Anime shows often run long and require a lot of time to watch! But not all fans and new viewers spend that much time on them. Fortunately, anime offers several top short series that focus on delivering compelling narratives. Additionally, these shows feature excellent characters and highlight their development in a concise format. Moreover, their attractive quality lies in their beautiful blend of emotions. Such as friendship, adventure, courage, and fear in A Place Further Than the Universe. In Odd Taxi, the creators skillfully combine humor, drama, and suspense.
As you think about these combinations, you also watch other anime. Then, I’ll let you know that this mix appears in just 11 to 21 episodes, which is less time-consuming. If you want to save time and enjoy great content, check out our list of the best short anime.
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Best Short Anime
1- A Place Further Than the Universe
- IMDb: 8.7/10
- Genre: Seinen
In our queue of best short anime, this series highlights friendship, adventure, courage, fear, and emotion. It follows four high school girls who embark on an adventurous expedition to Antarctica. Among them, Mari Tamaki has a shy and indecisive personality and loves going on adventures. However, her fears simultaneously hold her back.
During her journey, she meets Shirase Kobuchizawa, another high school girl with a decisive and confident personality. This meeting takes her life on an unexpected turn! After Shirase loses her mother during an expedition in Antarctica, she completely transforms as a person. Now, she embarks on an adventure to fulfill her dream of exploring the icy continent. Along with friends Hinata Miyake and Yuzuki Shiraishi. Meanwhile, Mari discovers her dream and wants to join Shirase to experience this exciting exploration.
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2- Puella Magi Madoka Magica
- IMDb: 8.2/10
- Genre: Shoujo
A magical short anime features a middle school girl named Madoka Kaname. In the story, she unexpectedly meets a strange, cat-like creature named Kyubey. This creature offers her a deal: if she makes a wish, she will become a magical girl! This opportunity seems good and exciting. However, becoming a magical girl comes with a harsh reality—she must fight against malevolent beings called witches. In the process, she even loses her life.
This creature already targeted the same school students, Homura Akemi, Mami Tomoe, and Sayaka Miki. She found Kyubey again dealing with another innocent girl. So, they decide to stop Madoka from signing this contract and entering the dark world.
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3- Odd Taxi
- IMDb: 8.4/10
- Genre: Seinen
The next plot in the best short anime features Old Taxi. It follows a 41-year-old taxi driver named Hiroshi Odokawa, who is an anthropomorphic animal. He lives a simple life without family and prefers it that way. Despite this, he keeps friendships with his doctor, Gouriki, and his high school classmate, Kakibana. This Tokyo-based series creatively blends humor, drama, and suspense.
It showcases Odokawa’s regular interactions with a diverse array of passengers, each having their own secrets and quirks. One day, a conversation drew him into a web of mysteries. Including the disappearance of a high school girl and more. These elements highlight the odd side of the driver’s life and the dark side of the town. They make the narrative intriguing, presenting an odd yet highly engaging story.
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4- Erased
- IMDb: 8.4/10
- Genre: Seinen
Erased focuses on the uncovered or unknown aspects of the story. It opens with Satoru Fujinuma, a 29-year-old aspiring manga artist. He also experiences the emotion of loss from losing his mother and confronting the deaths of childhood friends. This character possesses a unique ability called Revival that allows him to travel back in time to prevent tragic events.
At present, Satoru struggles in his career and feels frustrated in life because of his odd ability. One day, he decides to uncover what happened to his mother and dear friends in the past. Since kidnappers took him at that time. To achieve this, he goes back in time with the mind of an adult in the body of a child. Then tries to save his classmate Kayo Hinazuki, one of the major victims. He then unravels the mystery of the deaths from the past.
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5- Flip Flappers
- IMDb: 7.2/10
- Genre: Shoujo
Another magical girl story that ranks among the best short anime is Flip Flappers. It is filled with adventure, fantasy, comedy, and more. This sci-fi series focuses on a middle school girl named Cocona. Her journey begins when she meets a vibrant girl named Papika one day. Papika then takes Cocona to a place called Flip Flap.
After reaching there, she recognized that it was a training organization. They train to regain magical fragments known as Shards from the opposite dimensions called Pure Illusion. As they become part of it, both face various challenges and gain the power to transform into magical girls.
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6- Kyousougiga
- IMDb: 7.4/10
- Genre: Shoujo
This alternate-world narrative moves around a young girl named Koto. In series, she entered this fantastical city. That is shown as a protected and guided place by Myoe, the lazy priest, and Yase & Kuram. They are part of a council governing in that city. Since in that world when she came up, she had a giant hammer called Aratama.
Additionally, the two strong Koto characters reflect the fact that everyone comes from the eternal paper city. As Koto enters this vibrant color city, the problems intensify. Discover how this captivating plot of love, rebirth, familial bonds, and rich character backstories weaves together an entire series. Don’t miss out—watch it right now!
7- Revue Starlight
- IMDb: 7.3/10
- Genre: Shoujo
The story is set around two 16-year-old girls Karen and Hikari. Here they want to enter the competitive and fantastical world of Stage Girls. When they’re young, both promise each other that one day they’ll stand on that stage together. After turning sixteen, Karen and Hikari separated as one transferred to a different school.
But to become stage girls both are engaged in unique auditions known as Revue battles. These auditions mysteriously take place. Overall, this anime is not only the best short anime about singing and acting talent. Also includes stylized combat using weapons, to remove pieces of each other’s costumes to declare victory.
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Closing Up!
Start watching these best short anime series to entertain yourself without wasting long hours. Make your working day a little more fun by enjoying these titles each day. They will transport you to a magical world that highlights diverse aspects of real life. Additionally, visit our official site for more anime-related recommendations.
