Netflix has had a complicated relationship with anime. The early years of its anime investment produced some genuinely great originals alongside a lot of content that felt like it was checked off a list. Licensing was inconsistent. Simultaneous release with Japan was rare. The platform felt like a place where anime went to get lost.
2025 and 2026 have been different. Netflix has improved its simultaneous release strategy, its originals have gotten more ambitious, and its licensed catalogue has filled in gaps that used to send subscribers elsewhere. It's not perfect, but for the first time, Netflix is a genuinely competitive destination for anime.
Here are the 10 best shows on the platform right now, in May 2026.
1. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
The most important anime of the past several years is on Netflix, and if you haven't watched it yet, that's where to start. An elven mage processes grief across centuries after her adventuring party defeats the Demon King. It sounds slow. It is slow in the best possible way — deliberate, emotionally precise, and devastating by the end. Anime of the Year 2024 by every metric that matters.
Who it's for: Anyone who wants anime that takes its emotions seriously.
2. Dorohedoro Season 2
The cult classic is back and Netflix has it. A man with a lizard head hunts for the sorcerer who transformed him through a post-apocalyptic slum and a parallel dimension full of mushroom-obsessed criminals. Dark comedy, body horror, and surprising warmth in equal measure. Season 1 is also on Netflix — watch both.
Who it's for: Viewers who want something genuinely unlike anything else.
3. Delicious in Dungeon
Trigger's adaptation of Ryoko Kui's beloved manga follows a party of adventurers who fund their dungeon-crawling by cooking and eating the monsters they defeat. Sounds absurd. Is absurd. Is also one of the warmest, most creatively designed fantasy anime in recent memory with genuine emotional depth hiding behind the comedy. One of 2024's best.
Who it's for: Fantasy fans, food lovers, anyone who wants adventure anime with a brain.
4. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Netflix's best original anime remains one of anime's best productions full stop. Studio Trigger's ten-episode masterpiece set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe tells a complete, devastating story about a boy from the Afterlife trying to survive in a world designed to consume people like him. The ending will ruin you. Watch it anyway.
Who it's for: Sci-fi fans, action anime fans, people who want to cry for the right reasons.
5. Dandadan
Science SARU's chaotic supernatural romance about a girl who believes in ghosts and a boy who believes in aliens — both of whom turn out to be right — is one of Netflix's best recent acquisitions. Season 2 is also available. Visually inventive, frequently hilarious, and more emotionally grounded than its premise suggests.
Who it's for: Viewers who want something fast, funny, and unexpectedly touching.
6. Kengan Ashura
Netflix's MMA tournament anime is exactly what it claims to be and executes it with such commitment and scale that it transcends the genre's limitations. The fights are genuinely creative, the roster of fighters is enormous and memorable, and the animation — a hybrid CGI approach that took some getting used to — grows more effective as the series progresses. Season 2 and 3 are both available.
Who it's for: Action fans, fighting game fans, people who want stakes in their combat.
7. Aggretsuko
Netflix's original about a red panda who works a soul-crushing office job and vents her frustration through death metal karaoke is one of the most accurate portrayals of millennial workplace anxiety in any medium. It's also genuinely funny and occasionally surprisingly moving. Five seasons available — pace yourself.
Who it's for: Anyone who has ever had a bad day at work. So: everyone.
8. Akane-Banashi
The hidden gem of Spring 2026 is on Netflix. A teenage girl trains as a rakugo performer — a traditional Japanese solo storyteller — to vindicate her father who was wrongfully eliminated from competition. Critics have called it a masterclass in storytelling, and they're right. The performance sequences are some of the best-animated depictions of craft-in-action in recent anime.
Who it's for: Anime fans who want something completely different from action and isekai.
9. Beastars
Netflix's adaptation of Paru Itagaki's manga about a world of anthropomorphic animals navigating predator/prey social dynamics through the lens of a high school drama remains one of the most thematically ambitious anime originals the platform has produced. Season 2 continues the story. Studio Orange's CGI approach to the material is distinctive and effective.
Who it's for: Viewers who want anime that uses its premise as genuine metaphor.
10. Dorohedoro (Season 1)
Listed separately because it deserves its own entry. If the Season 2 description above sounded interesting but you haven't seen Season 1 — start here. Six years of cult status are justified. The first season establishes the world, the characters, and the tone with complete confidence and is one of the most re-watchable anime on the platform.
Who it's for: The same person who should watch Season 2. Start here first.
What to Watch First
If you've never watched anime before: Frieren or Delicious in Dungeon.
If you want action: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners or Kengan Ashura.
If you want something weird: Dorohedoro or Dandadan.
If you want something different: Akane-Banashi or Aggretsuko.
Netflix's anime library in 2026 is genuinely worth exploring. Start anywhere on this list — you won't regret any of them.
Where to Watch
All titles listed are available on Netflix. Availability may vary by region.
