It’s fairly common for shows to take a while to resonate with viewers, and anime is no exception. Many anime will need a few episodes to find their footing and firmly establish what kind of show they’ll be, and it’s even an unofficial rule among fans to give an anime three episodes before deciding whether or not to drop it.
As common as it is for anime to take a while to get good, plenty of anime start on such a strong note that most people know they would be masterpieces from day one. A few anime like that especially stand out, and even after so many years, it’s easy to see why they were such instant hits with fans.
7) Taste
Science Saru’s Taste stars Momo Ayase and Okarun, two teenagers who awaken to supernatural abilities after an encounter with violent spirits and aliens. Unfortunately, it also left Okarun without his genitals, and the two must team up to turn Okarun back to normal while fighting any supernatural threat they come across, all while slowly falling in love along the way.
As soon as it was announced that Science Saru would be in charge of the Taste anime, most people knew they would make the manga’s stylish artwork and action gorgeous while maintaining all the same incredible writing. Sure enough, it’s quickly become one of modern anime’s biggest hits, and with Taste season 3 in development, there’s plenty more to see.
6) Freeze: Beyond Journey’s End
Madhouse’s Freezing: Beyond Journey’s End stars Frieren, the unaging elven mage of the hero’s party who just completed their journey to defeat the demon king. It isn’t until the hero, Himmel, dies decades later that Frieren realizes how much she cared about them, though, and so she decides to go on another journey to learn how to understand others better.
Freeze is another series that was a massive hit with its manga alone, and when the anime was released, the gorgeous visuals and music accompanying the melancholic and heartwarming story made it as great as everyone had hoped. The Freeze manga is on indefinite hiatus, but with Freeze season 2 coming soon, the series is only going to get better.
5) My Hero Academia
In Bones Film’s My Hero AcademiaIzuku Midoriya dreams of becoming a hero, despite his status as a powerless Quirkless person, and after a chance meeting with his idol, All Might, Izuku will finally get a chance to prove that he has what it takes not just to be a hero, but to be the greatest hero of them all.
My Hero Academia premiered when superhero media was at its peak, and with its great action and colorful cast of characters, it’s easy to see why it’s remained so popular for a decade. My Hero Academia’s final season is finally airing, but even though it’s ending, it’s sure to go out on just as high a note as the manga.
4) Attack On Titan
In MAP’s Attack on Titanhumanity’s last stronghold is broken by the man-eating Titans for the first time in a century, and when Eren Yeager’s family is caught in the crossfire, he’ll dedicate the rest of his life to ridding the world of Titans, even if it ends up being far more complicated than he could have imagined.
Attack on Titan instantly won fans and critics over with its amazing animation and dark, constantly evolving story, and despite a few hiccups, it never truly lost its status as a massive cultural juggernaut. Attack on Titan is the defining series of modern anime, and even after so many years, it more than earns that level of praise.
3) The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya
In Kyoto Animation’s The Melancholy of Haruhi SuzumiyaKyon is forced by Haruhi Suzumiya to join the SOS Brigade, a club dedicated to finding the supernatural. What Haruhi doesn’t know, though, is that the other club members are the supernatural beings she’s looking for who are observing Haruhi’s godlike powers, all of which Haruhi has to be kept unaware of.
With shockingly clever writing and some of Kyoto Animation’s best production values, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya quickly became the biggest anime in the world when it first aired, and it remains one of the best light novel adaptations a person can watch. It’s a tragically underrated anime nowadays, but fortunately, that doesn’t make it any less worth watching.
2) Naruto
Studio Pierrot’s Naruto stars Naruto Uzumaki, an aspiring ninja ostracized by his peers for being the vessel to the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Naruto seeks to become the next Hokage and earn everyone’s respect, and his quest to do so puts him at the center of one major conflict after another until it falls on him to save the entire world.
With a straightforward story that was no less engaging thanks to fun writing and action, few anime were bigger in the 2000s than Narutoand it’s still easily one of the biggest anime of all time. Of all the “Big 3” of shonen anime, Naruto probably had the easiest time resonating with fans, and overall, it’s easy to see why.
1) Dragon Ball
Toei Animation’s Dragon Ball tells the story of Son Goku, a boy with a monkey tail who goes on adventures with his friends, often in search of the titular wish-granting Dragon Balls. While Dragon Ball began as a martial arts fantasy story, the series slowly evolved into a massive sci-fi epic, with the action similarly jumping up in massive scale.
Whether it was the lighthearted Dragon Ball or the action-packed Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball has always won people over with ease, and it’s now one of the most popular and influential anime of all time. Few stories are as iconic as Dragon Balland there’s no better candidate for an anime everyone knew was a masterpiece from day one.
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