Netflix has quickly become an amazing platform for anime, with series such as Blood of Zeus, Castlevania, and even up to Marineford of One Piece. Even their live-action adaptations of One Piece and Yu Yu Hakusho have spread the word that this top platform isn’t here to joke around in the anime landscape. Here are five of the best anime on Netflix.
This is only a taster of great series on the platform that may not see the limelight as much, or more than deserve the spotlight they’re given. There’s way more than enough to satisfy any anime fan, and some not even exclusive to Netflix.
The Best Anime on Netflix: Honorable Mentions
One just short of making the list is Komi Can’t Communicate. Though the manga has such a cult following, Komi Can’t Communicate still transitions into a heartwarming anime about social anxiety. Taking the jumpiness of a comedy and the pacing of a slice of life, the characters that are so beloved into an amazingly animated world. Though there were a few subtle rough points with animation, there’s no doubt these 100 friends are still as lovable as ever.
Delicious in Dungeon is the newest Netflix exclusive from Studio TRIGGER, and is no doubt going to be amazing. With such an amazing manga that makes the viewer feel like they are eating their mom’s cooking, a decked-out voice cast, and a perfect studio behind the animation, this little fantasy comedy cooking show is sure to blow some socks off down the line. Episode 1 is out now.
Some of the other best anime available through Netflix, but not mentioned on the list include Castlevania, Blue Eye Samurai, Baki, Baki Hanma, and the Netflix dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
5. DoroHeDoro
DoroHeDoro goes under many radars, but the gritty take on an almost post-apocalyptic magic is great for an action anime with a revenge story underneath. It’s a great story to appease a dark bloodlust, but with enough great animation to pull viewers in again. Especially with how genuinely dark of a beginning it has, there’s almost no holds barred in this series. It’s almost insane, but the fruit of that labor is nothing short of a great series. This gory CGI series isn’t to be overlooked. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, but is amazing nonetheless.
The premise follows Caiman, a reptilian sorcerer with amnesia and a curse that makes him so scaly. Along with his friend Nikaido who cooks at the restaurant The Hungry Bug, the two go searching around the badlands known as Hole in search of the one who so maliciously rerouted his life. In such a world of outcasts and grimy magic, what is in store for this duo of misfits?
Not to mention it recently received an announcement that season two is in the works!
4. Great Pretender
This high stakes anime has such a bright style to it that makes it feel smooth, and fits well with the somewhat upbeat tone of the dialogue. The characters are all creatively goofy in their own right, with an eye for the art of deception. It’s a great watch to remind the audience why heist films and anime are a good genre. It’s a refreshing take on the world of thievery, with a much more positive aesthetic and great, jazzy soundtrack to back it. It’s a nice anime to sit back and relax to, with an unpredictable series of events that keep the audience’s eyes on the prize.
The story follows a pickpocket, Makoto Edamura, as he tries to scam a foreigner. Little did he know he’d quickly be roped into an elaborate scheme of Laurent Thierry, a con artist based in the United States. After flying across the sea to the city of Los Angeles, Makoto learns from the best what it’s like to be a great pretender in a city full of thieves. Watch as some mafia bosses, drug dealers, and efficient assassins try to reach this sly noobie.
3. Pluto
Released just last year, Pluto made an astonishingly large crash onto the anime landscape. With some awesome characters in such a futuristic world, it has such a great balance of the unknown and a lovable protagonist that made this post-war story of robotics such an awesome adaptation. Some manga-readers are even claiming that it’s the perfect adaptation, with the perfect pull of emotion at all times, and a great deal of suspense to keep fans on the edge of their seats.
Pluto follows the Europol robot detective Gesicht along a string of deaths around the world. With both robots and humans involved in this series of murders, the victims are connected by objects positioned as horns in their bodies. Since technology has advanced to the point where robots can pass as humans, who knows where this robo-boy could end up finding the perpetrator?
2. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Running away with an Anime of the Year title last year, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is no doubt some of the best that Studio TRIGGER has ever put out. With so much hype coming from its world featured first in Cyberpunk 2077 (2020), the story of David Martinez gives a new take on such a great world of this bright, futuristic hellscape. It rightfully earns all of its praise, with an expert soundtrack, amazing characters, and some of the best gunfight animation in the medium. Its creative take on cybernetics, cyberpsychosis, and amazing subplots of love, perseverance, and found family in a world that could kill everyone at any given moment is nothing short of genius.
Follow David Martinez, a high school outcast, as he’s forced into the job of a high-stakes edgerunner to provide for himself after his mother’s passing. With an addiction to chrome and other cybernetics, he grows to impress the likes of Lucy, a netrunner working for some higher up clients. Yet David isn’t just any ordinary robber, he got ahold of a Sandevistan, a military-grade cybernetic upgrade that lets him practically stop time. What does this special misfit have in store for him?
1. Violet Evergarden
Violet Evergarden is criminally underrated, with one of the best stories of an amputee veteran in anime. It’s beautiful style courtesy of Kyoto Animation, the loving, caring, and emotionally deep characters, its astonishingly scenic world, and slice-of-life pacing with a feels-ridden story building up throughout is nothing short of one of the best anime on Netflix. It’s heartwarming, satisfying, as well as easily one of the most emotional stories told through the medium. It’s hard not to shed tears while watching a lost girl write letters for all kinds of people, all while coming into her new life after being forced into war as a child. It’s one of the best stories told in under twenty episodes.
Follow Violet Evergarden, a young female ex-soldier, in the aftermath of a great war, as she comes to get a job at a writers’ agency as an auto-memory “doll.” With both of her arms lost, she has to quietly get used to her new mechanical body as she studies and types away to create letters that can connect people all across the country, all while trying to find out what her major’s last words meant. What are true feelings, and better yet emotions? How do people convey them? Discover this along with Violet in the series Violet Evergarden.
Anime on Netflix Available Now
All of these shows mentioned are available now on Netflix, each title being listed as an exclusive. Some titles also have follow-up shows and movies, taking place after or before the events of the main series. Though there are always watching orders, these series won’t be unwatchable from the beginning of their entries. There’s not any context missing after starting episode one.
Also keep an eye out for future series, including but not limited to the Devil May Cry anime and DoroHeDoro season two releasing on Netflix!
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