Anime

2009 · 1 Season · MBS/TBS · Action / Adventure / Dark Fantasy

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood earns its place among the best anime ever produced through sheer ambition and follow-through. Sixty-four episodes build a world that feels lived-in, populate it with characters worth caring about, and tell a story that respects both its audience and its own rules. The rocky opening stretch and occasional comedy misfires are real flaws, but they're small cracks in something enormous and carefully constructed. This is the rare long-running series where the ending lands as hard as the beginning promises it will.

2019 · JRPG · PC / Steam

Persona 5 Royal is one of those rare 100-hour games that earns nearly every one of those hours. The fusion of dungeon crawling, social simulation, and style-forward presentation creates something no other RPG has managed to replicate. Combat could use more teeth on default settings, and Mementos remains a slog no matter how many quality-of-life improvements get layered on top, but the highs here are extraordinary. Royal's third semester adds a story arc that many consider the best stretch in the entire game. If you have the time and patience for a JRPG that demands your full attention, this one rewards it like few others.

2016 · Makoto Shinkai · 106 min · Romance

Your Name is the rare animated film that became a global phenomenon on the strength of its emotional sincerity, stunning visuals, and a love story that transcends its high-concept premise.

2001 · Satoshi Kon · 87 min · Drama

Millennium Actress is Satoshi Kon's most emotionally generous film, a breathtaking journey through memory, cinema, and the pursuit of a love that might only exist on screen.

2022 · Survival Horror · PC / Steam

Signalis is a near-perfect love letter to classic survival horror that weaves together cosmic horror, dystopian sci-fi, and an achingly human love story into one of the most atmospheric and emotionally resonant horror games in years.

1997 · Satoshi Kon · 81 min · Psychological Thriller

Perfect Blue is a psychological masterpiece that blurs the line between reality and delusion with such precision that it remains one of the most unsettling animated films ever made.

2021 · Fighting · PC / Steam

Guilty Gear Strive is the most visually stunning fighting game ever made, combining Arc System Works' signature anime aesthetics with a simplified yet deeply rewarding combat system that brought a niche franchise to a mainstream audience without losing its soul.

2014 · 4 Seasons · MBS · Sports / Comedy / Drama

Haikyuu!! is the gold standard of modern sports anime, turning high school volleyball into one of the most thrilling and emotionally resonant experiences in the medium. Production I.G delivers consistently excellent animation, every character from star players to opponents receives meaningful development, and the show contains zero filler across its entire run. It makes you care about volleyball with an intensity that borders on unreasonable, and that's exactly why it works.

2022 · 1 Season · Tokyo MX · Comedy / Music / Slice of Life

Bocchi the Rock! takes the well-worn premise of a socially anxious teenager joining a band and turns it into one of the most visually inventive and emotionally resonant anime comedies in recent memory. CloverWorks delivered something special with its wild animation experiments, and the show's ability to make social anxiety both hilarious and deeply relatable struck a chord with an enormous audience. It's only 12 episodes and occasionally leans too hard into repeated gags, but those are small complaints against a show this creative and this warm.

2023 · 2 Seasons · Nippon TV · Fantasy / Adventure / Drama

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End takes the aftermath of a classic fantasy quest and turns it into something quietly extraordinary. It's a story about an immortal elf learning what human connections mean only after the people she traveled with have grown old and died, and that premise delivers emotional weight that most anime can't touch. The deliberate pacing won't work for everyone, and viewers looking for constant action will find themselves waiting. But for those willing to match Frieren's unhurried rhythm, this is one of the most rewarding anime of the decade.

2016 · 3 Seasons · Crunchyroll · Animation / Action / Comedy / Supernatural

Mob Psycho 100 is one of the rare anime that gets better with every season and sticks the landing when it matters most. It wraps profound messages about self-acceptance and emotional growth inside some of the most inventive animation the medium has produced, and it does it without ever feeling like it's lecturing you. The humor is sharp, the action is spectacular, and the heart underneath it all is completely genuine. Three seasons wasn't many, but the show used every one of those 37 episodes to say exactly what it wanted to say.

2013 · 4 Seasons · MBS / NHK General TV · Action / Dark Fantasy

Attack on Titan starts as a survival horror story about humanity's last stand behind massive walls and ends as something far more ambitious, a sweeping political epic about freedom, hatred, and the cycles that perpetuate both. Across four seasons and nearly a decade of storytelling, it delivers some of the most jaw-dropping plot twists, emotionally devastating moments, and thematically rich material that the medium has ever produced. The ending divided its fanbase, and the pacing stumbles in both early and late stretches. Those are real flaws in an otherwise extraordinary piece of work. This is the kind of show that changes what you think anime can do, and its best moments will stay with you long after the final credits roll.

1998 · 1 Season · TV Tokyo · Sci-Fi / Action / Neo-Noir

Cowboy Bebop is one of those rare shows where every creative element operates in sync. Its music, animation, direction, and writing form a unified whole that still feels fresh nearly three decades after it aired. The episodic structure will frustrate viewers who need a constant narrative thread pulling them forward, and that's a fair criticism of a show that asks you to trust its rhythm. But for those willing to meet it on its own terms, the payoff across 26 sessions is a story about loneliness, regret, and the impossibility of outrunning your past that lands with devastating precision. Few anime series have matched its creative ambition, and fewer still have aged this well.

2011 · 1 Season · Nippon TV · Action / Adventure / Fantasy

Hunter x Hunter is one of the smartest and most emotionally ambitious action anime ever produced, and the 2011 adaptation by Madhouse does its source material justice at nearly every turn. The Nen power system remains the gold standard for how to make fictional combat feel strategic rather than arbitrary. Its willingness to shift genres across arcs, from adventure to heist thriller to war epic, keeps the show from ever settling into a predictable rhythm. The Chimera Ant arc's pacing will test anyone's patience, and the heavy narration in later episodes is a legitimate frustration. But the payoffs, both emotional and thematic, that the show delivers when it's operating at its peak put it in conversation with the best the medium has produced.

1988 · Hayao Miyazaki · 86 min · Fantasy

My Neighbor Totoro is one of those rare films that does something almost no other movie attempts, let alone pulls off. It tells a story about nothing dramatic and makes it feel like everything. Miyazaki's confidence in quiet moments, his trust that children's joy is compelling enough to carry a film, results in something that feels less like watching a movie and more like remembering what it was like to be small. It won't satisfy everyone, and it doesn't try to. That's part of why it works.

1997 · Hayao Miyazaki · 133 min · Fantasy

Princess Mononoke is Miyazaki at his most ambitious and his most furious. It's a sprawling, violent, morally complex fantasy that refuses to simplify anything, and it's better for it. The pacing asks for patience, and the lack of neat resolution will frustrate viewers who want clear answers. Those who meet the film on its own terms will find one of the most rewarding animated films ever made, a story that trusts its audience enough to leave them with questions instead of lessons.

2011 · 1 Season · Tokyo MX · Sci-Fi / Thriller / Drama

Steins;Gate is one of the most meticulously constructed time travel stories in any medium, with an internal logic that holds up to the kind of scrutiny that usually breaks these narratives apart. Its slow opening act is the most polarizing element, and it will cost the show a significant number of viewers who never reach the moment where everything locks into place. That's a shame, because the second half delivers a story about consequence, sacrifice, and the weight of impossible choices that few anime have matched. The characters earn every emotional beat through groundwork laid in those early episodes, and the payoff is devastating precisely because of the patience required to get there.

2019 · 2 Seasons · NHK General TV · Action / Drama / Historical

Vinland Saga is one of the most ambitious anime of its era, telling a story that begins with blood and rage and evolves into something about the courage required to put down the sword. Its first season delivers Viking-era action and political intrigue at an elite level, while the second takes a creative risk that alienated viewers expecting more of the same. That risk paid off for those who stayed, producing one of the most compelling character arcs in modern anime. The show asks difficult questions about violence, forgiveness, and what it actually means to be strong, and it has the patience and intelligence to let those questions breathe rather than rushing toward easy answers.

2016 · 2 Seasons · NHK · Drama / Slice of Life / Sports

March Comes in Like a Lion is one of the most honest and compassionate depictions of depression, isolation, and recovery in anime, wrapped around the life of a teenage professional shogi player who's struggling to find reasons to keep going. Shaft's animation uses visual metaphor with breathtaking creativity, the Kawamoto sisters provide warmth that never feels forced, and the second season's bullying arc delivers some of the most powerful storytelling of the decade. It's a slow, quiet, deeply humane show that rewards viewers willing to sit with difficult emotions.

2021 · 1 Season · TV Tokyo · Mystery / Thriller / Comedy

Odd Taxi is a mystery thriller disguised as a show about talking animals, featuring one of the tightest scripts in anime history. A walrus taxi driver's conversations with his passengers gradually reveal an interconnected web of secrets, crimes, and a missing girl case that draws in everyone from idol fans to yakuza enforcers. The writing is razor-sharp, the characters are instantly memorable, and every seemingly throwaway detail pays off in ways that reward close attention. It's one of the best anime of the 2020s and one of the most criminally underwatched.

2008 · 1 Season · TBS · Drama / Romance / Slice of Life

Clannad: After Story takes the foundation built by its predecessor and constructs one of the most emotionally devastating anime experiences ever produced. Where the original Clannad was a high school romance, After Story follows its characters into adulthood, exploring work, marriage, parenthood, and loss with a sincerity that's overwhelmed viewers for nearly two decades. The ending divides the community, and the early episodes lean too heavily on comedy before the show finds its dramatic footing, but the emotional peaks of After Story rank among the highest in the medium.

2021 · 1 Season · Fuji TV · Fantasy / Adventure / Drama

Ranking of Kings looks like a children's storybook and hits like an emotional freight train. WIT Studio's adaptation of Sosuke Toka's manga follows Bojji, a deaf and seemingly powerless prince, through a fantasy kingdom full of betrayal, hidden agendas, and unlikely kindness. The simple art style hides sophisticated storytelling, and the show's ability to make you cry over characters you've known for minutes is remarkable. Late-season pacing wobbles and an overstuffed cast keep it from sticking every landing, but the emotional core never wavers.

2021 · 2 Seasons · Tokyo MX · Fantasy / Adventure / Drama

Mushoku Tensei set a new visual standard for isekai anime when it debuted in 2021, and Studio Bind's dedication to the source material shows in every frame. The world-building is rich, the character growth is patient and detailed, and the animation quality is consistently outstanding. Its protagonist's past and some uncomfortable fan-service moments create a barrier that not every viewer can or should get past. For those who engage with it, this is one of the most fully realized fantasy anime ever produced.

2023 · 2 Seasons · Nippon TV · Mystery / Historical / Drama

The Apothecary Diaries blends palace intrigue, pharmaceutical mystery-solving, and dry humor in a historical setting brought to life with gorgeous production values. Maomao is one of anime's sharpest and most refreshing protagonists, a pharmacology-obsessed former apothecary whose keen observations and deadpan wit drive investigations that range from poisoned concubines to political conspiracies. The mysteries occasionally lean toward the straightforward, and some secondary characters need more development, but the combination of intelligence, atmosphere, and character makes this one of the most compelling anime of recent years.

2006 · Satoshi Kon · 90 min · Science Fiction

Paprika is a dazzling, chaotic dive into the world of shared dreams that showcases Satoshi Kon at his most visually inventive, even if the story occasionally struggles to keep pace with its own imagination.

2002 · 2 Seasons · Animax · Sci-Fi / Cyberpunk / Action

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is cyberpunk anime at its most intellectually ambitious and technically accomplished, blending episodic police procedural stories with overarching political conspiracies in a near-future world where the line between human and machine has nearly vanished. Production I.G's animation holds up remarkably well, Yoko Kanno's soundtrack is exceptional, and the dual-track episode structure gives viewers both philosophical depth and action spectacle. It's one of the most complete sci-fi anime ever made.

2004 · 1 Season · Nippon TV · Thriller / Mystery / Drama

Monster is a psychological thriller that unfolds with the patience of a great novel, following a Japanese surgeon across post-Cold War Europe as he hunts the serial killer he once saved as a child. Naoki Urasawa's storytelling is masterful in its construction of atmosphere, its exploration of human nature, and its refusal to take shortcuts. The 74-episode length demands commitment and the pacing will test some viewers, but for those who surrender to its deliberate rhythm, Monster delivers one of the most intellectually and emotionally rewarding anime experiences ever produced.

2024 · 1 Season · Tokyo MX · Fantasy / Comedy / Adventure

Dungeon Meshi takes the seemingly absurd premise of eating monsters in a dungeon and builds from it one of the most creatively rich fantasy anime in years. Studio Trigger delivers expressive animation that brings both the cooking and the combat to vivid life, while the world-building underneath the comedy reveals surprising depth. The show makes you genuinely curious about what dragon tastes like and how a living armor's ecology works, and that combination of culinary creativity, fantasy world-building, and real character stakes is something no other anime offers.

2016 · 4 Seasons · TV Tokyo · Fantasy / Thriller / Drama

Re:Zero takes the isekai genre and twists it into something deeply punishing. Subaru Natsuki can't stay dead, and the show uses that premise to explore trauma, obsession, and the cost of being the only person who remembers every failed timeline. White Fox's adaptation is emotionally intense, beautifully animated in its biggest moments, and willing to let its protagonist suffer in ways most shows wouldn't dare. Pacing issues and a protagonist who can be hard to root for in certain arcs keep it from perfection, but this is one of the most ambitious fantasy anime of the past decade.

2023 · 3 Seasons · Tokyo MX · Drama / Mystery / Thriller

Oshi no Ko opened with one of the most talked-about premiere episodes in recent anime history, and the show that followed has largely lived up to that introduction. Aka Akasaka's unflinching look at the Japanese entertainment industry, wrapped in a reincarnation mystery, delivers sharp writing and genuine emotional weight. The pacing wavers after its explosive start, and some arcs feel more like industry commentary than plot progression. When it's focused, though, Oshi no Ko cuts deeper than most anime dare to go.

2022 · 1 Season · Netflix · Animation / Action / Science Fiction / Drama

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a devastating ten-episode sprint through a world that chews people up and spits them out, animated by Studio Trigger with a visual energy that makes Night City feel more alive than the game ever managed. David Martinez's arc from desperate kid to doomed legend is a tragedy told at full speed, and the emotional gut-punch of the finale lands harder than most anime manage in three times the episode count. The compressed runtime leaves some character development feeling thin, and the middle episodes rush through material that could have used more room to breathe. But as a self-contained story about ambition, love, and the cost of trying to be somebody in a city that doesn't care, it's one of the best anime of its year.

2022 · Action Platformer · PC / Steam

Neon White is a speedrunning game disguised as a first-person shooter, and it pulls off that fusion with extraordinary confidence. The card-based movement system is brilliantly designed, levels are short enough to replay dozens of times without frustration, and chasing faster times becomes deeply addictive. The visual novel story segments will split the room, and the humor lands better for some than others. But the core loop of sprinting through heaven, discarding weapon cards for movement abilities, and shaving seconds off your best time is among the most satisfying action gameplay on PC in recent years.

2020 · Tower Defense / Tactical RPG

Arknights is one of the best tower defense games on mobile and one of the most respected gacha games in the genre. Its strategic depth rewards thinking over spending, its story and music punch well above their weight class, and its F2P model actually lets free players thrive. The stamina system and farming grind are real friction points, and the text-heavy storytelling won't click for everyone. If you want a mobile game that treats strategy as the main event rather than a sideshow, this one delivers.

2006 · 1 Season · Nippon Television · Psychological Thriller / Crime / Supernatural

Death Note's first 25 episodes deliver one of the most gripping intellectual duels in anime history, carried by a brilliant premise and two unforgettable characters locked in a battle of wits. The final stretch can't maintain that standard, introducing replacements who never fill the void left by what came before. That unevenness keeps it from perfection, but it doesn't erase what the show accomplished at its peak. For anyone curious about anime or hungry for a psychological thriller that treats its audience as smart, this remains one of the best entry points the medium has ever produced.

2006 · 2 Seasons · MBS · Mecha / Political Thriller / Action

Code Geass is a political thriller wrapped in a mecha anime that delivers one of the medium's most iconic protagonists and most debated endings. Lelouch's chess game against an empire crumbles and rebuilds across fifty episodes of escalating stakes, strategic confrontations, and moral compromises that keep viewers questioning whether the ends justify the means. The second season's tonal swings and plot conveniences undercut the precision of the first, but the series as a whole remains one of the most ambitious and rewarding anime of the 2000s.

2018 · 1 Season · AT-X · Adventure / Drama / Comedy

A Place Further Than the Universe is a coming-of-age adventure about four high school girls who travel to Antarctica, and it uses that improbable premise to tell one of anime's most emotionally resonant stories about friendship, grief, and finding the courage to take the first step. Madhouse's production is polished throughout, the four leads are distinct and genuinely likable, and the show builds toward emotional payoffs that hit with surprising force. It was recognized by The New York Times as one of the best TV shows of 2018, and it earned that distinction.

1997 · 1 Season · Nippon TV · Dark Fantasy / Action / Drama

The 1997 Berserk anime remains the definitive adaptation of Kentaro Miura's legendary dark fantasy manga, delivering a character-driven tale of ambition, friendship, and betrayal set against a medieval world of stunning brutality. The animation is limited by its era's production constraints, and the abrupt ending leaves viewers without resolution. But the Golden Age arc it covers contains some of the most powerful storytelling in anime history, anchored by Guts and Griffith's relationship, one of the medium's most complex and devastating character dynamics.

2020 · 3 Seasons · MBS / TBS · Action / Dark Fantasy / Supernatural

Jujutsu Kaisen delivers some of the best animated action sequences in modern anime, powered by a creative magic system and a willingness to let its characters suffer real consequences. MAPPA's production work is frequently stunning, and the show's refusal to pad itself with filler keeps the pace tight across its run. Its villain roster beyond the top tier can feel underdeveloped, and certain character arcs get cut short before they fully land. Still, this is a series that earns its place in the modern shounen conversation through sheer craft, ambition, and an appetite for darkness that most of its peers won't touch.

2016 · Collectible Card Game

Shadowverse is one of the most generous free-to-play card games on mobile, offering deep strategic gameplay wrapped in polished anime aesthetics. Its evolve mechanic sets it apart from the CCG crowd, and the single-player story mode gives solo players hours of content most competitors skip entirely. Meta shifts can feel punishing for returning players, and the anime art style is a hard sell for some, but the core card play is excellent and the game consistently rewards smart deckbuilding without demanding a massive financial investment.

2020 · Rhythm

Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage delivers a massive library of Vocaloid and original songs with tight rhythm gameplay and charming music video presentations, making it one of the best rhythm games on mobile despite its gacha card system.

2021 · Visual Novel · PC / Steam

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! packages one of gaming's most memorable psychological horror experiences with meaningful new content, though the premium price for a formerly free game remains its most divisive element.

2004 · 1 Season · Fuji TV · Action / Comedy / Adventure

Samurai Champloo fuses Edo-period Japan with hip-hop culture in a show that's as stylish as it is entertaining. Shinichiro Watanabe's follow-up to Cowboy Bebop delivers gorgeous fight choreography, one of anime's best soundtracks, and a trio of characters whose chemistry carries the show through its episodic adventures. The overarching narrative takes a back seat to the vibes, and not every episode hits with the same force, but when Samurai Champloo is cooking, nothing else in anime looks, sounds, or feels quite like it.

2014 · 1 Season · Nippon TV · Horror / Sci-Fi / Action

Parasyte: The Maxim delivers a riveting body-horror thriller that uses alien invasion as a lens for examining what it means to be human. Shinichi's transformation from timid teenager to hardened fighter, paralleled by his parasitic partner Migi's growing curiosity about human nature, creates one of anime's most compelling character dynamics. The action is visceral, the philosophical questions are genuine, and Madhouse's animation brings the horror to life with disturbing effectiveness. It's a tight 24-episode story that rarely wastes a moment.

2012 · 3 Seasons · Fuji TV · Sci-Fi / Thriller / Crime

Psycho-Pass delivers one of anime's most compelling dystopian worlds and one of its best cat-and-mouse dynamics in a first season that stands among the finest sci-fi thrillers in the medium. Gen Urobuchi's writing creates a society where thoughts themselves are policed, then methodically exposes the cracks in that system through a villain whose intellect matches his menace. Later seasons can't sustain the same quality, but the first season alone justifies the show's reputation as essential cyberpunk anime.

2021 · Action RPG · PC / Steam

Tales of Arise is the most visually stunning and mechanically polished entry in the Tales franchise, with a combat system that rewards aggressive play and aerial combos alongside a story that tackles themes of oppression and liberation. The first half is excellent, but the second half struggles with pacing issues and a shift in narrative quality that has divided the fanbase. The party chemistry is strong throughout, and the combat keeps encounters engaging even when the story falters. It's the best entry point the series has offered in years, even if it doesn't maintain its momentum all the way through.

2009 · Takeshi Koike · 102 min · Action

Redline is an absurdly beautiful hand-drawn racing film that prioritizes pure visual spectacle and adrenaline over narrative depth, and it accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do.

2018 · Fighting · PC / Steam

Dragon Ball FighterZ is the Dragon Ball fighting game fans always wanted, with Arc System Works' stunning visual recreation of the anime paired with accessible yet deep 3v3 combat that captures the franchise's explosive energy better than any game before it.

2023 · 1 Season · Netflix · Animation, Action, Comedy, Romance

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is a bold creative gamble that mostly pays off. Rather than retelling a story fans already know, it tears the premise apart and rebuilds it around Ramona Flowers, giving her the depth and agency previous versions never quite managed. Science SARU's animation is gorgeous, the original film cast returning for voice work adds warmth and continuity, and the show's willingness to go somewhere truly unexpected keeps it exciting even when the pacing stumbles. Fans expecting a faithful adaptation may feel betrayed by the first episode's swerve, and the condensed runtime leaves some threads underdeveloped. But as a love letter that's also a critique of its own source material, it's a surprisingly thoughtful piece of work.