The anime studio MAPPA has a reputation these days for producing some of the finest series of the medium. With skilled artistry and mastery of motion in its stories, MAPPA has grown into a studio that delivers consistent masterpieces. While there’s some definite behind-the-scenes controversy regarding the grueling work schedules the creative teams suffer, the work the artists manage to produce is often nothing less than stunning.
Founded in 2011, the studio has run the gamut in terms of genre and style. While they certainly find critical acclaim through their shonen, action-packed stories such as Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man, they’ve also delivered strong slice-of-life stories and even BL Romance.
Get BWT in your inbox!
Get BWT in your inbox!
The studio casts a wide net from their most recent original series, Bucchigiri!?, to the upcoming sports anime Oblivion Battery based on the manga series by Eko Mikawa. Not every series might be a surefire hit (Dance Dance Danseur, Re-Main). But they all showcase the studio creatives’ signature quality.
From Kids on the Slope to Vinland Saga Season 2, here are the Best Anime Series By MAPPA.
11. Attack On Titan: The Final Season
Director: Yuichiro Hayashi
Mangaka: Hajime Isayama
Synopsis: After his hometown is destroyed and he is traumatized, young Eren Jaeger vows to cleanse the earth of the giant humanoid Titans that have brought humanity to the brink of extinction.
There’s no talking about the best MAPPA anime series without mentioning it taking the reigns of Attack on Titan. While Wit Studio helmed the first three seasons, MAPPA took over for the final, explosive installment. Our critic praised the series, writing, “The exceptional animation, voice acting, and character development, combined with exploring central themes and storytelling, make it an immersive and thought-provoking experience.”
10. Dorohedoro
Director: Yuichiro Hayashi
Mangaka: Q Hayashida
Synopsis: The amnesiac reptilian-headed Caiman works with his friend Nikaido to recover his memories and survive in a strange and violent world.
Set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that becomes grittier and more repulsive the more you watch, Dorohedoro is nauseatingly addictive. The series, directed by Yuichiro Hayashi, doesn’t waste any time introducing horror and carnage. Instead, Dorohedoro barrels straight into the bloody nihilism with a face-tearing, nightmarish introduction. Aided by a strong mystery narrative and the endless oddities of the world Caiman (Wataru Takagi) and Nikaido (Reina Kondō) occupy, the series is a shot of feverish adrenaline. While the character and creature designs are superb, the animation is stiffer than MAPPA’s finest. Perhaps by design, the overall effect can be ugly. However, the full picture combines nasty brutality and strong, cohesive action.
Watch now on Netflix.
9. Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku
Director: Kaori Makita
Mangaka: Yuji Kaku
Synopsis: Gabimaru is a ruthless assassin from the village of Iwagakure. He is sentenced to death row, but to earn his freedom, he goes to a hidden island to find the Elixir of Life.
With Annihilation-style imagery as strange, surreal life steams from death, Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku finds beauty in nightmares. This solemn story is given color through the vibrancy and details of the world, along with its well-established ensemble. Gabimaru (Chiaki Kobayashi) is a superb protagonist, but the series doesn’t rely solely on his muted charm. Instead, the cast is bolstered by every shade of the morally gray.
It makes up for what it lacks in immediate emotional gratification with spectacle. A bruising, fantastical tale, the series delivers action-packed moments and dizzying visual feasts. The legendary realm, Shinsenkyo, where the convicts and their handles must travel, is proof enough. Hypnotically alien with bone-crunching monsters lurking in the shadows, the island enlivens the story with hallucinogenic artistry.
8. Terror in Resonance
Director: Shinichirō Watanabe
Synopsis: Tokyo is under a terrorist attack, and the only clue is a strange Internet video.
This psychological thriller is just one of many of Shinichirō Watanabe’s creations. Yet, despite his mastery of the medium and how to distill his tone into many different styles and genres, Terror in Resonance stands apart. Grounded in reality due to the animation style that plays with realism, it elevates itself through the operatic story at its center. The electrifying score by Yoko Kanno is suitably odd, adding greater friction to an already tension-filled story. That, plus the unruly character design and their physicality, heightens the story. There’s darkness in this world spooling out in the details of how people move to the sounds we hear.
The series is distinctive with strong character work defined by their untempered, volatile emotions and even stronger visuals. There’s no escaping the misery the series can evoke, but there’s no denying its power or the mark it leaves on viewers.
7. Kids on the Slope
Director: Shinichirō Watanabe
Mangaka: Yuki Kodama
Synopsis: Two students—a successful but aloof academic and a rebellious but kindhearted delinquent—form a friendship through their love for music.
An emotional, grounded slice-of-life, Kids On the Slope is one of MAPPA’s more understated achievements. Merging a coming-of-age story, the defining friendships of our teen years, and a love of jazz music, the series possesses a low-key charm. This is Shinichirō Watanabe’s (Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy) first anime adaptation based on existing work. He brings his signature grace and style to the smaller, intimate moments. With a profound exploration of male friendship, the series masters subtlety in a medium where the most popular titles are often overwhelmed by the busy and bombastic. Through the demonstration of how a shared interest can ground us, the series is a grounded gem.
6. Banana Fish
Director: Hiroko Utsumi
Mangaka: Akimi Yoshida
Synopsis: A 17-year-old boy, an important member of a New York street gang, witnesses a man dying and tries to find the meaning behind his last words.
“This is a depressing one, but one that’s necessary watching for those looking for LGBTQ+ stories in anime. Adapted into an anime by MAPPA, this series is a cornerstone in BL because of the depth of the dramatic storytelling, the emotional connection between Ash and Eiji, and its ability to tackle substantially difficult subject matter. While the manga is on a whole other level than the anime, this is one to watch if you’re rounding out your knowledge of same-sex romance and stories in the medium. While the series is depressing, and the couple deals with the harsh and terrifying realities of their surroundings, the heart and emotion in this series make it one of the best.”
Watch now on Prime Video.
5. Yuri!!! On Ice
Director: Sayo Yamamoto
Synopsis: On the verge of retirement, skater Yuri Katsuki meets two skaters who rekindle his competitive fire.
Yuri!!! On Ice is many extraordinary things. It is a perfect sports anime and an even better romance. MAPPA brings this story to such great heights through the remarkable emotional journey Yuri (Toshiyuki Toyonaga) goes on and the balletic animation. Through painstaking detail, the series crafts a loving homage to the physically demanding sport of figure skating that, like the sport itself, gives way to something lovely. The show weaves its themes of self-acceptance, love, and how we grow with the aid of others beautifully. The moment the opening hits for the first time, you’re hooked.
4. Vinland Saga S2
Director: Shūhei Yabuta
Mangaka: Makoto Yukimura
Synopsis: Raised by the Vikings who murdered his family after they raided his land, Thorfinn becomes a terrifying warrior, forever seeking to kill the band’s leader, Askeladd, and avenge his father.
An epic tale of revenge and redemption, Vinland Saga Season 2 builds on the momentum of its first. While Season 1 saw Studio Wit at the helm, Season 2 went to MAPPA, although the core creative team remained. Set a year after the events of the first season, Vinland Saga continues to craft an enormously encompassing world with exceptional world-building. Directed by Shūhei Yabuta with character designs from Takahiko Abiru and music by Yutaka Yamada, Vinland Saga and its many ups and downs capture the deeply emotional plight of Thorfinn (Yūto Uemura).
At times unbearably tragic, Season 2 is the perfect inverse to its predecessor. An example of distinctive opposing styles that convalesce into something harmonious, the series takes its muscular animation style and marries it with an enticing, introspective story. Stripping away the first season’s action for something more grounded and earthy, Vinland Saga Season 2 finds its heart while maintaining the strong narrative and visuals.
Watch now on Netflix.
3. Chainsaw Man
Director: Ryū Nakayama, Makoto Nakazono
Mangaka: Tatsuki Fujimoto
Synopsis: Betrayed and killed, a teenager named Denji gets revived as Chainsaw Man, a soul with a devil’s heart.
When it comes to ranking the best MAPPA anime, the third and second spots could easily swap places. Pulsating with rebellion, Chainsaw Man defies expectations. The series gleefully tears apart the shonen formula in a visually rich series that celebrates wanton carnage. Despite the abundance of tragedy that fills the storyline — starting at its center with Denji (Kikunosuke Toya) — the series delivers electric artistry. The tonal balance the series manages is impressive, contrasting the hilarity of Power (Fairouz Ai) in one episode and the misery of Aki (Shogo Sakata) in the next. While season one only has 12 episodes, each one is packed to the brim with story as Denji moves throughout the world with his new devil heart.
From the opening riddled with cinematic homages to twelve distinctive EDs (with “People 1” by Dogland being a particular highlight), there’s no shortage of sonic and visual mayhem. The anime expertly captures Tatsuki Fujimoto’s vision. Chainsaw Man is a rhapsody of humor, guts, and even a smidge of heart. Want peak devastation mixed with beautifully conceptualized animation, editing, and direction? Look no further than a standout sequence with Aki’s longtime friend, Himeno (Mariya Ise), in Episode 8.
2. Jujutsu Kaisen
Director: Sunghoo Park (S1), Shōta Goshozono (S2)
Mangaka:Gege Akutami
Synopsis: Yuuji Itadori searches for the rest of the cursed talisman to exorcise himself.
Viewers needn’t look further than the first portion of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 to find proof of the series’ excellence. Despite its rough-around-the-edges stumbles, the Hidden Inventory arc is a narrative beauty. Like Chainsaw Man, Gege Akutami’s work about sorcerers and curses takes viewers’ shonen expectations and volleys them out of reach. The entirety of Season 2 demonstrates some of the finest action animation in the medium.
The series captures the dexterous athleticism of Yuji (Junya Enoki) and Choso’s (Daisuke Namikawa) standoff at Sukuna’s wreckage. But while many will point to the Shibuya Incident as the defining point of the series, it’s the Hidden Inventory portion that highlights why the series’s greatest strengths. With director Shōta Goshozono at the helm, the show redefined its purpose. Fueled by grief, the threat of stolen innocence, and the minute-for-minute wear and tear that strips us of our souls. Jujutsu Kaisen often swings big and, when it connects, delivers staggering profundity.
1. Dororo
Director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Mangaka: Osamu Tezuka
Synopsis: A mysterious warrior with prosthetic limbs and a young orphan thief travel across Japan fighting demons threatening humanity.
When it comes to the best MAPPA anime, Dororo sits at the top. Produced with Tezuka Productions, Dororo is a sublime masterpiece. The series possesses a dizzying amount of action that displays true, refined skill through bombastic, stomach-churning, breath-stealing moments. But the beauty of Dororo is how it steals viewers for simple, gravity-defying action before settling into something more character-driven and emotional.
A re-adaption from the 1969 series, the story about the young ronin, Hyakkimaru, and his unlikely ally, Dororo, is beautifully executed. As the two traverse Sengoku-era Japan to fight demons to reclaim his stolen body parts, the series grapples with elements of found family, trauma, and the scars we bear and how we shoulder them.
Despite its often weighty subject matter that details the horrors of war, the series still manages to hone in on the heart and hope. In a story of ultimate healing and the catharsis of being born anew, Dororo triumphs. From the Queen Bee OP to the precision of action by director Kazuhiro Furuhashi, every layer of the story excels. At times, it is haunting, horrific, and heartwarming. How they thread the needle to make it all harmonious and cohesive makes it the best anime MAPPA has produced to date.
Watch now on Prime Video.
As the incredible directors, writers, animators, storyboarders, etc., continue to produce new work for MAPPA, the more terrific anime we have on our hands.
