While anime is not inherently for kids, there are plenty of anime geared toward kids that are worthy of praise. In the late 90s and early 2000s, there were so many great anime aimed at children airing in North America – from toyetic, merchandise-friendly showdowns to epic action titles. It was a glorious time to be a viewer of such shows, and creators certainly weren't slouching.

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Some anime were great at characterization and fight scenes. Others provide fans with a huge nostalgia rush just thinking about the cards and toys associated with them. These shows made being a kid on Saturday mornings one of the best things in the world. It's hard to beat the memories of eating sugary cereal and watching classic kids' anime.

10 Sonic X Could Run With The Best

sonic x show

Sonic the Hedgehog has had a bumpy road over the years. From hit movies to 3D flops console flops, the blue speedster has been through a lot. What fans can agree on, however, is that Sonic X was a pretty cool show. It had all the classic characters and even a few new ones joining in on the fun.

Sonic and his friends had many battles over the Chaos Emeralds pitted against Eggman and a litany of other villains. The English version by 4Kids breathed new life into the characters that fans hadn't seen since the Sonic Adventure games for Dreamcast.

9 Bakugan Was Better Than Fans Remember

An image of Bakugan Battle Brawlers.

When Bakugan Battle Brawlers replaced One Piece in Toonami's rotation in 2008, the anime quickly became a laughing stock. What anime fans didn't know was that they were missing out. Bakugan ran for four seasons and featured hybrid elements from other toyetic shows like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Beyblade.

Bakugan was rich with lore and interesting characters. One day, the cards just fell out of the sky and kids decided to make a game out of it. What they didn't know was that the Bakugan creatures were actually from another dimension that played by its own set of rules. While Dan and Drago's journey may have hit its fair share of bumps in the road, it was all a lot of fun.

8 Monster Rancher: A Classic Kids Isekai

Monster Rancher

The Monster Rancher video game series was about raising a monster on a farm and becoming the best rancher around. In the anime, a boy named Genki was the best at the game and then got sucked into the world of the game. From there, he set about finding the legendary Phoenix and stopping the evil Master Moo, all while meeting friends and foes along the way.

The Monster Rancher anime had a cavalcade of memorable monsters, and the theme monster rap was topped only by the iconic PokéRap. Fans were treated to great, regular battles and intriguing characters. It was a radical time that was sadly cut short in the United States until the series popped up on Hulu several years back.

7 Pokémon Was An Instant Classic

pokemon ash showing off his badges to brock and misty

Pokémon is one of the biggest franchises of all time. Ash and Pikachu, and a host of other characters have become iconic pop-cultural figures. From Misty's pursuit of Ash over her bike to Butterfree's sendoff, Pokémon was full of hundreds of memorable moments.

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The anime has won over millions of fans over the years with its family-friendly adventures, and Ash's quest to become "the be very best." Although Ash's journey has been painstaking and bumpy, fans have stuck with him just like Pikachu has. Companions and Pokemon come and go, but the mark that this children's anime has left will never be erased.

6 Mon Colle Knights Was A Hidden Gem

Mon Colle Knights Mondo Ooya Rokuna Hiiragi

Towards the end of the Fox Kids block run, there was a show called Mon Colle Knights. It featured two kids, Mondo Ooya and Rokuna Hiiragi, and Rokuna's father, the scientist Professor Ichiroubei Hiiragi. The team's primary purpose was to unite both the human and the monster world for the ultimate betterment of humankind.

As typical of shows of its era, Mon Colle had the usual prerequisite monster battles, and a wide array of villains to boot, including a fallen angel and an evil aristocrat. Mon Colle was all about keeping the peace and befriending monsters every week. Sure, it had a formula, but it was still a lot of fun. The English dub version is coming to home video soon as well.

5 Yu-Gi-Oh! Was A Gateway Into Card Games

Yami Yugi Leads The Duelists Of Yu Gi Oh Duel Monsters

Yu-Gi-Oh! was quite the phenomenon when it came stateside. The card game was a hot property and continues to sell to this day. The inventive way the monsters were brought to life via KaibaCorp hologram technology was a sight to behold and still is. The ease at which kids could get into the card game was a powerful asset to the show's success.

The lore of Duel Monsters only enhanced the hype of the card game and show. Yami Yugi's booming voice declaring attacks was enough to excite just about any young fan. The power of friendship and the Heart of the Cards were just a couple of forces that guided Yugi and the gang through many challenges. There may have been several iterations of the show, but the original remains a strong entry.

4 Ultimate Muscle Laid The Smackdown

Mantaro Muscle and the Muscle League pose together in Ultimate Muscle Kinnukiman

Ultimate Muscle (its name for American release) was a sequel to the Kinnikuman (itself an adaptation of the manga of the same name) series from the 1980s. What made the show unique was that the fights were intergalactic wrestling matches as opposed to martial arts-based clashes that have become the staple to most fighting anime.

Kid Muscle and the other graduates of the Hercules Factory fought against villains from outer space inside the squared circle, making it a unique twist on a familiar genre. The fights even had color commentary. The creator duo Yudetamago has a distinct sense of humor that 4Kids brought out rather well in their iteration of the show. Fans were treated to matches that were action-packed and hilarious all while showing off a litany of incredibly cool character designs.

3 Digimon Tamers Was A Nice Departure From What Came Before

The DigiDestined with their Digimon in Digimon Tamers

Up until this point, Digimon was about a group of kids and their adventures inside of a digital world. The third series, adding "Tamers" to the title, set off in a new direction, revolving around three kids who occupied the human world (at least for a while). The series was oddly dark for a Digimon show – characters experienced much deeper anguish than in previous installments and even faced near-death circumstances.

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Guilmon, Renamon, and Terriermon were excellent companions to their human counterparts. And the story, including the bio-merging of both the digital and real worlds, certainly made for thrilling viewing. To say that this was a hot Saturday morning show is an understatement. Digimon usually has compelling stories, and Tamers was no exception.

2 Cardcaptor Sakura Was Magical

cardcaptor sakura - sakura

While the Kids' WB version Cardcaptor Sakura was heavily edited and featured some undue censorship, it was still a wonderful show for its time, featuring action and romance in copious amounts. When Sakura Kinomoto accidentally unleashes a powerful set of Clow Cards, it's up to her to restore them to card form.

Aided by a tiny teddy bear with wings, Kero, Sakura faces off against an incredible roster of interesting, fantastical creatures, that make each episode an interesting showdown. And now that the more faithful version of the show is available, fans can see just how good the intended version of the series is.

1 Avatar Helped Define Action Animation

Avatar the Last Airbender

Avatar: The Last Airbender was one of the best shows of its time. Its status as an anime is debatable, but no one can deny that the lore was fascinatingly rich, and the storytelling was consistently superb. Fans were treated to genuine character growth and some of the best three-dimensionally realized characters around, especially in a story designed for a younger audience.

Avatar was a huge achievement that pushed storytelling in animation in ecstatic new directions. Aang's journey to stop a hundred-year war made fans laugh, cry, and squee with excitement. Avatar was a tale of epic proportions that is still heralded to this day as one of the best children's programs ever.

NEXT: Cardcaptor Sakura & 9 Other Kids' Anime With Surprisingly Good Romantic Subplots