While fans might love long-running anime such as One Piece, the best short anime pack just as much of a punch in a much more compact package.
To rank among the best short anime of all time, a series has to use its lower episode count effectively. These are anime with absolutely zero wasted moments. The result can be tightly paced and leave fans begging for more.
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Odd Taxi (2021)
13 Episodes
- Release Date
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2021 – 2021-00-00
- Network
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TV Tokyo
- Directors
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Sayaka Yamai, Mayu Numayama, Kenichi Nishida, Hideaki Ōba, Shigenori Awai
- Writers
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Kazuya Konomoto
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Natsuki Hanae
Hiroshi Odokawa (voice)
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Riho Iida
Miho Shirakawa (voice)
Both a slice of life and a crime anime, Odd Taxi is pretty fascinating. It’s got anthropomorphic animals as its main characters, and the main character is a walrus who happens to drive taxis. His story cycles through a lot of eccentric passengers, but ultimately, it centers on him being connected to a missing person’s case.
Hiroshi Odokawa might be blunt and a little eccentric himself, but his life is completely turned on its head when both the police force and members of the yakuza are set on him.
More than living up to its name, Odd Taxi is a delightfully strange series with enough heart to win over any fan of crime dramas who may be put off by the series’ animal designs. Rest assured, Odd Taxi is far from family-friendly. There’s so much to enjoy in Odd Taxi, whether it’s the different passengers in the taxi, or the overall mystery, that fans might want to watch it twice.
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Yuri!!! On Ice (2012)
12 Episodes
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Yuri!!! on Ice focuses on a prominent figure skater who finds himself suffering after a crushing loss, as well as a world champion figure skater who offers to help him out. The two find exactly what they need in one another when they’re not sure where their paths should point them next.
Yuri!!! on Ice became a massive hit thanks to its stellar animation and focus on same-sex relationships, and seven years after the original airing of the anime, fans and critics alike are still waiting in anticipation for the release of its sequel film, Yuri!!! on Ice the Movie: Ice Adolescence.
Unfortunately, if there’s one flaw with the series, it’s that the series’ central relationship is only strongly implied as opposed to being outright confirmed. Still, far from subtext, the implications are clear to anyone paying even a little bit of attention.
18
Violet Evergarden (2018)
13 Episodes
- Release Date
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2018 – 2018
- Directors
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Taichi Ishidate, Haruka Fujita
- Writers
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Reiko Yoshida, Tatsuhiko Urahata, Taaki Suzuki
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Violet Evergarden is an exploration of just what love means. It’s poignant and emotional to watch a character who doesn’t understand love slowly come to realize how it affects the world—and her.
The titular character works as a transcriptionist following her time as a soldier in a war. When the last words of her mentor are “I love you”, she tries to understand them, and it takes her on a trip to which she tells other people’s stories while searching for answers.
Violet Evergarden is short at 13 episodes but spawned two movies in the years that followed its release as well, making it a little longer of a watch than some of the other short anime here if fans want the full picture.
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<Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011)
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12 Episodes
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