Best Japanese drama series

Disregard for alchemy’s laws ripped half of Edward Elric’s limbs from his body and left his brother Alphonse’s soul clinging to a suit of armor. To restore what was lost, the brothers seek the Philosopher’s Stone. Enemies and allies – the corrupt military, the Homunculi, and foreign alchemists – will alter the Elric brothers course, but their purpose will remain unchanged and their bond unbreakable.

With his two friends, a video-game-obsessed young man finds himself in a strange version of Tokyo where they must compete in dangerous games to win.

In a dystopia riddled with corruption and cybernetic implants, a talented but reckless street kid strives to become a mercenary outlaw — an edgerunner.

At the turn of the century, the Angels returned to Earth, seeking to wipe out humanity in an apocalyptic fury. Devastated, mankind's last remnants moved underground to wait for the day when the Angels would come back to finish the job. Fifteen years later, that day has come... but this time, humanity is ready to fight back with terrifying bio-mechanical weapons known as the Evangelions. Watch as Shinji, Rei, Asuka and the rest of the mysterious shadow agency Nerv battle to save earth from total annihilation.

Yuji Itadori is a boy with tremendous physical strength, though he lives a completely ordinary high school life. One day, to save a classmate who has been attacked by curses, he eats the finger of Ryomen Sukuna, taking the curse into his own soul. From then on, he shares one body with Ryomen Sukuna. Guided by the most powerful of sorcerers, Satoru Gojo, Itadori is admitted to Tokyo Jujutsu High School, an organization that fights the curses... and thus begins the heroic tale of a boy who became a curse to exorcise a curse, a life from which he could never turn back.

Satoru Fujinuma is a struggling manga artist who has the ability to turn back time and prevent deaths. When his mother is killed he turns back time to solve the mystery, but ends up back in elementary school, just before the disappearance of his classmate Kayo.

Japan has been invaded and conquered by the Britannian Empire. Japan is now known as Area 11 and its citizens known as Elevens. The Britannian Empire takes away Japan's autonomous power and imposes its rule through the use of Knightmares. The Empire's rule has never faltered, but cracks have begun to show...

Ken Kaneki, a bookworm college student, meets Rize, a girl his own age with whom he shares many interests.

A species of parasitic aliens descends on Earth and quickly infiltrates humanity by entering the brains of vulnerable targets; insatiable beings that gain total control of their host and are capable of transforming themselves to feed on unsuspecting prey. High school student Shinichi Izumi falls victim to one of these parasites, but the creature fails to take over his brain and ends up in his right hand.

For a thousand years, the Vikings have made quite a name and reputation for themselves as the strongest families with a thirst for violence. Thorfinn, the son of one of the Vikings' greatest warriors, spends his boyhood in a battlefield enhancing his skills in his adventure to redeem his most-desired revenge after his father was murdered.

Break-dancing but fierce warrior Mugen has to deal with the cold-blooded and conceited Jin, a samurai who believes he is above all. These sworn enemies are brought together by Fuu for a special task.

The Diclonius, a mutated homo sapien that is said to be selected by God and will eventually become the destruction of mankind, possesses two horns in their heads, and has a "sixth sense" which gives it telekinetic abilities. Due to this dangerous power, they have been captured and isolated in laboratories by the government. Lucy, a young and psychotic Diclonius, manages to break free of her confines and brutally murder most of the guards in the laboratory, only to get shot in the head as she makes her escape. She survives and manages to drift along to a beach, where two teenagers named Kouta and Yuka discovers her. Having lost her memories, she was named after the only thing that she can now say, "Nyuu," and the two allow her to stay at Kouta's home. However, it appears that the evil "Lucy" is not dead just yet...

Decades after her party defeated the Demon King, an old friend's funeral launches the elf wizard Frieren on a journey of self-discovery.

The war is over, and Violet Evergarden needs a job. Scarred and emotionless, she takes a job as a letter writer to understand herself and her past.

Natsuki Subaru, an ordinary high school student, is on his way home from the convenience store when he finds himself transported to another world. As he's lost and confused in a new world where he doesn't even know left from right, the only person to reach out to him was a beautiful girl with silver hair. Determined to repay her somehow for saving him from his own despair, Subaru agrees to help the girl find something she's looking for.

Inspired by a small-statured pro volleyball player, Shouyou Hinata creates a volleyball team in his last year of middle school. Unfortunately the team is matched up against the "King of the Court" Tobio Kageyama's team in their first tournament and inevitably lose. After the crushing defeat, Hinata vows to surpass Kageyama. After entering high school, Hinata joins the volleyball team only to find that Tobio has also joined.

Kousei Arima was a genius pianist until his mother's sudden death took away his ability to play. Each day was dull for Kousei. But, then he meets a violinist named Kaori Miyazono who has an eccentric playing style. Can the heartfelt sounds of the girl's violin lead the boy to play the piano again?

Young Tatsumi travels to the capital of the Empire in order to earn money for his starving people and encounters a world of unimaginable depravity, dominated by the ruthless Prime Minister who controls the child Emperor. Tatsumi is recruited by Night Raid, a group of assassins dedicated to eliminating corruption by mercilessly killing officials and privileged nobles.

There is a place after death that’s neither heaven nor hell. A bar that serves you one chance to win. You cannot leave until the game is over, and when it is, your life may be too.

When Kouichi arrives at his new school, he immediately senses something frightening in the atmosphere of his new class, something that no student wants to talk about and that seems to be related to a mysterious and silent girl.

Located in the center of a remote island, the Abyss is the last unexplored region, a huge and treacherous fathomless hole inhabited by strange creatures where only the bravest adventurers descend in search of ancient relics. In the upper levels of the Abyss, Riko, a girl who dreams of becoming an explorer, stumbles upon a mysterious little boy.

The lockers are splattered with blood, the student bodies are piling up and that's not mystery meat they're eating in the cafeteria… it's the faculty! And that's just the start of the worst day of school ever when a nightmarish virus is unleashed, turning humans into flesh eating zombies and converting Fujimi High School into a literal hell on Earth. Now it's a crash course in survival, and the only test or skill that matters is the ability to keep moving, breathing and fighting. Because if nerds, jocks and the surviving staff can't find a way to work together to escape this carnal house of education, they're all going to end up on the menu. And that's assuming there's anyplace safe left to escape to.

Ryūji Takasu is a gentle high school student with a love for housework; but in contrast to his kind nature, he has an intimidating face that often gets him labeled as a delinquent. On the other hand is Taiga Aisaka, a small, doll-like student who is anything but a cute and fragile girl. Equipped with a wooden katana and feisty personality, Taiga is known throughout the school as the "Palmtop Tiger." One day, an embarrassing mistake causes the two students to cross paths. Ryūji discovers that Taiga actually has a sweet side: she has a crush on the popular vice president, Yūsaku Kitamura, who happens to be his best friend. But things only get crazier when Ryūji reveals that he has a crush on Minori Kushieda—Taiga's best friend! Toradora! is a romantic comedy that follows this odd duo as they embark on a quest to help each other with their respective crushes, forming an unlikely alliance in the process.

Angel Beats takes place in the afterlife and focuses on Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. He is enrolled into the afterlife school and meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront — an organization she leads which fights against God. The Battlefront fight against the student council president Angel, a girl with supernatural powers.

A 34-year-old hikikomori is kicked out of his home by his family after the death of his parents. After his eviction, he saves a group of teenagers from being killed by a speeding truck, but loses his life in the process. When he comes to, he realizes he has been reborn as Rudeus Greyrat, in a world of swords and sorcery.

Reality quickly unravels when antisocial Yukiteru is called into a death match against 11 other mentally scarred individuals. Each player has a prophetic device tuned to their personality, giving them control over their future—and the fate of their foes.

Kenzou Tenma, a Japanese brain surgeon in Germany, finds his life in utter turmoil after getting involved with a psychopath that was once a former patient.

Iwatani Naofumi, a run-of-the-mill otaku, finds a book in the library that summons him to another world. He is tasked with joining the sword, spear, and bow as one of the Four Cardinal Heroes and fighting the Waves of Catastrophe as the Shield Hero. Excited by the prospect of a grand adventure, Naofumi sets off with his party. However, merely a few days later, he is betrayed and loses all his money, dignity, and respect. Unable to trust anyone anymore, he employs a slave named Raphtalia and takes on the Waves and the world. But will he really find a way to overturn this desperate situation?

For over a century, the mysterious Hellsing Organization has been secretly protecting the British Empire from the undead. When Sir Integra Hellsing succeeded as the head of the organization, she also inherited the ultimate weapon against these supernatural enemies: Alucard, a rogue vampire possessing mysterious and frightening powers. Now, Hellsing must deal with a more dangerous threat than vampires.

When Yadomi Jinta was a child, he was a central piece in a group of close friends. In time, however, these childhood friends drifted apart, and when they became high school students, they had long ceased to think of each other as friends. One of the friends from that group, Honma Meiko, now has a wish she asks Jinta to fulfil. The problem is, she can't remember what her wish is anymore.

She has a loving family and best friends, laughs and cries from time to time... Madoka Kaname, an eighth grader of Mitakihara middle school, is one of those who lives such a life. One day, she had a very magical encounter. She doesn't know if it happened by chance or by fate yet. This is a fateful encounter that can change her destiny. This is a beginning of the new story of the magical witch girls.

Yukihira Souma's dream is to become a full-time chef in his father's restaurant and surpass his father's culinary skill. But just as Yukihira graduates from middle schools his father, Yukihira Jouichirou, closes down the restaurant to travel and cook around the world. Although downtrodden, Souma's fighting spirit is rekindled by a challenge from Jouichirou which is to survive in an elite culinary school where only 10% of the students graduate. Can Souma survive?

In an alternate version of the present, Tokyo has been decimated by a shocking terrorist attack, and the only hint to the identity of the culprit is a bizarre video uploaded to the internet. The police, baffled by this cryptic clue, are powerless to stop the paranoia spreading across the population. While the world searches for a criminal mastermind to blame for this tragedy, two mysterious children - children who shouldn't even exist - masterfully carry out their heinous plan. Cursed to walk through this world with the names Nine and Twelve, the two combine to form "Sphinx," a clandestine entity determine to wake the people from their slumber - and pull the trigger on this world.

The story follows a team of pirate mercenaries known as the Lagoon Company, that smuggles goods in and around the seas of Southeast Asia in the early to mid 1990s. Their base of operations is located in the fictional harbor city of Roanapur in southeast Thailand near the border of Cambodia.

In a world where beasts of all kinds coexist, a gentle wolf awakens to his own predatory urges as his school deals with a murder within its midst.

The story is set in the distant future. The land is ruined, and humanity establishes the mobile fort city Plantation. Pilots produced inside Plantation live in Mistilteinn, also know as the "birdcage." Children live there knowing nothing of the outside world or the freedom of the sky. Their lives consist of battling to carry out missions. Their enemies are mysterious giant lifeforms known as Kyouryuu, and the children pilot robots called Franxx to face off against them. For the children, riding the Franxx proves their existence. A boy named Hiro is called Code:016, and he was once known as a prodigy. However, he has fallen behind, and his existence seems unnecessary. Not piloting a Franxx is the same as ceasing to exist. One day, a mysterious girl known as "Zero Two" appears before him. Two horns grow out of her head.

Puberty Syndrome—a rumored, mysterious syndrome that only affects those in their puberty. For example, a bunny girl suddenly appeared in front of Sakuta Azusagawa. The bunny girl's real identity is Mai Sakurajima, a teenage celebrity who is currently an inactive high school senior. For some reason, her charming figure does not reflect in the eyes of others. In the course of revealing the mystery behind this phenomenon, Sakuta begins to explore his feelings towards Mai. Set in a city where the skies and seas shine, Sakuta unfolds the meaning behind his bizarre encounters on women with the said syndrome.

High schooler Wakana Gojo wants to become a kashirashi—a master craftsman who makes traditional Japanese Hina dolls. Though he's gung-ho about the craft, he knows nothing about the latest trends, and has a hard time fitting in with his class. The popular kids—especially one girl, Marin Kitagawa—seem like they live in a completely different world. That all changes one day, when she shares an unexpected secret with him, and their completely different worlds collide.

This story focuses primarily on the heroine Rin Tohsaka. After her father’s death, Rin enters the Holy Grail War as the sole heir to the prestigious Tohsaka Household, with her servant Archer. But, she soon finds out that Shirou Emiya, a boy from her high school has gotten himself involved in the battles and unexpectedly saves him when he is fatally injured. Before long, Rin sets out to strike down the conspiracies surrounding the Holy Grail War along with Shirou and his summoned servant Saber. And so, the story begins to explore the truth behind Shirou’s powers and the nature behind his unyielding will to become a “hero.”

In the story, Kagami Taiga has just enrolled into Seirin High School when he meets Kuroko Tetsuya of the school's basketball team. Kuroko happens to be the shadowy sixth member of the legendary Generation of Miracles basketball team. Together, Kagami and Kuroko aim to take their team to the inter-high school championship - against Kuroko's former teammates.

While on the verge of retirement, skater Yuri Katsuki meets Yuri Plisetsky and Victor Nikiforov, two skaters who rekindle his competitive fire.

Lain—driven by the abrupt suicide of a classmate—logs on to the Wired and promptly loses herself in a twisted mass of hallucinations, memories, and interconnected-psyches.

New student Haruhi stumbles on the Ouran High School Host Club, an all-male group that makes money by entertaining the girls of the school.

A secret life is the one thing they have in common. At school, Hori is a prim and perfect social butterfly, but the truth is she's a brash homebody. Meanwhile, under a gloomy facade, Miyamura hides a gentle heart, along with piercings and tattoos. In a chance meeting, they both reveal a side they've never shown. Could this blossom into something new?

When a shapeshifting demon with a thirst for human flesh, known as "youma," arrives in Raki's village, a lone woman with silver eyes walks into town with only a sword upon her back. She is a "Claymore," a being manufactured as half-human and half-youma, for the express purpose of exterminating these monsters. After Raki's family is killed, the Claymore saves his life, but he is subsequently banished from his home. With nowhere else to go, Raki finds the Claymore, known as Clare, and decides to follow her on her journeys. As the pair travel from town to town, defeating youma along the way, more about Clare's organization and her fellow warriors comes to light. With every town cleansed and every demon destroyed, they come closer to the youma on which Clare has sought vengeance ever since she chose to become a Claymore.

Takemichi Hanagaki is a freelancer that’s reached the absolute pits of despair in his life. He finds out that the only girlfriend he ever had, in middle school, Hinata Tachibana, had been killed by the ruthless Tokyo Manji Gang. The day after hearing about her death, he’s standing on the station platform and ends up being pushed over onto the tracks by a herd of people. He closes his eyes thinking he’s about to die, but when he opens his eyes back up, he somehow had gone back in time 12 years. Now that he’s back living the best days of his life, Takemichi decides to get revenge on his life.

About Eikichi Onizuka, a 22-year-old ex-gangster member and a virgin. He has one ambition that no one ever expected from him. His solely life purpose is to become the greatest high school teacher ever.

Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she's sold as a lowly servant to the emperor's palace. But she wasn't meant for a compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure! This catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now, she's making a name for herself solving medical mysteries!

All thanks to the special ability that he developed, Yuu was able to cheat his way into a very prestigious high school. With his power, he thought nothing was going to stand in his way, until he met a mysterious girl named Nao Tomori and other students with special abilities just like him. It was the beginning to a new life.

Tomoya Okazaki is a third year high school student resentful of his life. His mother passed away from a car accident when he was younger, causing his father to resort to alcohol and cigarettes. This results in fights between the two until Tomoya's shoulder is injured in a fight. Since then, Tomoya has had distant relationships with his father, causing him to become a delinquent over time. While on a walk to school, he meets a strange girl named Nagisa Furukawa who is a year older, but is repeating due to illness. Due to this, she is often alone as most of her friends have moved on. The two begin hanging out and slowly, as time goes by, Tomoya finds his life shifting in a new direction.

Reach the top, and everything will be yours. At the top of the tower exists everything in this world, and all of it can be yours. You can become a god. This is the story of the beginning and the end of Rachel, the girl who climbed the tower so she could see the stars, and Bam, the boy who needed nothing but her.

High school soccer players from across Japan gather for a controversial project designed to create the best — and most egoistic — striker in the world.

Years after the horrors of Raccoon City, Leon and Claire find themselves consumed by a dark conspiracy when a viral attack ravages the White House.

One day, Usagi Tsukino, clumsy 2nd-year middle school student, stumbles upon a talking cat named Luna. Luna tells her that she is destined to be Sailor Moon, "champion of love and justice", and she must search for the fabled Moon Princess. Usagi finds friends that turn out to be destined senshi as well, and together they fight to save the world from the certain doom brought upon by the Dark Kingdom.

Stalked by a beastly white tiger, Atsushi Nakajima has no idea that the menace lives inside him—a power that catches the attention of the Armed Detective Agency. Using inhuman abilities to combat crime, this team takes Atsushi under the wing of their most eccentric member, Dazai. Together, they tear through mafia-muddled mysteries while enemies keep an eye on the tiger’s lofty bounty.

At a high school full of unique characters, Tadano helps his shy and unsociable classmate Komi reach her goal of making friends with 100 people.

Before eradicating humankind from the world, the gods give them one last chance to prove themselves worthy of survival. Let the Ragnarok battles begin.

In Tokyo's downtown district of Ikebukuro, amidst many strange rumors and warnings of anonymous gangs and dangerous occupants, one urban legend stands out above the rest—the existence of a headless "Black Rider" who is said to be seen driving a jet-black motorcycle through the city streets. Mikado Ryuugamine has always longed for the excitement of the city life, and an invitation from a childhood friend convinces him to move to Tokyo. Witnessing the Black Rider on his first day in the city, his wishes already seem to have been granted. But as supernatural events begin to occur, ordinary citizens like himself, along with Ikebukuro's most colorful inhabitants, are mixed up in the commotion breaking out in their city.

So exactly what’s going to happen when Hachiman Hikigaya, an isolated high school student with no friends, no interest in making any and a belief that everyone else’s supposedly great high school experiences are either delusions or outright lies, is coerced by a well meaning faculty member into joining the one member “Volunteer Services Club” run by Yukino Yukinoshita, who’s smart, attractive and generally considers everyone in her school to be her complete inferior?

Ginko, a Mushi master, travels from place to place researching the Mushi and helping people who are suffering because of it.

Called “Juggernaut,” these are the unmanned combat drones developed by the Republic of San Magnolia in answer to the attacks by the autonomous unmanned drones of the neighboring Empire of Giad, the “Legion”. But they’re only unmanned in name. In reality, they are piloted by the Eighty-sixers—those considered to be less than human and treated as mere tools. Determined to achieve his own mysterious ends, Shin, the captain of Spearhead Squadron, which is comprised of Eighty-sixers, continues to fight a hopeless war on a battlefield where only death awaits him.

Ages ago, the goddess Athena was served by fighters called Saints who channeled the power of the Cosmos within them. Now a youth named Seiya has trained to become a Saint himself by earning the mystical Cloth of Pegasus. He is joined by other Saints with Cloths of their own to fight for Athena.

After a mysterious virus wipes out ninety percent of humanity, vampires emerge from the recesses of the earth to enslave mankind, treating them like livestock. After growing tired of donating blood in exchange for protection, 12-year-old Yuichiro Hyakuya and his best friend Mikaela Hyakuya plot an escape along with the other orphans. After being the only successful runaway, Yuichiro joins the Moon Demon Company, an extermination unit of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army dedicated to killing off vampires.

A small-town doctor gets sucked into the ruthless world of show business when he crosses paths with a popular teen idol who holds a secret.

While martial arts champion Baki Hanma trains hard to surpass his legendary father, five violent death row inmates descend upon Tokyo to take him on.

Although there are still traces of the brief period he became a vampire, third-year high school student Koyomi Araragi is human again. He happens upon others with their own supernatural problems and finds that he can empathize. Koyomi becomes involved in their lives, seeking to help them and occasionally asking for advice from Meme Oshino, the homeless man who helped him become human again.