Since the Crunchyroll-Funimation merger and the closure of other outfits like Amazon’s Anime Strike, HIDIVE has become one of the only major anime-focused streaming services left standing. Although its catalog may not match the size of its biggest competitor, it still has the rights to several excellent series, including difficult-to-find classics and many of the most memorable recent simulcasts. After combing through these offerings, we’ve come up with a list of the best shows on the service. We tried to represent a sampling of the wide variety of genres and demographics that make up this medium, including everything from hot-blooded action series to calming slice-of-life stories. As it turns out, there’s a lot of good anime out there, and HIDIVE has a decent slice of it. Here are our recommendations for what you should check out next on the platform:
1. Vinland Saga
Original Run: 2019-2023
Based on the long-running manga penned by Makoto Yukimura of Planetes fame, Vinland Saga is a Norse tale told through a humanist lens. It follows Thorfinn, an Icelandic boy living in the early 11th century, who—after enduring a personal tragedy—sets out on a tale of revenge. Or at least, that’s how things initially appear. Despite resembling traditional Scandinavian poems about bloody quests for comeuppance, Thorfinn’s journey is less vainglorious and more tragic. Here warriors aren’t framed as valiant heroes battling for a place in Valhalla, but as sadists and butchers inoculated into a culture of pointless violence. Perhaps the greatest trick this story pulls is that even though it never shies away from human cruelty, it isn’t shot through with cynicism, instead suggesting a better way is just out of reach.
Sure, there is some tonal weirdness in its first half, as it enacts a series of fights that feel less like indictments of bloodshed and more like battle shonen duels between borderline superheroes, but Wit Studio’s animation chops are on such display here that it’s easy to forgive some of the amped-up, meathead shenanigans. By its second season, these inconsistencies are smoothed over as it transforms into a full-throated condemnation of the inhumanity of this period, delving into the hardships these characters face due to cruel belief structures and political systems. Between its powerful articulation of its protagonist’s emotional journey and its ability to immerse us in this fraught depiction of Middle Ages Europe, Vinland Saga is a gripping treatise on violence, revenge, and the distant hope for a better world. —Elijah Gonzalez
[Note: Only Season 1 (of 2) is available.]
2. Lupin III
Original Run: 1971-2018
Lupin III is anime’s most iconic gentleman thief—a rakish criminal genius who first showed up in manga runs from the late ’60s while Sean Connery was defining James Bond. Lupin’s approach is similar: He fights, he fucks, he steals things, and he’s the grandson of the OG gentleman thief, Arsène Lupin. Lupin III’s adventures now span a half-century franchise, but what’s more notable is how many anime series claim the character, originally created as contract work, as an influence. Cowboy Bebop’s Spike Spiegel flat-out wouldn’t exist without Lupin’s character as a model. Hayao Miyazaki wouldn’t have had his first shot at directing features without the intricately detailed movie The Castle of Cagliostro. “At the end of that three months, it became popular and I continued drawing it for 10 years,” the creator Monkey Punch has said. The rest is history. —Eric Vilas-Boas
3. Princess Tutu
Original Run: 2002-2003
Over the last couple decades, magical girl anime has been re-examined, deconstructed, and bastardized to death to the point that nearly any anime featuring a young female lead can qualify. Princess Tutu sets itself apart from the pack by breathing life into one of anime’s most formulaic genres while maintaining what it is that brings us back to cute mascots and magic wands again and again. As much a magical girl show as it is a fable, the story is centered around a duck-cum-human attending a ballet academy. Duck’s existence is constantly in question—not only is she a duck, she’s also Princess Tutu, a storybook character who must compete with the Raven and his daughter, Princess Kraehe, who attends Duck’s academy. Princess Tutu is consistently humanizing, a vigorous dance of reclaimed agency and sacrificial love, and stands above genre trappings as a riveting and timeless tale for children and adults alike. —Austin Jones
4. Kino’s Journey
Original Run: 2003
Drifting in like the longing guitar riffs from its opening sequence, Kino’s Journey feels at once intimate and grandiose, a solitary drive that takes us through a hodgepodge of high-concept societies. We follow Kino, a traveler whose main rule is that they only stay in a given country for three days before heading for the next, experiencing as many cultures as possible while riding on the back of their trusty talking Motorrad, Hermes. Together, the pair see things — some of which are beautiful, many more of which are upsetting, almost all these nations governed by borderline absurd rules or circumstances that make them some amalgamation of fairytale and dystopian sci-fi short story. Nearly every tale is a one-off, but together, they paint the contours of human experience, a swirling miasma that only occasionally offers breaths of fresh air.
But what makes it all come together and avoid feeling outright cynical is Ryūtarō Nakamura’s (Serial Experiment Lain) contemplative direction, as these extreme circumstances are rendered with a thoughtful tenor that would fall flat in lesser hands (frankly, like with the 2017 adaptation). Nakamura and his team oscillate between tactile details, like the mechanical click-clacking of automatons, and dreamlike backdrops, such as the blindingly white, washed-out desert where Kino begins their quest, efficiently characterizing these myriad settings in each episode’s brief runtime. And punctuating its turns is an understated calm that mostly only dissipates when a rare good thing happens, moments of joy and connection breaking through like a sunbeam. It’s a brief journey but one that’s impossible to forget. —Elijah Gonzalez
5. K-On!
Original Run: 2009-2010
K-On! has been incredibly influential in the modern anime scene, spurring a wave of copycat “high schoolers start a band or join a club” series that still make up a sizable chunk of seasonal releases. Like many other takes on this setup, it seeks to massage your brain with fluffy hangout antics and low-stakes drama. However, what sets it apart from a flood of seemingly similar material is the degree of craft involved. Kyoto Animation has built a reputation as one of, if not the most, impressive contemporary anime studios, and K-On! helps demonstrate this via fluid character animation, a well-conveyed sense of place, and thoughtful direction. Although other slice-of-life stories have brought us through a menagerie of near-identical classrooms, the halls of Sakuragaoka High School feel distinct thanks to specific landmarks and recurring shots that gradually build a nostalgic portrait of youth. In her directorial debut, Naoko Yamada’s framing of these characters imbues them with a similar depth, using the camera to capture body language and tease out extra layers of personality. But perhaps its greatest strength is how it slowly captures their growth as musicians and people as they face the trials and tribulations of being in a band. Its last few episodes capitalize on its slow-burn investment, crescendoing in a sentimental goodbye to its cast and this phase in their (and our) lives. —Elijah Gonzalez
6. Non Non Biyori
Original Run: 2013-2021
Through its genuine depictions of growing up and patient portraits of nature, Non Non Biyori is a soothing ode to a specific time and place. It follows the shenanigans of a group of kids living in a countryside village, and while it’s certainly not the first story to tackle adolescence, one of its greatest accomplishments is how accurately it conveys that children can be deeply weird. The precocious Renge is a perfect example of this, whose bizarre comments paired with voice actress Kotori Koiwai’s spontaneous performance are a constant source of hilarity. She and her friends, who span a large age range due to the lack of non-adults left in this increasingly depopulated town, get up to a variety of low-stakes adventures that demonstrate sibling rivalries and lead to the types of wildly incorrect or oddly piercing assumptions that kids tend to make. A highlight is the wholesome pseudo-big sister relationship between the gremlin child Renge and the prickly Kaede, a 20-year-old who heads up her family’s struggling business. Even though it mostly focuses on light-hearted fun meant to transport the audience back to when their lives were less burdened by responsibility, the series also empathetically captures the pains of getting older. It portrays the passage of time with bittersweet melancholy, the changing seasons accentuating how its characters are getting increasingly close to the day when they’ll have to decide to leave their dying community or stay and nurture it for the next generation. Non Non Biyori not only works as a relaxing detour from the stress of everyday life thanks to its calming tone and scenic backdrops, but is also a hilarious and affecting snapshot of childhood. —Elijah Gonzalez
7. Clannad / Clannad After Story
Original Run: 2007-2009
Clannad originally started as a Japanese visual novel by the acclaimed videogame developer Key, whose work has been adapted into some of the most memorable, heartbreaking anime including Air and Kanon. Clannad and its sequel After Story exceed the drama of those series, with a story that remains one of anime’s most memorable romances. In the game, players assume the role of Tomoya Okazaki, a young man who comes in contact with his female classmates whose problems he’s tasked with solving. The anime keeps the same basic story, with Tomoya helping these girls as a friend, instead of falling in love with them like in the videogame. The series boasts a diverse group of female characters: the twins Kyou and Ryou Fujibayashi, the genius Kotomi Ichinose, the transfer student Tomoyo Sakagami, the childish Fuko Ibuki, and the shy Nagisa Furukawa. Each girl gets their own arc where Tomoya helps them with their problems, some of them with a supernatural twist involved. It’s in the sequel, Clannad After Story, that this series really evolves and showcases why it’s so memorable. Tomoya marries one of the girls from high school and transitions from the carefree days of his youth to providing for his family. Clannad After Story gives the audience a narrative that isn’t often explored in anime—themes of fatherhood, pregnancy, and loss. It’s one of the best tear-jerkers in all of anime. —Max Covill
8. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
Original Run: 2013-2020
Defined by its witty repartees and nuanced characterization, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU is a whip-smart coming-of-age tale that communicates the interior lives of its cast. At its center is Hachiman, a cynical high schooler who finds himself the newest member of his school’s Service Club, joining Yukino, a fellow social outcast, and the bubbly Yui. Together, the three work through their classmates’ problems while addressing their own, helping fix friendships and untangle convoluted student body politics. Despite its fluffy title, the series is deft at portraying social dynamics and character psychology, digging into various low-key problems with the same type of thorough analysis that would befit a mystery yarn. This depth foregrounds an interest in people, slowly peeling back the layers of its initially misanthropic protagonist as he attempts to form genuine bonds with his classmates, resulting in slow-burn romance and goofy teen hijinks. Although the wordiness of its writing can be a tad imposing at times, it all comes together in a cathartic conclusion that makes good on all its internal monologues and complicated relationship dynamics, communicating these people’s growth with overwhelming emotion. —Elijah Gonzalez
9. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun
Original Run: 2014
Today is the big day. Chiyo Sakura has finally built up enough courage to confess to her crush, Umetarou Nozaki. She walks up to him, meets his eyes, and says “I’m your biggest fan!” Nozaki doesn’t interpret that as a love confession—he thinks Sakura is just a fan of his art. So, he signs an autograph for her. You see, Nozaki is secretly an acclaimed shoujo manga artist and confesses to Sakura that he’s always had his eye on her. What he meant was that he was interested in her talent as an artist. As one of the funniest shoujo anime, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun is filled to the brim with misinterpretations. Once Sakura opts to help Nozaki with his manga, she becomes acquainted with other schoolmates, who often serve as the inspiration for Nozaki’s stories whether it be the jocks or the student council. One of the clever elements of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun is the series’ ability to explore the tropes of shoujo anime. In one instance, Nozaki and Sakura are talking about how romantic it can be for a couple to share a bike ride. As a stickler for laws, Nozaki tries to imagine how two people could share a bike without someone sitting on the back. He comes up with the idea of riding on a tandem bicycle, decidedly not the romantic outing Sakura was imagining. There are countless instances of the characters exploring and then decimating tropes which help make Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun one of the best shoujo anime available. —Max Covill
10. Run with the Wind
Original Run: 2018-2019
When we think of sports anime, we generally imagine larger-than-life dramatics that exaggerate the bounds of human capability to capture the emotional swells that competition can bring out. While Run with the Wind also uses impressive animation to accentuate its athletics—long distance running in this case—it takes a more naturalistic tact than most of its peers. This approach works out because the series endears us to its rag-tag group of college students who find purpose and personal growth through marathoning. As the eclectic members of this dorm settle into their new home, they banter, bicker, drink, and eventually come together in a way that captures the specifics of college life with the same authenticity that defines the best hangout movies. We gradually learn their secrets, like how Kakeru, the protagonist, has a fraught past due to his anger issues or that Haiji’s dreams of running the Hakone Ekiden marathon stem from previous disappointments. Eventually, addressing these underlying conflicts becomes as important as shortening their lap times. It may be more subdued than some of its genre counterparts, but Production I.G’s adaptation of Shion Miura’s novel nails its climactic moments, communicating the physical strain and inner struggles that its cast fights through as they run. Even if you don’t think long distance marathoning sounds particularly interesting, Run with the Wind’s complex characters and creative animation make it worthwhile. —Elijah Gonzalez
11. The Dangers in My Heart
Original Run: 2023-2024
The Dangers in My Heart got off to a somewhat rocky start due to its main character’s edgelordian inner monologues, but quickly blossomed into an unexpectedly heartwarming tale. It follows two junior high students, Kyoutarou Ichikawa, a seemingly gloomy kid who scares others away with Hot Topic-fashion sense and an apparent love of gory true crime, and Anna Yamada, a tall model who’s the most popular girl in class. Although this setup initially reeks of wish-fulfillment due to its “dreary boy” and “bubbly girl” pairing, it transcends this thanks to how specific both characters come across. We find that Ichikawa’s awkward chuuni tendencies are a shield meant to deflect disappointment, while Yamada is a messy, non-idealized dork. Through cute vignettes, it conveys the burgeoning relationship between these two with fluffy delight, and, mercifully, its leading pair are capable of actually communicating with one another instead of letting misunderstandings linger for the sake of dramatic convenience. Small incidental moments slowly accumulate until you’re ready to ugly cry along with its cast, who have already come a long way in being increasingly honest with themselves and others. Through its second season, The Dangers in My Heart remains as engaging and adorkable as ever. —Elijah Gonzalez
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