The 5 Best Anime Shows of 2021, Ranked (Part 1)
The 5 Best Anime Shows of 2021, Ranked (Part 1)
After a year plagued with production delays, 2021 came and went with a vengeance, delivering season after season filled with enough bangers to fill five top 5 lists, with anticipated sequels living up to the hype, new shonen shows continuing the tradition of thrilling action and relatable characters, shows with prestige staffs delivering beautifully crafted shows, and hidden gems challenging what anime can be all about, making this one of the best years for anime ever.
Picking just 5 shows was excruciatingly hard, but these shows were so great there was no way they would not end on a list of best anime of the year. Before we get to them, however, some honorable mentions for phenomenal anime that could have topped a top 5 list any other year (and you should definitely still check out), like Sonny Boy, Horimiya, Cells at Work: Code Black, and To Your Eternity. Without further ado, here are the best anime shows of 2021.
1. Ranking of Kings
Ranking of Kings is one of the biggest surprises of the year. What may look like a cutesy kids' cartoon on the surface, a fairy tale about a child king learning to accept himself and be a better person, turned out to be a complex, beautifully animated story about how no one is as they first seem, and an intriguing political fantasy story to replace the Game of Thrones-hole in your heart.
The show, based a web manga of the same name by Sōsuke Tōka and animated by Wit Studio, follows Bojji, a young prince born deaf and tiny in size despite being the son of a giant and the number one king in all the land. The show boasts some stunning visuals, with an aesthetic that can best be described as if Game of Thrones was a children's picture book. The art style looks like something out of Calvin and Hobbes, with simplistic character designs and round, colorful backgrounds that hide strikingly fluid animation when things go down and the swords are drawn.
Believe me, despite the kiddie looks, this show is not afraid to go dark with a capital "D," as this has more in common with the dark fairy tales of old than Disney's sanitized versions. There are evil mirrors, demonic posessions, horrible betrayals, and enough surprisingly violent action to satisfy fans of Wit's previous anime like Vinland Saga. It also features the most precious protagonist ever drawn in an anime, the titular prince Bojji, whose smile inspires more loyalty than any presidential speech in an apocalyptic movie. You'll want to cry with him as the citizens of his kingdom mock and ridicule him, you'll want to slap and punch every bastard who dares underestimate him, and you'll go pick up your sword and pledge fealty to the One True King and his trusty companion, the sentient shadow Kage.
I'll put this as simple as I possible can, if you don't love this show, you're a heartless son of a bitch who hates puppies and good things.
2. Godzilla: Singular Point
This year may have seen Godzilla fight King Kong, but the best Godzilla story was undoubtedly Godzilla: Singular Point, the Netflix anime that reimagined the kaiju mythos through a scientific lens reminiscent of the very first film, for a show that has more in common with Hideaki Anno's criminally underrated film Shin Godzilla than the recent Hollywood movies. The show follows a graduate student and an engineer who discover an enigmatic song that may be the key to solving the mystery of a wave of kaiju appearing around the world, including the return of an apocalyptic monster that may spell doom for mankind.
The show features a complex mystery filled with classic nonsensical science jargon of Godzilla movies of old, and fantastical concepts like time travel and the multiverse in a commendable attempt to explain the arrival of the giant monsters. More than just an action-fest, this is an intriguing mystery, with a combination of theoretical math and philosophy making this decades-long franchise feel novel. Still, this is a Godzilla show after all, and Singular Point more than delivers on kaiju action, with an exquisite blend of 3D and 2D animation, an expanded roster of monsters, and the most terrifying Godzilla has ever been.
3. Megalobox 2: Nomad
Megalobox 2: Nomad had a lot to live up to. The first season was a bonafide hit, a successful love letter to one of the most influential sports anime of all time that revamped it for modern audiences with a bit of sci-fi flair, and had a good ending that didn't leave many things open for more stories. And yet, Nomad managed to pull the rug from under the audience with more excellent boxing fights and character moments, but also a poignant story about immigration and marginalized communities that we normally don't see in anime.
4. Komi Can’t Communicate
Komi Can’t Communicate’s first season is still releasing new episodes on Netflix, and with 23 volumes and counting of Tomohito Oda’s source manga being published in Japan, it’s fair to assume this high school comedy will be getting many more seasons.
The basic premise of the show is that Komi, the most intimidatingly beautiful girl in her class, secretly has severe social anxiety to the point she can barely even talk to anyone. When the utterly “average” Tadano discovers her secret, he works to help her make friends. Tadano aside, all of Komi’s classmates are entertainingly eccentric in their own ways (I’m still waiting on the ninja’s backstory), and the cast features many likable queer and/or neurodivergent characters. If you enjoy comedies like Azumanga Daioh and Nichijou, Komi Can’t Communicate should be up your alley. —Reuben Baron
5. Jujutsu Kaisen
On first glance, it’s easy to dismiss Jujutsu Kaisen as an on par action anime—that’s exactly what we did last year when we didn’t include the series’ first half on our year end list. Though MAPPA’s stalwart successor to Attack on Titan (and Demon Slayer’s strongest competitor at the moment, we might add) is a master of none, it proves to be quite excellent across the board, having an ironclad combo of rich characters, beautiful animation, smooth fight scenes, intriguing but not overblown lore, and a killer soundtrack. Kaisen has already made a name for itself by pushing the boundaries of what a shounen anime can be, making bold choices in its plot beats and doing justice towards its female cast, something nearly every big action anime struggles to make up for.
Jujutsu Kaisen is a strong entry point to anyone new to anime as well as just different enough from the pack to merit a watch from seasoned, even cynical watchers of similar shows. It’s a marvel to do anything new in such a saturated genre. —Austin Jones
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