The best anime of 2022: where to watch these series in streaming?

You can now enjoy the best anime on most major video streaming platforms, especially on Netflix, Crunchyroll or Wakanim. The era of overpriced DVD imports is over, you have complete seasons at a very affordable price (that of your monthly subscription).

Every year, Japan releases dozens of new series. These are made available to you via the Crunchyroll service. The broadcast is almost simultaneous and in the original version with subtitles. Cult programs from the 80s and 90s, or even 2000, are becoming rarer, but you sometimes have the possibility of finding them on Netflix - which has become the ambassador of Japanese animation - or on platforms specific to your internet service provider, like SFR Play.

The practical guide below allows you to enjoy, for the first time or again, 18 essential anime currently broadcast. Whether you're a fan of shonen or more into mecha, this selection strives to meet all tastes. Indispensable for this fall.

Some anime and where to watch them

Attack on Titan

 

First broadcast: 2013 | Episodes: 79

Where to watch it: Crunchyroll, Wakanim

 

The last episodes of Attack on Titan will be broadcast at the beginning of 2022. The animated series Attack on Titan, an adaptation of Hajime Isayama's shōnen manga, appeared on screens in 2013. After four seasons and nine years of existence, the plot has become more complex, going from a post-apocalyptic tale pitting Humanity against terrifying giants (the Titans) to a saga full of ramifications and open questions.

Too much, maybe? This part 2 rather left the spectators of the show mixed, some reproaching him for an ambiguous epilogue, the others appreciating the double reading brought to the story as a whole. One thing is certain: Attack on Titan will continue to provoke thought and debate for years to come.

 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

 

First broadcast: 2019 | Episodes: 26

Where to watch it: Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Crunchyroll, Wakanim

 

Have you just completed the entirety of Attack on Titan and you already suffer from a feeling of emptiness? Continue on Demon Slayer, a shorter but equally captivating adventure. This one depicts a Japan terrorized by man-eating demons. Tanjiro Kamado, a young man so far without history who will have to resign himself to fight them for the salvation of his sister Nezuko. Having escaped a massacre, the latter is gradually transformed into one of their own. A race against time ensues in search of the miracle antidote, while Nezuko's humanity disappears.

 

The plot is less fleshed out than Attack on Titan, but the brotherly bond between Tanjiro and Nezuko gives the whole series a solid backbone. Tanjiro in particular is a really likable character, the kind of pure-hearted boy you don't expect in a show with a ruthless tone. Kimetsu no Yaiba manages to breathe originality into an oft-exploited genre, and boasts energetic voice acting and editing, as well as a poignant soundtrack. Like the show as a whole.

 

 

Cowboy Bebop

First broadcast: 1998 | Episodes: 26 (+ 1 special episode)

Where to watch it: Netflix

 

Before being Netflix's most controversial live-action series (airing since November 19, 2021), Cowboy Bebop has rallied critics and audiences to its cause behind Neon Genesis Evangelion as the best anime of all time. A track record that it owes as much to its mixture of genres (sometimes western, sometimes film noir, often space opera), incredibly deep characters despite their casualness of the first episodes, a most researched futuristic lore and undoubtedly the soundtrack most sublime of Japanimation.

(Re)Board the Bebop, the ship of bounty hunters Spike Spiegel and Jet Black, and meet its exciting guests, from the mysterious Faye Valentine to the wacky Ed and the “data dog” Ein. You will not emerge unscathed from this odyssey which has not aged a bit.  

 

One Punch Man

First broadcast: 2015 | Episodes: 24

Where to watch it: Anime Digital Network, Netflix

 

In Japan, One Punch Man was originally an extremely popular manga published online, with more than 20,000 new readers per day. So much so that the Madhouse studio (Death Note, Hunter X Hunter) transformed it into a renowned anime in 2015. The French dubbing of the main character being provided by rapper Orelsan, the series enjoyed equally phenomenal success in France. , first on Game One. Then more recently via the Netflix catalog.

 

We follow the misadventures of Saïtama, a disillusioned young unemployed man who, after three years of intensive training, becomes the most powerful fighter on the planet (and probably in the universe). A title that everyone wants to deprive him of.

 

Death Note

First broadcast: 2006 | Episodes: 37

Where to watch it: Anime Digital Network

 

Light Yagami, an idealistic high school student, discovers a notebook that can kill any individual simply by writing their name in it. He then embarks on an endless quest - to eliminate the greatest criminals on the planet in order to eradicate crime once and for all. As the legend of a "killer of killers" grows, L, an eccentric detective, seeks to bring down the new vigilante. A fascinating game of cat and mouse ensues, in which Light and L multiply their tricks to discover their respective identities. 

 

Classified in the fantasy genre, Death Note is above all an accomplished thriller. The convoluted rules of Death's notebook are slowly unveiled, leading us into the twists and turns of Light's machinations. And the subtle way L pushes Light to make mistakes always proves a delight. The second season unfortunately loses quality, however the first 25 episodes are masterfully constructed. 

 

Mob Psycho 100

First broadcast: 2016 | Episodes: 25

Where to watch it: Crunchyroll

 

Mob Psycho 100 is quite simply the best action series of the last five years, thanks in large part to Studio BONES' incomparable animation. Mob is a middle schooler who has incredible psychic powers, which could open many doors for him. But our hero prefers to move forward in life without this supernatural help, he can - among other things - count on the support of his mentor Reigen, the comic guarantee of the show. Mob will still have to use his full potential to fight his fellows, the Espers, in totally mind-blowing mental battles.

 

The series manages to surprise us with each new episode, both with its reflections and its very accomplished graphic style. Its creator got his hands on One Punch Man, which is to say if his room for improvement is bluffing.

 

Neon Genesis Evangelion

First broadcast: 1995 | Episodes: 26

Where to watch it: Netflix

 

Evangelion is a true monument of japanimation. And probably more broadly of Japanese culture. If you have read this file so far and, therefore, the anime genre interests you the most, you cannot miss it. Even if you have no affinity for fictions including giant robots and even if the main protagonist can't stand you too much. To present the latter in a few words: Shinji Ikari, a depressed teenager who struggles to manage his hormones, his relationship with his father and the protection of all humanity.

 

The series greatly disappointed its original audience with a very open and philosophical ending. Yet, from the first to the last episode, Evangelion is a narrative that shines with its consistency and eventually solves all the mysteries laid along the way. It is a dense work that inspires, to this day, the world of video games, anime and even cinema. To see or see Evangelion again is to jump for joy at each reference found and a feeling of fullness when the final credits come.

 

Bonus for hardcore fans: the entire Rebuild of Evangelion franchise, started in 2013 and consisting of four animated films restructuring the main plot, is currently available on Amazon Prime Video. With a completely new ending. 

 

My Hero Academia

First broadcast: 2016 | Episodes: 113+ (ongoing)

Where to watch: Netflix, Anime Digital Network, Crunchyroll

 

 

Still in production, My Hero Academia is the anime version of the X-Men. Except that it starts on the opposite principle of the famous Marvel franchise. Here, all humans are born with power. Only a few don't have it and have to learn to live without it. The series follows one of them, Izuku Midoriya, determined to become a superhero and fight alongside his idol: All Might.

 

 

Thanks to a fun cast and fast pace, My Hero Academia is a prime candidate for binge-watching. With unfailing sincerity, the anime revisits the superhero genre without falling into MCU-style adulation or The Boys-style blasphemy. Champions with nuance who are not ready to put their capes away.

 

The Promised Neverland 

First broadcast: 2019 | Episodes: 23 (ongoing)

Where to watch it: Wakanim, Anime Digital Network

 

It's hard to describe The Promised Neverland without revealing at least one of its many shocking twists. Each episode ends leaving you in hyperventilation mode and in dire need to see the next chapter. The orphanage that serves as the starting point for the series is in its image: soothing and idyllic at the start, changing over the course of the story into a nightmare from which we do not wake up unscathed. Of course, we do not escape the overbidding and the gallery of characters contains its share of clichés, but the realization is so intense that it is impossible to skip. 

 

You will quickly keep company with Emma, Ray and Norman, three touching children prey to the walls of Grace Field House and the monstrosities they contain. And you will learn to be wary of "Mom", your sanity depends on it. 

 

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