In addition to new seasons from established popular series — including, among others: Classroom of the Elite, KonoSuba, My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer — 2024 also saw the debut of several new series that took the anime world by storm. The very best of the year are likely to go down as instantly classics that will be enjoyed by anime fans for years to come. Here's our alphabetical list of the five best anime to debut in 2024. Funnily enough, our list is dominated by anime brought to you by the letter D.
With the year over and the 2025 anime season starting, most of these anime have wrapped up their first seasons. The good news for fans of these new series is that most of them have already had their second seasons confirmed. They're also all easily available on various streaming services for fans to watch at any time.
1. Dandadan
Where to watch: Crunchyroll, Netflix
Horror Comedy is a hard genre to get right, since it requires a delicate balance of very different styles and tones. Dandadan absolutely nails it. Fundamentally a stylish and off-the-wall comedy about teenagers investigating ghosts and aliens, Dandadan also features some genuinely unsettling monster designs, surprisingly nuanced and tragic backstories for many of the characters (including more than a few of the monsters themselves) and a dynamic between the main cast that fuels the best moments of both comedy and drama.
Dandadan is also an absolute triumph of production values. The art style and animation are phenomenal with a lot of unique stylistic flourishes to help major moments stand out. Both the Japanese and English casts are excellent. The series deserves particular praise for also likely having the best anime OP of the year.
2. Delicious in Dungeon
Where to watch: Netflix
Netflix didn't necessarily dominate anime in 2024, but the influx of both new original anime series and series licensed by the streaming service did establish Netflix as one of the best services for anime fans. The steps taken by Netflix to expand its anime catalogue in 2024 saw it become the international streaming home of one of the best Fantasy series in recent memory: Delicious in Dungeon.
Sort like what happens when Dungeons & Dragons meets a cooking show, Delicious in Dungeon follows the adventuring party of Laios as they delve into the depths of a magical dungeon to resurrect Laios's sister. Along the way, they encounter all sorts of familiar RPG monsters — and usually end up cooking them. Despite a pretty silly premise, though admittedly novel, premise, Delicious and Dungeon expertly combines well-written humor based on playing with the conventions of D&D-style Fantasy with moments of legitimately high stakes and several genuinely emotional plot beats.
3. Dragon Ball DAIMA
Where to watch: Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu
All in all, 2024 has been a pretty bittersweet year for Dragon Ball. On the one hand, the fall of 2024 (coinciding with the Japanese debut of Dragon Ball DAIMA) saw the franchise celebrate its 40th anniversary. However, the year begun with the death of creator Akira Toriyama in March. However, Toriyama himself was directly involved with the production of DAIMA, contributing both the story and character designs and leaving one final mark on his iconic franchise.
DAIMA is a very fitting celebration of 40 years of Dragon Ball, evoking multiple aspects of the franchise's storied history. The events of DAIMA are a direct consequence of Dragon Ball Z's Majin Buu arc and the fact that the story revolves around the cast being turned back into children means the series both returns to a similar tone to the original Dragon Ball and retells a very similar story to Dragon Ball GT, though with Toriyama's direct involvement this time around.
The English dub of Dragon Ball DAIMA is scheduled to debut on January 10, 2025.
4. Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
Although neither the original Fairy Tail manga or anime never quite reached the staggering level of popularity of the Big Three anime of Bleach, Naruto or One Piece, the franchise was still consistently popular and successful, enough to justify the production of the sequel series Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest.
100 Years Quest sees the return of the familiar cast and style of the original, with a tone that's a bit darker. The biggest advantage of 100 Years Quest over the original series is a tighter, faster pace, thanks in part to having less material adapt. As of this writing, the anime series' 25-episode first season has wrapped up, concluding the first season in just under half as many episodes as the first season of the original Fairy Tail.
5. Ranma 1/2
Where to watch: Netflix
Despite a rocky road to its release culminating in one of the largest anime leaks ever, the Netflix version of conic manga Ranma 1/2 has breathed new life into a classic series. Following the 2022 anime remake of fellow Rumiko Takahashi work Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2 is updating a classic for the 21st century. From anime studio MAPPA (Chainsaw Man, Hell's Paradise), this new version of the classic story features excellent animation that captures the original spirit of Takahashi's instantly recognizable art style while also showing off the best of current animation techniques for the medium.
Although the original anime adaptation of Ranma from the late 80s and early 90s is still available, for example, on Tubi and Hulu, these services are not available globally and the avability of the English dub—one of several notable anime dubs, along with Dragon Ball Z's very first English version, from the time period done in Vancouver— is likewise inconsistently available based on region. The best thing about the Netflix version of Ranma 1/2 is how easily accessible it is all around the world and the sheer number of languages it's been both dubbed and subtitled in, allowing audiences all over the world to experience the classic series for themselves.
Check back with the Anime Away team for more anime lists, news and reviews. In particular, follow us as we learn more about the new anime series coming down the pipeline for 2025 as the year goes on.