Anime is such a rewarding storytelling medium because it’s never experienced a true period of creative drought. Each decade has its share of breakout successes and disappointing failures as different trends are explored, and while some 2000s anime struggled to get out of the shadows of the ’90s, it’s also home to influential evergreen classics like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Death Note.
While the breakout hits of the 2000s, such as anime like Samurai Champloo, tend to get the most attention, there are plenty of amazing series that have flown under the radar. Anime like Princess Tutu may have flown under the radar, but they’re still masterpieces decades later.
Hikaru No Go Is a Supernatural Coming-of-Age Epic
Sports anime are an underrated genre that typically have an extremely passionate fandom. Some anime, like Hikaru no Go, focus on more niche games, like Go. Hikaru no Go is a coming-of-age supernatural sports series in which a young boy, Hikaru, finds a haunted Go board that leaves him possessed by a legendary Heian-era Go expert.
Imbued with Sai’s spirit, Hikaru takes the Go world by storm in an infinitely engaging 75-episode epic. Hikaru no Go embraces the standard coming-of-age underdog narrative that’s par for the course in shonen sports anime, but the supernatural element is enough of a wild card to mix things up, subvert expectations, and craft a one-of-a-kind relationship between Hikaru and this smart specter.
Hikaru’s growth throughout the anime feels authentic and earned, as does the rivalry that develops with Akira Toya. The anime also provides genuine Go strategies and knowledge of the game so that Hikaru no Go is accessible even to those who have never played Go before. Hikaru no Go prides itself on not being an overly flashy series, which is perhaps why it’s slipped through the cracks.
Birdy The Mighty: Decode Is a Subversive Superhero Power Fantasy
Birdy the Mighty: Decode is one of the best superhero anime that nobody knows about, despite how its hyperbolized battle sequences helped inspire the choreography for Superman’s fight against Zod in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. Birdy the Mighty‘s four-episode OVA from the ’90s is a good proof of concept, but Birdy the Mighty: Decode surpasses it in every regard.
The two-season and 26-episode anime follows the chaotic crime-fighting exploits of an unlikely duo who are forced to share a body. Birdy, a supersoldier and member of the Space Federation Police, must integrate a wounded high school student, Tsutomu, into her body until his physical body is fully restored.
Birdy’s powers, while extreme, don’t register as some generic super ability. There’s a very distinct identity to everything that Birdy the Mighty: Decode does, rather than just going with the flow. Even the anime’s ongoing structure challenges itself and breaks free of its own patterns.
Birdy the Mighty: Decode begins as a well-plotted procedural series where different crimes and cases are tackled each week, only to gradually evolve into a darker anime with intense psychological thriller elements. Cascading consequences add serious stakes to the anime’s second season.
Princess Tutu Is a Fantastic Modern Fairy Tale That Subverts Magical Girl Anime
Magical girl anime were in the middle of a creative renaissance during the 2000s and 2010s. While titles like Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Magical Girl Raising Project opted for darker, psychological spins on the genre, Princess Tutu goes in the opposite direction with its delicate balance of ballet and subversive fairy tale tropes.
Many magical girl anime follow ordinary girls who gain a greater sense of agency, freedom, and strength when they transform into a magical girl. Princess Tutu pushes this premise even further when a duck transforms into a magical ballerina, Princess Tutu, who strives to restore the shattered pieces of a prince’s heart. Princess Tutu treats dance as her superpower.
Intricate ballet routines are used to settle disputes between characters as opposed to magical feuds. All this adds a stylized element to Princess Tutu’s journey that makes it feel even more like a modern fairy tale that builds upon classics like Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.
Ahiru’s empowerment as Princess Tutu, as well as her budding romance with Prince Mytho, are the anime’s priorities. However, nobody ever feels like a one-dimensional caricature in Princess Tutu. Its world, rules, and supporting players all ring true.
Ergo Proxy Is a Cyberpunk Psychological Thriller With a Rogue AI
The 2000s were a decade that embraced angst and existential dread in a lot of its programming. There’s an abundance of cynical anime series that are set in bleak dystopian worlds that somehow manage to knock their characters down even further when everything is said and done. Ergo Proxy fits this template, yet it’s one of the better examples of nihilistic cyberpunk storytelling.
Ergo Proxy’s apathy towards kindness and the growing schism that’s formed between cyborgs and humans actually has something deeper to say and it’s not just interested in criticizing society. It takes a page out of Ghost in the Shell‘s book as it engages in a philosophical exploration of identity, memory, and fate. A rogue virus causes AI robots to rebel, and a growing unease and paranoia set in.
Re-l Mayer gets to the bottom of an engrossing conspiracy, but she also learns just as much about herself and her greater role in the world. Ergo Proxy succeeds with the psychological thriller mystery that it unravels, as well as its futuristic depiction of society, but it’s also one of anime’s most astute explorations of Gnosticism. It’s an anime in which a new layer is discovered with every watch.
Darker Than Black Is a Forgotten Superhero Anime
Darker Than Black is set in a supernaturally infused version of Tokyo. It follows Hei, an agent with special abilities who keeps tabs on the many malevolent mysteries and crimes in the city. Darker Than Black is an ambitious blend of hard-boiled noir mysteries with a stylized supernatural edge. Its characters are complex and conflicted, torn between extremes and not sure where the truth lies in this corrupt world.
Hei toes the line between heroic and terrifying. Despite Hei’s selfless and protective nature, he’s still willing to kill when the occasion calls for it. Darker Than Black‘s central Contractor system is a fascinating distillation of the lengths that individuals are willing to go for more power. Contractors can gain special supernatural abilities, but it costs them pieces of their humanity as the price.
This forces individuals to make difficult sacrifices that are sometimes selfishly driven or for the greater good. It’s a rich power system to add to a paranoid world that’s full of spies, assassins, and superpowered vigilantes. Darker Than Black’s story has lasted longer than many expected, and yet it’s never compromised its vision or gone off the rails. It’s still sublime spy storytelling.