KSTJ2 - Shiver

First, the troll version.

I love the black and white theme going on. Also I find it interesting that you don't see Claude's face until the end of the sequence. The ongoing motif of Alois' and Claude's slipping hands (and the falling ring!) is quite sad - it really goes well with the lyrics and the idea of Alois being so dependent on his demon.

I'm not sure if I like the coloured sequences though, especially the one of Hannah - it stuck out like a sore thumb in amongst the warm tones of the other colours. The shot of Alois on the stairs, however, was to die for.

Now that I think of it, Aloi's falling ring compliments the idea of the second OP, in which Ciel gets his ring back.

I'm thinking that they ran out of ideas to put in this OP, because Sebastian spends an awfully long time sauntering over to his Bocchan. Also, is it just me or does Ciel's ring look a hell of a lot different compared to season 1?

The flying rose transition is quite tacky, but I like seeing the contrast between the master-butler pairs. What I didn't like was the icky colour they used for the background of the masters walking past Hannah.

The Grell sequence was awesome. Not a lot to say about it. But the fight between Claude and Sebastian looked more like it should be in the episode content as it definitely isn't OP-worthy.

Then we have another master-butler contrast, implying heavily that Alois openly needs Claude, while Ciel thinks he's TC. I thought that Alois holding on to Claude's arm was really sweet, and so was Sebastian's endearing smile. It shows the relationship between the kids and their demons so well.

Finally, on the cliffs, we have a field of Ciel's favourite white roses. It sends chills up my spine to see Sebastian and Ciel's sad, resigned, but peaceful smiles before they dissolve into a shower of red rose petals.

The things I disliked about version 2 are that the colours are terrible, and some of the art doesn't seem like it should be in the opening animation as it's not very detailed. The ideas and symbolism are good but not cohesive.

On the other hand, version 1 is pretty cohesive and there's one really big theme (the slipping hands), but I guess there wasn't much going on in the way of symbolism...