Top 10 Anime of the 21st Century by Female Mangaka, Ranked

For decades, female mangaka have quietly shaped modern anime, creating some of the medium’s most celebrated stories across fantasy, action, psychological drama, historical mystery, and heartfelt slice-of-life recommendations. While names like Hiromu Arakawa and Natsuki Takaya are widely respected, many fans still underestimate just how much of 21st-century anime has been built on stories written by women.

Beyond this list, acclaimed adaptations like Yona of the Dawn (Mizuho Kusanagi), Kimi ni Todoke (Karuho Shiina), and A Sign of Affection (Suu Morishita) further showcase that range. This ranking weighs storytelling, character writing, animation quality, cultural impact, critical acclaim, long-term influence, and rewatch value. With masterpieces spanning wildly different genres, only one series could ultimately claim the crown. And it fully deserves the title.

Let’s count down to the ultimate, unrivaled masterpiece:

10 Blue Exorcist Turns Demonic Rebellion Into a Visual Spectacle

Kazue Kato’s tale of Rin Okumura, Satan’s half-human son who chooses to become an exorcist rather than follow his demonic heritage, starts our list with a masterclass in dynamic action and high-concept urban fantasy. Kato’s exceptionally detailed manga art translates into a vibrant visual feast on screen, anchored by tight sibling dynamics.

However, compared to every series ranked above it, Blue Exorcist has struggled with narrative consistency and long gaps between adaptations, preventing it from reaching the same emotional, thematic, or cultural heights. That’s why it opens this list rather than climbing higher.

9 Female Duo Adachitoka Masterfully Reimagined Myth in Noragami

The creative duo known as Adachitoka (Adachi & Tokashiki) breathed brilliant, contemporary life into classic Shinto mythology with Noragami, tracing the struggles of Yato, a penniless, forgotten deity dreaming of his own shrine. What elevates this adaptation to take the ninth spot is its astonishing emotional maturity and the breathtaking fluid movement of its combat choreography.

While Noragami Season 3 might never happen, its mythology feels more distinctive and its character relationships more nuanced than Blue Exorcist, giving it the edge for ninth place. However, the anime’s incomplete adaptation leaves several of the manga’s strongest storylines untouched, making it difficult to rank above the more complete and influential masterpieces that follow.

8 Black Butler Masterfully Blends Gothic Elegance With Dark Revenge

Yana Toboso’s Black Butler delivers a brilliant, deeply atmospheric descent into Victorian London’s criminal underbelly, driven by an orphaned aristocrat who trades his soul to a demon butler for vengeance. Toboso’s meticulous eye for period-accurate clothing and dark aesthetic choices gives this series a unique, unforgettable visual identity.

Few anime possess such a recognizable visual identity, blending gothic horror, mystery, and dark humor with remarkable style. It ranks above Noragami because its atmosphere and central duo are simply unforgettable. Still, years of anime-original content and an uneven adaptation history prevent it from competing with the tighter storytelling found in the top seven.

7 Paru Itagaki Reinvents Dark Psychological Drama in Beastars

Paru Itagaki completely shattered industry expectations with Beastars, utilizing a brilliant anthropomorphic setting to stage a deeply uncomfortable, profound exploration of societal prejudice, instinct, and raw human desire. By centering on the taboo romance between a gentle grey wolf and a small white rabbit, Itagaki delivers a brilliant masterclass in tense, character-driven tension.

While the writing constantly challenges viewers’ assumptions about morality and instinct. It earns seventh because its psychological complexity surpasses the entries below it. However, its unconventional presentation and divisive visual style make it slightly less universally beloved than the emotionally resonant classics ranked above.

6 Takaya’s Fruits Basket Stands as the Ultimate Blueprint for Healing

Natsuki Takaya’s legendary Fruits Basket is a generational triumph in slice-of-life storytelling, effortlessly transforming a quirky, zodiac-themed curse premise into a profound, tear-jerking examination of intergenerational trauma. The modern, full-length adaptation carefully honors Takaya’s magnificent emotional depth, allowing every single member of the Soma family to find authentic healing.

Its greatest strength lies in its extraordinary character writing, where nearly every member of the ensemble receives meaningful emotional growth. However, it settles for sixth because its deliberately intimate, character-driven storytelling lacks the sheer visual ambition, large-scale action choreography, and technical spectacle that help elevate Gachiakuta above it as a modern audiovisual experience.

5 Urana’s Gachiakuta Is a Perfect Masterclass in Pure Action & Suspense

Kei Urana’s Gachiakuta storms the top five with a brilliantly raw, high-octane battle narrative centered on Rudo, a boy unjustly cast down into a toxic, trash-filled underworld. Urana, a former assistant to Atsushi Ohkubo (Soul Eater), infuses the screen with a wonderfully chaotic, graffiti-inspired aesthetic and exceptionally imaginative, item-based combat mechanics.

While Fruits Basket excels through emotional storytelling, Gachiakuta earns the higher ranking because its anime delivers a more technically ambitious production, featuring explosive action choreography, dynamic cinematography, and a striking graffiti-inspired visual identity that constantly pushes the medium’s energy. It doesn’t rank any higher, however, because the adaptation is still in its infancy, while the top four have already displayed their brilliance across far more substantial narratives.

4 Oima’s To Your Eternity Will Ruthlessly Break Your Heart and Soul

Yoshitoki Oima’s To Your Eternity follows Fushi, an immortal, shapeshifting alien entity sent to Earth to learn what it truly means to be human through the painful experience of deep loss. Oima’s narrative is a brilliantly profound, devastatingly beautiful meditation on grief, love, and the fragile, fleeting nature of mortality.

Almost no anime captures loss and personal growth with this level of emotional honesty. Every major arc leaves a lasting impression while exploring mortality from entirely new perspectives. It reaches fourth because its emotional storytelling is nearly unmatched, but its slower, contemplative pacing makes it a slightly more demanding watch than the universally gripping top three.

3 Nekokurage and Minoji Kurata Elevate The Apothecary Diaries

While originating as Natsu Hyuga’s incredibly sharp light novels, The Apothecary Diaries boasts two distinct, highly successful manga adaptations masterminded by female illustrators, Nekokurage (Square Enix) and Minoji Kurata (Shogakukan), which follow Maomao, an eccentric, poison-obsessed apothecary who solves complex, life-threatening political conspiracies within an ancient imperial harem. Through the incredible visual storytelling of both mangaka, this magnificent heroine stands out as an elite protagonist, using cold, calculated logic and forensic chemistry to dismantle dangerous palace secrets.

It claims third because it brilliantly balances historical intrigue, character writing, and social commentary. Only two series ultimately surpass it thanks to their even greater originality, scope, and lasting impact across the anime industry.

2 Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro Crafts a Grim, Gritty Masterpiece

Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro is a wonderfully bizarre, brilliantly twisted sci-fi fantasy masterpiece that follows Caiman, an amnesiac man with a reptile head, hunting down wicked sorcerers in a decaying city. Hayashida pairs an incredibly violent, gritty urban landscape with an unexpected, deeply endearing sense of dark workplace humor and found-family warmth.

Personally, I feel it comes incredibly close to the top spot because of its unmatched originality, but Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ultimately delivers a more complete, universally influential, and narratively flawless experience.

1 Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Is Still an Unrivaled Masterpiece

Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood remains the undisputed, definitive gold standard of the anime medium. Tracking the emotional, arduous journey of the Elric brothers as they seek to restore their broken bodies after a failed alchemical resurrection, Arakawa weaves a perfectly flawless narrative tapestry concerning war, systemic corruption, science, and the cost of human ambition.

In my opinion, it earns the top spot because no other anime by a female mangaka balances emotional storytelling, worldbuilding, action, philosophical depth, critical acclaim, and long-term cultural influence as consistently or as completely. It’s the rare series that excels in virtually every category by which great anime are judged.

Here’s a ranked table:

RankAnimeFemale MangakaWhere to Watch

1	Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood	Hiromu Arakawa	Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netflix
2	Dorohedoro	Q Hayashida	Netflix
3	The Apothecary Diaries	Nekokurage & Minoji Kurata (Manga illustrators)	Crunchyroll, Netflix
4	To Your Eternity	Yoshitoki Oima	Crunchyroll
5	Gachiakuta	Kei Urana	Crunchyroll
6	Fruits Basket	Natsuki Takaya	Crunchyroll, Netflix
7	Beastars	Paru Itagaki	Netflix
8	Black Butler	Yana Toboso	Crunchyroll
9	Noragami	Adachitoka (female manga duo: Adachi & Tokashiki)	Apple TV (Digital Purchase), Crunchyroll
10	Blue Exorcist	Kazue Kato	Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Adult Swim

Which female-created anime deserved a higher rank or was left off entirely? Share your picks in the comments below!