Despite a supernova nearly wiping out all of humankind, humanity has been able to thrive and flourish over the next 189 years. With the possibility of another extinction-level event, the earth has prepared itself by building space stations called foundations across the solar system. Shima Katase, a Space Academy student, joins the earth-based foundation called Stellvia with hopes of helping earth survive the impending disaster.

Stellvia of the Universe is a hidden gem in the XEBEC catalog. It has a different take on most post-apocalyptic scenarios in that earth rises above their near extinction to thrive more than ever. Underneath the impending doom, Stellvia combines all the drama from school-based anime with the action of space sci-fi. All that said, the show’s hook is less the action and more the developing romance between Shima and the male lead Kouta Otoyama, and how they work together to figure out how to save humanity.

After Rin ate a time fruit, a fruit from the guardian tree Yggdrasil, she became immortal as all women who eat a time fruit become. It’s convenient for her job as a private detective, particularly when you consider that she’s died repeatedly since consuming it. When other immortal women are hunted down and killed, truly killed, Rin realizes that her long life may actually end unless she uncovers the mystery behind the murders.

Mnemosyne is a dark anime that takes full advantage of its R-rating and the protagonist’s immortality. It goes the full breadth of sex and violence, often intertwined, and doesn’t shy away from it in any way. Furthermore, it’s half-century spanning plot and monster-of-the-week episodic nature makes for quite the varied setting. At just 6 episodes, Mnemosyne scratches a very specific itch, but if you can handle the gratuitous sex and gore and have a taste for a mind-bending plot, then Mnemosyne will fulfill your every desire.

Humanity has been embroiled in a war with an alien species called the “Jovian Lizards” and have just suffered a fatal defeat after the destruction of their Martian colonies. Akito Tenkawa is fortunate to survive when he is inexplicably transported to earth during the attack. On earth, he joins childhood friend Yurika Misumaru aboard her spaceship, the Nadesico. Although he enlists on the crew ass a cook, Akito’s nanite implants allow him to control mechas and make him one of the few pilots among the Nadesico’s eccentric crew capable of retaliating against humanity’s enemy.

You might not be able to tell from just a surface look at Nadesico, but it’s actually a lighthearted self-aware take on the mecha genre. Although it was made 20 years ago, Nadesico still had a lot of mecha history to look back on and play with. Thanks to Gekiganger 3, the show within the show, it’s able to deliberately parody the mecha genre. As a result, it’s often hard to tell whether the show will decide to mock a trope or live up to it. Martian Successor Nadesico is a mecha classic in its own right, and if you’re a fan of the genre, especially pre-2000 mecha anime, then you’ll love Martian Successor Nadesico even more.

The Golden Tribe invited all races across space to leave their planets and join them in the stars, but only three races managed to answer their call. They were named the Silver Tribe, the Bronze Tribe, and the Heroic Tribe. Just as the Golden Tribe planned to journey to another universe, humanity managed to become the fifth race to reach space and were named the Iron Tribe. After the warlike Heroic Tribe drove themselves to extinction, their last five remaining members were transformed into gemstones and distributed across members of the remaining three tribes. The Silver Tribe took over after the Golden Tribe’s departure, using the Bronze Tribe as servants and regarding the Iron Tribe as their enemies. Now, on the brink of their own extinction, the Iron Tribe turn to a boy called Age who possesses one of the five gemstones and may be humanity’s only hope of survival.

Heroic Age actually gets its name from Greek mythology and plays heavily into that inspiration. It’s a space opera that brings forth all the best traits of its genre including an epic soundtrack, battles of massive scale, and some operatic drama. Although Heroic Age is willing to pace itself, when it rewards viewers with battles, it really does go all out. The battles feature hundreds of mechs and aliens battling it out, as well as the Nodos, people that have the Heroic Tribe gemstones, going on destructive rampages. It’s an impressive sight that takes advantage of 3DCG to really bring the space warfare to its ideal scale.

Mikoto Shinozaki, a high school student, has never ridden a bike before but one day he will become the first Japanese Tour de France champion. After his crush, Yuki Fukazawa, suggests that he join the cycling club run by her older brother Yousuke, his potential to become a champion cyclist is uncovered. Now that he has finally found his passion in life, and with a chance to develop his relationship with Yuki, Mikoto will do everything in his power to become the top cyclist in the world.

Over Drive is XEBEC’s take on the sports shounen genre. Over Drive has all the components of a good sports anime, but it’s the wide and varied cast as well as each cyclist’s personal desire to get to the top that makes Over Drive interesting. Throughout the 26 episodes, we are treated to flashbacks from the competing cyclist that reveal how they’re the protagonist to their own stories and worth cheering for in their own regard.

Oz Vessalius is a member of the Vessalius Duke House, one of the four great dukedoms. On the verge of being officially named the heir to the house, he is attacked by the Baskerville Clan for reasons unbeknownst to him, and sent to the Abyss, a world he once thought was made up simply to scare children. There he meets Alice, one of the monsters called Chains who dwell in the Abyss, and makes a contract with her so she can enter his world. When they return to his world, he is informed by an organization called Pandora that ten years have passed instead of the single day he experienced in the Abyss.

Pandora Hearts borrows heavily from Alices Adventures in Wonderland, especially the best part of the classic story which is the characters. Pandora Hearts is a show carried by its myriad of diverse and quirky characters all somewhat inspired by the archetypes of the source material but still subverted in many ways. Beyond the characters, Pandora Hearts has a tight focus on unraveling the mystery behind the past of Alice and that serves to anchor a fun lighthearted series.

A sequel to Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid, Invisible Victory once again follows the efforts of the anti-terrorist military organization Mithril as they try to fend off Amalgam in their attempts to kidnap teenage girl Kaname Chidori. It’s up to Mithril and the teenage soldier Sousuke Sagara to protect Kaname from Amalgam; however, when Amalgam launches a simultaneous attack on many Mithril bases, Sousuke and Kaname will begin to find themselves all alone in their fight for survival.

The recently released follow-up to the Full Metal Panic! franchise brings back everything that made it popular in the first place. Invisible Victory is still a straightforward narrative of Sousuke coming to Kaname’s rescue while enemies wait around every corner. The real gripping part of Invisible Victory, aside from the enjoyable characters and the consistent humor, is the intense missions Sousuke has to embark on and the trademark Full Metal Panic! mecha action.

Professor Ookido has dedicated his entire life to studying Pokémon, but there’s only so much he can do from his lab. He gives Green, his nephew, and Red, the 11-year-old protagonist, a Pokémon of their choice and a Pokedex, a device to collect data on Pokémon. Red will embark on a journey to collect information on all the Pokémon in the Kanto region, while also proving himself against the finest Pokémon trainers in the world on his way to the Pokémon League.

Pokémon: The Origin was released as a tie-in to the videogames Pokémon X and Y to create a more faithful adaption to the original Pokémon games from 1996. The four-episode miniseries was done in collaboration with Production I.G and OLM, with XEBEC handling the 2nd and 3rd episodes. The best part of Pokémon: The Origin, aside from the nostalgia factor, is that XEBEC and the other two studios ramp up the animation quality compared to the original long-running Pokémon series, so we’re treated to some pretty gorgeous Pokémon battles.

Gorou Honda, a Japanese baseball player, returns to Japan after a successful stint playing Minor League Baseball in the US. As he travels to Fukuoka, he recalls the time after he left his Little League team when his father, a professional baseball player, was traded away. He had to learn to adapt to a new team, as well as a new step in his life when he discovers his new step-mother will have a child.

The only movie in the lengthy Major series is set between season 1 and season 2 and deals with a period that isn’t touched on in the manga, and mostly glossed over in the anime. It still carries much of what made Major such a great sports anime in the first place, we get to see Goro overcome new challenges in his life, particularly having to play with a new team in a new region, as well as a great bridged gap between the end of season 1 and the beginning of season 2 that helps us understand the reason why Goro changed his playing style.

The Kingdom of Krisna prepares itself to fend off the invading army of Athens. Sigyn, the queen of Krisna, gathers a special force of Golem pilots that features the protagonist Rygart Arrow and the ex-con as well as general’s son Girge. As they prepare for war, Rygart will have to learn to become a cold-blooded killer if he wants to help Krisna win the war, while looking over his shoulder at the possibility of a betrayal by his own ally Girge.

Break Blade 4 is arguably the best film of the Break Blade series and tops our list for a reason. Refining its animation with every film, Break Blade 4 features the best fights yet of the series set to some intense operatic music. The tension and drama are equally ramped up in this one, and alongside the continued development of Rygart, we get some great additions to the cast like Girge. If you haven’t watched the first three films in this series yet, you should definitely go out of your way to do so, so you can fully appreciate the 4th release.