100 Essential Anime

Welcome!

This website is for people who want to get into anime but don't know where to start. Rather than give you a ranked list of "the best anime ever", we want to share what we believe are 100 Essential Anime that released from 1995 to 2020, plus 100 More Anime that are honorable mentions or less noteworthy shows that we really like!

Our goal is simple: to make sure that the next generation of anime fans have HEARD of these shows. Because whether good or bad, we don't want these shows to be lost to time.

There are only two rules besides the 1995-2020 release: no movies and no OVAs shorter than 6 episodes. Check the FAQ if you want to know why.

Do note: this is a "beta launch" of the site. A lot of it is unfinished, but I figured continuing to keep it private was not going to do it any favors. I'd rather have it be a publicly available "ongoing project" than a vaporware site that, at the rate things were going, would've taken years.

- Latest Updates -

1-2-26: Added blurbs for Clannad, Ouran High School Host Club, and Little Witch Academia. I've also added dates for these updates.

1-1-26: Launched the site