Top 10 Anime in History

Anime is a medium that constantly presents various experiences, giving rise to various emotions and opinions, leaving a permanent or momentary mark on history and on ourselves.

Our individual experiences aside, some anime have shaped the standard of the medium itself. We think that these animes that we present to you have paved the way and left a legacy for posterity and animation history.

Astro Boy (1963)

After losing his son Tobio in a car accident, Professor Tenma is distraught and loses himself in his latest project: creating a robot boy, Atom , a surrogate for his late son. Eventually, Professor Tenma gets upset with Atom since being a robot he cannot grow and sells to a cruel ringmaster of a robot circus. Fortunately for Atom, he is adopted by the kind Professor Ochanomizu who raises him to fight evil.

The creation of this lovable robotic hero story, Astro Boy, is thanks to the legendary “Manga God” Osamu Tezuka . Although it was not the first anime series to be produced, it is considered the first anime that pioneered and defined Japanese anime.

Mobile Suit Gundam (1979)

Humanity has moved into space and lives in groups of colonies called ” Sides “. A declaration of war begins after one of the colonies declares one on the government, the Earth Federation, that currently rules Earth. The colony proclaims itself as the “Principality of Zeon”. Eventually, the Earth Federation develops mobile suits soon after and calls them Gundam . The story really begins when a 15-year-old civilian is drawn into the conflict.

Mecha became a popular genre in Japan after World War II as the country began to experience rapid economic and technological growth. The production of titles like Astro Boy and Gigantor defined the foundation of the genre. However, it was Mobile Suit Gundam that actually gave rise to mecha .

Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind (1984)

A catastrophic nuclear war called ” Seven Days of Fire ” destroyed almost all life on Earth and now humanity has to live in constant struggle. In response to the destruction of the war, a jungle filled with poisonous spores and huge insects rapidly evolves. A part of humanity, what remains, resides in a peaceful kingdom called the Valley of the Wind and home to the young princess, Nausicaä . Soon the peace is disturbed as Nausicaä must now fight the Tolmekians and protect the Valley from the toxic jungle.

Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind is a beautiful anime that deals with serious topics and provides deep meaning and life lessons for people of all ages. It was written and directed by the famous Hayao Miyazaki , the founder of Studio Ghibli , and inspired the storytelling of the Ghibli films so loved and well known today.

Dragon Ball (1986)

The story of Dragon Ball focuses on the life journey of Goku who learns of his alien origin and sets out to find the Dragon Balls. If you collect all seven balls, the Eternal Dragon Shenron will grant you one wish. Along the way, he constantly battles opponents who are also after the Dragon Balls.

It’s not the first of its kind in Japan, but it certainly paved the way for anime to make its mark in the West. The series pioneered the foundation for most shounen anime today.

Akira (1988)

An explosion wipes out most of the city of Tokyo and leads to World War III in 1988. It’s 2019 and the city of Neo-Tokyo is a restored version. Despite its restoration, however, Neo-Tokyo is a dystopian cyberpunk plagued by gangs and crime. One of the gangs is “Las Cápsulas” and two of the members are also the main characters in the story. Various events lead to others and the explosion from before is about to happen once again.

Akira broke the “all animation is for kids” stigma by introducing mature themes and harsh graphic imagery to the medium, not to mention popularizing the cyberpunk genre and influencing a breakthrough in typical narratives of the industry itself.

Sailor Moon (1992)

Sailor Moon ‘s story begins with an ordinary student, Usagi Tsukino. Then, after saving Luna, a cat with a crescent moon mark on her head, her life changes forever. Fate has him meet Luna and use her powers to defeat evil monsters, all while finding the lost princess of the Moon Kingdom, the other Sailor Guardians, and the Legendary Silver Crystal to save Earth from destruction.

The first magical girl anime was Sally the Witch in 1966, however Sailor Moon became the model for the genre after it premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been the most influential contributor to the continued popularity of the magical girl genre in the anime.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)

The world is on the brink of destruction and humanity’s last hope is in the hands of an agency called Nerv and its humanoid robots. The robots are called Evangelions and they are giant machines capable of defeating the Angels that threaten Earth. Nerv looks for potential candidates. 14-year-old Shinji Ikari and other pilots have the fate of humanity on their shoulders and suffer psychological damage throughout the series.

Neon Genesis Evangelion introduced a new experience to the mecha genre and anime itself that takes the foundational narrative of piloted robots and adds a deep exploration of what it means to be human in the midst of an apocalypse. With the exploration of humanity and themes like trauma, this series spawned countless new plot devices and provided a template for later anime.

Ghost In The Shell (1995)

The city of Niihama is a technologically advanced metropolis and cyber enhancement is a common thing for its citizens. To protect this change in interconnection, the city’s public safety, Section 9, is responsible for combating any threat. Section 9 tackle a case of a mysterious hacker called “Puppet Master” who can strip victims of their memory and Major Motoko Kusanagi is the leader of the case. Throughout its plot, Motoko and her subordinates, along with others, have to confront the complicated nature of the case as it raises many philosophical questions.

Similar to Akira’s cyberpunk theme and Neon Genesis Evangelion’s philosophy of existence, Ghost in the Shell interpolates both aspects quite well. It’s a successful narrative that inspired anime and even movies like The Matrix.

Pokémon (1997)

There is a world where various creatures of different types called Pokémon exist and Satoshi (Ash Ketchum in other versions) is a 10-year-old boy who dreams of “catching them all”. The story begins with Satoshi’s dream of becoming a Pokémon Master, but he is late and the only thing left is the Pokémon, Pikachu. Then begins the story of Satoshi and Pikachu as they embark on their journey to be the best.

Pokémon started out as a game and its first installment in the video game series was Pokémon Red and Green. The goal was to introduce the franchise to the West, so anime was the medium used and making Pokémon an anime loved by all and one of the biggest video game franchises to this day.