10 Best KyoAni Anime

Kyoto Animation, colloquially known as KyoAni, is easily one of the most iconic and beloved anime studios of the past 20 years. With their penchant for telling heartwarming and humorous stories through stunning visuals and overall direction, nearly every anime they’ve produced has been met with critical acclaim and has managed to leave an impact on the anime community years after their initial releases.

Some of the best anime of the past 20 years have all been made by Kyoto Animation, and among their various projects, some stand out as the best of their work. Some are especially noteworthy for how far they take Kyoto Animation’s penchant for comedic or dramatic writing, oftentimes both, and they all do a great job of showing off the amazing visuals and directing that have long become staples of the studio.

10 Lucky Star Is A Perfect Time Capsule For 2000s Anime

Based on the manga Lucky Star by Kagami Yoshimizu.

The first great Kyoto Animation anime to discuss is 2007’s Lucky Star. While Lucky Star was already a comedic manga, Kyoto Animation managed to take the comedy even further with the late Yasuhiro Takemoto’s stellar direction and by expanding on the elements of fandom culture to have it filled to the brim with anime references. Considering the period Lucky Star premiered in, those references have certainly aged the show a lot, but it still manages to be funny through its character writing, so even if someone doesn’t get all the references, it’s still plenty worth watching so many years later and is still one of Kyoto Animation’s best works.

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9 Nichijou Is A Surrealist Comedy That Has To Be Watched To Understood

Based on the manga Nichijou by Keiichi Arawi.

Another great Kyoto Animation comedy anime is 2011’s Nichijou. Nichijou had always been a manga that thrived on surreal and absurdist storytelling, and thanks to the incredible visuals and overall direction of Tatsuya Ishihara, every joke manages to land with even greater impact than it did in the manga, making it have some of the funniest writing not just for Kyoto Animation, but for anime, in general. Nichijou might not be one of Kyoto Animation’s more famous anime, but the way that its animation lends to its comedy is a perfect encapsulation of what’s made Kyoto Animation so well-regarded over the years.

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8 Kanon Is A True Classic Among Romance Anime

Based on the visual novel Kanon by studio Key.

One of Kyoto Animation’s signature trademarks has always been their skill in producing romance anime, and one of the best examples of that is 2006’s Kanon. Adapted from the Key visual novel of the same name, Kyoto Animation did a great job of bringing every emotional moment of the game to life, and they even managed to combine the various routes into a largely coherent singular narrative. Kyoto Animation has produced a lot of different romance anime since Kanon, but at the end of the day, their work on Kanon is still some of their best thanks to the incredible amount of charm they put into its production.

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7 Clannad More Than Earned Its Place As A Top-Tier Romance Anime

Based on the visual novel Clannad by studio Key.

Another great adaptation of a visual novel to come out of Kyoto Animation is 2007’s Clannad. As another Key visual novel adaptation, Clannad built off of everything Kanon established, and that allowed it to craft an emotional romantic story with even more depth than Kanon. Not only that, but just like with Kanon before it, Tatsuya Ishihara’s stellar direction was able to bring every emotional beat to its utmost limit for a show that’s as heartwarming as it is heartwrenching. Clannad is an anime often regarded as one of the best romance anime to watch, and thanks to Kyoto Animation’s work, it’s easy to see why that is.

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6 K-On! Is One Of The Signature “Cute Girls Doing Cute Things” Anime

Based on the manga K-On! by Kakifly.

Slice-of-life is one of the hallmarks of Kyoto Animation, and one of the anime that best captures that idea is 2009’s K-On! K-On!’s simplistic story and focus on comedy and character interactions perfectly embodies the spirit of the “cute girls doing cute things” subsection of slice-of-life, and with its age and popularity, it can be seen as one of the anime that helped popularize the idea. Naoko Yamada’s direction also added a great deal of quality to the series, as every episode managed to be a visual spectacle, especially the musical scenes, and overall, it’s easy to see why it’s such an iconic part of Kyoto Animation’s library.

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5 Love, Chunibyo, & Other Delusions Popularized A Major Anime Trope In The West

Based on the light novel series Love, Chunibyo, & Other Delusions by Torako and Nozomi Ōsaka.

Another great slice-of-life anime to come out of Kyoto Animation is 2012’s Love, Chunibyo, & Other Delusions. The series used its slice-of-life elements to tell a charming romance story with coming-of-age elements, and its premise allowed for action sequences with incredible animation courtesy of Tatsuya Ishihara, thus adding a lot of uniqueness to an otherwise mundane premise. The series is also noteworthy for helping popularize the chunibyo archetype – a character in an anime who pretends to be living in some sort of fantasy world – or Western anime fans, and as such, it can be seen as one of the most vital anime Kyoto Animation has ever produced.

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4 Free! Showed That Kyoto Animation Can Even Make Sports Anime Look Great

Loosely based on the light novel High Speed! by Koji Oji.

Sports anime another another classic subsection of slice-of-life anime, and a great Kyoto Animation anime to cover that genre is 2013’s Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. Under the direction of Hiroko Utsumi, Free! Iwatobi Swim Club constantly boasted stellar animation in both the swimming scenes and the scenes where the characters are simply going about their daily lives, and it still stands out as some of Kyoto Animation’s best. More than that, however, the character drama is always treated with top-notch writing that always effortlessly sells the character moments, and that’s done a lot to sell it as one of Kyoto Animation’s most iconic shows of the 2010s.

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3 Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid Is Wholesome LGBTQ+ Content At Its Finest

Based on the manga Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid by Coolkyousinnjya.

Kyoto Animation works like K-On! and Sound! Euphonium ended up gaining large LGBTQ+ fandoms, and a great series that leaned into that idea is 2017’s Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid. Seeing a studio like Kyoto Animation tackle a yuri series is great on its own, but with Tatsuya Ishihara and the late Yasuhiro Takemoto’s direction, the animation and composition of the series always stood out as some of the best work to date. More than that, however, the writing perfectly sold both the comedic and sincere moments to truly get the elements of love and family across, and it all comes together as one of Kyoto Animation’s best productions.

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2 Violet Evergarden Established Itself As An Instant Classic

Based on the light novel series Violet Evergarden by Kana Akatsuki and Akiko Takase.

2018’s Violet Evergarden is one of Kyoto Animation’s more recent anime, but it’s one that easily stands out as one of their best. Reiko Yoshida, a frequent collaborator with Kyoto Animation, wrote an emotional story of love and humanity that never failed to be emotionally resonant, and Taichi Ishidate and Haruka Fujita’s impeccable direction allowed for visuals and shot composition that perfectly complemented every scene. Adding to that was Evan Call’s beautiful soundtrack that never failed to emphasize the tone of each scene, and it all comes together to make Violet Evergarden one of Kyoto Animation’s most gorgeous productions to date.

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1 The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya Is Still Kyoto Animation’s Greatest Work

Based on the light novel series The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa and Noizi Ito.

The final Kyoto Animation production to discuss, and the one that stands out as their best, is 2006’s The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. With Tatsuya Ishihara and Yutaka Yamamoto’s direction, Haruhi was able to be an anime with an ingenious shot composition that perfectly complemented a story that was equal parts comedic, contemplative, and overall creative with its plotting and execution. Even with all the time that’s passed since its premiere, the animation, writing, and especially the voice acting still hold up and even surpass some of Kyoto Animation’s more modern works, and it’s easy enough to see why the series earns its place as one of Kyoto Animation’s best anime.

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