The Best Seinen Anime of the 2010s

Seinen anime are often overlooked due to the similarities the demographic shares with shounen anime. Geared towards an older audience, seinen anime depict grittier stories with mature themes. This is not always true, however. Some stories portray comedic undertones while targeting the university and salary man demographic. In the 2010s, seinen anime began to garner the attention of many with releases in this demographic such as Steins: Gate. However, as more seinen were released, the better stories got. Here are a few of the best seinen anime of the 2010s.

Tokyo Ghoul

Adapting Sui Ishida’s manga of the same name, the plot of Tokyo Ghoul involves death, cannibalism, and acceptance. See the story of Kaneki Ken as a wonderful date takes a turn for the worse. Kaneki is narrowly killed by his date, Kamishiro Rize, while alone in the park. To save his life, doctors replace his organs with those of Kamishiro. However, Kamishiro was a ghoul; a monster who feeds on the flesh of humans. With her organs implanted, Kaneki has become the very thing that almost ended his life. Now Kaneki must navigate this new reality of his while being hunted by police officers. The second season of Tokyo Ghoul, Tokyo Ghoul: re, does not compete with the first season of this ghoulish anime. 

In most cases when an anime veers off the path its manga counterpart set in stone, it is often due to the anime catching up to the manga. Animators usually add filler episodes until they have enough material to anime. Naruto is a perfect example as almost half of the episodes are filler. Tokyo Ghoul is different, however. Sui Ishida wanted to take a different route in the anime compared to what he illustrated in the manga. This left fans feeling dejected at the end product. Though Tokyo Ghoul: re isn’t the best adaptation, the rest of the series is a good watch.

Erased

If you like time travel, Erased is the anime you should watch immediately. The story of Erased involves 29-year old Satoru Fujinuma, a floundering manga artist who has the ability to cheat death. At every attempt on his life, he is sent back in time minutes before his death occurs. This loop will continue until he prevents this death from happening. One day, after being accused of his mother’s death, he is sent back 18 years in the past to when he was a grade school student. To stop his mother’s death, he must find the connection between the past and present.

Erased is a story of how past choices affect the future. The themes of this mystery anime depict loss, regret, and consequences of one’s action. Erased shows that even if you eventually save everyone else, something will still be lost.

Vinland Saga

From its beginnings as a shounen manga, Vinland Saga is the story of Thorfinn, the son of a renowned viking. Thorfinn seeks revenge against his father’s murderer, Askeladd. In order to achieve this goal, he joins Askeladd’s crew of mercenaries with the single thought of killing him. As the story progresses, Thorfinn continues to face hardships as well as small victories.

Vinland Saga depicts themes of vengeance, redemption, and finding oneself in a historical setting. The author, Makoto Yukimura, drew inspiration from real world events like the Cold War for his depiction of characters in his story. This makes Vinland Saga a worthy watch.

Goblin Slayer

Goblin Slayer is about what the title suggests: Slaying goblins. In a fantasy world filled with orcs, dragons, and beasts, the most common deaths for rookie adventurers are at the hands of goblins. The Goblin Slayer story follows the escapades of the silver-ranked adventurer, Goblin Slayer, as he strives to achieve his goal of exterminating every goblin. Through trials and tribulation, he has learned every weakness, strategy, and type of goblin to aid him in this goal. Join the Goblin Slayer and his party as they take on these evil beasts.

Goblin Slayer renders a dark image of, what would be, a low level enemy in other anime as a foe that should be feared. This is why Goblin Slayer stands out from most anime in general. Be warned as this dark fantasy depicts gruesome assaults on women.

One Punch Man

Monsters and villains roam the earth, wreaking havoc at every turn. To combat these destructive beings, the Hero Association is formed with upstanding heroes consisting of Class C – S. These ranks determine what level of threat a hero can handle along with their competency. Enter Saitama, a C-Class hero with strength unmatched by anyone. Due to his overwhelming power, Saitama tends to finish every foe he faces in one punch.

One Punch is more comparable to shounen manga akin to Dragon Ball than other seinen titles on this list. The light-hearted comedic tone of the story paired with the bombastic action has One Punch Man standing out against its contemporaries in the seinen category.

Although seinen is steadily gaining footing with audiences, this demographic of anime has been around since Lupin the Third and Berserk. With commercial successes like One Punch Man and Vinland Saga, seinen anime has the chance to garner more attention over time.

Every anime listed above is available to watch on Crunchyroll except for One Punch Man. You can stream every season of One Punch Man on Hulu.