# What is the best military anime?

> Space admirals, tank-driving schoolgirls and alchemists in uniform. Hard war dramas sit next to lighter takes on army life.

*By YPB Team · Published November 3, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-military-anime*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Legend of the Galactic Heroes** — score 1000/1000
   A 110-episode OVA series released from 1988 to 1997, adapted from Yoshiki Tanaka's novels, about two commanders on opposite sides of an interstellar war.
2. **Strike Witches** — score 622/1000
   Gonzo's 2008 series about an alternate-history air force of girls who fly with mechanical leg units against alien invaders.
3. **Full Metal Panic!** — score 551/1000
   Gonzo's 2002 adaptation of Shoji Gatoh's light novels, about a teenage mercenary sent undercover to a Tokyo high school to guard a classmate.
4. **Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)** — score 466/1000
   Bones' 2003–2004 series in which Edward Elric serves as a State Alchemist in the army of Amestris, a country shaped by the Ishvalan civil war.
5. **Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood** — score 466/1000
   Bones' 2009–2010 series in which Edward Elric serves as a State Alchemist in the army of Amestris and uncovers the secret behind the Ishvalan war.
6. **Code Geass** — score 363/1000
   Sunrise's 2006–2008 series about an exiled prince leading a resistance army against the Holy Britannian Empire.
7. **The Saga of Tanya the Evil** — score 363/1000
   Nut's 2017 adaptation of Carlo Zen's light novels, about a salaryman reborn as a girl mage in an army resembling Germany's in World War I.
8. **Attack on Titan** — score 363/1000
   Wit Studio and MAPPA's 2013–2023 series following cadets who join the Survey Corps, the military branch that fights outside the walls.
9. **Mobile Suit Gundam** — score 363/1000
   Sunrise's 1979 series directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, about a teenage civilian who becomes the pilot of the Earth Federation's prototype mobile suit.
10. **Super Dimension Fortress Macross** — score 363/1000
   The 1982–1983 series about the crew of a giant transforming spaceship fighting an alien war, which launched the Macross franchise.
11. **86 Eighty-Six** — score 0/1000
   A-1 Pictures' 2021–2022 adaptation of Asato Asato's light novels, about a republic that sends a persecuted minority to fight its war in drone units.
12. **Violet Evergarden** — score 0/1000
   Kyoto Animation's 2018 series about a former child soldier who takes a job writing letters for other people after the war ends.
13. **Girls und Panzer** — score 0/1000
   Actas' 2012–2013 series about high-school girls who compete in tank warfare as a school sport.

Tags: animation, war, japan, military