As the year comes to a close, it’s clear that this fall season of anime was a solid batch, and while it didn’t have as many heavyweights as this Winter or the depth of Spring, there was still plenty to watch. Of these, we got new takes on a pair of legendary series, a highly anticipated newcomer delivering on all fronts, and one particularly huge surprise. Let’s break down the five best anime of fall 2024.
Honorable Mention
Blue Box is a romance/sports hybrid that combines an endearing central relationship with hot-blooded athletics as two athletes start to connect. Thanks to its solid extended cast, strong production, and the novelty of this genre pastiche, it makes for a pleasant ride.
Ok, so I’m not sure that Thunderbolt Fantasy technically counts as an anime—it’s a Taiwanese/Japanese puppet show written by visual novel/anime screenwriter Gen Urobuchi—but this wuxia series is such a bonkers hidden gem that I’ll take any opportunity to plug it that I can. In its fourth season, we continue to follow Shāng Bù Huàn, the Edgeless Blade, as his quest to pass on his index of magical swords takes him and his companions to the Demon World and back. While the latest season isn’t on Crunchyroll yet, I’m hoping the streamer fixes this mistake so more can experience the joy of watching the most ornate figurines you’ve ever seen get absolutely demolished in melodramatic sword fights. Do yourself a favor and at least watch its first scene–after all, why not make this the year you get really into Taiwanese glove puppetry?
5. Dragon Ball Daima
While Dragon Ball Daima may not offer the type of planet-exploding stakes that some fans of this series have come to expect, this latest entry is a throwback to the series’ roots that oozes charm. Once again, our combat-loving hero, Goku, embarks on a journey to collect the Dragon Balls, this time to beat up a bad guy who transformed him and his buddies into children. Perhaps the most eye-catching detail of this spin-off series is just how good it looks, as its Super Saiyan fight sequences are animated in a much more convincing and dynamic style than the series has seen as of late (probably because those other shows are dozens of episodes long and made on tighter timetables). As someone who fell off this series after Dragon Ball Z, Daima is a bite-sized return to this world that honors the late, great Akira Toriyama’s legacy with aplomb.
4. Negative Positive Angler
As someone who doesn’t remotely care about fishing, I was surprised by how much Negative Positive Angler hooked me (apologies for the unavoidable pun). While the series does a good job explaining the details of this pastime in an informative and largely entertaining fashion, what really makes it work is how it dives into the hangups of its cast during their extended hangout sessions. The story centers on our disastrous protagonist, Tsunehiro, a college student knee-deep in gambling debt who, after receiving a dire medical diagnosis, finds an unexpected sense of community with a band of fish-obsessed freaks. Studio NUT (Deca-Dence) renders a range of expressive character designs that help sell this group’s personalities, and the series has a firm grasp on how to bring the most out of its ensemble cast with a variety of fun conversations. While its heavier material would seem an odd fit for this otherwise cozy story, these heavier moments convey how our down-on-his-luck protagonist finds a reason to go because of this pastime and the people he does it with.
3. Ranma ½
Remaking a beloved classic like Ranma 1/2 comes with heavy expectations, but MAPPA has very much delivered, bringing this absurdist comedy to life with fluid action and great punchlines. As two young martial artists, Ranma and Akane, are set up in an arranged marriage by their parents, the pair get tangled up in convoluted love triangles as they take turns battling suitors of the week. And, of course, matters are further complicated by the fact that Ranma recently got cursed, making it so whenever they’re doused in cold or hot water, they physically transform into a girl or boy respectively; misunderstandings soon follow.
As someone who previously bounced off Rumiko Takahashi’s work, there’s a good combination of old and new here, capturing Takashi’s art style and sense of humor while sanding down some of the pacing issues and poorly aged plot points. The result is a fast-paced love letter to the original that still leaves plenty of room for its main couple to gradually grow their relationship as surrounding circumstances become increasingly ridiculous: we’ve got rhythmic gymnastics meets WWE, ice skating death matches, and the original kung-fu panda. While I wish that Akane didn’t get done dirty so often and that the story more directly engaged with some of its queer undercurrents, like its gender-bending protagonist, these aspects still feel like an improvement over what came before. There’s still a lot of material to get through, but MAPPA’s reimagining has sold me on sticking around.
2. Dandadan
Dandadan was the most hyped newcomer coming into this season, and Science Saru managed to blast past these expectations with a positively kinetic adaptation. The story centers on Momo and Okarun, two teens pulled into paranormal circumstances, as the latter develops psychic powers and the former gets cursed. Up front, the show delivers the kind of high-octane action one would expect from a Shonen Jump series, and it’s always exciting to see how Momo and Okarun punch their way through the various aliens and spirits who want to kill them. Science Saru takes these battles to some visually abstract places, which goes hand-in-hand with the plot’s preternatural turns.
But while the fights are great, the genuinely convincing rapport between these leads ends up being the thing that differentiates this series from multitudes of other action anime. Their will-they-won’t-they is consistently adorable and sharply written, avoiding common pitfalls as these two talk things out instead of getting trapped in uninspired cliches. The result is a show that works in many modes—action, romance, or paranormal investigation—as Saru ricochets between each with the same level of care and craft. For example, Episode 7, “To A Kinder World,” is an outright shattering tale of motherhood that somehow successfully slots in next to over-the-top hijinks and dirty jokes, like when a naked guy gets ridden like a surfboard while fighting knock-off Godzilla. And although the show is bookended by offputting scenes that put its heroine in compromising situations, at least these moments are relatively few and far between. With Dandadan, Science Saru continues to be one of the most exciting names in the anime industry, and while we don’t have to wait too long for Season 2, summer still can’t come soon enough.
1. Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth is unambiguously the biggest surprise of the Fall, a taut historical thriller that explores belief, epistemology, and the bravery of fighting for a better world. We follow a rotating cast of characters chasing the mysteries of the cosmos as the theory of heliocentricity spreads in the face of church persecution. While the show isn’t 1:1 to actual historical events, it uses its late Middle Ages/early Renaissance backdrop to convey the power of perceived truths: a Catholic Church stand-in posits that Earth is located at the physical bottom of the universe, an unchangeable place of suffering that must be endured to reach heaven, an ideology that conveniently ensures they remain at the top of the social order. As these nuanced characters challenge these notions, the story explores the self-affirmation that comes from searching for and passing along the truth, even if it may get them killed. The series’ portrayal of fighting for change in a time of systemic cruelty is quite reminiscent of Yukimura’s masterpiece, Vinland Saga, and I say that as the highest form of praise possible. It can sometimes be very hard to believe that the arc of history moves toward truth and justice, but Orb: On the Movements of the Earth makes a damn convincing argument that it does.
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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