The Best Seinen Adventure Anime

Summary

• Seinen anime explores darker themes than shonen, so it’s ideal for older viewers.
• Blade of the Immortal (2019) offers a captivating story, animation, and fight scenes.
• Golden Kamuy combines interesting characters, treasure hunts, and danger in Hokkaido.

Seinen anime tends to have several gems that viewers aren’t acquainted with since it is less popular than the ever-present shonen. Seinen is targeted at men of an older demographic and, therefore, tends to talk about darker themes that might not be found in other shows.

Within the adventure genre, several great shows can be considered classics and perhaps even the best in their categories. These are shows that do not shy away from more difficult content and have a tendency to be a lot less forgiving. A selection of the best of these seinen adventure anime will be highlighted here.

10

Blade Of The Immortal (2019)

The Remake Is So Much Better Than The Original

Blade Of The Immortal was a manga series that ran from 1993 to 2012, with an anime series starting in 2009. Unfortunately, that adaptation left a lot to be desired. Thankfully, in 2019, a new adaptation was released, which was so, so good.

Manji is immortal, and wants that curse broken. To do so, he will kill 1000 evil men while acting as a guide to the young Rin, who wants revenge on the men who killed her parents. The show features a lot of violence of different natures, which might make some viewers uncomfortable, but the story is engaging, the animation striking, and the fight scenes exhilarating.

9

Master Keaton

A Little-Known Gem From Naoki Urasawa

Everyone knows and loves Monster and Pluto, both works by Naoki Urasawa. Not as many people are aware of some of his other series, like Master Keaton. The story is about Taichi Keaton, a Jack of all trades, and his adventures around the world.

The anime is very episodic, with only one story arc lasting two episodes, but it has a broad cast of characters, and Taichi is an excellent protagonist. A loving dad to his daughter and an enthusiastic learner, Taichi makes all his adventures an excellent viewing experience.

8

Space Pirate Captain Harlock

A Biting Satire From The 1970s

Captain Harlock is a character from 2977 who is on an adventure with his crew aboard the Arcadia. They are up against an alien race known as the Mazone, who want to take over the Earth. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Earth’s leaders are unwilling to do anything about it.

Space Pirate Captain Harlock is a great watch from the 70s, and despite some slow sections and some heavy-handed satire that has no context, it still comes off as an excellent series. Captain Harlock is charismatic and strong-willed. In officer Kiruda, Harlock has a formidable opponent, along with the alien threat that could end the Earth.

7

Black Lagoon

Guns, Chaos, And Revy

Black Lagoon is one of the most exalted action anime shows of the 2000s, and its mix of action and adventure with an adult cast of not-the-nicest people has made it something of a cult classic.

Black Lagoon is about Rock, a regular salaryman who somehow joins up with a group of smugglers, including the foul-mouthed, gun-toting Revy. It follows the adventures of the smugglers called the Lagoon Company as they navigate the underbelly of Roanapur. Black Lagoon’s characters are vivid and have larger-than-life personalities that take away from the realism of the show but certainly add to its excitement.

6

Lupin The 3rd

One Of Anime’s Longest-Running Shows Is Also One Of The Best

Lupin the 3rd has been running off and on since 1971, with the most recent entry coming out around 2021. The show follows the titular Lupin the Third and his antics as he steals from his victims after sending a calling card beforehand. Known for a lot of zany hijinks, the series took a much more serious and dark tone in its 2012 entry, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine.

Through both its more serious and comedic eras, Lupin the Third has maintained its fun, and while the quality of the series has been a little up and down over the decades, it still deserves its place as one of the top adventure shows for the seinen demographic.

5

Heavenly Delusion

The Anime That Doesn’t Hold Any Hands

Heavenly Delusion was the sleeper hit of 2023. Set in a post-apocalyptic world with a looming mystery that is slowly unraveled, Heavenly Delusion introduces the audience to Maru and Kiruko, who are looking for ‘Heaven.’

The show is at its best when it feeds information to the viewer piecemeal, trusting them to piece it together bit by bit. This is refreshing and something that many watchers appreciate. On top of that, it features top-tier animation by Studio I.G., and the survivors, Maru and Kiruko, are very easy to root for. The mystery is compelling, and it will likely leave viewers with even more questions at the end.

4

Golden Kamuy

Unhinged Historical Fiction At Its Best

Golden Kamuy embodies everything an adventure should be: interesting characters, a compelling story, treasure, danger, and a fascinating yet dangerous setting. Golden Kamuy has all these elements in spades. Sugimoto, a man who is very difficult to kill, teams up with a young Ainu woman named Asirpa to find gold stolen from her people.

All this is set amid the backdrop of a recently-ended war, the cold regions of Hokkaido, and a cast of interesting friends and villains also looking for gold. Golden Kamuy has spanned four seasons so far, with each one being better than the last and the action just heating up more and more.

3

Berserk

The Chilling Story Of Guts

Most people recognize Berserk due to a single moment that is infamous in anime history. However, fans of Berserk know that it is much more than a single arc and is considered the greatest dark fantasy story ever told through the medium of manga and anime.

Guts continues to be hounded by the demons as he travels, and the hellish world he lives in is more deeply explored. Apart from the violence, philosophy, and terror, Berserk is also a great adventure story set in a fascinating world that, while no one wants to live in, many would love to know more about.

2

Delicious In Dungeon

Much More Than Meets The Eye

The cutesy art and the themes around food and cooking might fool some into thinking that Delicious In Dungeon is a run-of-the-mill cooking anime, but they would be very wrong. Delicious In Dungeon is about a party that more or less lives off the monsters in the dungeon they are adventuring in.

However, the world of DID is so well-crafted and the ecology so detailed that it can come off as shocking. The characters are memorable and all shine in one way or the other; even the basic-looking Laois is an interesting person. The story also has an overarching mystery that makes the show even more enticing.

1

Vinland Saga

Thorfinn’s Epic Journey Is Nothing Short Of Incredible

Vinland Saga’s story is simple enough; a young Thorfinn witnesses his father’s death at the hands of Askaladd, and he vows revenge, going so far as to join the crew of his father’s killer in hopes of getting retribution on the man who took away his dad.

However, this is all set against the backdrop of a major upheaval in the world of the 1000s AD and the rise of the Vikings. With all the chaos, Vinland Saga still tells a deeply personal story of a young boy who, through tribulation, grows exponentially to become a very great man.