The best anime set in America are unique in the medium. Naturally, the majority of anime take place in Japan, in the present, past, or future. But there are plenty of occasions when the action shifts to other parts of the world, and America gets the opportunity to grab the spotlight, as it is wont to do.
Interestingly, there seems to be particular interest in the Prohibition period of the early 1930s, where lawlessness and danger were at a peak, and New York City, naturally, is a popular setting whatever the time period. However, these anime are as varied as they come, from urban fantasy and superheroes, to crime and intrigue, to fast-paced science fiction.
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10 91 Days Takes On The American Mafia
Original Anime Series Created By Studio Shuka
As a child, Angelo Lagusa barely escaped the murder of his family by the Vanetti family. As an adult, he returns to the city of Lawless under the name Avilio Bruno, and befriends Don Vanetti’s son and heir Nero to work his way into the family. The clock is ticking: in ninety-one days, Angelo will enact his plan to destroy the Vanettis from the inside.
One of the best anime about the mafia, 91 Days is a short and suspenseful tale of revenge and corruption in 1932 Illinois. The deeper Angelo gets into mob life, the colder and crueler he becomes, and the more people he is willing to sacrifice in the name of revenge. His growing closeness with Nero, who genuinely values Avilio as his best friend and confidante, only ramps up the tension as he prepares to destroy everything and everyone Nero loves.
Watch On Crunchyroll
9 Heroman Brings Stan Lee’s Creativity to the World of Anime
Original Anime Series Created By Stan Lee & Studio Bones
In the futuristic locale of Center City, California, young Joey Jones has only one wish: to own a Heybo robotic companion. When he and his friends find and repair an abandoned, broken Heybo, it turns out to have much more to it than any of them bargained for. Now the commander of Heroman, one of the strongest mecha in anime, Joey must learn how to wield power after being powerless all his life.
Heroman takes as much influence from American comic books as it does from mecha anime and manga, courtesy of Stan Lee working alongside Studio Bones to create something truly unique. Despite the massive alien invasion Joey and Heroman are quickly charged with fending off, the rest of the world generally doesn’t lift a finger. It’s solely the job of Joey and the American government to save the day.
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8 Banana Fish’s Ash And Eiji Brave Eighties New York City
Animated By MAPPA & Based on the Manga By Akimi Yoshida
Aspiring photographer Eiji Okumura is fascinated by America, and thrilled to have his chance to visit New York City on assignment. What he never expected was that he would become instantly enamored with the beautiful and dangerous gang member Ash Lynx. Together, Ash and Eiji take on the city’s criminal underworld and unravel a vicious conspiracy.
Banana Fish doesn’t just take influence from the American novelist who gave it its title (J.D. Salinger and his short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”). Bananafish draws heavily on the particular interest 1980s Japan had for America, especially New York. The city was considered by many then (even more than today) to be unique and exciting, but also deeply violent and dangerous, drowning in crime, poverty, and racial tension.
Watch On Amazon Prime
7 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’ California Is Having Some Issues
Produced By Trigger & Based on the RPG Series Created By Mike Pondsmith
The year 2077 has brought massive technological advances to a changed America, but the economic challenges and severe classism remain exactly the same. After bright young David Martinez is robbed of his only chance to move up in the world, he becomes an Edgerunner, a mercenary powered by fierce upgrades to his body.
As in the original video game, Cyberpunk 2077, David and company live in Night City, a megacity in the north of the Free State of California. Over the decades, the city went through several phases of development, creating a mix of style and culture throughout its separate districts. David, growing up in the poorest district of all, knew already that the populace’s pursuit of the American Dream was corrupted from the start.
Watch On Netflix
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
- Cast
- Aoi Yuki , Kenichiro Ohashi , Kenjiro Tsuda , Kazuhiko Inoue , Tomoyo Kurosawa
- Release Date
- September 13, 2022
- Seasons
- 1
- Network
- Netflix
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
- Franchise(s)
- Cyberpunk
- Writers
- Mike Pondsmith , Yoshiki Usa , Masahiko Otsuka
6 Supernatural Takes Viewers On A Cross-Country Monster Hunt
Produced By Madhouse & Based on the TV Series Created By eric Kripke
Based on the long-running American TV show, Supernatural: The Animation also follows the brothers Dean and Sam Winchester as they travel across the country in Dean’s beloved Impala. While they search for their missing father, they utilize the training he gave them to do what they do best: “Saving people, hunting things. The family business!”
Especially in the earliest seasons, before the Winchesters truly became embroiled in all the cosmic disturbances of the universe, the original Supernatural’s main focus was the brothers hunting in different locations. Many villains of American folklore and beyond haunt the backwoods and suburbs alike, and they lend themselves very well to animation. The show ran for a decent 22 episodes, which gave it plenty of time to show them all off and let the increasingly troubled brothers hash out their myriad issues.
Purchase on Apple TV
5 Ninja Kamui Sees The World’s Deadliest Ninja Fled To America
Original Anime Series Produced By E & H Production & Sola Entertainment
Once, Higan was one of the most feared assassins in all of Japan. When he gave that life up, he moved to rural America to hide out from his old enemies and start a peaceful new life with his wife and son, taking the name Joe Logan. But when his past catches up with him, he must take up the sword once again to avenge his family.
One of the best anime ever aired on Toonami, Ninja Kamui was an almost instant smash hit, already becoming one of the most viewed anime of the year. Higan’s single-minded quest for revenge is as brutal and bloody as any action movie, and the fight sequences are thrilling to watch. Ninja Kamui is so popular it has already surpassed One Piece and Attack on Titan on IMDB’s most popular TV show ranking.
Watch on Max
Ninja Kamui
- Release Date
- February 11, 2024
- Seasons
- 1
- Network
- Adult Swim
- Directors
- Sunghoo Park
- Where To Watch
- Adult Swim
4 Blood Blockade Battlefront’s Hellsalem’s Lot Is More Than Just The Remains Of NYC
Produced By Studio Bones & Based on the Manga By Yasuhiro Nightow
New York City was perfectly normal (as far as New York City goes) until the barrier between Earth and the Beyond, the world of monsters and spirits, breaks, destroying it forever. In its place rises the city of vampiric Breeds and countless other creatures: Hellsalem’s Lot, an homage to horror author Stephen King’s famous location Jerusalem’s Lot, another American town overrun by vampires.
The name of the city, and the many faithfully recreated landmarks of Old New York City, aren’t the only references to American culture and media in Blood Blockade Battlefront. Characters go to see American movies like Twins and Scanners, visit pastiches of the Johnny Rockets burger chain, and even face challenges reminiscent of popular American action movies.
Watch On Crunchyroll
3 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Sees More Than One JoJo Calls America Home
Produced By David Productions & Based on the Manga By Hirohiko Araki
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure switches up its setting as often as it swaps out its best JoJos. Parts 2 and 6 go to opposite ends of the East Coast of the United States, with Battle Tendency marking JoJo’s first major changes: going from the Victorian English countryside to the heart of the Big Apple in the late 1930s. Unlike his mild-mannered grandfather Jonathan, Joseph Joestar is loud, brash, and unfortunately for everyone around him, street-smart and strong enough to back it up.
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Like the insufferable jerk he is, Joseph ends Part 2 loudly complaining about the setting moving briefly to Japan for Part 3. Stone Ocean’s heroine, Jolyne, is a born and raised Floridian, thanks to her dad Jotaro’s job as a marine biologist. In a story arc changed for the Stone Ocean anime to dodge copyright infringement, Jolyne and company face a villain who attacks them with another Florida staple: Disney!
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Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
- Created by
- Hirohiko Araki
- TV Show(s)
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
- Character(s)
- Will A. Zeppeli , Jonathan Joestar , Giorno Giovanna , Jotaro Kujo , Joseph Joestar , Jolyne Cujoh , Johnny Joestar , Josuke Higashikata , Gyro Zeppeli
- Video Game(s)
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure , JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
2 Chaos Is All Over Baccano!’s Prohibition Era
Produced By Brain’s Base, Based on the Light Novel By Ryohgo Narita & Katsumi Enami
Like 91 Days, Baccano! details the exploits of criminals and outlaws in Prohibition-era New York. Very unlike 91 Days, however, most of them aren’t just battling it out with fists and bullets: this is a world of immortals, alchemists, homunculi, fanatical cultists, and whatever the heck Claire Stanfield is. As the Daily Days newspaper’s staff points out, there’s so much chaos that it’s hard to point out who is the most important of the lot.
Baccano! roughly translates in Italian to “a noisy commotion,” which pairs quite well with its setting. The 1930s were a massively eventful decade in general, and so much was going on for our colorful cast that the story has to jump back and forth between years just to fit it all. From the doomed venture of a mighty transcontinental steam engine, to the Camorra’s surprise run-in with a mad scientist, to one girl’s plea to New York’s mafia families to help her find her missing brother, there’s never a dull moment.
Watch On YouTube TV
1 Soul Eater’s Meisters And Weapons Travel To America To Learn To Fight
Produced By Bones & Based on the Manga By Atsushi Ohkubo
Death City is a morbid and mystical place, home to the Grim Reaper and his Death Weapon Meister Academy. Here, some of the best sentient weapons in anime and the meisters who wield them learn to kill the corrupted souls of murderers and the powerful souls of witches, for weapons to eat and one day become strong enough for Death himself to wield. Where is it located? Nevada.
Soul Eater’s setting could be described as “the real world, but slightly to the left”: one where Al Capone and Jack the Ripper exist at the same time and regularly feast on souls, ghost ships haunt the seas, and nobody can stand the legendary sword Excalibur. In real life, Death Valley, California and Las Vegas, Nevada, are right next door to one another; in the Soul Eater universe, it can be assumed that Death City takes on the mystique and deadliness of both. All of this adds up to Soul Eater being the best anime set in America.
Watch On Crunchyroll
