Today we’re gonna talk about the Japanese animation company Studio Pierrot that has been crafting the Anime world since its creation in 1979. Although the reference to the 17th century’s clown Pierrot sounds ridiculous, the studio is ridiculously entertaining and successful. It’s a hefty task to make a selection among the legendary Anime series they produced, but here’s our attempt at it anyways.
Starting the count with:
10- Yu Yu Hakusho
Released in 1992 as an Anime adaptation for Togashi’s Manga, which was already making a massive success with over 50 million copies among the Japanese readers alone. It’s nearly impossible to find anyone who wasn’t thrilled with the adventures of the young delinquent Yusuke. Following him during 112 episodes as he faced all sorts of dangers purging the world from various supernatural villain powers.
The Anime was very well received and even translated to go worldwide, winning the Animage prize in 1994 and many other awards. To be honest, Togashi knows how to captivate the audience with adrenaline bursts: we all end up wanting more demons, adventure, battles, and definitely more of Yusuke!
9- Flame of Recca
Released in 1997 as an Anime adaptation of Anzai’s Manga, counting 33 volumes and licensed in the U.S by Viz Media. As the name suggests, the plot turns around Recca, a young high school student who has the supernatural ability to control flames. His Ninja bloodline and his magnificent martial capabilities would surely be a feast to the eyes of any Anime amateur. I was personally thrilled with Recca’s battles in the lowly arena, filled with violent and berserk opponents. Other characters definitely make the adventure even more fun and interesting, like Fuko, Yanagi, and Domon. However, it got only 42 episodes although the Manga counts more than 300 chapters.
8- Great Teacher Onizuka
Or GTO for short. Released in 1999 as an Anime adaptation for Fujisawa’s Manga, counting 25 volumes. As the title suggests, Onizuka really is a great teacher: although reckless, bold and a little violent like most delinquents are, his lessons rely on some solid principles. As I personally noticed from the gangster concept depicted in Anime, most of the clans can be seen as violet and thirsty for blood. But the life they lead outside of their bloodline is totally different: taking Onizuka Sensei as an example, he surely inspired the new generation’s youth to fight for their dreams and values. Despite his rigid and somewhat scary appearance, he was definitely hilarious and epic. GTO was a blast when it comes to being popular: it was brought to the U.S. by Tokyopop and proved its worldwide success even more.
7- Naruto
Released in 2002 as an Anime adaptation for Kishimoto’s Manga series and directed by Hayato Date. To be honest, this is one of my favorite depictions of the ancient Ninja and Shinobi world among the entire Shonen genre, and probably one of the best out there. The characters and the plot are so well done to the extent of making me feel as if I lived in Konoha village myself. I’m sure that many of you would share the same opinion, especially with the close-up details we have on Naruto’s life, dreams, and aspirations during the 220 episodes. It goes without saying that it was a ravaging success worldwide and even got a part 2 which we will see shortly.
6- Bleach
Released on TV Tokyo in 2004 as an Anime adaptation for Kubo’s Manga, counting 74 volumes in total. This one is definitely a legendary title, and I’m not even being biased by my own preferences because I share this opinion with a humongous community of fervent fans. The series is overloaded with action, thrill, and heart-pumping battles as we follow the soul reaper Ichigo in his journey to purge the earth from maleficent spirits. No wonder his powers were compared to the purifying effects of a bleach: no trace of Hollows when the Reapers are around.
The Anime went worldwide so quickly, especially with VizMedia distributing the English version in the U.S, starting from 2006 to be precise. Although the story was abruptly stopped in a not-so-conclusive final in 2012 after more than 300 episodes, Bleach is still one of the best Anime series in the Shonen genre of all time.
5- Naruto Shippuden
It’s true that it’s the second time Naruto appears on this list, but it’s totally worth it in my opinion. Released in 2007 as a Part 2 for the initial Anime series, I personally loved to see all the Ninjas grow older and develop even more Shinobi powers. The community also received the 500 episodes with heavy acclaim, until its final closure in march 2017. Naruto is definitely an icon in the Shonen genre: even the soundtrack makes you travel into that old fantastic Japanese era.
4- Blue Dragon
Also released in 2007 as an Anime adaptation of the video game series, mainly designed by Toriyama, the creator of the Dragon Ball manga series. Although the game was popular for its good battle system more than its limited storyline, the Anime has a more appealing plot during 52 episodes of pure adventure.
3- Tokyo Ghoul
Released in 2014 as an Anime adaptation of Ishida’s unsettling dark Manga series, counting 30 volumes in total. As you may have guessed it already, this one is too brutal and gore to be considered a Shonen Anime, and it falls under the Seinen genre instead. The audience was sensibly intrigued by the Ghoul version of Kaneki Ken through 48 episodes in total, divided into 2 seasons. It was the same for me to be honest, but the thing that’s even better is the music: especially the “Unravel” intro, performed by TK, in addition to “The Saints” outro, performed by People in the Box.
2- Yona of the Dawn
Also released in 2014 as an Anime adaptation of Kusanagi’s Shojo Manga, which is still ongoing today, by the way, counting 34 volumes as of the end of 2020. The Anime however is just a glimpse of the whole story, counting only 24 episodes without any official announcement of a season 2 coming any soon. Princess Yona isn’t really the typical fragile rich royalty as anyone would think: in fact, her overflowing bravery captivated the audience and made them claim a renewal for the past 5 years.
A big portion of the community found it lacking creativity, especially because of the high resemblance with “Mysterious Play” Anime including dragons and a red-headed protagonist. I personally loved it despite that: the characters are awesomely well-built and the plot is highly immersive.
1- Black Clover
Released in 2017 as an Anime adaptation of Tabata’s manga series, which is still ongoing by the way, counting 27 volumes as of the beginning of this year. It’s actually very interesting, describing a world where witchcraft and sorcery are a dominant component, although the protagonist Asta was born without any powers. Following his journey throughout 170 episodes and even more probably in the near future, we really get the Harry Potter vibes in a very original Japanese style.
Studio Pierrot reached the legendary level by releasing several remarkable anime series that went viral in the entire world. Feel free to extend the list in the comments below, as we know that the studio released more Anime than we could ever fit on this video.
