30 Best Anime Shows Of All Time Ranked

With so many different genres to choose from, creating a definitive list of the best anime series of all time is no simple task. A show that one viewer sees as being ultraviolent for the sake of it is a masterclass in realism to another. Slice-of-life shows don't appeal to everyone, but to some, there's nothing more comforting. Huge robots doing battle is a bore to many, while others buzz off the idea. From shonen, seinen, and shoujo to mecha, harem, and the ever-popular isekai, there really is something for everyone in the world of anime. However, there's a handful of special shows that transcend the trappings of their genres, and it's those universal crowdpleasers we're going to look at today. From seminal shows that inspired generations of fans and creators to the modern-day classics that stand as a shining example of the medium, we're ranking the 30 best anime series of all time.

Updated on February 16, 2022: Whether you're into horror, cooking, or sci-fi action, new anime series are coming out all the time. Check back here regularly as we'll keep this list updated with new anime series that have become instant classics.

"Elfen Lied" follows a Diclonius (a mutated species of human with invisible telekinetic appendages known as Vectors) by the name of Lucy. The story begins when Lucy escapes from the government facility she's being housed in, brutally killing many of her captors in the process. She's injured during the escape, however, and she develops a split personality as a result. While Lucy has been hardened by the inhumane experimentation she was subjected to behind closed doors, her second personality (Nyu) is sweet and innocent. It's this side of her that Kouta and Yuka — the sympathetic locals who give her shelter — get to know. Together, they aim to protect their new friend from the government agents hunting her down.

If the plot sounds remarkably similar to "Stranger Things," that's no accident. The anime was "really influential," co-creator Matt Duffer told The Daily Beast. "When I watched it, I thought it felt like an ultraviolent 'E.T.' There were a lot of things in there that I really liked and that made their way into the show, particularly related to the character of Eleven." The Duffers weren't the only ones to fall in love with the series. It became a big crossover hit when it arrived in the States in the mid-'00s, and while its popularity has waned somewhat in the years since (largely due to the fact that fans feel as though 13 episodes just wasn't enough), it's still a seminal show that shouldn't be missed.

No Japanese export has impacted pop culture in the way that "Pokemon" has. What began as a pair of twin games on Nintendo's original Game Boy quickly grew into the highest-grossing media franchise of all time (it's made over $100 billion U.S. dollars globally), spawning several video games, a hugely popular trading card game, numerous films, and, of course, a long-running anime series. 

The first season of the "Pokemon" anime may not be a masterpiece of storytelling or a benchmark in animation, but it holds a special place in the hearts of '90s and '00s kids and for good reason. The adventures of Ash (or Satoshi in the Japanese version, named after franchise creator Satoshi Tajiri) and his trusty sidekick Pikachu never fail to raise your spirits, even today. It might sound odd to use the term "more believable" when talking about battling creatures that reside in little red and white balls, but the original 151 pokemon designs are exactly that — less outlandish and made with particular functions in mind. Unfortunately, the line between Pokemon types became blurred as the years marched on, with the designers seemingly running out of ideas, leaving fans wistful for 1997. After all, with its iconic theme tune and unforgettable characters, the "Indigo League" series remains the very best.

"Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion" takes place in an alternate timeline where the planet is divided into three superpowers. Europe and Africa have joined forces and go by the name Europa United, Asia is now known as the Chinese Federation, and the Americas are called the Holy Britannian Empire. In this world, the fictional Queen Elizabeth III fled to her Stateside colonies after her forces got trounced by Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar, and she never returned. We enter the story as the expansionist Britannian Empire (now led by Emperor Charles zi Britannia) is launching an assault on the Japanese islands, and they're causing havoc.

The invaders from the West seek to strip the Japanese people of their culture and freedoms, rechristening the country Area 11 and dubbing its inhabitants "Elevens," which, needless to say, does not go down well with the locals. It falls to Lelouch (an exiled Britannian prince who's been living in Japan since falling out with his dad over the death of his mother) to save his adopted country from his tyrannical father. Lelouch adopts the moniker Zero and becomes a masked vigilante, giving the Japanese people a symbol of hope. With the help of his rebel group, The Black Knights, he leads the fight against the Brittanians. It's a sweeping tale of family, loyalty, and revenge that grows on you the longer you stick with it.

If you're starting to feel superhero fatigue kicking in, you're not alone — the hero of the hit webcomic turned anime "One-Punch Man" is feeling it too. Saitama is so powerful that he can defeat any foe with (you guessed it) just a single punch, and it's left him feeling rather jaded. "Punching is oftentimes pretty useless against life's problems," the character's creator, who goes by the name ONE, told ComicBook.com. "But inside One-Punch Man's universe, I made Saitama a sort of guy who was capable of adapting his life to the world that surrounded him, only armed with his immense power. The only obstacles he faces are mundane things, like running short of money."

The set-up makes for some great comedy, but this is an anime with something for everyone. The battles are both imaginative and intense, especially after the alien invader Boros arrives on the scene (spoiler alert — he survives Saitama's punch). We come for the laughs and the punches, but the heart of the show lies in Saitama's relationship with Genos, whose family was killed by a cyborg villain. Saitama becomes a reluctant mentor to the up-and-coming hero, who's out for revenge for his family and his city, which was razed to the ground by the killer. 

Even if you're not familiar with anime, chances are you've heard of Naruto — or, more particularly, his iconic sprinting style. The so-called "Naruto run" gained international attention in 2019 when a prankster did one during a news report from Area 51, bringing a bunch of new fans to the classic anime. It's the tale of ambitious young ninja Naruto Uzumaki, who longs to become the head (or Hokage) of his village, Konoha. He's not exactly a popular choice, however — when Naruto was a baby, Kurama (aka the Nine-Tailed Fox) attacked the village, and Naruto's father was forced to seal the demon inside his newborn son. This leads to Naruto being largely shunned by his peers, but he remains determined to prove himself a worthy leader.

Like Masashi Kishimoto's manga, the anime is told in two parts: "Naruto," which deals with the titular character's pre-teen years, and "Naruto: Shippuden," in which he comes of age. While the sequel series just about gets the nod from most fans due to its superior animation, both are brilliant and worth your time. People have been debating which is better for years, to no avail. "As a teen, I always thought 'Shippuden' was better because of their power ups, new designs, and bigger battles," said one viewer when the debate blew up on Reddit in 2021. "Now looking back (I'm in my mid-20s now), OG 'Naruto's' story felt more cohesive." We'll let you be the judge.

Eiichiro Oda's "One Piece" is the best-selling manga series of all time by a considerable distance, having shipped in excess of 450 million units — over 150 million more than the closest contender, "Dragon Ball." With over 1,000 episodes and counting (not to mention several feature films), the anime is quite the beast, but we're here to give you the lowdown so you can jump in at any point and enjoy this shonen smash hit. It's the story of pirate captain Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, who search the Grand Line (an ocean route filled with danger and mystery) for a legendary treasure known as One Piece. It was once owned by the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, who challenged other pirates to locate it just before his execution at the hands of the World Government.

Luffy longs for Roger's fabled treasure, as well as his title — it's his dream to locate the One Piece and become the new Pirate King. Of course, there's plenty of competition, but Luffy has a distinct advantage. On top of his loyal crew, he has the ability to launch attacks from a great distance using his stretchy limbs. See, as a child, he accidentally ate a Gum-Gum Fruit (one of the supernatural Devil Fruits in the "One Piece" world), which gave his body rubbery properties. It's a wild ride filled with fun and adventure, and it's never too late to join in.

Watching animated people eat animated food is a strangely satisfying experience, and that's particularly true of anime — Ponyo and Sosuke eating ramen will make your mouth water every single time. If food anime is your thing, then look no further than "Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma," a show that will get your belly rumbling without fail. With recipes from the renowned Japanese chef Yuki Morisaki, the manga became a hit in its home country, and the anime adaptation from J.C. Staff (the studio behind the likes of "A Certain Magical Index," "Toradora!" and "The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.") was beloved the world over.

It's the story of teenager Soma Yukihira, who dreams of following in his father's footsteps and taking over his restaurant. If he's going to match and eventually surpass his father, he'll have to graduate from Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute, Japan's most prestigious culinary school. The children of rich and famous chefs study here, and some of them aren't thrilled about having the son of a common cook studying with them. Soma is ready and willing to prove them all wrong — at Totsuki, students regularly engage in competitions called "shokugeki," facing off against one another to see who can come up with the best meal under trying circumstances. Soma's passion for food is infectious, and the show features a large cast of memorable characters. With five seasons to get your teeth stuck into, this anime is a foodie's dream come true.

We live in a time saturated with superheroes, and so does Izuku Midoriya, the protagonist of "My Hero Academia." In his world, an estimated 80% of the population has some kind of Quirk (the in-universe term for a superpower), though Izuku is one of the unlucky 20% who doesn't. He was born with no powers whatsoever, though that never stopped him from wanting to become a hero. His tenacity wins him favor with Japan's most famous hero, All Might, who decides to take him under his wing and help him secure a place at U.A. High School, Japan's top heroics institution. We soon learn that, like Izuku, there's a lot more to All Might than meets the eye.

Based on the manga by Kohei Horikoshi — who's a huge fan of American superheroes and once went to see "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" dressed as Spider-Man — "My Hero Academia" is still ongoing at the time of this writing, and it shows no signs of slowing down. It ended the 2010s with a bang (All Might's throwdown with the show's big bad, All for One, is a thing of legend) and will likely be around for years to come. There's never been a better time to get aboard the MHA train.

While technically a mecha anime, "Neon Genesis Evangelion" broke the mold when it came to humans doing battle by using giant robots. Evangelions are not your typical mecha machine — they're living, organic creatures that were created from scraps of the first Angel, the villains of the series. These giant creatures were awakened during an experiment gone wrong, after a team of scientists led by Dr. Katsuragi caused an explosion that melted the polar ice caps and caused widespread destruction, wiping out 50% of humankind in a cataclysmic event that became known as the Second Impact.

With a Third Impact looming, humans "pilot" the Evangelions (they enter the cyborg beings via a cockpit-like opening) to stop the Angels. Shinji Ikari is one such pilot, a teen who's tasked with defending Tokyo-3 by his estranged father. He's joined by Misato Katsuragi and cocky German-Japanese-American Asuka Langley Soryu. Their mission is to use the Evangelions to stop the Third Impact — or so we're led to believe. With twists and turns aplenty, "Neon Genesis Evangelion" is the deep-thinker's mecha, and the questions it poses remain just as relevant today. The show's finale split opinion at the time (it was described as "soul-crushingly sad" by SyFy) and two feature-length films — "Death & Rebirth" and "End of Evangelion" — were released to serve as an alternate ending to the series, though fans have come to appreciate the original finale in the years since.

Plenty of anime shows switch between feel-good vibes and ultraviolence, but few do it as skillfully as "Parasyte: The Maxim," one of the most memorable horror anime of all time. Based on the manga by Hitoshi Iwaaki, it's the story of 17-year-old high school student Shinichi Izumi, who's forced to coexist with an alien. The anime opens with a race of parasitic extraterrestrials arriving on Earth. The small, worm-like creatures enter human bodies through nostrils and ears, burrowing into the brain and turning the unsuspecting victims into hosts. They maintain a human shape to keep their presence a secret, but they're able to transform into truly monstrous forms at will.

Luckily for Shinichi, he went to bed listening to music the night the aliens arrived. The parasite that attempted to take over his body was denied entry by his headphones, and when it tried to get in via his nose, the tickling sensation made him sneeze. He woke up, and in a panic, the creature burrowed into his hand instead. The quick-thinking teen used the wire of his headphones to make a quick tourniquet, stopping the invader from getting to his brain. It took over his right hand instead (he ends up calling it Migi, meaning "right" in Japanese), with each retaining their own sentience and personalities. It's an uneasy alliance at first, but the pair eventually come together to try and stop Gotou, the most powerful parasite of the lot.

A beautifully rendered, meandering series set in a fictional time between the Edo and Meiji periods (Japan remains willingly cut off from the rest of the world but still has some outside tech), "Mushishi" follows a man named Ginko as he travels from place to place, hoping to unravel the secrets of the Mushi — primitive but supernatural lifeforms that only a few people can see. Those who study the Mushi are referred to as Mushishi (meaning "Mushi masters"), though even their knowledge of these ethereal beings is limited. For reasons unknown to us and to him, the Mushi are attached to Ginko. He suspects that they hold the secrets to the meaning of life itself, but the answers remain just out of reach.

Based on Yuki Urushibara's manga of the same name, the anime is episodic in nature, with each installment focused on a new Mushi mystery. It's a soothing series that's light on dialogue in the best of ways. "It is not often that one comes across an anime that is not bogged down with fan service, tiresome gags, and pointless dialogue that are all there simply for the sake of filling up the 20-something minutes of the allotted time of each episode," The Artifice said in its glowing review. "'Mushishi' manages to escape these moments of excess by doing exactly what every show is supposed to do: devote itself completely and solely to the presentation of a story."

Set in Tokyo's famous Akihabara district (a mecca for all things tech, gaming, and anime), the mind-bending sci-fi series "Steins;Gate" is about three friends who accidentally discover a means of time travel. Protagonist Rintaro Okabe runs the Future Gadget Laboratory, which — while it sounds impressive — is essentially a rundown apartment where he and his oddball mates, Mayuri Shiina and Itaru Hashida, hang out and conduct experiments. They're enthusiastic about their work, but they don't seem to be getting anywhere. They're working on a cellphone-powered microwave oven when we join the story, a device that probably won't change the world ... until it does.

Rintaro is shocked when he stumbles across the dead body of renowned neuroscientist Kurisu Makise after attending a time travel conference one day. He sends a text message to his friends about what he saw — only to discover that they received his message before he actually sent it. It turns out their invention can send texts back in time, and the trio unwittingly saved the researcher's life. Grateful and fascinated, Kurisu decides to join their ragtag team, and together, they figure out how to send memories back, essentially achieving time travel. "Steins;Gate" was a huge hit when it dropped in 2011, and it still holds up to this day. "Funny, intense and occasionally creepy, 'Steins;Gate' contains just about everything you could ask for in an anime series," said Den of Geek after reviewing the show's Blu-ray release in 2013.

Hajime Isayama's manga series "Attack on Titan" became a huge hit in Japan after debuting in 2009, and the anime adaptation would go on to become a global phenomenon, spanning the best part of a decade. It takes place in a world where humanity has been reduced to living inside walled cities to stay safe from the Titans, monstrous humanoid beasts with a penchant for destruction and a taste for human flesh. "The idea of being isolated within the wall originated with manga creator Hajime Isayama, who was inspired by Japanese culture," Wit Studio president George Wada told the Anime News Network. "The Japanese people can become very isolated and enclosed, so it's more of a Japanese cultural idea. ... The 'Wall of Fear' plays a big role in the series. I think people overcoming that fear is relatable to the audience."

The fear really kicks in when that protection fails, which happens early on in the series. The Titans successfully breach the walls of Shiganshina, and a boy named Eren Yeager watches his mother get eaten alive. He grows up to become a valued member of the Survey Corps (the section of the military dedicated to eradicating the Titans) and swears revenge on them, but there's more to Eren — and the Titans — than meets the eye. As stunning as it is traumatizing, "Attack on Titan" is a must-see for any anime fan with the stomach for it: Many of the Titan designs are genuine nightmare fuel.

To call the 2020 film "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train" a success would be a huge understatement — it raced past Studio Ghibli classic "Spirited Away" to become the highest-grossing movie in Japan's history, animated or otherwise. It's a must-see for anime buffs, and so is the series that started it all. An adaptation of Koyoharu Gotouge's manga of the same name, "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" is the story of Tanjiro Kamado, a farm boy who decides to join the Demon Slayer Corps after his family is slaughtered by a demon (a former human with supernatural abilities that can only be killed by decapitation).

The breadwinner of the family, Tanjiro returns from a neighboring market town one day to find his village in ruins and his family dead — all but his sister. The kindhearted Nezuko Kamado managed to survive the attack, though she was turned into a demon in the process. Shreds of her humanity remain, however, and Tanjiro refuses to give up on her. The series follows Tanjiro's efforts to save his sister and wipe out the demons once and for all, with the help of the Demon Slayer Corps' so-called "Breathing Styles," which will elevate his skills and make him a match for the demons. With lush animation and swordplay galore (it's set during Japan's Taisho period), "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" is a modern-day classic.

The critically acclaimed "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" takes place in a world where alchemy (the science of decomposing and reconstructing physical matter) is widely practiced. When brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric attempt to use alchemy to resurrect their deceased mother, it goes horribly wrong. Bringing people back is a big no-no in the alchemist world, which operates on the law of equivalent exchange. Gaining something means losing something of equal value, and Edward loses a few limbs, while Alphonse loses his entire body. However, Edward is able to bind his brother's soul to a nearby suit of armor before he's lost forever. The show follows their efforts to find the philosopher's stone and fix their bodies.

This is the second adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa's hit manga series "Fullmetal Alchemist," and it's far superior to the first, which was made when the manga was still ongoing and therefore deviates from the source material significantly in its latter stages. This second iteration is considered by many to be the best anime series of all time (it holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is the number one ranked show on MyAnimeList), and we have to agree. It's fun, full of heart, and boasts numerous memorable characters — especially the female ones. Part of that is because creator Hiromu Arakawa grew up on a farm, where the chores were neverending. "Everyone has to work hard to make ends meet, including women and kids," she said (via The Mary Sue). "That's the reason there are so many working women in 'Fullmetal.'"