The 2000s were a great decade for anime. After break-out hits in the 90s, Japanese television finally made more room for the medium—where it was once OVAs that got all the focus, they started to make more series that didn’t require spending hundreds on laserdiscs and DVDs for quality work. We got to focus on all genres, and even though there were a few genres that won, there weren’t any that really lost.

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This list is devoted to anime series that are primarily drama focused. That means we left out all the mecha, all the intense battle shonen, and most of the supernatural. Here you’re getting a focus on real human emotion—all the stuff people don’t normally expect anime to be capable of.

10 SKIP BEAT – 7.9

the Love Triangle in Skip Beat

Skip Beat initially premiered in October 2008, running for twenty-five episodes. Hal Film Maker is the studio responsible for animating it, a company best-known for its work on B-Gata H-Kei, Kaleido Star, and Aria. Kyouko Mogami is a teenager who thinks she’s working to help her crush Shoutarou Fuwa reach his dreams. But instead, he’s a jerk who only views her as a servant girl. Incensed, Kyouko decides to go into the world of entertainment—Shoutarou’s world—as a means of taking revenge on him.

9 TOKYO MAGNITUDE 8.0 – 7.9

Cast of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0.

Tokyo Magnitude was a series that began in the Summer of 2009 and ran for about eleven episodes. The series was animated by BONES and Kinema Citrus, which has since gone on to do amazing series like Starlight Revue. The series focuses on Mirai Onozawa, a young teenager frustrated with her family when she’s forced to take her little brother to a robot exhibit. But when Tokyo is shaken by an 8.0 quake, she’s left with no choice but to try and figure out a way back to her family, making it through the ruined city with the help of Mari Kusakabe, a young woman eager to find her kids.

8 THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO – 8.0

gankutsuou main cast

The classic novel is re-adapted in the anime world, set in the far-flung future. The series originally aired in the Fall of 2004, running for 24 episodes. It was animated by studio Gonzo, and deals with the French Viscount Albert de Morcerf. Albert winds up meeting the Count of Monte Cristo during an opera. Albert finds the count positively charming, and winds up introducing him to his high society friends. The Count, however, has much shadier intentions, planning on using Albert to get revenge on the people who screwed him over.

7 NATSUME'S BOOK OF FRIENDS – 8.1

Probably one of the longest-running series on this list, Natsume’s Book of Friends began in July 2008 and ran for six seasons and over seventy episodes, only ending in 2017. The series was animated by Brain’s Base for the first four seasons and Shuka for the last ones.

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The story follows Takashi Natsume, a young boy with the ability to see spirits. He inherited a book from his grandmother Reiko, known as the Book of Friends, which contained a number of spirits his grandmother had forced to serve her. Natsume goes on a quest to try to release all the spirits who’ve been trapped, asking for his help.

6 NODAME CANTABILE – 8.1

One of the scarce few romance/drama series that’s set in a college rather than high school. Nodame Cantabile follows Shinichi Chiaki and Megumi Noda. The two are worlds apart personality-wise—Chiaki is a perfectionist who seeks to play in Europe, though his fear of flying holds him back. Megumi is an eccentric girl who doesn’t seem to be capable of focusing on anything. However, the two are both accomplished musicians, and gradually wind up falling for one another. An incredibly popular series, Nodame Cantabile was adapted into a Japanese live-action drama and a film as well.

5 Honey and Clover II – 8.2

Honey and Clover aired in April of 2005 and ran for thirty six episodes, courtesy of studio J.C. Staff. The series is set in an apartment filled with young college students: specifically Yuuta, Takumi, and Shinobu. Each of them has their own storyline, as they meet people outside of their apartment, from falling in love to figuring out who they are as adults. The second season of this centers around the love triangles that have been built over the course of the series, and where all the characters will go as their lives develop.

4 PLANETES – 8.2

Introduced in October 2003, Planetes was a twenty-six episode series made by Sunrise. The company briefly took a break from making giant robot series to give us a actual realistic look at the future. Set in 2075, the story looks at Ai Tanabe, a young woman who joins up with the Technora Corporation with the hope of going into space.

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Unfortunately, she winds up a member of the Debris Section, an important job that people don’t really respect. Still, she learns to become friends with her fellow crew members as she gets used to her job. Planetes is a series that focuses on ordinary people...but in space.

3 NANA – 8.4

Nana first aired in 2006, running for a total of 47 episodes and animated by popular studio Madhouse. The show follows a pair of women named Nana—one is Nana Komatsu, a twenty year old girl with attachment issues. The other is Nana Osaki, an independent woman who was once a punk rock singer, aiming to become a professional singer. The two wind up living together, with their lives becoming intertwined in ways that neither of them could have ever dreamed.

2 CLANNAD: AFTER STORY – 8.6

Nagisa and Tomoya in Clannad

The sequel to Clannad, After Story exists to come around and break the hearts of all the people who were silly enough to decide they wanted some more of the original Clannad. Set in the future of the original series, it follows Tomoya Okazaki after he graduates from high school and gets married to his sweetheart, Nagisa Furukawa. The series contains the same kind of character development and plot twists from the original series, and is seen as one of the best series based on a Key visual novel ever made.

1 MONSTER – 8.6

One of the most respected anime series on this list, Monster deserves its spot at the top. The series began in 2004 and ran for seventy-four episodes until 2005. Focused not on high schoolers or even college children, Monster is a drama/thriller series focusing on Kenzou Tenma. Tenma was once a respected doctor until he chooses to operate on a young boy over the mayor of the city. Tenma is briefly demoted, but when his superior doctors are murdered, he finds himself restored to his initial position. It’s only later when he learns that the person responsible for those murders...is the young boy he saved. From there, Tenma is forced to try and make amends by killing the man whose life he saved.

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