Anyone claiming that any specific show is the best shonen series of all time is asking for a fight. There are far too many shows with far too many fans to throw down the gauntlet like that, and as shonen is among the most successful and subjective genres of anime, there's no way to ever win such an argument.
Shonen has its fair share of genre standbys: a plucky hero seeking redemption or avenging a loved one, a massive cast of likable supporting characters, superpowers or magical abilities, tournament arcs, and bosses that must be defeated. Fans expect the protagonist to steadily, doggedly pursue a goal. But despite these tropes, there are some shows that stand out. Not necessarily because they're better, but because some aspect makes them unique.
10 Kekkai Sensen Is A Welcome Return To The Odd Mind of Yasuhiro Nightow (MAL Average: 7.76)
It's not uncommon for a mangaka to deliver one smash hit and vanish forever, and that seemed to be the fate of Yasuhiro Nightow. After iconic space-western Trigun's immense success in the late 90s, Nightow more or less dropped off the collective otaku radar. But it's no surprise that when Nightow wrote again, he wasn't content to stick to the status quo.
Set in a futuristic New York City infested with interdimensional monsters, Kekkai Sensen is a curious mix of science fiction, fantasy, and crime that somehow forges an identity all its own. Hard to describe and hard to forget, Leo and the rest of Libra remind viewers that sometimes what anime excels at most of all is being ineffably cool.
9 Mawaru Penguindrum Remains Remarkably Strange (MAL Score: 7.98)
It's fair to say that Kunihiko Ikuhara has had his share of hits and misses. While Utena is embraced as a modern classic and fans adored the nuance he lent to Sailor Moon, Yurikuma Arashi mostly missed the mark. And so, some would argue, did Penguindrum. But those who stuck with the series realized it was a deeply strange and affecting story by the end.
When Himari Takakura's life is saved by a strange, penguin-shaped hat, her brothers must follow the commands of the spirit inside the hat, which demands they find a mysterious object called the Penguindrum. The show eventually becomes an introspective delve into the family history and an unspoken trauma that has shaped them all. It's not always clear what Penguindrum is trying to say, but by the end, it's said a lot that resonates.
8 Shakespeare Meets Shonen In Zetsuen No Tempest (MAL Score: 7.98)
Studio Bones is never afraid to commit to a weird premise. The studio's amibition has led to some certified classics like Eureka Seven and Space Dandy, but some convoluted messes too. Blast of Tempest, although based on a manga by Kyō Shirodaira, feels original in more ways than one.
Borrowing themes and a central premise from not just one but several Shakespearean works, including The Tempest, Hamlet, and Macbeth, the show's fundamentally a shonen action series about family, magic, and revenge. Ten years on, Blast of Tempest remains an odd but rewarding ride.
7 Kill La Kill Refuses To Be Categorized (MAL Score: 8.10)
Almost half of Shonen Jump's readers are girls. Two of the most successful shonen manga of all time, Fullmetal Alchemist and Demon Slayer, are written by women, and Revolutionary Girl Utena was written by a man. Marketing series according to lose an idea as gender has proven outdated.
An original work that's arguably male-gaze-y but remarkably feminist all the same, Kill la Kill show defies easy categorization. Whether this show about alien school uniforms and defying abusive parents qualifies as shojo or seinen or shonen or josei doesn't matter. It's an exciting piece of cinema that creates fanservice specifically to overcome it, demanding equal attention from all audiences.
6 Assassination Classroom Constantly Subverts Expectations (MAL Score: 8.12)
Assassination Classroom's central concept isn't what makes it unique. Murderous teens have been featured in everything from Battle Royale to The Hunger Games, and in all kinds of anime across several decades: Gantz, Deadman Wonderland, and Danganronpa come to mind. Nonetheless, Assassination Classroom takes the idea of kids-turned-killers and flips it on its head.
Avoiding spoilers, surmise it to say this: being tasked with killing one's teacher is much harder when that teacher is a virtually immortal monster, and perhaps that monster really isn't a monster, and he's also an amazing teacher to boot. Expectations are better off left at the door for this one.
5 Food Wars Would Make Gordon Ramsay Proud (MAL Score: 8.28)
Who says a shonen action series can't be all about food? After all, competitive cooking shows are universally popular. Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma is a delightfully novel series because it could truly only have come from Japan.
And while the series follows familiar shonen beats, it's possibly the only shonen that makes its audience want to buy a recipe book.
4 Jo Jo Really Is Bizarre, As Promised (Average MAL Score: 8.33)
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is currently the longest-running shonen manga of all time. The series has had a devoted following for decades. Outsiders may wonder why. The art style feels intentionally dated, its characters boast a curious mix of pretty eyelashes and Schwarzenegger physiques, and the stories are outlandish, to say the least.
But Jojo succeeds because it does what it says on the box: it's a bizarre adventure, no matter the season. Being odd is hard to fake, and in a shonen context, a possible recipe for cancellation. But Jojo is grade-A entertainment and its popularity shows no signs of waning.
3 Attack on Titan Forever Altered The Anime Landscape (MAL Score: 8.49)
Wit Studio announced itself with a bang in 2013, and from the first glimpse of the Colossal Titan peering over the edge of the wall, the audience felt much as Eren did: things would never be the same.
And they haven't been. The existential questions the series poses, its pessimistic outlook on humanity, antiheroes in the lead roles: these tropes have since become familiar. Moreover, the series's global popularity has made it a gateway anime for countless new fans. In the wake of Attack on Titan, shonen anime has gotten remarkably darker, bloodier, and more brooding.
2 Gintama Is TimelesslyWeird (MAL Score: 8.96)
If there's any show that stands apart from virtually every other shonen series, it's Gintama. The irony of course is that Gintama's unique identity is derived from it being a parody show. Gintama lambasts everything from Hollywood to daily life in Japan like no other.
It's easy to forget that the series is about aliens invading Edo-Japan, which is mostly just inconvenient for a samurai freelancer and his friends. One thing is certain: it's impossible to mistake Gintama for anything else, no matter how many hats it wears.
1 Brotherhood Is Often Imitated But Never Outdone (MAL Score 9.18)
What is it about Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood that has certified it in many minds as the single best shonen, possibly the single best anime of any genre? Fantasy series are ten-a-penny, and the orphaned Elrics are far from the first hard-done-by-shonen kids to seek redemption in a corrupt world.
Too often in anime, adults are killed off, are enemies, or serve only as mentor figures. In Fullmetal Alchemist, while there are characters that fit those roles, a thread of realism enhances the story. The adults of FMA are always aware that Ed and All are children, and so do their best to help and shield them from the world's horrors. Of course, as Roy notes, it's a bit late for that. But there's something irreplaceable about all these characters, these wonderful people that do their best to save what's already lost, to restore what's gone, to fall and get back up again.
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