You may have noticed a large influx of anime on Netflix recently.

With Gucci using a One Piece character as its model in ads and Megan Thee Stallion‘s “anime verse,” anime has fully rooted itself in Western popular media.

With so many options, picking a new anime can be daunting. That’s why we’ve compiled a selection of the 10 best anime’s to watch on Netflix right now. Thus, check them out below and get ready to start binging!

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Neon Genesis Evangelion (one season, 26 episodes)

Neon Genesis Evangelion is considered a classic for many reasons. The combination of massive humanoid, alien-esque robots and psychological interest in child soldiers, combined with a classic 90s aesthetic, this anime is a feast for both the eyes and the mind.

The anime is experimental and at times unsettling. This is all deliberate. Stuck in a postapocalyptic, interspecies war, life does not feel comfortable. Despite some of the controversy around Netflix’s release of the series (e.g. erasing a gay romance), it’s a must-watch.

This classic is also one of the best anime on Netflix right now.

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Hunter X Hunter (four seasons, 75 episodes)

The main character Gon, a naïve but determined child, wants to follow into his father’s footsteps to become a hunter, even after his father abandoned him. Hunters are elite warriors tasked to find treasures, animals, and at times humans for bounty.

Hunter X Hunter offers a variety of action and humor and despite the first episode being slightly corny, the anime delves into mature and dark themes as it goes along. Contrary to most shounen anime, in Hunter X Hunter you won’t survive on the power of friendship alone, but you might on wit and determination.

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Kakegurui (two seasons, 24 episodes)

Kakegurui is sexy and provocative. It’s an anime about compulsive gambling, elite private school teens with more money than they could ever spend, and mindboggling bets.

We follow new transfer student Jumeko Yabami who doesn’t care about the hierarchical structure of the school and is instead only interested in gambling with astronomically high bets (the higher, the better).

Visually bold, with crimson grins, ice blue hair, and expressions that go from demure to disturbing in a blink of an eye, Kakegurui is a fast-paced and spicy Netflix original, and one of the best anime on Netflix.

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Ouran High School Host Club (one season, 26 episodes)

Ouran High School Host Club plays on the various classic Japanese otaku and host club tropes. After the main character, Haruhi Fuijoka is mistaken for a boy, she joins her school’s host club – an elite club in which a group of attractive boys entertains girls from the school –  in the hope of paying off her massive debt.

The anime also plays on gender roles and embraces the fluidity of gender. Ouran High School Host Club is light, funny, and will make you (kiss kiss) fall in love with it.

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Haikyu!! (two seasons, 50 episodes)

While there have been sports anime in the past, Haikyu!! is the first volleyball anime and with that already unique. It tells the story of two rivals, who in high school are placed on the same team and forced to come together.

This might seem like the premise for most anime but the passion the characters have for the sport and the masterful character development make this coming-of-age series special.

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The Disastrous Life of Saiki K (one season, 50 episodes)

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K follows could-be typical high-school student Saiki Kusuo, if it wasn’t for him having literally every psychic ability imaginable. Despite him being an almost all-powerful being, he still manages to get himself into various awkward situations.

The anime parodies various archetypes of which Saiki himself, having the god-tier psychic powers, is highly aware of. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K is a brightly colored anime that doesn’t take itself to seriously and plays gags on all anime tropes.

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Children of the Whales (one season, 12 episodes)

Children of the Whales is set in a postapocalyptic future in which a small part of humanity lives on an island, called the Mud Whale. This island floats on an endless sea of sand. The majority of the Whale’s inhabitants have developed supernatural abilities.  

The anime explores what happens when the Mud Whale meets other islands. The shows stunning animation, earthy tones, and watercolor backgrounds support this tale of emotional intensity and slapstick humor.

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Naruto (nine seasons, 156 episodes)

Naruto is impossible to ignore. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the anime, you’ve likely come across TikToks, memes, or other parts of pop-culture referencing it.

The anime follows Naruto, a new ninja, as he and his friends complete various missions and battle enemy ninjas. The anime is known for its sharp humor, strong writing, and long-term character development. Also, of course, the Naruto-run.

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Devilman Crybaby (one season, 10 episodes)

Ultraviolent and hyper-sexual, there’s not more needed the describe the initial impression of this highly stylized anime. A Netflix original, it tells the story of Akira, a teen and crybaby turned devilman.

Instead of giving in to his devious carnal desires, Akira uses his newfound powers to try and save a world that has turned to hell.

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Your Lie in April (one season, 22 episodes)

Your Lie in April follows young piano prodigy Kousei who loses his ability to hear music after his domineering mom passes away. His world changes when, years later, he falls in love with talented and joyful violinist Kaori who makes him want to play again.

This anime might leave you an emotional wreck, but it’ll do so delicately and with great introspection.

Japan is home to anime, also known as called Japanimation. Anime has colorful graphics, lively characters, and outrageous plots, making it a source of entertainment that appeals to people of all ages.

Japan is a homogenous country, where people of different cultures and backgrounds are almost considered ‘new’ to them. Black-owned businesses are seldom seen in Japan.

However, that has started to change.

 

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Almost time that time! Head over to room 411B at 8pm @animeexpo.

A post shared by XOgenaSYS (@xogenasys) on Jul 7, 2018 at 4:52pm PDT

Japan’s first predominantly Black-owned animation studio, D’Art Shtajio is here to make a name for itself.

D’Art Shtajio was founded in 2016 by two brothers, Arthell and Darnell Isom. Their goal is to blend Japanese animation with Western animation with the help of their animator, Henry Thurlow.

Ultimately, they want to revolutionize the animation industry in Japan. The Isom brothers are not new to the animation industry and neither is Thurlow.

Arthell Isom worked on many animation series like Bleach, Gintama, Naruto, and Black Butler, just to name a few. His mentor, Hiromasa Ogura, best known for his work in Ghost in the Shell, helped guide him along the way.

Henry Thurlow worked with the animation studio, Nakamura, as an animator for series such as Pokemon origins and Gundam Fighters as well as work with the animation studio, Pierrot Animation, as an animator for popular series, Tokyo Ghoul. 

Why is having a black animation studio in Japan so significant, some of you may be thinking. After all, it’s just an animation studio.

Japan values uniformity, so it’s seen as a loss to be different.

In an interview Thurlow did with JapanTimes, he states “Back then I was drawing for ‘Gundam’ and ‘Pokemon,’ but my name was never mentioned and I was literally making $4 a day.” He claimed that the “artist in me is satisfied” despite not being able to make a living because of being a foreigner. 

Despite all these hardships, D’Art Shtajio has also worked on popular series such as Castlevania, Seven Deadly Sins, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and more.

The brothers even animated their own mini skits like Indigo United. They also created the first episode of a new anime series based on the manga, Xogenasys written by NBA player, Johnny O’Bravo.

Xogenasys features Darius Smith, an artistic youth living in a dystopian world. He is recruited to fight in XOGenaSYS, a gladiator sport fought with powered exoskeletons, and the powerful prince, Mustafa. He wants Darius to become the next new fighter.

 

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Family is Forever.

A post shared by XOgenaSYS (@xogenasys) on Aug 14, 2018 at 3:19pm PDT

D’Art Shtajio’s resume is fairly long. The studio was home to the production of an Adidas commercial.

Adidas Commercial we produced at D`Art Shtajio a few years back. https://t.co/RXDhnYFv2v

— Henry Thurlow (@henry_thurlow) June 11, 2020

We can’t wait to see what new works D’Art Shtajio brings us!

Anime used to be a niche genre, mostly reserved for Japanese audiences, but now its audience has been expanded to North America and anime has never been bigger.

A few years ago, anime was considered a nerdy thing to watch but now it has skyrocketed in popularity due to social media stars, celebrities, and has become a popular form of media to consume amongst the masses.

Artists like Pharrell, Soulja Boy, Big Sean, Drake, Lupe Fiasco, Logic, Denzel Curry, Joey Bada$$, Lil Uzi Vert and XXXTentacion have either referenced anime in their lyrics or their album artwork which has increased anime’s exposure to the US market and catapulted anime into the mainstream.

It has become so popular that even some colleges have begun teaching courses in Japanese animation because of its constant appearance in popular culture today.

Here’s five anime series that any beginner can start f*cking with immediately.

Dragon Ball Z

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yasZEXWUrw8

Although some of us may not realize it, anime has become significantly more accepted into our society than ever before.

Dragon Ball Z is perhaps the most well-known anime series and has made a significant impact in both American and Japanese cultures.

Dragon Ball Z opened the doors to anime for Americans who had only been used to classic cartoons. It had everything young kids would want in a show, from the action packed fighting scenes, epic transformations, and intense rivalries, Dragon Ball Z become a favorite amongst kids everywhere.

The series starred the main character Goku, the last of the Saiyan race from Planet Vegeta, which was destroyed.

Throughout the series he fights a variety of enemies, some of which he befriends and takes on his journey to become the strongest fighter in the world.

Along with the show itself, Dragonball Z has 15 movies (!) in total to add to the massive collection of episodes.

Dragon Ball Z has garnered millions of passionate fans, during the height of Dragon Ball Z in 2001, the Dragon Ball website site had 4.7 million fans daily and 500,000+ registered fans.

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Naruto

Naruto is a common anime fan favorite that transitioned to America successfully and has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. Along with Dragonball Z it also brought anime into the mainstream.

The show is based around a kid called Naruto, an orphan in his village, but has a unwavering positive attitude that he will one day become the Hokage of his village and usher in an era of peace.

Despite the constant wave of negative energy Naruto encounters from people in his own village, he believes that if he increases his strength immensely and becomes Hokage he will cement the respect and inclusion he was so desperately looking for in younger years.

Naruto garnered a huge and passionate fan base over time because some fans literally grew up with him into adulthood. All and all it is a great series and you can’t help but be enthralled in Naruto’s positive attitude, it’s just so damn contagious.

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Boku No Hero Academia

If you are looking into anime with a small amount of episodes just to start you off, then Boku No Hero Academia is the show is perfect for you. Set in a world where superpowers and genetic mutations, called quirks, are common place in society.

In this world, becoming a superhero is an actual career that someone who has a quirk can pursue. The series follows a kid name Izuku Midoriya who has a fierce resolve to become a hero and inspire people but has his dreams shattered when he is told he will never inherit a quirk.

While his classmates are gaining their own quirks he is left isolated from the rest of the world and most importantly his idol, All might, one of the most powerful heroes of their generation. Until a fateful encounter changes everything for Izuku.

This show has an amazing plot with characters that have their individual story lines that are just as interesting. The soundtrack also shines throughout, providing the perfect backdrop for the series.

Boku No Hero Academia has only had a season but has the potential to be so much more and we can wait to see what it has instore for us next season.

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One Piece

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGKjyePHX6U

If you have have resolve to watch 700+ episodes, then One Piece is definitely for you. The show centers around Luffy, a small child who lives in a nautical world dominated by the navy and pirates. He is completely possessed by one dream, to become the greatest pirate of all time, the Pirate King.

Through his unwavering will and fighting ability Luffy is able to assemble a crew (which is more like a family) together together. Each member of the team has their own individual dream but they have come together to make sure that Luffy will achieve his dream of becoming the Pirate King.

This show has been slowly gaining popularity over the years and has a very passionate fanbase that has allowed them to have such a long run over the past couple of years.

It currently has one of the top viewerships in Japan right now and it is catching on in the United States.

A series of movies and video games have been released been released and have been received well by both audiences in both countries.

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Fairy Tail

If you are looking for anime with constant action will that has comedic side stories Fairy Tail is the perfect story for you.

Fairy Tail takes place in world where magic is commonplace and people that can master magic are known as wizards and they band together to form guilds. These guilds provide jobs for wizards the pay for different amounts depending on the difficulty.

The series is centered around a girl, Lucy Heartifilia and how she is trying to join a legendary guild called Fairy Tail. She ends up running into a wizard from the guild, but he turns out be a fraud.

A member of Fairy Tail ends up showing up and rocks him for disrespecting Fairy Tail’s name and ends up destroying half of the city in process.

She finally joins Fairy Tail and meets even crazier and more powerful wizards and the adventures they go are jam-packed with comedy and action.

You can tell a lot about someone by just their kicks nowadays, your sneakers are a representation of who you are.

That’s what I love about fashion and the sneaker world, there’s so much variety that you can choose to be original or follow a trend.

Maybe you don’t like the colors on some sneaker, you can just buy a white pair and make custom jawns yourself.

It only gets better when you see your favorite brands coming together and making something that brings out the best qualities of each other.

New Balance is doing that now for all you anime lovers.

NB and Evangelion have come together to drop a special collection that will only release in China and Japan (no news on whether it will see an international release yet).

Using its Fresh Foam Cruz model the shoe is nice in its own right but the execution was not really there.

The colors stray a bit too far from the anime without any actual anime imagery, there’s just a lace lock that says Evangelion.

These kicks come in a dope white zip-up bag that serves as the packaging so I’ll give them points there. The purple one is fire for sure but If you still aren’t sure if your gonna cop here’s some more angles.

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I can’t be all that mad at NB because they are helping to push anime into the sneaker world.

These are just stepping stones into seeing how well other anime sneakers could do on the mainstream market.

If these do well the future of sneaker crossovers could look real good.

Death Note has always been something I would notice from time to time that looked really aesthetically interesting. The big demon with pins on its back looked cool as hell and from what I loosely gathered together, the idea of the Death Note was gangsta.

There was every reason for me to watch the show but one thing always stopped me, my dislike of anime.

Shit sounds blasphemous (especially on the internet) to say that anime in general is just a dub but honestly aside from Dragon Ball Z I’ve never been able to get into the genre.

When Netflix announced that they’d be making an adaptation of Death Note I was immediately excited. I personally can’t do anime because of how long the shows run, but a 90 minute movie I can do.

When the movie was finally released on August 25th I sat down to watch Death Note for the first time ever.

Death Note, directed by Adam Wingard, is about an emotional high school teen named Light who is magically granted a book called the Death Note.

The Death Note comes paired with a death God named Ryuk who explains that with just a name and a face Light can write anyone’s name in the Death Note and cause their death.

Light decides to first kill his high school bully and then goes after a bunch of evil people doing evil things.

Throughout the movie Light goes through some teenage drama with other high schoolers concerning the Death Note all while playing cat and mouse with a wacky and genius detective named L.

This being the only medium I’ve ever seen the story of Death Note I thought the movie was pretty okay. It didn’t amaze me but I don’t think it’s as bad as the internet is making it out to be.

https://twitter.com/CrankThatFrank/status/905170719176359939

The general plot of the movie was fun to see and Willem Dafoe as Ryuk was exciting every time he was on screen. Not going in with high expectations and more as an outside observer, I think the movie did everything it wanted to do.

Being adapted not only to a new medium but to an entire audience, you’re guaranteed to lose some things in translation.

Death Note as an anime is 37 episodes long and centered in a Japanese market, the movie is condensed to just 90 minutes and was made to target the general American audience.

In America we like seeing shit explode and people getting fucked up, it’s a sad truth but generally our market gravitates more to huge aesthetics rather than deep plot. The death scenes were cool as fuck and the cast wasn’t too bad either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOArGRyXYeI

The characters were all really animated almost in a Scott Pilgrim vs. the World way but worse.

Overall I sincerely believe this movie was made exactly how it was meant to be made. Director Adam Wingard managed to set a great tone for the movie and sharpened it up with beautiful shots and stunning visuals.

The story never seemed rushed and I had fun watching it unfold. Sure it’s not as deep as a 37-episode anime but that’s what we have the anime for, this film adaptation stands firmly on its own, and at the very least it’s a pretty entertaining movie.

Watch Death Note now streaming on Netflix.

On Tuesday, Ezra Koenig sent out a cryptic series of tweets that seem to reveal an anime collaboration with Jaden Smith and the Bodega Boys.

Koenig, lead singer of Vampire Weekend, tweeted:

“NEO YOKIO IS THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD. [Thanks] to Studio Deen, Production IG, Jaden Smith, Kazuhiro Furuhashi & many more.”

things are bubbling in the sea beneath 14th street pic.twitter.com/wIHzsnJt5c

— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) June 11, 2015

Koenig made his tweet a response from a 2015 post of Koenig with Jaden Smith with the caption “things are bubbling in the sea beneath 14th street.”

NEO YOKIO IS THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD. 🙏 to Studio Deen, Production IG, Jaden Smith, Kazuhiro Furuhashi & many more pic.twitter.com/dI88h7ZhPa

— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) September 5, 2017

Then as response to an inquisitor, Koenig posted a brief clip of the upcoming series with the unmistakable voice of none other than The Kid Mero of Viceland’s Desus & Mero and the iconic Bodega Boys podcast.

pic.twitter.com/QRD7aqOQeC

— Ezra Koenig (@arzE) September 5, 2017

So, what’s going on here?

Koenig and Smith’s social media accounts both link to an Instagram page @neoyokio, and a look through the rather nondescript pictures there reveal that whatever this is is coming to Netflix September 22nd.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYoro6sBTXf/

So Neo Yokio seems to be super lit.

A collaboration between Ezra Koenig, Desus and Mero, and Jaden Smith is bound to be incredibly dope.

Assuming this isn’t some sort of elaborate joke, Neo Yokio is an assembly of some of the great talents of our time.

But honestly, as cool as it is to have world superstars and celebrity figures like Jaden Smith and Ezra Koenig collaborating on this, the real story here is Desus and Mero getting even more shine.

SHOWER ME IN UR YAKUBIAN TEARS THEY GIVE ME SSSTTRREEENNGGTTHHHH RRRAAASHHHHH *BREATHES FIRE DESTROYING ANTHROPOLGIE* https://t.co/dwp0FNiQxh

— THE KID MERO 🇩🇴 (@THEKIDMERO) September 6, 2017

THE BRAND IS TOO STRONG!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtxS6Mg3Qh/?taken-by=desusnice

For all the members of the #BodegaHive that have been fucking with the art since back in the day, to see Desus and Mero out here doing Netflix shows with Jaden Smith and Ezra Koenig… it’s beautiful.

The actual details of Neo Yokio are still pretty unclear, but keep it locked for updates and wait for the reveal, whatever that may be, on September 22.

For all the anime lovers out there, this one’s for you.

Don’t get me wrong, I was actually rooting for Netflix’s film Death Note to do some type of justice to the anime genre. Even after finding out that the setting would take place in Seattle instead of its original setting in Japan, I still had some type of hope.

Even after talks about the film being whitewashed, I still expected it to be somewhat watchable. Huge mistake.

The manga Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, tells a story about a high school student named Light Yagami who finds a notebook lying on the floor.

The note, called the Death Note, has the ability to kill anyone simply by having a name written down. As the self-righteous person that he is, Light decides to take action and rids the world of evil by murdering those who deserve punishment.

However, it’s not long before the police catch on and soon the world’s best detective, who goes by the name L, decides to also pursue the case. Basically, the story is a cat and mouse game and though you know that the real antagonist is Light, you can’t help but to root for him while he tries to uncover L’s identity and erase him from existence.

Though the original series had a few complicated storylines at times, the content was all there. There was a script to be followed and all one needed to do was pick up the mangas and just go off on that. In 2006, a live action film was brought to life and premiered in Japan, along with a second part and a few other spin-offs.

Though it was not big here in the States, it did fairly well back home and it also did well in following the story arc. Netflix had all the necessary tools to make something truly unique but instead we got this.

Directed by Adam Wingard and starring Nat Wolff, Lakeith Stanfield, and Margaret Qualley, the film begins with Light Turner, a high school student encountering a book called the Death Note. So far, so good.

He is visited by the owner of the book, a shinigami (god of Death) named Ryuk. And that’s where everything just goes to sh*t. What made this movie especially hard to watch was that they made it seem to be a teenage love drama with a little murder thrown on the side… not what true anime fans wanted.

These laughable and unassuming characters make this film less interesting to watch, especially for those avid fans who know about their origins.

The plot sort of followed the manga but with the many twists and turns, it was just all over the place and hard to keep up.

Not even what seemed to be the saving grace, the casting of Willem Dafoe as Ryuk, couldn’t help this disaster of an adaptation. IGN’s review states,

“This is not a one-to-one adaptation of the manga, and the movie only offers partial closure for the story, perhaps leaving the door open for a potential sequel.

“What’s frustrating is that with better lead performers and a tighter script, Wingard could have made a great adaptation. Instead it settles when it should have soared.”

Over at Rotten Tomatoes, they gave the film a 42% rating, stating, “Death Note benefits from director Adam Wingard’s distinctive eye and a talented cast, but they aren’t enough to overcome a fatally overcrowded canvas.”

We remember the sh*tshow we got a long while back when the brilliant folks at 20th Century Fox decided to turn Dragon Ball into a live-action adaptation and how incredibly bad it turned out to be.

Not that long ago the release of Ghost in the Shell, starring Scarlett Johansson, saw a lot of bad reception due to flawed casting and steering away from the source material.

It’s not that we don’t like our favorite animes to be turned into live action movies but it requires a lot of focus and a ton of research to get things right.

Hopefully, I don’t get my name written down on any Death Notes out there for this article.