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Space in anime often starts closer to home than you would expect. In Planetes, the job in the year 2075 is picking up trash: broken satellites, spent rocket stages and loose bolts that circle the Earth fast enough to tear open a passenger ship. Space Dandy sits at the other end of the scale. Its hero hunts rare aliens in other galaxies, and now and then in other dimensions.
This list runs between those two, from the shortest trip to the longest. The first entry puts a vampire on a rocket for her country's first crewed flight. After that come a space station, the Moon, a solar system people have spread across, a ship that has been running from Earth's destroyers for a thousand years, and a war that covers most of a galaxy.
Two of the ten I have watched: Cowboy Bebop, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which I first saw in its 1988 form. The other eight I have not, so their entries say what the show is about, who made it and which US service carries it, and stop there. Three titles that would normally be here, Gunbuster, Outlaw Star and the film Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, were not included with any US subscription when I checked on October 18, and Gurren Lagann already appears on two of my other lists. None of the four made the cut.
The 10 Picks at a Glance
| Title | Format | Length | MBTI | How far from Earth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut | Anime series | 12 episodes | ISFJ | The first crewed flight |
| The Orbital Children | Anime miniseries | 6 episodes | ENTP | A space station in Earth orbit |
| Planetes | Anime series | 26 episodes | ISTP | Cleaning up Earth orbit |
| Space Brothers | Anime series | 99 episodes | INFJ | The Moon |
| Cowboy Bebop | Anime series | 26 episodes | ISTP | The whole solar system |
| Knights of Sidonia | Anime series | 24 episodes over 2 seasons | ISTJ | A thousand years from Earth |
| Astra Lost in Space | Anime series | 12 episodes | ENFP | 5,012 light-years from home |
| Macross Frontier | Anime series | 25 episodes | ESFP | Toward the center of the galaxy |
| Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These | Anime series | 48 episodes over 4 seasons | INTJ | A war across the galaxy |
| Space Dandy | Anime series | 26 episodes over 2 seasons | ESFP | Other galaxies, and other dimensions |
Eight of the ten are on Crunchyroll. The two exceptions sit at opposite ends of the list: The Orbital Children on Netflix, in Earth orbit, and Macross Frontier on Hulu, headed for the galactic center. Space Brothers is also free with ads on Tubi. Click a title to jump to its entry.
1. Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Romance, Sci-Fi | 12 episodes | Moving, Bittersweet |
After the Second World War, two superpowers split the world and race each other into space. One of them, a stand-in for the Soviet Union, has a secret plan: before risking a human on the first crewed flight, it will send up a vampire, Irina Luminesk, as a test subject. A young cosmonaut candidate, Lev Leps, is assigned to watch over her and told to treat her as nothing more than an experiment.
From Keisuke Makino's light novels, published by Shogakukan. Arvo Animation made the 12-episode series, which aired in Japan from October to December 2021. The Japanese title means "The Moon, Laika and the Nosferatu". This is the Japanese promo.
The Shortest Trip on the List
Irina's flight only has to reach orbit and come back, and the show treats that as the whole world. It is set at the moment when simply getting a person into orbit and back alive was the goal, and it borrows the look of the real Soviet program: the training, the centrifuge, the secrecy around who flies first.
The vampire is not a twist; the state treats Irina as a test subject it can afford to lose, and the story is about Lev slowly refusing to see her that way.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
2. The Orbital Children
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime miniseries | Sci-Fi, Adventure | 6 episodes | Hype, Moving |
In 2045, three kids from Earth win a sponsored trip to Anshin, a new Japanese commercial space station. They are there to meet Touya, one of the last children born in space, who is training his body to survive Earth's gravity. Then a comet hits the station, its systems fail, and the children are cut off from most of the adults.
Written and directed by Mitsuo Iso, who made Dennō Coil. It was released in Japan as two films in January and February 2022, and Netflix put it out worldwide as a six-episode series to match the Japanese release.
Kids, a Broken Station and Their Phones
The disaster here happens in orbit, which keeps the stakes physical: air, power, a hole in the hull. The children get through it with the tools they already carry, drones, local networks and a limited AI, and the show takes those details seriously.
Iso started out as a key animator before he directed, and this is his first series since Dennō Coil in 2007.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Not available |
| Netflix | Streaming |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Not available |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
A Netflix release, streaming on Netflix in the US with an English dub.
3. Planetes
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Sci-Fi, Drama | 26 episodes | Moving, Thoughtful |
In 2075, travel between the Earth, the Moon and the space stations is routine, and so is the junk it leaves behind. Ai Tanabe joins the debris collection section of a big space company, a small crew that the rest of the company treats as an afterthought. Her new partner, Hachirota "Hachimaki" Hoshino, collects trash for a living and dreams of owning his own ship.
From Makoto Yukimura's manga, serialized in Kodansha's Morning magazine before he wrote Vinland Saga. Sunrise made the 26-episode series, which aired on NHK from October 2003 to April 2004. Both the manga and the anime won the Seiun Award, Japan's long-running science fiction prize. The trailer is from UK distributor Anime Limited's Blu-ray release.
A Workplace Drama in Orbit
Planetes is about a real problem. Debris in orbit moves fast enough that a single screw can destroy a spacecraft, and the show builds a whole office around the people who clean it up: budgets, overtime, a boss who would rather not be bothered.
From there it widens into bigger questions, who gets to go to space and who pays for it, and Hachimaki's dream of going farther starts to cost him.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. Prime Video has it only through the Crunchyroll channel, a paid add-on.
4. Space Brothers
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Drama, Comedy | 99 episodes | Moving, Hype |
As boys, the brothers Mutta and Hibito Nanba saw a UFO together and promised to go to space. Years later, Hibito is an astronaut scheduled to fly to the Moon, and Mutta, the older one, has just lost his job as a car designer. He decides to keep the old promise and applies to become an astronaut himself.
From Chūya Koyama's manga in Kodansha's Morning, which won both the Shogakukan and Kodansha manga awards in 2011. A-1 Pictures made 99 episodes, which aired in Japan from April 2012 to March 2014. This is the Japanese promo.
The Long Road to the Launch Pad
Most space anime start with the characters already up there. Space Brothers spends a long time on the ground, on the selection tests, the training and the waiting, and the Moon is still a long way off when the series opens.
Mutta is in his thirties, not a teenager, and the show is about whether it is too late for him. If you want a story about trying again, this is the one.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll, and free with ads on Tubi and Plex. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
5. Cowboy Bebop
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Sci-Fi, Action | 26 episodes | Cool, Bittersweet |
In 2071, people live across the solar system, on Mars, on Jupiter's and Saturn's moons and on what is left of Earth. Spike Spiegel and Jet Black work as bounty hunters from an old fishing ship called the Bebop, chasing criminals for money they rarely manage to keep.
Made by Sunrise and directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, with music by Yoko Kanno. It aired in Japan from 1998 to 1999, and in 2001 it became the first anime shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. The trailer is Funimation's, posted by IGN.
The Solar System as a Small Town
Bebop is the entry where space feels lived in. Mars has rundown neighborhoods, travel between planets is ordinary, and the crew is always short on money for food and fuel.
Most of its 26 sessions stand on their own as single cases, and a few carry Spike's past. That makes it the easiest show on this list to start with if you have never watched anime.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll with the English dub. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
6. Knights of Sidonia
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Sci-Fi, Action | 24 episodes over 2 seasons | Tense, Hype |
In the year 3394, a thousand years after shape-shifting aliens called the Gauna destroyed Earth, the generation ship Sidonia carries what may be the last half-million humans. Nagate Tanikaze grew up alone in the ship's lowest levels and comes up to the surface just as he is drafted to pilot one of the machines that defend it.
From Tsutomu Nihei's manga in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon. Polygon Pictures made the series in 3D CG, with seasons in 2014 and 2015. It was the first anime Netflix released as a Netflix original, which is why the trailer says "Only on Netflix"; it has since moved to Crunchyroll.
A Ship With No Way Home
Sidonia has no Earth to go back to, and the culture on board has changed to fit: people have been engineered to photosynthesize so they need little food, and death in battle is part of daily life.
The Gauna regenerate from almost any damage, and only weapons made from a scarce material called Kabizashi can finish them off, so every battle starts from a shortage.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. No longer on Netflix in the US. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
7. Astra Lost in Space
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Sci-Fi, Mystery | 12 episodes | Hype, Moving |
In 2063, nine students from Caird High School set off on a camping trip to a nearby planet. Soon after they land, a strange sphere of light swallows them and drops them in orbit around an unknown planet, 5,012 light-years from home. An abandoned spaceship is floating nearby. They name it Astra and try to get back by hopping from planet to planet for food and water.
From Kenta Shinohara's manga, serialized online on Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+. Lerche made the 12-episode series, which aired in Japan from July to September 2019. The English trailer is region-locked, so this is the Japanese promo.
A Survival Story With a Mystery Inside
Astra starts as a survival story and turns into a mystery: why were these nine sent away, and is one of them working against the others?
The manga ran to five volumes, and the 12 episodes adapt the whole story, so there is no second season to wait for.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. Prime Video has it only through the Crunchyroll channel, a paid add-on.
8. Macross Frontier
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Sci-Fi, Romance | 25 episodes | Hype, Romantic |
In 2059, a fleet of human colony ships travels toward the center of the Milky Way, looking for a planet to settle. Galactic pop star Sheryl Nome comes to give a concert, aliens attack, and a student pilot named Alto Saotome and a girl who dreams of singing, Ranka Lee, are pulled into the war.
The third TV series in the Macross franchise, made by Satelight, which aired in Japan from April to September 2008. Much of the Macross franchise, Frontier included, could not be released outside Japan for years because of a rights dispute that was settled in 2021; Hulu began streaming it in January 2025. This is the Japanese promo from the official Macross channel.
A Space War Fought With Songs
Macross is the franchise where singing is part of the war, and Frontier is the entry where two singers, Sheryl and Ranka, carry the plot as much as the battles do, somewhere between an idol story and a dogfight.
It is also a love triangle, and how you feel about that will decide how much you like it.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Not available |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Streaming |
| Amazon Prime Video | Not available |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Hulu in the US, which also has the Macross Frontier films.
9. Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Sci-Fi, War | 48 episodes over 4 seasons | Tense, Thoughtful |
Humanity has spread across the galaxy and split into two states that have been at war for 150 years: the Galactic Empire, ruled by an emperor and his nobles, and the Free Planets Alliance, a democracy. Reinhard von Lohengramm is a brilliant young officer on the Empire's side. Yang Wen-li is a historian who became an Alliance admiral. The story follows both of them as the war turns on what they decide.
A remake of Yoshiki Tanaka's novels, made by Production I.G and directed by Shunsuke Tada. The first season aired in 2018, and four seasons of 12 episodes each have been released. The trailer is for the second season, Stellar War.
The Biggest Map on the List
This is the entry where space is a map for strategy. Battles are fought by fleets of thousands of ships, and the episodes about politics, supply and propaganda matter as much as the battles.
I came to this story through the 1988 OVA series, which is not streaming in the US. My advice is the same as in my review of it: if the remake is what you can reach, start here rather than not start, and treat the original as the version to look for later.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel. The 1988 OVA series is not streaming in the US.
Read the full review: my review of the 1988 Legend of the Galactic Heroes (full review)
10. Space Dandy
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Comedy, Sci-Fi | 26 episodes over 2 seasons | Funny, Cool |
Dandy has a pompadour, a robot assistant named QT and a cat-like alien friend named Meow. He hunts rare, undiscovered aliens for the bounty paid when they are registered, and he is rarely good at it.
Made by Bones, with Shinichirō Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop as chief director. It premiered in the US on Adult Swim's Toonami block on January 4, 2014, a day ahead of its January 5 premiere in Japan. The trailer is from UK distributor Anime Limited.
The Farthest, and the Least Serious
Space Dandy goes farther than anything else on this list and cares the least about where it is. Each episode is a different experiment, with different directors and art styles, and the rules can change from one week to the next.
Watch it after Cowboy Bebop. It comes from the same director, and the episode-by-episode handover to different directors and art styles is the format, not an accident.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll with the English dub. Prime Video has it only through the Crunchyroll channel, a paid add-on.
US Streaming Comparison at a Glance
| Title | Crunchyroll | Netflix | Hulu | Amazon Prime Video | HBO Max | Disney+ | Apple TV+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| The Orbital Children | ✕ | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Planetes | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Space Brothers | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Cowboy Bebop | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Knights of Sidonia | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Astra Lost in Space | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Macross Frontier | ✕ | ✕ | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Space Dandy | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
All ten were checked in the US region on October 18, 2026. ◎ means included with the base subscription, △ means a paid add-on channel or a rental, and ✕ means that service does not carry it. Every △ on Prime Video here is the Crunchyroll channel sold inside Amazon, which costs extra on top of Prime.
Where to Begin, by How Far You Want to Go
The nearest trips are the easiest to fit in. The Orbital Children stays in Earth orbit, runs six episodes and is on Netflix. Planetes never leaves the Earth-Moon system and is on Crunchyroll, 26 episodes that play more like a workplace drama. If you want to go all the way out on the first try, Macross Frontier on Hulu heads for the center of the galaxy, and it is the only one here where the songs are part of the plot.
For a Crunchyroll pick in between, decide how much time you have. Astra Lost in Space is 12 episodes and tells a complete story. Space Brothers is 99 and follows one man's attempt to become an astronaut from the start, and it is also free with ads on Tubi if you want to try it before paying.
Cowboy Bebop is the one I would hand to someone who has never watched anime. Legend of the Galactic Heroes is the opposite commitment, 48 episodes of the remake. For the other big space war franchise, my Gundam watch order guide sorts out where to begin.
Streaming information was verified in the US region on October 18, 2026 and can change without notice.
