15 best anime of 2024, ranked

Every year I have written this list, I say something like, “It’s been a banner year for anime! Every year’s been better than the last!” While that sentiment is true in 2024, it’s also an understatement.

Most of these anime made me cry at least once, and I don’t cry easily. The top 12 had at least one moment which consumed me for an entire day. I consider everything in the top five to be all-timer masterpieces of the medium. There were masterful moments displayed in several series—including the season finale of Demon Slayer, whose season doesn’t even rank overall this year. I can already see the comments about how Solo Leveling didn’t make the cut blowing up too, but that’s how stacked 2024 was.

Hell, the top two anime were almost impossible to choose between. But here they are, the 15 best anime of 2024—in both TV and film.

15. Train to the End of the World

I think risk should be rewarded. While there were shows this year that offered a smoother overall ride than Train to the End of the World, no series in recent memory has taken bigger chances. The result is a wild, weird, wonderful ride that has never quite left my thoughts.

Just the premise of Train to the End of the World is bizarre. The fabric of reality has been warped by “the 7G Incident,” in which an egoistic tech bro switched over Japan’s cellular network before the technology was ready. As a result, in some towns, people have been changed into zombies. In others, horrifying statues. The series follows a group of girls traveling along the Seibu Ikebukuro Line—a real-life train—to find their long-lost friend. As such, Train mixes hyper-specific local references with out-of-this-world absurdism. It’s wholly unique and not to be missed.

14. Blue Box

2024 was a wonderful year for romance anime. Blue Box offers something that feels tried-and-true and therefore comforting, but in an unusual hybrid package that keeps it feeling fresh, week after week. Blue Box is simultaneously a sports anime and a romance anime. You won’t get a full intense game like in Haikyuu!! or Blue Lock, but how the characters’ drives motivate each other is central to the series—and downright wholesome.

It’s also a refreshing change of pace that the star athlete and subject of the main character’s unending admiration is the female athlete. Come for Chinatsu-senpai, and stay for the banger Official Hige Dandism opening song.

13. Wind Breaker

There were several buzzy new shonen series in 2024, with Solo Leveling and Kaiju No. 8 being the obvious headliners. But neither of those shows had anywhere near the heart and impressive choreography of Wind Breaker, a series that I had to be actively talked into watching and was thoroughly blown away by.

Wind Breaker is a tough sell because you can’t really describe it in a way that makes it seem different from the pack. It’s a delinquent show about a group of high school boys trying to protect their town in a series of turf wars with rival high school gangs. But the fights in this show are stunning. The choreography has to be seen to be believed like you’re watching an animated version of a kung-fu brawler. Backed up with genuinely likable, intriguing characters and one of the best OP songs of the year, CloverWorks took what could’ve been a run-of-the-mill series and made it unmissable.

12. Girls Band Cry

I have yet to find a CG anime that didn’t make me feel like it would’ve been stronger in 2D. But in Girls Band Cry, I finally found one engaging enough to make me forget about the CG-ness of it all.

Girls Band Cry is the kind of show where you might feel your eyes get a little misty during most episodes. Not because it’s a sad show, but because it’s a resonant one. The narrative centers around a girl who dropped out of high school due to bullying and has therefore developed a nasty habit of sabotaging herself by pushing people away. She meets her musical idol at the precise moment she’s about to give up on her dream and drop her music career entirely. And that’s just the first two episodes. Girls Band Cry is for everyone who wants to put their middle fingers up to the ways of the world.

11. Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle

When I saw Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle in Tokyo, I was in a packed theater where, at a certain point in the film, everyone around me was sniffling and quietly wiping their eyes on the edge of their sleeves. When I saw it in the U.S., I shared my theater with a middle-aged man actively cheering the twists and turns of the film’s volleyball match. Both experiences are testaments to the sheer power of Haikyuu!!.

Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle is a long-awaited, gorgeously animated, and downright emotional spectacle of a film. It does one of shonen’s most loyal fanbases proud.

10. My Hero Academia

My Hero Academia had a huge year. The manga ended in September, and Studio Bones announced that the anime’s final season will air next year. That means season 7 is the penultimate season—and it was a doozy.

For the last couple of years, My Hero has started digging into its undercurrent of darker themes—like the unjustness bound to arise from a society founded on justice—and bringing them into the glaring sunlight for all to see. The result has been impossible to look away from. The biggest shonen series of the decade has reached its full potential in its final acts. The tear-jerking moments are plentiful. The feels are everywhere. Bones has handled the twilight of the series masterfully.

9. Ranma 1/2

At some point, while watching the first season of MAPPA’s Ranma 1/2 remake, I remembered that Rumiko Takahashi’s classic manga was a primary influence for Scott Pilgrim. If you need a vibe check for Ranma, that’s very much it. Although Ranma is significantly queerer: the titular Ranma was born male but was “cursed” to turn into a woman when splashed over the head with cold water. As such, Ranma is confronted with male and female suitors while slowly falling in love with the hotheaded Akane, their parent-arranged fiancé. It’s a love story that’s quirky as hell.

There’s a lot to love about MAPPA’s remake. The animation is colorful, vibrant, and dynamic. Almost the entire voice cast from the classic 1990s series returns to their roles, making the series feel that much more natural. What more could you ask for?

8. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

After nearly universally topping every outlet’s 2023 Anime of the Year list, the second cour of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End gently sheds the first half’s meditative pace in favor of a more traditional “anime arc,” complete with a ton of new characters all at once. The result feels very Hunter x Hunter in a way.

Where Frieren stands out is its continued consideration of the ramifications of a centuries-long life span, especially in a teacher-student relationship. The push and pull between these two ideas grounds Frieren and brilliantly distinguishes it from any other fantasy series—anime or not.

7. The Apothecary Diaries

The Apothecary Diaries is an absolute treasure. It’s one of the best anime series of the last decade. The series’ second cour, which aired in the winter, lost some steam by removing Maomao from the rear palace, the living quarters of the concubines, and replacing the “mystery of the week” format with one larger mystery. But in exchange, it gave us one of the most nuanced takes on childhood trauma that I’ve ever seen in TV or cinema. And the most memorable jump scare of the year.

Maomao is also hands-down one of the best female characters in all of anime—she’s a mixture of clever, complicated, and funny that’s rarely afforded female characters in any kind of media. And her chemistry with Jinshi always pulls you in. That solid foundation is enough to keep you coming back for more of The Apothecary Diaries.

6. Oshi No Ko

At some point, while watching Oshi no Ko season 2, I paused the end credits and started journaling. If you’re involved in the arts in any way, that’s the kind of effect Oshi no Ko might have on you: Why did I fall in love with art? Is that reason different from why I’m still doing art now? What changed? What am I projecting? What am I afraid of? As the various characters move through these questions in brutally honest ways, you probably will, too.

Even if you’re not in the arts and ruefully guffawing at various lines of dialogue, Oshi no Ko is still arguably the best mystery show currently on air. While furthering that mystery, the series’ incredible second season simultaneously explores the effects of PTSD to heart-wrenching effect. Oshi no Ko isn’t a “light watch,” but it’s hands-down one of the most intriguing anime series on air.

5. DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION

Now we enter the part of the list with the shows that, in a normal year, would be ranked at number one, because DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION is the best sci-fi anime series since Steins;Gate in 2011, and the one with the most to say about society and human nature since Ghost in the Shell in 1995. (Footnote: I think Dandadan’s mesh of genres makes it an altogether different beast.)

DEAD DEAD DEMONS, mercifully abbreviated to DDDD, was released as two films in Japan. Crunchyroll opted to roll it out as 18 episodes on their platform, and the fact that it’s still incredible in either format speaks to its quality. DDDD is a sprawling, haunting, thought-provoking epic that’s somewhat paradoxically also a slice-of-life series that happens to take place on the verge of the apocalypse.

And it all started with the question, “What if Doraemon was for adults?”

4. Look Back

Normally, I would argue that Look Back belongs on a “top movies of the year” list. But sometimes, different departments have different tastes. Regardless, Look Back must be honored.

Look Back is objectively phenomenal. It’s a beautifully animated, heart-rending ode to art-making—both the ways it can build relationships and the ways it can isolate you. The picture painted by Look Back is warm but not always pretty. That honesty—stemming from how the original one-shot takes heavy influence from Chainsaw Man mangaka Tatsuki Fujimoto’s own life—is exactly what makes Look Back so powerful.

It’s an emotional, flawless 60 minutes exuding the kind of gentle, subtle nuance that makes it clear that the director used to work at Studio Ghibli.

3. One Piece

For as long as I’ve been doing this Anime of the Year list, One Piece has been steadily creeping up in the ranks. This year, it cracks the top three. And it’s earned.

One Piece Fan Letter, the series’ 25th anniversary special, is among the best 24 minutes of anime ever made. And don’t just take it from me: the special immediately rocketed up to the number 2 spot of all-time best anime on MyAnimeList. Director Megumi Ishitani took a mediocre side novel and made it breathe in a way fictional worlds barely breathe. Fan Letter is a pitch-perfect tribute to One Piece’s fandom, and it has some of the most gorgeous and masterfully detail-packed animations of the year.

But Fan Letter wasn’t One Piece’s only triumph this year. The anime as a whole continues its notable spike in quality. Egghead’s first episode was one of the series’ best. Shanks v. Kid dropped jaws to the floor, even among manga-readers. One Piece beat Shogun to be IMDb’s highest-rated show of the year.

In short, it’s a great time to be a One Piece fan.

2. Dandadan

Dandadan came into 2024 as the year’s most anticipated show, carrying exceedingly high expectations. The series is the first Shonen Jump series tackled by Science Saru, previously known for more “boutique” short-run shows like Devilman Crybaby, Keep Your Hands Off Eizoken!, and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

Dandadan delivered on all those expectations, and then some. It’s equally as stunning as all those shows, if not more so. Director Fuga Yamashiro is a proper direction otaku. The shot composition is nothing short of masterful. I know a live-action director who told me they’re watching Dandadan specifically for the direction.

Add to all this an incredible score by Kensuke Ushio that’s cheeky enough to include an arrangement of “William Tell,” not to mention the genius casting, including the absurd decision to get Luffy and Zoro’s One Piece voice actors on board as villains with lines like “I’ll touch your weenie if you suckle my teets,” and you’ve got a masterpiece.

Dandadan is the mash-up of sci-fi and yokai I never knew I needed. It’s the love story of the year. It’s the unforgettable tale of one boy’s search for his junk. If not for an uncomfortable sequence in the first episode, it’d be perfect. Unfortunately for Dandadan, there is a perfect series that came out this year.

1. Delicious in Dungeon

Sometimes, you need the anime equivalent of a warm, hearty stew. From that perspective, Delicious in Dungeon is one of the most delectable stews I’ve ever been served.

There is no weak point in Delicious in Dungeon, often called by its Japanese name, Dungeon Meshi. The animation is beautiful. The music, by legendary Chrono Trigger composer Yasunori Mitsuda, is phenomenal. The characters are complex, empathetic, and deeply memorable, backed by incredible performances in both the sub and dub. The fantasy world, as laid out in Ryoko Kui’s manga, is one of the most well-thought-out and intriguing fantasy worlds I’ve ever come across.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll fall in love with these five protagonists. Dungeon Meshi is a character-driven narrative that feels lived in, to an extent that’s exceedingly rare. It wears that love on its sleeve. TRIGGER (Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Kill la Kill, Promare) has long been one of the most respected studios in the anime industry. The fact that Dungeon Meshi is arguably the best thing they’ve ever done says a lot.