Curated playlist
Coming-of-age anime and manga
- Kiki's Delivery ServiceKiki's Delivery Service was first planned as a 60-minute TV special. It grew into a 102-minute feature.
- Vinland Saga (TV series)Vinland Saga, the Japanese anime television series adapted from Makoto Yukimura's manga of the same name, turns on a single declaration: "I have no enemies." Polygon called that line the biggest highlight of the entire anime. It hits hard…
- Spirited AwayIn Spirited Away, a girl's parents turn into pigs in an abandoned resort town. Ten-year-old Chihiro is left alone.
- NarutoOn the night Naruto was born, his father sealed a nine-tailed fox inside him. He grew up scorned by the village.
- Neon Genesis EvangelionDirector Hideaki Anno called Neon Genesis Evangelion a metaphor for his own four-year depression.
- Vinland Saga (manga)Vinland Saga began as a story about slavery, not Vikings. The manga's editor pushed for a Viking warrior hero first.
- The Boy and the HeronThe Boy and the Heron reached Japanese theaters with one poster and no trailer.
- Attack on TitanAttack on Titan's giants began with a drunk customer at an internet cafe.
- Fullmetal AlchemistTwo brothers try to bring their mother back in Fullmetal Alchemist, and lose a leg and a whole body.
- FLCLFLCL begins with a Vespa, a twelve-year-old boy, and a blue vintage Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar. The boy is Naota Nandaba. The woman swinging a left-handed bass at his head is Haruko Haruhara, an alien who has just run him over. She…
- Mob Psycho 100Mob Psycho 100 follows a middle school boy named Shigeo Kageyama, nicknamed Mob, who carries immense psychic power and works constantly to keep his feelings down. The two facts are linked. His power threatens to break past its limits as…
- Initial DInitial D is a Japanese street racing manga written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno, and its hero starts each day delivering tofu. Takumi Fujiwara is a high school student. For years he has made those early morning runs in his father…
- Naruto (TV series)The anime series Naruto opens on Naruto Uzumaki, a young orphan ninja who wants nothing more than recognition from his peers. His dream is to become the Hokage, the leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Nobody around him takes that…
- Gurren LagannIn the anime Gurren Lagann, the hero Kamina dies in episode eight. Simon must then carry the story.
- Haikyu!!Haikyu!!, a Japanese manga written and drawn by Haruichi Furudate, had more than 75 million copies in circulation by December 2025. That total places it among the best-selling manga series of all time. Its subject is a high school…
- My Hero AcademiaMy Hero Academia is a Japanese manga series by Kōhei Horikoshi, and its hero starts with nothing. Izuku Midoriya is a boy born without a Quirk, one of the superpowers that have become ordinary in his world. He dreams of becoming a…
- Hunter × HunterHunter × Hunter, the Japanese manga series by Yoshihiro Togashi, is spoken aloud as "hunter hunter," because the multiplication sign in its title makes no sound. The doubled name came from a television variety show called Downtown, where…