Anime viewers have never lived in a more excellent age in terms of breadth of access to their favorite shows. While it can be frustrating at times to judge which streaming service one should flock to, whether it’s specialist services like Crunchyroll or HIDIVE, or something more generalist, some mainstay options stay consistently reliable. Netflix is one such case.
Netflix is home to plenty of excellent anime, with much of its most potent evergreen content still being legacy hits like Naruto. It even has exclusive anime that dominates viewership charts globally. Netflix’s most acclaimed anime offerings are surprisingly diverse in genre, with the right flavor for any incoming user seeking a series they can’t find anywhere else.
Dorohedoro
The backdrop of this Netflix anime is a post-apocalyptic setting in which its protagonist, Caiman, has had lost his memories, and had his head turned into that of a reptile by a sorcerer. Caiman’s quest brings him on a quest to track down the sorcerer responsible for this predicament, with the story only getting stranger from there.
An example of MAPPA’s versatility and bucking the trend of revilement toward CGI implemented into animation, Dorohedoro is one of Netflix’s strangest exclusive anime. Hailing from Shogakukan’s seinen magazine Monthly Ikki, Dorohedoro’s manga adaptation has been a niche hit with fans, recently even scoring a second season.
The Summer Hikaru Died
A true slow-burn horror, The Summer Hikaru Died is a mesmerizing dive into various coming-of-age themes including identity, loss, and being true to oneself. It’s a strong proof of concept for CyGamesPicture’s visual prowess alongside other hits like Umamusume Cinderella Gray, and a positive sign should they adapt Kagurabachi.
The Summer Hikaru Died follows Yoshiki Tsujinaka’s friendship with Hikaru Indo, as the latter has a fatal accident. However, just as he dies, an otherworldly creature claims his body, with Yoshiki gradually acknowledging and coming to terms with it as he learns about it. It’s truly exceptional psychological horror, relying on dread and uncanny vibes to create a mesmerizing experience.
My Happy Marriage
A stellar example of the appeal of a strong shojo anime adaptation given space to thrive, My Happy Marriage has had two seasons under its belt with signs of more on its way. It’s an excellent series, blending healing romantic tropes with a gradually engrossing fantasy narrative. The Kinema Citrus anime adaptation has not disappointed yet.
My Happy Marriage follows Miyo Saimori, a woman born seemingly without magical talents and sent to marry a man with a reputation for cruelty, dashing her hopes of escaping an abusive home. However, to her surprise, her fiance, Kiyoka Kudou, is far more considerate than she ever expected. It’s a fantasy romance, with its secrets slowly surfacing from there.
Devilman Crybaby
An earlier outing from the Dandadan studio Science SARU, Devilman Crybaby is a wild reimagining of Go Nagai’s classic manga. The series follows Akira Fudo as his upbringing alongside Ryo Asuka as they encounter the depths of human depravity, the demons that consume them, and their respective answers to it.
Devilman Crybaby is a parade of excess, from enormously mature displays of sexuality to copious, gratuitous violence. It’s also gorgeous, emotionally resonant, and dangerously prescient when it comes to humanity’s consistent tendency toward mob mentality, ostracization, and cruelty. Its finale will ultimately leave the viewer stunned, devastated, and craving more of Netflix’s exclusive anime offerings.
Violet Evergarden
An example of essential viewing for any anime fan, Violet Evergarden is an excellent, visually-striking steampunk anime from the virtuoso talent at Kyoto Animation. Featuring music from Evan Call, the future composer of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, this anime predictably channels similar levels of emotional resonance to the point of becoming famous for it.
Violet Evergarden follows the eponymous protagonist, whose previous trauma as a child soldier and personal losses at war leave her in a state of emotional disrepair. She soon takes on work as an Auto Memory Doll, where the true gut-punches begin, as Violet becomes a conduit to transcribe raw emotion to letters. It’s appropriately one of the saddest anime ever.
Delicious in Dungeon
An example of Studio Trigger’s versatility, Delicious in Dungeon, affectionately known by fans for its Japanese title, Dungeon Meshi, follows a party of adventurers as they initially seek out the Golden Country at the bottom of a vast dungeon. Things go awry quickly, with their tallman mage, Falin, being eaten by a Red Dragon.
The party doesn’t give up on rescuing her despite the dire situation, and in doing so, they encounter Senshi, whose ingenuity spurs their survival and injects fun into their dungeon-crawling. Instead of merely braving the dungeon’s hazards, the anime is wildly creative with its culinary twists on monster-themed dishes. It’s also one of Netflix’s hottest exclusive series, period.
Blue Box
A truly wonderful gem of an anime, Blue Box is present-day proof that Shonen Jump was never merely spiky haired protagonists and sullen stock rivals. With the magazine pumping out legacy hits like I”s and Strawberry 100%, Blue Box is the purest slow-burn romance the magazine has put out in a long time, with a great supporting cast.
Taiki Inomata is utterly in love with Chinatsu Kano, and to his surprise, his family winds up taking her in to live with them. The bond they develop can only be described as Blue Box’s exemplary rendition of young love beginning to blossom. Their sports-themed courtship brings the romance into the intense world of high school athletics.
Monster
Madhouse’s gripping rendition of Naoki Urasawa’s psychological thriller explores themes of morality and human life in more grounded ways than typical anime. Monster follows Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a neurosurgeon who chooses between operating on a young gunshot victim or the mayor, to save their lives. Tenma made his choice, and would pay the price over the coming years.
Tenma made the right choice, but fell from public grace for not treating the high-profile patient. What’s worse is, the child he saved, Johan Liebert, would grow up to be a sociopathic, heinously evil murderer. The series is a beloved gem among seinen and mystery fans, and its upcoming Blu-ray remaster is naturally a big deal.
Pluto
Based on another work by Urasawa as well as Takashi Nagasaki, Pluto is a stellar example of Netflix’s anime offerings skewing on the more mature side. Taking place in the Astro Boy universe, Pluto is another strong example of how modern treatments of Osamu Tezuka can look familiar, yet remain wildly dark at their cores.
Pluto is a sci-fi murder mystery, following robot detective Gesicht as he gets to the bottom of a series of human and robot killings. Its world feels alive, fleshing out one of Astro Boy’s best arcs while injecting classic sci-fi elements like Asimov concepts of robot laws into its narrative. It’s also an utterly unique spin native to Netflix’s library.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Studio Trigger’s take on the seminal hit hardly needs much of an introduction. Its 2022 debut took Netflix and the anime world by storm. Any news of it brings fans running in droves. Its sequel confirmation at Anime Expo was an unexpected but not unwarranted delight, as it’s one of the best anime ever made.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners follows David Martinez and Lucy Kushinada as they navigate the dystopia that is the infamous Night City. Despite its bleak premise, the series wins over its viewers with David and Lucy’s plight, even as they know there’s no happy ending. It’s a visual treat throughout its limited run, even if it leaves viewers emotionally eviscerated by the end.
