20 best anime series on Netflix to watch right now
Interested in anime? Then Netflix is the perfect place to dive in, boasting a massive library of terrific titles. The sheer quantity of these offerings can be daunting when looking for something to start watching, but have no fear! We’ve put together a list of the best anime currently on Netflix in order to satisfy any and all of your streaming desires.
The following anime selections cover several different genres. Some are classics; some are newer; all are bound to get you hooked. Featuring everything from pirates to bounty hunters, karaoke lovers to demons, here are the 20 best anime series on Netflix streaming now.
1. Aggretsuko
Aggretsuko is a down-to-earth anime that primarily takes place in an office and follows the life of Retsuko, an unassuming twentysomething red panda, who has to deal with a shitty boss, navigate relationships with coworkers, and let off steam by growling to death metal songs at karaoke bars. It’s an adorable, lighthearted little series.* — Kellen Beck, Science Reporter
How to watch: Aggretsuko is now streaming on Netflix.
2. Death Note
Death Note is a pretty intense show that revolves around a demonic book that can be used for murder by entering a person’s name in it, visualizing them in your head when you do it, and writing how they die. The book falls in the hands of teenager Light Yagami, who begins using it for what he perceives as the greater good, utilizing the complicated rules that come along with the book to avoid being found out by investigators and fellow genius L. It’s hard not to binge right through it.* — K.B.
How to watch: Death Note is now streaming on Netflix.
3. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
When Tanjiro Kamado’s family is killed and his little sister Nezuko turns into a demon, he sets off on a quest to become a demon slayer in the Demon Slayer Corps. As he strives for vengeance and seeks to cure his sister, he meets other demon slayers and encounters sinister forces. Demon Slayer is immediately engrossing, helped along by compelling leads and an atmospheric setting. To top it all off, the fight scenes are incredible, with top-notch animation and fight choreography. — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter
How to watch: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is now streaming on Netflix.
4. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
A remixed anime version of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s beloved graphic novels that brings back the actors from Edgar Wright’s 2010 live-action adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. the World to voice a totally different series of adventures for Scott, Knives, and Ramona with her league of evil exes? Heck yes, please.
The first episode of the eight episode series — co-run and co-written with O’Malley’s Are You Afraid of the Dark? partner BenDavid Grabinski — follows closely in the movie’s footsteps. Dopey ne’er-do-well Scott Pilgrim falls for dream delivery girl Ramona Flowers, only to find out he must fight her seven former partners to the death in order to win her heart. But by that first episode’s surprising end, you’ll see that this series has a very different story to tell.
With the superstar bunch of Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Mae Whitman, Jason Schwartzman, Kieran Culkin, Alison Pill, and Ellen Wong all back on hand, this whole thing lands like a dream. If only every “reenvisioning” of popular I.P. could be this creative. — Jason Adams, Entertainment Reporter
How to watch: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is now streaming on Netflix.
5. Castlevania
Video game adaptations are notoriously hard to get right, but Castlevania more than sticks the landing. Darkly atmospheric and full of rich lore, Castlevania tells the story of Trevor Belmont, a monster hunter from the disgraced Belmont family. He and his companions, Sypha and Alucard, seek to protect the land of Wallachia from Dracula and his horde of demons. Get ready for dazzling magic, horrifying monsters, and high-intensity fights. Best of all, you don’t need any prior knowledge of the Castlevania games to enjoy the anime — you’ll get sucked in right away. — B.E.
How to watch: Castlevania is now streaming on Netflix.
6. Hunter x Hunter (2011)
Gon Freecss is a young boy who dreams of becoming a legendary Hunter like his father, who left him in order to pursue his career. Gon undertakes the strenuous Hunter Exam alongside other strong candidates, like Kurapika, Leorio, and Killua. Every stage of the test contains exciting puzzles and trials, as well as a cast of vibrant supporting characters. This series is so much fun. Everything from Hunter x Hunter‘s vibrant characters to its exciting monster encounters combines to create a massively entertaining adventure. — B.E.
How to watch: Hunter x Hunter is now streaming on Netflix.
7. Pluto
The character of “Astro Boy,” whose history stretches back into the 1950s, is iconic enough to be familiar to people who’ve never read a manga in their lives. He’s basically the Mickey Mouse of manga. So when legendary artist Naoki Urasawa teamed up with the grandson of Astro Boy’s creator to craft an updated story for the character in the aughts, it was kind of a big deal. So big a deal, it took another decade and a half for them to translate that manga, which was titled Pluto, into an anime series.
The futuristic world of Pluto is one of happy coexistence between humans and robots — until a serial killer comes along and starts murdering the world’s top robots one by one, that is. As we tag along with a robot detective named Gesicht, we meet the next victim-to-be on the killer’s list: a boy robot named Atom, who’s incredibly powerful but in danger all the same. What follows from there in Pluto‘s eight hour-long episodes is one of the great reworkings of an iconic character, told with true emotional depth and no shortage of astonishing visuals. — J.A.
How to watch: Pluto is now streaming on Netflix.
8. Neon Genesis Evangelion
One of the greatest and most influential anime series of all time, Neon Genesis Evangelion is wildly ambitious, emotionally complex, and beautifully animated. In the future, the city of Tokyo-3 is under attack from monstrous Angels. Humanity’s last defense are giant mechas known as Evangelions, or Evas. When 14-year-old Shinji Ikari’s estranged father recruits him to be an Eva pilot, he finds himself at the forefront of the battle to save mankind. What follows is a series of incredible fights between Angels and Evas, as well as an in-depth exploration of trauma. — B.E.
How to watch: Neon Genesis Evangelion is now streaming on Netflix.
9. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is an off-the-wall series full of ridiculous characters, beefy dudes, wild plotlines, and bright colors. The series follows various members of the Joestar family as they go on their individual, supernatural journeys, make friends, and ultimately defeat over-the-top villains. It’s really weird and a great way to just completely disconnect from reality.* — K.B.
How to watch: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is now streaming on Netflix.
10. Jujutsu Kaisen
Based on Gege Akutami’s manga, one of the best-selling series of all time, Jujutsu Kaisen (which counts among its fans Bruno Mars and Megan Thee Stallion) is set in a world where people’s unrestrained emotions can externalize and turn into Curses. Think David Cronenberg’s film The Brood, only instead of deformed rage babies who wear snowsuits and kill people, these curses are spiritual beings, a la ghosts and demons, called Noroi, which translates straight to “Curses.” The curses will attach themselves to people and do what curses do — fuck shit up. To battle these Curses, there are Sorcerers — people who, unlike most humans, can channel their “Curse Energy” to fight the monsters.
The lead character is a high school kid and sorcerer-in-training named Yuji Itadori, who becomes host to one of the scariest curses around by, uhh, eating a cursed finger. (If you ask me, Yuji had it coming. Who eats a finger?) Anyway the cursed finger belonged to Ryomen Sukuna, an ancient sorcerer known as the greatest who ever lived, who went on to become King of the Curses himself — dude never did anything halfway. Probably not the best finger to eat, if one has to eat a finger. Which one doesn’t! — J.A.
How to watch: Jujutsu Kaisen is now streaming on Netflix.
11. Violet Evergarden
Violet Evergarden has been used as a tool of war for her whole life. After the war ends, she adjusts to non-military life and works as an Auto Memory Doll, someone who composes letters for those who can’t write. Throughout all of this, she grapples with her past, including the last words her army major ever said to her. Violet Evergarden is a touching exploration of memory and human emotion centered around a compelling heroine. — B.E.
How to watch: Violet Evergarden is now streaming on Netflix.
12. Yasuke
LeSean Thomas’ miniseries follows the life and legend of its title character, a Black samurai who served daimyō Oda Nobunaga. Years after Nobunaga’s death, Yasuke lives as Yassan, a boatsman who shuttles villagers along the water and speaks little of his past. But a young girl with awesome power undoes Yassan’s quiet life and alias, thrusting him back into a world of warriors, magic and more. The show blends together sci-fi, fantasy, and history as only anime can, with LaKeith Stanfield at the mic bringing Yasuke sublimely to life. — Proma Khosla, Entertainment Reporter
How to watch: Yasuke is now streaming on Netflix.
13. One Piece
Looking for adventure on the high seas? One Piece is the anime for you. Follow along with Monkey D. Luffy and his crew of Straw Hat Pirates as they search for the One Piece — the great treasure found by the last Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. One Piece is literal boatloads of fun, with zany characters and storylines. Netflix does not have the entire series (which is very, very long and still ongoing) in its library, but it does have the East Blue and Alabasta story arcs, which serve as great introductions to this classic anime. — B.E.
How to watch: One Piece is now streaming on Netflix.
14. Monster
Based on the massively successful and award-winning manga from artist Naoki Urusawa (yup, the same dude behind Pluto), Monster is widely considered a masterpiece. It tells the story of a genius surgeon named Dr. Kenzo Tenma who makes the mistake of saving a child’s life.
Not something that’s usually a mistake, right? Well, this show is basically an inverse of that old moral quandary, “Would you go back in time to kill baby Hitler?” Because the kid that the good doc saves grows up to be a world-class sociopath named Johan. (And yes, Johan is German and blond, and eugenics is an explicit part of the plot. So the Hitler reference isn’t out of nowhere.)
The series follows Doc Kenzo for a full 74 episodes of hunting down Johan via the madman’s ever-widening trail of destruction — 74 half-hour episodes that originally aired between 2004 and 2005, an extraordinary output that makes every other series on television seem awfully lazy. But this doesn’t make the series doesn’t feel rushed. It feels propulsive and desperate and all-consuming. — J.A.
How to watch: Monster is now streaming on Netflix.
15. Eden
A sweet fable about two maintenance robots in a humanless future who accidentally wake a human child named Sara Grace out of stasis. (Turns out there are humans, but they’re all crated up for the time being.) And since their robot overlords don’t look kindly upon humans (indeed, they’re considering letting all of sleeping humanity go extinct), the two robots take the little girl out into the countryside to raise her safely.
Eden is just four 25-minute episodes long, following Sarah Grace to her teen years, where she begins to explore and uncover her place in the world — not just her own, but all of humanity’s. As teenagers are prone to do. Still, Sarah Grace’s is a special case, you could say, and Eden probes at it with lovely (and gorgeously animated) curiosity. — J.A.
How to watch: Eden is now streaming on Netflix.
16. 7SEEDS
Similar to Eden, 7SEEDS is also about human beings being awoken from suspended animation into a distant future that’s nothing like the one they came from. But this is the not-so-friendly version. In the before times, a meteorite is headed straight for Earth, so a group of Japanese scientists cryogenically freeze five pods of seven people (who notably aren’t told what’s happening to them beforehand). Each group is named after a season (with a Summer A and a Summer B) and scattered out to different areas of Japan. A computer is set to wake them up when it measures the world fit for human life again.
When that fateful moment does arrive, our survivors (including a shy girl named Natsu who is basically our main character) stumble out into a world that has changed greatly. Not just the landscape, which has been altered drastically by climate change, but the lifeforms that survived the meteorite evolved and mutated in all kinds of terrifying ways. There are giant lizards reminiscent of velociraptors, swarms of carnivorous white cockroaches, and beetles the size of boats among the many horrors our humans encounter. Basically it’s Land of the Lost but way yuckier. If evolutionary biology is your jam, this one kicks! — J.A.
How to watch: 7SEEDS is now streaming on Netflix.
17. High-Rise Invasion
Grindhouse trash to be sure, but grindhouse trash that is great fun and super ridiculous, High-Rise Invasion is about a schoolgirl named Yuri Honjo who finds herself suddenly transported into a surreal world of mile-high rooftops connected by rope bridges where she’s hunted by masked killers. Vacillating wildly between helplessness and being a savage gun-toting maniac, Yuri’s character makes very little sense. But she eventually gets a girlfriend named Mayuko and the series becomes about two lesbians graphically murdering pervy dudes, and I can find no wrong with that. Oh, and it’s also about this death game that they’ve been forced into playing about the creation of God? It’s way weird, y’all. — J.A.
How to watch: High-Rise Invasion is now streaming on Netflix.
18. Mononoke
With a stunningly singular animation style that looks like classical Edo-era art filtered through Aeon Flux, Mononoke tells the tale of a nameless medicine man who every episode hunts down and fights a different “mononoke” — unnatural spirits that attach themselves to and feed off of bad vibes, basically. Our main character rolls into town, figures out what the baddie is, and how to fight them. It’s a standalone series; think Murder She Wrote with monsters.
As a spin-off of the previous series, Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales, Mononoke and its many demons often make for a very scary show, with the true strangeness of the animation only making its mood feel even more surreal. And the 12 episodes produced way back in 2007 have remained so popular that 15 years on, the series is getting a new movie called Mononoke: Karakasa . — J.A.
How to watch: Mononoke is now streaming on Netflix.
19. Onimusha
Onimusha is a series about a ronin named Miyamoto Musashi fighting a zombie plague during the historical Edo period (which ran from the 1600s to the 1800s). Miyamoto is based on Japan’s most legendary movie star, Toshiro Mifune (of Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, etc.), which means that Miyamoto is hella hot. You know. For an animated character. Anyway, that’s reason enough right there to watch. It’s why I have watched every season of Archer!
In all seriousness, the show, which is based on the old 2001 Capcom video game of the same name, blends 2D animation with computer graphics in a spectacular fashion, making the many fights truly something wondrous to behold. And it’s got a surprising amount of heart, as our sexy hero wields a weapon called the Oni Gauntlet, which eats some of his soul every time he uses it. He’s basically destroying himself to save the world. And he’s doing it while looking like Toshiro Mifune! What’s not to love? — J.A.
How to watch: Onimusha is now streaming on Netflix.
20. Akuma Kun
If you dug the vibe of the 2010 Sherlock series with Benedict Cumberbatch, then Akuma Kun might just be the anime for you. It’s about a boy genius named Akuma Kun and his sidekick, a half-demon named Mephisto, solving paranormal mysteries. Akuma Kun has no social skills and seems very much on the spectrum in the way he sorts out the world, while Mephisto is the friendlier, funnier Martin Freeman type of the pair.
Far less interested in big battle sequences than most anime tends to be, this series is more concerned with wading through philosophical puzzles. Akuma Kun and Mephisto spend a lot time wittily debating their at-odds instincts as they solve each episode’s riddle. And that, along with the fine hand-drawn animation, really makes this series (which is technically a sequel to a 1989 series of the same name) stand out from the pack. — J.A.
How to watch: Akuma Kun is now streaming on Netflix.
Asterisks (*) indicate the entry is slightly modified from a previous Mashable list.
UPDATE: Jul. 3, 2024, 3:24 p.m. EDT This article was originally published on Feb. 18, 2022. It has been updated to reflect the current streaming options on Netflix.
