10 Anime That Are Impossible To Stop After Perfect First Episodes

Anime deserve to be judged by more than their first episodes, but the opening of a series can cement its success early on. Although slow-burn introductions to characters and conflicts can pay off — just look at classic anime still popular in 2025, like One Piece and Naruto — starting with well-crafted twists or epic action sequences makes a more compelling case for viewers to continue.

An anime’s premiere sets the tone for the entire story, and strong beats in the introduction promise a well-wrought narrative to come. Whether a series features an emotional death straight off the bat or upends expectations without hesitating, the willingness to take a bold approach bodes well for the rest of its run. These anime master the art of beginnings, with first episodes that do everything from throwing their characters back in time to thrusting them into high-stakes fights against monsters. They’ll grab viewers and won’t let them go.

10) Erased

Erased opens with its main character, Satoru Fujinuma, saving a child from being hit by a truck. And while that’s a setup we’ve seen before, things get more interesting when Satoru explains his mysterious power: the ability to jump back in time and stop “negative incidents” from happening. That premise sets the anime up for success, but the remainder of the first installment is what makes it impossible to put down. After she pieces together a terrible truth about abductions that took place when Satoru was a child, his mother is killed — and the blame is placed on his shoulders.

This takes the anime from zero to 100 in minutes, leaving the main character to solve the mystery of his mother’s murder and figure out why his classmates went missing years ago. He’s thrown back in time before the credits roll, and by that point, viewers will be invested in his fate and desperate for answers. That makes continuing a no-brainer, and at just 12 episodes, there’s no reason to put off seeing Erased all the way through.

9) Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood accomplishes a lot in its first episode, introducing the political conflicts within its world, as well as the rules of alchemy. It manages this while giving viewers insight into Edward and Alphonse’s backstory and teasing their goal of locating the Philosopher’s Stone. With all that accounted for, one might assume the installment is full of exposition. However, it weaves these details into a subplot that contains plenty of action: taking down the Freezing Alchemist, Isaac McDougal.

In hindsight, the Freezing Alchemist’s desire to kill King Bradley is a clever way to start the series, too. It hints at twists to come without being too heavy-handed or ruining anything for those unfamiliar with Hiromu Arakawa’s manga. With Episode 1 covering so much, it’s hard to find fault with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood‘s opening. And after a few more installments, viewers really won’t be able to put the series down.

8) Death Note

Death Note is an anime that doesn’t shy away from the darkness lurking within its main character, and that’s apparent from its first episode. The series’ opening is fairly straightforward: it finds Light Yagami discovering the eponymous notebook, then using it to kill those he deems deserving. The arrival of Ryuk makes things more interesting, but the premiere mostly circles the questions at the heart of the anime: who has the right to dole out justice, and does playing god make Light any better than the people he’s killing?

Death Note may not set up the dynamic between Light and L right away, but it establishes Light as a protagonist who can carry a psychological thriller. His disturbing outlook and complexity begs viewers to learn more, and Ryuk proves just as compelling to come back to. With such a high body count in the first installment alone, viewers will want to see what Light does with the Death Note next and whether he gets caught.

7) Akame ga Kill!

Akame ga Kill! is an underrated anime that deserves a bigger fan base, and its opening episode proves it’s something special. Tatsumi’s quest to make a fortune in the Imperial Capital doesn’t stand out at first glance. However, the unfortunate turn his journey takes makes for an incredible twist. After being separated from his friends and robbed, Tatsumi is taken in by a wealthy, seemingly benevolent family. When an assassin organization dubbed Night Raid attacks their home, Tatsumi realizes the family has been tricking travelers into staying with them — then torturing and killing them for sport.

This turn lays the groundwork for the cruel and ruthless world Akame ga Kill! is set in, revealing its true nature to both an unwitting Tatsumi and the viewer. Night Raid’s insistence that Tatsumi join them leaves the premiere on a high note. It promises it has something to say about the deep-seated corruption in Tatsumi’s world (and our own). It may take a while to fully unpack that, but the premiere’s balance of action, commentary, and even humor is enough to sell the remainder of the show.

6) The Promised Neverland

Another anime opener with an iconic twist is The Promised Neverland. The series’ first episode introduces an orphanage full of children who have never seen the outside world, then reveals the sinister reason why. Although the lives of Emma, Norman, and their friends initially seem happy and full of love, the departure of a girl named Conny reveals a terrible truth: despite being told their peers are sent to foster homes, the kids are being harvested for demons to feed on. Emma and Norman finding Conny’s body is easily one of the darkest moments of any anime premiere, and the series’ willingness to go there sets the tone for what’s to come.

The conspiracy at the center of The Promised Neverland raises plenty of questions, including why the series’ adults are sacrificing orphans and where the demons are from. The desire for answers, combined with the likelihood of more grim surprises, will keep any horror fan engaged. And although the show’s sophomore season goes off the rails compared to the manga, its first outing is well worth binging. Viewers will be eager to know whether Emma, Norman, and Ray escape the horrifying fates planned for them.

5) Demon Slayer

Demon Slayer is a worldwide sensation, and the success of Infinity Castle proves as much — but it wouldn’t have accumulated a huge following without a great opening. Its first episode takes a similar approach to The Promised Neverland, introducing Tanjiro and his relatively happy family before having tragedy befall them. The first scene teases that Tanjiro and Nezuko will find themselves in dire straits, but nothing can prepare viewers for the gruesome sight Tanjiro stumbles upon after his family is killed by the demon Muzan Kibutsuji.

Nezuko is the sole survivor, setting the stage for Demon Slayer‘s premise: the quest to turn her back into a human. Her behavior during the premiere highlights what a massive undertaking this will be. The involvement of the Demon Slayer Corps adds another obstacle, setting high stakes from the start. Naturally, viewers will want to know how Tanjiro and Nezuko fare after Giyu’s act of mercy in Episode 1. And the anime only gets better from there, living up to its promising opener.

4) Jujutsu Kaisen

The first episode of Jujutsu Kaisen strikes an excellent balance between humor and action, and it opens with a gripping hook: the fact that Yuji Itadori will be executed. When we begin to follow him in his day-to-day life, questions arise about how he ended up in this situation. Viewers learn about the curses that plague his world alongside him, and that culminates in an action-packed fight at the end of Episode 1. The merging of Itadori and Sukuna makes things truly interesting, leaving off on a cliffhanger that demands answers — and informs viewers that the series’ Big Bad is someone to be afraid of.

Itadori’s moments of humanity (and his silly mistakes, too) make us want to root for the character, even as he devours one of Sukuna’s fingers against every bit of common sense. If the world-building and intrigue of the premiere’s opening don’t keep viewers seated, the desire to see Itadori escape a grim fate will. Episode 1 succeeds at getting us invested in his story, while simultaneously immersing us in the setting and main conflict. Once those things become more fleshed out in Episode 2, it’s basically impossible to stop watching the series.

3) Chainsaw Man

Chainsaw Man‘s first episode has everything you could want in an opening. The anime unflinchingly tackles the cycle of poverty through Denji’s early circumstances; even becoming a devil hunter hasn’t made a dent in the debts he owes — debts that aren’t even his. He’s even forced to live off meager helpings of bread and sell body parts to survive. With this setup, it’s no wonder Denji’s goal throughout Chainsaw Man is an ordinary life. That’s out the window when he finds himself facing the Zombie Devil, however, a twist that results in his death and resurrection as a devil himself.

Denji’s unfortunate circumstances and his empathy, even towards a devil like Pochita, make him an easy protagonist to root for. Chainsaw Man successfully gets us to care about its lead, right before throwing him into one of the worst situations imaginable. His eventual transformation and fight with the Zombie Devil add spectacle to an already-strong premiere, and Makima’s arrival raises enough questions to bring us back to the series. It’s a masterclass in storytelling, making the anime’s popularity inevitable.

2) Yu Yu Hakusho

Yu Yu Hakusho‘s first episode doesn’t need more than five minutes to hook viewers, as the first scene sees its main character getting hit by a car and dying — with the narrator telling us that he was supposed to be the hero of the story before things went awry. This sets the tone of the anime perfectly, balancing humor with its more serious themes. And given that Yusuke must come to terms with his death and decide whether to undergo a trial to come back to life, the series wastes little time tackling topics like mortality and redemption.

The back-and-forth between Yusuke and the shinigami Botan, who greets him after he perishes, offers more incentive to continue. And of course, the end of the first chapter will leave viewers wondering what trial Yusuke will face to regain his life. The character connections teased in the premiere make us want him to succeed, so this flawless setup expertly gets viewers to continue hitting play on new episodes.

1) Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan may have the strongest opening in anime history, with its first episode thrusting its main trio into a living nightmare. Considering they reside in a world where man-eating Titans roam outside the wall protecting their home, that feels inevitable. But when those Titans break down the wall and destroy the Shiganshina District, Eren, Armin, and Mikasa see their illusion of safety totally upended. The opener packs a powerful punch, showcasing the scale of death and destruction caused by the Titans before making it personal by killing Eren’s mother.

With Eren’s talk of freedom and resistance earlier in the premiere, viewers can guess how he’ll respond — and the anime goes on to follow him and his friends to the frontlines of the war against the Titans. It eventually raises conversations about the cycle of violence and the nature of vengeance, and the premiere lays the groundwork for that. It makes the characters easy to empathize with (even if we change our minds later on), and it teases action and political intrigue, which future episodes fully deliver on.

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