20 Best Anime series like The Big O (1999)

Ergo Proxy is a science fiction suspense anime television series, produced by Manglobe, which premiered across Japan on 25 February 2006 on the WOWOW satellite network. It is directed by Shukō Murase, with screenplay by Dai Satō et al.. Ergo Proxy has been described as a dark sciencefiction mystery with philosophical underpinnings. It features a combination of 2D digital cel animation, 3D computer modeling, and digital special effects.

In the 2030s Earth has been overrun by the Blue, which are mutated insect-like creatures that kill and harvest humans for food. Most of the surviving human race has moved to Second Earth, a huge spaceship that orbits the planet. Yuji and Marlene must work together to reach Second Earth and fight against the Blue.

The story centers around two fiercely fighting schoolgirls, Ryuuko Matoi and Satsuki Kiryuuin. On a campus ruled by force, a transfer student wielding a Basami sword brings about upheaval.

One fateful day, all of humanity was petrified by a blinding flash of light. After several millennia, high schooler Taiju awakens and finds himself lost in a world of statues. However, he's not alone! His science-loving friend Senku's been up and running for a few months and he's got a grand plan in mind, to kickstart civilization with the power of science!

The story revolves around Duke Fleed who is a survivor of the Vega Star, raised by Dr. Umon as his adoptive son, and known as Daisuke Umon on Earth. Years after his arrival, he's faced with the threat of King Vega and his army, who want to conquer the Earth. With his friends Koji and Hikaru (and later his kid sister Maria Grace), Duke decides to fight back using his best weapon, the almighty Grendizer.

In the year 2063, eight high school students and a kid are flown out to Planet Camp, tasked with surviving on their own for a few days. But shortly after arriving, an ominous glowing orb warps them to an unknown quadrant of space, nearly 5,012 light years away. Now, the only way back home is a slow, dangerous trek across the universe—a journey that’ll test them in ways Planet Camp never could.

Inuyashiki Ichirou is down on his luck. While only 58 years old, his geriatric looks often have him written off as a pathetic old man by the world around him and he’s constantly ignored and disrespected by his family despite all that he’s done to support them. On top of everything else, his doctor has revealed that he has cancer and it appears that he has little time left in this world. But just when it seems things couldn’t get any worse, a blinding light in the night sky strikes the earth where Ichirou stands. He later wakes up to find himself unscathed, but he soon starts to notice that there’s something… different about himself. However, it turns out that these strange, new changes are just what Ichirou needs to take a new lease on life and now it seems like there’s nothing to stop him from being a hero worthy of the respect that he never had before… unless, that is, there was someone else out there with these same changes…

Angel Beats takes place in the afterlife and focuses on Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. He is enrolled into the afterlife school and meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront — an organization she leads which fights against God. The Battlefront fight against the student council president Angel, a girl with supernatural powers.

On a continent ruled by chaos, the Lords have the power of a holy seal that can calm the chaos and protect the people. However, before anyone realizes it, the rulers cast aside their creed of purifying the chaos, and instead start to fight each other for each other's holy seals to gain dominion over one another. Siluca, an isolated mage who scorns the Lords for abandoning their creed, and a wandering knight named Theo, who is on a journey to train to one day liberate his hometown, make an everlasting oath to work together to reform this continent dominated by wars and chaos.

In 1972, the Apollo 17 mission discovered a hypergate to Mars on the surface of the moon. Soon a war breaks out between Earth and Mars, and Martian soldiers begin to descend from the sky, riding steel giants, intent on exterminating humanity.

Invertia was a meteor storm that caused an unprecedented disaster during the 20th century. Because of this disaster, numerous cities around the world were destroyed. However, within the meteor, an unknown element called mana was discovered. It allowed human technology to make rapid strides giving rise to a new species of super-powered humans, the Star Pulse Generation (Genestella). The Festas (Star Warrior Festivals) host battles between Genestella at a city of six academies called “Rikka,” also commonly known as “Asterisk.”Scholarship student Ayato Amagiri transferred into Seidoukan Academy in order to fulfill his own wish, swearing he too will fight in this city.

Many years ago, a Great Civil War ravaged Japan, leaving the country fragmented between two regions: Kansai and Kanto. In Kansai, a group of six Akudama carry out missions given to them by a mysterious black cat, while evading the police. But a dangerous journey is about to unfold when a civilian girl becomes twisted into the Akudama's way of life and witnesses their criminal drives.

Tokyo is abuzz with persocoms – humanoid computers that are virtually perfect. The socially and technologically inept Hideki is dying to get his hands on one. When he finds Chii abandoned in the trash, she’s cuter than any current model he’s ever seen before. But when he gets her home and turns her on, she has no data and only a single learning program installed. While Hideki puts his whole heart into teaching Chii the ins and outs of humanity, a mystery unfolds as a dark secret within her awakens.

The story is set in the distant future. The land is ruined, and humanity establishes the mobile fort city Plantation. Pilots produced inside Plantation live in Mistilteinn, also know as the "birdcage." Children live there knowing nothing of the outside world or the freedom of the sky. Their lives consist of battling to carry out missions. Their enemies are mysterious giant lifeforms known as Kyouryuu, and the children pilot robots called Franxx to face off against them. For the children, riding the Franxx proves their existence. A boy named Hiro is called Code:016, and he was once known as a prodigy. However, he has fallen behind, and his existence seems unnecessary. Not piloting a Franxx is the same as ceasing to exist. One day, a mysterious girl known as "Zero Two" appears before him. Two horns grow out of her head.

Many years have passed since humanity was driven to the brink of extinction by the sudden emergence of the unknown life forms Gadoll. Those humans that survived now dwell in a 3000m-high mobile fortress Deca-dence built to protect themselves from the Gadoll threat.Denizens of Deca-dence fall into two categories: Gears, warriors who fight the Gadoll daily, and Tankers, those without the skills to fight. One day, Natsume, a Tanker girl who dreams of becoming a Gear meets surly Kaburagi, an armor repairman of Deca-dence.This chance meeting between the seemingly two opposites, the girl with a positive attitude who never gives up on her dreams and the realist who has given up on his, will eventually shake the future course of this world.

Seventeen-year-old Hajime Nagumo is your average, everyday otaku. However, his simple life of pulling all-nighters and sleeping in school is suddenly turned upside down when he, along with the rest of his class, is summoned to a fantasy world! They're treated like heroes and tasked with the duty of saving the human race from utter extinction. But what should have been any otaku's wet dream quickly turns into Hajime's nightmare. While the rest of his class are blessed with godlike powers, Hajime's job, Synergist, only has a single transmutation skill. Ridiculed and bullied by his classmates for being weak, he soon finds himself in despair. Will he be able to survive in this dangerous world of monsters and demons with only a glorified blacksmith's level of strength?

In Japan in the year 2035, an accident known as the "Burst" occurs during a research project, spawning an out-of-control artificial life form called "Matter" that has spread throughout the Kurobe Gorge. The research city that was once hailed as the hope for humanity is cordoned off by the government. Two years later, 15-year-old Aiko Tachibana, who lost her family in the Burst, learns something unbelievable from Yuya Kanzaki, a new student at her school. A secret is hidden within her body, and the answer to the puzzle lies at the "Primary Point" that was the center of the Burst. Aiko resolves to infiltrate the restricted area, escorted by a team of divers and with Yuya as her guide. When boy meets girl with the fate of humanity in their hands, what new truth will come to light?

A near future, where humans have been defeated by the viral parasites named Gastrea. They have been exiled into a small territory and live in despair, side-by-side in terror.In this world trapped in darkness—Rentaro, a boy living near Tokyo and member of the "Civil Security"—an organization specializing in fighting against the Gastrea—is used to accomplishing dangerous tasks. His partner is Enju, a precocious young girl. They fight thanks to their peculiar powers until one day, when they receive a special assignment from the government. This top secret mission is to prevent the destruction of Tokyo...Set in a near future, this thrilling heroic-action story... starts now!

Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing factor that allows him to recover from virtually any wound, disease or toxin at a accelerated rate.

Shy Natsu awakens as part of a group chosen to ensure the survival of humanity. Together, they have to survive on a changed Earth.

During the construction of the Kurobe Dam, an ancient artifact was discovered, and so the United Nations Kurobe Research Institute was established. Intellectuals from all over the world gathered to study the object, and the children of those researchers attend Mt. Tate International Senior High School, including the institute head's daughter, Yukina Shirahane. In the summer of 2016, a lone samurai once again awakens.

Aboard the Edens Zero, a lonely boy with the ability to control gravity embarks on an adventure to meet the fabled space goddess known as Mother.

The flames of war are fanned in the Middle East as two secretive forces unleash their latest weapons of mass destruction.

Iwatani Naofumi was summoned into a parallel world along with 3 other people to become the world's Heroes. Each of the heroes respectively equipped with their own legendary equipment when summoned, Naofumi received the Legendary Shield as his weapon. Due to Naofumi's lack of charisma and experience he's labeled as the weakest, only to end up betrayed, falsely accused, and robbed by on the third day of adventure. Shunned by everyone from the king to peasants, Naofumi's thoughts were filled with nothing but vengeance and hatred. Thus, his destiny in a parallel World begins...

Mugen is a ferocious, animalistic warrior with a fighting style inspired by break-dancing. Jin is a ronin samurai who wanders the countryside alone. They may not be friends, but their paths continually cross. And when ditzy waitress Fuu gets them out of hot water with the local magistrate, they agree to join her search for the "samurai who smells of sunflowers."

The year is Post Disaster 323. More than 300 years after a great war between Earth and Mars known as the "Calamity War", Mars has been successfully terraformed and colonized by humans. However even with the technological advancements, the humans on Mars crave freedom against the government of Earth and seek to improve their livelihoods. Furthermore, while most of Mars' nations have received autonomy, the planet is virtually dependent on Earth for economic development. A young orphan named Mikazuki Augus is part of a group of children who work for the civilian security company Chryse Guard Security, entrusted with the safety of the Martian Princess Kudelia Aina Bernstein, who has plans for her nation of Chryse to secure independence from Earth. One day, the group was attacked by the Earth Military organization Gjallarhorn, which aims to stop the Martian independence movement. During the attack, the leader of the children and the Third Army Division within CGS, Orga Itsuka, decides to rebel against the adults and higher-ups who had escaped and left the children and foot-soldiers to remain and fight as decoys. Augus must now choose to either follow his friends, or his mission as he stumbles into the legendary mobile suit: the Gundam Barbatos.

15 years ago, an unknown hyperspace gate opened over the Pacific. Beyond this gate lies Reto Semaani, a strange alternate world where fairies and monsters live.San Teresa City—a city where over two million immigrants live from both worlds. As a result, there are the haves and the have-nots. Here is the world's newest "city of dreams." But in the shadow of the chaos, crime is rampant: drugs, prostitution, and weapon trafficking. The detectives who stand up to these heinous crimes are in the San Teresa City Police. When the detective Kei Matoba and the alternate-world knight Tirana—two individuals who differ in gender, personality, and even world of origin—meet, an incident erupts. Two worlds. Two justices. From this, the curtain rises on a buddy police action story!

The Vision of Escaflowne is a 26-episode Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise Studios and directed by Kazuki Akane. It premiered in Japan on April 2, 1996 on TV Tokyo, with the final episode airing on September 24, 1996. Sony's anime satellite channel, Animax also aired the series, both in Japan and on its various worldwide networks, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. The series is licensed for Region 1 release by Bandai Entertainment.The series follows a teenage high school girl named Hitomi, who finds herself pulled from Earth to the planet Gaea when a boy named Van appears on the high school track while battling a dragon. In Gaea, she is caught in the middle of a war as the Zaibach Empire attempts to take over Gaea. Van, with aid from Allen, commands his mystical mech Escaflowne in the struggle to stop the Zaibach Empire. Hitomi's fortune telling powers blossom in Gaea as she becomes the key to awakening Escaflowne and to stopping Zaibach's plans.While the anime series was in production, two very different manga retellings were also developed and released: a shōnen version of the story entitled The Vision of Escaflowne and a shōjo retelling titled Hitomi—The Vision of Escaflowne. In addition, a second shōjo adaptation called Escaflowne—Energist's Memories was released as a single volume in 1997. The story was novelized in a series of six light novels by Yumiko Tsukamoto, Hajime Yatate, and Shoji Kawamori. A movie adaptation, Escaflowne: The Movie was released on June 24, 2000, but bears only a basic resemblance to the original series. Four CD soundtracks and a drama CD have also been released in relation to the series.

As regular high school students Taichi and Rin disappeared in a beam of light. When they came to, the two of them were already in a world of swords and magic. Finally getting away after experiencing an attack by monsters, following the suggestion of adventurers they headed on the path towards the guild. In the guild, the two of them found out that they possessed unbelievably powerful magic. Thus the regular high school students transformed into the strongest cheats...

In 2019, Kaito Yashio and Akiho Senomiya are the sole members of the Robotics Club at Central Tanegashima High School in Kyushu, Japan. Kaito is a laid back student and a skilled gamer who is just trying to help Akiho, his childhood friend. She is an energetic positive-thinking girl who yearns to complete the ongoing project of the club: building a functional replica of Gunvarrel, the main robot of a once popular TV series. As they gather new members and try to assemble the robot, Kaito starts stumbling upon secret reports that might reveal a conspiracy of large proportions. Unaware of what he is actually dealing with, Kaito little by little starts discovering clues laid by the mysterious Ko Kimijima.

Karen Kohiruimaki always felt out of place in the real world. Due to her extreme height, she found it hard to make friends with other girls her age. Everything changes when she's introduced to VR and Gun Gale Online. In GGO, Karen is free to play the cute, chibi avatar of her dreams! Can Karen find friendship in this bullet-ridden MMO...?