What are the essential cultural anime every fan should watch?

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No such thing as a "must watch" list for anime or any other media. Even if something was foundational or culturally relevant, it doesn't mean it's going to be to everyone's taste and everyone needs to watch it.

Naruto and Shippuden ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anything I've rated 8 and up with plenty of my 7s thrown in. My list is linked in my username.

Akira

Ghost in a Shell

Sailor Moon

Azumanga Daioh

Lucky☆Star

Kill la Kill

K-On!

Monster Musume

Nichijou

WataMote

...I would not actually consider Tokyo Ghoul to be a "show that shaped anime as a medium or are widely regarded as essential viewing."

My suggestions would probably include (in no particular order)—Neon Genesis Evangelion, Mobile Suit Gundam, Ghibli films, Lupin III, Urusei Yatsura, Akira, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Azumanga Daioh, K-On, Psycho-Pass, Ghost in the Shell, Sailor Moon, Minky Momo, Macross, Ashita no Joe, Perfect Blue (and other Satoshi Kon films), Your Name, Future Boy Conan, Space Battleship Yamato, The Tatami Galaxy, Clannad, Madoka Magica...

...I could go on, but I'll leave it there for now.

Quite surprised you didn't mention Evangelion.

Off the top of my head, Maria-sama ga Miteru for yuri, Mushoku Tensei for isekai, Mobile Suit Gundam for mecha, Madoka Magica for the modern magical girl are some of the foundational genre-definers.

Even tho i wouldn’t recommend a few of them personally i would considering them having an impact on anime and how it evolved:


- [ ] The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya
- [ ] Evangelion
- [ ] Spirited Away
- [ ] Spice and Wolf
- [ ] Soul Eater
- [ ] Stein Gate
- [ ] Angle Beats or Clannad
- [ ] Noragami
- [ ] No Game No Life
- [ ] SAO
- [ ] ReZero
- [ ] Kimi No Na Wa
- [ ] AoT S1
- [ ] Urusei Yatsura or Ranma 1/2
- [ ] Fate
- [ ] Akira
- [ ] Ergo Proxy or Lain
- [ ] Deadmam Wonderland
- [ ] Highschool DD
- [ ] Date a Live
- [ ] Tokyo ghoul
- [ ] Kill la Kill

There arent any.

Watch what interests you and what you enjoy.

A lot of the series you named I have zero interest in watching or tried to watch and disliked.

Hay animes interesantes, tanto antiguas como reciente y en emisión.


Usted solo vea lo que le llame la atención y disfruta 

I think Invincible could be a great option to watch, or death note, those shows are goat

It does differ a lot how you measure relevance.

In Japan, something like Doraemon is similar to The Simpsons in the US, but outside of Japan, its impact is much smaller.

Something like Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura are hugely influential for the magical girl genre, and had a huge impact around the world, but are rarely talked about anymore outside discussions about that particular genre.

There might also be regional bias when it comes to answering your question: is something like Maison Ikkoku more relevant than Kimagure Orange Road? Maybe, but Kimagure Orange Road aired a lot in my country's tv when I was a teenager, so I do have a lot of bias in that regard...

So, I could try to give you my ideas, but it would be very hard to know how much it is truly culturally relevant and how much of it is my bias.

> Shows that shaped anime as a medium or are widely regarded as essential viewing

I'm going to focus on this bit. A show being very popular doesn't necessarily make it essential viewing from this sort of perspective (Tokyo Ghoul would be one of them actually, I don't think it's essential viewing and that everyone has seen it). Here are some important works to anime's canon from many decades (but far from everything) off the top of my head:

- Astro Boy
- Sally the Witch
- Ashita no Joe
- Heidi: Girl of the Alps
- The Rose of Versailles
- Mobile Suit Gundam
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
- Macross
- Urusei Yatsura
- Dragon Ball
- Akira
- My Neighbor Totoro
- Sailor Moon
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Ghost in the Shell
- Revolutionary Girl Utena
- Azumanga Daioh
- Futari wa Precure
- The Familiar of Zero
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Paprika
- The Monogatari Series
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- K-On!
- Madoka Magica
- Sword Art Online
- Attack on Titan
- Your Name.
- Re:Zero
- Demon Slayer
- Umamusume: Pretty Derby
- Solo Leveling

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: for having one of the biggest mecha on fiction

Ashita no Joe and Akira: One of the most referenced anime in media

Uma Musume Pretty Derby: immortalized stories of real racehorses

Azumanga Daioh: Originates the term "waifu"

There is no "must watch". There are must watches for certain genres, for certain demographics or certain eras. That said you said you are open to pretty much everything so I guess stuff I think is important for each decade (I am trying to keep it to 5 or under, there is so much more than that) - not going to do the 2020s, since I honestly feel I need to watch more from the decade, and it's not over:

**70s**

- Future Boy Conan - One of Miyazaki's first big works, probably one of the best looking 70s anime

- Ashita no Joe - skip to S2 after EP 54 - rest is filler/canon stuff adapted better in S2 anyway - very important to the shonen demographic/sports works in general

- Rose of Versailles - helped inspire a lot of later shojo/shojo inspired media.

- Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 - Helped build the real robot mecha genre. Tomino in general is probably one of the most influential creators.

**80s**

- Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Watch the first two prequel films then skip to EP3 of the main OVA. There is also the Gaiden prequel that is worth watching - my personal favorite anime

- Maison Ikkoku - One of the best works of renowned creator Rumiko Takahashi.

- Akira - Not a big fan of it myself however, no one can deny it's influence.

- Dragon Ball - At the very least watching Z and the original series. While I do appreciate the more gag focused first arc, that one you might have to tank through but it does build, and yeah like it basically helped build the modern battle shonen.

- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - One of Miyazaki's first really big films (Ghilbi - I know Nausicaa wasn't Ghilbi - could fit in every decade, but this is his most notable work to me).

- Gunbuster - Very important hit for Anno, who is going to go on and make another very important work.

**90s**

- Cowboy Bebop - Really helped anime take off in the West. The Space Western episodic storytelling jived with Western audiences, and still holds up.

- Ghost in the Shell - will cheat and say you should watch this and the 2002/04 SAC series (which is even better than the 95 film). Yeah very influential for sci fi media in general, also we do have a remake coming out this year so no better time like the present.

- Revolutionary Girl Utena - Pretty important work for media targeted at the female market. Art style, and even controversial themes, and subversions of the classic prince saving the princess trope, are quite notable.

- Neon Genesis Evangelion - outside of Dragon Ball this is probably one of the more influential anime ever made. Huge hit in the 90s, by of course Anno. Original series -> End of Evangelion -> and the recently finished Rebuilds are how you watch it.

- Perfect Blue - One of famed director Satoshi Kon's famous horror films, that tackles real life issues, that the fucked up idol industry often faces.

**2000s**

- Naruto - I wouldn't say it's too late to get into the "Big 3". These works did help defined the 2000s, and while they have their issues (like bad pacing/filler etc) there are guides to help you there. Manga is also an option. Naruto I think is better than Bleach, and it's just not the same level of commitment as One Piece. Plus unlike One Piece, I actually think it's fine to just watch the anime, through with a guide (though the pacing can get annoying later on). Unlike OP which eventually goes to the unwatchable category, where I recommend the manga...still we have hopefully a good remake coming out soon, by a reputable studio that should pace it better.

- Clannad and Clannad After Story - Probably one of the most impactful romance anime that came out in this decade.

- Death Note - I think if you want a more critically well rated, and in my opinion better crime drama go watch Monster, from this decade, however, DN is definitely more popular/more influential.

- Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood/FMA 03 is worth watching - Yeah there is a reason this work did have the dominance, on many aggregate sites for awhile. Good narrative, good ending, good themes/morals.

- K-On! - Very important to the explosion of popularity of the CGDCT (cute girls do cute things genre). I would also throw in Haruhi too, for the similar important of the school life genre, also very very important, though I didn't want to throw on too many school anime shows.

**2010s** - discounting what you have watched, since it's mainly 2010s shows

- Madoka Magica - Important subversion of the magical girl genre. Very popular series from the 2010s.

- Mob Psycho 100 - Personally I think it's ONE's best work (creator of OPM). Great action comedy.

- March Comes in Like a Lion - My personal favorite drama anime. Hits on a lot of hard hitting issues like depression while being somewhat positive.

- Vinland Saga - The notable historical drama of this decade. Very good, happy it did end up getting a good adaption.

- Ping Pong the Animation - Probably my favorite sports anime, and it also possess a very unique art style.

I think Naruto’s chakra system is the quintessential foundational power system.

You should definitely check out Rurouni Kenshin, they are working on remaking it and I haven’t watched it all yet so I can only truly vouch for how amazing the original is.

As no one has said it yet, in the multiple relies:

Ninja Scroll

I think every anime fan should watch Kanon, Clannad, and Clannad Afterstory.

Also they need to be forced to sit through Oreimo. You can’t be an anime fan without watching it.

It's hard to answer this. It will vary based on where you live. My experience, from being in the community and going to cons over the years is that there are undeniable classics, and then anime everyone watched due to ease of access and popularity (not that they weren't great of course). Production was slower, and access to anime harder back in the day. If it played on a TV slot most people could watch it. Or you had to find in depths of internet or get a DVD or VHS were the options before streaming. So if it was accessible with subs or a dub it was watched. And those animes would shape the culture which was seen at cons. Now there is still undeniable classics and popular works and indie darlings too, but more variety so not everyone is sharing the same anime culture experience anymore.

But also just enjoy what you enjoy. Is Evangelion a classic? Yes. Have I seen it? No, because I just can't get into mech animes. There is so much out there spend your time on what you like.

I would recommend looking into directors, animators, pillars in the industry that helped shape it and finds works that way that might interest you. Miyazaki, Makoto Shinkai, Satoshi Kon, Shinichiro Watanabe, Takeshi Koike, Akira Toriyama, Mamoru Hosoda, Yutaka Nakamura, Naoko Yamada, Tetsuro Araki etc. just a few to name.

Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni, 2017) - this certainly wasn't the first anime to use CGI, but it was the first to prove that what was **primarily** a CGI production could look fantastic. It was also a perfect fit for its source material.

When I say that it wasn't primarily a CGI, I mean that 2D guides were used in parts, such as for facial expressions, action choreography and some special effects. Nevertheless, the base models and most of the movement was rendered in 3D.

There's no such list. It's arbitrary.

That's a whole lot of shonen in your list. If you're going to go shonen-heavy you should add **Assassination Classroom** to your list. I think you have too much already.

**K-On** - It popularized a genre

**Bakemonegatari** - The show is highly unique and epitomizes the "boy helps girls with supernatural drama" genre. It's also captivating.

**Madoka Magica** - Just watch it. The less you know going in, the better.

**Nichijou** - It's as good a representation of quirky comedy as any, with the added bonus of being an example of KyoAni flexing their animation muscles.

I think **Fruits Basket (2019)** is a little long for what it is, but so are a lot of shows on your list. It is a great drama, and Tohru Honda might be the sweetest character in all of anime.