Top 15 Best World Building In Anime
15. Naruto
Naruto has an interesting world with the sytem of Ninja, and military villages. There are five main military villages namely village hidden in Leaf, Cloud, Sand, Water, and Rocks. There are other villages, rouge criminal organizations, and society for intelligent animals like frogs.
It isn’t strong on geographical variety but the power system makes up for it. Not exploring politics is a huge miss in Naruto and the failure to explore the story in other villages could have helped in expanding the political structure. The focus was too much on Konoha alone and that made the world small by the end but it is still a great world.
14. Gintama
The main cast takes strange jobs and has to travel to many different places to fullfill them. From forests to an entirely different planet to going inside a robot, Gintama has it all. Gintama is essentially a gag series so it doesn’t go for consistency or carefully planned narrative. It does what it wants and hence the world can by anything it needed to be. Gintama has a bit of everything but it obviously doesn’t try to be the best at World Building so it won’t be any higher than this.
13. The Promised Neverland
Promised Neverland is about a group of children who are grown on a human farm to be fed to demons. From the start, the world of Promised Neverland was intriguing since we don’t know how the world works. Questions like where the children come from? how does the demon world work? what is beyond the farm? made it an interesting world from the start.
Promised Neverland world-building was consistent throughout as new mysteries were kept revealed. Also, another thing I liked was the political structure of demons.
12. Cowboy Bepop
Cowboy Bebop is set in the year 2071, and follows the adventures of a group of bounty hunters on their spaceship called the Bebop. The show has been praised for its unique blend of jazz music, Western themes, science fiction and Japanese animation. There are several planets with recognizable human envirnoments and also has a unique set of technology.
11. Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball is one of the most iconic anime of all time but its worldbuilding is quite underrated. It may not be big on politics but geography, creatures, planets, and races are vast and done with great detail.
Nowadays the series focus maybe on fights and there is a lack of adventure and worldbuilding aspects but the early Dragon Ball thrived on it. It has several races like Namekians, Saiyans, Androids, Demon, Gods, Mythical Dragons, etc. The series focuses on intergalactic conflicts and hence there are various planets in the narrative that adds to the world-building. Early Dragon Ball had a lot of weird places that made the world vast.
10. From the New World
It follows Saki who acquired her power at the age of twelve and goes to an academy to master those along with her friends – Maria, Shun, Satoru and Mamoru. Saki and her friends grow into their roles in the supposed utopia. But the Utopia has dark and shocking truths and facing it may not be easy for the group.
9. Dorehedoro
Dorehedoro doesnt explain anything about its world in exposition. A vast world exists but it is never explained in detail and it perfectly fits the chaotic story that the series tries to tell. One can get there is lot of complexity in geographical structure to political hierarchy but it gets never defined exactly how the world works and leaves a lot to readers’ interpretaton.
The world is separated into two regions – one for non magical folks while the other is for those practice magic. Then there are people like En who is in charge of the magical world. The surreal setting, artstyle, and the power system make Dorehedoro a great read.
8. Berserk
Berserk is one of the greatest Manga of all time and has one of the greatest protagonists and antagonists in the medium. As a dark fantasy, the world is rich in lore, world-building, geographical locations, creatures, demons, and politics.
Berserk is quite underrated in world-building as it is often overshadowed by other great things about Berserk. The medieval age setting and complicated political system are some of its strong points. The existence of the Kushan empire, its own language, and Hindu religion reference are classic examples of Berserk’s great and underrated world-building.
7. Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the best Shonen anime and its world-building is one of the best in Shonen. The usage of intricacies of religion in its theme is really rare in Anime. The locations too play a crucial role in moving the story forward. The political structure and military also added to its great world-building. They travel to several towns including places like deserts and snowy high-altitude regions. Fullmetal Alchemist’s vast world-building helps in obtaining the adventure feel.
The presence of different races and their culture was definitely the highlight of the series. I think the world could have been expanded even more as it felt that the world was small but the detailed usage of religion and politics makes up for it.
6. Hunter X Hunter
Hunter X Hunter is one of the greatest Shonen anime ever and its world-building is just going to get better as the series is progressing. Initially, the world was interesting but wasn’t anything crazy. As the series picked up, the world-building really picked up. Greed island was an island that takes place inside a game and Chimera Ant takes place in a nation that is closed to the outside world.
The politics with the Hunter Association, fantastical creatures, and the presence of isolated countries made its World Building better. But the idea of the existence of a Dark Continent and its lore definitely gave its place here.
5. Kingdom
Kingdom is the only non fantasy entry in the list and hence it doesn’t have the flexibility that a fantasy have and has to work within the realm of reality. Kingdom is about the unification of China’s seven states and involves a lot of warfare. It is definitely the best manga about warfare as it tries to explore every aspect of war.
China is a huge country with various landscapes and geographical structures and those play a vital role in warfare and kingship. Since the goal is to unify all states of China, the story is bound to have a plot revolving around politics, government, law, nationalism, etc. Kingdom actually gives an idea of how government evolved in history with things like Law, money, etc playing a role in changing the way a country functions.
In real life, mountains, rivers, forests, deserts, snowy regions, etc all have a great role in determining borders of a country and also those factors come into play in wars. Kingdom always incorporates them in the story. For example: the mountains are difficult to conquer because of its terrain and one who resides there always has the home advantage and things like these always matters a lot in Kingdom.
4. Attack On Titan
Attack on Titan tells the story of Eldians who are stuck behind a giant wall to protect themselves from Titans. World maynot be the most complex or vast like some other series in the list but the world ties greatly together in its theme and the narrative. There are ton of mysteries to unravel and that makes the world even more interesting.
Walls separate people from Titans and there are three walls namely Maria, Rose, and Sheena. As we move inside, the more powerful people in social hierarchy lives and hence the people inside the outermost wall will be the most affected when a danger comes. The mysteries like origin of Titans, fate of humanity, Eren’s father, etc make the world so interesting. One of my favorite moments in the series is when the main characters finally see a sea after wanting to go there for many years. Things like that shows the beauty of world building of Attack On Titan.
3. Magi
Aladdin is a Magi who travels the world to find his true self along with his mentor Ugo – a djinn. Dungeons are mysterious ruins where priceless treasures reside and it is filled with traps and dangers. The series also involves the main character traveling to different countries with their own politics, culture, and tradition.
The beauty of Magi’s world building lies in its handling of Kindom and kingship. It is a story about what makes a good king and the tough themes of politics, country, kingship, etc were handled in a great way.
2. Made In Abyss
There is a huge Abyss that leads deep into the earth and it is filled with mysteries and dangers that endanger anyone who goes into them. An orphaned girl named Riko meets a humanoid robot called Reg and decides to descend into the Abyss in hopes of finding her mother.
The intricate details of the Abyss are what make this series special in its world-building. No one knows the exact depth of the Abyss. There are several layers to the Abyss and each layer has its own set of challenges from its geography, climate, nature, and creatures. Each layer has a specific challenge called the Curse of the Abyss. There are several mysteries surrounding the Abyss and the delvers that go inside.
1. One Piece
A story about pirates who search for a mysterious treasure called One Piece is a perfect recipe to build the world and that’s exactly what happened. The world consists of a huge set of different islands with their unique geography, culture, and tradition. There are several races in the world with humans, fishmen, minks, giants, etc to name a few.
World building is about building a unique world with various geographical structures, people, and creatures just like real life. But what makes One Piece even great is its politics and the way it uses the world for its narrative and themes. For example, the Sabaody arc is a low point for the protagonists and similarly, they face a lateral wall of mountain that block their path in the form of Redline.
Politics is another intriguing part that makes One Piece the greatest in World Building. There are countless factions in the world with their own set of ideologies and it’s a constant battle to get to the top among them. Pirates, Yonkos, Warlord, World Government, Marines, CP, underworld mafia, Revolutionary armies, etc are some of the examples of the factions in the story.
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