"Hi neighbors! Oh, and hello to you too!"
An easy way to introduce The Protagonist and their relationship with the rest of the cast as early as the Title Sequence is to have them walk around and encounter everyone else in their way. Alternatively, it's the camera doing this after starting with the lead character. It establishes hierarchies in terms of plot importance or groups the characters by location. Depending on how detailed is the background, it can also be used to showcase some elements of the work's setting.
Fairly common in animation, but rare otherwise, probably due to the cost of creating such footage. Might overlap with Automobile Opening, where the character explores the setting while driving a vehicle; with Dancing Theme, if the character dances along the way; or with Credits Running Sequence, if it's running.
Super-Trope of Opening Credits Cast Party, in which the whole cast is shown together throwing a party during the title sequence. Compare and contrast Introductory Opening Credits, when the characters' names are displayed, and Theme Tune Roll Call, when the theme tune roll calls the cast.
Not to be confused with Welcome Episode, when a single new member comes into an established group.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- My Hero Academia: The Joint Training Arc's opening starts with The Protagonist Izuku running to meet his classmates, followed by various shots of all members of Class 1-A preparing and stretching for their mock battle training. The teams they'll be divided into are shown grouped together, from a panning to a Team Power Walk. The camera then shifts to focus on the teachers—showing Vlad King and Eraserhead's contrasting personalities, Midnight's goofier, more easy-going one, and All Might's hesitant but proud disposition. We then get to see Shinsou walking alone, an Establishing Team Shot of Class 1-B, Class 1-A (again) attacking, One for All's vestiges greeting Izuku, Hawks plus Endeavor in a split-screen shot (they'll work together in this arc), and Mirio looking after Eri.
- Nagasarete Airantou: Ikuto spends most of the opening credits encountering and then being chased down by his various Love Interests all around the island. At the end, he's cornered by all of the girls, staring at him like a juicy piece of meat.
- Naruto:
- The original anime's first opening starts with an introduction to Team 7's dynamics. The Protagonist Naruto's exuberant personality is shown by him performing a stunt on a roof. He lands in front of The Lancer Sasuke and The Heart Sakura, who look amiably at him and respectively hold a Badass Arm-Fold and a Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose. Then, Kakashi appears walking on some street wires. After some individual shots, the scene changes to the team effectively fighting a small army of thugs, displaying not only their ninja abilities but also the fact that Kakashi is protective of his students (he carries Sakura to safety) and that Sasuke and Naruto are best friends (the two bump fists after the battle). It's a downplayed example as Team 7's actual dynamic is less than functional most of the time. Furthermore, the opening excludes half of the arc's cast (Zabuza, Haku, Iruka, the Hokage, Mizuki, Ichiraku, and Ayumi).
- After mandatorily introducing Team 7, the Chunin Exams Arc's opening briefly goes through the other relevant participating teams, the senseis plus other assorted Konoha staff, and Kabuto. It serves to establish some of the other genin's skills and personalities.
- Ranma ½
- The second season of the Animated Adaptation had a brief segment after the Anime Theme Song titles introducing the main characters.
- Several of the later OVA episodes began with a song called "Where Do We Go From Here", during which the various cast members were shown around the neighborhood and/or on their way to school.
Films — Animation
- KPop Demon Hunters: In a nonmusical variety, the HUNTR/X girls are introduced by means of what their fans know of them and why they find each girl to be cool and a role model. First off, we have Mira, her family's black ship, who is the lead dancer and a Deadpan Snarker. Secondly, there's Zoey, a Korean American rapper who can switch from cute to badass in a second. Finally, Rumi is the main vocalist due to her prodigious voice. She was raised to be The Leader by the previous K-pop Girl Band.
Live-Action TV
- Degrassi:
- Degrassi: The Next Generation: In seasons one to five and eight to twelve, the camera moves around the school to show the regulars in their natural environments.
- Degrassi: Next Class: It has a shorter version with pictures and videos from the regulars' social media flying by to show them hanging out with their friends.
- Everybody Loves Raymond: The family is introduced while passing by on a conveyor belt for a while.
- King of Kensington: The opening
features shop-owner Larry King walking through the eponymous Toronto market neighborhood, schmoozing and holding court with other residents.
- The Sunny Side Up Show: It's not the protagonist who meets & greets all of the characters in the red barn, but the viewer by means of the wooden upper doors opening and closing to reveal different people. In turn, the wave back at us.
- TV Funhouse: The theme song is animated the same way as the animated segments scattered throughout the show.
Puppet Shows
- 31 Minutos: The title sequence starts with Tulio commuting to work. Once he arrives at the news station, he interacts with some of his co-workers. Other reporters are introduced while they are presenting the news. The technicians are shown doing their work and preparing the set.
- Bear in the Big Blue House: The opening song begins with Bear greeting the audience, followed by Tutter the blue mouse and the otter twins Pip and Pop. The titular blue house opens as if it were a toy model, allowing the quartet to pass through each room. In the bedroom, they find Ojo and Treelo (who just launched himself through the window) doing mischief. And with that, we finish meeting the main cast. In the fourth season's intro, aptly called "Welcome to Woodland Valley", many other characters are added, some of them even get singing lines.
- Fraggle Rock: The title sequence opens with Doc working in his workshop with Sprocket nearby, then pans down into the Fraggle hole, where Gobo runs through the caverns into Fraggle Rock, where all the Fraggles sing the show's theme song, and Gobo and his friends introduce themselves by name. The Doozers and the Gorgs are also introduced during the song.
- Nanalan': The title sequence explains the premise of the show pretty well. Mona gets up, gets cleaned up, eats breakfast, her mother drops her off at Nana's, and Mona then goes out to the backyard to play.
- The Noddy Shop: The show's intro is a tour around the shop, where the camera focuses on the places where we see various characters. In order, we see a view of the shop, then Warloworth popping out of a jack in the box, then the characters by a train set, then Johnny in his aquarium, then Noddy and Planet Pup, then Gertie near the goblins in a dollhouse, then Island Princess, then a close-up of the babies and the group singing together.
- Today's Special: They take us through the store to meet all the major characters. First Jeff is shown in his inanimate mannequin form, standing in a window, from which Jodie lifts him to carry him upstairs to the children's department. Sam then joins her after locking up the store, and when they reach the children's department, Muffy appears and says the magic words that bring Jeff to life.
Pro Wrestling
- WWE Raw: Some of the title sequences have Steve Austing walking through a disused factory on fire in which the supporting cast is fighting each other.
Western Animation
- Adventures from the Book of Virtues: The intro combines Stock Footage of each kid discovering Plato's Peak from the earliest episodes.
- Adventure Time: The intro zooms through different parts of Ooo, passing several characters along the way: Finn, Jake, the princesses, Marceline, and the Ice King.
- The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes: The first season's intro shows the founding Avengers assembling to save New York City from HYDRA forces. The second season's intro, in contrast, uses a mix of original and recycled footage.
- Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood: In the opening sequence, Daniel exits his house and walks around the neighborhood greeting all the kids, who greet him back. We get to see their peculiar houses as a way of further characterization and as Furry Reminders.
- Fireman Sam: In the 1987 intro (Series 1-4), Sam gets ready in the morning ("in less than seven seconds flat") and leaves the house, where Norman is on his paper route and Elvis is waiting for him with the fire engine. The two adults drive through the town, passing by Dilys' corner shop to pick up lunch from Bella. They also pass by Sarah and James before arriving at the fire station, where Trevor and Steele are waiting. Starting with Series 5, the show instead uses the more standard Clip Show intro, though they carry on the tradition of having Sam accompanied by Elvis in the first scene.
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: During the title sequence, the camera jumps through all of Foster's Home's windows because it's following Mac going upstairs and meeting the main cast. The number of windows increases as someone new tags along until there are too many of them and we get only two windows —the staff peeking from one window and everyone else running in another. It ends when they get to a sad Bloo, Mac's presence cheering him up.
- Handy Manny opens with Manny waving hello to Kelly and Mr. Lopart, before he hangs a sign in front of his shop in front of a crowd of Sheet Rock Hills townsfolk.
- Transformers: The openings tend to use this, except for the series that animate the Transformers in CGI.
- Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends: Spider-Man, Fire Star, and Ice Man are introduced by the narrator's voice in their hero personas. After they fight a minor villain, they then jump or fly through the scenes meeting and defeating major evil-doers such as the Green Goblin.
- Spidey and His Amazing Friends: As a much more toddler-oriented kind of show, its theme song is of the expository kind. Meanwhile, we see Spider-Man being joined by his friends, Spider-Gwen and Spin, in his webslinging tour across the city. As they do that, they encounter other Marvel heroes such as The Hulk.
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil:
- The first season's opening begins with Star misusing the Wand, resulting in her stern-faced parents shooing her away to Earth. She appears right by Marco, who is practicing karate (revealing he is an action guy and Star's best friend). The pair then runs off to have fun by hopping between dimensions (a mischievous Pony Head opens a portal with the interdimensional scissors for them) and meeting all sorts of creatures. When they land at Tom's, Star runs away in disgust from Tom's attempt at winning her. It follows with Star summoning weird spells to face off against Ludo and his monster minions. Then, they reunite with the rest of the cast in a final shot.
- The second season's title sequence parallels the first as a way to make the changes in the status quo stand out. Star still starts out in Mewni but so does Marco (highlighting his rising importance) and, when they use the interdimensional scissors to go to other dimensions, their interactions with the cast are different. There's a gag about them interrupting Star's parent's breakfast, Star hugs Pony Head, and Star vibes off with Tom (he's on the path of being Star's Romantic False Lead). Their run through Mewni has Mina and Kelly. There's also foreshadowing of antagonistic characters of utmost plot importance—grumpy Miss Heinous and mysterious, crystallized Queen Eclipsa. Star does attack Ludo again but, this time, he has green eyes as he's being possessed by Toffee. The cast shot is more compact, implying Star, Marco, Pony Head, Tom, Kelly, and Janna are some sort of team now.
- Twipsy: The intro takes place first in cyberspace, where some viruses are doing a mess. After Twipsy gets rid of them and speeds along the superhighway, the scenery changes to the real world. There, we meet Nick's parents outside his house and then we see Nick fighting over a keyboard with his sister Lissy and his friend Albert. Finally, Lissy's drink spills over the dog.
- Winx Club: Every season's opening introduces the girls, their boyfriends, and the current villains. From the first to the third season, this is done by adding a clipped figurine of the Winx and the Trix after showing some Stock Footage of them doing stuff. The boyfriends and the other villains are shown in recycled shots. From the fourth season onward, the Winx and their boyfriends are on a line and the camera glides over them until it stares up at the sky. The Trix and other villains just get Stock Footage of them laughing or committing evil deeds.
- X-Men: The Animated Series: Each episode of the first four seasons begins with the X-Men demonstrating their powers while their codenames appear onscreen, then fighting various villains.
