Pictures: Netflix / Crunchyroll
With over 1.5 billion views and counting since January 2023, the popularity of anime on Netflix continues to grow year on year. And with it, Netflix’s continued investment in brand-new original anime and licensed content. Below, we’ve taken an in-depth look at the most popular anime titles on Netflix.
Over 11 years ago, Netflix licensed its first exclusive anime, Knights of Sidonia. The streaming service has made significant strides since then, and we’ve seen dozens of incredible titles added to the library over the years, including The Seven Deadly Sins, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Record of Ragnarok, and Sakamoto Days.
Thanks to the engagement reports Netflix has been releasing since 2023, it has been easier than ever to track the performance of anime titles, both new and old. With Netflix continuing to invest billions of dollars in anime content, we’ve analyzed the data to determine what’s popular across licensed and original content.
Demon Slayer slays the competition.
Based on the number of views, watching the series by season or arc by arc has revealed that Demon Slayer reigns supreme, with the Entertainment District Arc ranked first, and followed swiftly by the Mugen Train Arc. In fact, all five seasons (or arcs) of Demon Slayer sit in the top ten, which equates to an astonishing 153,200,000 views between January 2023 and June 2025.
Ensuring that Demon Slayer doesn’t take first, second, and third is the incredible Dan Da Dan. The anime adaptation of Dan Da Dan has been a triumph, and seemingly, fans can’t get enough of it! However, Sakamoto Days fans should note that the series has been the biggest anime release on Netflix in 2025 so far, with all 24.4 million views accumulated in the first half of the year.
| Title | 2023 Views | 2024 Views | 2025 Views | Total Hours | Total Views |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Entertainment District Arc | 14,900,000 | 14,500,000 | 4,900,000 | 167,200,000 | 34,300,000 |
| Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Train Arc | 15,500,000 | 12,600,000 | 4,300,000 | 91,700,000 | 32,400,000 |
| DAN DA DAN: Season 1 | – | 19,600,000 | 7,500,000 | 133,600,000 | 27,100,000 |
| Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Hashira Training Arc | – | 20,700,000 | 6,300,000 | 102,100,000 | 27,000,000 |
| Record of Ragnarok: Season 2 | 20,500,000 | 3,100,000 | 1,600,000 | 158,100,000 | 25,200,000 |
| Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Swordsmith Village Arc | 12,600,000 | 9,700,000 | 2,400,000 | 194,800,000 | 24,700,000 |
| SAKAMOTO DAYS: Season 1 | – | – | 24,400,000 | 106,400,000 | 24,400,000 |
| Jujutsu Kaisen: Season 1 | 4,200,000 | 14,800,000 | 5,100,000 | 229,700,000 | 24,100,000 |
| My Happy Marriage: Season 1 | 13,200,000 | 6,600,000 | 3,200,000 | 114,300,000 | 23,000,000 |
| Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Tanjiro Kamado, Unwavering Resolve Arc | 15,500,000 | 6,400,000 | – | 224,900,000 | 21,900,000 |
One Piece: Egghead Island has an underwhelming performance
One of the greatest additions to the Netflix library in recent memory is the weekly release of the brand-new episodes of One Piece for the Egghead Island Arc.
While all of the new episodes have been a smash hit with One Piece fans around the world, there’s only one problem, and that is that most of them are not watching the new episodes on Netflix. That’s evident by the viewing figures since its release on Netflix.
| Title | Runtime | 2024 Hours | 2024 Views | 2025 Hours | 2025 Views | Total Hours | Total Views |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ONE PIECE: Egghead Arc ① | 13:20 | 45,600,000 | 4,500,000 | 15,100,000 | 1,100,000 | 60,700,000 | 5,600,000 |
| ONE PIECE: Egghead Arc ② | 04:16 | – | – | 11,200,000 | 2,600,000 | 11,200,000 | 2,600,000 |
So why is Netflix lagging behind the likes of Crunchyroll? Because it’s taking too long for new episodes to land on Netflix. Every Sunday, brand new episodes of One Piece are broadcast in Japan and simulcast on Crunchyroll. However, in Netflix’s case, those new episodes aren’t released until the following Saturday, a delay of 6 days.
Naturally, it’s a big ask for fans to wait six days longer than they have to in order to watch the latest episode of One Piece. If Netflix wants to see a spike in viewership, it will need to find a way to reduce the wait time for brand-new episodes.
Naruto is the most-watched anime franchise on Netflix
To factor what is the most-watched anime franchise on Netflix, for the data set below, we’ve also factored in movies
Naruto, one of the iconic “big three” from the 2000s to this day, remains one of the biggest anime franchises on the planet. With over 205 million views since January 2023, Naruto is officially the most-watched anime franchise on Netflix. Sadly, for most of the Western audience, only the first 8 seasons of Naruto are available to stream, and the likes of Shippuden and Boruto are only available in select countries. However, that doesn’t take anything away from the incredible achievement of being the most-watched anime franchise on Netflix.
Unsurprisingly, Pokémon and One Piece take the second and third slots. In recent years, both Pokémon and One Piece have called Netflix home for a lot of their legacy content and brand-new projects. Like Naruto, both franchises share a long history, and between them have over 2300 episodes and dozens of movies.
| Franchise | 2023 Views | 2024 Views | 2025 Views | Total Views |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naruto | 70,500,000 | 83,900,000 | 51,400,000 | 205,800,000 |
| Pokémon | 87,800,000 | 70,600,000 | 35,400,000 | 193,800,000 |
| One Piece | 77,900,000 | 71,400,000 | 24,800,000 | 174,100,000 |
| Demon Slayer | 59,600,000 | 70,700,000 | 22,900,000 | 153,200,000 |
| The Seven Deadly Sins | 45,200,000 | 42,900,000 | 26,300,000 | 114,400,000 |
| BAKI | 39,900,000 | 14,500,000 | 6,400,000 | 60,800,000 |
| Castlevania | 24,700,000 | 12,900,000 | 18,500,000 | 56,100,000 |
| My Hero Academia | 2,700,000 | 36,600,000 | 8,800,000 | 48,100,000 |
| Jujutsu Kaisen | 11,600,000 | 17,900,000 | 6,100,000 | 35,600,000 |
| JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure | 7,900,000 | 6,100,000 | 3,700,000 | 17,700,000 |
| Dragon Ball | 200,000 | 9,800,000 | 6,400,000 | 16,400,000 |
| Bleach | 5,200,000 | 4,700,000 | 2,000,000 | 11,900,000 |
Please Note: To factor in what is the most-watched anime franchise on Netflix, for the data set below, we’ve also factored in movies.
Demon Slayer sitting in fourth place is unsurprising, but when you consider that the series only has 63 episodes to its name, and one film, but is still able to achieve a view count of over 153.2 million, more people en masse are watching Demon Slayer on Netflix than Naruto, Pokémon, and other Netflix series.
The Seven Deadly Sins has a storied past with Netflix, thanks to it being one of the first exclusively licensed anime titles distributed worldwide by the streaming service. Once the most popular anime series on Netflix, it’s fantastic to see years later that the franchise still remains one of the most-watched anime franchises on the platform with over 114.4 million views since January 2023. So, it’s not hard to see why Netflix continues to invest in the franchise, which is still currently ongoing thanks to the release of its sequel series The Four Knights of the Apocalypse.
Other Netflix Originals, such as Baki and Castlevania, have also shown their worth, with over 110 million views between the two franchises.
In the limited number of countries availble, it doesn’t surprise us to see that My Hero Academia has been watched by millions worldwide, but what is arguably more impressive is Jujutsu Kaisen, with only two seasons to its name, and a very limited release across Netflix, has amassed over 35 million views.
In the curious case of Dragon Ball, most of the franchise has only been available to stream in places such as Japan. However, in 2024, Netflix saw the addition of Dragon Ball Daima, the latest installment of the franchise, with episodes arriving weekly. Sadly, this is another case of Netflix losing out on viewership to Crunchyroll, where the vast majority of people consumed Dragon Ball: Daima. As for Bleach, the anime was removed from the US library years ago and has never returned. It’s unlikely to return to Netflix in the near future, thanks to the fact that the latest seasons of Bleach have been made exclusive to Hulu and Disney+.
Record of Ragnarok battles Sakamoto Days for the most popular Netflix Original anime
On a season-by-season basis, Record of Ragnarok season 2 has been the most successful Netflix Original anime on Netflix since January 2023, amassing 25.2 million views. Sakamoto Days is only 800,000 views shy of beating the series. With brand new episodes arriving in July, and a third season of Record of Ragnarok on the way in December 2025, the two shows will be battling it out for the most popular Netflix Original anime on Netflix.
Devil May Cry has shown to have an excellent debut with 18.2 million views, which resulted in a well-deserved renewal. Cyberpunk Edgerunners continues to be a consistent performer for Netflix long after its debut, which is probably why we’re finally getting a second season for the anime.
| Title | 2023 Views | 2024 Views | 2025 Views | Total Hours | Total Views |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record of Ragnarok: Season 2 | 20,500,000 | 3,100,000 | 1,600,000 | 158,100,000 | 25,200,000 |
| SAKAMOTO DAYS: Season 1 | – | – | 24,400,000 | 106,400,000 | 24,400,000 |
| Baki Hanma: Season 2 | 14,000,000 | 3,400,000 | 1,200,000 | 213,700,000 | 18,600,000 |
| Devil May Cry: Season 1 | – | – | 18,200,000 | 71,700,000 | 18,200,000 |
| The Seven Deadly Sins | 6,400,000 | 6,200,000 | 3,200,000 | 154,200,000 | 15,800,000 |
| Cyberpunk: Edgerunners: Season 1 | 7,400,000 | 4,900,000 | 2,500,000 | 63,900,000 | 14,800,000 |
| Record of Ragnarok: Season 1 | 10,200,000 | 2,900,000 | 1,700,000 | 73,800,000 | 14,800,000 |
| Baki Hanma: Season 1 | 8,800,000 | 4,000,000 | 1,700,000 | 71,400,000 | 14,500,000 |
| Castlevania: Nocturne: Season 1 | 7,600,000 | 2,900,000 | 3,500,000 | 51,700,000 | 14,000,000 |
| The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments | 5,400,000 | 5,100,000 | 2,700,000 | 128,900,000 | 13,200,000 |
What has been your favorite anime series on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!
