Top Triads Anime Recommendations

BLACK LAGOON

Also known as Black Lagoon.

Studio: MADHOUSE
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Thriller

Okajima Rokuro is a Japanese businessman in a town full of Japanese businessmen. His normal day consists of social drinking with clients and being kicked around by his bosses. He finally gets a break though, as he's sent by his company to the tropical seas of Eastern China to deliver a disc. But his boat gets hijacked by a band of mercenaries hired to retrieve the disc. Rock (as he is newly dubbed by his captors) catches the interest of the only female merc Revy as she thinks he's worth a ransom, taking him hostage. However, the disc that was stolen has a terrible secret that's unknown to Rock, which causes massive confusion and chaos for both him and his kidnappers.

Tags: Crime , Guns , Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Pirates , Anti-Hero , Gangs , Travel , Ensemble Cast , Mafia , Female Protagonist , Assassins , Tomboy , Foreign , Ships , Military , Episodic , Male Protagonist , Noir , Gore , Triads , Maids , Politics , Nudity , Nun

GREAT PRETENDER

Also known as Great Pretender.

Studio: WIT STUDIO
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama , Thriller

Self-styled “Japan's greatest swindler” Makoto Edamura is mainly targeting elder people and occasional foreign travelers. But when he tries to scam an apparently clueless French tourist in Tokyo, he can't possibly imagine that what looked like just another ordinary job is going to take him all the way to Los Angeles, tied upside-down on the famous Hollywood sign… And he is yet to find out what fate awaits him!



Tags: Crime , Foreign , Anti-Hero , Primarily Adult Cast , Male Protagonist , Urban , Work , Language Barrier , Mafia , Acting , Triads , Filmmaking , Drawing , Drugs , Gangs , Heterosexual , Aviation , Guns , Bisexual , Tragedy , Slavery , Tomboy , Detective , Nudity , LGBTQ+ Themes , Episodic , War , Mahjong , Baseball , Tanned Skin , Terrorism , Football

SAKAMOTO DAYS

Also known as SAKAMOTO DAYS.

Studio: TMS Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy

When Sakamoto meets Aoi, the convenience store clerk, it’s love at first sight — and just like that, he retires.

Sakamoto gets married, has a daughter, opens a mom-and-pop store in a quiet town, and completely transforms … into a plus-size man. To ensure a peaceful life with his beloved family, the legendary ex–hit man bands together with comrades to face off against the looming threat of assassins.



Note: The series streamed a week in advance on Netflix Japan starting with episode 2 released alongside episode 1.

Tags: Urban , Assassins , Found Family , Crime , Konbini , Primarily Adult Cast , Family Life , Male Protagonist , Gangs , Gore , Super Power , Guns , Shounen , Espionage , Yakuza , Triads , Urban Fantasy

DARKER THAN BLACK: Kuro no Keiyakusha

Also known as Darker than Black.

Studio: bones
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mystery , Sci-Fi

In Tokyo, an impenetrable field known as "Hell's Gate" appeared ten years ago. At the same time, psychics who wield paranormal powers at the cost of their conscience also emerged. Hei is one of the most powerful of these psychic agents, and along with his blind associate, Yin, works for one of the many rival agencies vying to unlock the mysteries of Hell's Gate.



Tags: Super Power , Anti-Hero , Crime , Noir , Urban , Assassins , Conspiracy , Tragedy , Terrorism , Urban Fantasy , Police , Espionage , Triads , Episodic , Kuudere , Gore , Male Protagonist , Time Manipulation , Yakuza , Detective , Memory Manipulation , Mafia

BLACK LAGOON: The Second Barrage

Also known as Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage.

Studio: MADHOUSE
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Thriller

Okajima Rokuro - now known almost exclusively as 'Rock' - was once a typical, put-upon Japanese businessman. Then, on a routine business trip, he was kidnapped and ransomed by the Lagoon Company: a band of mercenary pirates operating out of the crime-riddled city of Roanapur. Abandoned by his bosses, he joined the Lagoon Company. Now he must try and stay afloat amongst the ever-shifting politics of the criminal underworld, while simultaneously avoiding death at the hands of his quick-tempered, gun-toting co-worker, 'Two Hand' Revy.



Tags: Crime , Guns , Anti-Hero , Gangs , Tomboy , Mafia , Pirates , Primarily Adult Cast , Assassins , Seinen , Female Protagonist , Foreign , Yakuza , Triads , Ships , Male Protagonist , Noir , Travel , Ensemble Cast , Suicide , Delinquents , Language Barrier , Twins , Nudity , Gore

BLACK LAGOON: Roberta's Blood Trail

Also known as Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail.

Studio: MADHOUSE
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Thriller

Roberta, the terrorist-turned-maid that made her appearence in the first season of 'Black Lagoon', returns in this five-episode OVA series - and this time, all bets are off!

Roberta's benefactor, the patriarch of the Lovelace clan, is murdered during a political rally. The assassin's trail soon leads back to Roanapur - so now she has returned on a mission of vengeance! However, close behind her is the new patriarch, Garcia, as well as Roberta's apprentice (and maid), Fabiola Iglesias. As the body count of Roberta's bloody rampage mounts, forces from within the corrupt island (which includes the Lagoon Company), as well as overseas converge on what threatens to escalate into all-out war!

Tags: Guns , Gore , Noir , Revenge , Seinen , Crime , Primarily Adult Cast , Anti-Hero , Mafia , Tomboy , Ensemble Cast , Military , War , Foreign , Maids , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Gangs , Pirates , Orphan , Nudity , Politics , Triads , Age Gap , Heterosexual

DARKER THAN BLACK: Kuro no Keiyakusha - Gaiden

Also known as Darker than Black: Origins.

Studio: bones
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mystery , Psychological , Sci-Fi

Tells the story of what happened to Yin and Hei between the first and second series.

Tags: Tragedy , Survival , Super Power , Anti-Hero , Fugitive , Male Protagonist , Kuudere , Assassins , Triads , Coastal

pet

Also known as pet.

Studio: Geno Studio
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Supernatural

What if someone was able to reach into your mind and change your memories? To alter your perceptions, see things that aren't there, and remember events that never happened? You could drive off a cliff believing that you were still on the road, or commit murder without knowing what you had done. Now imagine being one of the people born with this ability. Knowing how easily our entire world can be taken apart, would you accept orders to manipulate others?

That's the conundrum that Hiroki, Satoru and Tsukasa find themselves in as they're employed as psychic hitmen and enforcers by a mysterious agency. Or, at least, that's what might be happening. Because they themselves are almost certainly being manipulated, and the concepts of truth and reality cease to have meaning when you're one of the terrifying beings known as a pet.



Tags: Memory Manipulation , Primarily Adult Cast , Super Power , Gangs , Seinen , Tragedy , Triads , Disability , Primarily Male Cast , Mafia , Urban , Dissociative Identities , Urban Fantasy , Anti-Hero , Language Barrier , Male Protagonist , Nudity , Slavery , Revenge , Rehabilitation , Terrorism , Foreign , Crossdressing , LGBTQ+ Themes

Noir

Studio: Bee Train
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Mystery

Mireille Bouquet is a professional assassin, and a very good one at that. But when she follows up an e-mail from a young Japanese girl named Yumura Kirika, inviting her to take "a pilgrimage to the past", her life becomes even more dangerous than it already is. Now, with a haunting melody invoking the memory of an event long past, Mireille and Kirika decide to work together to find the truth about a thousand year old organization that has controlled both of their lives since before they were born. And the only clue in their search, the only thing Kirika remembers about herself, becomes their working codename: a name designating an ancient fate, of two maidens who reign over death--Noir.



Tags: Assassins , Guns , Noir , Foreign , Crime , Amnesia , Female Protagonist , Fugitive , Primarily Female Cast , Conspiracy , Revenge , Tragedy , Gangs , Primarily Adult Cast , Philosophy , Triads , Yuri , Wrestling

GREAT PRETENDER: razbliuto

Also known as GREAT PRETENDER razbliuto.

Studio: WIT STUDIO
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Thriller

Sequel to GREAT PRETENDER.

Presumed dead, master con artist and recovering amnesiac Dorothy is discovered by Shanghai Longu-bang, a mob who wants payback for her conning them. With no memories and nowhere to go, she must rely on a local crime underboss to elude Taipei’s criminal underworld all while tracking down leads to her mysterious past.



Note: The movie was screened early in select American theaters on January 9, 2024.

Tags: Triads , Amnesia , Foreign , Crime , Female Protagonist , Revenge , Travel , Yakuza , Drugs , Primarily Male Cast , Fugitive

Bakuretsu Tenshi

Also known as Burst Angel.

Studio: GONZO
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Comedy , Mecha , Sci-Fi

In a crime-ridden future Japan, Kyohei Tachibana is a peaceful student at a culinary school, dreaming of going to France for advanced study as a patissier (pastry chef). To afford the trip, he accepts a part-time job as private cook to a strange group of women - Sei, Meg, Jo and Amy. To Kyohei's astonishment, they turn out to be a band of violent mercenaries, and he finds himself in the line of fire.

Tags: Dystopian , Robots , Real Robot , Female Protagonist , Guns , Primarily Female Cast , CGI , Kuudere , Food , Tokusatsu , Triads , Body Horror , Conspiracy , Yuri

3x3 EYES

Also known as 3x3 Eyes.

Studio: Toei Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Fantasy , Horror , Romance

3X3 Eyes is the story of a young man named Yakumo Fuuji, who through a strange series of events becomes the immortal slave of the last of a race of 3 Eyed immortals. The immortal absorbs his soul to save his life, making him immortal in the process. Now, he begins a journey with the female immortal in an attempt to find a way of becoming human. Of course, there are many complications along the way, not the least of which being that the immortal is a female with a split personality, one achingly cute and the other being no-nonsense destructive power, and the romances that develop between.


Tags: Demons , Dissociative Identities , Magic , Gore , Seinen , Foreign , Urban Fantasy , Body Horror , Mythology , Triads , School , Heterosexual , Crossdressing , Mopeds , Motorcycles

Crying Freeman

Studio: Toei Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama

Yo Hinomura was an ordinary Japanese potter when a run-in with a Chinese mafia changed his life forever. Now an assassin for the 108 Dragons, Yo is the perfect killing machine. As a sign for remorse over his victims, he sheds tears after eliminating his targets. Because of this, he is infamously known by the Dragons and every crime syndicate in the world as "Crying Freeman."



Tags: Gangs , Triads , Assassins , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Foreign , Seinen , Nudity , Female Protagonist

Sanctuary

Also known as Sanctuary.

Studio: Pastel
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Thriller

Two Japanese survivors of the Khmer Rouge massacres in Cambodia vow to find a sanctuary, even if they have to build it themselves. Returning to Japan, they take seemingly opposite paths: one becomes a politician, the other a gangster.

As Asami and Hojo work through the linked worlds of politics and crime in modern Japan, they don't hesitate to do anything necessary to secure their own positions and stay true to their vow. Loyal to no one else, they find their friendship increasingly tested as they rise in their chosen fields.



Tags: Yakuza , Politics , Noir , Police , Nudity , Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Primarily Male Cast , Triads , Male Protagonist , Crime

Mugen Shinshi: Bouken Katsugeki-hen

Also known as Dream Dimension Gentleman.

Studio: Studio Gallop
Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy , Horror

When a strange group of men attempt to kidnap Atsuko Fukune, a dancer at a club, she seeks the help of Mamiya Mugen, a famous detective - who also happens to be a child. When it turns out that other girls have gone missing, Mamiya, with the help of his butler Alucard, springs into action to solve the mystery.



Tags: Detective , Male Protagonist , Primarily Child Cast , Military , Anthropomorphism , Triads

Yuukan Club

Studio: Magic Bus
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy , Mystery

St. President school is one of the most prestigious schools around. Everybody in this school respects the Yuukan club, the richest and most popular group. Its members - Bidou Granmarnier, Shouchikubai Miroku, Kenbishi Yuuri, Kikumasamune Seishirou, Hakushika Noriko and Kizakura Karen - go through dangerous adventures to save their schoolmates and, of course, to kill time.

Tags: School , Shoujo , Foreign , Triads , Swimming

Long She Yanyi

Also known as Dragon's Disciple.

Studio: Xuni Pictures , Wonder Cat Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama

Under the guidance of National Martial Arts Master, Tang Zichen, a weak but righteous youth starts his traditional martial arts journey. Check out how he becomes invincible and goes beyond his limits time and time again. Experience how martial artists stop conflicts with martial arts, use virtue to subdue their opponents and how they make traditional martial arts popular again while promoting righteousness.



Tags: Full CGI , Martial Arts , Triads , Bullying , Male Protagonist , Crime , Primarily Adult Cast