Some anime are good from the start, like Chainsaw Man and Attack on Titan. Both are epic, brutal anime that do not hold back on the action. Some anime shows take a bit to get going, which makes sense given the subject matter. For example, an origin story about someone coming into their powers.
8 Must-Watch Anime, Ranked
Anime beginners and veterans will appreciate the history of these selections.
That’s why sequel games and movies can be better than the original works. While these anime don’t have bad first seasons, things get a lot more exciting after. Some examples may be a bit obvious, while others are a bit more forgotten over time, but they all rule in their own special way.
Bleach
To The Soul Society
Like most Shonen Jump series, Bleach starts a bit slowly, mostly focusing on Ichigo getting acquainted with his new Shinigami abilities. Most episodes in season one focus on defeating Hollows or training sections. It’s a necessary setup to get to the Soul Society, which is how season two starts.
This is where it seems like the true essence of the anime comes to life: Shinigami showing off their cool weapons and fighting. There are some dips in arcs after this, but overall, Bleach improved itself after season one.
Bleach
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- 2004 - 2012-00-00
- Network
- TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC, BS TV Tokyo
Dragon Ball Z
Going Super Saiyan
Dragon Ball Z begins with a wild start, Goku and Piccolo combining their forces to stop an alien invader, Raditz. This then leads to a very long series of training sessions between the Earth warriors and Goku in the afterlife, trying to get to King Kai. Season one of Dragon Ball Z goes through all of the Saiyan arc, which is great, but it takes so long to get going. Season two begins with landing on Namek, which is where things get incredible between all of the Ginyu force battles, Vegeta doing a face turn, and Goku going Super Saiyan. The power building only gets wilder after this.
Dragon Ball Z
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- 1989 - 1996
- Network
- Fuji TV
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba
Two Legendary Hashira Appear
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’s Tanjiro lacks the power he will build in later arcs within season one. There are a lot of training episodes, or ones where he is in the background, beholding other characters. It’s a very good start to the anime despite some slowdown, but one could argue that the arcs/seasons after this in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba are more iconic.
Season two contains the Mugen Train and Entertainment District arcs, both of which contain two legendary Hashira. It’s debatable who’s cooler between Rengoku and Tengen, but they are both incredible additions to the story, no one can argue that, and it keeps getting better afterward too.
Demon Slayer
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- April 6, 2019
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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Going Beyond Hamon
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure’s first season contains two arcs: Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency. Both feature members of the Joestar family mastering Hamon, which is a power that can kill vampiric beings like Dio.
The arcs after this, starting in season two, are when the franchise changes to feature Stands instead of Hamon, and vampires become a thing of the past too. Everyone has their favorite arc of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, but however fans feel, they can at least all agree that Stardust Crusaders is a very important moment in the franchise.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
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- October 6, 2012
- Showrunner
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu
Jujutsu Kaisen
Battle Royale!
Jujutsu Kaisen’s first season has a lot of great episodes, but they’re more about character building and establishing Yuji as the main character. There are some good fights, but they don’t compare to anything after this, including season two, which begins with Gojo and Geto as younger sorcerers.
It’s a short little mini-arc that then transforms itself into basically a battle royale on Halloween night within Shibuya. Even though season two is mostly fighting, some great character moments allow side characters to shine.
Jujutsu Kaisen
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- October 3, 2020
My Hero Academia
Stained With Blood
My Hero Academia had a strangely short first season compared to a lot of other Shonen Jump starts. This didn’t give Deku and his fellow classmates a lot of time to evolve, which is why everything after season one is better. The first half of season two demonstrates the power of the would-be heroes as they compete in an arena tournament.
After that, they all get intern jobs, and then Stain appears, who is a favorite among My Hero Academia villains. It’s an incredible arc within season two that helps it end strongly and starts with a bang the following season.
My Hero Academia
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- 2016 - 2025-00-00
Naruto
Into The Chunin Exams
Naruto takes a while to get going, but it’s a relatively fast read to get to some good stuff during the Chunin exams in the manga. However, the anime adaptation goes by much slower, with arcs taking a long time to get through, like the Hidden Mist Village section with Zabuza, which seems unreasonably padded.
That’s why it’s easy to say that things pick up after the first season between the rest of the Chunin exams and Orochimaru appearing in season two, and of course, much later, the time skip leading to Naruto: Shippuden.
Naruto
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2002 - 2007-00-00
- Showrunner
- Masashi Kishimoto
One Piece
To The Grand Line
One Piece has an incredibly long first season, 61 episodes, and they are packed with a lot of great stuff between all of the character introductions. Sanji’s and Nami’s personal arcs within the East Blue are fan favorites.
That said, One Piece really gets going once they make it to the Grand Line in season two and then go beyond that. Season two slowly starts to set up the Alabasta arc in season four, which is an incredible run in One Piece. Unlike other examples, One Piece is actually still going, and it hasn’t slowed down yet in terms of quality, minus a few dips.
One Piece
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- October 20, 1999
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