When I'm not watching football or basketball and writing articles about players, teams, and storylines, there is one thing I love to do more than anything: watch anime.
Most people know anime as shows like Dragon Ball Z, Naruto and maybe One Piece, but there's so much more to watch. In this cartoon form, it takes the genres we watch on a regular basis, like adventure, romance, comedy, and horror, and animates them. I honestly can't get tired of watching anime.
Recently, the fall 2018 anime season started up. Which means we're four weeks in with new series like "That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime," "Goblin Slayer," and season 3 of "Sword Art Online." I usually watch all my anime on the anime network Crunchyroll, but it's understandable if anime fans or people just looking for a good show to watch wouldn't want to invest $6 into a channel where the only thing you can watch is anime (guilty as charged). This got me thinking: Netflix has some pretty great anime series and as far as I'm concerned, everyone has Netflix.
So as a huge anime fan with a bucket list full of anime, here are 10 binge-worthy anime shows on Netflix that will have you grabbing snacks and glue you to your seat for hours of non-stop entertainment.
1. Seven Deadly Sins
Honestly, this show is amazing. There are two seasons with season 2 literally just coming out and I can't wait to keep watching. This show focuses on the mythological group "The Seven Deadly SIns" who are powerful people within the world who the world rejects and considers them monsters. But, these monsters have to stick together so after thousands of years of being separated, the leader of the SIns, Meliodas, goes on a quest to find the other six sins. This show full of action and story dynamic is absolutely immersive and it killed me how abrupt the first season ended. It's pretty long now that it has a second season so now you have over 50 episodes of content to dive into.
2. Fairy Tail
This show is extensively long, like over 400 episodes long. But, instead of stressing yourself out about how you'll never get to watch another show again, Netflix provides only the first season as a way to kind of get a taste of the show to help you decide if it's a show that's worth a 400 episode commitment. This show focuses on a character named Natsu and his guild Fairy Tail as they embark on a series of adventures in a world filled with magic and mythical creatures. I personally have this in my top 10 anime shows I've watched overall and I think it's provides a lot of what people interested in fantasy and action are looking for,
3. Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Similar to Fairy Tail, this show takes place in a fantasy world where adventures and kingdoms seek to conquer dungeons and gain the power inside. The show focuses on the friendship of a boy named Alladin and a treasure hunter Alibaba who embark an on their own adventure to explore the world and see all the different lands and meet all different kinds of people. Despite the fantasy aspect of the show, it takes a very humane approach focusing on how people forge friendships and the idea of doing good because it's the right thing to do. With two 25 episode seasons, there's so many storylines to follow and many introduced characters that undergo a progressive character development that will make it relatively difficult to pick a favorite character.
4. Soul Eater
This show is a little more on the cryptic side. Not necessarily a horror anime, but the whole concept is that kids are trained in a school that teaches them how to hunt and kill witches and evil humans. Yeah it sounds pretty wild, but it gets good. This show is 50 episodes focusing on a girl named Maka and the other students at Death Weapon Meister Academy in pursuit of killing 99 evil humans and one witch per student. Very extreme and exact but that's what makes the show interesting because every episode will have you keeping score as it leads up to the climax and eventually the dramatic ending.
5. Inuyasha
Romance + Demons = Inyuasha. This show takes a completely different approach to the other anime on the list because it focuses on a half-demon named Inuyasha who pursues his dream of becoming a full demon, but he slowly is falling for a girl named Kikyo, who is actually the first human to care about him since his mother. This show has it's action-filled moments, but it focuses more on Inuyasha and Kikyo's developing love and Inuyasha's internal conflict within himself about whether or not he truly wants to become a full demon because it may jeopardize his relationship with Kikyo. Inuyasha is a bit of a longer anime, but to compensate for all the episodes, Netflix has a series of Inuyasha movies that all have their own heart-wrenching way.
6. Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist is a very deep anime that focuses on the idea of equivalent exchange, basically that saying we learned in middle school science, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." This show focuses on two brothers, Edward as well as Alphonse who lost parts of their body as a repercussion for trying to defy the laws of life in an attempt to bring there mom back to life. As young children with no mother and an absent father, they turned to the study if alchemy and pursue the treasure of alchemy known as the Philosopher's Stone. This quest for the Philosopher's Stone has one agenda behind it: get their bodies back and try reviving their mother again. With over 50 episodes in total, this a bit of a longer show but all the drama and action will have you breezing through.
7. Sword Art Online
This show can be summed up in two words: VR nightmare. This show basically focuses on a world where people play a VR video game called Sword Art Online and then get trapped in the game. The terms are simple beat the game to escape or be stuck in the game forever, oh and if you die in the game, you die in real life. I know, it's really wild and the even crazier part is that the creator the game purposely did this, it wasn't some malfunction or a glitch. The show's protagonist is a boy name Kirito who is basically a fanatic regarding the world of MMORPG games who actually accepts the challenge of completing the game while also finding alot of friends along the way. This show takes the idea of "what if we could be inside the game/show" to a whole other level. With two 25 episode seasons and season 3 underway on Crunchyroll, this show give you a little bit of everything: comedy, romance, action, adventure, whatever you need in a show, Sword Art Online has it.
8. Kill La Kill
Honestly this is one the first female led anime shows I've watched that I truly enjoyed. Most female anime take the form of romances or comedies, but this is one of the first ones I've seen that focuses more the action aspect and highlights female strength and determination. This show focuses on a transfer student Ryuko Hannouji who enters a school that's breeding Power Rangers. Yes, you read correctly. A select few students receive special outfits called Goku Uniforms, which Ryuko actually has. In a search for her father's killer, Ryuko turns the school inside out in her pursuit for closure while also combating the rigorous standards of her new crazy school. With one 25 episode season it's relatively short, but be warned: this show has the kind of season that will have you begging for a second season.
9. Gurren Lagann
Growing up watching Toonami, Gurren Lagann would be like the modern day version of Gundam. For those who haven't seen Gundam, a better example is like an anime version of Transformers without the cars, trucks, planes and any other wild vehicle these robots could turn into. This show is full of robot beat downs and dynamic character development by the main protagonists Simon and Kamina, two orphans looking to create peace in a world terrorized by people who use robots for their own even deeds. Another considerably short show with only one 27 episode season, but nonetheless a great anime for new comers looking to get immersed in a new world of adventure shows.
10. Tiger & Bunny
The cool part about this anime is that it's short, sweet and has a movie to watch first that can help you really get a feel for what the show is going to be like. This show takes the world of super heroes and brings it into a full scale plot line focusing on two heroes particular, Tiger and Bunny. These two have a dynamic love-hate relationship that personally will have fans choosing sides the entire time. Bunny is the pretty boy so for any girls looking for a cartoon crush, this may be exactly the guy your'e looking for. For a show with a movie and two 12 episode seasons, Tiger & Bunny is a really good anime for people who maybe interested in the genre, but aren't sure how much they will like it.
