The progress that has been made by the anime industry has been absolutely incredible. There are hundreds of new anime series every year, engaging in a broad range of genres that make it feel like any type of story is possible.
There’s a level of ambition that’s present in the storytelling abilities and goals of anime that makes content especially exciting. Perspective is a crucial thing, and viewing events from a different point of view can sometimes reveal a totally different story. Shifts in perspective and playing with non-linear storytelling can be a risky move, but there are certain anime series that use it to their advantage.
10 Higurashi: When They Cry’s Story Is Deceptively Layered And A Lesson In Perspective
Higurashi: When They Cry has become one of the most surprising anime of the past decade. The series looks cute but is full of graphic murder and a twisted story with a dark supernatural slant to it. Higurashi: When They Cry goes all-in with its point of view experiments and devotes entire seasons to recounting events from another character's perspective. It's what When They Cry - Gou and Sotsu are currently doing, shifting from the perspective of Rika to Satoko as they work through endless time loops.
9 Durarara!! Explores Multiple Perspectives Of Its Criminal Landscape To Flesh Out Its World
Durarara!! is a very special series that's a masterpiece in patience and world-building as it makes the criminal underworld of Tokyo's Ikebukuro as much of a character as any of the people who do business there. Mikado is often slotted into the role of the protagonist, but Durarara!! intentionally shifts its point of view between its many criminals, gangs, and legendary headless motorcycle rider, Celty. Durarara!! can seem dense and overwhelming at first as its story isn't fully clear, but as more events are covered from different sides of this mysterious war, it starts to make more sense.
8 Baccano! And Its World Of Immortal Criminals Frequently Shifts POV To Build Its Story
Baccano! is another exceptional anime that's able to successfully juggle crime, fantasy, and supernatural characters with larger-than-life personalities. Set back in the early 1700s, alchemists discover an immortality elixir that progresses into a Highlander-esque scenario where only one can survive.
The scope of Baccano! is huge, and it doesn't just cover multiple decades, but it looks through the eyes of many different groups of people, whether they're criminals, alchemists, or morally bankrupt outlaws. Baccano!, like Durarara!!, is at its best when its rich world is allowed to gain depth and context from its many different perspectives.
7 Diamond Is Unbreakable Presents Its Final Showdown From Multiple Morioh Perspectives
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is one of the more ambitious and creative shonen series, and right from its start, it works hard to defy expectations. Diamond is Unbreakable takes some significant risks and the final showdown with the chapter's villain, Yoshikage Kira, revolves around a time-sensitive meeting at a crossroads in Morioh. Diamond is Unbreakable deconstructs the moments leading up to this meeting from the perspective of Kira, Josuke, and Hayato, and other supporting characters. It fills in important context regarding every character's advantage, and its structure builds even more suspense around the meeting with Kira.
6 My Hero Academia’s My Villain Academia Arc Builds Up The Bad Guys
My Hero Academia has turned into a highly satisfying shonen experience that uses superhero tropes to its advantage. Season five of the series takes a fascinating turn when the later episodes are dominated with the "My Villain Academia" arc, turning the clock back a few months to the start of season five, and retelling the series from Tomura Shigaraki and the League of Villains' perspective. These episodes provide enlightening context for characters like Twice, Toga, and Shigaraki, and they make the villains feel more powerful than ever. When the series returns to the heroes, there’s real anticipation for the big battle.
5 Boogiepop Phantom Unpacks Trauma And How Pain Lingers In Different Ways
Boogiepop Phantom stands out because it seamlessly blends different genres like slice-of-life and monster-of-the-week storytelling, but a much grander and serialized narrative brews behind the scenes.
The main crux of the anime involves the teenager witnesses to a cataclysmic event, a string of serial killings that follow as a result, and the bizarre martyr who arises. These individuals are affected in unique ways, and Boogiepop Phantom functions as a gripping character study, but also an impressive example of how to break down trauma from multiple perspectives and seeing how it's differently processed.
4 Infinite Ryvius Tells A Survival Story With A Lot Of Different Angles To Cover
Sometimes, an anime doesn't need to reinvent the wheel to succeed, and Infinite Ryvius is basically a space version of Lord of the Flies with crazy mecha as its major showpieces. Infinite Ryvius negotiates through a huge cast of characters, and, much like Lost, it uses the many different vantage points to tell a layered quilt of a story that gets creative with its chronology and how it's presented. With the government acting as a major threat, the frustrated passengers of the Ryvius get their painful survival explored through many contrasting points of view.
3 Attack On Titan’s Final Season Looks At The Marleyans And Makes Eldia The Villain
Attack on Titan is a groundbreaking series when it comes to animation, storytelling, and characterization, but its final seasons do some incredible work with point of view and perspective. The series has always carefully toed the fine line between hero and villain with its characters, but these episodes shift perspective from the Eldians to Marley’s warriors to humanize these alleged villains. These episodes not only move forward to new territory with this helpful, fresh information, but they also revisit past events from the Marleyan perspective, like Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie’s initial infiltration of the “enemy.”
2 Dorohedoro Uses Point Of View To Reveal The Answers To Its Central Mystery
Dorohedoro is another series that excels because of its extremely well-developed world, and, in this case, it crafts a post-apocalyptic future that mixes dark magic with crime and monsters. Much like Durarara!!, Dorohedoro only becomes better as it focuses on different corners of its weird world. It's often Nikaido and the reptilian amnesiac Caiman that are the driving force of the story, but the series carefully breaks down the different criminals and sorcerers in this realm to explain what really happened to Caiman to make him like this.
1 Fate/Zero Builds A Wide Universe That Thrives By Constantly Shifting Perspectives
Anime has an incredible capacity to craft franchises that are made up of multiple series and side stories, some of which will even take place concurrently with others. Such is the case with the Fate saga. Fate/Zero focuses on the Fourth Holy Grail War, and these pivotal conflicts are looked at from multiple points of view in enlightening ways. Fate/Zero centers on Kiritsugu, but is set a decade before the events of Fate/Stay Night, which revolves around Shirou. As the saga gets more added to it, different Masters and Servants break down memorable events in new lights.