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Studio Mappa is known for some of the best modern anime. The best Mappa anime includes such famous titles as Jujutsu Kaisen, Vinland Saga's second season, Chainsaw Man, and most recently, Attack on Titan's final season. The studio has been in operation since 2011 and has continued to produce more modern hits than most other anime production companies active today.
To celebrate the company's 12th anniversary, a selection of 20 of the best Mappa anime has been collected and will be presented below. From more well-known hits like Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen to lesser-known ones like Ushio & Taro and Kakegurui, Mappa has a wide variety of anime to choose from that everyone should watch at least once.
Disclaimer: The following article will contain spoilers for all the anime involved and reflect the opinion of the author. Warnings for canon typical violence and mature-rated content.
20 of the best Mappa anime that everyone should enjoy
1) Jujutsu Kaisen
One cannot go into the modern shonen anime space without Jujutsu Kaisen being there, alongside others like Demon Slayer and My Hero Academia. Despite the anime only premiering in 2020, Jujutsu Kaisen has quickly positioned itself as the anime that solidified Mappa's reputation as one of the best studios in the industry. The story revolves around Yuji Itadori, a high school student who is introduced to the world of Jujutsu Sorcery by nearly getting killed while saving two classmates from a curse.
Jujutsu Kaisen has cemented itself as one of the best Mappa anime due to the fluidity of the animation, where even regular conversations look smooth, and the acting and fight scenes. The choices of changes in the manga timeline, while controversial at times, are positive as some characters get to do more in the anime, like Nobara and Nanami in the Shibuya Incident.
Of particular note are all of the themes, from Kaikai Kitan by Eve to Specialz by King Gnu as OP highlights and Lost in Paradise by ALI and Akari by Soushi Sakiyama as ED highlights.
2) Attack on Titan: The Final Season
Much like Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan has remained a staple of the modern shonen space despite premiering well over 10 years ago. After a substantial break between the third season ending in 2019, the final season relocated from Wit Studio and premiered under Studio Mappa's guidance in December 2020.
The plot follows Attack on Titan's manga, detailing what happened during and following a four-year time skip between the Scouts liberating Paradis from Titans and the broader war with Marley. It is considered among the best Mappa anime owing to the improved animation, limited use of CGI for certain titans that blend in well, and great music choices and voice direction.
The finale premiered on November 5, 2023, and has been hailed as the best in the series yet.
3) Zombie Land Saga
A zombie anime series that isn't a horror series sounds incredibly weird, and Zombie Land Saga is weird. The long and short of this anime is that it's a zombie idol anime involving all sorts of dead girls, like a high school student named Sakura Minamoto, who was only dead for 10 years, being resurrected to revive a declining idol business.
This anime is half dark comedy, since the girls are zombies and need to keep themselves hidden, and half critique of the Japanese idol industry. It's considered one of the best Mappa anime because it fits the idea of why Mappa was founded in the first place: to highlight things that aren't necessarily commercially viable.
The anime staff thought it would fail, but it was popular enough to warrant a second season, and a movie was announced in 2021.
4) Dorohedoro
One of the darker entries on this list, Dorohedoro focuses on a dank and dystopian underworld area simply called "The Hole." People get kidnapped into The Hole by sorcerers to be experimented on, like the main protagonist, Kaiman. Kaiman has amnesia, gets his head transformed into a reptile's, and is forced to hunt sorcerers to regain his memories.
Although the anime only includes 12 episodes out of a manga series that ran for 18 years and had over 160 chapters, the visuals and gory spectacles on display are enough to make it one of the best Mappa anime, though underrated as it didn't have much staying power and a season 2 has yet to be announced.
If audiences adore dark humor, blood, and tons of violence without making the main characters into complete villains and keeping the villains humanized, then Dorohedoro is a good bet for them.
5) Chainsaw Man
Chainsaw Man was one of the most highly anticipated anime to debut in the 2022 fall season. The story revolves around a 16-year-old named Denji, who is turned into the titular Chainsaw Man after his dog Pochita sacrifices his life to save Denji from the zombified Yakuza. Little does Denji know that working for Public Safety will mess his life up forever.
Chainsaw Man is arguably one of the cleanest animated anime and thus earns its place as one of the best Mappa anime. The team went all out in animating almost everything perfectly, from a scene of Aki's daily life before Power causes chaos by moving in featuring really good-looking food and even toothpaste to the fight scenes that are literally bloody entertainment.
Chainsaw Man is one of the only anime on this list to feature different endings done by Mappa.
6) Banana Fish
One of the more realistic of Mappa's best anime is Banana Fish. It's also one of the most tragic, next to Vinland Saga. The story is set in New York City in the 1980s, following the antics of street gang leader Ash Lynx as he and Japanese photographer assistant Eijii Okumura investigate a mysterious drug called "banana fish."
Banana Fish is well known for being realistic, from the art style to the storytelling. No grand powers are here, nor is anything mystical. It's a straightforward crime drama for this anime. Some might even take some fun historical ideas from the manga's Vietnam influence to compare to the aftermath of the Iraq War and drug culture.
A fair warning to prospective viewers: the anime isn't for the faint of heart as it deals with drug addiction and realistic portrayals of violence.
7) Vinland Saga: Season 2
Another of Mappa's more realistic and one of the most recognized modern anime to become a breakout hit, Vinland Saga is a story of violence, revenge, and the folly of it. The blood-soaked story of Thorfinn Karlsfni's revenge shifts into him becoming a pacifistic young man in season 2.
The second such series of Mappa's more realistic anime is considered similar to Berserk in its rejection of violence and yet having ultraviolent imagery. It's a tale of redemption split into two halves, with the second half focusing on how Thorfinn became pacifistic and declared that he had no enemies.
8) Yuri!!! on Ice
Sports anime aren't typically seen in Mappa's repertoire, but Yuri!!! on Ice fits the bill for one of them. Yuri on Ice is a sports anime about figure skating, focusing on the relationships between Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki, his coach and idol Russian figure-skating champion Victor Nikiforov, and rival Russian skater Yuri Plisetsky.
The anime is considered among the best Mappa anime because of how much work went into modeling and animating all the different figure skating moves. Alongside Jujutsu Kaisen, Yuri on Ice also contributed to making Mappa what it is today. The choreography was performed by Japanese figure skating champion Kenju Miyamoto, who recorded skating sound effects likewise.
It's also one of the then-modern anime that depicted an LGBT relationship and featured a prominent focus on the anxiety from sports performances.
9) Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill
The isekai genre of anime exploded onto the scene when Sword Art Online popularized the genre in 2012. Ever since then, numerous isekai have populated many anime seasonal lineups. Campfire Cooking in Another World is about, of all things, campfire cooking in a fantasy world.
In what is a reverse of the usual isekai trope of becoming a hero, salaryman Tsuyoshi Mukouda gains the "Online Supermarket," which allows him to instantly order and transfer food and items from Japan to the fantasy world. It's the story of a guy trying to settle down into a simple life in a fantasy world, cooking for everyone he meets, including divine beasts and gods.
It's considered one of the best Mappa anime due to the more peaceful approach to an isekai as opposed to more action-oriented affairs.
10) Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku
One of the last of the recognizable titles in Mappa's collection is Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku. Following being betrayed by the Iwagakure clan, Gabimaru the Hollow is sentenced to execution, but his body refuses to die. His last chance is to deliver the elixir of life to the shogun, and he'll need to compete against other convicts to do so.
As can be inferred, this anime is a fight for survival and well worth the title of one of Mappa's best anime. It's grisly, it pulls no punches on the violence aspect, and yet the core of the story is a love story where the protagonist seeking death finds a reason to live. It's among Mappa's best anime because of this.
11) Dororo
Another anime dealing with betrayal and the supernatural is Dororo. While being in about the same vein of tone as Hell's Paradise, Dororo is more of a buddy film/lone wolf and cub type of adventure. When the ronin Hyakkimaru is sacrificed to demons and given prosthetic limbs, he tries to get his limbs back from an evil kingdom.
The series is about as violent as it sounds, yet it also has the same idea of "the gritty protagonist who was never loved learns to love" trope. Hyakkimaru is joined by a child he meets named Dororo, and the two fight off demons and the corrupt kingdom that cast Hyakkimaru out.
12) Kakegurui
Schools are not fun for students, especially private schools where rich people can throw money around and make things vanish in a heartbeat. Kekegurui takes place at one such school, Hyakkaou Private Academy, where a sadistic student council oversees a school gambling system that can and will break people if they're not on top of their game.
Enter Yumeko Jabami, a transfer student who is addicted to gambling and threatens the social order of the school. Kakegurui is considered one of the best Mappa anime due to its look into psychology, the weirdly sensual ways Yumeko goes about life and gaming, and the students treating each other like pets.
13) Terror in Resonance
There have been plenty of anime based on real events, from earthquakes to terror attacks to wars. While Terror in Resonance is a work of fiction, many have seen this as one of Mappa's more politically oriented anime. The gist of the story is that two children are performing widespread terror attacks, and only their roommate Lisa Mishima knows about them.
It's been compared to Death Note for its attempt to be morally gray, as the antagonists are corrupt government officials and the protagonists are committing acts of widespread terrorism. The entire story is very bleak, but that's another reason why it's one of the best Mappa anime: it's a nuanced story.
14) Days
Sports anime, particularly about soccer, aren't uncommon in the anime space. Plenty of anime have been made about it and around the sport, like Captain Tsubasa. DAYS is one such anime about Tsukushi Tsukamoto as he gets involved in the school soccer team despite lacking any experience.
The anime expanded heavily on the source material and continued to make strides in the 2D and 3D animation that Mappa prides itself on having and doing in its animations. It is considered a technical achievement for a sports anime, even if it is slightly obscure and overlooked.
15) Kids on the Slope
The anime that put Studio Mappa on the map, Kids on the Slope is another anime that is more realistic than others here. In the summer of 1966, rich and smart Kaoru Nishimi transferred to a school on the island of Kyushu. Despite being isolated and alienated due to his intelligence and wealth, Kaoru begins to make friends and bond over the love of jazz music.
This anime was the studio's debut and is considered one of the best Mappa anime due to the stellar animation, the jazz soundtrack, and the friendship between Kaoru, delinquent Sentarou Kawabuki, and class president Risuko Mukae. It's also 12 episodes long, so it would not take long to marathon for those interested.
16) Hajime no Ippo: Rising
The third season of the critically acclaimed boxing anime Hajime no Ippo is another of the best Mappa anime. In Hajime No Ippo: Rising, the main protagonist, Makunouchi Ippo, has become the Japanese Featherweight Champion by utilizing the Dempsey Roll to his advantage. The problem is that new challengers are springing up every day, each with their own challenging moves and gunning for the title.
The third season aired in Fall 2013. It's a 24-episode season, showcasing Ippo's struggles to maintain his title. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, especially when others are constantly gunning for it. Ippo will need to battle through constant challenges and potential brain damage to keep his title.
17) The God of High School
High school being the pinnacle of human life and achievement is a weird trope, and The God of High School embraces it. The God of High School takes place between three different realms: Earth, Demon, and Heavenly. It involves a Martial Arts Tournament called "The God of High School," bringing together high schoolers from all over South Korea.
Enter Mori Jin, a 17-year-old marital artist from Seoul, South Korea, who is intrigued by the prize: one wish fulfilled by a shady corporation sponsoring the tournament. The tournament won't be easy, as people from all realms are all vying for that wish. It makes for one of the best Mappa anime owing to this constant action.
18) Sarazanmai
One of the weirder anime on this list is Sarazanmai. This anime involves a trio of middle school students accidentally running into and angering the self-proclaimed heir to the Kappa Kingdom throne. This being, Keppi, curses the kids by changing them into kappa and tells them to connect on a deeper level and to bring him the shirikodama of zombies.
If they do that, they'll get the Dishes of Hope that can grant their wishes. Two of the main guys need to fall in love to accomplish this goal, and while it is rather whacky, it also involves zombies and related horror despite having a cutesy appearance. This is one of the best Mappa anime owing to this juxtaposition.
19) Inuyashiki
Stories about superheroes and villains are practically everywhere nowadays, and anime is no exception. While My Hero Academia might be one of the most well-known Shonen superhero story, Inuyashiki deserves some spotlight as a Seinen version of superheroism. The story is as follows: Inuyashiki Ichiro was an older gentleman struck by cosmic rays and decided to become a superhero.
On the other side of the coin, a teenager by the name of Shishigami Hiro suffered the same explosion and used his abilities to murder, steal, and become a criminal. It is one of the best Mappa anime due to following both people as they go about their lives, inevitably ending in a clash and the truth behind everything.
20) Ushio & Tora
Ushio & Tora follows Ushio Aotsuki, the son of a temple keeper who found himself unknowingly freeing a large tiger-like demon named Tora. The two are forced to work together against powerful demons and modern society alike, as a friendship begins to form between the unlikely duo.
Ushio & Tora is an older series modernized, with 39 episodes in total to its name. The series was considered very humorous, especially regarding how Tora needed to adapt to modern technology and the pratfalls there. As with nearly all the best Mappa anime, the animation and fight scenes are great, and the story holds up.
This concludes the list of 20 of the best Mappa anime. Studio Mappa has only been in operation for 12 years, but it has already gone on to make some of the greatest modern anime to date. Problems with the company's work culture and extremely rapid growth, however, have dimmed the studio's star as of late in the eyes of fans.
Though these concerns do deserve to be taken seriously, the majority of these issues don't appear to have affected the final products they work on. This should be a lesson, however: the best Mappa anime cannot be made without workers being paid and treated with respect.
