The 2010s marked a golden era for anime, deliveringgroundbreaking seriesthat pushed creative boundaries and redefined what the medium could achieve. From psychological thrillers that kept viewers on the edge of their seats to heartbreaking dramas that prompted genuine tears, this decade gave birth to works that transcended mere entertainment to become profound artistic statements.
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In this collection, we celebrate ten anime series from the 2010s that have earned their place in the pantheon of masterpieces.
10Guilty Crown
The Power That Should Never Have Been Given
Guilty Crown
When it aired in 2011, Guilty Crown immediately drew attention for itsstunning animationand soundtrack, thanks to the combined efforts of Production I.G. and supercell composer ryo. Set in a futuristic Japan reeling from a deadly virus and under the control of an oppressive military force called GHQ, the story follows Shu Ouma, a high schooler who gains a mysterious power known as the “Void Genome”, an ability that lets him draw weapons from other people’s hearts.
The anime opens with promise: secret rebellions, tragic betrayals, and a protagonist suddenly handed the fate of the world. But where Guilty Crown really makes an impact is in how it spirals. Shu is no typical hero, his moral struggles, breakdowns, and even his rise to power feel uncomfortably real. It asks a hard question: what would truly happen if someone was handed godlike power but lacked the strength to wield it?
While it received mixed reviews during its original run, its visuals, concept, and emotionally loaded set pieces helped it build a loyal fanbase. Notably, the anime features one of the most hauntingly beautiful openings of the decade, “My Dearest” by EGOIST, which became iconic in the anime community. The English dub, produced by FUNimation, does justice to the emotional intensity, especially in its second half, where the stakes skyrocket.
9Mob Psycho 100
The Boy Who Didn’t Want to Be Special
Mob Psycho 100
At first glance, Mob Psycho 100 might fool you with its absurd character designs andchaotic humor, but behind its exaggerated exterior lies one of the most introspective stories of the decade. Created by ONE, the same mind behind One Punch Man, this 2016 anime focuses on Shigeo Kageyama, better known as “Mob”, an unassuming boy with psychic powers so destructive, he’s constantly afraid of losing control.
But Mob doesn’t want to be a hero. He doesn’t want to fight. He just wants to be normal, to get better at running, to impress his childhood crush, to make friends without relying on his powers.
Every explosion of supernatural violence in this series is grounded in emotion. Mob doesn’t level cities for spectacle; he does it because he’s been pushed too far. And when he doesn’t fight back, that silence is even louder.
Studio Bones spared no effort in animating the series with hand-drawn sequences that look more like avant-garde art than traditional anime. Season 2, in particular, has been praised for subverting shonen tropes and making emotional growth, not power scaling, the true measure of a character’s strength.
The dub by Crunchyroll and Bang Zoom! Entertainment is also a standout, with Kyle McCarley delivering a quietly powerful performance as Mob.
8Violet Evergarden
Learning to Feel Again
Violet Evergarden
Violet Evergarden isn’t just beautiful, it’s emotionally disarming. Released in 2018 by Kyoto Animation, it was one of the studio’s most ambitious works, both visually and thematically. The series follows Violet, a former child soldier who becomes a ghostwriter, a profession that requires her to translate other people’s emotions into heartfelt letters. The irony is, she barely understands emotions herself.
Each episode is a standalone story about human loss, regret, love, or reunion, with Violet acting as the observer, and slowly, a participant, in these emotional arcs. By the end of each letter she writes, she’s grown just a little more. It’s quiet storytelling at its finest.
The anime took on a deeper significance in the years following the tragic arson attack on Kyoto Animation in 2019. Violet Evergarden became a symbol of what the studio stood for: emotional storytelling, breathtaking artistry, and a commitment to human connection.
The English dub by Netflix was directed with care, with Erika Harlacher voicing Violet with the exact kind of restrained vulnerability the role demands.
The God You Forgot to Worship
Noragami (2014)
Released in 2014, Noragami came like a breath of fresh air in the urban fantasy genre. Yato, a minor god with no shrine, dreams of becoming worshipped and revered, but until then, he’s doing odd jobs for five yen and sleeping in alleys. His journey gets complicated when he meets Hiyori Iki, a human girl whose soul keeps slipping out of her body, and Yukine, a troubled spirit who becomes his weapon.
What starts as quirky and comedic quickly turns into something heavier. The world of Noragami is built on the fragile boundary between life and death, and the spirits that linger too long. Its fight scenes are slick and stylish, animated by Studio Bones with an attention to speed and rhythm that makes every battle feel alive. But its strongest punches are emotional.
Season 2, Noragami Aragoto, dives into Yato’s dark past, revealing a god shaped more by regret than ambition. His relationship with Yukine, a spirit burdened by trauma, is one of the most layered mentor-student bonds in anime.
Though a third season still hasn’t been confirmed officially, Noragami remains a fan favorite. The English dub by FUNimation captures the humor and emotional intensity equally well, with Jason Liebrecht as Yato
6Your Lie in April
The Sound Of Cherry Blossoms Falling
Your Lie in April
Few anime manage to turn music into raw emotion the way Your Lie in April does. Released in 2014, the story centers on Kousei Arima, a piano prodigy who stopped playing after the death of his abusive mother. He’s emotionally paralyzed, until a violinist named Kaori Miyazono crashes into his life with her wild, free-spirited performances and bold outlook on life.
Every performance in this anime feels like a confession, not just of musical skill, but of emotional truth. When Kaori plays, she breaks every rule of technique but fills every note with meaning. When Kousei plays, you hear his pain, his fear, his longing. The animation during these scenes, shifting lights, intense close-ups, visual metaphors, matches the music beat for beat.
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Despite its romantic tone, this isn’t a conventional love story. It’s a story of inspiration. A reminder that the right person at the right time can bring you back to life, even if only for a moment.
The dub, handled by Aniplex of America, is praised for its emotional accuracy, with Max Mittelman and Erica Lindbeck leading the cast.
5Made in Abyss
Whistle Down the Hole and Hope You Come Back
Made in Abyss
Made in Abyss presents itself with a deceptively childlike art style, but nothing about this anime is made for children. Released in 2017 and animated by Kinema Citrus, this adaptation of Akihito Tsukushi’s manga is a grim tale wrapped in wonder and horror, diving deep, literally, into one of the most original settings to come out of anime in decades.
The Abyss is a colossal pit in the ground that defies science, logic, and human limits. Its layers hold rare artifacts, ancient civilizations, and creatures both magical and monstrous. But the deeper you go, the more it takes from you. Explorers known as Cave Raiders descend into its depths, knowing that the journey back up causes terrifying physical and mental effects, known as the Curse of the Abyss.
At the heart of this story is Riko, a bright-eyed orphan who dreams of becoming like her mother, a legendary White Whistle who disappeared in the Abyss. She’s joined by Reg, a mysterious robot boy with a human heart, or at least something close to it. Together, they descend, layer by layer, where the stakes rise with every meter dropped.
The 13-episode first season ends on a haunting note that left audiences rattled, especially with episode 10, which is still often cited as one of the most emotionally and physically harrowing episodes in anime.
Kevin Penkin’s soundtrack is a standout, its haunting melodies echo the mystery of the Abyss itself. The English dub is available
4Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World
Dying Is Easy. Living Through It Is the Real Curse.
Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World
The isekai boom of the 2010s brought countless stories of ordinary characters transported to fantasy worlds. But few hit as hard or as unexpectedly as Re:Zero, which premiered in 2016 and flipped the genre’s power-fantasy trope on its head by turning the protagonist’s “power” into a living nightmare.
Subaru Natsuki is just an average guy walking home from the convenience store, until he finds himself in a medieval fantasy world. But there’s no overpowered magic. No cheat codes. Instead, his only ability is “Return by Death”: every time he dies, he respawns at an earlier point in time, retaining all of his memories. The catch? No one else remembers what happened. And the pain, emotional and physical, is real every single time.
The story evolves quickly from standard isekai setup into a psychological breakdown. The early episodes lull viewers into thinking it’ll follow familiar tropes, only to throw Subaru, and the audience, into loops of despair, guilt, and trauma. His mental health deteriorates with every death. Each time he tries to fix a tragedy, he uncovers something worse underneath.
3Tomodachi Game
Trust No One
Tomodachi Game
Tomodachi Game flew somewhat under the radar when it premiered in April 2022, but this psychological thriller quickly developed a dedicated following drawn to its mind games and betrayals. Based on a manga that began in 2013, the anime adapts the story of Yuuichi Katagiri and his friends who are forced to participate in sadistic “friendship games” to repay a mysterious debt.
The series brilliantly explores the fragility of trust between people who consider themselves close friends. As the games progress, each character’s true nature is revealed under pressure, leading to shocking revelations that challenge viewers' initial impressions of the cast.
What makes Tomodachi Game stand out is its willingness to let its protagonist get his hands dirty. Unlike many similar shows where the main character maintains moral purity, Yuuichi proves himself capable of manipulation and deception that rivals the game’s administrators, making viewers question who to root for.
The animation by Okuruto Noboru isn’t flashy, but it excels in facial expressions, capturing the subtle shifts between sincerity and deception that drive the narrative. The series uses color psychology effectively, with lighting changes that subtly signal character motivations.
While only receiving a single season thus far, the anime adaptation covers just the beginning of a much longer manga series. Its clever writing, unpredictable twists, and exploration of human psychology under extreme circumstances make it one of the decade’s most underrated gems in the psychological thriller genre.
2Attack on Titan
Beyond The Walls Lies Freedom
Attack On Titan
When it debuted in 2013, Attack on Titan felt like lightning in a bottle. Its premiere shattered expectations with its brutal violence, eerie mystery, and a world where humanity lived in constant fear of man-eating giants. What began as a survival horror quickly evolved into one of the most politically charged and morally complex anime of the decade.
Eren Yeager watches helplessly as his mother is devoured by a Titan, setting him on a path of vengeance that slowly distorts into something far more tragic. With Mikasa and Armin at his side, he joins the Scout Regiment to fight back against the Titans, giants that have pushed the last remnants of humanity behind towering walls.
But season by season, Attack on Titan reinvented itself. The Titans weren’t what they seemed. Neither were the walls, the enemies, or even the heroes. WIT Studio’s work in the first three seasons delivered some of the most breathtaking animation in the medium, while MAPPA took over for the final seasons, bringing a grittier and more cinematic tone.
The show’s worldbuilding is meticulous, and its themes, freedom, war, trauma, nationalism, only get more relevant the deeper you go. The shift from man vs. monster to man vs. ideology wasn’t just a twist, it was a full-blown recontextualization of the story’s foundation.
The anime wrapped up in 2023 with Attack on Titan: The Final Chapters. Opinions on the ending remain mixed, but few deny the cultural weight the series carried. It sparked discussions about morality and perspective in anime fandoms like never before.
1Steins;Gate
The Butterfly Effect, but Make It Heartbreaking
Steins;Gate
Released in 2011 and based on the visual novel of the same name, Steins;Gate remains one of the finest pieces of science fiction anime has ever produced. It didn’t grab attention with loud action scenes or big monsters, it did it with time travel, emotional storytelling, and slow-burning suspense that erupted when you least expected it.
Set in Akihabara, the story follows Rintarou Okabe, a self-proclaimed mad scientist who, along with his quirky friends, accidentally discovers a way to send messages to the past using a hacked microwave and a cellphone. What begins as a fun experiment becomes a devastating spiral of unintended consequences and parallel world disasters.
The first half leans into slice-of-life comedy and light sci-fi, introducing characters like the lovable Mayuri, the brilliant Kurisu, and the eccentric Daru. But once the timeline begins to fracture, the tone shifts dramatically. Every decision, every “D-mail,” changes the world, and Okabe finds himself burdened with trying to undo a future that shouldn’t exist.
The anime doesn’t insult the viewer with pseudoscience. Instead, it balances grounded physics concepts with emotional storytelling. It’s less about “how” the time travel works, and more about the cost it demands from the people who use it.
Steins;Gate 0, released in 2018, explores an alternate timeline where Okabe gives up. It’s darker and more tragic, but adds depth to the original story.
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