I do not think it is an exaggeration to suggest that we are living in perilous times. I mean, we are in the third year of a pandemic, and we are in the midst of a full-fledged war. So, in these trying times, what does the human mind need the most? So, I am betting on hope.
The most hopeful stories, without a doubt, emerge from the most difficult situations, one of which is a dystopian and apocalyptic society in which people do all it takes to survive and support themselves. As a result, we have compiled a list of the top 10 post-apocalyptic animated series that are gritty, grim, and yet entertaining to watch in this video.
Desert Punk (2004)
The show is set in a dystopian and post-apocalyptic Japan, which was the result of an implied nuclear attack. The catastrophe led Japan into a wasteland with nothing but miles of desert in all directions. Amidst such circumstances, the remaining humans struggled to live amidst the hot sands, with little to no resources.
But humans, by nature, are survivors, often making the best of their situation, and often, many rises from a crowd to make a name for themselves. One such person was Kanta Mizuno, more popularly known as the Demon of the Desert and Desert Punk. He was a mercenary and attained a reputation among all because of his daring and incredible feats in what he did. The man was known for his wit, practicality, and expertise in warfare.
The show focuses on his adventures as he travels from one place to another, fighting off his enemies and doing what he does best. Eventually, he got himself an apprentice named Taiko, and after a point of time, she became the primary character.
The show is based on a manga series written and illustrated by Masatoshi Usune. Despite gaining popularity for its vivid style and story, Desert Punk didn’t gain as much success as it deserved. From interesting characters to nefarious politics and betrayals, Desert Punk offered everything. But then, it also appealed to the visual senses of the viewer, making it a great piece of work in the post-apocalypse sub-genre.
The Last Kids On Earth (2019)
This visually rich show is set in a mid-apocalyptic world, where zombies and all other kinds of monsters run amok. Our protagonist and narrator is a thirteen-year-old kid named Jack Sullivan, who’s been an orphan his whole life, and has been neglected by his foster family. Naturally, Jack learned early in his life, the ways to defend himself and live alone, skills that came in handy when zombies came to Wakefield.
Apart from zombies, his life is threatened by other creatures such as dozers, winged wenches, and brutes, but the most threatening, violent, and intelligent of them all are the Blogs, which are giant monsters that hold no qualms for bloodshed. But Jack alone can not fight and evade all of these monsters, can he? Naturally, he teams up with other kids from his school.
Jack’s team members include Dirk Savage, a former bully who now serves as the team’s strongman; June Del Toro, a tom-boyish young girl who Jack crushes upon; Quint Baker, Jack’s closest friend, and an absolute nerd. However, these little kids get help from other entities such as a blue dog-like monster named Rover, a female monster warrior named Skaelka, a squid monster, etc.
With smooth animation and a distinct style, the show is a gem in the world of apocalyptic cartoons. Of course, the story and characters are the reason why it made its way into this list, but what’s commendable are the action sequences, which somewhat feel like Fortnite. Having said that, The Last Kids On Earth also feels somewhat like the Zombieland franchise starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Emma Stone. If you need yet another reason to watch this lovely cartoon, do it for great voice acting by the likes of Bruce Campbell, Mark Hamill, and Rosario Dawson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvB7VwapZ68
Attack on Titan (2013)
This highly acclaimed and rich show revolves around a post-apocalyptic world that is plagued with giant humanoid monsters called Titans. The humans that managed to survive the Titans safeguarded themselves behind a huge wall, but everything changes when a Colossal Titan breaks through this protective barrier and wreaks havoc along with its brethren. In the ensuing attack, Eren Yeager dies, and he vows to avenge his mother.
He soon joins an elite group of soldiers called Survey Corps, who have dedicated their lives to fighting the giant beasts. In the first season, Eren finds out that he possesses the power of transforming into a Titan itself, but while the government struggles to figure out a way of using Eren against the Titans, more of them present themselves, threatening the very existence of humanity.
After a fierce battle, the Survey Corps realize that they have a traitor within their ranks. As Eren and his colleagues uncover the origin and intent of the Titans, they themselves become the target of corrupt military officials. It turns out that one of the humans is the true ruler of the Titans, but peace will come at a great price.
Based on Hajime Isayama’s manga of the same name, the show is both appalling and gorgeous in its visual style. It comes with a severely grim tone, but the mood is simultaneously lifted because of the rich and developed characters. As far as the story is concerned, there are hardly any plot holes, and the fact that some of the humans can transform into Titans will bring to your mind Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 film Pacific Rim, which revolves around similar tropes. Interestingly enough, the film shows that humanity unites to create the Jaegers, massive robots to fight giant monsters or kaijus. Despite the similarities, Attack On Titan is worth your time and definitely deeper than Pacific Rim.
Highlander: The Animated Series (1994)
The animated show is based on the cult classic film Highlander, starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery. The show is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth after it was hit by an asteroid, an event that would later be termed The Great Catastrophe.
IN the aftermath, the world’s immortals joined hands to restore order and bring it to its former glory, but they were betrayed by an evil immortal named Lord Kortan, who wished to rule Earth with an iron fist. He decided that he’d let anarchy and disorder remain prevalent, because such an Earth would be easier to conquer. To make things worse, the other immortals were powerless against Kortan because of a mystical oath they had taken, which forbade them from killing another immortal. They should have thought that through.
Furthermore, he killed Connor McLeod, the greatest of immortals, and usurped all of Earth’s science and technology. Amidst these circumstances, the only one who could stop the menace called Kortan was a newborn Highlander named Quentin McLeod. He was free from the oath because, well, he was born after the other immortals had taken it. Lucky for him, I guess!
The show is set 700 years after the events of the 1986 film, and ignores the events of the four sequels. Despite having an original storyline, the animation and style are pretty much similar to that of other shows like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Nevertheless, Highlander was a great piece of work as far as post-apocalyptic shows go, but it was far from perfect. If you are a fan of the sub-genre, you should definitely give it a watch.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)
The show was set on a slightly futuristic Earth when it was released and revolves around a teen named Shinji Ikari. The world was in a state of turmoil because of a cataclysmic global event called the Second Impact, which led to widespread devastation. Amidst these circumstances, Shinji is summoned by his father Gendo, to Tokyo 3, a futuristic city. Gendo serves as the director of a shadowy government organization called Nerv.
The primary threat comes from a race of monstrous beings or Angels, whose awakening was once mentioned in what is called the Dead Sea Scrolls. But the Angels have force fields around them that are nearly impenetrable, and the only way to destroy or stop them is through the Evangelion bio-machines, which have a force field of their own and are synchronized with the pilot’s minds.
Shinji’s father convinces him to pilot one of the Evangelions, but because of his lack of training, Shinji ends up hurt. However, his battle machine goes berserk and destroys the Angel. Despite this initial failure, Shinji soon becomes determined to fight for humanity, and his story and adventures become grander with every episode.
Apart from its deep lore and well-developed characters, the show gained immense critical and popular acclaim because of its layered storyline and aesthetically rich animation. It was a hit upon its initial release and has now come to hold a cult classic status, so much so that it boasts an 8.5 IMDb rating, even after a quarter of a century of its release. Interestingly enough, for a mecha anime, Evangelion has plenty of religious symbolism and motifs. Nevertheless, it’s a great piece of art from Japan and deserves the attention of every anime fan.
Samurai Jack (2001)
Once upon a time in Japan, an emperor was given a magical katana by the Egyptian god Ra, the Hindu god Rama, and the Norse god Odin, to imprison a shapeshifting demon named Aku. The emperor achieved his objective, but Aku escaped imprisonment after 8 years, only to wreak havoc and hold the emperor hostage. However, the empress managed to send away her young prince so that he would travel the globe to become an expert warrior, and one day return to avenge his homeland.
The day did arrive, and the young unnamed prince almost defeated Aku. The demon cast a time curse that sent the prince deep into an apocalyptic future that had denizens such as magical beings, deities, aliens, robots, etc. These beings started addressing the prince as Jack, and he adopted the name. The show follows Jack’s adventures through the future, while he struggles to return to his original timeline.
Samurai Jack had several tricks up its sleeves that made the show appeal to audiences of all age groups. While its extreme lack of dialogues and reliance on action sequences brought it a novelty, the unique blend of comic book and cinematic styles served as a unique strength.
But then, for a post-apocalyptic animated show, this Cartoon Network animated show had a generous amount of humor. Several studios tried to make a film that would conclude Samurai Jack’s story and his tussle with Aku, but unfortunately, the projects never saw the light of day. Instead, the show was revived for a fifth season in 2017, in which Samurai Jack faced his personal demons. If you haven’t had the luxury of watching Samurai Jack, I strongly recommend that you do it soon.
Fist of the North Star (1984)
After a global nuclear war in the 1990s, most of the civilization got destroyed, and the world was transformed into a desert wasteland. Naturally, the law of the jungle prevailed on Earth, with the strong preying on the weak, and everyone fighting for the meager natural resources. Food and clean water became more valuable than gold and diamonds.
Amidst such a setup, we are introduced to a young man named Kenshiro, who was the successor of an ancient form of martial arts called the Hokuto Shinken, which gave its practitioner the ability to kill their victim by hitting the meridian or hidden points, and such deaths often led to visceral destruction of the body. But Kenshiro was not interested in violence and chose to live his life in peace.
But then, want doesn’t get. Even John Wick wanted to live the rest of his days in peace. Nevertheless, Kenshiro’s life goes upside down after his fiancée is taken away from him by his rival. Kenshiro wastes no time to give up his present way of life and vows to defend the weak, uphold justice, and protect the innocent. In his arduous journey, he is joined by a young thief named Bat and a girl named Lin. Throughout the show, Kenshiro fights several organizations, warlords, bandits, and even his sworn brothers, who themselves were trained, martial artists.
The show is based on a shonen manga, which is basically a manga directed toward teenage men. Not many people know that Fist of the North Star was the most influential manga of its kind and later influenced multitudes of Japanese artwork. Naturally, this genre-defining piece of work gave birth to an anime that was equally breathtaking, violent, yet awe-inspiring. The show makes for essential viewing for anime fans in general and a must-watch for genre fans.
Thundarr The Barbarian (1980)
When a runaway planet passed through the space between Earth and the Moon, Earth underwent radical changes in terms of its geology and climate. In fact, the incident was so extreme that the moon itself shattered. And naturally, human civilization was ruined, leading to an apocalyptic state. This event took place in 1994, but the series is set well into the future when the Earth and The Moon have come to form a new celestial balance.
But as far as Earth’s culture and demography are concerned, it was reborn as a place rampant with all kinds of evil, savagery, sorcery, and well-developed science. With this as the backdrop, our hero named Thundarr travels the world on his horseback and fights injustice.
His primary enemies are evil wizards who don’t just use spells, but also enlist several mutant species to execute their nefarious plans. Thundarr is a muscular hero, much on the lines of other sword and sorcery heroes like He-Man and Conan, but he is not alone. He is accompanied by a might lion-like creature called Ookla the Mok, and Ariel, a powerful sorceress.
As must be evident from the storyline and character sketches, Thundarr The Barbarian inspired several other sword and sorcery shows of the time. However, Conan and He-Man comics were still in existence when this show came out, so it’s difficult to say which influenced which. Nevertheless, for a sword and sorcery show from the 1980s that spoke about an apocalyptic Earth, Thundarr The Barbarian was a breath of fresh air, at least back in the 80s.
Trigun (1988)
A man named Vash The Stampede came to be known as the Human Typhoon after he unintentionally destroyed an entire city because of his supernatural powers. Following this, a bounty of sixty billion double dollars was placed on him, which made life a living hell for him. Vash would be either shot at or chased everywhere he went, but then, this leads to a vicious cycle of destruction of more and more towns as he tries to escape. However, the only silver lining is that no one gets killed in all this carnage. T
o stop Vash from inflicting more damage, insurance agents Milly and Meryl are assigned to keep an eye on Vash and keep him from destroying more towns. But there’s more to Vash than meets the eye; he suffers from retrograde amnesia and doesn’t remember his actions.
Furthermore, when he’s not destroying towns, the man appears to be an extremely friendly and peace-loving man, who loves donuts and hates blood, often appearing to be a cry-baby than an uber-powerful outlaw. But as the show progresses, his morality and principles are challenged, so much so that he reaches a breaking point.
Trigun was a fun show with a marvelous new plot. And likewise, it gained huge acclaim upon its release. Often finding a place in any list that features the best anime, Trigun’s strong point is Vash’s personality and his unbreakable will of not to kill his enemies. Often, this has been related to the morale that Batman holds dear. Both the heroes are somewhat cunning when executing their plans, but refuse to kill under any circumstance.
It’s another thing altogether that when Batman was first introduced in comics, he didn’t really have any qualms about killing. I mean, one of his favorite weapons back then was a gun. Having said that, addressing Vash as a Japanese Batman would be a treasonous understatement.
Highschool of the Dead (2010)
The show is set in the present-day world which is plagued by a virus that’s transforming humans into zombies. I don’t really have to guide you through what all happens during a pandemic. Covid has taught us well. Anyway, the show centers around a few high school kids and their school’s nurse, who are struggling to stay alive and survive this deadly pandemic. As they try to fight this catastrophic event and find sustenance, they are faced with other challenges such as dangerous survivors, and societal collapse, but the evilest threat lies in the decay of their personal codes and ethics.
The show is a curious examination of human nature under extreme circumstances—an element that makes it rise from the status of a regular anime about an apocalyptic world. The development of characters, including the protagonists and the antagonists, is well-crafted and leaves the viewer to ponder over subjects like moral codes. It is often in our darkest hours that a trivial act of kindness resonates more light than the sun, but these are also the moments when people give up on each other because it makes them feel stronger.
So, that was our list of the top ten post-apocalyptic animated shows. We tried to make the list a comprehensive one, but do let us know in the comments if you have other thoughts.