Top 10 Underrated Anime on Netflix You Should Watch in 2026

Summary: Kaoru is an ordinary office worker dealing with money problems, loneliness and the uncomfortable feeling that everyone around her is moving forward faster than she is. Fortunately, she comes home every day to Rilakkuma and his strangely comforting companions.

Why it’s special: Don’t let the cute stop-motion bears fool you. Beneath its cozy appearance is a surprisingly mature story about adulthood, isolation and learning not to measure your life against everyone else’s.

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Summary: Hisone Amakasu joins the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and discovers that a dragon living inside the base has chosen her to become its pilot.

Why it’s special: The bizarre dragon-meets-fighter-jet premise hides serious creative pedigree. Dragon Pilot brings together Bones, screenwriter Mari Okada, Shinji Higuchi and Macross creator Shoji Kawamori for one of Netflix’s strangest forgotten anime.

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Summary: Small-time supervillain Johnny Bolt gathers a crew of powered criminals for one final, dangerously ambitious heist.

Why it’s special: Instead of following another group of superheroes saving civilization, Super Crooks gives the spotlight to the people normally treated as disposable villains. Bones’ animation mixed with Mark Millar’s Western comic-book world makes it feel unlike most superhero anime.

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Summary: After mysteriously transforming into a tanuki beastman, Michiru escapes to Anima-City, where humans and beastmen supposedly live separately in peace.

Why it’s special: This is Trigger doing what Trigger does best: explosive animation, ridiculous expressions, bold colors and a world that becomes much stranger than its opening episodes suggest. It has simply been overshadowed by the studio’s bigger titles.

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Summary: Anzu wants video games, chocolate and her cat—not a boyfriend. Unfortunately, a magical matchmaking wizard decides she belongs inside a real-life romance game and starts throwing handsome guys into her life.

Why it’s special: What begins as a parody of reverse-harem clichés eventually develops surprisingly sincere characters and emotional stakes. Anzu is also one of the funniest romance protagonists precisely because she refuses to behave like one.

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Summary: Academically successful but emotionally directionless, Yatora Yaguchi discovers painting and decides to pursue admission to one of Japan’s toughest art schools.

Why it’s special: Blue Period understands a side of creativity anime rarely explores: discovering something you love and immediately becoming terrified that you aren’t talented enough to succeed at it.

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Summary: Kei Nagai discovers that he is an Ajin—an immortal human capable of returning from death—and quickly becomes the target of authorities who want to capture and study him.

Why it’s special: Some viewers bounced off its CG animation, but underneath is one of anime’s smartest takes on immortality. Characters actually weaponize regeneration during combat, while Sato turns those rules into something genuinely terrifying.

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Summary: Six classic Brothers Grimm fairy tales are reimagined as completely different standalone stories ranging from psychological horror to science fiction.

Why it’s special: This quietly combines WIT Studio animation with original character concepts from CLAMP. Each episode can completely change the genre, setting and meaning of a fairy tale you thought you already knew.

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Summary: Four-year-old Kotaro suddenly moves into an apartment by himself, where struggling manga artist Shin Karino and the building’s other residents slowly become part of his life.

Why it’s special: At first, Kotaro behaving like a tiny independent adult is funny. Then the anime gradually reveals why he learned to live that way, turning harmless jokes and everyday habits into some unexpectedly painful moments.

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Summary: Japanese con artist Makoto Edamura tries to scam Laurent Thierry, only to discover that Laurent operates on an entirely different level. Soon, Makoto is dragged into elaborate international confidence games.

Why it’s special: Great Pretender doesn’t look or feel like the average anime recommendation. Its international locations, saturated art direction, jazz-heavy atmosphere and constantly shifting scams make every arc feel like its own stylish crime movie.

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