Fellow In The Seats writer Rod’s previous list of retro anime inspired me, so I went through the vast banks of Crunchyroll’s collection to source out some recommendations of my own.That’s not to say Rod didn’t do a bang-up job with his list, it’s just that Crunchyroll’s library is just so vast and expansive that multiple lists like these could be made! And even my hesitations have been swayed since subscribing to the site myself. We may need to revisit this topic, though next time I’d challenge Rod to a list of his favourite current offerings.

AKIRA

The granddaddy of them all for a lot of people in the 90s first turning on to Japanese Anime, Akira is still as special and transgressive as it ever was. For kids of a certain age, the closest we got to real anime was redubs of anime series like Gatchaman, redubbed as Battle of the Planets for North American audiences by the Sandy Frank company. A similar company also introduced a young Daft Punk to clips from Battleship Yamato which would inspire them to create their own anime in the Yamato style years later. But Akira was the first unaltered and unrestrained foray into the world of Anime. Katsuhiro Otomo’s masterwork is still as mindblowing today as it ever was, and the influence it has had on anime since its 1988 release is staggering. Even live-action Sci-fi cinema has a lot to thank Otomo for with his realistic and grimy vision of Neo-Tokyo.

CITY HUNTER

Other creatives attempted to adapt City Hunter as a live-action franchise many times, the most recent and most successful of the attempts being this year for Netflix. But nothing really can hold up to the original series that ran from 87-91. Sure it’s dated, but the series is also still fun in a James Bond meets Columbo meets Inspector Cleseau kinda way. And the fact that Ryo, the City Hunter himself, has Kaori around to keep him and his rampaging libido around, often through violence, still manages to provide laughter. All 4 seasons, 140 episodes, of the initial run are available to stream on Crunchyroll, as well as many of the animated movies that followed.

STREET FIGHTER II: THE ANIMATED SERIES

Forget about any other iteration of attempts to convert the classic video game series into a movie or television show. This series that ran from 95-97 is by far the best attempt at creating a Street Fighter universe. Fun fights, a thoroughly entertaining storyline that involves Ken and Ryu spanning the globe, and actual character development make this series a cut above the rest. It’s far from perfect and is downright silly at times, but for fans of the games, this is probably the best version of the story they will get outside of playing the games again. So embrace the goofiness and jump in. All 26 episodes are available here, and I may say a damn sight cheaper than the old VHS tapes I used to buy.

COWBOY BEBOP

The gold standard for space-themed anime, Cowboy Bebop remains as influential today as it did when it was first released back in 98. The adventures of Spike Spiegel, his partner Jet Black, and the rest of the stragglers that they pick up along the way as a rag-tag crew upon the ship Bebop have become the stuff of legend.The series even spawned a massively successful animated feature film and a far from successful Netflix adaptation where they completely miscast Faye Valentine. And Cowboy Bebop still rocks my vote for the best theme song in the history of anime. I dare anyone not to fall in love with the adorable corgi,Ein. Crunchyroll has all 26 episodes of Bebop, but sadly, not the movie as it’s hard to find nowadays.

GHOST STORIES

Now bear with me here. The series Ghost Stories from 2000/01 is not a good anime. It has a dated look with silly contrivances and plot points that simply do not make sense. Even the production team knew they had a stinker on their hands, and realistically the story should have ended there. But something wild happened instead. Having already promised a DVD release, and looking to make back the money they had lost, the creators gave the English voice-over artist something they had never done before, carte blanche. And boy did they take advantage. 

Inspired heavily by the more raunchy American cartoons of the day, the English dub of Ghost Stories took on a life of its own. Irreverent, politically incorrect, and even mildly racist at points, the dub results in a mix of early South Park episodes with a Deadpool level of self-awareness and fourth wall breaking that is downright hilarious. The characters gleefully point out not only anime tropes of the time that the animators fell into but willingly bash the mistakes of the very anime they are in. And Crunchyroll has the English dub ready to stream.

Now between Rod and I, there are 10 recommendations for Crunchyroll, but that’s not even close to leaving a dent in the catalogue of the premier anime service in North America. Hopefully, you’ll find something that might tickle your fancy too.