Spoiler Opening

The lush, detailed opening credits contain information about the cast or plot that nullifies surprises later in the series. Thus, it's pretty obvious that when someone apparently important shows up who isn't in the opening credits, they aren't going to be around for very long. Similarly, the series tries to pretend that someone isn't very important, but they're featured prominently in the credits.

Series that rely on "Previously On..." in order to keep viewers up to speed are especially prone to this. Because only the parts of the story arc relevant to the current episode get recapped, the viewer is tipped off that those parts of the story arc are about to show up.

A series can get around this by shaping their opening credits to merely be foreshadowing, a new or edited differently opening at various points in the series, or have the opening have little to do with the actual plot.

A variation is where vaguely famous names appear in the credits, so you can guess automatically that they're going to be fairly prominent in the episode before they even show up. In series with recurring characters that are not normally in the credits or a cameo from someone who left the show this can indicate their eventual presence in an episode ruining their unexpected entrance.

Contrast with Bait and Switch Credits. If you're spoiled for the first season when you look up the opening for the second, that's a Late Arrival Spoiler. May be averted with Evolving Credits, where credits change with the story instead of revealing everything at once. Dead Star Walking can be either a subtrope of this or an aversion, depending on how it's presented. Contrast Not Named in Opening Credits when an actor's name is omitted from the opening credits to maintain a surprise. See also First Episode Spoiler, which can often fall prey to this. As a Word of God once explained, the American Screen Actors Guild has strict rules about where credits can appear, at least partially justifying this trope.

''' Since this is a spoiler trope, there will be unmarked spoilers below. '''

Anime and Manga

 * The biggest offender is Fushigi Yuugi, which showed all of the good guys together. In the series, they are only slowly gathered together, and during the process the bad guys try to infiltrate the cast with an agent. The series actually tries to pretend it's surprising the audience with this, but it's obvious to anyone who's been paying attention.
 * It also shows Yui will turn bad.
 * Kekkaishi does this the other way around, the OP shows the 3 good guys together but in the anime the third person joins up later in the series only to be killed off soon after, surprisingly the OP never changes.
 * Well, there are some changes to accommodate major enemies or allies in the relevant arc. But for some reason they don't change anything else.
 * The OP also show Tokine using long, thin kekkai to skewer her enemies, a trick she doesn't learn until around the half-way point, and that she uses to compensate for not having Yoshimori's raw power.
 * Most main races in Initial D get spoiled in the opening from second season on.
 * Innocent Venus, somewhat. Jin appears with the same mask he wears prior to his Duel to the Death with Jo and some disembodied hands suggesting illusion, foreshadowing his Face Heel Turn. The opening also strongly suggests that of the three leads, Jo will be the main character
 * Halfway through Martian Successor Nadesico, a "real" pilot with all the appropriate training appears to pilot the main character's mecha. He is supposedly no longer needed. Said replacement is nowhere in the opening. The obvious happens.
 * Gai doesn't appear in the opening either, which seems very strange until the end of the third episode.
 * The opening of Neon Genesis Evangelion promptly spoils the fact that there are going to be three main Evas, and shows all the pilots before they are even introduced. There is, however, a nice subversion: the footage is laden with black screens holding text, appearing for a couple of moments each, showing the series' terminology that only starts making sense when it is explained what a particular word or logo stands for. Not to mention the Bait and Switch Credits nature of the opening.
 * Also possibly subverted with Unit-01 sprouting wings, which does not even happen in the anime proper (it happens in the alternate ending movie End of Evangelion.
 * Also has one hell of a call ahead as the shot of Shinji smiling is the last shot of the anime.
 * By contrast, the ADV trailer imitates the opening of the anime and is practically incomprehensible. It also features one hell of a call ahead as well - Misato having been shot.
 * Paranoia Agent creates a deliberate Spoiler Opening to help with Foreshadowing. If a character appears in the opening credits, the audience knows to watch them carefully, even if they've only made brief appearances so far.
 * In fact, one particular sequence of the characters has them appear in the same order as they get attacked by Shonen Bat.
 * The Mai-Otome opening spoils the appearance of Miyu in later episodes, in addition to showing a shadowy mysterious Otome, who might have not been prematurely identified as Mai, if not for her mitsu tomoe symbol from Mai-HiME. And of course, it also spoils the "will Arika get into Garderobe?" subplot of the first few episodes.
 * Starting with episode 16, a new set of opening credits appears... which not only reveals the (albeit well foreshadowed) major plot twist that hasn't happened yet, it also removes any doubt as to which side every character will wind up on.
 * Both openings, however, show a character in silhouette whose identity remains successfully hidden until the very last episode.
 * For Persona 4: The Animation, just like in the game, the opening gives away many of the kidnapping victims, as well as the identities of the full investigation team. If one hasn't played the game, the script and direction of the anime is clearly intended to make a Red Herring out of Naoto, but simply watching the credits pretty much tells you she's a good guy all along.
 * The main premise of the series Mariasama ga Miteru is that of the soeur ("sister") system: characters choose lower classmen to be their Petite soeur. While the series tries to build suspense as to who will choose who, the opening sequence shows the pairs quite plainly. In the second season, there is supposed to be a rivalry between two of the girls, though we clearly see them as soeurs in the opening.
 * And the fourth season has an additional spoiler ending, since it clearly showcases who Yumi will choose as her soeur.
 * The major plot arc of the first eight episodes of Simoun is Aaeru's attempt to get Neviril to pair with her, and Neviril's refusal to fly with anyone during that time. However, the opening credits prominently feature the two flying together, promptly removing any and all suspense that they might not become a pair, and show a number of other characters who have not been introduced yet.
 * On the other hand, the opening credits also subvert this this one, too. Amuria, who dies in the first episode, is never removed from the credits. Between this, the frequent mentions of her, and the fact that her body was not found, it seems obvious that she will eventually come back. She does not.
 * Although Gun X Sword makes use of silhouettes, it still tips its hand at two points. For the first, the true appearance of the moon is visible (and unsilhouetted) behind the Claw long before it comes into play. The Evolving Credits actually cause the second, with three characters who presumably died in one episode not having their outlines shadowed before the next, indicating they lived.
 * The One Piece anime's first opening spoiled Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji as well as their abilities, and its third opening revealed prematurely that Miss All-Sunday, aka Nico Robin would make a Heel Face Turn, ruining one of the series' biggest twists. In addition, its fifth opening spoils Luffy and Usopp's battle, Admiral Aokiji's ice powers, Luffy's new look, and shows clips from the Davy Back Fight Arc and it's sixth opening spoils Luffy's new upgrade, Chopper's monster form after taking 3 rumble balls and shows clips from all of the CP9 fights.
 * The ninth opening spoiled Brook and Thriller Bark.
 * The eleventh opening is especially horrible about this. In the two and a half minutes it plays, it shows spoilerific clips from where the anime currently is, trying to rescue Camie from the auction house, all the way to Luffy invading Impel Down to rescue Ace. Along the way they show Kuma attacking, Kizaru and Sentomaru, the women of Amazon Lily, Boa Hancock, Jinbei, and Luffy fighting a bunch of Blugori
 * The game and second anime of Kanon show Ayu with pink wings in the opening.
 * Similarly, the game's opening lists one of the characters, Shiori Misaka, by her full name, preemptively revealing her relation to one of the game's other characters
 * AIR shows Misuzu with short hair and Kanna flying in front of the moon, but they pass by so quickly that there's not much time to ponder them.
 * Clannad has split-second clips in the background of the showcasing girls, which spoil certain future events and backstories. It can also be argued that Nagisa and Tomoya's future child gets spoiled as the little girl running through the field. Though her face isn't shown, and it's automatic that the default girl will be the chosen one, she is pretty prominent concerning what happens involving her.
 * Both used and subverted in Soukou no Strain. The initially important Isabella doesn't show up in the OP, and she gets killed off. This led a lot of fans to suspect that the next victim would be anyone but Sara, Ralph, Lavinia, Lottie or Carris, as those five appeared in the OP. Carris was the next victim, and many not included in the OP survived.
 * The series also features a spoiler ending which depicts the final scene of the series.
 * Battle Programmer Shirase is an odd case; it was canceled before some of the characters shown in the intro are even introduced.
 * Hikaru and Athena are shown fighting in the OP of Angelic Layer long before it's even hinted that Athena will be more than an inspiration from one episode.
 * The opening to Gate Keepers reveals the series' surprise Big Bad before the very first episode.
 * The first series of Magic Knight Rayearth manages to bizarrely combine this with a Bait and Switch Credits sequence, as the opening briefly but prominently features a scene from the climactic mecha battle with Zagato. There's little indication of mecha content in the series prior to them finally showing up besides this... but that's because they're just MacGuffins who don't really play an active role in the story until this battle.
 * Done many, many times in Italian dub openings. The worst offender is, by far, Sailor Moon: the lyrics for the first season's opening stated outright that Sailor Moon is the reincarnation of Princess Serenity; the third season's opening showed that two of the Talismans were in the hearts of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune; and don't even get us started on the fourth season's opening...
 * The English dub opening, which never changed anyway, does completely kill the mystery of who the other four Sailors are by showing and naming them right in the theme song.
 * In the original anime, the third opening of the first season pretty clearly shows Sailor Moon transforming into a pretty and royal looking dress which makes it obvious she's the Moon Princess. It started being shown shortly after Sailor Jupiter showed up, 9 episodes before Princess Serenity first appears. Otherwise, Sailor Moon was usually pretty good about this, especially during S when they used multiple variations on the same opening to hide the new Senshi, the true villains, Super Sailor Moon, and other elements. Which was then completely blown in the English release because Geneon was only able to get Toei to give them the final variation of the opening, which of course spoils the entire series. They were eventually able to coax the original variations out of them as extras, but the damage was already done.
 * The first season openings concealed some of the Senshi's identities, but even the very first opening showed Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars along with Sailor Moon.
 * Sailor Moon does spoil the true identities of Tuxedo Mask and the Moonlight Knight in the credits.
 * About Italian dubs again. Italian opening of Dragonball Z clearly states that 1) the hero will discover his Mysterious Past ("who are you? Goku, you don't know, but you'll soon find out"); 2) The Hero Dies ("and then you'll disappear"); 3) the hero will come Back from the Dead ("but you'll return and (...) you'll defeat darkness")
 * The opening of the third season, Sailor Moon S, quite blatantly shows Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus as a part of the team, which was slightly jarring, given that Neptune and Uranus had a rather antagonistic relationship with the inner senshi. Only by the end of the season they truly acknowledged Sailor Moon as their friend and leader.
 * The opening of Kannazuki no Miko is effectively a 90 second summary of the entire plot of the series.
 * The chronological first three episodes of The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya (broadcast second, third, and fifth) feature a classmate who seems at least as important as Those Two Guys. So why are they all in the closing credits when she isn't? It might have something to do with the fact that she tries to kill Kyon in the tenth (chronologically fourth) episode, getting her either banished or killed by Yuki, it's not clear which.
 * In addition, the opening credits show various spoilers about certain characters such as adult Mikuru, albeit without much context, considering the somewhat surreal backdrop. It even spoils the whole Ryoko trying to kill Kyon thing, if you pay attention. Then again, it doesn't make any sense until you know what's being spoiled, so...
 * Also in the OP: Kimidori Emiri, who doesn't even have significance in the anime yet. People paying attention (who haven't followed the Light Novels, anyway) will probably be suspicious of her come season 2 whenever.
 * The clock and computer motifs surrounding Mikuru and Yuki also cue you in to their respective natures.
 * The closing shots of the Dragonball Z dub theme contain two major spoilers for those who look closely enough:
 * Later, in Dragon Ball Kai, the openings spoil numerous things, including . YMMV, given the series' age.
 * In Azumanga Daioh, Kagura is all over the opening, making it obvious that she'll eventually be important despite her slow start.
 * See that Goth in the opening of Death Note? Her name is Misa. She'll be important later.
 * Also, a brief shot of L's face is shown, even though it isn't shown in the show for the first several episodes.
 * L is also shown on the cover of the second volume of the manga, which you most likely would see before his actual reveal.
 * Death Note also has a spoiler closing; the very last image in the second ending sequence is a shot of and a few flashed images before that show close-ups of . Granted, it may be more Foreshadowing, as you're not likely to figure out that's what it is among the other weird crap.
 * Don't forget the second opening, which shows shots of all of the new major players in the latter half of the story a good few episodes before any of them are introduced.
 * Most of Pokémon's Japanese openings (and endings) spoil future captures and evolutions that the characters are going to have.
 * Actually, the series is good at avoiding this. Most openings are changed just slightly as new Pokemon are added to the team or evolve.
 * People just starting Outlaw Star will likely notice that Hilda, a rather important character and catalyst of the series, doesn't appear in the opening's Team Shot. Naturally, this is because.
 * The intro does, however, show Aisha Clan-Clan and Suzuka as part of the team, when neither one joins for several episodes.
 * The opening of Kurau Phantom Memory offers a glimpse of Christmas.
 * Hell the ending credits are spoilers! Which is weird if you consider that it's a single picture. A very well executed foreshadowing.
 * Unintentionally avoided in Digimon Tamers, where the three main characters are joined by another three shadowy figures. One of them is obviously Juri, but the other two are very indistinct as the writer hadn't yet decided who they were going to be when it came for the sequence to be animated.
 * It's actually quite interesting. Originally, only Juri was going to be a "secondary" Tamer. But in an earlier part of the Japanese opening, there's a shot of a whole ton of kids holding D-Arcs, including Kazu, Suzie and Kenta. The producer saw this and decided to make them into Tamers later in the series.
 * However, while Kenta and MarineAngemon are clearly shown at the end of the second Japanese opening, the shadowy figures occupying the same position in the first Japanese opening don't resemble them in the slightest.
 * Word of God: it originally wasn't Kenta in the OP, which is probably why he's way in the background, instead of in the foreground with the Power Trio, Juri, Shiuchon and Hirokazu. According to their profiles on Konaka's site, Hirokazu and Juri were intended to become Tamers later, while Shiuchon is a case of Throw It In: she was already in the shot, so they decided to go with it. Kenta was given his partner at the last possible minute,, even.
 * Digimon Adventure had a spoiler ending. The very same episode that announced the existence of the new Chosen Child and Digimon also debuted the second ending theme, the animation for which very obviously portrays Taichi's little sister and Myotismon's/Vamdemon's Right-Hand-Cat among the good guys. Not only that, it spoils what the unrevealed Ultimates (and Megas, a level not known to exist yet) would look like.
 * The opening that added Kari also had a pair of glimpses of Angewomon, introduced much later, and Magna Angemon, who was the second to last digimon introduced in the series. Several episodes after this opening, Izzy refers to (basic) Angemon as Patamon's fully evolved form. This was the same episode that introduced the concept of megas, so clearly there was more to be seen.
 * Digimon Adventure 02's second Japanese ending, which started at the time of Paildramon's introduction, was particularly bad about this. It showed Silphymon, Shakkoumon and even Imperialdramon, in both Dragon and Fighter Mode! And one episode later, the opening was revised, which in case you hadn't already seen the ending, shows the then-unintroduced Silphymon, Shakkoumon and Imperialdramon Dragon.
 * Frontier's second Japanese ending was also spoilerific. It began playing at the end of the episode revealing, and showed  !
 * To the astute viewer, the upbeat, cartoony intro of Narutaru actually gives away some important parts of the plot. Not that anyone would believe it unless you told them.
 * Well, except for the whole 'Shiina turning into a Kaiju and destroying Tokyo' part. Which was kind of a pity.
 * That part actually does contain a spoiler from the manga, although the anime ended before
 * Every Pretty Cure series dips into this trope to various degrees although most are already spoiled by the toy line anyway before the openings do the job.
 * The second ending of Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star shows the two Dark Magical Girls, who had "died" recently. It attempts to hide this, though, by showing all the (really) dead villains along with them.
 * And it's not even a question in Yes! Pretty Cure 5. Who will be the next Cure? Will Karen get over her Refusal of the Call? Which order will they be gathered in? Not hard.
 * Also, Fresh Pretty Cure spoiled the appearance of Northa/Norza/whatever her name is;
 * Heartcatch Pretty Cure gave away Cure Moonlight's civilian identity, her return to being a Magical Girl well before it happened and featured characters such as future third member Itsuki. The other two members of the Quirky Miniboss Squad, the Pretty Cure Manteaus, Marine Dynamite, the Desert Devils and Floral Power Fortissimo.
 * Suite Pretty Cure's opening spoiled the Cure Belltiers, Cure Muse, and the fact that there's an eighth Fairy Tone.
 * Smile Pretty Cure's Debut Queue is a very dull surprise on who is going to be the next Cure since they are all over the opening.
 * Bleach is incredibly bad about this.
 * First opening spoiled as well as their powers.
 * Second opening spoiled that However, this opening had tons of Bait and Switch Credits, like Ishida fighting Hitsugaya, and Yoruichi fighting Soifon while in cat form. It had so much fake stuff that you can't pick out the real parts until after you've already seen them anyway.
 * Third opening spoiled that
 * How does it spoil ? He's shown for about three seconds, and from the angle all you can make out is his hair and  . And it's shown during the beginning part, which goes through every one of the ryoka and Gotei 13. It's so subtle that you're only going to notice it if you're looking for it, especially with all the emphasis it puts on making Gin look creepy and evil.
 * The fifth opening shows several fights from the Arrancar arc (although you have to look very closely), as well as Ichigo fighting his inner hollow.
 * The opening for the Arrancar arc (Opening 6) spoiled Well in advance of the actual event, and by the time   actually occurs, the opening has changed again.
 * It also shows the remaining Espada beyond Ulquiorra, Yammy and Grimmjow a good number of episodes in advance of their actual introductions.
 * The one after that spoiled
 * And the 9th opening, following the filler arc spoils, and spoils them hard.
 * Let's not forget the spoiler endings. Ending 10 spoiled  and another showed the Vizard's previous appearance, several episodes before the Turn Back the Pendulum arc began.
 * The third ending is especially guilty, showing Ukitake and Kyoraku as Yamamoto's students, Urahara being Captain of Squad 12, and Gin and Rangiku's prior relationship.
 * The broadcast version of the 13th ending on Adult Swim (which typically shows random shots of the season set to an abridged version of the ending theme) shows a shot of Aaroniero with his mask off.
 * On the other hand, Bleach openings are also often full of things that completely fail to happen. Maybe they're hoping that people will be so confused that they'll stop noticing spoilers.
 * The 12th opening (after the end of the Muramasa/Sword Fiend filler) manages to spoil an incredible number of things, including  and, most importantly,   Granted, some of this could be guessed, but if one hasn't read the manga this opening essentially spoils about half of the awesome reveals in the FKT arc.
 * The thirteenth OP spoils  Considering the latter two won't be animated for months and the latter unconfirmed until the latest chapter of the manga those are some pretty big spoilers.  But this is almost impossible to figure out without reading last chapter of the manga.
 * It's almost a theme to Bleach at this point that the openings preview(/spoil) upcoming events, and the endings tend to focus on the past. There are exceptions of course.
 * Just when we thought they couldn't outdo themselves, they did: the latest filler arc opening shows  And to add insult to injury - at least in terms of spoilers - the latest ending shows
 * The 15th Opening seems to have no problem with showcasing  despite all of those being spoilers, those last three especially, seeing as how ,   which won't be animated for another 8-9 episodes and by the time we reach  , we'll most likely be on opening 16.
 * D.Gray-man is a regular offender as well.
 * First opening showed Tyki Mikk in China with his Tease even though that part came at a much later episode.
 * It also spoiled the fact that
 * Second opening revealed some of the "Earl of Millennium's" powers as well as Jasdevi and Lulu Bell.
 * Third opening showed what Skinn Bolic was capable of doing in combat.
 * Almost nothing!
 * The fourth opening does this the most:
 * Averted in Blood+. The second opening only showed Diva from the back, keeping her face secret as she had not yet been revealed.
 * However, the 4th opening falls squarely into this, revealing long before they're actually shown.
 * It takes a really sharp eye to see in the first opening
 * The Slayers tries to set you up to see as a good guy and  as a villain. Now look at who Lina and Gourry are attacking in the opening and who shows up in the "hero" section of the Team Shot at the intro's end.
 * Worse yet, if you know what to look for, the The Slayers Next opening spoils . Ironically, it doesn't spoil the anime per se, but the original novels, by showing
 * Less noticable, but a quick eye makes it quite obvious that  inside the Slayers Next opening.
 * Slayers Evolution-R is the biggest offender for being an original story and yet still having an opening that spoiled the climax.  Many fans thought it was so obvious that it had to be a red herring.
 * The Familiar of Zero shows the
 * The Vision of Escaflowne opening spoils Escaflowne's Dragon form, whose first appearance is treated as a cliffhanger surprise at the end of Episode 4.
 * It also has a shot of Escaflowne fighting Sherazade on a desolate battlefield, a fight that happens near the very end of the series.
 * ...and the winged, angel-like Draconians in their city.
 * Subverted in the first Fullmetal Alchemist season where the opening scene could have spoiled the whole first episode plot twist, the actual episode didn't have an intro, and placed the intro at the end.
 * However the first closing does a brilliant job of spoiling the outcome of the Elric brothers' encounter with Scar, with Al's broken armour and Ed's missing automail arm blatently shown. Also, that scene doesn't even happen until the second opening and closings are in use!
 * Meanwhile, the first Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood's opening has three shots of Hohenheim, who, in the manga, doesn't really show up for another 10 volumes. One of the shots is even It's annoying, really. The first episode followed suit.
 * In their defense,
 * The second Brotherhood opening spoils . Though the actual is very different from what was shown, and they spoil less than they would have because they aired it with episode 15 instead of episode 14.
 * The third Brotherhood opening shows, as well as . However, to their credit, the first instance isn't given very much attention and isn't all that noticeable, and the second one completely lacks any context (Not to mention how , which could trick viewers into mistaking it for something completely unrelated. It also shows what, as of Chapter 106,
 * The fourth opening and closings are the worst of the lot by far. The opening shows and  The ending is even worse, showing  and every single Heel Face Turn for the rest of the series:  (and to a lesser extent  ) are shown fighting Pride alongside the Elrics. Also both the opening and the ending show the  egrigously, at point on top of  for those people who didn't get the message.
 * It also featured the Gate of Truth, referencing something that didn't happen until the last chapter of the manga which hadn't even be published when the opening started airing. Of course, since that hadn't happened yet, it's very easy to take it as unrelated or stylistic.
 * The 5th opening meanwhile shows who the 5th sacrifice is,
 * The first opening of Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo spoils several characters' Heel Face Turns, though the inclusion of Captain Battleship among the main cast when he never actually joins up may have been an attempt to partially avert this. (of course, few people watch Bo-Bobo for the plot)
 * Inuyasha had a spoiler opening and a spoiler closing. The first opening sequence featured Shippo, Miroku, and Sango, long before any of them appeared. Sango likewise appeared in the end sequence. Sango is kind of an advanced case; She wouldn't actually appear in the series until after there were new opening and closing sequences.
 * The Final Act's opening spoils Sesshomaru, , , and Naraku's form after.
 * The anime Katekyo Hitman Reborn is especially guilty of spoiler openings:
 * The first opening briefly reveals Tsuna's, although they only appear for a second. After episode 20, the opening spoils Mukuro's gang, as well as Tsuna's Hyper Dying Will Mode.
 * The second opening for Katekyo Hitman Reborn spoils nearly every fight and new attack in the next arc (although most of the spoiled attacks appear so briefly that you would have to be looking for them to notice).
 * The third opening spoils.
 * The fourth opening spoils the  It also hints at the truth behind the Arcobaleno.
 * The fifth opening does the same thing as the second, showing key matchups and new techniques of every main character.
 * The sixth opening reveals Tsuna's completed  It also reveals that
 * And there was a remake for that same opening, done for the filler Arc that included
 * The 7th opening has quite a few scenes of  shown. Including
 * The eighth spoils.
 * Rockman EXE, in the Axess season, gains Soul Unison forms through the Power of Friendship. The OP spoils half of these forms from the outset, including those of characters apparently Put on a Bus, characters who currently hate him, and even characters who are villains.
 * Stream is better about this, going so far as to put Tesla Magnets in the villains' segment even though she eventually joins the main team. It does reveal that Yuriko is going to join the Net Savers, but only if you're paying attention.
 * Similarly, Beast's suggests a link between Colonel and Iris (though this was obvious to anyone who knew anything about the X series), but essentialy lies by showing Chihiro and Blackbeard in the same sequence as the new allies.
 * The opening for Ryuusei no Rockman Tribe has Orihime in her geisha/priestess villain outfit, which she doesn't wear until the very end of the series.
 * The mysterious killer of the protagonist's parents' face in Shion no Ou is strategically covered whenever it gets close. This can be pretty tension-filled for the watchers...if it weren't for the fact that it's fully shown in the opening.
 * Gainax anime Petite Princess Yucie reveals the other princess candidates Yucie will meet up with, who are all prominent in the storyline specifically on their roles.
 * In Flame of Recca's opening, Too bad this didn't happen in the anime until close to episode twenty...
 * The ending credits of GoLion (which became Lion Voltron) reveal that one of the members of the team dies and is replaced by the princess. The Voltron adaptation recycled this animation for it's ending credits as well, thus carrying the trope over to that version as well.
 * Subverted by the Karin anime. Since the anime added a new character, Winner Sinclair, that was going to be a major player in the anime's plot, the OP only shows a conspicuous black silhouette of Winner whenever he would normally appear. This was naturally replaced with actual images of Winner when he was formally introduced.
 * In the very first episode of Code Geass, Suzaku and C.C. are both shot and apparently killed while trying to protect the protagonist. In episode two, Suzaku is revealed to be injured but alive because the bullet hit a pocket watch he kept under his uniform as a memento. In episode four, C.C. turns out to be fine despite being shot in the head. The surprise is somewhat lessened by each character's prominence in the opening.
 * The other openings tend to spoil some stuff. The second version of the second opening has a Blink-and-You'll-Miss-It scene where Cornelia's Gloucester thrusts its lance. The reflection on its lance shows
 * The second-version-second-OP in the first season goes even further than that: around the last 10 seconds or so of it, there's not only a shot of V.V., there's also one . Of course, you virtually never notice it seeing as those shots are in the form of semi-transparent image flashes in front of the backdrop of Lelouch dramatically sprawled out in from of that inferno.
 * The first OP of R2 spoils and, along with a shot of.
 * The second R2 OP shows a brief shot of a C's World mask and C.C., good ol' Charlie, V.V. and possibly Marianne standing on the cliff with all of their long and shining locks blowing in the wind.
 * The fact that
 * At least they averted some of it; the Black Knights aren't shown until after their formation.
 * Sort of. If you look closely, you can see  amongst them, whom doesn't join up until about two-thirds into the first season.
 * You can see Schneizel in the first opening for a good four seconds before the last shot of Lelouch.  And the fact that they were the last two characters shown with the same background drop, implied to be disdainfully/mockingly looking at each other
 * Sort of inverted in both R2 endings. In the first one, we see, who is dead in the final episodes of the first season, and in the second ending, there's  , even after their death.
 * Subverted in Tenchi Muyo! GXP. During the opening, four silhouettes appear during the initial opening, as well as a small shot of the Earth near the end. As episodes progress, the silhouettes are revealed to be one of the main cast as well as OVA mainstays Ryoko, Ayeka and Tenchi. The shot of the Earth later adds another battleship as well as spaceship mode Ryo-Ohki as they appear.
 * Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: The first opening for the show, even though it's shadowed, features the combination between Gurren and Lagann.
 * Averted later on in the series. features prominently in the intro until the episode after . Also, the  are absent, despite their importance, until this point. There's also an interesting subversion at work here considering
 * Although the opening for the  section does somewhat spoil the ongoing bit where   if you have good eyes when it shows Lagann and Gurren combining.
 * Not only that, but it also spoils.
 * The first opening of Toward the Terra shows  This is done so ambiguously though that the viewers won't really get it until they get to that part of episode 9. The second OP also shows   Though with the series love for Time Skips, people might not take that part of the opening as literal as it is.
 * The opening of the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh! shows a clip or two featuring the Magician of Black Chaos. The Magician does not actually make an appearance in the anime until Yugi's climactic battle with Pegasus. As a whole, the opening often features shots of monsters that will appear that season, and if you can identify the monsters seen you can often take a pretty good guess at which duelist will be using said monster.
 * The second Japanese opening, Shuffle, manages to spoil the fact that Yugi obtains Slifer the Sky Dragon/Osiris. If you look closely at the scene near the end of the opening (which features Yugi, Marik and Kaiba), you can see the Slifer card in Yugi's hand.
 * The opening itself came in at the end of episode 49 (Weirdly the last part of the Dungeon Dice Monsters arc, not the start of Battle City), and Yugi got Slifer in episode 67. To further make it a slight spoiler, Kaiba is shown twice with the God of Obelisk/Obelisk the Tormentor card. He obtains the card in episode 52, just 3 episodes after the opening came into use, so it's not as major a spoiler as Yugi getting his God card. The only other major spoiler for this opening is Yugi summoning the Black/Dark Magician Girl, a monster that doesn't appear until 12 episodes later.
 * In the "Enter the Shadow Realm" sub-arc, the arc shows Gozaburo Kaiba confronting the heroes when he doesn't show up in the arc until the very end and is supposed to be dead. A more subtle spoiler shows Noah, the main antagonist of the arc, in Mokuba Kaiba's clothing - Noah is later revealed to be the third Kaiba brother.
 * The Yu-Gi-Oh dub's first season opening shows A LOT of scenes that don't happen until well past the Duelist Kingdom arc, particularly those of the first time the crew entered the Virtual World and thwarted the Big Bad Five of KaibaCorp.
 * Something that could be considered a spoiler for the Italian audience - the opening for Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's in Italy is basically the Hyper Drive sequence, with 5 seconds added from the second version of the sequence to fit the song lenght. Naturally the 5 seconds they added to extend the sequence featured Yusei facing Kiryu/Kalin and Crow and Blackwing Armor Master. Keep in mind these characters won't be seen for around over 30 episodes, and whilst the US intro that came in from episode 27 showed this, the Italian version showed the two characters from the off.
 * Even the Japanese version of 5D's began doing this, with the forms of Shooting Star Dragon and Machine Emperor Grannel. Initially, for the fourth opening, they were obscured (the former in light, the latter in shadow). This had been done before, with the creature being added the episode after they appeared. With these two, however, they were added into the intro of the very episode they debuted in, thus ruining the anticipation.
 * Watch the S-Cry-ed OP again. Pay attention to the brief hilights over Kazuma's body.
 * Naruto's openings occasionally have spoilers, although some avert this by changing mid-season in order to update themselves.
 * The second opening spoils Orochimaru biting Sasuke and Sakura's Important Haircut.
 * The third opening spoiled Sasuke learning Chidori.
 * The fourth averts this, changing parts of the opening prior to its reveal. (Like Kurenai and Asuma's fight with Kisame, Kakashi's fight with Itachi, Naruto's fight with Kabuto, Sasuke's use of Chidori against Itachi, Tsunade and Shizune, Orochimaru and Jiraiya summoning Manda the Snake and Gamabunta the Toad, and Naruto's Rasengan).
 * The fifth opening (to some degree) spoils Sasuke's defection from Konoha. Though at least it's kind of clever about it like having a shot of an arm reaching to pick up a Leaf headband with pictures of Naruto and Sakura on either side of it, only for the pictures to change to Orochimaru and Itachi after which the hand lets go of it.
 * The First Shippuden opening heavily hints at
 * While this is heavily hinted at, the subtext is only more obvious after the fact, making this a case of hindsight bias.
 * The second Shippuden opening spoils the mission to capture Sasori's spy resulting in leading Naruto's team to Sasuke himself.
 * The seventh Shippuden ending heavily hints at death.
 * And in the sixth Shippuden opening, it's made pretty clear that something very bad will happen to very soon.
 * It also hints at and, though the later is also cleverly pulled off by having him shedding a single tear while floating in glowy whiteness. Oh, and the corresponding ending has a shot of   in it.
 * The seventh Shippuden opening shows showcases that Pain and Konan are a couple episodes before it actually happens as well as shots from Nagato, Yahiko and Konan's past which are from scenes that are not revealed until.
 * It also spoils ability.
 * The two most recent Shippuden openings notwithstanding, the Naruto openings tend to hint at, moreso than spoil major plot developments.
 * The ninth Shippuden open spoils, , and
 * Gorgeous Carat is a manga variation.
 * In Neo Angelique - Abyss the first opening spoils  If you had played the game however you would already know these things.
 * Yu Yu Hakusho's opening spoils (at least) the first 14 episodes... Yusuke coming back to life, Kuwabara gaining powers, Kurama and Hiei's surviving AND their Heel Face Turn.
 * The first ending spoils Koenma's human world form, as well as showing Yusuke fighting Chu and a shot of Team Toguro long before their debut. The third ending spoils and that not long after Yusuke's team wins the Dark Tournament, Sensui replaces Toguro as the Big Bad (It debuts just before the final fight with Toguro).
 * While the Baccano! opening mostly just shows general scenes or Establishing Character Moments (such as Isaac and Miria robbing a bar of its candy bars while dressed as Santa Claus and the Headless Horseman), it does make an exception in the case of, by showing his eventual fate instead:.
 * and let's not forget the fact that  shows up rather prominently in the credits, despite the fact that.
 * The second opening for the original Lupin III series introduces Goemon as a member of Lupin's gang, before he even appears, spoiling his Heel Face Turn.
 * Averted in the original Macross, where the first opening only shows the Valkyries as planes, since the fact that they  is supposed to be a huge surprise revealed at the end of the episode.
 * Beck: Besides showing a few characters that don't appear for quite a few episodes, it also reveals that the band was "made to hit in America!"
 * RahXephon does this very subtly. At first, it seems like nothing but a series of beautiful rapid-fire images.
 * Subverted by Soul Eater with its 2nd opening, which shows . It would make for a very dramatic death scene or whatnot... except nothing like that actually happens during this part of the series.
 * Also, the second opening shows  well before it actually happens.
 * Don't forget Chrona's prominent appearance in the first opening, so we end up watching him/her for several episodes before he/she actually appears.
 * The fourth ED is essentially a spoiler for the end of the series;
 * Saint Seiya along with Bait and Switch Credits. During the Asgard Saga opening, you can see.
 * The first opening for Eureka Seven: Psalm of Planets - Days - features a call-ahead into the final leg of the series where Eureka and Renton have.
 * The opening of Jyu-Oh-Sei contains a lot of shots of Zagi, who is in the first episode but then disappears for half the series. This pretty much gives away that he's going to come back. Then it shows Thor when he grows up (which also doesn't happen until halfway through the series) holding a collapsed Tiz.
 * The dub opening for Sonic X shows Shadow opening his eyes. Shadow doesn't appear until a little while into the second season. He's also seen in the Japanese opening.
 * To be fair, much of the fanbase was made up of people who beat some of the games. They had whole arcs spoiled for them before the series premiered.
 * Utawarerumono's opening goes through visuals of nearly all the major good guys, allowing you to predict nearly every single Heel Face Turn in the series. What it doesn't spoil is the bizarre ending.
 * The opening of Monster sets an entirely different tone from what the first episode seems to promise - a feral, disheveled Tenma running with a gun, after you've just seen him peacefully walking around the hospital in his scrubs.
 * The first op for Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen is a subversion in that most of the stuff in it is footage from the very first episode.
 * However the second just cranks the spoilers Up to Eleven. Honestly in those 85 seconds, we learn that
 * The opening of Revolutionary Girl Utena spoils the fact that, which is only revealed at the end of the first season. It also shows you the face of Utena's "prince" waaaay before he actually appears.
 * The anime version of Valkyria Chronicles. The second intro involves Selvaria who just does the same thing, since she the one that introduces what the hell kind of super powers a person with such a bloodline has.
 * The first Gundam SEED opening and ending spoils the fact that Flay joins the Earth forces (There's a lingering shot of her in a EF uniform), it spoils the relationships between Kira and Lacus and Athrun and Cagalli, and it also shows Cagalli in a soldiers uniform (She has only a cameo in the first episode and doesn't appear again until the opening changes)
 * That's nothing. The third opening shows Freedom, Justice, and the Druggie Trio's units a good 6 to 10 episodes before they first appear as well as the trio themselves. It also spoils Nichol's death (he and his Gundam are gone from their usual shot) and spoils Athrun's Heel Face Turn by showing him and Kira fighting together. It also hints at Natarle's leaving the crew. Also, the second ending is missing Tolle.
 * You think that's bad? The third opening of Gundam SEED Destiny shows Kira with a new Gundam, spoiling both its debut in Episode 39 and that he survives the destruction of his old suit in his duel with Shinn in Episode 35. The third opening started airing back with Episode 25.
 * Sgt. Frog AKA Keroro Gunsou.
 * The First Episode Spoiler of Darker than Black is unlikely to come as a surprise if you pay much attention at all to the opening, but it avoids anything more serious since it mostly just consists of Hei looking cryptically Badass. There is, however, some Foreshadowing, in the form of Amber's silhouette.
 * The sequel, however, completely averts this and has VERY Bait and Switch Credits.
 * Ami Kawashima appears in the opening of Toradora! from the first episode on, even though she appears first in the fifth episode.
 * The opening of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni gives away the fact that Mion has an . If you pay attention, you might also notice that , which kind of hints at a plot twist in the fifth story arc (though it wasn't a particularly surprising one, anyway)
 * It also spoiled the fact Mion has.
 * Subverted in the second season Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai where though she features as a background character in the opening is edited out of the opening until she makes her main appearance later and they're slotted in.
 * Umineko no Naku Koro ni is especially bad about this, particularly with Beatrice's portrait. It changes each arc. The second arc shows, and the third shows.
 * The latest one also shows.
 * The lyrics are also basically a summary of the most of the main plot, and give strong hints of what's coming.
 * The opening of A Certain Scientific Railgun includes some fairly important things that don't show up until the end. There's not enough context to figure anything out just by seeing it in the opening, though.
 * The second opening of the NEEDLESS anime very strongly hints that
 * The first opening for Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha makes it very clear that a blond girl Nanoha's age would be an important part of the story four episodes before we see her.
 * The second opening of StrikerS spoils most of the matchups for the final battle (Teana vs. Wendi and Deed, Erio vs. Garyuu, Caro vs. Lutecia, Signum vs. Zest) with one notable exception; it shows Subaru fighting Nove when she actually fights.
 * The opening and closing of Kämpfer make it nigh-impossible to not figure out who's on what side. It doesn't make much of a difference anyway.
 * The Law of Ueki spoils characters and scenes aplenty in both of its opening sequences, using actual footage from the show (although one can't figure most out until it happens... OK, fine, the second OP is almost criminal).
 * In Basilisk before the opening credits they show the scroll with the names of dead people crossed out. When  apparently dies at the end of an episode, his name does not get crossed out for the next opening.
 * Fairy Tail has done this in both the anime and the manga. The anime doesn't even bother trying to hide Lucy's teammates, their powers, and her summons in both the opening and the ending credits, most spoileriffically Virgo and Erza's super armor. The manga, meanwhile, shows Wendy and Charle in two group shots of Fairy Tail mages before she joins them. The all-female one is understandable, but showing up in the background of a color pin-up of Erza and Lucy in swimsuits with Natsu, Gray, and Happy staring, with Wendy in her own swimsuit, trying to catch your attention by being in front of the title, more than three months before there was a hint of her joining was kind of suspicious.
 * The second ending also shows Gajeel at the start of the arc before his first appearance.
 * The third opening focused almost exclusively on the arc after the one that was currently airing, thus spoiling a Heel Face Turn. It also subtly hints at the true (plot important) nature of one character's magic quite a ways before it's revealed in the story proper.
 * The fourth does the exact same thing, spoiling
 * It's bad enough that the fifth opening shows that Lyon and Sherry make a come back, and that Jellal isn't dead, whereas before it was kind of vague about the last one, but the ending actually shows Wendy and Mystogan together as a child.
 * 7th Opening shows the characters alternate universe counterparts. It also opens with flashbacks of Natsu's childhood with his dead friend Lisanna, and ends with a shot of him desperately reaching for her alternate universe counterpart
 * It should also be noted that with the exception of the 1st and (maybe) 5th opening, all the openings have started airing in during the middle of the arc prior to the one they focus on.
 * And here comes the 8th opening and ending, in which we can see Queen Shagotte way before she actually appears onscreen, hints of the final boss of the arc, and the return of Mystogan. But the worst of all is the new ending heavily focused on Lisanna, who we barely see during the Edolas arc, and the friggin end of said arc, in which Lisanna run into her brother and sister at Magnolia's cemetery. Really ? Spoiling the very last scene of Edolas arc ? Really ?! What the heck ?!
 * The second opening to Shaman King shows that one of the scariest bad guys from the first season will end up on the side of the good guys. In fact, the first opening does this for two others as well.
 * The opening for the American-produced second season of Duel Masters gives away a large number of plot points, though in a manner that only makes sense once the viewer notices the pattern. It shows an established character that will represent each civilization, alongside a creature from that civilization that will be important later. Most glaringly, the final shot pans by.
 * The second English opening of Transformers Armada spoiled Optimus Prime's return, the Autobot/Decepticon alliance, and the appearance of Unicron.
 * Heroman gives these openings out.
 * The first opening was slightly more subtle, but they still show a lot, such as, Dr. Minami's mech, NIA...
 * But if anything, the second opening is more spoileriffic, but I'm not elaborating.
 * The lyrics to the first opening of Turn a Gundam not only tell the viewer that the Black History was intentionally forgotten, it also tells them why. When Agrippa explains this (40 episodes into the series!) he almost quotes the lyrics.
 * Shiki does this with it's first OP.
 * The second opening of the Fate/stay night anime shows some four episodes before.
 * The ending of the Fate/Zero anime shows brief scenes of all the Servants' former lives. These are mostly vague (e.g. we learn that one character from Greek myth or history will be used, but not who that person is) but it's certainly possible to make a shrewd guess at Berserker's identity. Which is also the only one not revealed early on in the series.
 * The opening for Vampire Knight shows Yuki, a human character, drinking blood. The ending shows her with glowing red eyes and bloody tears. It doesn't come as a huge shock when she learns she's a true vampire.
 * Diebuster has one, although it's easy to miss: right at the end of the opening sequence,
 * The opening credits for the second season of Strike Witches prominently features the battleship Yamato in several shots, and true to form, she plays a significant role in the final battle.
 * The opening for Cowboy Bebop suggests that Ed is going to become a regular cast member, seeing as how she's heavily featured in the intro even though she doesn't appear until a few episodes in.
 * Mirai Nikki's opening is LOADED with spoilers, except they are either so subtle you don't notice them, Blink-and-you-miss-it, or completely incomprehensible for those who have not read the manga. For example, the scene of Yuno fighting herself and two halves merging together seemingly looks like it was thrown in to be frantic and creepy with a heavy dose of artistic license,.
 * Also applied to its closing, which reveals the identities of the diary holders, the reasons they are in the game, and Akise -, albeit in shady lighting.
 * For the opening credits used throughout Monster, Dr. Tenma is depicted as a long-haired fugitive wearing a green trench coat. However, at the start of the series he looks completely different; he's clean, has short-hair, and wears much nicer clothing. It isn't until episode 55 that we actually see the Tenma that is featured in the opening credits. (And this is a 74-episode series.)
 * Played with in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, the opening credits prominently feature Madoka in her Magical Girl form, making it obvious she will transform fairly early on. She doesn't. As the episodes went on all the main characters except Madoka had made contracts. By the tenth episode we realise that the whole point is that she doesn't become a magical girl, making the opening a from of Bait and Switch Credits. However, the trope is eventually Played Straight when Madoka transforms in the final episode. Kudos to Gen Urobuchi for being a massive troll.

Film

 * The Ontological Mystery of Dark City is spoiled by the Opening Monologue, which is taken from a scene halfway through the movie. (Executive Meddling mandated the addition of the voiceover.) Future viewers: Do yourself a favour and mute the sound until Kiefer Sutherland looks at his watch.
 * Or better yet, watch the directors cut, which omits the opening monologue.
 * Averted in Sleuth, which deliberately features an opening cast list which proves to be wildly inaccurate.
 * Saving Private Ryan's opening also serves, but is kinda ambiguous to those without knowledge of the American Army: the old man is wearing a pin of the 101st Airborne (Screaming Eagles), and was the only principal character in the film in that division.
 * Averted in Se7en: the actor playing John Doe is missing from the opening credits instead receiving the first credit at the ending.
 * Disney's Robin Hood did this by showing detached scenes from the movie's plot points in the opening credits. Every relevant character in the movie is shown with an animation of them solo from various important parts of the movie, and the animations for the rest of the credits is from the climax.
 * The Mockbuster Paranormal Entity takes this to extremes. Three minutes into the film, it is revealed that the protagonist's sister is dead, he went to jail for her murder, he hung himself, and then his mother (who got possessed) hung herself too. The remaining 87 minutes of the film are pointless.
 * The opening credits of GoldenEye make it fairly plain that we haven't seen the last of
 * This is avoided in the opening of Star Trek III: The Search For Spock...but there is an extra long pause between William Shatner's credit and DeForest Kelley's where Nimoy's name would normally appear.
 * Want to watch Bedknobs and Broomsticks and not know ahead of time that it ends with ? Stop watching the opening credits when Donald McKayle is credited for the choreography!
 * In the film adaptation of Eragon, along with being almost nothing like the book, the audience is informed of the fact that  during the opening narration and plot set up. A fact that readers didn't find out about until halfway through the second book.
 * Though, in the long run, it didn't matter since they didn't get a sequel. And it's not really a spoiler since it was nothing like the books, so it may still surprise you to find something the movie actually got right.
 * The opening of Predator shows the titular alien arriving on Earth - spoiling what would otherwise have been a cool twist halfway through the film.
 * Tangled: Flynn Rider announces he will die as the first line in the movie.
 * Subverted in Rango. The owls say he'll die, implicitly at some point during the storyline.
 * In the film Horsemen (starring Dennis Quaid), Ziyi Zhang has second billing in the opening credits. Even if you didn't recognize the name, the fact that she's the only Asian actor in the movie gives away the fact that her character is more than she seems to be when she is first introduced.
 * The opening narration of Moulin Rouge by Christian clearly states "the woman I loved is dead."
 * Aguirre, the Wrath of God spoils the fact that Aguirre's daughter will die in the end by having her appear shot by an arrow and either dying or dead on the poster used to promote the film.
 * The opening narration of Hop spoils the fact that the main human character becomes the first human easter bunny. This concept isn't introduced untill a little before the climax, after a movie of basically nothing happening.
 * The newest release of Planet of the Apes features a picture of a ruined Statue of Liberty overlooking the main character. Guess what the plot twist is...

Literature
"I've finished my war book now...It begins like this: Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. It ends like this: Poo-tee-weet?"
 * From the introduction of Slaughterhouse-Five:


 * The cover of the third book of The Icewind Dale Trilogy shows the heroes fighting demons in Tartarus, which only happens at the very end of the book. Also,  is shown on the cover, who was thought dead in the previous book and makes a surprising return in this book.
 * My Brother Sam Is Dead. Guess who dies at the very end of the book.
 * Stephanie Meyer managed to spoil Twilight's plot twist on the back of the book: “About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him-and I didn’t know how potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”

Live Action TV

 * Mission: Impossible. The old tv series' opening credits has a montage of basically every major plot point for the episode. Of course, the viewer has no idea what any of it means at that point.
 * |The films also do this (though only in the fourth the succession isn't fast enough for viewers to discern the images).
 * The Wire had some AMAZING opening credits sequences (due mostly in part to the various renditions of "Way Down in the Hole" over some really jarring montages) that occasionally would drop scenes that you're looking for the entire season (if you watched it all on DVD). While you can't tell it's Stringer's hand unzipping D'Angelo's baby mama in the credits it did seem a little weird when it finally happened.
 * Space: 1999 ruins the quite serviceable level of tension built up in the first episode because the credit sequence declares that the Moon is going to be blown completely out of the Solar System.
 * That said, it's hard not to spoil something that is the whole premise of the series.
 * Community has a spoiler ending in the penultimate episode of the second season, when the Dean of a rival school is listed in the credits.
 * Buffy was very egregorious with this. Angel's actor would be listed in the first episode of season three, while ostensibly being sent to a hell dimension at the end of two. Actors whose appearance on the show should be a twist (Oz when he had left, Buffy's mom after she died, and so on) would almost always be mentioned up front.
 * The opening credits of the Buffy pilot didn't include Xander's friend Jesse, so it pretty obvious that he wasn't going to survive, Joss had wanted to include him but they couldn't afford to make two different opening titles so this was nixed but he always claimed he wanted to do it. As a consequence, when Tara was added to the credits for her last episode on the show, that made her departure an easy guess for those who knew about the Jesse thing.
 * There's another straight example in the third season, when Angel, supposedly trapped in Hell after the second-season finale, keeps his credit in the opening titles. His return didn't come as much of a shock.
 * was not mentioned in first act guest star credits in the original airing of for his return as  so as not to spoil the surprise.
 * When returns in "Two To Go", the actor was not listed in the guest starring credits, as it would have revealed  return and ruined the Crowning Moment of Awesome. Before the end credits sequence a title card was shown with.
 * Tara's inclusion in the credits during season six could probably have been taken as a spoiler, given that this is Joss Whedon we're talking about, here.
 * Angel averts this with its season two finale, which guest stars  The same trick from Buffy's "Two to Go" episode is used to hide the actor's identity. Which makes sense since in both cases, the actor in question shows up at the very end and only has a single line of dialog.
 * In the first episode of Firefly aired, the crew (consisting of everyone in the credits) has already been assembled. However, the unaired pilot shows how three of the crew came to join. On the DVD order, the pilot comes first, but uses the credits created for the season as aired. This renders a huge plot point of the episode - finding out which of three passengers is an enemy spy - completely redundant, as two of them are listed in the opening credits. The credits also clearly show River In A Box, which is intended to be a major twist.
 * Criminal Minds did this big time in Season 7. During the previous season,  Well, guess whose name and face were prominently featured in the opening of the first episode in Season 7?
 * Star Trek: Voyager did this in the fourth season, with its second episode being advertised as one where "a crew member leaves forever, and you'll never guess which one." Except that the opening credits for the first episode no longer showed "Jennifer Lien as Kes," replacing it with "Jeri Ryan as Seven Of Nine."
 * Voyager also did this in the second season premiere, involving an episode where the dramatic tension and "big reveal" of the episode revolved around the crew of the eponymous ship discovering Amelia Earhart and other humans abducted from the 1930s on an alien planet. Too bad the big reveal was really revealed in the opening credits by listing the critical "surprise" role.
 * The Season 8 opening to Mystery Science Theater 3000 spoiled the return of Pearl Forrester (at the end of the first episode) and the "chase across the galaxy" storyline (several episodes in). This is probably because season 8 was really the only season to have a plot, at the insistence of Sci-Fi Channel execs. It should also be noted that, when the episode originally aired, it didn't have that opening. It showed Mike and certain Bots returning from the edge of the universe and that was it.
 * It should also be noted that anybody who feels upset that the plot of Mystery Science Theater 3000 has been spoiled is probably missing the point.
 * Babylon 5's season 3 opening showed, which signified a major change in alliances (and wouldn't happen until half way through the season).
 * Another B5 example, this an aversion that didn't stay averted: at the end of the second episode of season 2, a character who hadn't been seen yet that season was revealed to have a whole new look. In the original run, the first two episodes' credit sequences showed her as she had looked previously, and all later episodes showed her as she now looked. Unfortunately, in subsequent runs and the DVDs, the later credit sequence was used for the first two episodes, blowing the surprise completely.
 * According to this page, the PAL-region DVDs used the correct opening, while the North American DVDs used the wrong one.
 * Yet another spoiling intro is in the fourth season: Maybe it's tradition.
 * Also, when Anna Sheridan turned out to be Not Quite Dead, the guest star credits at the beginning listed "Melissa Gilbert as Anna". Leaving off the surname might have worked, as Anna Sheridan had previously been played by a different actress, if Gilbert weren't Bruce Boxleitner's real-life wife.
 * A more obvious example of this trope is the guest star credit "Julie Caitlin Brown as Na'Toth", when she turned out to be Not Quite Dead as well. Unfortunately, they couldn't pull the same trick again as Na'Toth had Only One Name.
 * The 2000s Battlestar Galactica has a "previously on" bit before each show, which allows you to infer exactly what situations will be present during the episode due to what they choose to show you during the opening scrawl. The scenes shown could be from many, many episodes ago, relating to events that have not been referenced since, making it obvious that the story arc would be continued in the following episode.
 * Each episode's title sequence ends with a montage of scenes from the current episode, wilfully courting this trope. Word of God is that the montages were introduced in homage to Space: 1999, which did the same.
 * Given the way the montage is edited this often counts as Bait and Switch Credits
 * BSG has a weird habit of showing clips in the 'Previously on' that never actually happened, either things that were edited out of previous episodes or scenes featuring guest stars where this was their first episode.
 * Except not really once the miniseries and webisodes are taken into account. Anyone who started with Season 1 would be very confused about half the interactions, unless they had seen the miniseries-that-really-isn't-anymore
 * BSG specifically avoids this in the Season 3 finale "Crossroads, Part II" - does not appear in the opening credits, but is credited at the end of the episode, after.
 * They do the same thing in the season 4.5 premiere with.
 * Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
 * The series carefully avoided this several times. The first episode opening is slightly modified, so as to avoid showing you the wormhole (which won't be introduced until half way through the episode). The first episode of the third season actually uses the second season opening, since the third season opening contains the Defiant, which is introduced in that episode.
 * In the episode "Heart of Stone",  In order not to spoil the ending, the actress agreed to be listed in the ending credits, instead of the opening guest star credits.
 * Nicely averted by the episode "Duet", in which the actor playing Marritza is listed, as Marritza, immediately after Odo identifies him by name.
 * In one episode of Law and Order SVU we see Kal Penn's name at the end of the credits. when he appears in the background of a later scene you already know that he'll be pretty important.
 * Same thing happened in an episode of CSI: Miami featuring Ed Furlong.
 * The opening used in the Stargate SG-1 pilot "Children of the Gods" was recycled from the movie and didn't show any scenes from the series itself. Which would be a good idea if they also left Christopher Judge's name out to avoid spoiling Teal'c's defection. That is, for those who recognize Christopher Judge as Teal'c.
 * In one episode while, Michael Shanks appeared in the beginning credits as a guest star. However, it turned out that   Another episode had   make a surprise appearance in the end, for this scene, Shanks was put in the ending credits.
 * Similarly, after  the opening credits for the following season included  . It was not supposed to be revealed until the end of the second or third episode of the season that   and events also threw into questions   Not that the audience really questioned that. Status Quo Is God
 * Like the above example, the first episode of season nine includes  The latter was a "special guest star" until about a quarter of the way through the season, and also made opening credits the next year. However, Sam didn't return until several episodes into the ninth season.
 * Stargate Atlantis did not have a title sequence for its pilot, which would have revealed the plot. Season Two averted this trope by not having a title sequence at all for the first several episodes in, by which time we had discovered who was MIA and who was joining the cast. Too bad they forgot this for the state of Season Five.
 * Also, there's an easy-to-miss one early in the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis. The show reverts to using the previous season's opening sequence (or the credits in it, at least), including Dr. Carson Beckett, who died around the end of the third season. His name is only in the opening credits for one episode, though, so you can chalk it up to a mistake...
 * In the fourth season, however, there's one that's very difficult to miss. The third season ended with . In the fourth season opener,   was replaced by.
 * Lost did this in Season 6, including  in the credits all season, long before his eventual "surprise" appearance.
 * Although considering the fact that the creators pretty much told everyone before the season started that the actor would be returning, this may have been their way of keeping the surprise of WHEN they were returning rather than THAT they were returning.
 * Lost has done this several times-someone gets shot and is left for dead, yet remains in the credits. Oh, I wonder if they'll survive! And they once did it with that same actor-the character ran off. Of course, the surprise once again was when he would return. Given this happened at the end of an episode that was otherwise amusing filler, mission accomplished, Darlton.
 * Though it should be noted that an actor still appearing in the credits of this show doesn't necessarily mean they're still alive, as the dead characters in Lost often show up in dreams/hallucinations or as "ghosts".
 * Especially after, in season 5, remains in the credits and continues to appear ...but then we find out that it's not him and he's.
 * In Season 6,  all remain in the credits after their characters are killed.
 * Kamen Rider Faiz clearly shows the main good guy cast in the opening... but with Anyone Can Die in full effect, this doesn't help much.
 * Kamen Rider Ryuki averts this trope by masking over the eyes of a number of people would would be suspected to be Kamen Riders, if not for the fact that they don't even appear in the show.
 * It's American counterpart, however, plays it half way. While it spoils all the riders, it does not spoil the men and woman behind the masks.
 * Recent Kamen Riders love spoiling the movie(if it's currently airing in theatres) in their openings
 * Kamen Rider Fourze showed all the members of the Kamen Rider Club in the opening since the first episode. Since it's on this trope's page, you can guess that they weren't part of the club when the first episode started. In fact, it takes 10 episodes for all the members to join.
 * Super Sentai and Power Rangers sometimes have a habit of putting the Sixth Ranger in the opening credits before he is recruited. This doesn't make much of a difference, though, since the new Rangers' identities are usually pretty damn obvious anyway (due to colours and other reasons).
 * The first episode of Power Rangers in Space averted this by hiding the identity of the new villain of the season, Astronema, by putting the previous season's villain, Divatox, in her spot in the credits. Divatox did appear in this episode, but only made cameos in subsequent ones. Andros was also absent from the first episode opening credits.
 * Mighty Morphin Power Rangers avoided Spoiler Openings by introducing them later, for example series 3 opening from part THREE of Ninja Quest, Alien Rangers from part TWO and things like that.
 * Power Rangers RPM both averted it and played it straight. While the first opening doesn't quite spoil the facts that Ziggy will become a Ranger and Dr. K is a teenage girl (a very brilliant one, yes, but still a teenage girl), it does spoil Dillon becoming Ranger Black (then again it didn't happen until episode 2). Then, later, it spoils Gem and Gemma being the Gold and Silver Rangers.
 * A minor example: Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: the first episode had the theme song but not the opening credits. Unless you were a (most likely adult) fan who was following the news about it (or the very likely scenario, for Japanese children, watching Go-onger's last few episodes), this preserved the surprise of who would become the non-Red Shinkenger (The theme song was playing after Shinken Red had already henshined).
 * The Opening Narration of season 6 of Robot Wars sometimes ended up with this as it was played over clips from the upcoming episode and essentially gavea away who'd end up fighting who after round one (probably the worst example of a spoiler in this sequence was asking the question "Will Thermador end up in the pit?" over footage of Thirmador driving into the pit!).
 * Second-season 24 episodes featuring the returns of Sherry Palmer and Nina Myers featured the actors' names in the opening credits. By the end of the season, they began leaving out returning actors' credits until the reveal.
 * They did, however, spoil a surprise again in the opening credits of the season 5 premiere. At the end of season 4, Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler left CTU together to settle down and start a new life, yet in the first episode of the new season, Carlos Bernard is listed with the regulars and Reiko Aylesworth is listed as a guest star.
 * In season two, Sherry Palmer left during the 14th episode and was missing from the series for several episodes. She returned in episode 21 in a surprise cliffhanger at the end of the episode. However, her actress was listed in the opening credits, so you knew that Sherry was going to be showing up sometime in the episode.
 * Heroes: The episode that Rebel's identity is revealed, is listed in the opening credits. Long-time fans would recognize that  and would then feel free to have a good guess at who Rebel is judging by the ways he has been helping and communicating with the other characters even before he actually appears in the episode.
 * No, we all knew way, way before then.
 * The opening of the first episode of Farscape avoids doing this by removing the exposition of the plot provided in every other episode.
 * The revised opening for Season 3 did spoil that wasn't dead by featuring her prominently in the opening sequence despite theoretically dying the previous season. However,  didn't start to appear in the opening until after he had returned.
 * The opening credits of the first series of Angel include a brief clip of . But it's not really obvious that's happening until you've already seen the episode.
 * Angel also subverts this in the episode after  by keeping the credits the same.
 * Angel averts this a little later with the appearance of in the Season 1 finale. The actress was not credited at the beginning; instead, she's listed as a "Special Guest Star" at the end of the episode. Listing her at the beginning would have tipped off everyone, and it was a great surprise.
 * And then in the season 5 opener, the opening credits not only, but proudly boast.
 * Averted in the UK version of Who Wants to Be a Superhero?, where for episode one (which shows the auditions for the show) the silhouettes of the chosen thirteen are seen with question marks.
 * Averted (sort of) in Home and Away where Noah is still credited despite the fact Sarah Lewis shot him dead in the previous episode. This was to hide the identity of who had been shot and only reveal it in the episode. That and Noah does appear in that episode (though it's his ghost and only Hayley can see/speak to him) and the next one. It isn't until after then the credits are altered.
 * Torchwood averted this fantastically. All the publicity material showed
 * Spooks averted the trope in much the same way, by having  appear in all the publicity for Season 7, including doing extensive interviews, appearing in first place in the titles, in group shots etc.
 * And yet despite displaying awareness of this, the very next season released a publicity photo of all of the characters at their desks. Or rather.
 * At the end of Season 3 of House, all three of his fellows have either been fired or quit. It's rather hard to believe that they are permanently gone, however, when the opening credits for the first episode of Season 4 not only still lists all three actors, but also still ends with an iconic scene of the fellows walking with House. However, the show then turns this trope on its head by continuing to keep the exact same opening for the next two seasons, without adding the new fellows to the opening credits (even after they are permanently hired and are in roles that would merit opening credits in most shows), and despite Chase and Cameron having fairly small roles all through Seasons 4 and 5.
 * A notable aversion occurs in the season 4 episode when House tries to guess who Wilson's new girlfriend is. In the closing moments of the episode, House secretly follows Wilson to his date and refuses to move until she shows. Surprise surprise, it's a very unlikely recurring character from the beginning of the season (Cutthroat Bitch, played by Anne Dudek). In all other episodes Dudek's name is listed after the opening credits, but that would've been a spoiler in this case so she's listed first in the closing credits.
 * Averted in Season 5, where  would have been spoiled if they'd.
 * Similarly averted in the second season of Veronica Mars, where  As if to make up for this, in the third season finale
 * Red Dwarf, debatably. Series VII's opening credits feature . However, as she was being played by a different actress, she wasn't immediately recognisable.
 * The opening monologue in the latter episodes of series 6 of Shameless shows the dramatic season-ending  explosion, which somewhat undercuts the suspense of the final episode when
 * Another British example from Misfits - the opening episode features six teenagers starting their community service on the same day. All of the promotion materials and the opening credits feature five of those teenagers.  Also potentially with Nathan's 'superpower' - the first few episodes haven't shown his power, and his curiousity over what ability he'll get is a running subplot. Except that
 * With regard to Nathan's power, the image in the opening credits actually constitutes an aversion of this trope. The title sequence depicts what looks like a wolf shadowing him, which indicates some form of lycanthropy as his power. However,
 * In Season 1 of The Amazing Race, the opening titles showed actual locations teams would be going to and tasks they would be doing, making it quite easy to work out whether certain teams were going to make it through to the next leg of the race. Seasons 14 and 15 are the only others to show shots from the season during the credits, and they were only ever shots from the current or previous episodes.
 * In the "Then" part of Supernatural, before the episode, when they recap the events up until that point, they usually focus on important plot points to that specific episode.
 * BeastMaster's opening credits specifically refer to the main character, Dar, as Last of His Kind, despite the fact that his girlfriend was from the same tribe.
 * Each episode of Cupcake Wars has a customized opening explaining the day's theme, including a shot of the two finished cupcake displays.
 * NCIS spoils the introduction of two of their main characters: The opening credits for the, while.
 * The season 2 opening of Prison Break changes the opening credits such that it's fairly obvious which characters won't be returning.
 * Andromeda: Things don't reach status quo until after two episodes, so nearly every major event there is foreseeable (since everything is quite different at the outset). This includes The Hero being thrust into The Future (that is, even farther into it); his ultimately becoming The Captain to a group who spend most of those two episodes fighting him; the additional joining-on of an Ubermensch Bounty Hunter; and the Cloudcuckoolander getting better after taking an InstantDeathLaserBlast. The only non-foreseeable major event occurs very near the beginning — a.
 * The old series of Doctor Who tended to have issues with spoiler closings in serials featuring the Master in disguise - if they credited Anthony Ainley, people would immediately know which character was secretly the Master. As a result, they took to using bizarre pseudonyms like 'Neil Toynay', which apparently caused some trouble and confusion elsewhere in the BBC. They also, in a slight variation, deliberately wrote a scene for Matthew Waterhouse into the serial immediately following Earthshock so that they'd be able to credit him once more, masking Adric's death.
 * During the Schloss Einstein title song, short video clips of the major kid characters are played. (The title sequence is the same for all the episodes of a given series.) Sometimes, who is in the title sequence spoils the resolution of a plot line. For instance:
 * At the beginning of Season 14, we know that Ronja will return to Schloss Einstein because she appears in the title sequence.
 * Max originally isn't supposed to go to Schloss Einstein in Season 11 – he's just there with the rest of his family, who are dropping off his two sisters there before leaving to spend a year in China. He soon convinces his parents to let him stay and become a student there.
 * This phenomenon was avoided in the earlier seasons because there were so many major characters who just didn't appear in the title sequence. Nothing but Genre Savviness tells us that Joanna doesn't go home after her first few days at Schloss Einstein in Season 6.
 * The Season 3 opening Warehouse 13 shows Myka and lists Joanne Kelley in the credits sequence while listing Aaron Ashmore as a guest star. It pretty much guarantees Myka's not gone permanently, and Steve is not going to last.
 * Chuck season 2 episode 2, mentions that it's going to guest star Matt Bomer, who shows up at the end of the episode as a massive surprise! Unless you paid attention to the opening credits.
 * Chuck season 2 episode 2, mentions that it's going to guest star Matt Bomer, who shows up at the end of the episode as a massive surprise! Unless you paid attention to the opening credits.

Theater

 * Romeo and Juliet: The ending is right there in the prologue.

Video Games

 * The Chrono Cross opening, which uses clips from most FMV scenes in the game, spoils nearly every major twist in the plot, such as
 * The Chrono Trigger opening, which spoils such events as . It also shows 1999AD's world erupting and being split apart and Lavos appearing.
 * The opening of Lunar Silver Star Story for playstation give some spoilers, like
 * The opening to Tales of the Abyss is littered with spoilers, most notably
 * Not to mention
 * Tales of Symphonia did the same thing, wait, is that assassin in a set of shots containing various party members?
 * Looking at the opening, you also couldn't tell that Regal does a Heel Face Turn, either.
 * And why is  reaching for his sword in apparent opposition to
 * Basically, every scene depicted in the opening actually happens at some point in the game; but without context to put it in, you can't tell what it's about. (Such as .)
 * The first shot of the opening fades in the image of a blond person in white. It's debateable wether this is Colette or Yggdrasill/Mithos as they look pretty similar.
 * If you just so happen to be watching the Anime of the game, without playing it, don't worry the openning will helpfully inform you of all the major characters. Not that the show itself is very subtle but still...
 * It's a series thing. Tales of Phantasia's PSX opening featured Fujibayashi Suzu prominently - she was a minor character in the Super FamiCom incarnation of the game, but had been upgraded to a semi-secret playable.
 * And in the opening for Tales of Legendia why do we see, among other things, ?
 * Tales of Rebirth mostly avoids this, since the opening only shows a) Minor spoilers (Shaorune), or b) Scenes that don't happen in the game (Annie attacking Eugene and Mao blocking it). An exception would be.
 * Final Fantasy III on the DS has an opening cinematic that show off many of the elements that would appear later in the game, such as the airship and the exterior of the final dungeon. By the looks of it, IV will follow suit. Though, in their defense, the originals had been released, what, seventeen years previously?
 * In a similar vein, Final Fantasy VI had an FMV cinematic on the PS remake that showed off most of the characters, although it didn't exactly spoil their role in the game. But it did contain some key elements, such as the coin toss between Edgar and Sabin.
 * Both the PS and DS remakes of Final Fantasy IV spoil Cecil becoming a paladin and adult Rydia, and the PS version also spoils Palom and Porom petrifying themselves.
 * Baten Kaitos... well, let us put it this way. If you wish to enjoy the actual plot, hit Start the instant the opening begins.
 * The opening to Persona 3 spoils a few things
 * The opening to Persona 3 FES, however, spoils in a subtle-yet-not-so-subtle way. Mainly by showing scenes from The Answer, where
 * FES has a minor Musical Spoiler in it's opening as well, if you can speak Japanese. The first verse of the theme is sampled from Kimi No Kioku, the ending theme of The Journey. Though it's difficult to interpret the meaning of the song through a single verse, Kimi No Kioku
 * Persona 3 Portable's Opening also has the obligatory spoilers.
 * Persona 4 has two openings, an animated one which shows clips of all the party members, which isn't so spoilery in itself. The second opening is much more spoilertastic, not only showing But it also spoils the fact that
 * The PSP Updated Rerelease of the original Persona continues this with the imagery of a head and a town springing from it and the end shot shows Maki standing over the town.
 * Like the aforementioned Tales of Symphonia/Persona 3, Neverwinter Nights 2 has a spoiler opening that's rather cleverly masked because it's without any context whatsoever. It depicts
 * In Guardian's Crusade, the opening credits spoil
 * Most of the Naruto video games tend to spoil hidden characters during the introduction sequences.
 * The Samurai Shodown II intro briefly shows the secret character.
 * Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn (the GC and Wii Radiance games) have an opening cinematic of some of the game's plot. While it technically has minor spoilers (e.g. Ike fights the Black Knight, what a shock), everything happens so fast that one is more likely to be confused than spoiled if they haven't played the respective game.
 * A particularly notable case, in the opening for Radiant Dawn, there's a section showing various characters in the game; one of the characters shown is . While it was a popular theory that this character, him being was a plot point that only comes up near the end of the game.
 * Path of Radiance's intro also clearly shows Leanne, spoiling her survival and the revelation that Reyson and his bedridden father are not the only remaining herons.
 * The opening for The Thing spoils the fact that
 * The title screen of Final Fantasy Mystic Quest displays five crystals, four of which are depowered. Avoiding spoilers, the existence of a fifth still-functioning crystal doesn't come up until very late in the story.
 * The Opening of Space Channel 5 Part 2 gives you the pretty obvious hints of  and.
 * Kingdom Hearts comes to mind here. It has a good opening and song to go with it, but you notice certain things, especially when playing the game over. The entire thing seems to be symbolism. You see odd, somewhat creepy looking, white-haired teen holding out a hand as the brown-haired protagonist hesitates and looks somewhat scared. A wave goes to engulf white-haired teen and brown-haired kid runs out finally, trying to help him. The wave crashes down, washing away brown-haired boy, but the white-haired boy is still standing, smirking.  Kingdom Hearts 2 shows   for all those people who didn't play the first one or Chain of Memories or are just getting into the series? Well, there you go, everything told for you and you didn't even have to try. Of course, it somewhat manages to avoid this with a good about of symbolism.
 * Birth By Sleep does this one straight AND inverts it. In a typical fashion, the opening is symbolic of the events that transpire (though most of the symbolism will likely go over your head until beating it), but the true spoilers come from the credits. The game is split into three stories, however they can be done in any order. The cast listing reveals Richard Epcar as  and   as Vanitas. This gets even more ridiculous as the former only appears in Terra's story (not counting the Final Episode), and Vanitas's actor corresponds with his face, which is only revealed in Ven's, so there is no order to play the story in that avoids this. Thankfully the credits are skipable and (appart from the Final Episode's) lacks Simple and Clean.
 * Golden Sun's second installment, The Lost Age. Your final party consists of four characters, and the game starts with three playable characters. Based on the elements of the characters in your starting party, you know that the fourth party member has to be a Mercury adept. And, how convenient, one of the characters that is introduced at the beginning of the game is a Mercury adept! You spend most of the beginning of the game chasing him, and nearly everything within the game points to having this fellow as your fourth party member. So it comes as no surprise that, later in the game, the fourth party member is someone completely different, a sailor that the party has never encountered almost up until the moment that he joins. How would one expect this dark horse to be the fourth party member when one of the other characters seems to fit the role so naturally? Well, he appears on the box art, and is shown in several game manual screenshots as part of the party.
 * In Thief: Deadly Shadows some file names contain spoilers (for example: ). They are displayed on the screen during the game installation.
 * The World Ends With You does this magnificently, in that anyone who has beaten the game will notice that the opening  Meanwhile, anyone new to the game will simply think it's cool.
 * The attract mode for Sin and Punishment shows Saki's transformation scene in full.
 * In Skies of Arcadia, if you wait long enough on the "Press Start" screen, a different intro will begin to play. Unlike the first, this one consists entirely of actual scenes from the game, many of which are spoilers. Some aren't spoilers unless you know the context, but many spoil huge plot twists that happen fairly late in the game.
 * Last Battle on the Sega Genesis—a license-less port of Fist of the North Star—gives away the entire plot in the introductary scrawl.
 * Pokémon intros tend to give away little things you should know if you watch the commercials or look anywhere on the box. However since Platinum they have been giving away the villains.
 * Done cleverly in Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs: Lugia's silhouette can be seen looming in the background of the opening cinema, but is quite easy to miss.
 * Pokémon Black and White spoils the fact that N is the Big Bad.
 * It also spoils that
 * Hyperdimension Neptunia spoils us in the opening sequence when a jet comes by while Neptune is being shown. Most of us would said Cool Ship already if it weren't for the fact that
 * The opening of Nie R is chock full of spoilers, revealing, among other things, All in a montage set to the final boss's theme.
 * The opening to the console version of the first BlazBlue game heavily implies that Hazama isn't just another NOL officer. The arcade version of Continuum Shift's opening all but flat-out states that he's a major villain. Later, the opening to Continuum Shift II hints at Litchi's Face Heel Turn, and depicts
 * If you don't want to be spoiled on some of the mechs and battles in Vanguard Bandits, you'd better not watch the Openings.
 * The very first cutscene shown on the opening screen of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is from a key "surprise" moment very late into the game.
 * Also, the title screen clearly shows Adult Link riding Epona.
 * The only movie unlocked before you beat any of the team's stories in Sonic Heroes (which also sometimes plays as soon as you start up the game, before you even see the title screen) has a couple shots of Neo Metal Sonic. You don't see him outside of the Last Story. Granted, the fact that he was in the game was highly advertised, but...
 * The third part of the City of Heroes "Who Will Die" storyline opens with your character being assigned to either bodyguard or kidnap a character. The loading screen for all missions in the arc features Statesman, the character's father, grieving over a toe-tagged body. Sure enough, the character is killed in the course of the arc.
 * The UK special edition/pre order box art for The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker has to be the most ridiculous example of this ever, because it features the final boss battle on the front cover. Keep in mind that at the start of the game, you technically don't know Ganon is in, don't know Tetra is Zelda, don't know the Light Arrows exist and don't know about flooded Hyrule. Here's the artwork in question: The Wind Waker box

Web Comics

 * Full Frontal Nerdity offers different points of view on the opening sequence spoiling the episode.

Western Animation

 * The first season of Justice League Unlimited showed clips from the current episode during its opening, occasionally spoiling plot points.
 * Likewise, an animated Funny Animal version of Adventures Of Oliver Twist features a montage of all the plot points from an episode, from beginning to ending, put just before the episode begins.
 * The intro for Gargoyles is comprised of scenes from the show's Pilot Movie, which causes problems when you're watching it as a five-part episode.
 * Exo Squad: The opening narration talks about a war between the Neo-Sapiens and the Humans... a war which only STARTS in the sixth episode. This is made all the more confusing by the fact that that a Human/Neo-Sapien war took place in the show's backstory (but not the war the opening narration shows clips of).
 * Family Guy somewhat subverted this in their two part special "100th episode". The title of the first part, "Stewie Kills Lois", spoils the plot point near the beginning where Stewie does just that. The conclusion's title, "Lois Kills Stewie", not only spoils Lois's return, but also the apparent resolution of the episode. But when that moment actually came, . Not that it matters anyway, since.
 * Wether it was a mistake or done on purpose, this troper saw the titles changed into Part 1 and Part 2 of "Stewie Kills Lois" the first time around. Reruns used the above titles.
 * The intro to X-Men: Evolution shows all of X-Men gathered together and shows them off by name, despite the fact that half of them don't show up for several episodes. The most notable case is Rogue, who is introduced early on as a character, but keeps her allegiance uncertain until halfway through the season.
 * Episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender will often open with a recap of anything from an earlier episode that is related to the current one in any way; if scenes from the episode "Jet" shows up in the recap, don't be surprised about the character Jet suddenly showing up in the episode. The Order of the White Lotus was given obvious importance extremely early because of this, for one example.
 * An alternate opening narration for the first episode averts this trope, as it gives more information on the war and the Avatar but doesn't mention Aang. Before long, though, the opposite problem develops, as the narration becomes wildly outdated by the end of season 1.
 * The theme song for Total Drama Action features Courtney, who came back halfway through to the surprise of the castmates and (maybe) Chris. However, the flipbook itself had no intention of this ever being a spoiler.
 * The leaked theme song for World Tour also FINALLY settled the issue of Ezekiel's participation in the season or not.
 * The Japanese opening of Transformers Animated spoils Longarm being a Decepticon, Blackarachnia commanding the Dinobots, and Starscream's Allspark fragment and clones. However, there's also so much stuff that simply doesn't happen that it's hard for a new viewer to tell what's important and what isn't.
 * A lot of characters that don't show up until the second or third season are given a lot of prominence.
 * The opening of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fast Forward spoils that Darius Dun, initially a minor supporting character, is the Big Bad (he is seen looming over all the other villains).
 * An episode of the animated Young Justice series has the team helped out by an arrow fired from the shadows. When they confront Green Arrow and accuse him of babysitting them and he proves it wasn't his arrow, they assume his sidekick, Speedy, is ready to join the team after storming out in the pilot. Yeah ... or maybe it's the female archer who appears in the opening credits of the show as a team member despite having not appeared in the actual show yet at that point.
 * Similar to the aforementioned Justice League Unlimited series, right before the show's logo is viewed, each Young Justice episode's opening contains a quick display of clips which previews events that occur later in whichever episode is airing at the moment.
 * In ReBoot every four episodes of season 3 had an opening sequence using clips from those four episodes. Naturally plot developments like Enzo's Time Skip, the Saucy Mare's web armor, and Mainframe in ruins are spoiled. Averted with the Toonami broadcast, which replaced those openings with customized ones.
 * The opening credits for The Secret Saturdays features the Saturdays being charged by a quartet of villains. While one of them, Piecemeal, shows up relatively early in episode 4, the others are Eterno, a one-shot villain who doesn't show up for several more episodes, Rani Naga, who also doesn't appear until almost the end of the season, and Shoji Fuzen, who appears in episode 3, but is wearing blue samurai armor he won't don until many episodes later.