What makes an anime may fall to personal opinion, so we’re adding our two cents to the confusing situation with the best picks of anime that technically aren’t anime.
Anime fans are not short of choice when it comes to quality series from Japan, but what about when an outside studio takes a shot at the anime style for their show? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but sometimes, the attempt can be half-hearted, and the final product could come across as terrible. So today, we’re looking at the ones that took the chance and succeeded.
What classifies as an anime is exceptionally subjective; fans typically say if a Japanese studio, basically an animated series that is made without initial involvement from Europe or the U.S.A., then it counts as an anime; otherwise, it’s an “anime-style animated show.” Regardless of the specifics, here are our picks for the best anime-like series that are worth watching.
The best anime that aren’t considered anime
Whether you consider these anime or not, here are our picks for the not-quite-sort-of-anime that do a great job of adding to the genre and are definitely worth watching to wet your anime whistle.
10. Avatar: The Legend of Korra
Where Avatar The Last Airbender is more lighthearted and comedic, The Legend of Korra strives, in its dark, dramatic situations, to act as a mature alternative for older fans who grew up with the original Avatar series. You’ll sometimes be surprised by what the creators get away with on Nickelodeon, of all places. Unfortunately, it suffers from multiple factors, making it a greater series.
The sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender struggles to live up to its predecessor, with character groups feeling more artificial, attempts at humor falling flat, mediocre villains, and overall subpar writing. Much like Korra within the series, this scarcely compares to Aang’s adventures, where there’s an end goal in sight, whereas Korra just proceeds without much direction.
9. Sonic X
Sonic X, by every right, is an anime, but it’s rarely considered as such due to its association with Sonic. The series presents a surprising amount of great action, and as Dr. Eggman, Mike Pollock does a great job of dishing out the funny moments without even trying. It’s a solid attempt at a children’s show, highlighting multiple characters throughout the series.
Starting and ending with its original story, Sonic X begins to blend the Sonic Adventure games into its story in the middle, with an adaptation of both game’s stories onto the screen. Sonic X lives infamously with its 4Kidz English dub offering odd censors, strange character dialogues, and the inclusion of Chris Throndyke alone, giving it more infamy.
8. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Based on the CD Projekt Red game “Cyberpunk 2077” we follow an original cast of characters with the main character, David, trying to survive in the underbelly of the corrupt Night City, becoming a cybernetically enhanced mercenary live called an Edgerunner.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners works very well as an anime based on the namesake game by including a lot more anime-based action, character humor, and, most importantly, decent story pacing; all of these, combined with the outstanding animation visuals, will get you invested in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
7. Arcane: League of Legends
While the elites of Piltover squabble with the oppressed Zaun, causing tensions to rise to their peak, a pair of sisters, Vi and Jinx, find themselves on opposite sides of the coming conflict. Vi, an upper-class Piltover enforcer and Powder, who changes her name to Jinx, a scrappy survivor whom Piltover deems a terrorist. Both sides use Arcane-based technology to get the edge on the other as the conflict escalates.
League of Legends may live in infamy due to its community, but Arcane contains a gripping story with the two sisters that, at times, tries to tie into the game as best as it can but honestly performs better as a standalone show.
6. Blue Eye Samurai
Blue Eye Samurai follows the story of bloody vengeance. During Edo-period Japan, a warrior known as Mizu aimed to take revenge on her father and the group of white foreigners who remained in Japan during its isolation period due to her inheriting his blue eyes, making her an outcast.
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Housing a gripping story of simple revenge that gets itself wrapped up in upper-class Japanese politics and conspiracies, Blue Eye Samurai is worth getting invested in as it all unravels while having delightful characters tagging along on the journey. Alongside the fantastic visuals, literal cutthroat action is an all-star voice cast worth listening to, including Brenda Song, Masi Oka, Randall Park, and George Takei.
5. RWBY
RWBY, standing for red, white, black, and yellow, is a 3D anime following the adventures of Ruby Rose and her teammates, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, as they try to become huntresses, save their town from monsters and uncover a massive conspiracy against the school. With many twists and turns in the story on the way, fans can get easily sucked into RWBY.
The online production giant Rooster Teeth‘s late Monty Oum created RWBY in 2013 to much positivity for the company, whose success mainly came from their YouTube channel and the longrunning Halo-based series “Red Vs. Blue.” So, creating an original anime based on schoolgirls with powers and transforming weapons where everything is “also a gun” was a considerable risk.
4. Teen Titans
This entry is possibly the biggest stretch you’ll find on this list as it’s included in an, at the time, connected animated universe of DC cartoons, Batman and Superman, the animated series, and Justice League and JL Unlimited. So how does Teen Titans, a series that is supposed to fit into a universe’s specific style, count as an anime?
Teen Titans finds itself in a surprisingly “anime” position with Japanese pop rock duo, Puffy AmiYumi, who had their own Cartoon Network series at the time, singing the intro song, exhilarating action, anime-style gags, and a film that wraps up the series that takes place in Tokyo. It’s obvious Teen Titans is heavily inspired by anime and maintains that perfect balance of Western animation to deliver one of the best-animated series on television.
3. The Boondocks
This animated adaptation of the comic series of the same name follows the lives of the Freemans, a Black American family experiencing a move into a predominately white neighborhood and the struggles to fit into this new setting with the family encountering absurd over-the-top situations where the main character, Huey (right) often has to deal with the fallout, acting as the only remotely intelligent person around.
The Boondocks offers a great satirical commentary of political stances, racial stereotypes, exaggerated lifestyles, and social classes, mixing in hilarious comedy with genuine heartfelt stories and characters with his brother Riley and grandfather getting roped into a crazy scheme, often needing to be bailed out by Huey.
2. Castlevania
Possibly, the best video game to anime adaptation comes in second place on our list. Castlevania makes up four seasons of extremely investing television following the adventures of vampire hunter Trevor Belmont, the magical Sypha Belnades, and Alucard as they attempt to take down his woeful father, Dracula.
The series does a great job of expanding on the base concept of the game with interesting side characters and a longer story showing what happens after the characters finish their big main quests and must live with the consequences and build a better world. The animation cannot be understated; it’s one of the most beautifully animated series you’ll find on television.
1. Avatar The Last Airbender
Avatar the Last Airbender is the be-all-end-all-honorable anime with it being better than most full-fledged anime with outstanding down-to-earth combat and characters somehow pairing beautifully with the larger-than-life powers. Almost everything in the series is justified and explained to the degree where it’s a fantastic watch for all ages.
Making its home on Nickelodeon, Avatar achieves things some anime struggle to meet: virtually no filler, setting an unchanging end goal which they’re always moving towards, hilarious comedy, deep story, memorable characters, and a satisfying conclusion, making for a great show to watch over and over again.
Those are our picks for anime that technically aren’t considered anime. For more definitive anime news, Berserk’s 1997 anime remaster Blu-Ray is available to order now. Pokemon fans will need to wait a bit longer for the next series, and Studio Ghibli fans take exception to their favorite film getting the A.I. treatment.