Top 10 Anime That Defined Your Childhood

For those that fell down the shoujo rabbit hole back in the day, few could top the adorability and fantastical nature of Sakura and her quest to capture the Clow Cards. Sure, the dub may have mauled the original, but it was still whimsical enough to attract new viewers to Sakura’s kind-hearted nature, how she used each card in battle, as well as the budding love story between herself and Syaoran. Other magical girls might have come and gone since, but Sakura remains in the hearts of all retro fans!

It might have been left to gather dust, but for a long while the fight to stop the Evil Mu had us glued to our seats. A gaming nerd who gets transported into a fantasy world? Who yells out cheesy dialogue while beating up monsters with rollerblades? You’re damn right our tiny little brains were hard-wired to enjoy this kind of stuff! Where else can you find an edgelord wolf bantering with a swindling hare who can set himself on fire? The show has a surprising amount of heart, with some genuinely touching episodes. And for those of you who want a trip down memory lane, TMS has uploaded all the episodes on YouTube!

Robots beating the bolts out of each other while also taking down an organisation of latex-clad goons? No wonder we all got hooked! While children having their own personal war machines equipped with lasers, missiles and bullets might sound like a terrible idea in hindsight, watching Ikki and Metabee go to town on the competition was a blast. The endless robattles and new Medabots introduced always kept things engaging, with the likes of the Medaforce and eventual tournament arc cementing it as a gem of a kid’s anime.

Technically still going strong to this very day via Boruto’s Dad’s Son, the original outing of this blonde ninja heralded the start of the modern shounen scene for many. With the flashiness of its fights, unique lore and wide cast of memorable shinobi, it wasn’t long before this series’ popularity spread like wildfire. The filler may have been a bit hard to swallow, but the quality of battles such as Rock Lee vs Gaara and Naruto vs Sasuke were so on point that it easily overshadowed its rougher edges.

Whoever said spinning tops weren’t a real sport clearly never saw Tyson and Kai duel it out in the finales. For a time, everyone owned a Beyblade, and while we may have failed to summon our own Bit-Beasts during school-yard matches, that didn’t stop us from enjoying the hell out of the Bladebreaker’s break-neck career from nobodies to superstars. From the original all the way to G-Revolution, it was a thrill to watch Tyson and the rest let it rip! And that oh my god, that soundtrack was full of absolute bangers.

Originally seen as nothing more than a Pokemon clone, the Digital Monsters really came into their own when newcomers started to notice the stark differences – mainly the tighter plot, sense of danger, and just how high the stakes were. Following a group of chosen children as they traverse the digital world with their partner Digimon, these tales were so gripping that you probably remember them beat-for-beat to this day. I mean everyone remembers where they were when Angemon punched a hole in Devimon, right?

The second coming of the anime-inspired collectable card craze, only difference between this and Pokemon was that your rare Pikachu card couldn’t send your foes to the Shadow Realm. With its easy-to-follow rules, radical hair-styles and abundance of Dark Magician Girls, Yugi’s reign as the King of Games was just the right amount of edgy to entrance us back in our younger days, to the point where actually owning an Egyptian God Card meant everything. Watching these guys play Duel Monsters like their life depended on it, combined with the awesome monster designs; it was borderline hypnotic!

The iconic shoujo superheroine who served as an inspiration for girls everywhere, while also not so secretly winning over the boys thanks to its aesthetic and never-ending fantasy brawls. No matter which dub you ended watching back in the day, you were likely blown away by the charm and comradery of the Sailor Scouts, the swagger of Tuxedo Mask, and all the awesomeness that came in between. It’s held up magnificently as the years have gone by, with the Sailor Moon Challenge and upcoming Eternal movies as proof of its impact!

Alright, time to admit it - you tried to do a kamehameha when you were a kid too. Well who can blame you because this show was like nothing we’d ever seen before. Goku going Super Saiyan, the battle with Frieza on a dying world, Gohan’s climactic beam struggle with Cell, everything that Vegeta did, there are so many standout moments that before long you start to realise just how much of Z shaped our childhoods. We wouldn’t be so hyped about Super if we didn’t first have such a glorious foundation, one well over-9000 on the hype scale.

It’s impossible to even talk about anime nostalgia without discussing the kid from Pallet Town who wanted to be the best like no-one ever was. With video games, a card game and anime coming out in full-force, Pokemania was everywhere. And after seeing what the Kanto region had to offer, we all wanted to head on out, collect our favourite Poke-dream team, best all eight gym leaders, become the champion, eat a jelly-filled doughnut, and unlike Ash, catch every legendary we came across! Considering it’s still cranking out episodes, it also has the distinction of defining a whole other generation’s childhood too!