10 anime to watch if you like Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible is a popular action spy film franchise starring Tom Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt.

Mission: Impossible films are known for their intricate plots, high-tech gadgets, disguises, double crosses, and heart-pounding action sequences. Fans of the Mission: Impossible films may also enjoy these 10 anime that have similar themes of espionage, secret agents, heists, and intrigue.

These anime feature teams of specialists banding together to pull off dangerous missions, often requiring quick thinking, specialized skills, disguise, infiltration, and death-defying action.

10 must-watch anime for fans of Mission: Impossible

1. Lupin the 3rd

Lupin the 3rd (Image via TMS Entertainment)

Lupin the 3rd follows the adventures of the titular character, the grandson of the famous gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. Lupin is a cunning master thief who travels the world stealing valuable items accompanied by his partners: the quick-draw gunman Jigen, the stoic swordsman Goemon, and the femme fatale Fujiko.

Much like Ethan Hunt, Lupin relies on disguise, bluffing, and sleight of hand to infiltrate secure facilities and steal treasures. He stays one step ahead of the authorities with gadgets, vehicles, and misdirection. The Lupin franchise has many iterations spanning decades, with both serial TV series and movies to enjoy.

2. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Image via Production I.G)

In a futuristic world where technology has advanced to include cybernetic bodies and computerized minds, Public Security Section 9 is an elite government taskforce that handles technology-related crimes and terrorism.

The unit’s top agent is Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cutting-edge cyborg with a cybernetic body and a human brain. Together with her squadmates Batou, Togusa, Ishikawa, and Saito, the Major takes down hackers in mind-bending battles of wits.

Like the IMF in Mission: Impossible, Section 9 utilizes the most high-tech equipment available in their war against enemies lurking within the interconnected network.

3. Spy x Family

Spy x Family (Image via Wit Studio and CloverWorks)

Spy x Family is a recent hit centering around the building of a fabricated family of spies. Super spy Twilight takes on a mission to infiltrate an elite school; to get close, he adopts the orphaned telepath Anya and marries an assassin named Yor.

Soon, Twilight (now using the name Loid Forger) must balance his fake family life while carrying out espionage missions requiring stealth, skills, and split-second decision-making.

Fans of the Mission: Impossible action will find the mix of tense secret agent work and family sitcom comedy to be an engaging blend. There are also slick gadgets, disguises, break-ins, and narrow escapes aplenty as the Forgers struggle to keep each of their secrets.

4. Joker Game

In 1937, before World War II, Lt. Colonel Yuuki oversees an independent spy agency known as the “D Agency,” stocked with Japanese spies highly trained in skills like cryptography, infiltration, irregular warfare, and foreign languages.

Eight of these master spies with code names like "Joker" operate internationally, embedded undercover to gather intelligence in service to their country. With historical events as a backdrop, Joker Game focuses more on its serious depiction of tradecraft and the mental battles of spywork rather than physical action.

Viewers who appreciate the strategic elements of Mission: Impossible and living under false identities will find much to enjoy.

5. Princess Principal

Princess Principal (Image via Studio 3Hz and Actas)

Set in a steampunk alt-history version of 20th-century London, Princess Principal follows female spies from the Commonwealth nation of Albion.

Masquerading as students at the prestigious Queen's Mayfair School are secret agents Ange, Chise, Beatrice, Dorothy, and in-training Princess Charlotte. This squad secretly undertakes missions involving infiltration, reconnaissance, theft, and occasional assassination.

Echoing the IMF’s use of disguises and trickery, the girl spies don alternate personas and costumes to carry out assignments from their shady bureau backer known only as "Control." With double-crosses and secrets galore, Princess Principal offers royal intrigue to savor.

6. Great Pretender

International swindler Makoto Edamura prides himself on scamming foreigners as a petty thief in Tokyo.

But when he attempts to hustle the wrong mark, he's captured by world-class gentleman-thief Laurent Thierry and recruited into his globe-trotting troupe of high-stakes scammers. Each thrilling case culminates in an elaborate, long-game con job dependent on manipulation, role-playing, and old-fashioned theatrics.

Pulling from the Mission: Impossible playbook, Edamura and the gang cosplay as various identities, from auctioneers to drug dealers, slyly bleeding their criminal targets dry. But long cons and double-crosses often mean the twists in Great Pretender never stop coming.

7. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (Image via Sunrise)

Exiled prince Lelouch Lamperouge is a brilliant strategist, owing credit to his ruthless disposition.

When he gains a supernatural power called Geass that allows him to compel others to obey his commands, he sets on a path to destroying the totalitarian superpower Britannia that has taken over Japan. Going by the codename "Zero," Lelouch masterminds a complex and deadly rebellion.

With his quick thinking and bold tactics, Lelouch leads his allies to impossibly topple much stronger foes. Between the false identities, shifting objectives, mind games, and masks within masks, Code Geass shares much with Mission: Impossible's cerebral brand of trickery.

8. Baccano!

This gritty 1930s period mafia story starts with a simple train robbery and explodes into over-the-top violence. Through interwoven plotlines and a timeline-hopping style of storytelling, Baccano! introduces assassins, thieves, psychos, hitmen, speakeasy managers, and cops.

The story unfolds through a seemingly endless marathon of double-crosses and gang backstabbing centered around events in New York and Chicago. Elements of crime noir permeate Baccano! but the appeal lies in the slam-bang action as a motley ensemble cast navigates the consequences of immortality.

Those who love Mission: Impossible’s organized gang intrigue will find similar chaotic amusement within Baccano!’s nest of unpredictable criminals and their blood-soaked power struggles.

9. Night Raid 1931

Night Raid 1931 (Image via A-1 Pictures)

Officially, Sakurai Kikan is a covert Japanese intelligence agency operating in Shanghai during 1931, gathering info on political factions and potential threats. Unofficially, its agents carry out black ops and wet work under the veil of diplomacy.

Skilled in arts like aikido, wirework, poisons, and marksmanship, the agents eliminate targets while struggling with the moral calculus of their deadly profession. Night Raid 1931 emphasizes tense cat-and-mouse espionage over gunplay.

Its historically complex backdrop features false flag attacks, double agents, assassinations, dead drops, codes, cut-outs, and other hallmarks of spy tradecraft sure to appeal to Mission: Impossible fans.

10. ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. (Image via Madhouse)

The kingdom of Dowa seems a peaceful land divided into 13 autonomous sectors overseen by ACCA, a government auditing agency. Few suspect that behind the bureaucracy, covert forces are gathering data and politically motivated figures plot to disrupt a delicate balance of power.

Enter ACCA inspector Jean Otus, whose reputation hides his secret role: to sniff out dust and record brewing troubles while under passive surveillance himself. More mellow than Mission: Impossible but sporting a layered narrative, ACCA promises intrigue and surprises for lovers of subtler spy fare.

Conclusion

Fans of the Mission: Impossible films who are looking to branch into anime will discover plenty of solid options that explore similar themes of espionage, secret missions, disguises, complex plots, and daring stunts.

Whether preferring subtle tales of intrigue or exaggerated action, series like the various Lupin the 3rd adaptations, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, or Code Geass should readily quench any viewer’s thirst for covert operations excitement.