One Punch Man depicts the life of what seems to be a bald headed loser who has secret; he can defeat anything that he comes across with one hit. This has led to our main character, Saitama, into crushing depression because he can no longer experience the thrill of battle and combat that he once felt. Everything has simply gotten too easy. Everything changed when he comes across a battle cyborg, and from there his life spirals into a mess of countless monsters…that he one-shots anyway. This is an anime that exploded into popularity from the very moment it aired. And who can blame the fans? From the very outset, we experience an energetic rock song of an opening that hypes the whole show. This proceeds into some of the most surprisingly good fight scenes to grace the anime scene; all in spite of the fact that he can defeat all his enemies in one hit. Of course, the coolest part of the whole deal is how he acts about defeating these world ending enemies. He simply walks away in boredom with his back turned to the chaos. Cool guys don’t look at explosions after all.

Mirai Nikki centres around the life of an isolated and friendless boy named Yukiteru Amano, who spends all his time writing his life into a diary instead of socialising. His only friend is an imaginary god Deus Ex Machina, but it seems he isn’t so imaginary after all. Deus throws Yukiteru and 11 others into a life and death battle wherein their diary can predict the future. In his desperation, he teams up with an obsessive fangirl named Yuno Gasai, but there’s something about her that makes him wary. Unlike the previous entry, the coolness of this anime doesn’t come from a single character. Each and every one of them in this series has such varied and wild personalities that explain the nature of their own diaries. The crème de la crème of the bunch is the crazy yandere fangirl, Yuno. Whilst wearing a smile on her face, she visits extreme violence combined with ingenuity upon any who stand in her way. Despite her violent nature, she always does her executions with style, leaving a trail of corpses in her path. Of course, the coolest thing about her is how far she’ll go just to protect Yukiteru. This gets fully explored in the anime, so go ahead and watch it.

Fate/Zero follows a death battle known as the Holy Grail War, in which 7 participants summon a servant that embodies the powers of a mythological hero to fight for the Holy Grail. Each war for the Holy Grail paints a horrific and bloody picture because the reward is too great to behold; a single wish without limitations. Now at the fourth war, Kiritsugu Emiya must team up with his servant Sabre to strike down all in their way. Fate/Zero is often known to many as the darker renditions of the Fate/Stay Night universe, despite being a prequel. This is partly due to the presence of “Magus Killer” Kiritsugu Emiya, a hard-boiled mercenary that does everything with a cool demeanour. He is not the strongest of the participants, but he is the most dangerous because of the way he carries out his duties. Nothing can get in his way because his calculating and cruel mind won’t let them do so. Kiritsugu is the pinnacle of the cool and (mostly) silent type.

No Game No Life follows the life of two shut-in siblings as they are thrust into a world where all conflicts are settled through games. Previous war-like races and creatures have to throw down their weapons in favour of exercising wit to win conflicts. This suits the NEET siblings of Sora and Shiro just fine because their previous experience with games make them perfectly suited to conquer the world. It’s not often that intelligence is cool in real life. Being intelligent is no doubt an amazing thing, but only when applied to real world problems like science and stuff. This anime turns real world conventions on its head by creating a world where intelligence is literally a weapon. If you’re smart enough, you could basically by holding an Excalibur in your hands. This applies to the siblings as well. By our world logic, they are completely useless. But in the right situations, they suddenly shine through and seem almost…cool.

Atsushi Nakajima is kicked out from his orphanage because they suspect him to be behind the attacks on his very own home. Only he knows that these attacks were in fact conducted a mysterious white tiger. Whilst dying of hunger, he rescues a man from drowning in the river. It turns out this man is Osamu Dazai, a detective with a supernatural power. He is part of a firm of other such detectives and invites Atsushi to join him on their supernatural adventures. So who doesn’t find detectives cool? Because if you don’t, you might change your mind after watching this anime. Despite the premise of characters having supernatural powers, it’s not centred on all out slug fests between super powered fighters. Each character contributes in their own unique way with their powers to solving the case. And the way they do it is well, cool.

A bunch of teenagers are thrown into a land that they have no memories off. In fact, they don’t have memories of anything but their own names. With no skills whatsoever, they can only survive by accepting the only job that is willing to pay them; being a soldier in the Reserve Army. But they are ill-prepared to face the dangers that plague the world, and when it’s kill or be killed, they must do all that they can to fight for survival. Grimgar is cool because its main characters are quite relatable. If any random person was dropped into a random world, they would have problems with fighting anything sentient. This differs from the usual Jesus-kun format, where the main character just rips apart all the monsters in their way. Here, the characters take half an episode just to kill a single goblin. The natural progression from the weakness to doing raids on dungeons is cool because it shows us that we can be the same.

In the world of Death Note, Shinigami can kill any human being by writing their name in a book known as the Death Note. One day, Ryuk, a Shinigami, drops a Death Note into the human world for fun and is soon rewarded when Light Yagami picks up the book. Light is a prodigy of a student in High School that is extremely bored with his life. When the power to kill anyone comes into his hands, he starts a crusade to extinguish the unsavoury elements of the world, convinced of his divine mandate. What can be said about Death Note that hasn’t been said over and over again? It is quite simply one of the coolest anime to ever exist to the point that even non-weebs know about it. Death Note has one of the most mind-boggling games of wit to ever exist in anime history, keeping the viewer in suspense. It does such a good job of making the villain cool that we actually start rooting for him, which is amazing.

In an alternate universe, the Holy Empire of Britannia has conquered a large amount of the world, establishing itself as an oppressive superpower. One such country that was conquered is Japan, that was renamed Area 11 to signify their submission. Lelouch Lamperouge is an exiled prince who finds himself caught in a fight between the rebellion and Britannia. However, it is a blessing in disguise as he obtains a Geass, the Power of Kings. Realizing the potential he holds in his hands, he leads a ruthless campaign against the Britannian Empire, seeking to crush them completely. Do you like Gundams? Because Code Geass has that for you. Do you enjoy intelligence and competent protagonists? Because Code Geass also has that for you. From moment to moment, whether it be the all-out fights between the Knightmare Frames and the strategizing of Lelouch, nothing fails to send a shiver down the spines of all who bear witness to the coolness of this anime. Lelouch really delivers, and we mean both the character and the anime.

Right as the world enters the age of industrial revolution, the populace is beset by monsters that can only be killed by piercing its heart. However, their hearts are protected by a layer of iron. Furthermore, they can create more of their kind by infecting humans. In response, humans have created fortresses out of train stations and the only safe form of transport left are heavily fortified steam trains. Ikoma is living in one such station, and he plans to create a weapon that will allow him to defeat these monsters that have taken so much from the land. Kabaneri is one of the new anime of the current season, but its popularity seems to have exploded off the charts. Coming from the creators of Attack on Titans, the cool fight scenes, and fluid animations are back and better than ever. Each moment is filled with tense standoffs are intense battles for the survival of each and every character. But it’s not just the drama and action that make it cool, but the very desperation that they put into fighting for their lives.

Who hasn’t heard of Sakamoto? He is smart, stylish, sophisticated and suave. His charm and demeanour has captured the hearts of all the girls in his school from the very moment he stepped on campus grounds. All the guys are naturally jealous and try to mess with him in all sorts of ways. But Sakamoto is too cool to fall for any of their schemes and always gets out of them; in the coolest possible manner of course. Sakamoto is cool, cooler and the coolest. Nothing else can compare to what is perhaps the coolest character in anime. It is impossible to compare to the guy whose entire series is dedicated to bending the laws of logic and reason to impossible lengths just to maintain his cool image. This can include but is not limited to; running across a wall whilst dribbling a stone, flying in a tornado in order to save an injured bird and even stepping from side to side really fast in order to put out a fire. It all sounds very absurd, and it actually is, but that only makes him even cooler, because they are very normal feats for him. All we can do is admire the Chuck Norris of anime, but only because he chooses to let us do so.

Issei Hyoudou is your prototypical pervert who isn’t a very productive person and enjoys to peep on females any chance he can get. One day, he surprisingly goes on a date with another girl. Just when everything seems to be going great, the girl reveals herself to be a fallen angel. She then brutally murders Issei and his potential dreams of having a harem one day, or so we thought. A stunning top-class devil by the name of Rias Gremory revives Issei and allows him to become her servant, while including him in the Occult Research Club. Issei initially struggles to find his new lease on life after his nightmarish first date. It’s not long before he is introduced to many new females in the Occult Research Club that he realizes his chances of being a harem king is not too farfetched. The reason I really enjoy this anime is because of the many different girls it has to offer. They all look and act differently but most of them demand Issei’s attention, as a harem would suggest. The situations and ‘fights’ the girls have with each other over Issei’s stupidity is hilarious. Highschool DxD has three seasons and several different OVA’s to wet your whistle. The shows strength is the ability to showcase and develop all these girls that Issei is infatuated with, while also being able to tell a somewhat compelling story. As the series shifts forward, it introduces more females for the “Oppai Dragon” and it seems to get even more risqué. This anime is not afraid to show the women’s breasts as you will get a large dose of oppai throughout. However, it carries itself enough not to go over the fine line that separates ecchi from hentai. If the series can continue to maintain its intriguing storytelling with its established fan service, it could eventually move up on my list.

Ikki Tousen takes from the famous Chinese novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. If you’re not overly familiar with that story, that’s ok. I never knew much about it prior to watching this anime. This series presents seven different high schools locked down in a turf war in the Kanto region of Japan. Certain (more powerful) high school students have these sacred beads known as magatama. These beads bear the souls of fallen ancient warriors from the Three Kingdom Era. With those magatama, the students are blessed with the abilities of those warriors from the past. The story follows Hakufu Sonsaku, a doltish, but kind-spirited high school student who recently transferred to Nanyo Academy. Upon arriving she is met with immediate tension from other students, who can sense her power. Hakufu, while not being my favorite character in the series, she brings a lot of comedic relief for such a strong character. Takashi Watanabe plays on her unintelligent nature and her blessed endowment. What makes her so interesting is that, while she isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, she possesses a strength that is nearly unmatched. It draws parallels to Goku from Dragon Ball. This anime blends a historical theme presented in modern times with more than enough martial arts battles and a plethora of fan service to go around. Panty shots, ripped and torn clothing throughout the battles is something of a requirement for these ladies involved. My favorite character from the series is Shimei Ryomou, the blue-haired, eye-patch wearing beauty. She specializes in professional wrestling moves, joint attacks, and throws. Her personality is very reminiscent of Ayane from the Dead or Alive franchise. Ikki Tousen has several different sequels with an abundance of new characters being added to the story. It’s an interesting series that has fun fight scenes and offers just enough fan service to keep ecchi fans engrossed.

Hachimitsu Private Academy is located just on the outskirts of Tokyo. It’s a prestigious all-girls boarding school that has been well-received since its inception. However, things are about to change when a rule is passed to allow males to join the school. Enter a group of delinquents by the name of Kiyoshi, Gakuto, Shingo, Andre, and Jo. They’re the only five male students that got accepted into the school for the first semester. With a ratio of 200 girls to 1 boy, life quickly turns out to be more than they bargained for. They essentially get exiled from any female contact which ruins their chances at a good first impression. Little did they know, their life would change forever on one fateful night when they got caught peeping at the girls in their bath. As you can imagine things didn’t go well for these boys and they were thrown into a prison school and sentenced there for a month as punishment, thanks to the Underground Student Council. From then on the story takes a radical turn for the boys. Their imprisonment and struggle with the Student Council put this perverted alliance to the ultimate test. I don’t think I have ever laughed so much watching an anime before. I know it’s loaded with ecchi moments and chalk full of fanservice but I felt that the comedy aspect outweighed everything. For example, the questionable ‘liquid battles’ Hana had with Kiyoshi. Kurihara and his porn obsession, making Mari despise males even more, and Meiko and her crude but tough behavior towards the prisoners. This is the only series on my top five that compelled me enough to add it in after a mere 12 episodes. That should give you an idea of what I thought about this series since it only needed a dozen episodes to envelop me. Without question, Gakuto is my favorite character. His facial reactions to punishment, his ‘expertise’ at lending a helping hand and finally his overall dedication to his friends are something that had me entertained to no end. Needless to say, I cannot wait for the next series.

Every teenager hopes to make a few friends and fit in as much as they can. It can be trying for most in normal circumstances. It makes things even more difficult for Kodaka Hasegawa since he has unusual hair color and intimidating facial features. After transferring to a new school Kodaka was immediately labeled troublesome for his unique appearance. One day, Kodaka meets a female student by the name of Yozora, who seems to be just as much of an outcast, if not more so. Yozora is friendless unless you count the imaginary friend she talks to. During their meeting, Yozora decides to start a “Neighbor's Club” to attract fellow outcasts to gain more of a companionship with others. As the story continues on, more females are added to the club, all with very distinctive personalities and looks. It leads to some dysfunctional moments that turn out to be humorous most of the time. Out of all these anime on this list, this one focuses on romance more than the rest. It still has some action but it’s all about gathering a bunch of misfits together and learning to accept everyone’s faults and becoming friends, through stories and adventure. Almost all moments with Kobato, Kodaka’s younger sister is brilliant. Unlike her brother, she is immensely popular at school, but she is shy and peculiar. Her persona she takes upon is based on her favorite anime star Leylis Vi Felicity Sumeragi. She is often seen cosplaying her and pretends to be an ancient vampire. I enjoy every character in this series and they all bring something unique and enjoyable to the club. Yozora has her dry, sometimes hurtful, sense of humor. Sena’s superiority complex, Rika’s perverted views, Yukimura’s loyalty and naïve nature and finally Maria’s youthfulness all play a part in this fascinating anime.

I’m sure we all know the story of Dragon Ball Z, but for the few that don’t here is what you need to know initially for this series. Five years removed from the World Martial Arts Tournament that took place between King Piccolo and Goku, he (Goku) finds himself enjoying a peaceful life with his wife, Chi-Chi, and son Gohan. Things quickly change when a mysterious Saiyan warrior by the name of Raditz shows up and claims to be Goku’s older brother. When Goku was sent to Earth as a baby his mission was to destroy the planet he now calls home. When he was younger he suffered from amnesia due to a head injury and forgot his ultimate goal. After Raditz was unsuccessful at convincing Goku to work together, Raditz informed him that there was a bigger threat arriving. The entire Dragon Ball universe has been influential to me spanning essentially my entire life. The cast of characters are memorable. The fights and the adventure to collect those elusive Dragon Balls were always something I’d look forward to watching after school. Things haven’t changed much at all; in fact, as I’ve matured I’ve come to adore this anime more than ever before. It’s one of those series that I can still watch today and see things that I might have missed growing up. The music, the voices, and everything is just top notch for me. The comedic aspects from Krillin and Master Roshi to the selfish pride of Vegeta are great. My favorite character Piccolo brings immeasurable wisdom to the Z warriors and the bond he eventually has with Gohan is simply remarkable. This is the first anime I truly got hooked on, and it will always have a special place in my life.

Hiroshi Agasa is commonly referred to as Professor Agasa in the Detective Conan series. He is an inventor who has created many kinds of inventions including the gadgets for Conan. Many of his inventions are video games which the Detective Boys are often delighted to try out. Hiroshi Agasa is also the closest neighbor of Shinichi. When Shinichi shrunk into a little boy, Agasa is the first person whom Shinichi confided in! Who says that only the ones who could solve cases are intelligent? No doubt, Detective Conan is a detective series, but there are different types of intelligence to be appreciated in this series. Professor Agasa has invented several gadgets which are useful in aiding Conan to carry on his detective work in secret. Therefore, helping Conan to establish his new identity and help to hide his true identity!

Eri Kisaki is the mother of Ran Mouri and the wife of Kogoro Mouri. She lives separately from her husband and establishes her own law firm. Besides that, she is very attractive so there are many men who are attracted to her. Despite that, she still has feelings for Kogoro Mouri so she usually turns down the men who express their liking to her. She has a cat named Goro which is named after Kogoro. Unlike Kogoro Mouri, Eri is very reliable and intelligent. She is very observant and has a keen eye for details. She has shown her prowess in solving criminal cases several times in the series. Therefore, she is a capable detective in her own right even though she is a lawyer by profession. At times, she could be even faster than Conan in analyzing the crime scene, such as during a case in which Kogoro was suspected to be the murderer.

Miyano Shiho was the scientist who invented APTX 4869, the drug that shrunk Conan into a little kid. Like the others in the Black Organization, she was given a name based on an alcoholic drink, and thus she was called Sherry. Sherry took the APTX 4869 in a bid to commit suicide but ended up being shrunk into a little girl which allowed her to escape from the Black Organization. Similar to Hiroshi Agasa, Ai Haibara is also an inventor. She created APTX 4869 at the age of 18 for the purpose of killing people without leaving any traces in the body. However, the drug turns out to not end one’s life but make a person younger instead, as evident by Conan and Ai’s shrunk bodies. Although the effect was created by fluke, many other great inventions in the world are created by a fortunate stroke of luck anyway, so Haibara can be considered a genius for creating such a miraculous drug!

Kaito Kid is internationally famous for being a magician and a thief who steals really precious treasures. He is wanted by the police worldwide, but because of his unique gadgets and superior disguising skills, he manages to get away easily every time. For this reason, he has developed quite an arrogant and overconfident attitude. He also has an appearance that is very similar to Shinichi Kudou! Even though Kaito Kid is rather intelligent and that he always manages to escape from being caught by the police, Conan often outsmarts him. The only reason Conan cannot capture Kaito Kid is due to the most advanced gadgets that Kaito Kid has. It is a mystery where he got those unique gadgets from. Perhaps he got them from Professor Agasa?

Heiji Hattori hails from Osaka and has a thick Osaka accent. He is a high school detective who is known as the Great Detective of the West. As Shinichi Kudou is touted as the Great Detective of the East, Heiji considers Shinichi to be his rival. Therefore, Heiji showed up at Mouri Detective Agency to find Shinichi and have a showdown of wits. Heiji Hattori’s intelligence is about the same level of Shinichi’s, but the latter is slightly more intelligent. In the showdown of wits, Heiji was defeated by Shinichi. Heiji is not too shabby himself as he managed to uncover Conan’s true identity, making Heiji the first person to do so. From then onwards, Heiji often teams up with Conan to solve cases, and also help Conan to hide his identity.

The main star of the series, Shinichi Kudou turned into a little boy after being forced to swallow a drug known as APTX 4869. He adopts the alias Conan Edogawa and continues his detective work, mainly by putting Kogoro to sleep and then mimicking his voice to make it seem as though Kogoro is the one who solves the cases. In the meantime, he also wants to hunt down the Black Organization that causes him to be a little boy. Despite being in a child form, Conan still retains his intelligence which enables him to solve cases. Besides his keen attention to detail, he also knows a lot about a wide range of subjects which is attributed to tons of reading. However, it seems like he does not possess much musical intelligence due to him being tone deaf. Throughout the series, Conan has solved many crime cases but at times, there are other characters who outwit him.

Gin is a high-ranked member of the Black Organization. He is always seen with another member, Vodka. Gin is the one who forcefully fed Shinichi with the APTX 4869 drug. Gin is very loyal to his boss and does not go against the Black Organization’s orders. He is a merciless person who does not seem to have any qualms about killing or threatening his fellow teammates. Unlike Vodka who easily falls for traps, Gin is highly perceptive with great deduction abilities. He could identify Ai just from a single strand of auburn hair. Other than that, he also has good instincts. Many times, Conan goes after Gin, but Conan almost always gets into trouble as Gin is always able to suspect something amiss.

Akai Shuichi was an FBI who managed to infiltrate the Black Organization and given the name Rye. While he was with the Black Organization, he dated Akemi Miyano, who was the sister of Ai. The reason he dated her was to get more information but he ended up falling for her, and so he broke up his relationship with Jodie. Akai Shuichi infiltrated the Black Organization successfully and managed to keep his spy identity a secret. The reason his cover was blown was not due to his fault, but his colleague named Andre Camel. Despite that, he was smart enough to predict what the Black Organization would do to him, so he managed to fake his own death.

Yuusaku Kudo is the father of Shinichi Kudo. Yuusaku is a renowned novelist and his bestselling series is Night Baron, which is about a phantom thief who wears a white mask. Yuusaku’s great intelligence proved helpful to the police, and he often assisted them in solving cases. But ultimately, his ambition is to be a writer so he ends up pursuing that passion. Yuusaku’s deduction ability is definitely greater than Shinichi’s, and it had been demonstrated a couple of times that he managed to solve a case way earlier than Shinichi was able to. Besides that, Shinichi cannot figure out the identity of Night Baron which is the main character of the bestselling series by Yuusaku. With Yuusaku’s intelligence, he really should be spending more time helping his son to find out more about the Black Organization, but that would mean the Detective Conan series would end really fast!

Anokata means ‘that person’, and it refers to the mysterious boss of the Black Organization. Not only is the name unknown, but the gender is also not revealed in the series yet. Anokata communicates with the other members of the organization via text messages. It appears that the boss is close to Vermouth and Gin. While there is not much known about the boss of the Black Organization, it is safe to say that he or she would be a pretty smart individual. Otherwise, why would Gin and the rest of the organization follow the orders of this one person? The series is after all named Detective Conan and not Crayon Shin Chan. It would be a huge letdown if it is revealed that the boss is actually a doofus like Kogorou Mouri instead of a proper, professional, and highly intelligent person.