Summary

• J.C. Staff has a diverse collection of anime, ranging from knee-slapping comedies to touching slice-of-life stories.
• Despite a few exceptions, J.C. Staff has produced many successful adaptations and worked with big names in the industry.
• Some notable titles from J.C. Staff include "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?", "Maid Sama!", and "Honey and Clover."

The best J.C. Staff anime are a deep mix of knee-slapping comedies, touching slice of life, fantasy, and everything in between. As one of the best studios in anime history, J.C. Staff has had opportunities time and again to work with some of the biggest names in manga and the anime industry.

However, although J.C. has had a plethora of successful adaptations, including the one-time Konosuba movie they were licensed to produce called KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! - Legend of Crimson, there has been a title or two that J.C. Staff were said to have flopped.

One big name is One-Punch Man, as the studio received much criticism for their adaptation of the second season of the popular series previously produced by Madhouse. However, aside from these few exceptions, J.C. Staff still has a robust collection of amazing anime that they oversaw the complete production of.

10 Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Is a Modern Take On Mythology

Based on the light novel by Yasuda Suzuhito and Omori Fujino

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, also called Danmachi, a short form of the Japanese title, is a unique twist on the dungeon-hunting fantasy anime genre. The series follows Bell Cranel, as he ventures through the streets of Orario and the ranks of supernatural humans and Gods who explore the city’s dungeons. After making a contract with the lonely goddess, Hestia, Bell embarks on a revolutionary retelling of all sorts of mythology, often mixing Greek gods like Zeus and Apollo with figures like Takemikazuchi, the Japanese god of thunder.

WATCH ON Cunchyroll

9 Maid Sama! Gives Insight on One of Japan’s Most Interesting Professions

Based on the manga by Fujiwara Hiro

Maid Sama!, often referred to by its Japanese name, Kaichou wa Maid-sama is one of the greatest shojo anime series of recent decades despite its cancelation, as it not only targets a female demographic, but bleeds into the universality of pure romance. The story follows Ayuzawa Misaki, who has arduously climbed to the position of student council president at a school with a glaringly dominant male-to-female ratio.

Despite this, Misaki is still able to build an image of strength and authority, cementing her place in the school’s government, which is often boosted to exaggeration in most anime series. However, everything hangs in the balance once Misaki’s part-time job at a maid café is discovered by the ladykiller, Usui Takumi. Maid Sama! is a slow-burning romance full of and secrets.

WATCH ON Hulu

8 Honey and Clover Weaves a Story of Artists’ Love

Based on the manga by Umino Chica

Honey and Clover is a classic but frequently overlooked anime that follows a group of students through the ups and downs of art school. The main character, Takemoto Yuuta, studies architecture, but doesn’t exactly know where his post-graduation life will take him. However, when Takemoto meets the talented Hanamoto Hagumi, he immediately falls in love. As the series continues, the two grow closer, but Takemoto is unable to voice his feelings, and instead Honey and Clover expands into a growingly complex drama involving Takemoto’s flatmates and friends as well.

WATCH ON Cunchyroll

7 A Certain Scientific Railgun Is a Side-Story That Trumps the Original

Based on the manga by Kamachi Kazuma and Fuyukawa Motoi

A Certain Scientific Railgun is an anime perfect for science nerds, as it concocts a fresh mix of fantasy and science fiction, and branches off from its parent story, A Certain Magical Index. A Certain Scientific Railgun is a side-story based on one of the most beloved characters from the latter series, Misaka Mikoto, one of the strongest espers in Academy City, ranked “Level 5” and nicknamed “The Railgun.”

Taking a step away from the original story, A Certain Scientific Railgun still expertly and strictly adheres to the same universe, as Mikoto and her friends, who almost all make appearances as ing characters of A Certain Magical Index, set out to cook up a magical story even more moving than the original.

WATCH ON Cunchyroll

6 Nodame Cantabile Provides a Lens Into the Classical Music Scene

Based on the manga by Ninomiya Tomoko

Nodame Cantabile is a romantic comedy that takes eccentricity in the classical music world to its limit, as the story follows the talented pianist and violinist, Chiaki Shinichi. Nodame Cantabile is highly recommended to fans of Your Lie in April, as Nodame Cantabile touches on similar communities, but provides a more mature perspective on the classical musical world and rather tones down the angst and sorrow that underlines the majority of Your Lie in April.

Despite Shinichi’s dream of playing among the best of the best musicians abroad, his fear of planes has him grounded in his home country of Japan. However, this conveniently leads to the budding story of love through music school, as Noda Megumi, a pianist who refers to herself as “Nodame,” moves in next door. Sooner than later, the two meet and Megumi falls madly in love, unraveling a touching but often hilarious story of music and romance.

WATCH ON Amazon Prime

5 Food Wars! Takes Cooking to the Extreme

Based on the manga by Saeki Shun, Tsukuda Yuuto, and Morisaki Yuki

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Souma is one of J.C. Staff’s most popular and successful anime for many reasons, branching beyond its detailed and exaggerated take on the culinary scene. Not only does the main character, Yukihira Souma, fight against elitism through talent and hard work alone, the series provides a somewhat controversial but perfectly integrated mindset about the sensation of eating.

As Souma battles his way through one cooking challenge after another at Totsuki Culinary Academy, he gathers a ing cast full of personality, and concocts recipes so delicious that they have everybody’s clothes bursting at the seams.

WATCH ON Cunchyroll

4 Revolutionary Girl Utena Is Way Ahead of Its Time

Revolutionary Girl Utena is unique shojo anime that stands the test of time and more, as its themes of coming-of-age, complex sexuality, ambition, and more, have become increasingly relevant. The story follows Utena Tenjou, a princess of tragedy turned prince who eventually attends Ootori Academy and is caught up in the school’s politics and undercurrents. She is pulled into the world of Duelists, fighting a battle for ownership of the Rose Bride, Himemiya Anthy. Utena quickly finds the conviction to play Anthy’s saving prince after witnessing the objectification and turmoil that Anthy faces.

WATCH ON Cunchyroll

3 Toradora! Stands at the Peak of Rom-Com

Based on the light novel by Takemiya Yuyuko and Yasu

Toradora! builds a touchingly realistic, but often absurd web of relationships between its characters and settings, as the anime easily tops the genre of romantic comedies. The series perfects common tropes and archetypes like the “tsundere,” which essentially means hot and cold, so a character who acts cold and uncaring on the outside, while hiding their warm feelings of affection that they often want to repress.

Toradora! follows one such character, Aisaka Taiga, as she quickly gets caught up in the life of Takasu Ryuugi, and the two grow ever-closer in the most indirect ways. More than just following a popular character archetype though, Toradora! features one of the most iconic tsunderes of all time, easily making the series rank high among J.C. Staff's best.

WATCH ON Cunchyroll

2 Saiki K Is One of the Funniest Anime of All Time

Based on the manga by Asou Shuuichi

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K is a gag comedy anime that is thoroughly underrated, even considering the acclaim it has received. As the story follows the tumultuous life of high school psychic Saiki Kusuo, crazy premises arise nonstop. Despite his overwhelming assortment of powers, Saiki only wishes to live a normal life, but the people he meets at school and his surroundings cause his problems to compound to no end. However, the level of mundanity associated with these problems, contrasted with the severity Saiki often treats them with, is the perfect foil to creating never-ending comedy.

WATCH ON Netflix

1 Bakuman Unearths the Underside of the Manga Industry

Based on the manga by Obata Takeshi and Ohba Tsugumi

The anime Bakuman is not only a dramatic rom-com, but it’s a meditation on the perseverance of youth in the face of seemingly unsurable talent. The series follows Mashiro Moritaka and Takagi Akito as they team up to create manga, both supplementing each other's shortcomings.

Moritaka makes a promise of aspiration with his love interest, Azuki Miho, who dreams of becoming a voice actor. Essentially, the two promise to meet in the anime industry with Miho’s voice and Moritaka’s manga, spiraling into a greater story of uncovering the reality of the manga industry, its hardships, and its unwavering obstacles. With its endearing characters and compelling portrayal of the realities of making manga, Bakuman more than deserves the rank of J.C. Staff's best anime​​​​​​.

WATCH ON Hulu