Anime credits have used dance to introduce characters, tell small stories and, in the case of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, inspire performances beyond the screen. In its feature published on November 3, 2026, Crunchyroll traces examples from Heidi to “Hare Hare Yukai.”
From a dancing frog to Heidi and Peter
Crunchyroll dates one early example to 1973: the protagonist of The Gutsy Frog dances with a fan in the series’ second ending sequence. The following year, the opening of the anime adaptation of Heidi showed Heidi and Peter dancing in a circle for 14 seconds.
The two sequences place dance in different parts of an episode, one at the end and the other at the beginning. In Heidi, the circle makes the characters’ movement part of the introduction to the series.
Character and movement in the credits
In “Dancing Star,” an opening for Urusei Yatsura, Crunchyroll describes Ataru as initially reluctant before he enthusiastically joins the dance. That change of heart gives the sequence a small story of its own. The feature credits Izumi Kobayashi with composing both “Dancing Star” and “Lum no Love Song.”
The third opening of Touch! combines images of baseball fields and locker rooms with a gymnastics routine by Minami. Crunchyroll also highlights “Ultra Relax,” the second opening of Kodocha, which it dates to 1997.
Haruhi’s dance reaches Akihabara
The ending of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya shows its characters dancing to “Hare Hare Yukai.” Crunchyroll reports that a 2007 recording shows fans performing the choreography in the streets of Akihabara, taking the sequence from the screen into a public performance.
The recording offers a glimpse of how viewers responded to that ending by reproducing its choreography themselves.
Capoeira and rotoscoping
Crunchyroll’s examples also span different ways of depicting movement. The opening of Tenjo Tenge incorporates capoeira, while the opening of The Perfect Insider, directed by Kazuaki Seki, features a rotoscoped dance between 3 people.
The examples range from Ataru’s change of heart to a gymnastics routine beside baseball settings and choreography that viewers performed in the street.
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