particular voice actor."

So your theory that says:

> "Was it more common back in, say, the 80s or thereabouts for voice actors to
> be credited in anime opening credits"

May be true. But I didn't found anything to confirm it.

But in the particular case of that opening I think that it was just some kind
of joke, if I remember well on that opening the main characters that appeared
were Hitagi and Kaiki, but not Koyomi. Also the opening itself just don't fit
with the anime style.

I hope my answer was useful to you.


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**It's uncommon, but it's not that rare.**

According to the [Japanese
Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AC%E3%82%B8%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%88%E3%83%AB):

> It's often to have 2 credits scene for movies, TV programs, etc.: opening &
> ending. The general rule is, opening credits the studio, main performers,
> producer, supervisor, writer, etc., and ending credits all of the staffs.
>
> In Japanese TV dramas, it's common to have the opening shown all the credit
> and omitted the ending in the 60's. However, in 70's and 80's, the credits
> started to split to opening with important credits, and ending with the
> rest. In 90's and later, it became common for the opening to only show the
> title, and the ending plays the theme song while listing all the credits.

However, most of [60's & 70's anime
OPs](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUGG2ThXypqJGUSdQ-ZX47Eus76jipHSp)
didn't even list any credit, only showing animation & song, sometimes with
lyric (unless I was apparently watching the non-telop version...). Even if
they list the credit, it's similar to the current trend (production-related
credits), but there were some which included the voice actors (out of around
25 anime OPs that I watched):

  * ビッグX ( _Big X_ , 1964): [YouTube video](https://youtu.be/UNa_cJA7wN8?t=27s)

![Big X OP](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zlzl9m.png)

  * 夕やけ番長 ( _Yuuyake Bancho_ , 1968): [YouTube video](https://youtu.be/Bm581sbjqdQ?t=41s)

![Yuuyake Bancho OP](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sNrDJm.png)

  * もーれつア太郎 ( _Moretsu Ataro_ , 1969): [B/W OP (YouTube video)](https://youtu.be/aRuIUOAzekY?t=33s), [Color OP (YouTube video](https://youtu.be/gPnqi9_3JMA?t=32s)

![Moretsu Ataro B/W OP](https://i.stack.imgur.com/u0E4Lm.png) ![Moretsu Ataro
Color OP](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YX2HMm.png)

  * 男一匹 ガキ大将 ( _Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daishou_ , 1969): [YouTube video](https://youtu.be/NDmdhYZ6yTc?t=45s)

![Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daishou](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NBdLJm.png)

_Note: 声の出演 is the same as CV (Character Voice)._


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