From reboots to rewrites to remakes, it’s hard to get excited about much of what is coming out of Hollywood and the Western entertainment market. The anime world, however, is still rocking.

Here’s a peek at some animes, that give me hope there are still fresh ideas, incredible artistic talent and and massive pool of source material still out there.

Kaiju No 8

Based on the manga by Naoya Matsumota, a young boy makes a pact with his friend to help fight kaijus on the Japanese Defense Force. Unfortunately, she grows up to be a badass kaiju-hunter and he lands a job cleaning up the aftermath of the kills. He lands a chance to try out of them once again hoping to change his fate. An even bigger change is about to happen. This series comes out in 2024. That gives you plenty of time to catch up on the mangas, now being made available in English.

Pluto

Netflix released this 4-minute sneak peek of the anime based on the Astro Boy story “The Greatest Robot on Earth”. Just the layers of fantastic art in this are enough to want to see it. The story should also be fantastic. “The Greatest Robot on Earth,” is from the 1960s, and starting in 2003, Naoki Urasawa released his masterpiece manga, Pluto, based on it. This year, it is reaching the next level in anime form.

MF Ghost

While live action car lovers enjoyed the Fast and Furious world, anime fans have had their own mega popular 90s street racing series in Initial D. It had high-paced with relatable characters and really accurate depictions of real cars (for the most part).

MF Ghost, is based on the Initial D world, where electric cars have taken over and the combustion vehicle is an endangered species. They aren’t going quietly, though.

There’s also another cool car-centric anime to note, Hi-Drivers, and the first episode was released at the end of last year. It’s more character centered, as teams from different regions in a city at the base of Mt. Fuji, meet up for a monthly racing battle. It looks pretty intense, and they even made a music video to get you ready for the drive.

If you’re in a binge mood, there is already a new anime that hit in January on Netflix for fans of horror and other spooky things:

Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre

Some of the creepiest, horror tales of manga artist Junji Ito are compiled in this anthology series, not for the kiddos or faint of heart. Ito’s mangas (like his Frankenstein adaptation) are some of the spookiest and coolest reads in manga, so this anime series is certainly shudder worthy. Don’t let the cutesy soundtrack of the trailer fool you. It is unnerving:

There are also some continuing sagas getting new seasons this year, including the third part of the final season of Attack on Titan and One Punch Man Season 3. Also, don’t forget Studio Ghibli’s classics will finally be offered on Netflix in the United States this summer…YAY!!!

In the meantime, there’s plenty new anime fun to look forward to seeing.

You’ll have a blast.