While not every great anime starts out that way, there are some incredible series that blow viewers' minds with the very first episode. These series later go on to prove just how good they are, but it's their first episodes that really set the tone for what they're going for. There's a common "three-episode rule" in the world of anime that states that a viewer shouldn't drop a series until they've given the show at least three episodes. Some series only need a third of that.

It's hard to nail the first episode of an anime, especially if the series needs to tell the story of a prologue before the events of the series. Most series' first episodes are somewhere around 22 minutes long without commercials or opening/closing music, making it incredibly difficult to captivate audiences right away. While it might seem difficult, some anime series show that it isn't impossible.

10 Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World

Animated By White Fox, Based on the Light Novel Series By Tappei Nagatsuki & Shin'ichirō Ōtsuka

Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World is a show that has a surprisingly good first episode. It's surprising because the series is based on long storylines that take a few episodes to develop before they come to fruition. The concept itself doesn't seem like something that can be fully conveyed in a single episode. Natsuki Subaru is transported to a new world and gets one of the most bittersweet powers in anime - Return by Death. He can come back to a predetermined point in time, but only after his brutal death. Unfortunately, this would be the first of many, as Subaru would go on to experience many horrible deaths in Re:Zero.

The first episode of Re:Zero perfectly conveys the entire story in less than half an hour. The episode shows Subaru's confusion entering a new world, follows him as he meets Satella, later revealed to be Emilia, and keeps following him through his cruel death at the hands of Elsa. It's an amazing, succinct episode that lets viewers know exactly what Re:Zero is about.

9 Goblin Slayer

Animated By White Fox, Based on the Light Novel Series By Kumo Kagyu and illustrated by Noboru Kannatsuki

To say that the first episode of Goblin Slayer is brutal would be an understatement. The series is often cruel, cold, and entirely unforgiving, and the first episode conveys those themes expeditiously. The first episode features a group of cute, lighthearted adventurers as they go to explore a dungeon. Only one of them is really taking it seriously, as the others assume they'll be able to clear the dungeon without much difficulty.

Their adventure couldn't have gone worse, as nearly all of them die to goblins viciously. Not only do most of them die, but one of the female adventurers is assaulted horrifically in an uncomfortably memorable scene. Luckily for the single surviving member, Goblin Slayer himself shows up and dispatches the goblins like only he can. The first episode of Goblin Slayer is one of the hardest to watch in anime, but for those who watched it, they learned what the series was trying to do immediately.

8 Solo Leveling

Animated By A-1 Pictures, Based on the Web Novel By Chugong

Like Goblin Slayer, Solo Leveling's first episode is equally unforgiving. Solo Leveling is much more than its first episode, but the first episode certainly sets the tone for how dark the series can get. Sung Jinwoo is an E-Rank adventurer, the weakest of all the ranks. Sung Jinwoo himself is known as the world's weakest hunter as well, and he only does it to earn money for his mom's hospital bills and for his sister's education.

Sung Jinwoo and his companions are also in a dungeon when they discover that it's a double dungeon. They go to check out the second dungeon in hopes of getting cool loot, but they find a horrible trap waiting for them. Sung Jinwoo's companions largely betray him, and the few that don't still leave him to die. It's a cruel first episode that sees Sung Jinwoo die hopelessly, only to be reborn as one of the few hunters with the ability to actually get stronger.

7 Spy x Family

Animated By Wit Studio and CloverWorks, Based on the Manga By Tatsuya Endo

Spy x Family is an adorable, heartwarming series starring one of the best dads in anime. Agent Twilight is the best secret agent his nation of Westalis has. When relations with the nation of Ostania look bleak at best, Westalis gives him Operation Strix. For his mission, he needs to create a family and enroll his "daughter" in a school to get close to the son of an important member of the Ostania government. Agent Twilight, now Loid Forger, finds Anya and adopts her to be his daughter.

Anya eventually gets kidnapped by some Loid's enemies, and he's forced to free her. In just one episode, Spy x Family shows how capable Loid is as a spy, the extent of Anya's impressive powers, and just how far he's willing to go to protect her. It shows their blossoming relationship perfectly, as Anya is quickly becoming more important to Loid than just a piece of his mission, setting the stage impressively for the rest of the series.

6 The Promised Neverland

Animated By CloverWorks, Based on the Manga Written By Kaiu Shirai and Illustrated By Posuka Demizu

A lot of anime series have a brutal first episode to try and get people hooked on them quickly. There are few that are quite as brutal as The Promised Neverland. The first season of the show is one of the best in anime, and it all began with the first episode. The Promised Neverland starts as a much brighter series than most. It shows a bunch of kids running around what looks to be an orphanage having a great time, playing with each other without a care in the world.

When one of the kids gets adopted but leaves their stuffed animal back at the house, two of the kids go to return the teddy bear. They find their recently adopted friend dead, with their limp body hanging from the back of a trunk. It's a shocking twist that catches everyone by surprise in just 20 minutes, setting the stage for the rest of the series. The Promised Neverland is a great first season about mystery, and the first episode did a great job conveying that theme right away.

5 Demon Slayer

Animated By Ufotable, Based on the Manga By Koyoharu Gotouge

Tanjiro Kamado is one of the best modern shōnen protagonists. He's a determined, hard-working Demon Slayer who will do anything to save his fellow Demon Slayers, protect his sister Nezuko, and avenge his family. It all started with the first episode, aptly titled "Cruelty". Tanjiro leaves his home on an errand to return to a massacre. A demon attacked his family, killing his mother and most of his siblings bar Nezuko.

The show is otherwise relatively lighthearted, as Tanjiro isn't a character to be upset for too long. But the first episode was different. It was heavy, brutal, and altogether cruel for one of the kindest characters in shōnen. It serves as the perfect motivation for Tanjiro as he looks to take on the King of Demons personally and end this long-standing feud once and for all.

4 Dandadan

Animated By Science Saru, Based on the Manga By Yukinobu Tatsu

Dandadan took the world by storm at the end of 2024. It's an amazing series with a great romance at its core. Outside of Okarun's and Momo's relationship, Dandadan is one of the funniest anime in recent memory. The first episode can barely be described in words. Momo meets Okarun who introduces her to his love of all things extraterrestrial. She doesn't believe in aliens but tries to get him to believe in ghosts instead. While they both turned out to be correct, they probably didn't want to be.

The first episode of Dandadan is heart-warming, hilarious, and absurd all in around 20 minutes. The characters and their powers are introduced succinctly, the world they've found themselves in is hilarious, and Momo's reaction to hearing Okarun's real name is one of the funniest moments in Dandadan's entire first season.

3 Chainsaw Man

Animated By MAPPA, Based on the Manga By Tatsuki Fujimoto

Chainsaw Man, like Dandadan is an absurdly hilarious anime with plenty of dark themes throughout. The first episode, amazingly titled "Dog & Chainsaw", is a perfect glimpse into what the show is setting out to be. It introduces Denji, Pochita, and the world of Devils and Devil Hunters amazingly. Denji is a simple character who has found himself on the wrong side of life on more than one occasion. His one shred of hope, Pochita, is always beside him, helping him take down Devils for measly scraps of money.

Denji eventually fuses with Pochita to become the titular Chainsaw Man in a sad but amazing transformation that shows exactly what the series is capable of. The first episode had everything that the rest of the series excels in: plenty of jokes, brutal fights, and an underlying bleakness that never seems to go away.

2 Attack on Titan

Animated By Wit Studio and MAPPA, Based on the Manga By Hajime Isayama

The first episode of Attack on Titan is one of the most shocking first episodes in general, and it's even better after completing the series. The first episode introduces Eren, Mikasa, and the world of the Walls and the Titans outside of them. The first episode of Attack on Titan fills anyone watching it with a ton of questions, and immediately gives them a cruel answer. Eren is having a relatively normal day when the Colossal Titan appears above Wall Maria and kicks it open with a single move of his leg.

To say that the first episode of Attack on Titan led to the rest of the series is true both literally and metaphorically. It created an uncurable rage within Eren that was never quelled, leading to one of the greatest events of mass destruction in anime when he enacted the Rumbling. The first episode of Attack on Titan, titled "To You, in 2,000 Years: The Fall of Shinganshina", makes even more sense as the events of the series unfold. It's everything that Attack on Titan is: brutal, cruel, and shrouded in mystery.

1 Oshi no Ko

Animated By Doga Yobo, Based on the Manga By Asa Akasaka Mengo Yokoyari

The first episode of Oshi no Ko is about an hour and a half long, making it closer to three or four anime episodes than one. It's technically one episode, however, making it the best premier episode of any anime series. There are not only one, but three incredible twists in the first episode that set the stage for the rest of Oshi no Ko and the story of Ai Hoshino's children, Aqua and Ruby. It's hard not to describe the events of the first episode without revealing any spoilers, but it's an incredible episode that's captivating from start to finish.

Oshi no Ko is a series filled with twists and turns, deception and hope, and the first episode conveys that theme perfectly. Ai Hoshino herself is mixed with equal measures of hope and cynicism in the first episode, lying to her fans about her love for them while developing a very real love for both of her children.