Best Of
The Best Anime Series of All Time, With Episode Counts
By Jordan A. · · Updated · 6 min read
Every anime starter list has the same problem. It tells you a show is a masterpiece and then leaves you staring at a 148 episode run with no idea whether you have signed up for a weekend or a season of your life. So this one is built around the two things that actually decide whether you finish: how long it is, and what kind of show it really is underneath the reputation.
One rule before we start. This is a list of series. Films get excluded, which means no Perfect Blue and no Your Name, both of which are features rather than shows. They are worth your time. They are just not what you clicked for. Where each series streams changes, so the title page on BingeNext shows current US options.
Start here if you have never watched any of this
Cowboy Bebop (1998 to 1999, twenty-six episodes, Sunrise, directed by Shinichiro Watanabe) is the standard first recommendation and it deserves to be. Bounty hunters on a beaten-up ship, one self-contained story most weeks, a jazz score by Yoko Kanno doing half the emotional work. It asks nothing of you in terms of genre knowledge. Choose it if you want to find out whether you like anime at all. Twenty-six episodes is about eleven hours.
Samurai Champloo (2004 to 2005, twenty-six episodes) is the same director doing Edo-period Japan with hip hop production and a lot of sword fights. It shares Bebop's episodic structure and its mood of aimless people looking for something. The difference is that it is looser and funnier. Choose it if you liked Bebop and want the immediate follow-up.
Death Note (2006 to 2007, thirty-seven episodes) is a student who finds a notebook that kills anyone whose name he writes in it, and the detective who starts hunting him within days. It is the easiest sell on this list because it is a two-hander thriller with almost no fantasy vocabulary. The difference from the rest of these is that it drops noticeably in its second half, which everyone will warn you about. Choose it if you want a page-turner.
If you want the acknowledged heavyweights
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009 to 2010, sixty-four episodes, produced by Bones) is the one most fans hand new viewers when they want to win an argument. Two brothers pay a catastrophic price for attempting forbidden alchemy and spend the series trying to undo it, inside a story that turns out to be about a state and a genocide. It is complete, it adapts the manga to its actual ending, and the tonal control is remarkable. Choose it if you want the single most reliable long watch here.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995 to 1996, twenty-six episodes) is teenagers piloting giant machines against incomprehensible enemies, and then it is something else entirely. It shares nothing with the shows above except its reputation. The difference is that it is a depression narrative wearing a mecha costume, and the ending is famously contentious. Choose it if you want the most influential and most argued-about series in the medium. Twenty-six episodes, and you will want to talk to someone afterward.
Monster (2004 to 2005, seventy-four episodes, animated by Madhouse from Naoki Urasawa's manga) is a Japanese surgeon in Germany who saves a boy's life and spends the next decade discovering what that boy becomes. It shares Death Note's cat-and-mouse structure but plays it at a fraction of the speed and with far more moral weight. The difference is the length and the total absence of fantasy. Choose it if you want a literary thriller and have the patience.
Hunter x Hunter (2011 to 2014, 148 episodes) starts as a cheerful boy leaving home to find his father and becomes, by its final arc, one of the most tactically inventive things on television. It shares the long-adventure shape of the big shonen series. The difference is that it stops abruptly when the manga ran out, so there is no ending. Choose it if you want to be absorbed for months and can accept that.
If you want something more recent
Attack on Titan (2013 to 2023, four seasons, fifty-nine episodes by the original count plus the split final parts) is humanity behind walls and the things outside them, and it changes genre roughly three times across its run. It shares Evangelion's willingness to make the audience uncomfortable. The difference is that it is a war story and it finished, which is rarer than it should be. Choose it if you want the defining series of the last decade.
Vinland Saga (2019 onwards, two seasons, forty-eight episodes so far) follows a boy in an eleventh century Viking war band who wants revenge, and then asks what happens to a person who gets it. It shares Attack on Titan's brutality. The difference is that season two swaps battle for farm labour and is better for it, which loses some viewers. Choose it if you want the most interesting argument about violence here.
Steins;Gate (2011, twenty-four episodes) is a lab of amateurs in Akihabara who accidentally build a way to send text messages into the past. It shares Death Note's escalating-consequences engine. The difference is that the first eight episodes are slow and a lot of people quit before it turns. Choose it if someone has promised you it gets good, because it does.
Mob Psycho 100 (2016 to 2022, three seasons, thirty-seven episodes) is a middle schooler with enormous psychic power who mainly wants to be less awkward. It shares nothing with the grim end of this list. The difference is that it is a kindness story with astonishing animation attached. Choose it if you want the one that will make you feel better.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019 to 2024 across four seasons, produced by Ufotable) is the most visually spectacular series here and the most straightforward: a boy trains to kill demons and save his sister. It shares the shonen shape with Hunter x Hunter. The difference is that the plotting is much simpler and the animation does the heavy lifting. Choose it if you want the easiest entry point for someone who normally watches action films.
Where to start
If you have never watched anime, start with Cowboy Bebop. If you want one long series that is complete and will not let you down, start with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. If you want something that behaves like a prestige drama, it is Monster. And if you want to understand why people argue about this medium, watch Neon Genesis Evangelion and then read about it for a week.
If you want a shortlist built around what you already like rather than around consensus, put two favorites into BingeNext TV recommendations and you will get ranked picks with a reason for each and a note on where they stream. It takes about a minute.
Topics covered: anime, best-of, all-time, streaming, japanese-animation
About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and is responsible for every guide published on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu. Dates, season counts and where-to-watch details in these guides are checked against official sources before publishing, and corrections are welcome at Jordan@Bingenext.com.