

Space Dandy triumphs with how each of these planets look completely unique from each other, but it’s as if each world conforms to a totally different genre. RELATED: 10 Unforgettable Anime Genre Deconstructions, From Evangelion To Madoka Space Dandy hops around from planet to planet as Dandy and his team hunt for their next big score. Both anime come from Shinichiro Watanabe and follow perpetually overwhelmed bounty hunter crews in space. Initially, Space Dandy feels like a sillier alternate reality version of Cowboy Bebop. The earnest friendship between Koichi and Mei is the driving force behind Another, but its school setting allows slice-of-life frivolity to occasionally invade the dread. Koichi, a transfer student, enters a foreboding school with a dark, murderous past. Another is a moody horror and mystery hybrid that keeps the audience guessing until its finale. The raw nature of visceral horror is an extraordinary catalyst towards emotional epiphanies. Dark subject matter often juxtaposes with other genres in incredibly powerful ways. Horror has become one of anime’s most popular genres to experiment with.

Diamond is Unbreakable shifts to more of a slice-of-life aesthetic, Golden Wind becomes a mob story, and Steel Ball Run looks at a cross-country horse race. The beginning of JoJo is ripe with horror allusions and has a heavy focus on vampires. JoJo’s interconnecting narratives cover a changing roster of protagonists from all around the world.
Diamond is unbreakable raw series#
JoJo is a shonen action series at heart, but it’s one of the more unconventional and surprising takes on the genre. Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has built a passionate and dedicated fandom that’s endured for more than three decades and become a major part of the anime meme community. Angel Beats! leans into fantasy, action, melodrama, and there are even frequent opportunities for musical interludes due to all-girl rock band, Girls Dead Monster, that’s present in the series. These unassuming students take on Angel, the ruler of the afterlife, and this cheerful fantasy world gets progressively dark. RELATED: Isekai & 4 Other Anime Genres We’ve Had Enough Of (& 5 We Haven’t)

Angel Beats! is a 13-episode fantasy series that’s set in a limbo-esque afterlife that puts lost souls into a structured school setting. The medium has become so savvy to the audience’s expectations that familiar art styles or character tropes can intentionally subvert the norm. It’s never a wise idea to judge an anime by its cover. The largely episodic nature of Cowboy Bebop allows installments to riff on genres like westerns and horror, but with a sci-fi influence. Cowboy Bebop’s futuristic sci-fi world is flawless, but the anime’s iconic soundtrack, which is heavy in jazz, teases the series’ eclectic storytelling sensibilities. Cowboy Bebop is an elegant space opera that follows a ragtag crew of bounty hunters during their scrappy efforts to survive, and heal their psychological wounds, as they travel the galaxy. It’s even made a mark on the non-anime crowd.

Excel Saga turns to mechas, magical girls, romance, slice of life, musicals, and even sports series in its fearless deconstruction of the medium.Ĭowboy Bebop has become elevated to a totemic status in the anime industry and it’s considered one of the strongest titles of all time. However, every episode transforms the series into a pitch perfect lampoon of anime’s heightened genres. There’s an innocuous narrative about world domination (but not before city domination) that runs through Excel Saga. At its core, the anime is one of the most hyperbolized and surreal gag series in the medium, but it emerges as far more than just a clever anime parody. That being said, there are also programs that use anime’s genre conventions to either subvert expectations or tell complicated narratives that mix together many eclectic tones, themes, and genres.Įxcel Saga accomplishes in a mere 26 episodes what most anime series do in twice that amount. RELATED: Gintama & 9 Other Anime That Did A Sudden Genre-ShiftĪnime can be governed by rigid stereotypes and plenty of programs lovingly embrace tropes. There can be certain intimidating barriers that keep people away from immersing themselves in the animation medium, but there are such unique genres and varieties of storytelling that are in play in anime. There’s so much endless creativity and fearlessness that’s present in the anime industry that it frequently feels like there’s a specific show out there for everyone. While most anime stick to a specific genre, others mix themes for a unique spin.
