Skip to main content

The 7 best anime to stream on Amazon right now

Amazon has a good selection of anime for fans to watch

A still from Vinland Saga
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Anime is still popular all over the world. A big reason for that is the ability to stream an array of classic and new anime from the comfort of one’s home. One of the best streaming services to get your anime fix is Amazon Prime. While both Netflix and Hulu have a great selection of anime, Amazon Prime has a combination of exclusive titles and classics ready to stream. Home to an impressive library of both movies and anime series, Amazon Prime is an excellent choice for any anime fan. Here are the seven best anime on Amazon Prime.

Recommended Videos

Elfen Lied (2004)

Elfen Lied
tv-ma
1 Season
Genre
Action & Adventure, Animation, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Stars
Chihiro Suzuki, Sanae Kobayashi, Emiko Hagiwara
Created by
Lynn Okamoto
Watch on Amazon
Because of its cute animation style, it’s easy to let your guard down when watching Elfen Lied. However, this anime is dark, with jarring scenes of shocking, brutal violence. The story centers on Lucy, a seemingly normal girl who is actually a Diclonius — a human with short horns and invisible telekinetic hands, the result of secret government experiments. At the start of the story, Lucy escapes captivity from the government lab but suffers a terrible head injury in the process, turning her into a harmless girl with no memory of her past. She is rescued by two college students who are unaware of her true nature. The show takes a lot of twists and turns, each filled with adrenaline-pumping action.

Blade of the Immortal (2019)

Blade of the Immortal
tv-ma
1 Season
Genre
Animation, Drama, Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Stars
Houko Kuwashima, Ayane Sakura, Kenjiro Tsuda
Watch on Amazon
This Amazon Prime anime is a fun watch for any fan of samurai or sword-fighting movies. While Blade of the Immortal has plenty of sword fights, it also includes a dark supernatural element. This anime is very adult, with lots of graphic imagery and menacing, if not downright insane villains. The story follows a ronin (a leaderless warrior) named Manji, the immortal “Hundred Man Killer” as he navigates feudal Japan. He teams up with Rin Asano, a 16-year-old girl on a revenge quest against a group of master swordsmen who murdered her family.

Memories (1995)

Memories
113m
Genre
Fantasy, Animation, Science Fiction
Stars
Tsutomu Isobe, Koichi Yamadera, Shozo Iizuka
Directed by
Tensai Okamura, Katsuhiro Otomo, Koji Morimoto
Watch on Amazon
This beautiful and cerebral 1995 anime film gives off classic Blade Runner and cyberpunk vibes. Based on three manga stories from legendary artist and director Katsuhiro Otomo (creator of Akira), this movie is a collection of three short films. Intricately animated, each short film is unique in both presentation and story, swaying, at times, from the haunting to the darkly comical. You’ll find yourself creeped out and laughing throughout this film, a great sign of how diverse this movie is. This film is a must-watch for anyone craving a slice of classic, hand-drawn, 1990s anime.

Vinland Saga (2019)

Vinland Saga
tv-ma
2 Seasons
Genre
Animation, War & Politics
Stars
Yuto Uemura, Shunsuke Takeuchi
Watch on Amazon
For those fans of History Channel’s Vikings, Vinland Saga is its anime twin. Based on the best-selling manga, Vinland Saga is filled with medieval action, intrigue, and drama. From dazzling battles to intense duels, Vinland Saga has enough combat to satisfy any action junkie. But this epic anime is also a story of growing up, with a memorable cast of characters that don’t fit neatly into standard anime tropes. The main character of Vinland Saga is Thorfinn, a young Viking warrior who goes on a journey to see the mystical land of Vinland — North America.

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007)

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
98m
Genre
Animation, Science Fiction, Action, Drama
Stars
Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Kotono Mitsuishi
Directed by
Hideaki Anno, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Masayuki, Hiroshi Haraguchi
Watch on Amazon
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone is an anime film and the first entry in the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy. It’s a retelling of the classic anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, but with some twists and updated animation. The story takes place in the futuristic Tokyo-3, 15 years after a global catastrophe called the Second Impact. Humanity is under attack by monstrous beings known as Angels. NERV, a special agency, relies on giant robots called Evangelion (EVA) units piloted by teenagers to combat the Angels. Shinji Ikari, a withdrawn young man, is recruited by NERV to pilot EVA-01, one of these giant machines, and fight the Angels. The title “You Are Not Alone” reflects the themes of isolation and connection that are central to the story. Shinji struggles with loneliness, but he also finds a sense of belonging through piloting the EVA and interacting with others.

GoShogun: The Time Étranger (1985)

GoShogun: The Time Étranger
90m
Genre
Action, Animation, Science Fiction, Horror
Stars
Kaneto Shiozawa, Daisuke Gori, Shôjirô Kihara
Directed by
Kunihiko Yuyama
Watch on Amazon
GoShogun: The Time Étranger is a science-fiction anime film with a twist on reality and a focus on enduring friendships. The story revolves around Remy Shimada, a former pilot of the giant robot GoShogun, who once saved the world. Decades later, Remy is an elderly woman living a reclusive life. While on her way to reunite with her old teammates, Remy gets into a car accident and ends up critically ill. As Remy fights for her life, she experiences a strange dream world. In this dream, she finds herself young again, reunited with her teammates in a mysterious and hostile city. The dream takes a dark turn when they each receive letters predicting their gruesome deaths within two days. Remy must navigate this surreal dream city while relying on the memories of her past camaraderie to find a way out, both within the dream and potentially back to the real world.

Girls' Last Tour (2017)

Girls' Last Tour
tv-14
1 Season
Genre
Mystery, Action & Adventure, Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Stars
Yurika Kubo, Inori Minase, Akira Ishida
Created by
Tsukumizu, Takaharu Ozaki
Watch on Amazon
This anime series takes place in a desolate post-apocalyptic world where civilization has seemingly crumbled. The exact cause of this apocalypse remains a mystery throughout the story. The narrative of Girls’ Last Tour centers on two young girls, Chito and Yuuri, who travel the ruins on a half-tracked motorcycle called a Kettenkrad. Their main goals are simple: survival and finding their next meal, fuel, and shelter. While the world is bleak, the story focuses on Chito and Yuuri’s day-to-day experiences. They explore abandoned structures, encounter the remnants of the past civilization, and contemplate its demise. Despite the desolate setting, the series often has lighthearted and humorous moments. The girls find joy in simple things like reading scavenged books, brewing coffee, or sharing a meal together.
Movie images and data from:
Hunter Lu
Hunter Lu is a New York-based food and features writer, editor, and NYU graduate. His fiction has appeared in The Line…
The 8 best prison TV series of all time
Enter the slammer with these TV hits
The cast of Orange is the New Black

TV transports us to places we wouldn't be able to visit otherwise. Other times, it allows us to live vicariously through people who see the world very differently than we do. I can't think of a genre that gives us a peek into a life we should strive never to replicate more than the prison drama. Spending time in the slammer isn't as abnormal as you would think (about 5% of all Americans have gone to jail at least once in their lifetime). Still, the other 95% of us are always a little curious about what happens behind bars, even if we know it's unpleasant.

Many shows have put their characters in prison for a single episode or a small stretch of the plot (it feels like every sitcom from the 1990s had a prison episode), but we're not going to focus on those series. This list is solely to appreciate the niche genre that places its characters in jail as the main setting and catalyst for the plots. These are the best prison TV series of all time.

Read more
A Pacific Rim prequel TV series is headed to Amazon
The series has a writer, but no plot details or cast yet.
The Jaegers in Pacific Rim

Get ready to put your mech suit back on. Variety is reporting that the Pacific Rim TV series has found a home at Amazon. Plot details for the series are currently being kept under wraps, but reporting suggests that this new show will be a prequel and that there is still a possibility that they will make more Pacific Rim films at some point as well. Eric Heisserer is set to serve as the show's writer and executive producer.

The first film was released in 2013 and directed by Guillermo Del Toro and Travis Beachem. That film imagined a world where Kaijus had long ago emerged from the ocean, and mankind's only hope of defeating them were giant mech suits called Jaegers. With humanity on its last legs, a washed-up pilot becomes their best chance for survival. The movie made over $400 million at the global box office and was divisive among both audiences and critics.

Read more
The best horror TV shows that you can stream now
These TV series include shows that come from a range of horror influences
Joel and Ellie drive the narrative of The Last of Us

Horror on TV has not always been a given. Although there are some examples of older horror TV shows, the modern glut of the genre is a pretty recent phenomenon. If you're looking to pull out the very best shows in this genre from every streaming service, then we've got you covered.

These shows have been, for me, sometimes strangely comforting. There's something nice about looking the most terrifying things in the face, and realizing that your life is not nearly as bad as what the characters in these stories go through. While these shows aren't often honored with awards, they have become some of the most critically acclaimed series of the past 15 years.

Read more