We’re about halfway through this Fall season of anime, and I can confidently say this is a good crop of cartoons. From surprising originals to revivals of long-running classics, there’s thankfully plenty of material to help us get through these figuratively and literally dark times. Let’s run down the best anime on TV right now.
Honorable Mentions
Blue Box has quickly proven itself a charming sports/romance hybrid defined by an increasingly convincing rapport between its leads. While it took a little while to distinguish itself from its genre peers, the way it jumps between competition and dorky teen courtship is novel and helps further elevate its cast, including its best character, Hina. On top of this, the show is gorgeous from a production standpoint; Telecom Animation Film knocked it out of the park.
365 Days To The Wedding is another romance story, but this one benefits from being a rare anime that focuses on honest-to-god working adults instead of high schoolers. The series does a great job of grappling with office space pressures by delving into its central pair’s concerns and social anxieties.
In its second season, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online remains one of the dumbest shows on television, and I mean that entirely as a compliment. It elevates videogame battle royale antics to operatic stand-offs full of heavy machine gun-loving himbos, Jon Wuu-style duels, and characters with hitboxes so small they should probably be banned from tournament play. This one is extremely good at delivering ridiculous moments at a rapid clip, even if its setup is starting to get a little repetitive.
5. Negative Positive Angler
Negative Positive Angler has sunk its hooks in thanks to chill vibes and resonant ruminations on finding community. We follow Tsunehiro Sasaki, a college student who isn’t having the best time. He’s fallen into gambling debt, and to make matters dramatically worse, he’s recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness that leaves him with two years to live. But at his lowest point, he runs into a group of fishing fanatics who rescue him from drowning, kickstarting a slow-burn interest in lures, baits, and lines. While the series deals with some heavy subjects, like Tsunehiro’s diagnosis, depression, and gambling addiction, it balances these moments with buoyant hangout shenanigans as our protagonist is adopted by this diverse band of anglers. There’s Hana, a floofy-haired teen obsessed with the intricacies of this past time, and Takaaki, an impossibly kind-hearted dude who continually saves Tsunehiro’s butt. Together, this group has some deeply relaxing times as Tsunehiro finds a sense of belonging he’s never had. Add in some great animation from studio NUT (Deca-Dence, Saga of Tanya the Evil), sapphic subplots, and looming tragedy, and you have one of the most compelling anime originals of the season, whether you already own a tackle box or not.
4. Dragon Ball Daima
Few series are as big a deal as Dragon Ball: Goku is deservedly a household name everywhere from Japan to Latin America. And unsurprisingly, as a long-running, sprawling thing, this tale has taken many forms over the years, from Dragon Ball Z’s endless parade of space fascists trying to blow up Earth to Dragon Ball Super and its escalating interdimensional conflicts. In many ways, Dragon Ball Daima feels like a return to the beginning, when our hero and his problems were much smaller scale. Taking place after Dragon Ball Z’s Buu Saga, in this iteration, a new bad guy steals the Dragon Balls and uses them to revert Goku and pals into children. From here, our spiky-haired Saiyan must travel to the Demon Realm and undo this wish. Toei Animation entirely follows through on this OG Dragon Ball referencing setup by recapturing the adventurous, Journey To The West-inspired spirit of the original series. Once again, getting from point A to point B is far from trivial, and our protagonist is saddled with obstacles and restrictions that make it so power-scaling obsessed bros can’t get mad when Goku breaks a sweat while fighting low-tier goons. It also certainly helps that these martial arts showdowns are animated with a vim and vigor sometimes absent from Super, as each punch and kick sends cronies flying. Considering this was one of the final projects that series creator Toriyama worked on before his untimely passing, it’s great that Daima is such a fitting send-off to one of the most influential artists of our time.
3. Ranma ½
I said it before, and I’ll say it again: I am genuinely shocked that this reboot of Ranma ½ is so much fun. Much of that enjoyment can be chalked up to MAPPA’s excellent translation of Rumiko Takahashi’s iconic art style, as well as how they successfully bring both lithe martial arts and physical comedy to life. But what I didn’t expect was for the series’ sense of humor to hold up so well, especially considering how much of Takahashi’s work feels very of its time. Just like in the original series, the central premise here is that Ranma and Akane are two martial artists set up in an arranged marriage by their parents. Oh, and there’s the whole thing where Ranma recently fell into a magic Chinese hotspring that makes it so whenever they are doused in cold water, they physically transform into a girl. Hijinks ensue.
While I won’t pretend most of the gender stuff here is exceptionally thoughtful, there is occasionally more going on than just “Ranma looks like a woman now; isn’t that funny!” For instance, Akane struggles with comparing herself to her more traditionally feminine sister, while Ranma seems to become increasingly comfortable with switching back and forth between presenting as a boy and a girl. And all throughout, whenever a recurring bit is on the verge of getting old, unexpected bursts of absurdity keep things hilarious, like schoolwide melees for Akane’s hand or fated rivals without a sense of direction. Add in the fact this latest adaptation trims down some of the repetition from its source material while seemingly maintaining its most important arcs, and you have the ingredients for a revitalized classic.
2. Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
While there have been plenty of pleasant surprises this Fall, Orb: On the Movements of the Earth is easily the most unexpected discovery. The story follows Rafal, a child prodigy who comes to question his low-risk lifestyle after he begins researching the “heretical” and then-unproven model of heliocentricism. It’s an interesting premise, but where events become truly compelling is how this battle over astronomy gets at deeply held sociological beliefs and systems of theocratic control: through the geocentric model, this Catholic Church equivalent argues that Earth is the “lowest” point in the cosmos and that its inequities and cruelty are not only immutable but an intentional gauntlet of suffering that must be endured to secure a spot in Heaven (and of course, donating alms to the Church certainly helps see the pearly gates too). As a group of dissident thinkers and unlikely stargazers study the cosmos at risk of torture and execution from inquisitors, they each find that a dangerous truth is worth much more to them than a comfortable lie. If you need a reminder about the unbreakable nature of the human spirit and the beauty of passing down the possibility of a better future you may not personally see, you should probably watch this outstanding television program.
1. Dan Da Dan
Defined by stylish action sequences and a surprisingly affecting central relationship, Dandadan has blasted past its already high expectations with supernatural skill. We follow Momo and Okarun; she was a ghost-believing girl, he was a UFO conspiracy boy. After a dare goes sideways, the two realize they’re both right, and Momo is granted telekinetic abilities while Okarun gains a paranormal power-up that they use to take on extraterrestrials and hostile spirits. While the source material is already very well-regarded, Science Saru has gone positively ballistic with this adaptation, capturing these otherworldly turns with punchy sequences that demonstrate the studio’s trademark creativity. It’s an exceedingly well-directed series, from the high-octane beatdowns to the more grounded will-they-won’t-they shenanigans between our wonderfully dorky leads. These two are just so well characterized, and Momo’s strong sense of justice, quick-thinking, and hilarious fixation on 20th-century Japanese film star Ken Takakura mixes perfectly with Okarun’s kindness, satisfaction with finally making a friend, and alien-obsessed eccentricities. As a result, the series works confidently regardless of whether it’s fixated on romance or ghost punching, and it’s all elevated by Science Saru’s eye-catching sense of style. At least so far, Dandadan has met the hype.
Elijah Gonzalez is an assistant Games and TV Editor for Paste Magazine. In addition to playing and watching the latest on the small screen, he also loves film, creating large lists of media he’ll probably never actually get to, and dreaming of the day he finally gets through all the Like a Dragon games. You can follow him on Twitter @eli_gonzalez11 and on Bluesky @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social.
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