The 25 Best Anime of All Time Ranked

One show hijacked your whole weekend, wrecked you over a cartoon, and quietly turned you into an anime fan for life. Now we are ranking all of them. Putting together the best anime of all time means somebody is about to be furious with us!

We pulled from fan scores, staying power, and pure impact to build this ranking. Some of these shows are decades old and still get talked about every single day. Others barely finished airing and already booked a spot in the hall of fame. Let’s count down the greatest anime ever made and see if your favorite made the cut.

How We Picked the Best Anime of All Time

Ranking the best anime of all time is basically asking for a fight, and we know it. We looked at fan ratings on the big sites, which shows people still rewatch years later, and cultural impact. A show that changed the whole industry gets bonus points. A show that made a million people ugly-cry gets bonus points too.

We spread the love across genres. Action epics, mind-benders, romance, slice-of-life gems. A ranking that is all shonen would be boring, and it would be wrong. The top anime on this list earned their spots for different reasons, and that mix is what makes anime so good in the first place.

This is a fan ranking. We stand by every pick. The fun part is you yelling at us about the order. Let’s get into it.

The Top 10 Anime of All Time

Here is the heavyweight tier. These are the shows that show up on almost every top 10 anime list, and for good reason. If you have not seen these, cancel your weekend right now.

The official Opening 1, “Again” by YUI, still gives fans chills.

1. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009). For more than ten years this was the number one anime on MyAnimeList, and it still might be the safest pick for the best anime of all time. Studio Bones adapted the full manga this time, so Ed and Al’s hunt to get their bodies back actually pays off with one of the tightest endings the medium has ever produced. Perfect villains, a real theme about sacrifice, and 64 episodes without a single wasted minute.

2. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (2023). The new champ, and it broke every rule to get here. Madhouse took a quiet story about an elf mage who outlived her adventuring party and turned it into the highest-rated anime on MyAnimeList, knocking Fullmetal off the throne it held for years. Season two is now number one and season one sits at number two, the first time any show has parked two seasons in the top spots at once. It is fantasy about grief, memory, and taking the time to actually know people before they are gone. Gorgeous and devastating.

3. Steins;Gate (2011). The best time-travel story anime has ever pulled off. It starts slow and weird, then flips into a gut-punch thriller where Okabe has to jump timelines to save the people he loves. Once it clicks, you cannot look away.

4. Attack on Titan (2013 to 2023). The show that dragged a whole generation back into anime. It went from man-eating giants and desperate survival to one of the boldest, most morally messy war stories ever animated. The final season had the entire internet holding its breath.

5. Hunter x Hunter (2011). Gon just wants to find his dad, and somehow that turns into the smartest power system and the scariest villains in shonen. The Chimera Ant arc alone shoves this near the top of any greatest anime ever conversation.

6. Cowboy Bebop (1998). The coolest anime ever made, full stop. Space bounty hunters, a legendary jazz soundtrack by Yoko Kanno, and a lonely ache running under all that style. It is the show that got a ton of Western fans hooked on anime in the first place.

7. Death Note (2006). A kid finds a notebook that kills anyone whose name he writes in it, then plays the deadliest game of chess ever against a detective who eats candy while crouched on the floor. Light versus L is still the gold standard for anime rivalries.

8. Gurren Lagann (2007). The most hype show on the list. It starts with two kids and a drill and ends with mechs the size of galaxies. Pure heart, pure spectacle, and it will make you want to punch a hole through the sky.

9. Code Geass (2006). An exiled prince gets a power that lets him command anyone to do anything, then leads a rebellion in a giant mech war. Lelouch is one of anime’s greatest schemers, and that ending is still perfect.

10. One Piece (1999). The best-selling manga in history, now past 600 million copies in print, and the anime is a pirate adventure that has run for over a thousand episodes while still making grown adults sob. Luffy and his crew are the beating heart of shonen. Long, yes, but the payoff is unmatched.

More of the Greatest Anime Ever Made

The next tier is stacked with legends. Any of these could crack the top 10 anime on a different day, and plenty of fans would put them there without blinking.

11. Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995). The mecha show that broke the mecha genre. Under the giant robots sits a raw study of depression and human connection that people are still writing essays about thirty years later. Nothing else feels like it.

12. Demon Slayer (2019). Ufotable turned Tanjiro’s quest to cure his demon sister into the most beautiful action animation on TV. The Mugen Train movie became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history, blowing past Spirited Away, so clearly people agree.

13. Jujutsu Kaisen (2020). MAPPA’s modern shonen monster. Cursed spirits, brutal fight choreography, and Gojo, who became one of the most beloved characters of the decade the second he showed up.

14. Vinland Saga (2019). A Viking revenge story that slowly becomes a story about leaving violence behind. Thorfinn’s arc is one of the most rewarding journeys in anime, and it is grim in all the right ways.

15. Mob Psycho 100 (2016). From the creator of One-Punch Man. A quiet psychic kid just wants to be a normal middle schooler, and the show wraps wild animation around a genuinely sweet message about self-worth. Bones went absolutely all out.

16. Gintama (2006). A comedy that hides one of the best action-drama series ever inside all the jokes. Aliens, samurai, and gags that break the fourth wall, then arcs that will wreck you without warning. Nothing balances stupid and profound like Gintama.

17. Naruto and Naruto Shippuden (2002). One of the “Big Three” that ruled shonen for years. A lonely ninja kid chasing respect and Hokage dreams became a global phenomenon, and the fan base it built is still enormous today.

18. My Hero Academia (2016). The superhero anime that took over the 2010s. Deku inheriting power from the world’s greatest hero scratched every underdog itch, and the final season sent it out as one of the biggest shonen of its era.

The Best Anime That Prove the Genre Keeps Winning

Do not let anyone tell you the classics were the only good era. Some of the best anime on this whole list came out recently, and these picks range from psychological horror to heart-melting romance.

19. Monster (2004). A doctor saves a boy’s life, then learns that boy grew into a killer, and now he has to hunt him across Europe. A slow, patient thriller with no powers and no filler, just pure dread. One of the most adult stories anime has ever told.

20. Made in Abyss (2017). Do not trust the cute art style. This adventure about a girl descending into a bottomless, cursed pit is one of the most gorgeous and most brutal shows around. It will lure you in with its charm and then break you in half.

21. Clannad: After Story (2008). The one everybody warns you about. Kyoto Animation took a romance and turned its second season into the definitive tearjerker about family, loss, and growing up. If you get through it dry-eyed, go check your pulse.

22. Your Lie in April (2014). A piano prodigy who can no longer hear the music meets a violinist who yanks him back to life. Stunning to look at, scored beautifully, and absolutely engineered to destroy you by the finale.

23. Spy x Family (2022). The most charming show on the list. A spy, an assassin, and a mind-reading kid fake being a family and accidentally become a real one. Funny, warm, and impossible not to love.

24. Chainsaw Man (2022). MAPPA’s chaotic, blood-soaked adaptation of Denji, a broke kid who fuses with his chainsaw devil dog. It is grimy, hilarious, and heartbreaking, and its Reze Arc movie landed as one of the highest-rated films of 2025, anime or otherwise.

25. Dragon Ball Z (1989). The show that built the blueprint. Every shonen power-up, every screaming transformation, every “he’s getting stronger” moment traces straight back to Goku. It is not the most polished anime on this list, but without it, half the others would not exist.

Top Anime Studios Behind These Classics

You cannot talk about the best anime of all time without shouting out the studios doing the heavy lifting. Bones gave us Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Mob Psycho 100. Madhouse handled Hunter x Hunter, Death Note, Monster, and now Frieren, which is an absolutely insane resume. Ufotable turned Demon Slayer into a visual event, and MAPPA became the studio of the moment with Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, and the back half of Attack on Titan.

Then there is Studio Ghibli, which mostly lives in the film world but casts a shadow over everything. Movies like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are the reason a lot of people take anime seriously as an art form. We kept this list focused on series, but the greatest anime ever chat always circles back to Ghibli eventually.

The point is that the best anime does not happen by accident. These studios chase animation quality like it is a competitive sport, and fans reward them hard for it. A big chunk of the VTuber scene grew up on these exact shows, which is part of why so many streamers reference them nonstop on stream. If you are new to that whole world, our guide on what a VTuber is is a fun place to start.

What Makes an Anime the Best of All Time

So what separates a great anime from the best anime of all time? Usually it is a story that sticks the landing. Plenty of shows start hot and fumble the ending, and the ones on this list mostly nailed it cold. A satisfying conclusion is rarer than it should be, and it is a huge reason Fullmetal and Steins;Gate rank so high.

Characters matter just as much. The greatest anime ever made hand you people you would follow anywhere, a hero you desperately want to win or a villain you love to hate. Lelouch, L, Gojo, and Frieren are proof that one unforgettable character can drag an entire series into legend all by themselves.

And then there is that feeling, the one you cannot really put into words. The best anime hit you somewhere real. They make you laugh, wreck you, then leave you staring at the ceiling thinking about a cartoon for a solid week. If a show can pull that off, the ranking almost does not matter anymore. It already won.

If you want to go deeper on the fandom side of things, we also broke down the coolest white and silver-haired VTubers who clearly took notes from these anime designs, and the rise of Hololive, a scene built by people who grew up loving this exact list.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the number one best anime of all time?

Right now Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End holds the top spot on MyAnimeList, edging out Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which reigned as the highest-rated anime for over a decade. Both are fair picks for the single best anime of all time, and most fans would happily hand the crown to either one.

Preview the current champ with the official Crunchyroll trailer.

Is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood better than the original?

For most fans, yes. The original 2003 series aired before the manga finished and made up its own ending, while Brotherhood follows the manga all the way through. If you only watch one, watch Brotherhood. It is the version that keeps landing on best anime lists.

What are the top 10 anime everyone should watch?

Our top 10 anime picks are Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Frieren, Steins;Gate, Attack on Titan, Hunter x Hunter, Cowboy Bebop, Death Note, Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, and One Piece. Start anywhere in that group and you cannot go wrong.

What is the best anime for total beginners?

Death Note and Attack on Titan are the two most common gateway picks, since both hook you fast and do not need any anime background to enjoy. Cowboy Bebop is another perfect starter if you want something a little more chill and stylish.

Are new anime as good as the classics?

Absolutely. Frieren, Jujutsu Kaisen, Vinland Saga, and Chainsaw Man are all recent and all belong in any greatest anime ever conversation. The medium is arguably in its best era right now, both in animation quality and storytelling.

Why isn’t my favorite anime on this list?

Because we only had 25 spots and anime is stacked. Amazing shows like One-Punch Man, Fruits Basket, Bleach, and countless others just barely missed the cut. A top anime list is always personal, so treat this as the start of the argument, not the end of it.

Related

• What’s A VTuber?
• Our Top 10 White/Silver-Haired VTubers To Watch
• Hololive Productions: The Rise of the VTuber

Wrapping Up

There you have it, our ranking of the best anime of all time from Fullmetal Alchemist to Frieren and everything in between. Some of these shows are pushing thirty years old and still untouchable, and some barely finished airing and already feel like certified classics. That range is exactly why anime keeps winning.

Now the fun part is yours. Fire up whatever from this list you have not seen yet, then come argue with us about the order. That is the whole point. See you in the next one!