The aesthetic quality of animation plays a crucial role in how fans celebrate an anime. While it’s easy to get away with typical character designs and exaggerated gestures, sometimes studios push boundaries, experimenting with background details or lighting that leave a lasting impact.
Not every beloved anime of the last decade was visually stunning. Shows like One Punch Man have demonstrated that strong writing and characters can still win fans over, despite unremarkable animation.
However, a story paired with great visuals isn’t just entertainment; it’s an expression of anime’s stylistic depth. In this regard, these ten anime from the past decade stand out for the stories they tell and the visual component of their delivery, leaving fans with scenes so stunning that they took our breath away.
10 Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World
Unlike manifold isekai stories based on overpowered protagonists, Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World takes a different story route: It throws Subaru into a brutal fantasy world where death becomes a constant presence in his life. Studio White Fox’s work on the anime is great because it doesn’t shy away from grotesque depictions.
Subaru’s deaths are painstakingly detailed, underpinning the anime’s core theme. Despite the inconsistencies in less action-packed episodes, Re:Zero is worth watching for its well-executed climactic arcs. Re:Zero marks Subaru’s desperation and his Return by Death ability with blood and anguish. With the story so full of brutality, the animation effectively showcases how beauty and horror can coexist.
9 Erased
Erased is exceptional because its animation never overwhelms the mystery story, but carefully highlights the psychological stakes. A-1 Pictures avoids drowning the anime in flashy battles and instead focuses on creating a beautiful and mind-boggling story. The anime doesn’t necessarily attempt to create art. Instead, highlighting the story’s suspense is the primary goal.
At first glance, the animation may seem too safe, but what appears to be safety is more like restraint. Where other anime would have viewers wade through monologues and heavy exposition, Erased conveys its pointsvisually. The lighting in different scenes, for instance, often changes to indicate emotional shifts.
8 Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song
Where Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song excels is in how seamlessly it combines music and movement. WIT Studio, already known for Attack on Titan, took its flair for action into a futuristic setting where androids struggle with identity and purpose.
The titular character, Vivy, has a porcelain-like aesthetic that is juxtaposed against the destruction in the anime. Because it’s intertwined with music, the anime features neon backgrounds and concert-stage theatrics that blend into the cinematic fight scenes.
Rather than separating spectacle from emotional moments, Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song fuses them, with ballads evolving into battles without ever feeling jarring. Without the animation oscillating between beauty and violence, the anime wouldn’t be as powerful.
7 Weathering With You
Weathering With You begins as a straightforward romance, but CoMix Wave Films expands the story’s scope. With a melancholic mood, Tokyo becomes a character in itself, with details like rain animated so intentionally that they seem choreographed.
Like his other work, Makoto Shinkai balances everyday moments with the supernatural. In this anime, the weather isn’t just a backdrop for scenes; it’s the very essence of the story. Rain frames the characters’ loneliness and influences their decisions.
Few anime make environmental animation so integral to the story. However, Weathering With You isn’t afraid to make viewers feel as drenched and devastated as the characters.
6 Attack on Titan
Controversy surrounds Attack on Titan’s move from WIT Studio to MAPPA, but both studios delivered seasons that redefine how anime can depict chaos and dread. The earlier seasons of the anime feature fluid animation, while subsequent seasons lean more on computer-generated imagery. Even though fans remain divided over the switch, there’s no denying its contributions to the anime.
The anime transitions from painterly to gritty, mirroring the story’s darker and more morally complex tone. Where other shonen anime might stylize combat while compromising on miniature details, Attack on Titan does an awesome job of depicting every aspect of the story masterfully.
5 Made in Abyss
When Made in Abyss first aired, its deceptively cute character designs masked the emotional devastation that lay beneath. The studio Kinema Citrus built the Abyss as a layered labyrinth that, with every descent that thrust characters further into misery.
Each layer, from lush greens to oppressive darkness, is precise, contrasting the round and soft character design. While the contrast makes the suffering more painful for viewers, it also keeps the anime from becoming overly pessimistic. Essentially, throughout Made in Abyss, the animation doesn’t shy away from enhancing the duality of the story.
4 Fate Franchise
With Fate/Stay Night as its foundation, the Fate franchise has shown how animation can turn a visual novel universe into a cinematic masterpiece. Across many releases, Ufotable established itself as the series’ definitive production studio, beginning with Unlimited Blade Works and expanding its mastery with the Heaven’s Feel trilogy.
Battles in Fate carry a weight that even some of the best action anime struggle to match. Compared to earlier releases from Studio Deen, Ufotable’s entries refined the Fate world and added the special effects the light novel promised. Even the Fate/Zero additions show how well the franchise handles spectacle.
3 Demon Slayer
Demon Slayer is an example of a mainstream shonen anime that has turned its animation into a global phenomenon. Ufotable, the studio behind the animation, simultaneously leans into realism and over-the-top depictions. Fight scenes come to life when ukiyo-e wave patterns show the elemental aspects of Tanjiro’s Water Breathing swordplay.
Throughout the story, every detail is distinct, and the anime takes no shortcuts; every battle is intense and fluid. In the Mugen Train and the recently released Infinity Castle, the animation truly shines. While the story is set in a somewhat confined setting that could become repetitive and dull, the anime brings in surreal landscapes in subconscious visions that feel too real.
2 Your Name
With Your Name begins, it’s clear that Makoto Shinkai has elevated his style to its most accessible form. While Shinkai’s earlier films are more melancholic, Your Name comes with a brighter palette and more expressive characters. The animation, created by CoMix Wave Films, elevates the slice-of-life genre with cosmic imagery, blending ordinary romance seamlessly with supernatural and emotionally charged elements.
With how realistically the settings in the anime are portrayed, it’s easy for the characters to be overshadowed. However, the relationship between setting and character comes to life when ordinary moments, like Taki sketching Itomori from memory, carry as much weight as the anime’s elegance.
1 Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
As with most post-adventure stories, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End could have relied exclusively on nostalgia. On the contrary, Madhouse seems to have crafted a masterpiece that vividly depicts Frieren’s millennium-long perspective. The anime portrays quiet landscapes with dew, snow, and sunlight. The characters, designed with subtle expressions, are memorable because the anime is perfectly paced for slow and silent observation.