10 anime to watch if you like Space Dandy

Space Dandy first premiered in 2014 and tells the story of the overly confident and mostly incompetent Dandy. Along with his sidekicks, an antiquated robot named QT, and a dimwitted cat-like Betelgeusian named Meow, Dandy travels across the cosmos in search of new alien life in hopes of registering them for a hefty reward.

With its unique animation style, quirky characters, meta-humor, and episodic adventures, this series has garnered a cult following among anime fans. If you have enjoyed Space Dandy’s brand of trippy, laugh-out-loud sci-fi adventures, then you will love these other anime series.

10 must-watch anime for fans of Space Dandy

1. Cowboy Bebop

Hailed as one of the greatest anime series ever made, Cowboy Bebop is Shinichiro Watanabe’s most celebrated masterwork about a crew of quirky bounty hunters traveling the solar system to find their next paycheck.

Like Space Dandy, Cowboy Bebop features stellar animation, episodic adventures to exotic locations, vibrant cosmic settings, fluid action, and a crew filled with colorful personalities. For anime fans who haven’t watched this classic yet, Cowboy Bebop is mandatory viewing.

While it has some overarching threads compared to Dandy’s experimental approach, both showcase Watanabe’s signature style—jazzy soundtracks, genre-blending, and motley crews drifting through space for their next job.

2. FLCL

This frenetic coming-of-age miniseries packs more craziness into six episodes than most anime fit into a full season.

Centered on Naota, a reserved 12-year-old boy whose sleepy life gets invaded by the hyperactive investigator Haruko and interdimensional chaos, FLCL features visual inventiveness on par with Space Dandy’s trippy animation.

With its wild tonal shifts between wacky comedy, emotional drama, and gonzo science fiction, FLCL shares Dandy’s flair for keeping viewers on their toes with unexpected turns in almost every episode. This influential cult classic might be lighter on space exploration but still captures a similarly avant-garde spirit.

3. The Big O

This sleek sci-fi noir series directed by Kazuyoshi Katayama unfolds in a futuristic city powered by forgotten technology and protected by giant robots called Megadeuses.

When a professional negotiator named Roger Smith pilots his personal Megadeus, The Big O, he finds himself caught up in the city’s mysteries and political turmoil. With its retro-futuristic setting, episodic crises, and jazzy soundtrack, The Big O echoes Cowboy Bebop’s style and noir atmosphere.

While more focused on noir mystery than spacefaring adventure, The Big O taps into a similar vein of stylish episodic sci-fi centered on a charismatic lead and their iconic machine.

4. Redline

For anime fans seeking high-speed racing action like Space Dandy, Redline is a perfect choice.

Set in a distant future where humans have spread beyond Earth, Redline depicts the universe’s biggest and deadliest illegal race, the Redline, spanning several inhospitable alien worlds.

Redline features jaw-dropping hand-drawn animation bursting with color, speed, and detail in every frame. Its slick vehicle designs, punk-rock visuals, unrestrained action, and rebellious characters and style echo much of Space Dandy’s appeal.

5. Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo takes the episodic format of Space Dandy to feudal Japan for a rowdy chanbara adventure. This stylish series follows Mugen and Jin, two diametrically opposed wandering samurai who help escort the quirky Fuu across Japan to find the “samurai who smells of sunflowers.”

Like Space Dandy, Samurai Champloo features creative mashups of genres and visual styles as the leads get into all sorts of hijinks across the Japanese countryside, backed by lo-fi hip-hop beats and other modern genres clashing with the Edo period setting. The anachronistic humor and dazzling swordfights make this a must-see.

6. Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (Image via Gainax)

Panty & Stocking takes Space Dandy’s everything-including-the-kitchen-sink format and cranks up the vulgarity to the extreme.

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt follows two rebellious angel sisters banished to Daten City, a limbo between heaven and hell. The anime blends Western cartoon influences, crude humor, fast-paced action, and a unique hand-drawn/CGI style, making it a wild ride for mature audiences.

7. Kill la Kill

For viewers who loved Space Dandy’s over-the-top action and trippy animation, Kill la Kill will also scratch that itch—times one hundred. This iconic 2013 anime series centers on revenge-driven rebel Ryuko Matoi, who searches for clues about her father’s murder.

Her quest leads her to the cutthroat Honnōji Academy, ruled by the iron-fisted student council president Satsuki Kiryūin. Kill la Kill mixes absurd fanservice and constant wardrobe malfunctions with slick, stylized action as Ryuko unlocks the power of her special combat uniform, Senketsu.

The series constantly tops itself with unrelenting hype moments, making it a must-see for any Space Dandy fan.

8. Excel Saga

At the peak of absurdist comedy in anime sits Excel Saga, a severely underrated classic. Ostensibly a parody of manga and anime tropes, Excel Saga follows the titular Excel, who works for the secret ideological organization ACROSS. Her absurd mission is to conquer the city in the name of her leader.

With gags and jokes flying rapid-fire each episode satirizing everything in its path, Excel Saga’s brand of wackiness should resonate nicely with Space Dandy fans. Though it does not take place in space, its meta-heavy comedy leaves no stone unturned in skewering anime fandom and Japanese culture.

9. Outlaw Star

Outlaw Star is a beloved late ‘90s space western following bounty hunter Gene Starwind and his motley crew aboard their advanced spaceship, the Outlaw Star.

They search for the Galactic Leyline—a legendary treasure trove of knowledge and power hidden in the depths of space. Like Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star features a similar format of disconnected episodic adventures as the crew travels far and wide.

It mixes science fiction with eccentric characters, pulse-pounding spaceship battles, silly humor, and emotional gut-punches for an enthralling galactic ride perfect for fans of Space Dandy’s odysseys.

10. Gurren Lagann

Rounding out the list is the iconic masterpiece Gurren Lagann from legendary studio Gainax. This epic mecha anime centers on Simon and Kamina, two hot-blooded friends who rise from their subterranean village to overthrow the tyrannical Beastmen oppressing humanity on the surface world.

Gurren Lagann mirrors Space Dandy’s escalation of events, growing exponentially more extreme until they peak at galaxy-shattering battles. Alongside inspirational themes about believing in one’s self no matter the odds, Gurren Lagann delivers hype action and laughs at a breakneck pace like Dandy.

Conclusion

Space Dandy’s popularity stems not just from its wacky space-faring adventures, but its experimental format pioneering a new breed of anime comedy. Its episodic adventures spanning different worlds, reality-breaking animation and meta-gags, and memorable characters leave a strong impression.

For viewers who have enjoyed Space Dandy and desire more anime to tickle that same funny bone and sense of adventure, then the selections on this list will certainly deliver. From all-time classics like Cowboy Bebop to modern greats like Kill La Kill, there lies something for all fans of sci-fi comedy.