What’s the anime equivalent to Game of Thrones or Twilight?

I’m not talking about anime that are epic fantasy settings with dragons, or a vampire romance to be clear. I’m talking about anime that have the same cultural impact in this case.

Love them or hate them, both GoT and Twilight took the teen into young adult market by storm and at their peaks had pervaded popular culture into the most obscure niches. I mean I was a Twilight girlie, I won’t lie. It also coincided with Vampire Knight‘s release so that was also a thing. But by the time Twilight had stretched into a two part ending I was over it and wrote a super sarcastic fanfiction about how Vampire Knight vampires were better.

I personally never got into Game of Thrones. Not the books, nor the TV show but I couldn’t step into any fandom space from around 2016 forward without some sort of reference. I stopped counting after 50+ times of people asking if I watched (assuming I did) and me replying no and the incredulous “OMG! I can’t believe you of all people haven’t started yet!” that followed.

As I think most of us in fandom know though; those two titles are dust. Aside from the awkward Twilight Renaissance that allegedly happened on tumblr in 2020 or something – no ones referencing Twilight. I mean, sure it made the interspecies romance triangle more a thing especially in the young adult series that came after, but that’s existed long before Twilight and will continue to exist long after. I haven’t heard a whisper of Game of Thrones since the dull thud that was the conclusion.

So that got me thinking… what would be the anime/manga equivalent to these two titles? A series that during it’s peak was absolutely at the tip of everyone’s tongue and you could not escape it but once the title wrapped as an anime or manga – it’s never been talked about again.

I’m going to throw my own pick into the ring and say Tokyo Ghoul. Granted, this is my own biased experience but here’s my argument. The anime was botched with censorship, yet people still turned into watch and mimicked Kaneki Ken’s infamous knuckle crack all the damn time. There was for sure a following because fans of the franchise were so sure that that sequel would finally do the series justice.

In terms of the manga, that’s more where I was at. The story was solid enough, entertaining enough that corners of the internet I frequented still had fans of the series pushing it everywhere they could. However as soon as the main story and sequel finished there was not a peep from the former fandom. The only references I see, which are few and far between are footnotes in listicles of manga that got bad anime adaptations.

So, I’m curious to see what others think would be the anime/manga equivalent of a Game of Thrones and Twilight. A series that in it’s heyday you couldn’t escape if you wanted to, but not isn’t even a honorary mention. Of course, this is a full invitation for you to let me your pick(s) down below~