If you like anime, you’ve probably seen all of these by now.
But if you’re not… you MUST try it! Anime is NOT like your regular cartoons. These stories are unique, packed with intense characters and beautiful animation.
Action, drama, science fiction, psychological, horror, apocalyptic, comedy, what it means to be human, humans merging with machines, the meaning of life. The anime has it all!
You may have seen Pokemon or Sailor Moon. There are many more complex stories and characters than that. Much of the anime is a reflection of the reaction of Japanese and modern society to globalization and the technological changes of the 21st century. So don’t be surprised to find intense themes in these stories. It might even be a bit difficult to fully digest the meaning of some of these anime.
So… there’s my pitch. By the way, I’ve recently gotten into anime so feel free to suggest another great anime in the comments below!
11. Tokyo Ghoul
Duration: 12 episodes
Genre: Action / Drama / Horror / Psychological / Dark Fantasy
Plot: Kaneki has an accident and receives organ transplants from a ghoul. She struggles to maintain her humanity while living as a half-ghoul who must eat human flesh to survive.
Intense character development and symbolism included! There’s a postmodern feel to it that you can see in Kaneki’s hopelessness. The story criticizes the excessive consumption and discrimination of modern society.
10. Haikyuu!!
Duration: 25 episodes
Genre: Sports / Drama
Plot: Hinata has wanted to play volleyball since middle school. She finally gets her chance in high school. This is a story of teamwork and motivation among friends.
You learn a lot about volleyball from this anime. It’s a fun, light story. If you are looking for something not too dark but with fun characters, this is the story for you!
9. Death Note
Duration: 37 episodes
Genre: Psychological / Drama / Detective
Plot: Light Yagami is a genius high school student who one day picks up a Death Note. He discovers his power to kill humans and builds an elaborate and crazy plan to rule the world and eliminate corruption through strategic assassinations.
It gets quite intense and complex. The number of crazy plot twists in this story will keep you on your toes. This story looks at institutional corruption. But the most interesting part is how Light keeps coming up with such intricate plans that somehow they always work.
8. Attack on Titan
Duration: 25 episodes
Genre: Dark Fantasy / Post-apocalyptic
Plot: Eren Jaeger lives in a peaceful town isolated from man-eating titans. But after a colossal titan breaks through the outer wall, chaos ensues. Eren joins the army to fight against the titans.
This story brings to light the pain of losing innocence and the illusion of peace. It presents issues of the current state of Japan’s military, and calls for the forces to be prepared1.
7. Blood: The Last Vampire
Duration: 45 minutes
Genre: Action/Horror
Plot: Saya is a vampire who kills other vampires, also known as bats. She goes undercover as a student at an American military base in Japan to destroy the threats. Her reasons for doing it? Unknown. Where she comes from? Unknown.
Saya is an interesting character. She is super hardcore and cool. In addition to the action, this story is also a reflection of Japanese and American relations.
6. Gate Steins
Duration: 24 episodes
Genre: Science Fiction/Mystery/Romance/Drama
Plot: Okabe is an average guy with a keen interest in time travel. He stumbles across a conspiracy involving the use of human subjects in time travel experiments. Okabe and his friends must use his wits and determination to prevent the world from descending into an authoritarian dystopia.
The time travel makes this story a bit confusing, but once you get past the first few episodes things start to make sense. The best part of this story is the deep and meaningful relationships between the characters.
5. Spirited Away
Duration: 124 minutes
Genre: Fantasy / Miyazaki
Plot: Chihiro moves into a new home with her parents. They stumble upon a spirit world and his parents transform into pigs after eating the spirit food. Chihiro faces many challenges to save his parents.
This is a coming-of-age story that incorporates deep themes of vanishing traditions, environmental degradation, optimism1 and courage.
4. Grave of the Fireflies
Duration: 89 minutes
Genre: Drama / Antiwar / Historical Fiction
Plot: Seita and Setsuko are orphaned as a result of the war. They fight to take care of each other and survive in desperate times.
This story talks about World War II in an incredibly humanistic way. It is intensely sad.
3. Ouran High School Host Club
Duration: 26 episodes
Genre: Romantic Comedy / Drama
Plot: Haruhi is accepted into the prestigious Ouran High School on a scholarship. She befriends the host club members and shares many fun adventures with them.
Many of the other stories I listed were intense and deep, but this one is just plain funny. It’s rated so high on my list because I’ve seriously never seen anything this funny before.
2. Ghost in the shell
Duration: 82 minutes
Genre: Science Fiction/Cyberpunk
Plot: Kusanagi is a female cyborg who works for the public security agency Section 9. Her mission is to find a hacker known as the Puppet Master who has been taking control of people’s minds and making them commit crimes.
This story explores the potential of technology to improve or degrade the human race. It addresses philosophical and social ideas about what it means to be human.
1. Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood
Duration: 64 episodes
Genre: Adventure / Science Fiction / Action / Drama
Plot: Edward and Alphonse Elric learn alchemy at a young age. In an attempt to resurrect his mother, All loses his entire body and Ed loses an arm and a leg. The two brothers travel the world in search of a way to recover what they have lost.
This story has it all. Adventure, drama, hope, courage, inspiration, a good soundtrack. Ed and Al’s story is empowering as they face hardship after hardship with strength and a genuine belief in the good of humanity.
Footnotes:
1. Mike Dillon introduced this idea in his 2015 lecture at JAPN 390 – Japanese Culture and Society: Anime at California State University, Fullerton.
