Summary
- MAPPA's anime adaptations go beyond faithful source material, enhancing stories with originality and innovative animation styles.
- From action-packed series like The God of High School to intense dramas like Terror in Resonance, MAPPA covers a wide range of genres.
- Unique offerings like Dorohedoro and Chainsaw Man showcase MAPPA's creativity, delivering dark and wild storylines with exceptional animation.
Each anime studio has its own unique touch, which is why it's so surprising that Studio MAPPA's best anime are so wide and varied. Founded in 2011, MAPPA has exploded in popularity recently after the studio was given responsibility over several high-profile manga adaptations. A studio cracking just one huge adaptation would instantly make it notable, but the fact that MAPPA has dozens of big hits marks it as legendary.
MAPPA & Acclaimed Writer Team Up With Netflix For New Supernatural Romance Anime
Maboroshi is the latest directorial work by Mari Okada; between her and MAPPA's animation, Netflix seems to have another winner locked in for January.
Beyond faithful adaptations, all the anime MAPPA creates brings something original to the table. It's not enough for an anime to just straight up adapt its source, the best anime use the medium's unique strengths to enhance already stellar source material. It's this process of not just adapting source material but improving it that defines most of MAPPA's best anime.
20 The God of High School (2020)
1 Season, 13 Episodes
The God of High School sees protagonist Mori Jin, a South Korean martial artist, enter into a brutal fighting competition in which the victors will earn the right to have any wish granted by a mysterious corporation. However, things ramp up after the introduction of "borrowed powers," which are ethereal energies used by some of the fighters to perform superhuman feats in combat.
While this adaptation of a Manhwa hit has its detractors, The God of High School's action scenes make the series more than earn its ranking among MAPPA's best anime. As evidenced by Solo Leveling and Viral Hit, manhwa is fertile ground for anime adaptations. While The God of High School might not be the best anime adapting a manhwa, it's still more than worth checking out for any fan of the medium who is looking for another series to watch.
19 Listeners (2020)
1 Season, 12 Episodes
A post-apocalyptic anime set in a world where Earth has been ravaged by creatures called the Earless, Listeners follows Echo, a tech fanatic who hopes to fight alongside the mecha-piloting heroes known as Players, who fight using "Equipment." Echo encounters a mysterious girl known as Mu, who has an auxiliary jack in her back, a sign that a person is actually one of the Players. Together, they agree to battle against the Earless using Echo's own mecha creations, as well as find out the truth about Mu's mystery origins.
Listeners is an unusual series in a lot of ways, but at its heart are familiar character dynamics and tropes that any anime fan will know. It has a lot of strong musical references and motifs scattered throughout, and music plays a big role thematically.
18 Sarazanmai (2019)
1 Season, 11 Episodes
A t production with Lapin Track, Sarazanmai is a series aimed at adults, in which three middle school students are transformed into Kappas after angering the heir to the Kappa Kingdom. In order to retrieve their shirikodama (a physical embodiment of their desires) and return to normal, they must retrieve shirikodama from zombies and return them to the one who stole theirs, as well as build connections between themselves and learn to work together.
Unusual in that it's not based on a manga or light novel, Sarazanmai is a coming-of-age story with a coating of magical realism. The series was praised for its animation and themes, which stand against materialism. It's got its share of laughs, but can also be surprisingly emotional, and its adult-intended audience makes it something of a rarity.
17 Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill (2023)
1 Season, 12 Episodes
Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill is a comedic Isekai series about three Japanese high schoolers and an adult who are mysteriously summoned into a fantastical world to help them repel an invasion of demons. However, while the three high schoolers receive incredible magical powers, the adult, Tsuyoshi Mukouda, has only the power of "online supermarket." Mukouda is able to escape from his fate of battling demons to live a free life due to his "useless" skill, but it soon turns out to be anything but.
Mukouda goes on his own adventure, eventually befriending a Fenrir beast named Fel using his cooking. The series is hilarious and wacky all the way through, while still having its share of dramatic moments. It's a refreshing spin on the Isekai in that Mukouda isn't ridiculously overpowered from the start, and instead has to slowly develop his skill at using his special power, figuring out its limitations (or lack thereof) for himself.
16 Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku (2023)
1 Season, 13 Episodes
Hell's Paradise follows Gabimaru, a young man trained from childhood to be the ultimate ninja assassin. Unfortunately for him, Gabimaru is captured during a failed mission and set to be executed... although every method of executing him inexplicably fails. Instead offered a chance for a pardon, Gabimaru is sent on a mission to obtain the Elixir of Life and return with it to the shogun. Sent with a team of death row inmates and their executioners, who must return with them alive in order to be pardoned, Gabimaru heads to the mysterious land of Kotaku.
Hell's Paradise is a wild series full of unimaginable monstrosities, which Gabimaru and his executioner Sagiri must survive in order to make it back. It's an interesting story with some of the most despicable anti-heroes possible, sometimes making it hard to root for them to survive.
15 Inuyashiki (2017)
1 Season, 11 Episodes
Inuyashiki is about an older salaryman, Ichiro Inuyashiki, who is caught up in a mysterious explosion and awakens to find he's become an outwardly human cyborg with incredible powers. Resolving to do good with his newfound abilities, Inuyashiki sets out to become the hero and fight crime and heal diseases. However, Inuyashiki isn't the only one who was caught in this explosion, and a teenager by the name of Shishigami Hiro also has these powers--but he's not using them for good.
Inuyashiki is a unique seinen series focusing on an older protagonist, and that fact alone would make it stand out. It's far from your average superhero story, reversing standard anime tropes and subverting them wherever it can. At only 11 episodes, it’s an easy watch, and one that’s absolutely worth giving a shot.
14 Zombie Land Saga (2018, 2021)
2 Seasons, 24 Episodes
Given that MAPPA is adapting well-known Shonen and Seinen manga, it's easy to assume that Zombie Land Saga is out of place among MAPPA's impressive catalog. However, when looking closer, MAPPA's thumbprint is all over anime's most unique idol series. The series follows a group of seven girls from throughout Japanese history brought back to life as zombies to form an idol group.
With a morbid premise, a lovable cast of characters, and some surprisingly wholesome diversity of gender identities, Zombie Land Saga easily ranks among MAPPA's best anime. Idol is an incredibly popular genre of anime, with dozens of idol shows produced every year. Zombie Land Saga stands out from the pack with its darkly comedic tone. That, coupled with some of the best trans representation in anime, make it more than a worthwhile series to watch.
13 Rage of Bahamut (2014, 2017)
2 Seasons, 36 Episodes
Based on a Japanese mobile game of the same name, Rage of Bahamut takes place two thousand years after humans, Gods, and demons ed together to seal away the titular leviathan and bring peace to the land of Mastarcia. The key sealing the monster away was split into two, but, when a mysterious amnesiac returns to the land with one-half of it, war begins to rage between those who want to revive Bahamut and those who want to keep it locked away.
While it falls into many familiar genre tropes, Rage of Bahamut is a wonderfully visceral and action-packed series that evokes that Saturday-morning cartoon feeling sought after by many shonen fans. In addition to that, Rage of Bahamut is a great anime series for fans of Dungeons and Dragons, replicating the feel and worldbuilding players come to expect from well thought-out campaigns.
12 Kakegurui (2017, 2019)
2 Seasons, 24 Episodes
A hyperviolent high-school anime centered on gambling, Kakegurui is a must-watch for its offbeat humor and stylized gore. The protagonist, Yumeko Jabami, is a talented gambler who changes the stakes at an elite school that's run on such gambling games. One can expect the unexpected with the way the tables turn in every episode. For instance, the players seek a thrill from betting on their own lives when the stakes are too high.
While gambling isn't an incredibly common subject for anime, it can be effective when done well, such as with Kaiji and of course with Kakegurui. There is a certain rush that comes with the unpredictability of a bet, and this is where Kakegurui absolutely excels. Even at its most ridiculous, Kakegurui can still be edge-of-the-seat tense. All in all, Kakegurui might not be for anyone, but its overall weirdness is undeniably impressive.
11 Terror in Resonance (2014)
1 Season, 11 Episodes
With just 11 episodes, Terror In Resonance makes for a perfect binge for fans of underrated psychological anime series. The thriller starts off with a few youngsters stealing an atom bomb and threatening to destroy Tokyo until they get answers to government secrets. The attackers have had their own share of personal trauma which they wish to overcome, as they are the survivors of a covert operation to develop humans into weapons.
Terror in Resonance was created by Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichirō Watanabe.
This dark version of the present forms the setting, and the series delves heavily into concepts of authoritarianism and the trustworthiness of governing bodies. It doesn't shy away from its depiction of violence and terrorism to explore notions around what a perfect "modern society" would look like. While Terror in Resonance might not be what fans expected, the exploration of Japanese militarization gives the series a uniquely political bent that is compelling even from an outside perspective.
