The best, kept
Best Series of the 1990s
highest-rated first — switch the medium, the era or the genre below.

Years ago, the fearsome Pirate King, Gol D. Roger was executed leaving a huge pile of treasure and the famous "One Piece" behind. Whoever claims the "One Piece" will be named the new King of the Pirates. Monkey D. Luffy, a boy who consumed a "Devil Fruit," decides to follow in the footsteps of his idol, the pirate Shanks, and find the One Piece. It helps, of course, that his body has the properties of rubber and that he's surrounded by a bevy of skilled fighters and thieves to help him along the way. Luffy will do anything to get the One Piece and become King of the Pirates!
One Piece
1999

The story of New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads. Those difficulties are often highlighted through his ongoing professional relationship with psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi. The show features Tony's family members and Mafia associates in prominent roles and story arcs, most notably his wife Carmela and his cousin and protégé Christopher Moltisanti.
The Sopranos
1999

Sakuragi Hanamichi is a junior high punk used to getting into fights and being rejected by girls but upon entering high school he meets the girl of his dreams, Haruko Akagi. He will do anything in order to win her heart including joining the school basketball team that is aiming to conquer the nation lead by Haruko's brother. The problem is that Sakuragi has never played basketball before and a freshman sensation is stealing the spotlight and Haruko's affection from him.
Slam Dunk
1993

Sakura Kinomoto, an elementary school student who discovers that she possesses magical powers after accidentally freeing a set of magical cards from the book they had been sealed in for years. She is then tasked with retrieving those cards in order to avoid an unknown catastrophe from befalling the world.
Cardcaptor Sakura
1998

Set on the distant planet Zi, the story unfolds in a world where biomechanical creatures called Zoids serve as powerful weapons in the long-standing conflict between the Helic Republic and the Guylos Empire. A fragile ceasefire holds, but rising tensions and the return of ancient Zoidian technology threaten to plunge both nations back into war. The story follows Van Flyheight, a young boy who discovers Fiona, a mysterious girl with no memory, and Zeke, an Organoid capable of enhancing a Zoid’s combat abilities. Traveling with the resourceful Moonbay and the reserved mercenary Irvine, the group searches for clues to Fiona’s past. Their journey leads them across the Republic and eventually into the heart of a renewed conflict that will shape the future of Zi.
Zoids: Chaotic Century
1999

Vowing to avenge the murder of his parents, Bruce Wayne devotes his life to wiping out crime in Gotham City as the masked vigilante "Batman".
Batman: The Animated Series
1992

At the turn of the century, the Angels returned to Earth, seeking to wipe out humanity in an apocalyptic fury. Devastated, mankind's last remnants moved underground to wait for the day when the Angels would come back to finish the job. Fifteen years later, that day has come... but this time, humanity is ready to fight back with terrifying bio-mechanical weapons known as the Evangelions. Watch as Shinji, Rei, Asuka and the rest of the mysterious shadow agency Nerv battle to save earth from total annihilation.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
1995

The Meiji Era was one of great renewal for Japan, where swords and killing were outlawed. However, many survivors from the time of Revolution still live, lurking in the shadows and waiting for a chance to use their killing blades again. Only Kenshin Himura, formerly one of the most brutal of killers, hopes to keep his swordsman's honor and still live in the new era.
Rurouni Kenshin
1996

In 2071, roughly fifty years after an accident with a hyperspace gateway made the Earth almost uninhabitable, humanity has colonized most of the rocky planets and moons of the Solar System. Amid a rising crime rate, the Inter Solar System Police (ISSP) set up a legalized contract system, in which registered bounty hunters, also referred to as "Cowboys", chase criminals and bring them in alive in return for a reward.
Cowboy Bebop
1998

Guts, a wandering mercenary, joins the Band of the Hawk after being defeated in a duel by Griffith, the group's leader and founder. Together, they dominate every battle, but something menacing lurks in the shadows.
Berserk
1997

After dying to save a boy, delinquent tough guy Yusuke Urameshi is granted another chance at life by redeeming himself as a "Spirit Detective."
Yu Yu Hakusho
1992

Six young people from New York City, on their own and struggling to survive in the real world, find the companionship, comfort and support they get from each other to be the perfect antidote to the pressures of life.
Friends
1994

A former gang member wants to be Japan's best teacher. When he's hired to supervise a class of hopeless cases, it's his chance to prove himself.
Great Teacher Onizuka
1999

While on a field trip to the Tokyo Tower, three middle school girls suddenly find themselves in another world and must save its princess to return home.
Magic Knight Rayearth
1994

Gon Freecss discovers that the father he had always been told was dead was actually alive the whole time. Ging is a famous Hunter: an individual who has proven themself an elite member of humanity. Gon becomes determined to follow in his father's footsteps, pass the rigorous Hunter Examination.
Hunter x Hunter
1999

The exploits of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries that debunk Mulder's work and thus return him to mainstream cases.
The X-Files
1993

Beatriz Pinzón Solano is a brilliant economist with a master's degree in finance; she has only one flaw: she's ugly. Everything changes when she starts working at Ecomoda, one of the country's largest companies, where she meets and falls in love with Armando Mendoza. This time, life will give her a second chance to prove she can become the most desired and beloved woman in the world.
Yo soy Betty, la fea
1999

The adventures of a late-20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J. Fry, who, after being unwittingly cryogenically frozen for one thousand years, finds employment at Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company in the retro-futuristic 31st century.
Futurama
1999

One day, Usagi Tsukino, clumsy 2nd-year middle school student, stumbles upon a talking cat named Luna. Luna tells her that she is destined to be Sailor Moon, "champion of love and justice", and she must search for the fabled Moon Princess. Usagi finds friends that turn out to be destined senshi as well, and together they fight to save the world from the certain doom brought upon by the Dark Kingdom.
Sailor Moon
1992
