You Need to Watch Netflix’s 7 Best Original Anime At Least Once
Polygon highlights seven Netflix Original anime as standout alternatives to Crunchyroll’s much larger catalogue, arguing that Netflix has built a worthwhile collection of exclusive films and series. The selections matter because they show the platform offering distinctive science fiction, fantasy, horror and character-driven stories, rather than simply competing for the biggest current releases.
– Blame! — a gritty cyberpunk film about Killy’s search for a genetic marker that could restore humanity’s control over a vast dystopian city.
– Dorohedoro — an absurdist, violent and funny series following the amnesiac, lizard-headed Caiman as he seeks revenge on the sorcerer who transformed him.
– Cyberpunk: Edgerunners — a tragic standalone story set in Night City, charting David Martinez’s rise as a cybernetically enhanced outlaw.
– Devilman Crybaby — a dark, emotionally intense reworking of Go Nagai’s demon-horror classic.
– Violet Evergarden — a visually lavish drama about a former child soldier learning to understand love and human emotion.
– Pluto — a thoughtful science-fiction mystery adapting Naoki Urasawa’s acclaimed reinterpretation of Astro Boy.
– Beastars — a stylised drama using an animal society to explore prejudice, identity and desire.
- Netflix has several acclaimed exclusive anime beyond mainstream streaming hits.
- Cyberpunk, horror and emotional drama feature prominently.
- The list presents seven titles as essential viewing.
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Netflix produces and exclusively streams some animated series and films from Japan, known as anime. Although specialist service Crunchyroll has a much larger library, Netflix has commissioned and acquired titles that range from action and horror to science fiction and drama.
The seven works mentioned are separate stories rather than one shared series, and most can be watched without prior knowledge of other anime. They include adaptations of influential Japanese comics as well as original stories, with settings such as futuristic cities, fantasy worlds and societies of human-like animals.
They matter because streaming services increasingly compete not only for popular ongoing series but also for distinctive exclusive programmes. These titles show the variety within anime, from violent genre stories to quieter dramas about memory, identity and relationships.