Though anime generally airs in Japan on television first, in the U.S. that isn’t always the case. Going back to the early 2000s, fans often had to pay a little bit if they wanted to watch their favorite series. There were some exceptions, of course, what with Toonami and Adult Swim and even Sci-Fi airing a few anime here and there.
But that was the exception rather than the norm, and that means fans who were stuck with television-only series for years have likely missed out on quite a few series. There are some fans who’ll likely walk away with a completely different perception of anime itself after seeing what else it has to offer outside of what aired on airwaves in the U.S.
10 Hajime no Ippo Follows A Teenage Kid Who Learns Boxing After Being Saved From A Bully
One of the longest-running shonen manga, it’s no surprise this didn’t find its way onto American television, as sports anime didn’t catch on for years in the U.S. The series follows Ippo Makunouchi, a high school student that gets into boxing after he’s saved by a group of bullies.
The storyline is as much about Ippo learning how to box with the elite boxers as it is about learning about each fighter Ippo meets in the ring. The series ran from 2000 to 2002, which means it was available at the height of Toonami’s popularity.
9 Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic Is One Of The Few Action Shonen That Hasn’t Aired On Television
Magi’s absence from television is a bit different than the fate of most shonen, which tend to find their way to larger audiences. This might be because it was licensed by Aniplex of America, but it also might be because Toonami was busy airing series like Sword Art Online and Soul Eater when the series came out.
The story followed Aladdin, a boy with mysterious powers, and his friend Alibaba, a merchant working under his boss’ oppressive rule until they find their way into a dungeon and escape with its treasure.
8 Kuroko no Basket Is Proof Of The Massive Overlap Between Sports Fans & Anime Fans
Kuroko’s popularity in the U.S. is proof of the overlap between sports fans and anime fans. The series is set around a high-school kid named Tetsuya Kuroko, the sixth man of the so-called “Generation of Miracles,” which referenced his time in the Teiko Junior High basketball team.
The team breaks up, with each player finding new homes in high school, and Kuroko teaming up with new player Taiga Kagami to try and create a team that can compete with the new teams he meets on the high school level, several of them led by the main members of the Generation of Miracles.
7 Noragami Has One Of The Most Charismatic Main Characters But Never Found A Home On Television
Noragami is one of the biggest shonen series to launch in the last decade, averaging an 8 on MyAnimeList across its two seasons. A large part of that is down to its charismatic protagonist: Yato, a minor god that does random tasks to get by and in the hopes of one day affording his own shrine.
Noragami finds new ways to interpret popular gods and has some gorgeous animation, courtesy of studio BONES. But its popularity has only gotten it two seasons, even though the manga has more than enough material for several more.
6 Major Follows A Kindergartner & His Journey Into The Baseball Major Leagues
Considering baseball’s popularity in the U.S., Major seems like it would have been a slam dunk to air on television. Based on a manga with almost 80 volumes, Major follows Goro Honda, a young kindergartner with dreams of becoming a professional baseball player.
Major’s selling point is fans get to follow Goro’s growth, literally seeing him grow from being a kindergartner to a high schooler and beyond. The series ran from 2004 to 2010 and even managed to get a sequel following his son, but its popularity has never quite translated over here in the U.S.
5 Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works Remakes The Popular Visual Novel, But Didn’t Make It To Television
Fate/Stay Night’s original anime aired on the Anime Network in the late 2000s, but at the time Fate was nowhere near the juggernaut it is today. By the time the franchise was reaching its heights with series like Fate/Zero and the remake of Fate/Stay Night in Ultimate Blade Works, anime’s popularity was more about streaming than anything.
The Fate/Stay Night franchise has largely gone to Netflix, with both Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works both getting their homes there.
4 Though Popular In Both Japan & the U.S., Gintama’s Polarizing Nature Might Have Made It Too Hard A Sell For American Television
Gintama is the most polarizing, yet popular series of the 2000s by far. Either fans get its irreverent humor that can range from slapstick to fourth-wall-breaking, or they’re upset that the series doesn’t get to its “serious arcs” fast enough or nearly as often.
Despite that, its incredible popularity in Japan allowed it to get a complete adaptation of its seventy-seven volumes, turning it into a modern classic. In the U.S. though, its popularity has largely been restricted to Crunchyroll, and fans willing to invest in the story of Gintoki and his Odd Jobs group are rewarded through excellent callbacks and references.
3 Fruits Basket Is One Of Many Top Tier Shoujo That Never Found A Place On Television
Frustrating as it is, most anime series that are aimed towards women have scarcely made it to television. The original Fruits Basket series did find its way to the Funimation Channel, which few people have and has since been renamed Toku.
But the series was one of the more popular shojo series of the 2000s, with Tohru Honda’s attempt to save the Soma family from their curse, appealing to a wide audience. But in spite of its popularity, the sequel series hasn’t quite managed to find a place on television.
2 Haikyuu!! Might Be One Of The Best Sports Anime But It Still Hasn’t Made It To Television
Another of the sports manga that rose to prominence in the 2010s was Haikyuu!!, a manga following one of the most unlikely sports: boys’ volleyball. The series centers around Shoyo Hinata, a high school kid who fell in love with volleyball after seeing a team in nationals on television while he was in junior high.
After working hard, he manages to get into the high school that won nationals and works to get on the team. Haikyuu!! is beloved for its focus on friendship and character development, some of the most top-notch in shonen or any anime.
1 Legend of the Galactic Heroes Is Often Called Anime’s Star Wars But That Didn’t help it Make It To Television
Legend of the Galactic Heroes was a series that began in the late 1980s that was released solely on OVAs for nearly a decade, garnering over 100 episodes. The series tells the story of two geniuses in the far future —Yang Wen-Li and Reinhard von Lohengramm, who are placed on opposite sides of a war that’s been at a stalemate for over a century.
Their actions gradually move the war towards its eventual conclusion. This is widely regarded as one of the best anime of all time by long-time fans, and a must-watch for sci-fi lovers.
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