It was difficult to choose this list of the finest anime, but our team of specialists eventually came up with the top titles. We considered numerous factors before selecting: Did anime create a lasting impression on the culture? Did they have an impact on the industry and genre? And, of course, did we simply like them?
Best Anime Series of All Time
1. Death Note (2006–2007)
An intelligent high school student goes on a secret crusade to eliminate criminals from the world after discovering a notebook capable of killing anyone whose name is written into it.
2. Paranoia Agent (2004)
Seemingly unconnected citizens of Tokyo are targeted for bludgeoning by a boy with a golden baseball bat. As detectives try to link the victims, they discover that following the assaults, the victims’ lives have improved in some way.
3. Berserk (1997–1998)
Guts is a skilled swordsman who joins forces with a mercenary group named ‘The Band of the Hawk’, lead by the charismatic Griffith, and fights with them as they battle their way into the royal court.
4. Elfen Lied (2004)
Two university students come across a seemingly harmless girl named Lucy, unaware that she’s actually a mutant serial killer with a split personality.
5. Planetes (2003–2004)
Ai Tanabe joins the Debris Section of the Technora Corporation as they work to remove the debris left around Earth. As Ai tries to accommodate to space life, she learns more about her crew on the dilapidated ‘Toy Box’.
6. Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls (2005)
The year is 1614 AD. Two warring ninja clans, each supporting a son of Hidetada Tokugawa as the next shogun, send ten representatives each to fight to the death for the possession Tokugawa government for the winning clan for the next thousand years.
7. Afro Samurai (2007)
A Black samurai goes on a mission to avenge the wrongful death of his father in a futuristic feudal Japan.
