Winter 2025’s Best Anime OP Is … From a Netflix Romance?

With incredibly popular shows like Solo Leveling, The Apothecary Diaries, Shangri-La Frontier, and Dr. Stone, returning this Winter season, along with some exciting new additions like Sakamoto Days, you’d expect the unofficial award for best OP to be stolen by one of those high-budget series. But, as the incredibly competitive side of the anime fandom debates which series has the best OP, the award has sneakily been won by Netflix’s insanely underrated returning romance, Blue Box.

Blue Box first debuted on Netflix in October 2024. Season 1 of the anime adaptation of Kouji Miura’s manga has been split into two cours. Cour 1 premiered with an entertaining OP, titled “Same Blue” by the pop band Official HIGE DANdism. But the OP for Cour 2, which premiered on Netflix on January 2nd, has blown its predecessor and the OPs for every other Winter 2025 anime out of the water.

Blue Box Cour 2 Features Winter 2025’s Best OP

No one was expecting a romantic comedy anime about two high schoolers to feature such an energetic banger as its OP, but Cour 2 of Blue Box‘s first season has delivered just that. Titled “Saraba,” by J-rock group Macaroni Empitsu, the track is the perfect opening to set up Chinatsu Kano and Taiki Inomata’s personal sports journeys and their blossoming romance.

“Saraba” perfectly captures the tone and themes of Blue Box. The song balances its relaxing, chilled vibe with energetic verses. The relaxed atmosphere of the song embodies Blue Box‘s casual tone, as the show’s main focus is on the small interactions between Taiki and Chinatsu as their feelings and confidence grow. Meanwhile, the upbeat and energetic guitar and drums make the song feel like something Taiki and Chinatsu would both listen to during their practice sessions. “Saraba” is a song that can be listened to while mellowing out, or while you’re training to make nationals for basketball or badminton (or whichever sport you practice).

[RELATED – Netflix’s Blue Box Director Knew Nothing About Sports Before Making the Anime]

Close Contenders for Best OP of Winter 2025

Are we proclaiming “Saraba” to be the best OP of Winter 2025 a little too early, especially considering we’re only 20 days into January? Maybe, but who cares? The song is great. That being said, there are some other amazing OPs that have been unveiled and released this season. The closest contender is most likely Shangri-La Frontier Season 2’s new OP, “Frontiers” by Awich. The show’s fourth OP goes unfathomably hard and plays alongside some of the most stunning animations of the Winter season.

The Apothecary Diaries‘ newest OP, “Hyakka Ryouran” by Lilas Ikuta, is also a strong contender, as is “ReawakerR,” the new OP by LiSa and Felix of Stray Kids for Solo Leveling‘s second season. Meanwhile, Sakamoto Days‘ first opening track, “Run, Sakamoto, Run,” might be the most divisive OP of the season, as some love Vaundy’s new song, while others believe it doesn’t fit the high-octane nature of the new action shonen.

New episodes of Blue Box are released on Thursdays on Netflix. The beloved romance anime follows the aforementioned high schoolers, Chinatsu and Taiki, who both have high ambitions in basketball and badminton, respectively, while balancing their growing feelings for each other.

H/T: Crunchyroll