There is a reason anime fans were excited for the launch of HBO Max.
The rookie streaming service houses entire catalogs of some of the best series and films the genre has to offer. Of course, even if you’re a hardcore stan, you’ll need some help sorting through which to add to your bingeing queue, so we’ve curated this list of eclectic offerings. From teen romance to feudal Japan, murder mysteries, and medieval fantasies, there’s something for everyone.
Here are the best anime series on HBO Max right now.
Erased
1 season, 12 episodes | IMDb: 8.5/10
This time-travel drama offers an inventive twist on your normal anime fare, turning the story of a young man trying to prevent his mother’s death into a winding mystery filled with fantasy tropes and colorful characters. Satoru Fujinuma experiences something called “Revivals,” tiny jumps back in time that let him help others and prevent tragedies. But when he’s sent 18 years into the past to solve a string of kidnappings somehow related to his mother’s future death, things get complicated.
Your Lie In April
1 season, 22 episodes | IMDb: 8.6/10
Another really cool take on the anime world, this music-infused series leans heavy on the drama to give us a truly moving love story. Kousei Arima is a piano prodigy who loses his hearing and desire to play after the death of his mother. It’s only when he meets a talented violin player named Kaori that he finds a passion for life and for his art, again.
91 Days
1 season, 12 episodes | IMDb: 7.7/10
Again, if you thought you knew the limits of anime, the shows on HBO Max are proving you thought wrong — this one chief among them. Set in prohibition era Illinois, the story follows a man named Angelo Lagusa who infiltrates the Mob to hunt down the Mafia don responsible for murdering his family. The title comes from his deadline to get the job done.
Mob Psycho 100
2 seasons, 25 episodes | IMDb: 8.5/10
Exorcisms? High school romance? This new anime has everything. Shigeo Kageyama (Mob) is an esper, a psychic who can rid people of the evil spirits inhabiting them. He’s also a bit of a loner who struggles to keep his emotions — and thus, his powers — in check. He trains under a con-man posing as a psychic because he just wants to live a normal life, but trouble follows this kid wherever he goes.
Berserk
2 seasons, 26 episodes | IMDb: 6.9/10
Warning: This anime series is dark and brutal. Like Game of Thrones’ “Battle of the Bastards” level brutal. Set in a fantastical medieval world, the story follows a swordsman named Guts who’s branded with a mark that attracts all kinds of nasty creatures. To free himself from it, he’ll have to go on a revenge-filled quest with his band of mercenaries that begins (and probably ends) with plenty of bloodshed.
Rurouni Kenshin
3 seasons, 95 episodes | IMDb: 8.5/10
This classic anime series ventures deep into the world of the Samurai, following a wandering young swordsman in feudal Japan. Kenshin Himura, once a merciless killer, now travels the land helping others in penance for his earlier sins. He comes across a struggling dojo where he finds a chance to start over again.
The Promised Neverland
1 season, 13 episodes | IMDb: 8.7/10
A group of intellectually gifted orphans discover a dark secret about their origins in this inventive anime series. There are some dark, fantasy vibes at play here as the 38 siblings living in a seemingly idyllic abode break their Mother’s one rule, opening up a world of secrets and betrayal in the process. We’re suckers for a good mystery and this has the added benefit of a truly suspect parental figure to heighten the tension.
Schwarzesmarken
1 season, 12 episodes | IMDb: 5.9/10
Okay, truth? We’re not sure why this alternate-world anime doesn’t have a better rating from critics. Chalk it up to bad taste we guess because this thing is a wild ride. In 1983 East Germany, the show reimagines history’s biggest wars as the consequences of an alien invasion and fueled by robotic machinery. A group of badass fighters is tasked with keeping the peace and taking out their enemies, but they’ve got just as many battles at home as they do out in the field.
Re:Zero – Starting Life In Another World
2 seasons, 65 episodes | IMDb: 8/10
Stuck in a time loop from Hell, Subaru Natsuki is a young man forced to contend with elves, supernatural abilities, and his own role in a much larger game in this fantasy-tinged series. Natsuki is transported to another world on his way home from school, befriending an elven girl who saves him and going on a quest that tests his faith and belief in the mystical.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
1 season, 69 episodes | IMDb: 9.1/10
This is a series that even non-fans have probably heard of, and here’s the reason: It’s just so damn good. It follows two brothers, Edward and Alphonse, who go searching for the famed Philosopher’s Stone after an attempt to bring their mother back from the dead goes… well, not good. Their journey is filled with screw-ups, buried in legends, and packed with action, but the thing that really works here is the bond between the two siblings.
