Even though Game of Thrones dropped the ball during its final season, it’s still hailed as one of the greatest fantasy series of all time. The series’ staying power comes down to its incredible writing, with richly crafted characters and plot twists that genuinely shocked viewers, even though the show was adapting books that had been around for years.
While the highs of Game of Thrones are hard to top, some anime series, including period dramas like The Apothecary Diaries and psychological thrillers like Monster. Viewers who miss the kind of pulse-pounding storytelling Game of Thrones delivered across its first four seasons will find the same thrills in these phenomenal anime.
Madoka Magica Tells a Nearly Flawless Story Across 12 Episodes
From virtually every angle, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is as close to perfect as an anime can get. Along with being one of the most gorgeously animated series of the 2010s, the dark magical girl anime succeeds at telling a heartbreaking story with meaningful themes, an iconic cast of characters, and endless shocking twists. The plotting of Madoka Magica is some of anime’s best, and the way everything comes together in the end is majestic.
Madoka Magica is infamous for kickstarting the 2010s trend of edgy magical girl series, but it succeeds in every way that all of its knock-offs fail. Rather than being a deconstruction of magical girl anime, its story is a reconstruction of the genre. For as bleak and sad as its story can be, its ending and message are ultimately hopeful ones, and it pays due respect to the magical girl anime that came before it.
Hunter X Hunter Is the Best-Written Shonen Anime of All Time
Shonen anime often carry a negative reputation for being immensely popular in spite of their writing, but, Hunter X Hunter is one of the biggest exceptions to this. An anime specifically designed to subvert what’s expected of the genre, Hunter X Hunter challenges what it means to be a battle Shonen.
Depending on which arc of Hunter X Hunter is being discussed, it can either be about a young boy going on adventures with his friends as they fight to achieve their dreams, a genocide survivor attempting to take his revenge on a crime syndicate in a noir thriller setting, or a war that exposes the darkness and evil of humanity.
Some arcs are absolutely stronger than others, but the series maintains a consistently high-quality, and it’s never predictable what will happen next. Hunter X Hunter is also notably far more character-driven than action-driven, and this pays off in spades, especially with its cast of villains being among the best in any medium.
The Apothecary Diaries Is a One-of-a-Kind Mystery Anime
The Apothecary Diaries only premiered in 2023, but it’s already become one of the most beloved non-action anime of all time. Following Maomao, a young apothecary who unwillingly becomes the chief problem solver within her country’s royal palace, the series is a sharply written drama that flawlessly blends genres together.
Ultimately, the key to The Apothecary Diaries being so versatile is Maomao herself. One of the most interesting, fun, and unique protagonists in fiction, the combination of her strong personality, genius mind, and status as a thoroughly unreliable narrator allows the anime to make the most of all its plot lines, be they episodic or serialized.
Revolutionary Girl Utena Has the Best Writing of Any ’90s Anime
Few anime have ever been as bold, imaginative, and complex as Revolutionary Girl Utena. A surrealist masterpiece, the ’90s magical girl anime is infamously difficult to follow, but for those who can decipher the series’ genius visual storytelling, it’s a treat like no other.
Utena’s characters are messy and complex, the series tackles mature subject matter with the seriousness anime is ever willing to, and its core love story is one of the best in the medium. Revolutionary Girl Utena follows its eponymous heroine as her desire to protect her friend Anthy leads to her being forced into a dueling competition to determine who will gain the power of the Rose Bride.
Monster Is Anime’s Best-Written Thriller
If there’s any anime that Game of Thrones fans who’ve never seen an anime before should watch, it’s Monster. Devoid of the many infamous anime tropes that might potentially chase off non-anime fans, Monster is a straight thriller, and a genius one at that. Its story is consistently gripping and engaging, its mysteries are intriguing, and its main villain, Johan Liebert, is among the greatest of all time.
Monster tells the story of a surgeon who, years ago, saved the life of a baby who grew up to be a monstrous serial killer, and who’s now destroyed his life. The tension in the series remains consistently high throughout as Kenzo Tenma struggles to bring Johan down, survive, and uncover the conspiracies he quickly becomes entangled in.
Fruits Basket Is One of the Most Acclaimed Shojo Anime Ever Made
Fruits Basket is a classic, and one that’s maintained its popularity for decades for good reason. The fantasy romcom follows Tohru Honda, a kind but troubled young girl, as she bonds with the cursed Sohma family, with the two parties helping to heal each other’s emotional wounds.
While Fruits Basket‘s original anime is charming, the 2019 series, which fully adapts the manga, is a true masterpiece. It offers one of the greatest casts of any Shojo anime, a captivating romance, and countless emotional and heartwarming moments. Fruits Basket gets better and better as it goes, continuously developing its main characters all the way through.
As it digs into each of them, the series gets progressively more impactful, and it easily manages to evoke feelings of rage, joy, sadness and more constantly. Its twists are unexpected, its drama is palpable, and tying everything together is one of anime’s most underrated and misunderstood protagonists.
March Comes in Like a Lion Is Masterfully Written and Gorgeously Animated
March Comes in Like a Lion is the type of anime that would be nothing without its impeccably strong writing. While it does look wonderful, it’s a slice-of-life series about a shogi player struggling with depression and social isolation. There would be nothing to latch onto here if March Comes in Like a Lion didn’t execute its concept flawlessly, but that’s exactly what it does.
It manages to invest audiences in its characters and their personal struggles with the same ease by which it makes viewers care about shogi competitions. The personal development of Rei Kiriyama and those around him is as top-class as one could hope for, and the development of their relationships with each other is equally impressive.
Odd Taxi Is a Drama on Par With Any Western Prestige Television
Odd Taxi may look ridiculous with its cartoonish art style and cast of anthropomorphic animals, but it’s actually one of the most grounded anime of the past fifteen years. The series follows Hiroshi Odokawa, a quiet taxi driver who slowly becomes entangled in the brutal lives of some of his passengers.
It’s a straightforward, character-driven drama, and one that succeeds on the back of its well-realized characters, impeccable dialogue, and expertly constructed plot. The early episodes of Odd Taxi are some of the anime’s best, as they flawlessly balance humor and charm, tense moments, and a distinctly melancholy tone.
That’s not to say the series drops in quality as its storylines come together, and the drama escalates, just these first few are truly something special. Looking at its entire run, Odd Taxi uses its seemingly simple characters to explore topics such as addiction, the dark sides of social media and the entertainment industry, the horrors of financial debt, and mental health issues.
Nana Has Been the Queen of Shojo Anime For Decades
No Shojo anime has ever received as much acclaim as Nana, and that largely stems from the ways it plays into the strengths of the genre, while also doing things completely differently from any other series. While, like many Shojo, Nana centers around love and romance, it does so in the most unusually messy and mature of ways, highlighting the dark sides of these concepts.
It’s brutally realistic, but not entirely dour, as there are still plenty of bright and funny moments, and the friendship at the core of the series is one of the greatest in all of anime. Nana follows two women with the same name but opposite personalities as they become roommates and attempt to fulfill their professional and romantic dreams.
Both Nana O. and Nana K, better known as Hachi, are beautifully complex characters, and rare examples of adults in anime who get to be the leads of a serious, adult story. Nana is a painful heartbreaker to be sure, but one that many have related to and found comfort in for decades.
Takopi’s Original Sin Is One of the Saddest and Most Realistic Anime of All Time
Takopi’s Original Sin only premiered in 2025, but there’s already a strong argument to be made that it’s the best-written six-episode anime ever. An utterly devastating and heartbreaking examination of familial trauma, the cycle of abuse, depression, and the lack of clear-cut morality in the world, Takopi’s Original Sin uses its cute aesthetic and adorable mascot character to lure audiences in before hitting them with a story more impactful than nearly any other.
To be sure, the anime is bolstered by its magnificent animation and direction, but its narrative, characters, and themes would all still be more than strong enough to make the series legendary on their own, even if they were accompanied by lower production value. Takopi’s Original Sin follows Takopi, a naive and sweet alien from the Planet Happy who aims to spread happiness on Earth, but who finds themselves hopelessly incapable of understanding or helping their first human friend, a suicidally depressed elementary school girl.
The anime pulls zero punches as Takopi’s actions only result in Shizuka Kuza’s life becoming filled with greater horrors, and, along the way, it’s able to fully flesh out both of them, as well as the anime’s other two leads, and make audiences desperately root for some kind of happy ending. While the road getting there is filled with bleak moments and shocking twists, the perfectly constructed plot ultimately does give fans an ending that, although bittersweet, is still the best these specific characters could ever truly hope for.