10 Hit Anime Better Than Naruto

Few anime can match the epic scope and emotional beats of Shonen Jump’s Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto. Its manga rightfully earned its 250 million copies sold, but its anime by Studio Pierrot has also proven to be immensely, defiantly popular even against modern competitors. However, it’s often hard to stack Naruto’s quality up to the anime hits of today.

This is not meant to claim by any means that Naruto is a bad anime, although it certainly has its share of bad episodes, including filler. Some anime, whether they hail from the same home studio or feature similar characters or story, can shine brighter. Below are core examples of anime that are better experiences than Naruto.

While Naruto, combined with Naruto: Shippuden, constitutes an impressive run with enormous highs and lows, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood presents a concise, better anime overall in a clean 64 episodes. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood captures a brilliant shonen anime experience, minus the filler, and entire stories are often encapsulated in just one episode.

Both series feature an intricate yet believable world built upon esoteric principles, namely, alchemy versus chakra. But newcomers can easily get lost in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood’s smart storytelling without being bogged down by lore. It has consistently strong animation, as well, and its core villain, Father, is a level of nefariousness Naruto could only dream of achieving with its villains.

Hunter x Hunter (2011)

Comparing Naruto, or really any shonen anime, to Hunter x Hunter is inherently unfair, as it adapts Yoshihiro Togashi’s masterful storytelling with the help of legendary studio Madhouse. Hunter x Hunter’s anime even introduces more of its core cast within its first episodes more efficiently than Naruto, but they share a lot of common ground.

Hunter x Hunter and Naruto share a similarly intricate power system, but Nen is arguably more consistent, a testament to Togashi’s honed understanding, especially after Yu Yu Hakusho’s Reiki. Hunter x Hunter and Naruto, even at early points, both featured more strategic, careful fights, although the latter opted for a more bombastic fare as the story progressed.

In terms of viewer experience, Hunter x Hunter will reach more satisfying developments more quickly than Naruto does. Both hail from the same publication, so there was bound to be some shared DNA. But in terms of overall presentation, consistency of quality, and robust worldbuilding, Hunter x Hunter takes the cake, even if the anime doesn’t adapt the latest chapters.

Samurai Champloo

While multiple Shinichiro Watanabe anime could reasonably compete with Naruto, the most fitting comparison is to Samurai Champloo. Both feature retromodern worlds infused with varying components of traditional Japanese culture, but that’s a surface-level comparison. Beyond unique hooks, like an unsurprisingly great Watanabe-approved soundtrack, Samurai Champloo has great fights.

Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden, especially the latter, feature a progressive and well-understood power system that eventually grows out of control as its most powerful fighters become godlike beings, swapping tension for hype. Samurai Champloo, a relatively more grounded affair, instead opted to invest heavily in fight choreography, creating fluid, dynamic confrontations that are a treat to behold.

Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan took over the anime world in a way Naruto could only hope to. Anime fans inevitably find Naruto, but Attack on Titan made a mission out of getting the whole world hooked on it. The series was a dominant force in pop culture, one of the first modern anime to truly break into the mainstream.

Attack on Titan understood the manga’s broken world, and thanks to Wit Studio, it told an enthralling and gorgeous narrative for three seasons until being handed over to MAPPA. While opinions on the ending are polarized, to put things generously, the intrigue, fascinating characters, and stellar animation made Attack on Titan a hard anime to beat in any arena.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War

While Bleach, a fellow Pierrot anime to Naruto, had its own fair share of filler problems, Thousand-Year Blood War makes it all worthwhile. It’s a sure testament to the directional change the studio took in the face of successes like Demon Slayer, paying off enormously. The anime is incredibly well-regarded, with each season being a hallowed event for fans.

It’s hard to put into words just how excellent Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War truly is. Its characters are familiar, yet the superior color-grading, lighting, animation, battles, and overall presentation feel like a protracted finale event that’s the envy of the world. If Naruto’s episodes get remade, or Boruto gets the Black Clover treatment, their benchmark must be Bleach’s new anime.

Demon Slayer

Speaking of Demon Slayer’s success, there are numerous reasons one can appreciate the two, while also acknowledging their mutual flaws. In fact, both have a somewhat frustrating problem of recurring flashbacks, although Demon Slayer is arguably more infamous for it over its more brief run. But Demon Slayer also brings excellence to the table.

Animated by Ufotable, the brilliant studio overseeing multiple Fate anime and even an upcoming Genshin Impact series, Demon Slayer has industry-leading animation. It is visually gorgeous to the point that viewers are even patient waiting for Tanjiro’s Nichirin blade to finish cutting through even the stubbornest Upper Rank’s neck. But Demon Slayer has one other edge over Naruto.

Beyond being only roughly 30 million copies sold behind Naruto despite releasing 49 fewer volumes, Demon Slayer’s true mainstream success is in cracking the code to the box office. Only two anime movies have ever grossed over half a billion dollars, and both are Demon Slayer, an achievement that will likely never be achieved by Naruto.

My Hero Academia

Studio Bones created a winner with My Hero Academia, an early pioneer in Shonen Jump anime adaptations, adopting a seasonal model. While series like One Piece remain on a weekly schedule for the foreseeable future, My Hero Academia’s quality speaks for itself, thanks to timely superhero gimmicks and the stellar work of Studio Bones.

Despite a meaty run of 431 chapters, with season 8’s conclusion, the anime has so far only had four filler episodes, compared to Naruto’s absurd 41%. When watching a shonen anime for the long haul, even good filler makes any experience feel bloated. This, combined with excellent fights comparable to Naruto’s, makes My Hero Academia a worthwhile alternative.

Kingdom

Another Pierrot alumnus, Kingdom is a fascinating anime to watch as it progressively grows more excellent. Admittedly, seasons 1 and 2 are as rough as they come, especially upon reexamination, with jarring uses of CGI for more action-heavy or densely-populated scenes, which can be upsetting for a series thoroughly about warring states in ancient China.

Kingdom’s an enthralling tale of Xin, a young orphan raised as a slave with sky-high ambitions shared with his boyhood friend, Piao. Much like Naruto’s desire to become Hokage, Xin’s desire to become the greatest general under the heavens evolves as he grows and the tides of war pull him further in.

The series is now unrecognizable from its rough early years, with strong animation accentuated by phenomenal character renditions lifted from Yasuhisa Hara’s bestselling masterpiece. With Kingdom’s manga finally officially releasing on North American shores, it’s now a question of just how great the series will become. But it’s certainly a more mature, less pacifistic experience than Naruto.

Vinland Saga

Most seinen anime would be odd comparisons to Naruto, but in this and Vinland Saga‘s hearts stand two wonderful pacifist heroes. Vinland Saga is excellent in Wit Studio’s formative first season, alongside MAPPA’s masterful season 2. Across the anime, fans see Thorfinn grow from a boy craving glory in battle to seeing peace as a refuge from suffering.

Animation, music, character development, and subverting viewer expectations are all part of the meditative journey that is Vinland Saga. While Naruto preaches peace, Vinland Saga shows the juxtaposed and darkly varied extremes trying to achieve it, and the harrowing human toll it often takes. Vinland Saga is an exceptional, concise palate-cleanser after Naruto.

One Piece

One Piece stands tall above Naruto as an anime. While their manga can be more fairly compared to each other, and Naruto’s video games are far better, One Piece has evolved to the point of no longer being a sunken cost fallacy. Over 1000 episodes in, following One Piece up to date now feels like hitting a runner’s high.

Naruto has some exceptional moments in its anime, including intimate moments like Shippuden episode #82’s emotional tour de force, and the jaw-droppingly great Pain’s Assault Arc. But One Piece’s heights, namely in Wano and beyond, reach heights of animated quality to which Naruto can only aspire. It’s difficult for Naruto fans to admit, but One Piece’s anime is better.

For every time Naruto breaks hearts with flashbacks about his parents, One Piece ups the ante with heartbreaking tales of inhuman oppression. Naruto’s fights are often compared to Dragon Ball Z, but the excellence of One Piece’s fights is now utterly unique and transcendent post-Gear 5. But real fans, craving excellence, know the true answer is to enjoy both.