For Western anime fans, Cartoon Network’s forays into the medium via Adult Swim nighttime programming and the weekly Toonami block are equivalently legendary. Adult Swim would in fact introduce some of the best anime ever made to Western audiences. But despite a roster full of unforgettable series like Fullmetal Alchemist and Gurren Lagann, the nature of cable programming itself made a killer pilot really mean something.

It’s hard to define a perfect first anime episode, but there are three important criteria worth focusing on. First, how the episode sets the tone for the series generally. Then, its effectiveness at hooking new viewers in. Finally, how much it serves to on-ramp viewers into the overarching plot and themes of the series. Countless of Adult Swim’s best anime are exemplars of just how much an incredible introduction does for a series.

Death Note

The iconic animation studio Madhouse was at the top of their game in the mid ’00s, dropping one unforgettable anime after another with a distinctive grit; Death Note is one of that period’s pinnacles, and it’s clear from the very first episode, entitled “Rebirth”. It starts curiously, with a hapless Shinigami losing his “Death Note”, which he had apparently dropped to Earth. From there, focus shifts to Light Yagami, a dedicated student and son of a police chief, who happens upon the notebook.

Core mechanics of the series are laid out as Light discovers the notebook’s rules. Believing the whole thing to be a joke, he tests it out on a criminal, becomes the holder of the Death Note, and meets Ryuk afterward. From there, his megalomaniacal god complex starts to unfold, with the episode ending on his mission to cleanse society of evil and crime by killing criminals, opening up the series’ central meditation on justice and judgment. Although it doesn’t get into the cat-and-mouse game the series is renowned for, it sets the stage flawlessly.

Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop‘s first episode, “Asteroid Blues”, sets the series’ strangely conflicted tone: its contrast of lightness and oppression. In fact, Cowboy Bebop is all about contrast—its flashy battles contrast the slower scenes and slice-of-life moments aboard the spaceship Bebop; its soundtrack is an eclectic mishmash often punctuated by moments of silence; even the expanse of space, like the endless Old West, is contrasted by the claustrophobia of its dense cities.

In such a large universe, the ultimate contrast is the simultaneous meaning and insignificance of one’s life itself, and the meanings and memories comprising it. Bebop‘s live-free-or-die sensibility is made perfectly evident with all of these contrasts at play from the very first moments, as interplanetary bounty hunters Spike Spiegel and Jet get their first catch of the series: a syndicate member who made away with a stash of a combat-enhancing drug called Red Eye. The first episode shows all Cowboy Bebop‘s wonderful quirks and, being relatively self-contained, establishes the anime’s episodic pulse keeping viewers hyped for the next one.

Trigun

Speaking of bounty hunters and outlaws: Trigun offers up the flip-side of the coin with the notorious outlaw Vash the Stampede. The name of its first episode alone—”The $$60,000,000,000 Man”—immediately signals that Vash the Stampede is a man whose reputation precedes him. His enormous bounty comes from the apparent destruction of a city called July with supernatural powers, and comes with the enormous caveat that nobody actually knows what the mythical Vash the Stampede looks like.

The charm of the series lies in his aloof personality, strict devotion to pacifism, and his incredible strength (which tends to leave a lot of destruction in its wake). Although the first episode mainly focuses on just one encounter and doesn’t get fully into the psychological meat the series unfolds over time, it hooks viewers in through Vash’s singular charm and through its high-octane action.

Paranoia Agent

Paranoia Agent is often considered one of the scariest horror anime ever. It’s another Madhouse classic that generally doesn’t receive enough attention, created and directed by Satoshi Kon, also known for films like Perfect Blue and Paprika. True to form for the brilliant late Kon, Paranoia Agent is as much psychological as it is a mystery and thriller, exploring concepts like social pressures, conformity, and mass hysteria.

The series is built on the idea of an ensemble cast and shifting perspectives, but the story is framed by its main character and first protagonist, character designer Tsukiko Sagi. Facing immense pressure to design another character after the wild success of her mascot Maromi, Sagi is attacked by a shadowy boy with a bat called Lil’ Slugger. As an investigation begins to find her attacker, Paranoia Agent uses its first episode to build suspense and momentum it later uses spin out a claustrophobic web of paranoiac social contagion.

Inuyasha

Inuyasha was a game-changer, but it often doesn’t receive credit today for how brilliant it was. Despite technically being a shonen, Inuyasha‘s dark fantasy setting, inventive early take on isekai, strong emphasis on romance, and compellingly deep and macabre storytelling set it apart from major shōnen cohorts of the time. Its pilot, “The Girl Who Overcame Time… and the Boy Who Was Just Overcome”, shows what all the hype was about—and why Inuyasha became one of the best-selling manga of all time.

The episode throws viewers right into the action and establishes the core of the series: Kagome and Inuyasha’s frayed relationship. In feudal Japan, lovers Kikyo and the half-demon Inuyasha are turned against one another by Naraku, a demon pursuing Kikyo’s Shikon Jewel. Kikyo pins Inuyasha to a tree with a magical sealing arrow before dying. Kikyo’s present-day reincarnation, Kagome (who has the Shikon Jewel hidden inside her body), falls into a well and is sent back 50 years after Inuyasha’s sealing. Attacked by a centipede demon after her Shikon Jewel, she breaks Inuyasha’s seal in order to survive.

Inuyasha, wanting the jewel to become a full demon, turns on Kagome by the end of the episode. The stage is then set for the two to become traveling companions with a transactional relationship steeped in Inuyasha’s lingering love for Kikyo and desire for the Jewel. Inuyasha‘s pilot lays out its complicated context and rich narrative machinery in a way that never feels overwhelming—in fact, it actually feels incredibly accessible.

Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

2002’s Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex premiered on Adult Swim in 2004. The series is the first television adaptation of the long-running and much-beloved Ghost in the Shell series which debuted with Mamoru Oshii’s iconic 1995 film adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, loosely based on Masamune Shirow’s eponymous manga of the same name. If that seems like a lot of names, it is. Understanding Ghost in the Shell‘s appeal means, by extension, getting a feel for its long history: the long list of creators under whom this franchise has passed.

Just as Ghost in the Shell bore the name of its manga foundation but strayed from its source to find its own voice, Stand Alone Complex is an expansion of the film’s characters and concepts with its own quirks and caveats. Ghost in the Shell‘s unique identity is the direct result of its fragmented authorship: it represents a singular neo-noir approach to cyberpunk that, through its sheer popularity and influence, would come to define the franchise as a gold standard for the genre.

Stand Alone Complex‘s pilot does just that: through a combination of experimental (verging on avant-garde) storytelling and a clear exposition of its stakes and tropes, Stand Alone Complex said from the first moment what it’s all about by building on the foundation provided by Oshii’s beloved film.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion‘s themes contrast Cowboy Bebop perfectly: Both are about the weight of broken worlds, but where Cowboy Bebop focuses that tension outward with an existential air of choosing one’s life and meaning, Evangelion turns the question of meaning and roles inward. That framing is laid out in its masterpiece opening episode, “Angel Attack”.

When Shinji Ikari is summoned to Tokyo-3 by his father, commander of an agency called NERV, to pilot an Eva mecha in defense against invading aliens called Angels, Shinji’s feelings of self-doubt and inability lead him to be effectively paralyzed into indecision. His choice to reject the role his father wants to assign him psychologically backfires when the girl Shinji’s father sends to fight instead is severely wounded in battle.

It’s hard to define exactly what makes Shinji decide to pilot the Eva after, because Evangelion relentlessly demonstrates how emotions always flow together: guilt, the desire to be loved and recognized, senses of duty and obligation all play a part, and the sight of Rei’s injuries was only the vessel. The first episode is a sampler of that, ending with him being propelled into battle; its meditations on Shinji’s heart are also the perfect example of how Adult Swim’s best anime are able to make the heart of the series clear from the very beginning.