The 25+ Original Anime With No Source Material

Some anime are original in the sense that are not adapted from any other works, including light novels, manga or even movies and books.

The most common examples included Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion, two anime that changed the medium forever.

This listicle will show what you can watch if you are looking for something that doesn’t have an original source. Rankings are strictly based on our opinions and experience.

26. Eden of the East

Year 2010: ten missiles plummet over Japan. It’s a terrorist attack by a mysterious character, Zero.

Three months later, Misaki Mori, a young Japanese student traveling to the U.S. capital, becomes involved in a strange and terrible case and is rescued by another Japanese man suffering from amnesia, Akira Takizawa.

After returning to Japan, a new missile hits Japan and a strange message reaches Tanizawa’s cell phone: 8.2 billion yen is to be delivered to him.

An anime where mystery reigns supreme, with a plot full of twists and turns to be revealed that will keep you glued to the screen throughout your viewing.

25. Wonder Egg Priority

An anime that came out very recently, in 2021, and during its adaptation made a lot of positive headlines.

Note of credit certainly goes to its excellent animation by Clover Works studio, known for other notable works such as Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai and the more recent My Dress-Up Darling.

The plot is filled with fantastic psychological elements, even touching on heavy themes such as depression and suicide, making it its strong point.

Ai Ohto is a 14-year-old girl who during a night walk through the city streets hears a mysterious voice. She receives a gift of an egg telling her: “If you wish to change the future all you have to do is choose now: now believe in yourself and break the egg”.

24. Angel Beats

A good mix between a school setting and supernatural elements, with a bit of drama. The story follows Yuzuru Otonashi, a 17-year-old girl as she discovers what happens to the soul after the death of a person.

He wakes up in a strange place that resembles a high school, hosting all the people who died of unwanted deaths. Together, they will form the Afterlife Battlefront to fight Kanade “Angel” Tachibana, the student council president.

Angel Beats is an isekai after all, but one that shows us a different point of view than other exponents of the genre. Indeed, the characters are reincarnated in a kind of limbo, where they will have to atone for their sins.

The psychological area, especially that related to trauma, is very pronounced.

23. Ano Hana

Original-subject work released in 2011 that makes feelings its strong point, capable of breaking through even the hardest of hearts.

The story is about a group of childhood friends who try to reconnect in high school after losing touch. One of them, Jintan, will try to grant the wish of Menma, the only one who has remained the same over the years while maintaining a childlike appearance, by having her meet again with their old, long-distant friends.

This is one among many of the A1 Pictures productions, and Ano Hana is one of their best romance and drama anime.

22. Zombieland Saga

A demented anime that makes absurd and comical situations its strong point. Released in 2018 as a 12-episode original work.

What would you do if one day you woke up in the middle of a group of zombie girls? This is what happened to Sakura, a girl who always wanted to become an idol.

The surprises didn’t end there, because this group of zombie girls seems to have been brought together by a very strange manager who aspires to find a somewhat peculiar group of zombie idols.

Zombie Land Saga ends up being very enjoyable, especially if you love music anime or don’t want to watch something complicated.

Its main strength, however, is the character design, especially that of the zombie girls and the animations, done again by MAPPA studio.

21. Michiko and Hatchin

Series from the late 2000s are marked by a recognizable imprint of those years, both as animation but also in terms of themes and costumes.

The story, set in a Latin American country, revolves around two women: Michiko, who has just escaped from a maximum-security penitentiary prison, and Hatchin, an orphan girl adopted by the family of a local clergy member. The tranquility of the two isn’t destined to last though.

The right anime if you want to plunge into the 2000s and experience some Latin atmosphere graphically rendered superbly by Manglobe studio, the same as no less than Samurai Champloo.

20. Great Pretender

A recent anime released in 2020, consisted of 23 crime-themed episodes with lots of action.

Makoto Edamura is Japan’s biggest swindler, or so he says. Together with his partner Kudo they put a Frenchman in their sights, but get fooled themselves.

The Frenchman is Laurent Thierry, a man far more capable than they are and who controls the mafia. This is where trouble will begin for the charismatic duo.

An anime that pulls the viewer along thanks to its crisp pace, charismatic characters, very distinctive graphics, and spectacular music.

It’s no coincidence that Wit Studio, which you surely already know from the first three seasons of Attack on Titan and Vinland Saga, is behind this anime.

19. Yuri!! on Ice

Highly acclaimed and award-winning sports anime that has ice skating as its central theme, with added comic and sentimental elements.

The story has as its centerpiece Yuuri Katsuki, a 23-year-old hope of Japanese ice skating who has, however, suffered a bitter defeat in a major competition that destroys him psychologically.

Undecided whether to continue in the sport or not, he will be shaken by Victor Nikiforov, a Russian talents which will also offer to become his mentor.

If you are a fan of skating, we shouldn’t be the ones to tell you: don’t miss it. But another great reason to see it is its breathtaking animations, done by MAPPA studio, the more in vogue studio of the moment.

We are talking about works such as Jujutsu Kaisen, the final season of Attack on Titan, and many others.

18. Slayers

Lina Inverse is a very greedy young sorceress with a rather irritable temper. She is well known for her habit of assaulting criminals to rob them, which is why she is nicknamed thief killer.

Gourry Gabriev, that is the swordsman’s name, sets out to escort her to the next town, and although she is against it, Lina is compelled to go along with him.

The two are tailed by a strange masked individual named Zelgadis, intent on getting his hands on Lina’s loot at all costs.

A fairly iconic anime in the fantasy genre, distinguishable most for its magical power system different from the norm.

17. Princess Tutu

Princess Tutu is an anime of 26 total episodes created by Jun’ichi Sato and animated by Hal Film Maker.

Drosselmeyer is a bizarre writer who has the power to make the fairy tales he writes come to life. In one of his fairy tales, he tells the story of Ahiru, a duck who has fallen in love with the reclusive Prince Mithos and whom the writer makes into a human girl.

Thanks to a magical pendant Ahiru can transform into Princess Tutu, a girl who uses her magical powers by dancing. To save Mithos, who no longer has feelings, the girl-daughter will have to recover the scattered fragments of her destroyed heart using her powers.

If you want a union between Majokko and fairy tale elements then don’t wait any longer and start this vision.

16. Megalo Box

Megalo Box is a 2018 steampunk boxing anime consisting of 13 episodes.

The series is an original story, although it is celebratory of an unreleased story created to celebrate 50 years of the Rocky Joe manga.

The anime tells the story of Junk Dog, nicknamed JD, a boy who participates in Megalo Box matches, a futuristic variant of classic boxing to earn a living. The story takes place in a futuristic city where people live, according to income, in wealth or slums.

Futuristic+cyberpunk+boxing. Do you like these three elements and want to see them combined? Here you go.

The animation studio, TMS Entertainment, the same as many series of Lupin III or the more recent Dr. Stone, also puts its spin on it by improving it.

15. Flip Flappers

Flip Flappers is an anime produced by Studio 3Hz and broadcasted in winter 2016.

The main character is Cocona, a young girl attending middle school. Quiet and judicious, however, she will make the acquaintance of Papika, a peer with an explosive personality.

The latter also unexpectedly invites Cocona to come along with her to a mysterious parallel dimension called Pure Illusion, where everything is possible, including magical powers.

Flip Flappers is one of those original anime that may pass quietly and be forgotten, but with the potential of a cult following if it had more of a following.

The style and fluidity of the action scenes are very reminiscent of the quality of Studio Trigger, which is repeatedly paid homage to, along with other exponents of the genre.

A real feather in the cap of the genre but also of anime in general that would certainly deserve more visibility. Give it a chance, it will definitely be worth it.

14. Ergo Proxy

Ergo Proxy is set in a post-apocalyptic future where survivors live under a dome city called Romdo, to get shelter from the lethal and toxic climate.

To help with mankind’s recovery, AutoReivs, humanoid-like robots, have been created to assist people in their day-to-day lives.

These automatons have begun contracting an enigmatic disease called the Cogito Virus which grants them self-awareness.

Re-l Mayer, with the help of his AutoReiv named Iggy, will be tasked to investigate this phenomenon and prove himself to his grandfather, the ruler of Romdo.

Ergo Proxy has one big flaw: very slow pacing and difficult for the less forged to follow. But if this does not scare you or indeed you are used to it, then you are looking at a little animation gem by Manglobe studio again.

13. FLCL

The series is set in a small Japanese town where the young protagonist Naota lives. His older brother has left for America to play baseball causing the protagonist to feel lonely and abandoned.

This loneliness will be broken by his brother’s girlfriend, Mamini, who develops a strange attachment to him.

One day, while Naota and Mamini are together, Haruto, a girl riding a Vespa, appears to them and runs over Naota at full speed and then hits him in the head with an electric guitar.

The young boy develops from the impact a bump that grows larger and larger and from which a robot called Canti emerges.

You will have already guessed from these few plot lvines the bizarre atmosphere and that it takes itself a little seriously in the series, so there is no need to spend too many words.

This anime was born with a desire to experiment and differentiate as much as possible, in fact entrusting the direction of each episode to a different person working in Gainax Studio.

12. Kill la Kill

Ryuuko Matoi is on a quest to avenge her father’s death and the only lead she has is the other half of the sword he invented, the Scissor Blade.

She enrolls in Honnouji Academy, a competitive high school run by student council president Satsuki Kiryuuin. Satsuki gifts the best students with so-called Goku Uniforms which grant them unique powers.

Ryuuko, after losing a fight against one of the students in uniform will have a meeting that will change her life. She will become able to stand against Satsuki and her crew and uncover the culprit behind her father’s murder.

Kill la Kill is a true masterpiece of direction, with animation and soundtrack of such a high standard that you are unlikely to find any around.

Not surprisingly, none other than the Studio Trigger, renowned for its portentous animations, worked on it.

11. Code Geass

A famous anime released between 2006 and 2007 by the collaboration between Sunrise studio and the world-famous female mangaka group CLAMP. This means guaranteed animation quality.

Japan has become a colony of the British Empire and is now known as Area 11, putting the country at war. Lelouch gets caught in the crossfire and manages to escape after receiving the Geass from C.C., a mysterious girl.

This power enables him to have absolute power over others simply by direct eye contact, allowing him to control their minds. This is where his revenge against the British Empire begins, sparking a war between the two factions.

An anime that nevertheless deserves to be seen, for its deep psychological and tactical approach to warfare.

10. Death Parade

Death Parade consists of 12 episodes and blends the tension of death games with an interest in the occult and mystery. The atmosphere of the genre is very papable thanks to the excellent work of Madhouse studio, one of the guarantees in the field.

When on Earth two people die at the same time they must be judged, and they are sent to liminal spaces, such as the Quindecim bar.

On the surface a simple bartender, Decim is the judge, whose job is to decide whether to send souls to reincarnation or the eternal void.

In the death game, players take turns, remembering during the games both their identities and the reasons for their deaths.

An anime definitely with gameplay that will keep you in suspense, but one that focuses mainly on earthly emotions and the fear of dying.

9. Serial Experiments Lain

Series Experiments Lain has 13 episodes and is an original story dating back to 1998, and is one of the most famous short original works due to its fairly deep meaning and plot complexity.

The plot tells the story of Lain Iwakura, a rather peculiar little girl partly because of a less than ideal family situation. Lain comes into contact with Wired, a global network very reminiscent of our Internet, where she will learn a lot of information regarding this mysterious world. But the Wired hides more horrific things than expected.

In this case, you will have well understood that the overwhelming threat is precisely due to the Wired, but there is more behind that.

Indeed, the message of this anime lies in the warning to keep an eye on technology, and the threats it can bring with it.

8. Super Dimensional Fortress Macross

A cult mecha anime from 1982 with a love triangle and strong romance elements.

Some of you may recall Macross as part of Robotech, an 85-episode mix of 3 different anime. The story starts with the human race finishing a space airship based on an alien wreck.

When they try to launch the ship, they get attacked by the alien race Zentradi and the remnants of humanity embark on it to escape planet Earth.

One of the cults of all Japanese animation, consisting in a very enjoyable viewing even nowadays.

7. Puella Magi Madoka Magica

A 2011 anime produced by Shaft and Aniplex, Puella Magi Madoka Magika is a masterpiece that gives a different twist to the classic Majokko genre, even though it’s not the first series doing that.

The narrative starts in much the same way as other anime in the genre, the protagonists gain magical powers to fight against witches, who are guilty of various terrible deeds against humans.

The real revolution occurs later in the plot when the relaxed and playful atmosphere is dropped and the focus is on dark and deep themes.

Madoka Magica escalates quickly by the end of the first episode, but things will get even worse as you watch it. And in this, no one can say that studio Shaft (Monogatari Series, to name one) did not do a great job, making the viewer feel the fear and the dark.

6. Aim to the Top! Gunbuster

Aim for the Top! Gunbuster is a 6-episode OAV series by Hideaki Anno, the mastermind behind Neon Genesis Evangelion.

With less budget but a lot of heart, he managed to churn out a gem of the mecha genre that still surprises with wise use of color and a fast-paced but still very poignant plot.

The plot describes a near future where the earth is severely threatened by the arrival of a hostile alien race, and protagonist Noriko Takaya enrolls in a military training school for robot pilots to deal with this threat.

Unfortunately, being selected is not at all easy, and the anime will begin precisely with Noriko’s hard training, also with the help of Coach Ota.

Gunbuster is a Mecha anime that wrote history and is one of the best original productions out there.

5. Samurai Champloo

Let’s start right away with a great masterpiece of animation by master filmmaker Shinichiro Watanabe, former author of cult hit Cowboy Bepop, Samurai Champloo is a 26-episode work produced by Manglobe.

The work stars Mugen and Jin, two samurai warriors with opposing characters, and Kasumi, a girl who has hired the two warriors to search for the “samurai who smells like sunflowers”.

The story revolves around their adventures, and they are often self-contained, generally with a few elements present that drive forward the overall plot of the whole.

The anime also features a very relaxed and Lo-Fi atmosphere, which goes well with the dynamics and fighting of the series. This is also due to the respectable soundtrack, one of the best of all times, which is apt at all times.

4. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Also known just by Gurren Lagann, it’s a 27-episode series produced by Gainax in 2007.

The story is set in the distant future where Earth is dominated by the Beast Men, humanoid mutants with animal-like features and powers, while humans have been forced to live in underground villages.

Simon and Kamina are tired of living without ever seeing the sky. One day, while digging underground, they find the head of a robot, which they call Lagann.

Once they activate the mecha they manage to reach the surface and also take possession of the robot’s body.

Gurren Lagann incorporates a lot of homages to various mecha series and has robot-beastman fights on its side that are epic and over-the-top.

This anime is probably the best thing that has happened in the mecha genre since Neon Genesis Evangelion. Whether you like the genre or not, you should not let it pass you by.

3. Gundam

The Gundam series is immense, with 11 timelines and many movies/OVAs curated by the former legendary Sunrise studio, now known as BANDAI NAMCO Filmworks. But what they all have in common is the theme: war and its consequences.

The most important timeline is the Universal Century (UC), which brings the entire universe alive and does not focus on the main cast.

The use of technology and realistic scenarios are relative and not an unlikely possibility for the future of humanity.

A legendary franchise, which wrote the history of the mecha genre but also of the medium in general.

2. Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion is an original anime created by Hideaki Anno in Gainax studio that depicts a world under attack by so-called Angels, mysterious entities that threaten the quiet of humanity.

Through the use of special mechs, it is possible to fight these beings, for which the Special Agency Nerv has taken responsibility. The protagonist Shinji Ikari will be hired by this same group to pilot one of the robots, EVA 01, and attempt to put an end to these attacks.

Although the plot seems very action-centric, all the focus is on the characters and their psychology, as well as their traumas and personal experience.

The message of Evangelion resonates near the second half of the original anime, as the situation starts to get grim.

Daily reminder that the Evangelion manga was released before the show, even though it’s not the original source. This is one of the most common mistakes we read online as many may argue about the release date.

1. Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop is set in a post-apocalyptic world where Earth is uninhabitable and follows the story of some bounty hunters aboard a spaceship called Bebop.

This show is deep and focused on psychological elements like regret and thinking about your past. What makes it even more enjoyable is its worldbuilding, which encompasses almost all of the solar system.

The adventures of Spike Spiegel and his fellow bounty hunters will show us what we can only dream of, accompanied by a soundtrack that many consider the best. But from the former Sunrise studio again we expect nothing less.

Cowboy Bebop is our first pick because it’s a cult and the direction is extremely detailed and of high quality. On top of that, its nostalgic vintage style is still one of the best out there.