There’s just something so mysterious and magical about that big rock in the sky called the moon. So many series out there, in all different mediums, have used the moon as a primary plot device or setting, and this includes both fantasy and historical series.
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One of the most well-known examples isOne Piece, an internationally beloved manga where one of the main antagonists, Enel, actually travels to the moon and lives there in paradise. Additionally,Dragon Ball Z, another worldwide sensation anime, constantly calls attention to the moon, whether this is through the multiple characters that actually destroy it, or the Saiyans who transform whenever there’s a full moon. In any case, let’s take a look at some more anime and manga out there that have the moon as a major setting or narrative point in their stories.
8Mobile Suit Gundam Series
Now, to be fair, there isn’t aGundamseries that exclusively takes place on the moon of Earth or any moon in particular, but almost every series involves some battle near a moon of some sort. TheGundamfranchise is all about drama, space adventures, and some incredible mecha battles with pilots zooming between asteroids or across the surface of the moon. In fact, it’s this very same series that has, for generations now, influenced other mecha animesuch asGunbusterandGurren Lagann.
So, Lunar fans out there will absolutely find a lot to love watching just about any Gundam series, even if it doesn’t take place on the moon in its entirety.
7Aldnoah Zero
Next up isAldnoah Zero, a series that shares a lot with theGundamfranchise, just on a much smaller scale in terms of its narrative. Where theGundamfranchise tends to deal with a war between the Zeon Principality vs The Earth Federation, a war that includes millions and millions of lives,Aldnoah Zerofocuses primarily on a portion of the war (Terrans vs Martians) taking place in Japan againstsome of the smartest kids in history.
And, the Hypergate that almost all of the Martians came through originally, and the one that was destroyed when the nations agreed on a ceasefire, is on the moon. Therefore, a lot of Aldnoah Zero’s most dramatic or important moments take place on and/or near the moon of Earth itself.
6Planetes
Again,Planetesis another series that doesn’t exactly ‘take place’ on the moon (let’s be honest, almost zero series actually do), but the moon is a major part of the story’s plot and is the source of many of the manga/anime’s problems. In thisversion of Earth’s history, humanity has a critical crisis having to do with oil reserves and instead turns to a Helium-3 isotope as a new source of energy, which large deposits of can be found on the moon. So, all the nations start mining the moon, which increases ‘traffic’ of spacecraft through Earth’s atmosphere, ultimately causing a lot more dangerous space debris to be generated around the Earth.
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Planetes focuses on a group of blue-collar workers of the ‘Debris Section’ of the Technora corporation. Essentially, the cast is all space trash collectors just trying to live their lives.
5Sailor Moon Series
This next entry probably has the shakiest justification for being on here, but it is a franchise entirely centered around a group of magical girl warriors who are of Lunarian descent. Sailor Moon herself (AKA Usagi Tsukino) is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior from the Moon Kingdom, and a lot of the plotlines in the different Sailor moon series are based around all the different Moon Kingdom Princesses finding each other and fighting off evil.
So, while a large portion of the series takes place on Earth, almost all of the key players in the storyline either hail from the moon, have ancestors from the moon, or are monsters/villains that have a grudge against the Moon Kingdom.
4Space Brothers
Another series with the moon as a major focal point is a beloved anime (thatcan be found on Crunchyroll) calledSpace Brothers. In it, two brothers named Mutta and Hibito Nanba swear as children to become astronauts and go to the moon. Hibito keeps to this promise, but Mutta eventually gives up and becomes a car salesman.
Eventually, Mutta realizes it’s time for the older brother to catch up and surpass the younger one, and he also starts his journey to become an astronaut. And, while most of the manga focuses on their growth on Earth, the most important events and most dramatic moments take place on a trip to the moon.
3moonlight Mile
Similar toSpace Brothers,moonlight Mileis a manga series that focuses on the rivalry between two men as they eventually go to space. UnlikeSpace Brothers, however, is the fact that the main characters, Gorou Saruwatari and ‘Lostman’, aren’t related at all.
In fact, they’re mountain climbers who pursue very different things in life and eventually decide to become astronauts during a period in history where many nations like Russia, Europe, Japan, and the US are all racing to get to space. Again, it’s a series where the ‘end goal’ is the moon, and some of the most pivotal moments take place on the moon, but it doesn’t take place entirely on this lunar rock.
2The Last - Naruto The Movie & Naruto Series
While this is technically an anime movie and not an anime series or manga, everything in this movie also exists in the Naruto franchise and is constantly referenced afterward. In theNarutosetting, the moon was created by Hagoromo and Hamura Otsutsuki to sealtheir cartoonishly evil mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki, inside it. Afterward, the Otsutsuki clan then settles on the moon to safeguard any attempts to release her.
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As such, there are multiple scenes in the Naruto series (and Boruto,its successor series) that take place on the moon, but the movieThe Lasthas the moon as the primary setting. While this technically isn’t the same ‘moon’ from Earth, the planet in Naruto is basically Earth and their moon is basically the same as our moon.
1Land Of The Lustrous
And lastly, there’sLand of the Lustrous, asurprisingly beautiful 3D anime seriesthat doesn’t feature ‘humanity’ at all, but rather multiple evolutionary offsprings of humanity including the Lunarians (a species that lives exclusively on the moon). In this series, the Gems on earth (crystalline lifeforms named after the minerals they’re composed of and represent) are constantly attacked by the Lunarians who kidnap and turn the Gems into extravagant jewelry.
As the series goes on, a lot of horrifying truths are revealed about the Lunarians, the moon itself, and what they’ve been doing to the Gems they’ve kidnapped. .
