Highlights
- Exploration-type anime that focus on lost and ancient civilizations are highly underrated but offer a unique blend of mystery, history, and exploration.
- These anime take viewers on a timeless journey filled with exhilaration, conveying them to forgotten worlds and revisiting what once was.
- The best anime in this subgenre explore dystopian realities, distant futures, ancient relics, and cultural histories, providing a thrilling and educational viewing experience.
A very underrated subgenre of anime is exploration-type anime, specifically ones that look at lost and ancient civilizations. These anime,fact-driven or fiction-based, have a knack for piquing and rousing the interest of its viewers while also being highly educative.
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Casually blending elements of culture, adventure, and fantasy, this anime subgenre takes its viewers on a timeless journey filled with exhilaration. It conveys them to worlds now forgotten, revisiting what once was. Overall, they offer a unique blend of mystery, history, and exploration, creating a compelling viewing experience. In this regard, here are some of the best anime that explore ancient & lost civilizations.
10 Uninhabited Planet Survive
| Studio | MadHouse, Telcom Animation Film |
|---|---|
| Japanese Title | Mujin Wakusei Savaivu |
The series presents exploration and discovery in a lighthearted manner. It is set in a dystopian reality in the 22nd century, where space travel and planet colonization are the norm, and Earth has become uninhabitable.
It focuses on six classmates and students who find themselves on a seemingly uninhabited planet after a crash landing due to a gravity storm. They must ensure their survival by any means, with all signs of advancement and life on Earth pointing to the remains of a once-existing civilization, now forgotten.
9 Gargantia On the Verdurous Planet
| Japanese Title | Suisei no Gargantia |
|---|---|
| Studio | Production I.G |
| Where To Stream | Hulu, Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime Video |
The series is set in a distant future where humanity no longer inhabits the Earth and has taken to space, forming the Galactic Alliance of Humankind. In a unique way, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet combines space travel, Mecha, and warfare into one.
The story focuses on the central character, Ensign Ledo, a soldier of the Galactic Alliance who, after a failed mission, is sucked into a wormhole and finds himself on Earth, humanity’s birthplace. He is saved by human scavengers left on the planet and must now survive and find a way to return.
8 Spriggan
| Studio | David Production |
|---|---|
| Where To Stream | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
Spriggan takes place during the last years of the Cold War era. The story centers on the power scrap between various militaries, paramilitaries, and even private armies for the discovery of advanced technology left on Earth by an ancient alien civilization that once ruled it. To further their interests, they secretly search for these mysterious artifacts.
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The story focuses on the central character, Yu Ominae, a high school delinquent and a member of the elite team of the ARCAM Corporation’s private army called Spriggan. Through Spriggan, ARCAM will ensure that the tussling forces do not destroy themselves and, ultimately, the Earth in the search for these artifacts.
7 Children Of The Whales
| Japanese Title | Kujira no Kora wa Sajo ni Utau |
|---|---|
| Studio | J.C. Staff |
| Where To Stream | Netflix |
In a world covered by sand, the story focuses on the ts central character, a boy named Chakuro, who lives on a floating vessel, a vessel home to people with unique abilities. Having never encountered anyone outside the vessel, the boy yearns to explore the vast sea of sand.
During the 93rd year of the vessel adrift, it comes across an island where a girl is found, and the events that will follow will significantly change their lives and lead to revelations of their origin and civilization.
6 Drifters
| Studio | Hoods Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Where To Stream | Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll |
Drifters expresses an infusion of the feudal era of Japan, a culture, although remembered in theory, now lost in the winds of time. The series presents a mix of this relational culture and modern-day appeal to give its viewers a thrilling experience. The story focuses on the battle-crazed central character, Shimazu Toyohisa, who dies in the battle of Sekigahara, but that is not his end.
He finds himself through a strange process finds himself in another world. He joins a group of mighty warriors who have also been summoned from different periods of history and are called ‘Drifters.’ Together, they must save this new world from its end from those who call themselves the Ends.
5 Legends of Arslan
| Japanese Title | Arslan Senki |
|---|---|
| Studio | SANZIGEN, LIDENFILMS |
| Where To Stream | Crunchyroll, Funimation |
The Legends of Arslan explores the cultural and historical existence of the pre-Islamic era of Persia. Borrowing places, events, and even names from the halls of history, the series combines all these into a fantastical tale of supernatural warfare.
Set in a magical world but with limited magical uses, the story follows the heroic achievements of the Crown Prince of Pars, Arslan, ranging from the liberation of his nation from the jaws of conquest and, after being crowned King, the defense of his nation from external threats and plots to usurp the throne.
4 Kingdom
| Studio | Studio Pierrot |
|---|---|
| Where To Stream | Funimation, Crunchyroll |
Kingdom, the series explores ancient parts of the Chinese civilization from a historical point of view. The story is set in Ancient China during the Warring States period. The series follows the young protagonist, Shin, an orphan who dreams of becoming a War general and unifying the war-wrecked nation.
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Viewers are immersed in his journey to a world rich with history and political intrigue.
While the series heavily focuses on warfare, it also delves into the remnants of ancient cultures of previous dynasties and civilizations before the present.
3 Nadia: The Secrets of Blue Water
| Japanese Title | Fushigi no Umi no Nadia |
|---|---|
| Studio | Gainax |
| Where To Stream | Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV |
The series is set in the 19th Century and follows the adventures of the central character, Nadia, and her friend, Jean, on their quest as they explore the seas in search of the origins of the Blue Water jewel. During their exploration, they come across the mysteries of Atlantis, an ancient, technologically advanced civilization submerged in the ocean’s depths.
Upon discovering the Atlanteans’ plan for world domination, Nadia and Jean join the struggle against these underwater forces, saving the world and uncovering Naidia’s hidden ties. The series offers viewers an enthralling and immersive world filled with ancient relics, sunken cities, and remnants of a once-great society.
2 Made In Abyss
| Studio | Kinema Citrus |
|---|---|
| Where To Stream | HiDive, Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll |
Made in Abyss is an exciting blend of wonder and mystery that immerses viewers in a captivating world of exploration. The story follows the young Riko, the central character, and a humanoid robot named Reg, who embark on a journey of inquiry into the Abyss to find Riko’s mother.
The Abyss is a giant hole that descends deep into the Earth and contains artifacts and remnants of what it once was. In her quest to find her mother, Riko and Reg stumble on relics and remnants of a past civilization, revealing and unraveling the mysteries of the Abyss itself.
1 Vinland Saga
| Studio | Wit Studio (S1), MAPPA (S2) |
|---|---|
| Where To Stream | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll |
Vinland Saga is an anime that perfectly covers the exploration of an ancient culture, and it does so from a slightly factual and historical context. The story is set during the Age of the Vikings.
The series tells a compelling tale of the once mighty Vikings, albeit through a fictional lens. Unraveling the remnants of Norse and Viking cultures, the story takes viewers through a time when these warriors of the Sea roamed the world and basked in all its glory. Displayed through the eyes of Thorfinn, the protagonist, the story offers a close experience of the decline of the way of the Vikings. Seamlessly blending fiction, history, and warfare, the anime tells a tale of conviction and culture.
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