Like video games, anime has evolved significantly since its early black and white days. Also, it’s easier to find and watch anime than ever before thanks to streaming platforms. There have been significant hits over the years, such as My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan, which have drawn more people into the medium.
8 Must-Watch Anime, Ranked
Anime beginners and veterans will appreciate the history of these selections.
They’re influential in a way, but not as groundbreaking as the following anime. These helped establish the medium, genres, and became long-standing franchises that are either big in Japan or globally. These aren’t necessarily THE best anime, but they did help shape the industry. These anime were all released before 2000 and travel as far back as the 1960s.
Akira
A Cyberpunk Thriller
Akira is a film and not a series, but it’s still one of the most influential anime of all time. The iconic bike slide has been featured in other anime and movies, and even Western shows like South Park creatively used Akira’s ending to create an episode.
The animation was groundbreaking in the 80s and still holds up thanks to the labor of love that is put on screen. Without it, anime films may not have become what they are today, as everyone has been chasing Akira since it debuted in 1988.
Akira
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- July 16, 1988
- Runtime
- 124 Minutes
- Director
- Katsuhiro Otomo
Ashita No Joe
Paving The Way For Sports Anime
Ashita no Joe was not the first sports anime, but it was certainly the one that got a lot of attention. It began in 1970 as an adaptation of the manga, which featured a down-on-his-luck vagrant, Joe, who winds up meeting a disgraced boxing coach.
The anime is an inspiring journey that easily became the basis for other high-profile sports anime. It may even be safe to say that it could have even inspired boxing movies in the West, like Rocky.
Ashita no Joe
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- April 1, 1970
- Directors
- Osamu Dezaki, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Masami Hata, Hiroshi Saitou
- Creator(s)
- Asao Takamori, Tetsuya Chiba
Astro Boy
How It All Started
Astro Boy, or Mighty Atom in Japan, among other names, is the anime that started it all. The creator of the anime and manga, Osamu Tezuka, is a legend, often thought of as the father of anime. The anime started in 1963, was in full black and white, and had almost two hundred episodes.
Color versions were played after this, along with many reboots, sequels, and spin-offs. It’s not an anime that is widely available and known today on streaming platforms, but its influence cannot even begin to be described. It even inspired video games, such as Mega Man, the character, who is basically a copy of Atom, as they are both super-powered robot boys made in a lab to fight evil robots.
Astro Boy
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 1963 - 1965-00-00
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Directors
- Osamu Tezuka, Fred Ladd
Cowboy Bebop
How The West Was Won
Cowboy Bebop wasn’t a phenomenal hit in Japan when it began airing in 1997, but it was well appreciated in North America when Adult Swim launched in 2001. Japan was used to mature storylines with adult characters, heists, and space adventures by 1997, but the West was not.
Because of its popularity overseas, Cowboy Bebop became bigger and bigger globally, like the cool older brother that everyone wanted to be like. It didn’t start a giant franchise, but it has created everlasting memories in the anime community as something that has stayed golden.
Cowboy Bebop
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 1998 - 1999
- Network
- TV Tokyo, WOWOW Prime
- Showrunner
- Shinichirô Watanabe
Doraemon
Kids Can Like Anime Too
Doraemon got a short adaptation in 1973 before ending, but someone up high believed in the idea, and it was revived for another anime attempt in 1979. This reboot series found an unfathomable success as it gained almost 2,000 episodes during its run.
Doraemon is a robot cat from the future who goes back in time and befriends a young boy. It’s a kid-friendly anime that influenced the idea of something foreign invading a peaceful household in Japan, and then wacky antics ensue. While not huge in North America despite attempts, Doraemon, as a character, is a classic icon in Japan, with a huge following.
Doraemon
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 1979 - 2005
Dragon Ball Z
A Mystical Adventure
Dragon Ball was where Goku’s journey began as an anime in 1986, which was another adventure series with some fighting in it. While beloved in Japan, it wouldn’t hit its peak until Dragon Ball Z, a sequel series, began airing in 1989 in Japan.
It got a huge boost on Toonami in 1998, which quickly became the anime everyone had to watch thanks to its epic fight structure. Shonen anime/manga like Naruto, Bleach, or One Piece would not exist without Akira Toriyama and his overall Dragon Ball series.
Dragon Ball Z
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 1989 - 1996
- Network
- Fuji TV
Lupin The 3rd Part 1
Comedy Cons
Lupin the 3rd Part 1 is where anime like Cowboy Bebop were drawn from. The titular Lupin was a descendant of the great thief, Arsene Lupin, and the first round of the anime began in 1971, but Lupin the 3rd Part 2 is where things were better established for the character.
It has been fun to see how Lupin and his crew have evolved over the decades with various anime adaptations that prove just how iconic a character he is. Lupin is charming, talented, and a womanizing goofball all thrown into one package, which became the model for cool guys in anime.
Lupin the 3rd Part 1
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 1971 - 1974-00-00
- Directors
- Masaaki Ōsumi, Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata
- Writers
- Tadaaki Yamazaki, Atsushi Yamatoya, Kiyoshi Miyata, Tōru Sawaki, Seiji Matsuoka, Kazuichi Tsurumi, Mon Shichijō, Shunichirō Koyama, Tatsuo Tamura
Mobile Suit Gundam
Beyond Good And Evil
Mobile Suit Gundam, or Gundam 0079, followed closely after Star Wars hit theaters in 1977, later renamed Star Wars: Episode 4 – A New Hope), and both were epic space operas. How this anime differed was that it showed the good and bad about both warring factions, plus Mobile Suit Gundam had mechs.
This first Gundam series began in 1979, not based on a manga at all, although it did eventually receive tie-in manga along with numerous other adaptations from sequel and prequel series to movies. The Gundam franchise is the longest-running mech anime of all time, and without it, mech content may not be as prevalent as it currently is.
Mobile Suit Gundam
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 1979 - 1980
- Network
- Nagoya TV
- Directors
- Yoshiyuki Tomino, Ryoji Fujiwara, Shinya Sadamitsu
Pokemon
Set Up Monster Collecting And Video Game Adaptations
The Pokemon anime was released in 1997, a year after the games in Japan, and both the anime and games would hit North America in 1998 as a one-two punch. There had been anime tie-ins to games before, like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, but they were shorter OVA-style adaptations that didn’t really create a long-running franchise.
The Pokemon anime became the blueprint for how companies could market their game while also having an original story that would go on for many seasons and spinoffs, and its outreach is immeasurable.
Pokémon
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 1997 - 2023
- Network
- TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC
Sailor Moon
Not Just For Girls
There was anime aimed at females before Sailor Moon, but this is the one that broke through the mold and even gained male fans outside of Japan. Part of that can be thanked to Toonami, which began airing next to anime that was aimed at males in 1998, after Sailor Moon debuted in Japan in 1992.
Sailor Moon is an icon of magical girl anime that ran for a few seasons, got movies, merchandise, and even a reboot series to keep her relevant throughout the decades.
Sailor Moon
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 1992 - 1997
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 5
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Creator
- Naoko Takeuchi
- Number of Episodes
- 200
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