Anime had an absolutely stellar year in 2024, with some huge new releases that had fans around the world excited and thrilled for what's next. In addition to continuing series like One Piece offering up some of the biggest and best episodes to date, 2024 saw a bunch of newcomers that punched well above their weight.
With the year coming to an end, we thought we'd look back at some of the year's anime releases – mostly series, but a movie and a special, too – to come up with the best anime of 2024.
Dan Da Dan
Dan Da Dan is the best anime of 2024 by a pretty wide margin, and one of the best anime ever made. At the time of writing, it's just wrapped up its first season, and it was a phenomenal master class in character design, animation, color theory, and sound design. There's almost no aspect of Dan Da Dan that falls behind or doesn't absolutely stun viewers, and its lovely story and action-packed fight scenes are both some of the best in anime to date. If you watch any anime from this year, make it Dan Da Dan.
Delicious in Dungeon
Delicious in Dungeon was not much of a sleeper hit — the manga it's based on has been doing the rounds for a while now, and with Trigger behind it, it was sure to be a banger. And sure enough, it was. Delicious in Dungeon is packed with a delicious blend of comedy, drama, and pure emotion, all packaged up in a gorgeous art style that's quite unlike most anime on the market right now. It's truly wonderful — although if you're squeamish, some of the cooking scenes might be just a little too much.
Spy x Family Code: White
Spy x Family is great, and the series' first movie is too. Code: White is essentially just a long (admittedly non-canon) episode of the anime, and that's honestly all it needed to be. It sees the Forger family traveling to a snowy wonderland on holiday, where Anya's natural curiosity causes a tremendous amount of hijinx, as per usual. It's a fun watch, and both the dubbed and the subbed versions are both quite good.
Kaiju No. 8
Everyone expected Kaiju No. 8 to be good, but I don't think anyone expected just how good it would end up being. It's got everything you could want out of an anime series: giant kaiju, a washed-up middle-aged man who's given up on his dreams, an elite squadron of kaiju kaiju killers with great designs, it's all there. Throw in some phenomenal music design, and you've got one of the best anime of the year.
Go Go! Loser Ranger
What if the random goons that the Power Rangers fought against actually fought for change? That's the premise behind Go Go! Loser Ranger, a story that sees one of those random goons secretly infiltrate the series' Power Rangers equivalent to destroy it from the inside. It's wonderfully animated and packed with gorgeous action scenes, and the top-notch comedy slices through like a hot knife through butter. If you liked Power Rangers as a kid (or as an adult) then you owe it to yourself to watch this anime.
One Piece Fan Letter
One Piece Fan Letter is a special episode to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the One Piece anime. As someone who's been watching for almost that long, it really tugs on the heart strings, showing the Straw Hats' reunion on the Sabaody Archipelago in a whole new light with a beautiful art style that I wish the entire series had adopted. I won't spoil it for you, but if you haven't watched it yet, you should do so immediately.
Girls Band Cry
Girls Band Cry is all in the name: it's about girls, in a band, who will make you cry. It's a touching, fascinating series that's as heart wrenching as it is technically impressive. Unlike most anime, Girls Band Cry is entirely developed in 3D CGI animation — it's usually something that can lead to some uncanny valley effect in anime, but here it's absolutely gorgeous. The story is lovely, the music is absolutely wonderful, and now that it's finally on Crunchyroll, you have absolutely no reason not to watch it.
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