When most people think of anime, they tend to think of only the series itself. Almost like it sprang fully formed onto Japanese cable airwaves and Crunchyroll, people rarely think about the creators behind them, much less the studios, unless they’re consistently critically acclaimed.
Studios can work on good to great series for years without getting the respect they deserve, a tragic circumstance owing to a number of factors, but primarily because of the inherent language barrier. So for this list, we’re looking at 10 of the best televised anime series released by the studio Satelight, a company that’s been in business for over 20 years now.
10 HEAT GUY J
The oldest series on this list, and one of the oldest series Satelight ever worked on, Heat Guy J enjoyed some minor popularity in the United States. It’s entirely possible people might have even seen this show if they caught it when the first half aired on MTV2 back in the day.
It’s a science-fiction crime series that tells the story of two individuals working for the Special Services in the futuristic city of Judoh. The cool-headed Daisuke Aurora and the manly android “J”, these two work together to solve crimes in the city. Considering it’s a fairly early effort from them, being ranked a 7.2 is pretty solid.
9 WHITE ALBUM 2
White Album 2 is an adaptation of a visual novel in the White Album series. The first season was done by the production studio Seven Arcs, and White Album 2 takes place 10 years after the original series and isn’t much of a sequel so much as a standalone within the same universe.
The anime tells the story of Haruki Kitahara, a member of a light music club getting ready to graduate high school. A story combining music and romance, it must have...struck a chord with people, because it got a 7.2 on IMDb.
8 WORLDEND
Set 500 years after a war between humans and beings known as “beasts” resulted in the near extinction of humanity, WorldEnd begins when a man named Wilhelm awakens from being petrified for 500 years. Unable to fight, he becomes father to a group of young ladies known as Leprechauns who are able to use the Dug Weapons, ancient tools used to fight off the “beasts” and protect humanity.
Based on a light novel series that’s still running, WorldEnd becomes yet another in a long line of series that ended before it could give viewers a proper ending. But that didn’t stop people from tying with Heat Guy J and White Album 2 and getting a 7.2.
7 ARATA: THE LEGEND
Arta: The Legend follows the stories of two young men named Arata. One, from the land of Amawakuni, is framed for an attempted assassination on a princess. While on the run, this Arata swaps places with Arata Hinohara, a teenaged boy from Japan. This other Arata gains the power of the Hayagami, a special weapon with the power of the gods themselves, and is forced to try and restore peace to the land.
An adaptation of one of the longer running series in Weekly Shonen Sunday , this anime never actually got the proper closure it deserved. Nonetheless, it ranks at a 7.4 on IMDb.
6 NANBAKA
Based on a comedy manga, Nanbaka follows four young men who’ve found themselves in Nanba, the most inescapable prison in the world. Each of the men have found themselves in prison for different reasons, though there’s similar reasoning behind all of them specifically being in Nanba: they keep escaping from other jails.
Following their daily lives dealing both with other prisoners and with the guards themselves, Nanbaka ran for 25 episodes. Since the manga is still ongoing, the series couldn’t exactly get a conclusive ending, but it still scored a 7.4.
5 NOEIN: TO YOUR OTHER SELF
An earlier series in Satelight’s history, Noein: To Your Other Self was an original anime by Kazuki Akane, also known for his work on Heat Guy J. Set in the near future, Noein is set in the city of Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido. Hakodate is caught between a war between two different “versions” of the future: La’cryma and Shangri-La.
Members of La’cryma wind up pulling a pair of teens into their war against Shangri-La, a group that wants control over something called the Dragon Torque. With it, Shangri-La believes they can wipe out all of space-time. Though the plot sounds somewhat confusing, it was still liked enough to nab a 7.7.
4 AKB0048
Occasionally, Macross director Shoji Kawamori will take a break from working on his primary franchise to work on something else. We’ve gotten series like Aquarion out of it, so it’s not all bad. AKB0048 leans a little further into the pop idol aspect of Macross, literally taking the well-known idol group AKB48 and turning a future generation of them into freedom fighters.
Set at a time where mankind has colonized multiple planets in space, the story shows them rebelling against the totalitarian government ruling the galaxy with song. It’s ridiculous, but not so much that people didn’t enjoy it, as it ranks at a 7.7 on IMDb.
3 LOG HORIZON
In late 2013, near the start of the isekai and “stuck in a game” trend, Log Horizon released. It was still early enough that it didn’t seem like cashing in on a trend, and Log Horizon set itself apart from the series which popularized the genre with some major changes.
Unlike Sword Art Online, in the world of Log Horizon characters don’t die when they’re killed in the game: they respawn. Theoretically, they could literally be trapped in the game until they die in real life. Secondly, the series actually emulated proper MMO tactics, with characters fighting enemies and raid bosses the way people would in real life. People must have liked it well enough, as Log Horizon comes in at a 7.7 on IMDb.
2 MACROSS FRONTIER
The Macross series has been in the hands of Satelight since 2002’s release of the Macross Zero prequel OVA. Frontier was the first television series for the franchise since Macross 7 in the 90’s, and was more of a return to form compared to 7’s pacifist protagonist. Set in the year 2059, Frontier shines a spotlight on the struggles of the Macross Frontier space colony as they come into contact with hostile alien forces.
This is by far one of the studio’s best jobs, as Satelight makes everything from the Galactic Fairy Sheryl Norme’s dazzling concerts to the high-octane battles between Skull Squadron and the Vajra forces look amazing. This deserves far higher than a 7.9 but then again, not everyone can appreciate merging pop stars with dogfighting.
1 FAIRY TAIL
The story of the most rowdy guild of mages ever and one boy’s quest to discover his lost father, Fairy Tail’s ranking at the top on this list is a bit surprising. For one, most of the time the credit for Fairy Tail goes to A-1 Pictures, but during the first 175 episodes it was actually a co-production between them and Satelight.
Additionally, Fairy Tail can often get a bad rap for some of its fanservice-y elements and invincible protagonists. Still, with the series having come to an end recently, its 8.0 rating isn’t terribly surprising, as Fairy Tail fans swarm back to see the last adventure of Natsu, Lucy, Erza and the rest of the gang. Well, final until someone decides to animate 100 Years Quest.