Thankfully, 2017 brought us a whole lot of great new anime to enjoy and binge on our Netflix and Hulu accounts. Here’s the best anime of 2017 that you must (and can) watch right now. We took our time hand-picking these, so I hope it can be of help! Enjoy and be sure to leave a comment down below with your favorites!
By the way, if you’re looking for more of our best anime lists, here’s our list for the best anime of 2018.
Little Witch Academia
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Starting off our list of best anime from 2017, Little Witch Academia feels like someone took the best elements of Harry Potter and Studio Ghibli, and smashed those together into a fun, light-hearted anime.
The show follows a young witch-in-training named Atsuko “Akko” Kagari, who’s dreamed of becoming a witch ever since seeing her idol Shiny Chariot perform when she was a child. As Akko heads to Luna Nova Magical Academy for her first year, she makes two close friends in the shy Lotte Hanson and sarcastic Sucy Manbavaran.
Little Witch Academia follows the exploits of these three friends and the other girls at Luna Nova. They attend classes, unravel magical mysteries, meet mythical creatures, and discover the truth about bringing magic back to the world proper.
The focus on school elements certainly give off a kind of Harry Potter vibe, while the phenomenal animation from Studio Trigger adds some real personality and style.
Akko and the others are all fun, well-defined characters and for the most part each episode presents a new mystery or theme, with overarching stories weaving in throughout the season.
Little Witch Academia is another fantastic show from Studio Trigger, and while it’s much more light-hearted than their previous works, it’s just as engaging.
Attack on Titan (Season 2)
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Attack on Titan’s first season took its anime viewers on an emotional rollercoaster and didn’t hesitate to get the tears flowing on the very first episode.
Everything about this anime prepared you for the reality that nobody was safe, the secrets would never stop pouring in and every encounter with these bizarre giants was sure to cause some sort of complication with your blood pressure.
Season 2 is no different. From the very beginning, yet again, the series refuses to hold back. Attack on Titan comes back with more stunning visuals, that same hair raising soundtrack, and a narrative that will never let you feel comfortable. And we mean that in the best way possible.
If you missed out on the first season, however, you certainly don’t want to jump into the fray here.
Now is the perfect time to marathon the first season and keep the thrills going right into season two.
My Hero Academia (Season 2)
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
You know we had to include this one in our best anime of 2017 list. My Hero Academia isn’t an incredibly original anime in terms of its very concept. What it is, however, is a masterpiece in how it deals with the journey of a young boy who desperately wants to live up to the standards being set by those around him.
The first season set the bar high and, quite frankly, you couldn’t help but fear that the second season would make the plot drag on too long or just ruin the wonderful story that had already unfolded. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
Somehow, the second season only allowed My Hero Academia to get even better. Pleasant art direction and great pacing throughout the narrative makes Season 2 a real treat for anyone who stuck around from the first season.
Re:CREATORS
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
If anyone was handing out an award for the most underrated anime of the first half of 2017, Re:CREATORS would certainly walk away with the prize.
There are formulas in anime that have been proven time and time again. So much so that it becomes easy to repeat these themes and motifs until it becomes watered down and cliche. Re:CREATORS doesn’t fall into that trap but doing something different is never an easy task.
Re:CREATORS opens up with some serious action scenes that can lead viewers to believe this is a series all about shoving fighting scenes down your throat. That’s far from the case.
Re:CREATORS has depth and a well thought out narrative that is begging to be explored. Later episodes finally start peeling back the layers of this anime in an approach that dials back the action in exchange for more meaningful dialogue.
The Eccentric Family (Season 2)
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
The Eccentric Family returned for another season this year and it brought back everything that was so captivating about the first season.
This anime steers clear of being a cookie cutter show filled with the usual tropes and stands out as a multi-layered, complex masterpiece that is extremely relatable despite being anchored in a magical world.
The Eccentric Family features a colorful cast of creatures known as tanuki and tengu who have always lived in the same world as humans but kept their existence a secret.
For many viewers, the second season can feel a bit like a break from the various challenges and hardships that characters were facing in the first season. While the second season still comes with its fair share of hurdles for the characters to overcome, it certainly seems like this season doesn’t tax your emotions quite as much or quite as frequently.
The Eccentric Family has many elements that are worthy of the highest praise and it’s an original series that is incredibly hard to forget.
Natsume’s Book of Friends (Season 6)
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
There is one word that is commonly used to describe this simple yet charming series—heartwarming. Even if you aren’t a fan of slice of life anime, you may want to consider giving this one a try. It’s not recommended that you pick up the anime on the sixth season but rest assured that your trek from season 1 to season 6 would be well worth it.
The series has spent quite a bit of time following the random adventure of Natsume Takashi, a 15-year-old orphan boy who can see other worldly creatures known as youkai. This proves to be only one of the gifts that were given to Nastume by his grandmother.
The other is her Book of Friends, which has served as the foundation of this series for each and every season as Nastume searches for each of the spirits that are listed in the book.
His goal is to release the spirits that were once attached to his grandmother. Every season, every episode, and every new encounter just feels unique and new despite their fair share of similarities.
Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
To be completely honest, there are more than enough reasons to turn away from Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor at first glance. The name itself isn’t necessarily something that would entice you.
The premise of the show is probably one of the most common tropes in anime history—following students at a school for people who have magical abilities.
The outfits that the young women wear are downright ridiculous especially considering the fact that their male counterparts are in attire that seem far more like what you would expect of a school uniform.
The adventure itself isn’t new or unique but seeing how this particular cast of characters faces these not-so-new series of events proves to be incredibly entertaining and worth the time.
The Royal Tutor
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Even if one is not quite fit for royalty, that doesn’t change whether or not they were born into it. That simple reality is at the foundation of The Royal Tutor and it makes for one pretty funny anime.
The Royal Tutor is a comedy series that follows the struggles Heine Wittgenstein faces after being assigned to be the new tutor to four princes who just don’t seem ready for the throne quite yet.
While Wittgenstein is brilliant, he has the stature and build of a child. This makes it a bit difficult for him to get the utmost respect from the four princes who each have their own troubling personalities.
The overarching narrative is nothing phenomenal but the way characters are developed along with the way the dynamics between such colorful personalities are explored creates a solid anime comedy that will actually pull some hardy laughs out of you.
As the Moon, So Beautiful
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
As the Moon, So Beautiful is another anime that is far from being unique in its concept.
School anime are probably the most common types of anime whether it be traditional school romances, your usual slice of life, or even a magical school preparing students for a season packed with intense action scenes.
The entire series just feels poetic and easily has you incredibly invested in the relationships that are slowly building while each of the characters also embark on a journey to deal with their own growing pains.
Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
If you don’t have time to follow a romantic series, a stunning action series, and a compelling adventure series, Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul will bring the best of each genre to you in one show.
Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul takes place in a world that has completely lost its balance between humans, gods and demons. Demons have been enslaved by humans, gods are no longer the all-powerful beings they used to be, and humans are busy trying to revive their once powerful society.
It’s not necessarily a new concept but it does offer a new perspective.
There are so many complex layers to the anime that are worth diving into and it makes you even explore your own conscious and examine your own morals. Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul succeeds in many ways and will easily have you pulled in deep after the very first episode.
Alice to Zouroku
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Alice to Zouroku certainly was the best anime of Spring 2017 but it had a lot to offer and still managed to stand out during a pretty busy anime season. Alice to Zouroku follows a young girl who has an odd supernatural ability where she can manifest the things she imagines.
It’s an odd ability that garnered some questionable attention, which ultimately resulted in Alice becoming a test subject.
Eventually she escapes this lab, however, and seeks help from an unlikely and somewhat unwilling source. That’s about all I can say without ruining many of the surprises this anime has in store.
Even if it doesn’t turn out to be your favorite anime, it will likely be in your catalog as one of the most interesting.
Boruto
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Konohagakure looks much different these days as the next generation of shinobi are ushered in and preparing to follow in some pretty big footsteps. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations faces the same challenge of being asked to live up to the expectations of what preceded it. So far, the anime has managed to do just that.
Despite a slow start to the series and a lead that initially feels like a carbon copy of the previous one, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations still manages to serve up its own unique personality.
Following the journey of Naruto’s son Boruto along with the rest of the series’ second generation cast highlights complex relationships and offers quite a bit of character development along the way.
Returning fans of the Naruto series will want to tuck away their preconceived notions based on the previous anime and understand that while Boruto can feel extremely familiar at first glance it is still a fresh take on the series overall.
Princess Principal
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Princess Principal is an anime with a lot of overused tropes that are packaged in a way that still feels a bit more interesting than what we’ve seen of them in the past.
We have a usual case of students who just so happen to have extraordinary abilities and use them to serve some cause far larger than themselves. It’s a premise that has given birth to the vast majority of anime series.
Still Princess Principal has to receive some serious credit for fighting against the odds and delivering a solid product.
To be fair, the series didn’t seem to hold much potential right out the gate but by the time you reach the third episode you’ll be convinced that there are only good things to come for this series.
Of course, Princess Principal is still new as it just started airing in July but it’s starting to show far more promise than anyone would have guessed based on the story synopsis alone.
Gamers!
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Gamers! is another new anime that kicked off this summer but has had an incredibly strong start so far. The series is only three episodes in as of August 2 but that’s really all it took for it to win viewers over. Gamers! has already received tons of positive reviews that gush over the show’s incredible execution despite using a premise we’ve seen countless times before.
In many ways Gamers! just seems like something that could fail on paper. Who knows how many animes about students in a gaming club we’ve all seen at this point and with a first-time director behind it the show had a lot to overcome.
The good news is that nothing about this director feels new or inexperienced as the execution seen in Gamers! so far proves that just telling a story well matters far more than making sure it’s a brand new story that nobody has ever heard before.
Anonymous Noise
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
If you’re looking for a break from action packed anime with otherworldly warriors and would like to spend some downtime with a great romantic drama, Anonymous Noise is what you’ll need.
Anonymous Noise follows a newly reunited trio that can’t escape the feelings of the past—for better or for worse. Old emotions spark new complications as a love triangle quickly forms.
What makes Anonymous Noise such a particularly great romantic drama, however, is the fact that the anime provides you with more than just a really long way to figure out which guy a girl chooses. No, that’s not the case here. Separately, the characters here are complex and the series takes the time to explore that.
Keep in mind, however, that Anonymous Noise doesn’t feel like your usual anime of the same genre so don’t go into thinking you’ll be hooked by deep plot twists or cliffhangers.
Anonymous Noise is simply selling you the intricate details of troubled relationships along with some pretty good alternative rock music.
Sakura Quest
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Sakura Quest is probably one of the most enjoyable slice of life comedies that popped up during the spring 2017 anime season. At first glance you can’t really imagine this anime making you laugh or keeping your attention for long.
Spend just one episode with Sakura Quest, however, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The series follows a group of girls who are looking to help save a small, failing town.
Unlike most groups of heroines in anime, however, these girls aren’t using super powers to fix their community’s problems.
They’re using tourism. Five women have taken on the role of travel ambassadors for a small town in hopes they can bring new life and new economic wealth to the town.
Made in Abyss
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Made in Abyss is easily another contender for one of the best new anime of 2017. There are so many areas where this series truly shines from its exemplary world-building to its impressive collection of characters that turns out to be one of the most well thought out anime casts we’ve seen in a very long time.
Made in Abyss follows the journey of a young orphan named Riko who has dreams of following in her mother’s footsteps as a great Cave Raider.
The catch is that you can’t just explore any cavern to earn this title, you have to go into the depths of the Abyss — a massive cave system that is the only unexplored place left in the world. Those who dive deep into its belly often fall victim to its mysterious as well. That’s not enough to keep Riko away.
You could rave about Made in Abyss for hours and still feel like you haven’t touched on all of its great successes.
Tsurezure Children
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
At first glance, Tsurezure Children comes across as a show destined to land on a list of most cliche anime series of all time. This 12-episode anime follows the unique challenges that come with young love.
That’s right. This is a romance anime about a bunch of young students. The premise itself isn’t original but the presentation is unique and fresh.
While most romantic school animes focus on one protagonist’s journey towards love, and features a few other smaller love stories along the way, this anime doesn’t have one singular focus. Every character and their respective love story is important.
Some of these stories ultimately result in students falling in love early on and coming together to form a happy couple. Other stories will feature students coming so close to love but never managing to attain it.
A variety of different romantic relationships and the challenges presented by each one are thoroughly and beautifully explored.
Knight’s & Magic
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
In the name of transparency, I’ll start by saying Knight’s & Magic doesn’t have the mass appeal that many other anime series on this list have. In order to truly enjoy this fantasy-school-mecha-medieval anime you first need to understand what you’re getting yourself into.
This is only an action anime by extremely technical standards.
The things you would typically look for in an action anime, like long epic battles or a grandeur threat to the entire universe that forces rivals to work together for the sake of humanity, aren’t the focal points Knight’s & Magic.
Once you realize that this anime isn’t making an attempt to dial things up and you instead focus on the anime’s entertaining way of blending mech and magic, it actually becomes pretty entertaining and will feel like a guilty pleasure.
No there isn’t any real character development, but the relationships between these stagnant characters are still worth exploring.
Yes, Eru is your typical otaku characters teleported to a magical world and is incredibly OP just for the sake of being OP, but he also serves as a meaningful glue to the entire plotline and still feels relatable in many ways.
Despite all that, Knight’s & Magic offers up a fun journey that is beautifully animated and purposefully simple.
Owarimonogatari (Second Season)
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
The only true downside to Owarimonogatari is the fact that the second season only has seven episodes. Before we even explore what made the second season so special, you can’t help but give another round of applause to Owarimonogatari for doing what so few anime have managed to do — create an original concept that is entertaining and enjoyably complex.
Owarimonogatari follows a series of events that kick off when Koyomi and Ougi search for the truth behind a room in their school that shouldn’t exist.
Now that the anime has entered its second season, it has provided some much needed closure for a narrative that really started back in 2009 with Bakemonogatari. This time around, however, the presentation seems more mature than it is has been in the past.
The idea of dishing out fan service is tossed out the window and instead there is a lot of focus on events of the past that are finally all coming together in Owarimonogatari’s second season.
Many events or time frames that once felt like random filler will suddenly become injected with deeper meaning before finally offering up a long-awaited conclusion that delivers tears of joy and sadness.
Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
When this anime was first recommended to me I scoffed and prepared a snarky speech to deliver to the person who urged me to sit down and give it a try. A dramatic school anime about gambling? No thanks.
Well, Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler forced me to eat my words. Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler has a premise that doesn’t pretend to be complex, which is very nice, but it presents the premise in a way that is unbelievably fun and intense.
As you can imagine, the animation spends a lot of time focusing on facial expressions and it does so beautifully.
It essentially sets the tone and mood of every scene through the use of small expressions other characters make — whether that be narrowing eyes, pursed lips or the appearance of wrinkles on their face.
Youjo Senki
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Youju Senki, or The Saga of Tanya the Evil, accepts the responsibility of taking on multiple challenges that so many anime series before it have hopelessly stumbled over.
The first challenge is to adapt a popular light novel or manga series in a way that keeps the heart and soul of the series alive while also providing a final version that even newcomers can enjoy. Studio NuT accomplishes this flawlessly.
Youjo Senki blends the worlds of military and magic in a way that is fascinating and makes you wonder how they managed to make such a brutal and violent villain such a likable protagonist of this entire series.
Kekkai Sensen and Beyond
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
When Kekkai Sensen received its anime adaptation back in 2015, there were fair concerns that its plot centered around an organization of supernaturally gifted people would fall flat and feel too predictable compared to the countless other anime with the same plot.
This anime’s focus on world building as opposed to obsessing over only one main protagonist is a part of what makes this journey feel so unique and enjoyable.
With many anime lovers leaning on the Kekkai Sensen series to be a spiritual successor for an anime as highly revered as Trigun, it already had towering expectations to live up to. So far season two is proving that this series is more than capable of bearing the burden of such a heavy load.
Sukasuka (WorldEnd)
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
This anime has an awkwardly lengthy title — Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka?, which translates in English to WorldEnd: What do you do at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us? — but its two most popular monikers are Sukasuka and WorldEnd.
This is an anime that no sort of introduction or description will ever really prepare you for so just understand that it’s a unique take on a fantasy-based post-apocalyptic anime that finds a beautiful way to explore its overarching theme of tragedy.
Overall it’s an incredibly successful adaptation of the the source material, and a beautifully crafted world that pulls you in deep. A touching story for one of the best anime of 2017.
Inuyashiki
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Inuyashiki is an anime with a straight forward plot, a somewhat predictable protagonist, and art direction that makes the unfortunate decision to lean on CGI even in settings that make this animation style feel out of place.
Despite all this, Inuyashiki excels at what it hopes to achieve even if not everyone will appreciate that mission. Inuyashiki is a pretty niche anime that some audiences will fall deeply in love with while others will easily find reason to turn their noses up at it.
This is a very violent anime and it doesn’t feel compelled to ground all of its violence in some greater purpose.
Why? Because this is the story of an old man who is nearing his 60s and struggling to cope with the reality that he is unloved and unappreciated. He is feeling his age and can’t even find much love and support from his own family during such trying times.
That’s when some supernatural happenings turn him into an elderly war machine and he seems to have found purpose again.
If you don’t mind an anime with a darker theme and tone overall and a protagonist that comes across as the superpowered anime version of Breaking Bad’s Walter White, you will thoroughly enjoy the journey Inuyashiki takes you on.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Even if you have never found yourself enjoying a slice of life anime before, you should absolutely give Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid a fair chance. This anime follows the life of a woman who ended up saving a dragon that desperately needed help.
Miss Kobayashi came to the dragon’s aid but had no idea that she was signing up for something that would completely change the nature of her once run-of-the-mill life.
The dragon she rescued has the ability to transform into a little girl with horns and a tail and she’s persistent on living with Miss Kobayashi in order to show her gratitude.
This series is packed with some emotional drama, unexpectedly funny jokes and humor, lovely animation, and a ton of yuri subtext that makes for a very enjoyable ride.
Girl’s Last Tour
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Despite being a post-apocalyptic show, Girl’s Last Tour is surprisingly optimistic. The anime follows two young girls named Chito and Yuuri, who are the last survivors in a desolate, war-torn city.
Although the setting and themes can sometimes be oppressive, Girl’s Last Tour revels in the here and now, and it tries to impart that message at every turn. The two girl’s find joy in the little things and each other’s company, and for the most part every episode is a brand new adventure for the pair.
The animation and soundtrack help Girl’s Last Tour nail its tone and aesthetic, and the hodgepodge of different themes is a fascinating, and often uplifting, thing to see.
Recovery of an MMO Junkie
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
With the Isekai genre hitting huge popularity in recent years, anything that does something unique with it gets extra points, and that’s just what Recovery of an MMO Junkie does.
The show stars 30-year old Moriko Morioka, who happens to be unemployed for the first time since high school. She takes to her new free time with gusto, jumping headfirst into the popular MMO Fruits de Mer, recreating herself as the stoic male hero Hayashi.
She becomes a total recluse, and meets an adorable healer named Lily, who turns out to be not quite who she’s expecting after she runs into a male coworker one night at the convenience store.
In truth, Recovery of an MMO Junkie almost feels like a parody of the Isekai genre, and it works well. The dynamic of its two main characters is a blast, especially considering their alter egos within the MMO.
There’s some great character development put in, and the show only gets better as it goes on, and focuses less on the MMO itself.
Land of the Lustrous
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Land of the Lustrous is a wholly unique idea, and the production team clearly put major effort into constructing the show’s world and lore. The show takes place an unknown amount of time in the future, where crystalline beings called Gems live on a world destroyed by meteors.
The Gems are in a constant struggle fighting off the forces of the Lunarians, alien beings that attack them in order to use their remains as decorations and jewelry
Land of the Lustrous is absolutely bulging with mystery, and underneath its basic fantasy concept is a deeper meaning about identity and belonging.
Despite being a CGI show, instead of 2D animation, Land of the Lustrous is absolutely gorgeous, and there are some really imaginative locations and character designs. It’s easily one of the most overlooked animes of 2017.
Just Because
Best Anime 2017 (Must Watch Anime)
Just Because is a slice of life anime with one big difference, its slow and deliberate pacing. The show is a romance, but truthfully it’s more of a character piece that really takes its time developing its characters and overall plot.
The anime stars Eita Izumi as he transfers back to his hometown near the tail-end of high school. While it’s business as usual for him, his interactions with the townspeople and other students slowly start to have a profound effect on their lives.
Just Because decidedly takes time to show the day-to-day activities of its characters, and painstakingly takes steps to make its world both likable and believable.
The pacing of the show is laid back, leading to a much more relaxed experience than most of the big 2017 anime.
Much like the Persona games, the characters of Just Because truly feel like a group of friends that like spending time together.
That does it for our list of the best anime of 2017! Hope you enjoy our must watch anime from 2017 post.
About the author
