The 32 Best Madhouse Anime Adaptations

Half a century of manga, novels and light novels turned into television and film, with prestige thrillers sitting right next to gambling sagas and rom-coms.

1. 1
   Death Note

   The 2006 adaptation of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's cat-and-mouse thriller about a notebook that kills.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Monster

   Naoki Urasawa's slow-burn thriller about a surgeon hunting the boy he once saved, adapted in full in 2004.
   675pts
3. 3
   Cardcaptor Sakura

   CLAMP's magical-girl story about Sakura capturing escaped Clow Cards, adapted from 1998 to 2000.
   598pts
4. 4
   Shigurui

   The 2007 adaptation of Takayuki Yamaguchi's brutal Edo-period swordsman manga.
   567pts
5. 5
   No Game No Life

   The colourful 2014 adaptation of siblings Sora and Shiro conquering a world where games settle everything.
   533pts
6. 6
   Ace of Diamond

   The long-running adaptation of Yuji Terajima's baseball manga about a southpaw pitcher at an elite school.
   495pts
7. 7
   Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

   Yoshiaki Kawajiri's 2000 gothic film from Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D novels.
   495pts
8. 8
   Highschool of the Dead

   The 2010 zombie-outbreak action series built on Daisuke Sato and Shouji Sato's manga.
   495pts
9. 9
   Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

   The 2023 adaptation of the elf mage's journey after the hero's party has already won.
   453pts
10. 10
    Black Lagoon

    Rei Hiroe's gun-heavy crime saga about a salaryman who joins mercenary smugglers in Southeast Asia.
    453pts
11. 11
    Paradise Kiss

    Ai Yazawa's fashion-school romance, adapted in 2005 with an indie-pop edge.
    453pts
12. 12
    One-Punch Man

    The 2015 first season that turned ONE and Yusuke Murata's hero parody into a sakuga showcase.
    405pts
13. 13
    My Love Story!!

    The 2015 rom-com about a giant, big-hearted high-schooler and his first girlfriend.
    405pts
14. 14
    Kaiji

    Nobuyuki Fukumoto's gambling saga about a debt-ridden drifter staking everything on deadly games.
    405pts
15. 15
    Perfect Blue

    Satoshi Kon's 1997 psychological thriller, loosely based on Yoshikazu Takeuchi's novel about a pop idol.
    405pts
16. 16
    Akagi

    Fukumoto's mahjong thriller about a teenage prodigy who plays the yakuza for life-or-death stakes.
    351pts
17. 17
    The Tatami Galaxy

    Masaaki Yuasa's 2010 take on Tomihiko Morimi's novel about a student reliving his college years.
    351pts
18. 18
    Parasyte -the maxim-

    The 2014 modernised take on Hitoshi Iwaaki's body-horror manga about Shinichi and his parasite hand Migi.
    351pts
19. 19
    Chihayafuru

    Yuki Suetsugu's competitive karuta drama, adapted across three seasons from 2011 to 2022.
    289pts
20. 20
    Claymore

    The 2007 adaptation of Norihiro Yagi's dark fantasy about half-demon swordswomen hunting yoma.
    289pts
21. 21
    Master Keaton

    The 1998 adaptation of Urasawa and Hokusei Katsushika's manga about an archaeologist turned insurance investigator.
    289pts
22. 22
    Overlord

    The light-novel adaptation about a gamer trapped as the undead overlord Ainz Ooal Gown.
    218pts
23. 23
    Trigun

    The 1998 adaptation of Yasuhiro Nightow's space western about Vash the Stampede.
    218pts
24. 24
    Paprika

    Satoshi Kon's 2006 film of Yasutaka Tsutsui's novel about a device that lets therapists enter dreams.
    218pts
25. 25
    The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

    Mamoru Hosoda's 2006 film sequel to Yasutaka Tsutsui's time-travel novel.
    218pts
26. 26
    Barefoot Gen

    The 1983 film of Keiji Nakazawa's semi-autobiographical manga about surviving the Hiroshima bombing.
    218pts
27. 27
    Hajime no Ippo

    George Morikawa's boxing epic about a bullied teen who becomes a featherweight contender.
    135pts
28. 28
    Rainbow

    The 2010 adaptation of a bleak manga about seven boys surviving a brutal postwar reformatory.
    135pts
29. 29
    Chobits

    CLAMP's 2002 story about a student who finds a mysterious humanoid computer in the trash.
    135pts
30. 30
    Beck

    The 2004 adaptation of Harold Sakuishi's rock-band manga about a bored teen who learns guitar.
    135pts
31. 31
    Hunter x Hunter (2011)

    Madhouse's 148-episode remake of Yoshihiro Togashi's manga, from the Hunter Exam to the Chimera Ants.
    0pts
32. 32
    Nana

    Ai Yazawa's story of two young women named Nana sharing a Tokyo apartment, adapted in 2006.
    0pts

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