Netflix Original Anime Ranked: Where Blue Eye Samurai Lands

This page ranks eight Netflix original animated series in the anime tradition, from Castlevania in 2017 to Blue Eye Samurai and Pluto in 2023. The scope is practical: the shows are Netflix originals, they were released as complete series or runs, and viewers and Netflix itself file them with anime. Two of them, Arcane and Blue Eye Samurai, were animated by French studios, and one, Castlevania, is an American production, so the list uses anime as a style and not as a passport.

The method is fixed: story and structure 35, performances 25, craft 25, rewatch value 15; full rewatch before any placement; lists reviewed quarterly and within 30 days of a new release. Each series gets a score from 0 to 10 on four criteria, the scores are weighted and added into a total out of 100, and the table shows every number. Story and structure counts most, which stops a gorgeous show with a thin plot from climbing on looks alone. For voice-driven animation, performances means the voice cast and the delivery of the dialogue.

The scores are the publication's editorial judgment, not an average of other critics. They agree with the broad consensus at the top, where Arcane and Blue Eye Samurai both earned near-perfect critical response, and they split at the bottom, where a show with a respectable audience can still lose on rewatch value. If you disagree with a placement, the table shows which column to blame.

The list splits into three groups: two near-perfect shows at the top, a strong middle led by Edgerunners and Castlevania, and a lower tier of solid but flawed adaptations. The entries run from first place to eighth, and anyone who prefers a countdown can read them from the bottom. The notes explain what the numbers cannot.

1. Arcane (2021)

Arcane premiered on Netflix on November 6, 2021, and ended its second season on November 23, 2024, for two seasons of nine episodes each. Christian Linke and Alex Yee created it, Fortiche animated it under Riot Games' supervision, and it is based on League of Legends. It won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program.

It takes first place with 9s for story, performances and rewatch, and the only perfect craft mark on the sheet. Season one holds 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics praised the animation, writing, worldbuilding, soundtrack and voice acting. The benchmark this list measures everything else against is Arcane season one, and nothing here has beaten it.

2. Blue Eye Samurai (2023)

Blue Eye Samurai arrived on Netflix on November 3, 2023, with eight episodes of 35 to 62 minutes. It is the best new animated show of the year, and the best animated show Netflix has released since the first season of Arcane. Netflix often drops series with little warning, and this one is easy to miss. It deserves to be found.

Amber Noizumi and Michael Green created it, and the French studio Blue Spirit animated and co-produced it. Green was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for Logan, and a little of that script DNA shows in the way the show treats the cost of revenge. The story is set in feudal Japan in the mid-1600s, after the country has closed its borders. Mizu, voiced by Maya Erskine, is a half-white, half-Japanese swordswoman who plans to kill four white men, one of whom is her father. She hides her blue eyes behind colored glasses and disguises herself as a man, since revenge and swordplay are not open to women.

The supporting cast is strong. Ringo, voiced by Masi Oka, is an apprentice with no hands who still makes great noodles and medicinal brews, and he is the lovable heart of the show. Taigen, voiced by Darren Barnet, is a samurai Mizu humiliates by cutting off his topknot, and his fiancée, Princess Akemi, voiced by Brenda Song, turns out to be resilient and intelligent. George Takei voices Seki and gets some of the best lines, including one delivered with a sword at a bandit's throat about how long it has been since he killed a man.

The animation is gorgeous, a mix of 2D and 3D techniques that the creators wanted to look like a moving painting. A fight on a beach at sunset, with red waves crashing like waves of blood, is among the show's best images. The action is fluid and vicious: Mizu defends a brothel against about a hundred hoodlums wearing claw gauntlets, and fights four assassins called the Four Fangs while doing handsprings down a cliff face. It stays grounded and realistic, never weightless the way CGI in a live-action film can be.

This is very adult animation, not only for the graphic violence and the sex, with limbs flying and a couple of episodes set almost entirely in brothels. The show also deals with class, racism and sexism, and it is explicit about how badly people treat Mizu when they see her eyes. It trails Arcane by a point on rewatch value, since its grimmer tone makes a second viewing a heavier commitment. It won the 2024 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. It holds 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Netflix renewed it for a second season in December 2023, and the hope is for many more seasons of Mizu's quest.

3. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022)

Edgerunners premiered on September 13, 2022, with ten episodes of 23 to 28 minutes. Hiroyuki Imaishi directed it at Studio Trigger, with CD Projekt Red producing, and it is a standalone tie-in to Cyberpunk 2077. Akira Yamaoka composed the score.

It places third on 8s for story, performances and rewatch and a 9 for craft. The animation and action drew wide acclaim, and the series reached Netflix's top ten in its first week. It is short, fast and furious, and that compactness is why it replays so easily.

4. Castlevania (2017)

Castlevania premiered on July 7, 2017, and ran for four seasons and 32 episodes, ending on May 13, 2021. Warren Ellis wrote it, Powerhouse Animation produced it with partners, and the first two seasons adapt Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. Richard Armitage voices Trevor Belmont, James Callis voices Alucard and Graham McTavish voices Dracula.

The cast earns the show its 9 for performances. The craft score is lower because the animation, while striking, is not at the level of the top two. Reviews of the pacing in seasons three and four were mixed, but Rotten Tomatoes scored the seasons at 83, 100, 95 and 100 percent.

5. Pluto (2023)

Pluto premiered on Netflix on October 26, 2023, an eight-episode adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's manga by Studio M2 and Genco. It is a thoughtful, slower-moving mystery, and it scores well for story and craft.

It sits fifth because its pace asks for patience, and the performance and rewatch scores are more modest. For viewers who like their science fiction reflective, it is a worthwhile pick.

6. Devilman Crybaby (2018)

Devilman Crybaby arrived on January 5, 2018, with ten episodes of 24 to 27 minutes. Masaaki Yuasa directed it at Science Saru from Go Nagai's manga, with music by Kensuke Ushio. It won Anime of the Year and Best Director at the 3rd Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

Its 9 for craft is among the highest in the lower half. The graphic violence, sexual content and ending divided audiences, which holds the rewatch score down to a 6.

7. Blood of Zeus (2020)

Blood of Zeus premiered on October 27, 2020. Charley and Vlas Parlapanides created it, Powerhouse Animation and Asia Minor Pictures produced it, and it ran for three seasons of eight episodes, ending with the season three episode A Champion's Challenge. All three seasons hold 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

It is steady on craft and voice work and loses ground on a familiar story. It is a solid watch for fans of mythological action, and not a series that changes the genre.

8. Dota: Dragon's Blood (2021)

Dota: Dragon's Blood premiered on March 25, 2021 and ended with Book Three on August 11, 2022. Ashley Edward Miller developed it, Studio Mir animated it, and Yuri Lowenthal voices the lead, Davion. It is based on Valve's Dota 2.

It finishes last on rewatch value. Season one holds 75 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and its video-game roots make it the most niche of the eight. The animation changed studios between books, which is one more reason it scores below the rest.