Every anime fan is aware of long-running series like Naruto or Dragon Ball Z--anime series that ran for an absurd length of time but essentially have had their time in the spotlight and are now fading out a bit. Lately, it seems like long-running series of this vein have become less common, as most shows just don’t have the popularity to stay on for almost a decade.

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However, not every series is destined to run 12 or 26 episodes before vanishing. In Japan, there’s plenty of series that have run for ten, twenty, or even forty years, and thousands of episodes and they’re still going strong.

10 HANA KAPPA

Hana Kappa is a children’s series (like most of the shows on this list) which began in early 2010. It’s about a Kappa named Hana that, fittingly, has a flower growing on his head. Hana is constantly trying to make himself grow and change but also has someone chasing him named Kuruwaneya Choubee, who’s after the flower on his head.

Still, with the help of his friends he manages to keep his flower safe. With each episode running roughly ten minutes and airing weekly, it’s managed to make it to 560 episodes.

9 BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATION

Mitsuki Boruto Uzumaki Sarada Uchiha

The sequel series of one of the most successful anime series of all time. Boruto: Naruto Next Generation tells the story of all the children of the young ninja from the Naruto era. Centering about the son of Naruto as he makes his way in a world where his father’s shadow looms almost impossibly large, the series largely focuses on how these new children will find a place as ninjas in a world where everything is peaceful, and the role of ninja is rapidly being lessened.

Running over 100 episodes so far, Boruto doesn’t seem in any danger of stopping anytime soon.

8 ONE PIECE

one piece main characters

Perhaps One Piece shouldn’t be here. It’s creator, Eiichiro Oda, has been claiming the series is going to end now for quite some time. But the truth is when he’s claiming a series that’s been running for twenty years is eighty percent complete, that still likely puts us another four or five years down the road from a finish.

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In any case, is there anyone who doesn’t know about One Piece? It follows a young boy, Monkey D. Luffy, who consumed a fruit that turned his body to rubber. The fruit means he can no longer swim, but that hasn’t stopped him from forming his own pirate group to discover the ultimate treasure of “One Piece” and become King of the Pirates.

7 DETECTIVE CONAN

Adult Swim once again bringing us the classics from Japan. Gosho Aoyama’s Detective Conan series turned into Case Closed in the West. Shinichi Kudo was a teenaged detective who got a little too close to a mysterious organization and winds up being transformed into a child when an attempt to kill him goes wrong. Disguised as Conan Edogawa, Shinichi has to try to restore himself to normal, take down the group who attacked him and continue to solve cases.

Running since 1996, the show is at almost 960 episodes.

6 CRAYON SHIN-CHAN

One of the few series to run quite this long while also being recognizable by Western fans. Briefly running in America on Adult Swim, Shin-chan is about a five-year-old boy named Shinnosuke Nohara, as well as his parents and neighbors.

Shin-chan is a precocious young boy who often befuddles his parents because of his behavior and way of speaking. As an anime, this series was adapted into a show in 1992 and has been running ever since, recently reaching 1000 episodes.

5 DORAEMON

Doraemon takes his friends for a flight

Doraemon is one of Japan’s most enduring anime characters. His first anime series goes all the way back to 1973, with his second being one of the longest-running series of all time, going from 1979 until 2005. A month after it ended, the series was revived and has aired ever since.

The story is about Doraemon, a robot from the future that helps young Nobita Nobi in his everyday life. The series is based on a manga by Fujiko Fujio, which ran from 1970 to 1996. While this incarnation is at 580+ episodes, combining all three versions places the series at well over 1000 episodes.

4 ANPANMAN

Japan is known for plenty of superheroes, such as Kikaider or Super Sentai or Ultraman. But perhaps one of their most famous is Anpanman, based on a picture book from the early 70’s. Anpanman is a superhero with a pastry for a head (known as Anpans) that fights against the evil germ Baikinman.

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Immensely popular with children in Japan, Anpanman started running in 1988 as a weekly series and hasn’t ever stopped—instead it seems to be making more money than ever, even making more money than Hello Kitty in 2002. That’s why it has nearly 1500 episodes.

3 OJARUMARU

Ojarumaru is a fantasy series set around a five-year-old prince from the Heian period of Japan named Ojarumaru Sakanoue. He gets pulled into the world of King Enma, and winds up stealing the scepter Enma uses to judge the dead. During his escape attempt, the young boy winds up going through a hole in time and ends up in the present day.

There, Ojarumaru spends time with his new friends in the present while trying to avoid the Oni sent by Enma to retrieve the scepter. Having begun back in 1998, the series airs daily, which means it’s run over 1700 episodes so far.

2 NINJABOY RANTARO

An adaptation of the comedy manga Failure Ninja Rantaro, Ninjaboy Rantaro covers the story of Rantaro Inadera. Rantaro is a first-grader who wants to become a ninja, though he lacks focus and spends about as much time playing with friends as he does actually training to become a ninja.

The original manga series ran from 1986 until 2019, running for a total of 65 volumes. Meanwhile, the anime began back in 1993, initially as a weekly series, though eventually transitioning to a weekday airing show. It’s garnered 2061 episodes.

1 SAZAE-SAN

Sazae-san

Sazae-san is a manga series that began in 1946 and ran until 1974. It told the story of a young woman named Sazae who starts out far more interested in riding her horse than trying to nab a husband. But when she does get married, it also focuses on the large family on her and her husband Masuo’s side as well living in the suburbs.

The anime only runs about seven minutes but considering it started back in 1969 that’s still pretty incredible. It’s got 2500 episodes and counting at full length, but for individual shorts, it’s run for 7700 episodes.

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