10 Best Anime Shows for Beginners on Crunchyroll (and Elsewhere)

The inspiration for a recent live-action Netflix series, this series follows the exploits of the rubber-bodied boy Monkey D. Luffy, who sails around the waters of the Grand Line with his Straw Hat crew. His goal? Becoming the greatest pirate by claiming the treasure known as One Piece.

And this show, which inspired a now-canceled live-action Netflix series, follows another vagabond crew: a ragtag group of bounty hunters scouring the Solar System for fugitives. One Bebop crew member is a brilliant hacker child; another is a genetically modified Welsh Corgi.

Years ago, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked the Village Hidden in the Leaves, home to the stealthiest ninjas. But the fox was defeated, and its spirit was sealed inside the body of a baby boy. Now, that boy is 12-year-old Naruto Uzumaki, who aspires to lead the village and become a ninja legend.

Speaking of origin stories, this series centers on young sorcery student Yuji Itadori, who carries the soul of the villainous King of Curses. Guided by mentors, Yuji trains to become a curse exorcist, even with a powerful curse living within him.

The secret agent Twilight goes undercover as a family man to investigate politician Donovan Desmond. But what Twilight doesn’t realize is that his pretend-wife, Yor, is actually an assassin named Thorn Princess. The couple’s adopted daughter, Anya, knows all, however… because she’s a telepath!

In a world where almost everyone is born with a superpower “quirk,” Izuku Midoriya is one of the unlucky few born without. But his luck changes with an encounter with the All Might, the world’s greatest hero, who chooses Izuku as his successor and gives the newly-quirky teen a chance to study at a prestigious hero academy.

The young Tanjiro Kamado finds his peaceful existence in Japan’s Taishō era upended when a demon kills his whole family, save for his sister Nezuko, who’s been transformed into a demon. So Tanjiro vows to become a demon slayer to get vengeance for his family and to save his Nezuko’s soul.

Two brothers suffer horrific consequences as they try to resurrect their mother: Ed Elric loses half of his limbs, while brother Al’s soul ends up clinging to a suit of armor. In this series — conceived as a more faithful adaptation of the original manga than 2003’s Fullmetal Alchemist — the two brothers must find a fabled Philosopher’s Stone to restore their bodies.

This dark fantasy series is set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by Titans, giant humanoids who eat humans. One such Titan breaches a town’s defenses and Eren Yeager’s mother, so the teenager joins a soldier corps dedicated to slaying the monsters.

No longer available on Crunchyroll but currently streaming on many other services (Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Peacock, Tubi, etc.) is this series, which won the poll by a wide margin. It follows high schooler Light Yagami as he finds a notebook with the power to kill anyone. Light uses that power to remake the world, while a top-ranked detective dubbed L is tasked with finding this mass murderer.