# Top 20 Anime of the 1990s

> Ten years that gave anime its arthouse wing and its biggest toy line at the same time. Some of these still get argued about weekly.

*By YPB Team · Published September 13, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-20-anime-of-the-1990s*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Cowboy Bebop** — score 1000/1000
   A 1998 space-western about bounty hunters, scored like a jazz record.
2. **Neon Genesis Evangelion** — score 856/1000
   Hideaki Anno's 1995 series that put teenage pilots and clinical depression inside giant robots.
3. **Yu Yu Hakusho** — score 694/1000
   A 1992 shonen about a delinquent who dies, comes back, and works cases for the spirit world.
4. **Princess Mononoke** — score 642/1000
   Hayao Miyazaki's 1997 epic about a war between forest gods and an iron-working town.
5. **Revolutionary Girl Utena** — score 642/1000
   A 1997 series that turned school duels and fairy-tale roles into a study of power.
6. **Cardcaptor Sakura** — score 592/1000
   CLAMP's 1998 series about a girl recovering magical cards, famous for its costume design.
7. **Trigun** — score 513/1000
   A 1998 gunslinger western on a desert planet, led by a pacifist with a huge bounty.
8. **Rurouni Kenshin** — score 513/1000
   A 1996 Meiji-era samurai story about a killer who swore never to kill again.
9. **Ghost in the Shell** — score 513/1000
   Mamoru Oshii's 1995 cyberpunk film about a cyborg officer chasing a hacker through a networked city.
10. **Perfect Blue** — score 513/1000
   Satoshi Kon's 1997 psychological thriller about a pop idol losing the line between roles and life.
11. **The Vision of Escaflowne** — score 434/1000
   A 1996 series mixing mecha, high fantasy and shojo romance in one world.
12. **Dragon Ball Z** — score 342/1000
   The 1989-96 shonen juggernaut of power levels, transformations and week-long fights.
13. **Hunter x Hunter** — score 342/1000
   The 1999 adaptation of Yoshihiro Togashi's manga about a boy hunting for his absent father.
14. **Great Teacher Onizuka** — score 342/1000
   A 1999 comedy about an ex-biker who becomes the worst-behaved teacher in the school.
15. **Pokemon** — score 342/1000
   The 1997 series that turned a Game Boy pair into the biggest media franchise on earth.
16. **Serial Experiments Lain** — score 342/1000
   A 1998 series about a schoolgirl dissolving into the early internet.
17. **Sailor Moon** — score 342/1000
   The 1992 series that defined the magical-girl team and exported it worldwide.
18. **Berserk** — score 233/1000
   The 1997 adaptation of Kentaro Miura's dark-fantasy manga, ending on its cruellest turn.
19. **Outlaw Star** — score 233/1000
   A 1998 space adventure about a salvage crew and a ship nobody else can fly.
20. **Slam Dunk** — score 0/1000
   The 1993 basketball series credited with making the sport popular in Japan.

Tags: 90s, animation, japan, manga