Netflix has added some amazing titles to its anime catalogue over the last year. Along with classic series, there is a slew of originals that are holding their own against titles that are already well-established in the canon.
The streaming service made a point of introducing a diverse range of genres.
Seven Deadly Sins
Seven Deadly Sins is one of Netflix’s first original fight shows, and it’s a lot of fun. This anime is about chivalric heroes and a group of magically-gifted fighters who are the show’s namesake, which is why it’s called that. Meliodas, the Sin of Wrath, is the leader of the Sins. They fight against the Holy Knights.
People have back stories when they first appear in the show. This builds excitement about their abilities and how they grow. There are some powerful and unique abilities, and because Aniplex helped make them, the animations for them are amazing. The characters, powers, and storyline should make for a real-life experience, but fan service keeps this series from getting more attention in the canon.
One-Punch Man
Even by the impossible standards of the superhero genre, One-Punch Man’s crazy at the ballpark is in a league of its own. Then, when a 25-year-old college graduate saves a boy with rosy cheeks and a butt-chinned face from a lobster man-monster, he stops looking for a job and starts training for three years to become a hero. It is only natural that his hair falls out. Saitama, the world’s strongest hero, has a body like Jim Lee’s and a face that would fit right in with a Charles Schultz comic strip. He can defeat enemies with a single punch.
One-Punch Man’s appeal isn’t just because it has great animation and fight scenes from Madhouse. It’s because the show is a superhero show that’s been filtered through the overactive imagination of a child, a comedy of preposterous serial escalation, and Saitama’s herculean indifference.
Fate/Zero
The 25-episode episodes, directed by Ei Aoki, is the second anime adaptation of Type-Fate Moon’s series of light novels. It follows a group of mages as they compete in a battle royale called the Fourth Holy Grail War over a mythical chalice that can grant the wishes of its owner.
Three families of mages have always fought for control of the Grail. Each war is waged by seven mages called Masters, who call on Servants, powerful figures from legend and world history, to fight as their representatives in the conflict. History buffs who have always wondered who would win in a battle between King Arthur and Alexander the Great will find this show full of thrills. Beautiful animation style, complex characters, and heartfelt plot twists make up for the somewhat crazy premise.
Carole & Tuesday
Shinichiro Watanabe, the director of Cowboy Bebop, made Carole & Tuesday. It’s very likely that the movie takes place in the same universe as Bebop. Carole & Tuesday is a very different show from Alba City, even though it has the same Martian setting and Watanabe’s great taste in music.
Carole and Tuesday’s story about a refugee and a runaway making music together is so sweet and wholesome that it could be on the Disney Channel. Do you know that the first major storyline of a show that is called “Martian Idol” turns out to be a powerful piece of art?.
Beastars
One of the best anime to come out of 2019 was Beastars.
If there’s one thing that binds the world of Beastars together, it’s the fact that carnivores and herbivores have very different forms of power. When the story starts, an alpaca student named Tem is killed in a very bad way. Before this event, it was not clear if there was a real rift between the students or not. This kind of thing makes every species start to be afraid. Members of the drama club, which includes everything from tiny squirrels to hulking tigers, are known for working together and being positive. Legoshi, a wolf, is part of the group.
We see the prejudices and stereotypes that people have about carnivores and herbivores in the show. For the most part, carnivores are very docile and peaceful. The drama club is the perfect setting for the show’s themes.
Honorary mentions: Sword Art Online and Baki; Netflix has many great anime shows at the moment and became the go-to place for international viewers who don’t want to go the pirate route.
