1. Devilman Crybaby
There’s no doubt that Devilman Crybaby is a top-tier anime from its exquisite visuals to its diverse soundtrack, but we think what truly made it worthy of being called Anime of the Year was the sheer impact it had on not just only the anime community but on mainstream media as well. The memes that have come from it have been top tier as well.
2. Aggretsuko
This shows us how life would be if we were cute animated animals. You can really tell that Netflix has finally found its stride and has developed its own recipe on how to make funny yet socially relevant shows. Aggretsuko makes us laugh not because it’s funny, but because we realize that continuing life this way is truly laughable.
3. Neo Yokio
Despite having very polarizing reviews (what else can you expect from a project that has Jaden Smith in it?) we still find merit in the existence of the clusterfuck of comedy, cultural references, and inside jokes that is Neo Yokio. Being the first ever animated Netflix original, it really set the tone for how experimental Netflix was willing to be in making its own content. They deserve all the Toblerones.
4. Violet Evergarden
Violet Evergarden is probably one of the most beautiful things our mobile devices has every streamed. Sometimes we just find ourselves lost in how amazing every movement and detail of each scene looks that we forget that we’re watching an anime. We’re really excited for more high quality animation streaming sites will offer to match this.
5. Baki
Baki is beautiful in its own special way. It feels like the creators of this show just thought of a random situation to bring these characters together so they could have them fight each other—and honestly we’re perfectly okay with that. The grotesque yet insanely impressive style of the senseless violence depicted in this show would have never seen the light of day if it weren’t for private streaming apps like Netflix, because no network would want something this violent on their site.