With more and more series being translated and made more widely available, anime and manga are more prominent than ever in the West, with. While the word "anime" originally means "animation made in Japan," nowadays it usually refers more to an artistic and narrative style. As with anything mainstream, plenty of properties have tried to replicate the success of popular Japanese anime like Dragon Ball, Gundam, and others.

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Still, as we saw with RWBY or, more recently, High Guardian Spice, American anime-inspired series are not always great. Yet, that doesn't mean it's hopeless, with some of the best animated series in recent years taking a cue from anime to become truly iconic.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Team Avatar stands together

Avatar: The Last Airbender is often regarded as one of the best animated series ever made. It is often cited as an example of how to do tropes right, such as redemption arcs and complex magic systems. The series takes place in a fantasy world in which certain people can manipulate the elements of water, earth, air, and fire. The story follows 12-year-old Avatar Aang, the only person who can control all four elements, and his group of friends. Together, they embark on a journey to stop the Fire Nation's war on the rest of the world.

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In addition to using an art style inspired by Japanese animation and tropes taken from shonen anime, Avatar and its sequel series The Legend of Korra take place in a setting based on East and South-East Asian cultures. The series is known for portraying these people and places respectfully while also touching on complex political and social issues rarely explored in children's shows.

Castlevania

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Image via Netflix

Despite taking place in medieval Europe and being influenced by Western literature such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Netflix's critically acclaimed adaptation of Konami's video game series Castlevania is one of the most anime-like series on this list, in no small part due to being adapted from the Japanese source material.

Netflix's series is adapted specifically from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, the third game in the series which served as a prequel to the first two. It also draws inspiration from the less well-received hack-and-slash Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, whose narrative directly tied in to that of Dracula's Curse. The story is about the vampire hunter Trevor Belmont, the magician Sypha Belnades and Dracula's son Alucard, who we follow on their quest to stop Dracula from conquering the world and enslaving humanity.

Teen Titans

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Superheroes, especially ones from the "big two" Marvel and DC, are not usually the first thing one thinks of when talking about anime. Yet, Cartoon Network's animated series Teen Titans are not only inspired by anime art styles but also outsourced several episodes to Japanese animators.

This isn't the only anime-related inspiration on the series, as the theme song was performed by the Japanese band Puffy AmiYumi, with both an English and Japanese version. The series significantly increased the popularity of the team, as well as members such as Starfire, Raven, or Beast Boy. It was also one of the first series to combine superheroes with an anime style.

Code Lyoko

Code Lyoko

Moving away from America, France is one of the biggest importers of manga, so it makes sense that some of the most popular animated shows in France are anime-inspired. One of the most internationally successful French animated series, Code Lyoko, follows the story of a group of teenagers as they travel to the virtual world of Lyoko to save it, as well a girl named Aelita, from the malevolent A.I. X.A.N.A.

The series is famous for utilizing the visual gimmick of alternating between 2D animation when the characters are in the real world and 3D animation when they are in the virtual world. A sequel series called Code Lyoko: Evolution was released, replacing the 2D animation with live-action for the real-world scenes. Sadly, it was poorly received and canceled after just one season.

Wakfu

Wakfu

Another internationally popular French series inspired by anime, Wakfu, is adapted from the French MMORPG of the same name, which was in turn a spin-off of another MMORPG named Dofus. Wakfu takes place in a fantasy series that follows the young Eliatrope Yugo, who can create portals and his group of friends as they travel across the world and fight against various villains.

The series takes place in the same universe as the games but tells its own story, with the main characters and antagonists being based on different classes from the games. A special episode that tells the backstory of Nox, the fan-favorite villain of the first season, was produced in Japan, and a comedic chibi spin-off titled Mini-Wakfu was also made.

Voltron

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Image via Netflix/DreamWorks Animation

A more old-school example, the '80s series Voltron is an American take on the mecha anime genre, popularized by series like Gundam or, more recently, Evangelion or Gurren Lagann. Voltron was initially an adaptation of the Toei series Beast King GoLion and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV. It differentiated itself from other mech anime by having its five main characters pilot different parts of the same robot.

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Several other series have been made after the original one, with the most recent one, Voltron: Legendary Defender, receiving significant critical acclaim. Just because Pacific Rim was bad doesn't mean Americans don't know how to do mecha.

ThunderCats

Staying in the '80s, ThunderCats, co-produced by the Japanese studio Pacific Animation, tells the story of the eponymous group of cat-like humanoid aliens as they find refuge on the planet Third Earth and befriend its natives while fighting against the Mutants of Plun-Darr and the sorcerer Mumm-Ra.

A critically-acclaimed but short-lived reboot with the same title was made in 2011, which took a more severe and character-driven approach to the series instead of trying to sell toys. Later, a comedic spin-off titled ThunderCats Roar was released in 2020, which was poorly received and canceled after one season.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

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Image via Netflix, DreamWorks Animation Television

Just like ThunderCats, most toy-driven syndicated cartoons from the '80s were inspired by anime in some way, and the Masters of the Universe franchise is no different. Just like ThunderCats with its 2011 reboot, Masters of the Universe eventually spawned not only actual series that exist for the sake of their own story and not to sell toys but good ones.

Enter She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Netflix's reimagining of She-Ra, a spin-off of the original He-Man series. Like its '80s counterpart, She-Ra focuses on Prince Adam's sister Princess Adora on the neighboring planet Etheria and is primarily a retelling of the same story with the same characters, but catered towards a younger audience while also making its characters more complex, especially the main antagonist Catra.

The Boondocks

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Image via Adult Swim

At first glance, The Boondocks doesn't sound like it has anything to do with anime, being a very political, adult-oriented animated sitcom. Still, the influence is very much there, be it the very anime-inspired art style or the dynamic fight scenes in specific episodes. Indeed, some scenes were produced in Korea and Japan.

The Boondocks remains controversial for its use of slurs and its depiction of certain Black celebrities, but it is also an insightful satire of racism and American culture. Plus, would it be an Adult Swim series if it weren't at least a little bit controversial?

Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi

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Created by Teen Titans co-creator Sam Register, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi tells the story of a fictionalized version of the Japanese pop-rock duo Puffy AmiYumi, formed by Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura. They had already worked with Register to perform Teen Titans' opening theme, making them animation veterans before the series began.

The series also features live-action segments featuring the honest Ami and Yumi at the beginning and end of each episode, and the band also sings the series' theme song. The Register was a big fan of the band and created the series to popularize it in the West, and while the show is aimed at children, it also has a cult following of adult fans of the band.

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