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Browse anime films and series by genre, theme and mood.

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100 of 100 profiles

Series · 2018

A Place Further Than the Universe

宇宙よりも遠い場所

Four girls in bright expedition clothing walk across Antarctic snow beneath a blue sky.

Mari Tamaki wants to do something with her school years but keeps hesitating. She joins Shirase Kobuchizawa’s plan to reach Antarctica, where Shirase’s mother disappeared during an expedition. Two more girls join a journey that turns an unlikely ambition into a shared practical undertaking.

Complete original television series · Approx. 5.2 hours · 13 episodes

Themes & tropes:BelongingMood:Driven

Film · 2016

A Silent Voice

聲の形

Genres:Drama
Two school students stand beside a river beneath flowering cherry trees.

Shoya seeks out Shoko, the deaf girl he bullied at school, hoping to address the harm he caused. Their attempt to reconnect involves classmates who also took part. The film follows awkward conversations, guilt and the difficulty of listening without making forgiveness a condition of an apology.

Standalone film · Approx. 130 min · one film

Series · 2017

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.

ACCA13区監察課

Genres:DramaMystery
Jean stands beside red illustrations of other characters.

Jean Otus travels between thirteen autonomous districts to inspect the organisation that keeps their kingdom running. His unhurried manner makes him difficult to read. ACCA turns the duties of an auditor into a way of approaching a state whose political relationships are less settled than they first appear.

TV series plus animated Regards epilogue · Approx. 5.8 hours · 13 episodes

Themes & tropes:Working lifeMood:Intriguing

Film · 1985

Angel’s Egg

天使のたまご

Genres:Fantasy
A pale-haired traveller carries a cross-shaped weapon before a luminous orb.

A girl carries an egg through a city partly submerged in water, believing that an angel waits inside. A boy searching for a bird from his dreams joins her. As they explore the ruins, his curiosity about the egg puts their fragile new friendship under pressure.

Standalone OVA · Approx. 71 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Faith and doubtMood:Surreal

Series · 2005

ARIA The ANIMATION

ARIA The ANIMATION

Akari smiles in her white gondolier uniform.

Akari Mizunashi comes from Earth to the water-covered planet Aqua to train as an Undine, a gondolier and guide in Neo-Venezia. Her working days combine boat practice, new friendships and encounters around a city modelled on Venice. Small changes in its weather and routines become occasions to explore.

The ANIMATION · complete 2005 installment · Approx. 5.4 hours · 13 episodes

Themes & tropes:Working life

Series · 2013

Attack on Titan

進撃の巨人

Eren faces the Colossal Titan above the burning city wall.

Humanity shelters behind enormous walls from Titans that eat people. Eren wants to explore outside, but a giant taller than the defences destroys that fragile safety. He joins Mikasa and Armin in military training, where learning to fight the creatures begins with meeting the demands of their instructors.

Season 1 · Approx. 10 hours · 25 episodes

Mood:Tense

Series · 2002

Azumanga Daioh

あずまんが大王

Chiyo and her school friends cluster together in their uniforms.

Ten-year-old Chiyo Mihama enters high school among classmates five years older than her. She joins a group whose very different habits make lessons, school events and ordinary conversations unpredictable. Their teacher Yukari is often as much a source of disorder as the pupils she is meant to manage.

Complete television series · Approx. 11 hours · 26 episodes

Mood:Playful

Series · 2014

Barakamon

ばらかもん

Handa stands beside the water in an open landscape.

Calligrapher Seishu Handa is sent to a remote island after punching an influential figure in his profession. He expects space to work, but the local children and their neighbours keep entering his life. His unfamiliar home becomes a place to reconsider both his writing and the way he treats people.

Complete 2014 TV series · Approx. 4.6 hours · 12 episodes

Themes & tropes:BelongingWorking lifeMood:Playful

Series · 2017

Black Clover

ブラッククローバー

Two sword-wielding fighters lead an ensemble surrounded by flames and blue lightning.

Asta wants to become Wizard King in a kingdom where magical ability and family background decide a person's opportunities. He cannot cast a spell, but gains a sword that cancels magic. His rivalry with Yuno and battles alongside the Black Bulls turn that unusual advantage into a team effort.

Original series · Approx. 68 hours · 170 episodes

Themes & tropes:Ambition and statusMood:Energetic

Series · 2004

Bleach

ブリーチ

An orange-haired swordsman in black robes raises a broad blade above the Bleach logo.

Ichigo can see ghosts, but protecting them becomes his job when the Soul Reaper Rukia lends him her powers. Her decision draws them into conflict with Soul Society, the authority governing the afterlife. Battles begin with threats to Ichigo's family and grow into disputes over the rules Rukia must obey.

Original series · Approx. 146 hours · 366 episodes

Themes & tropes:Freedom and controlMood:Combative

Series · 2022

Bocchi the Rock!

ぼっち・ざ・ろっく!

Genres:Drama
Hitori looks up from a pavement with a guitar case on her back.

Hitori practises guitar alone and longs to play in a band, but finds talking to other people painfully difficult. An encounter with drummer Nijika brings her into Kessoku Band. The skills she has developed in isolation now have to work in rehearsals and performances with strangers.

Original 2022 television series · Approx. 4.8 hours · 12 episodes

Themes & tropes:BelongingCommunication

Series · 2019

Carole & Tuesday

キャロル&チューズデイ

Carole and Tuesday stand at the centre of a group above the series title.

On a colonised Mars where artificial intelligence produces much of the culture, Carole and Tuesday want to make music themselves. Carole works to get by in the capital; Tuesday comes from a wealthy home where her ambition is not understood. Their chance meeting brings those different lives together.

Complete television series · Approx. 9.2 hours · 24 episodes

Themes & tropes:BelongingWorking life

Series · 2006

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ

Lelouch holds a sheet of paper while standing outside the academy.

Japan has become Area 11 under Britannian occupation. Lelouch obtains Geass, a mysterious power he intends to turn against the empire. His childhood friend Suzaku serves in its military and pilots the Lancelot combat machine, placing the two boys on different sides of a struggle over how the country should change.

Original TV continuity and R2 · 50 episodes · Approx. 20 hours · 50 episodes

Themes & tropes:Freedom and controlMood:Tense

Series · 2009

Cross Game

クロスゲーム

Genres:DramaRomance
Ko reaches upwards in front of baseball practice netting.

Ko grows up close to the four Tsukishima sisters and becomes drawn into their family’s connection with baseball. A childhood dream of reaching Koshien stays with him as he enters high school. On the field, he has to turn ability into something a team can use.

Complete original television series · Approx. 20 hours · 50 episodes

Mood:Driven

Series · 2022

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

サイバーパンク エッジランナーズ

A fighter in a yellow jacket stands before a white-haired woman and an ensemble of armed figures.

David cannot afford the future his school promises. A powerful implant gives him a way into Night City's mercenary crews, where he finds work, friends and Lucy. The action follows his increasingly dangerous upgrades, while the romance asks what he and Lucy actually want from a life together.

Original series · 4 hr 13 min · 10 episodes

Themes & tropes:Body implantsMood:Intense

Series · 2006

Death Note

デスノート

Two young men face opposite directions beneath a radiant cross, with a red apple beside the Death Note title.

Light finds a notebook that can kill anyone whose name and face he knows. When he begins using it, the detective L tries to uncover his identity while keeping his own hidden. Their contest turns surveillance, conversations and carefully staged traps into weapons in a talkative psychological thriller.

Original series · 14 hr 48 min · 37 episodes

Themes & tropes:Cat and mouseMood:Tense

Series · 2024

Delicious in Dungeon

ダンジョン飯

Marcille holds a wooden spoon near her mouth.

Laios returns to a dungeon to rescue his sister Falin after a dragon swallows her. With his party’s money and supplies lost, he proposes eating the monsters they encounter. The expedition turns survival into a question of what can be caught, prepared and shared on the way down.

Season 1 · Approx. 10 hours · 24 episodes

Themes & tropes:Living with natureMood:Playful

Series · 2007

Den-noh Coil

電脳コイル

Yasako points at the round detective badge on her shirt.

Yasako moves to a city where networked glasses add virtual pets and software tools to ordinary streets. When her digital dog disappears, a children's detective agency helps her search. Schoolyard rivalries and experiments with the glasses gradually reveal mysteries that the adults around them cannot always see.

Complete series · Approx. 11 hours · 26 episodes

Themes & tropes:Augmented realityMood:Intriguing

Series · 2019

Dororo (2019)

どろろ

Hyakkimaru stands against red with blades extending from his prosthetic arms.

Young thief Dororo travels through war-torn Japan with Hyakkimaru, a swordsman whose missing body parts were traded to demons by his father. Hyakkimaru fights those demons to recover what was taken. Their journey links violent supernatural encounters with the immediate problem of surviving as outsiders.

Complete 2019 television adaptation · Approx. 10 hours · 24 episodes

Themes & tropes:Identity and selfMood:Intense

Series · 2006

Ergo Proxy

Ergo Proxy エルゴプラクシー

Re-l’s pale face and blue eyes emerge against a dark textured background.

Re-l Mayer investigates a murder in Romd, a domed city where humans live alongside robots under close government control. An encounter with a strange being unsettles that managed world. Her search for an explanation leads toward the unknown beyond the city’s boundaries.

Complete television anime · Approx. 9.6 hours · 23 episodes

Series · 2024

Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything with Low-Level Spells

ハズレ枠の【状態異常スキル】で最強になった俺がすべてを蹂躙するまで

Touka reaches upward while falling through a dark space.

Touka is summoned to another world with his classmates, then discarded when a goddess grades his abilities as the lowest rank. Left in ruins where survival is considered impossible, he tries to escape using the status-effect skills she rejected. Surviving gives his journey a target: revenge against the goddess.

Series · 2013

Free! – Iwatobi Swim Club

Free!

Genres:Drama
A swimmer in a navy cap adjusts his goggles before entering the pool.

Haruka’s quiet high-school life changes when Rin, a childhood swimming teammate, returns and challenges him to a race. Haruka reunites with Makoto and Nagisa, and they recruit Rei to form Iwatobi High’s swimming club. Old friendships become entangled with the wish to compete again.

Original 2013 television series · Approx. 4.8 hours · 12 episodes

Themes & tropes:Belonging

Series · 2023

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

葬送のフリーレン

A white-haired elf carrying a suitcase looks back at two companions in a flowering meadow.

After helping defeat the Demon King, the elf Frieren outlives companions whose ten-year adventure felt brief to her. She begins another journey with a new travelling party, revisiting places and memories she once passed over. Quiet conversations, everyday errands and dangerous magic make her pay closer attention to other people's lives.

Film · 2011

From Up on Poppy Hill

コクリコ坂から

Genres:Drama
Umi raises signal flags beside a school building.

In Yokohama in 1963, high-school students Umi and Shun develop a friendship against the backdrop of a changing Japan. A secret connected to their families threatens to pull them apart. Their personal uncertainty sits within a city preparing for a very public future.

Standalone animated film · Approx. 91 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Memory and the past

Series · 2019

Fruits Basket (2019 adaptation)

フルーツバスケット

Tohru and members of the Sohma family gather on and around a staircase.

After her mother’s death, Tohru Honda lives in a tent until the Sohma family takes her in. Her new household has a secret: members of the family carry an animal transformation curse. Tohru becomes involved in relationships governed by rules that reach well beyond an unusual living arrangement.

2019 adaptation · all three TV seasons · Approx. 25 hours · 63 episodes

Themes & tropes:BelongingTransformation

Series · 2003

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)

鋼の錬金術師

Edward extends his shining mechanical arm in a dark interior.

Edward and Alphonse Elric attempt forbidden alchemy to restore their dead mother and lose parts of their own bodies instead. Alphonse's soul is bound to armour; Edward uses mechanical limbs. They travel in search of the Philosopher's Stone and a way to recover what was lost.

Complete 2003 television anime · Approx. 21 hours · 51 episodes

Themes & tropes:Transformation

Series · 2009

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST

Edward and Alphonse Elric within the Brotherhood ensemble key visual.

Edward and Alphonse Elric try to revive their mother through alchemy and lose parts of their own bodies instead. Edward uses mechanical limbs; Alphonse's soul inhabits armour. The brothers search for the Philosopher's Stone to restore themselves, while Edward's military work brings them into dangerous conflicts with other alchemists.

Complete series · Approx. 26 hours · 64 episodes

Themes & tropes:TransformationMood:Driven

Series · 2007

Gurren Lagann

天元突破グレンラガン

Simon and other characters appear beneath a giant robot.

Simon and Kamina live beneath the surface, where digging is part of daily survival. A small machine and an unexpected attack open a route into the world above. Their journey brings them into conflict with giant machines and the powers that keep humanity underground.

Complete television anime · Approx. 11 hours · 27 episodes

Themes & tropes:Freedom and controlMood:Energetic

Series · 2000

Hajime no Ippo

はじめの一歩

Genres:Drama
Ippo wears red boxing headgear and raises his gloves.

Ippo helps his mother run a fishing-boat business and is bullied at school. A professional boxer, Takamura, intervenes one day and introduces him to boxing. Ippo’s wish to become stronger gives him a reason to attempt the demanding training that follows.

Three television-series packages · Approx. 50 hours · 127 episodes

Mood:Driven

Series · 2021

Horimiya

ホリミヤ

Genres:Romance
Miyamura wears earrings and casual clothes in warm light.

Popular Kyoko Hori and unobtrusive Izumi Miyamura discover that their classmates’ impressions do not describe their whole lives. An accidental meeting makes them keepers of each other’s secrets. Their growing closeness draws Miyamura into a circle of friends whose own feelings are rarely straightforward.

Initial 2021 TV adaptation · Approx. 5.2 hours · 13 episodes

Series · 2010

House of Five Leaves

さらい屋五葉

Genres:Drama
Five figures in traditional clothing stand against a pink floral background.

Masanosuke Akitsu is a skilled swordsman whose shyness keeps costing him work. In Edo, a relaxed stranger named Yaichi hires him as a bodyguard. The job draws him into Five Leaves, a group that earns its money through kidnapping.

Complete television anime · Approx. 4.6 hours · 12 episodes

Themes & tropes:BelongingWorking life

Film · 2004

Howl’s Moving Castle

ハウルの動く城

Howl's crowded walking castle stands against a cloudy sky.

A witch turns Sophie, a young hat-maker, into an elderly woman. Looking for a way to break the spell, she joins the wizard Howl's moving household, which includes an apprentice and a fire demon. Romance and domestic comedy develop as a war threatens the people living in the castle.

Series · 2023

Insomniacs After School

君は放課後インソムニア

Genres:Drama
Ganta and Isaki sit beneath a telescope and a star-filled sky.

Unable to sleep at night, Ganta Nakami discovers that the school observatory offers a place to rest. Isaki Magari has found the same refuge for the same reason. The two start sharing the abandoned room and a problem they cannot easily explain to their classmates.

2023 television anime · Approx. 5.2 hours · 13 episodes

Themes & tropes:Belonging

Film · 1999

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

人狼 JIN-ROH

Kazuki Fuse stands beneath a blue night sky.

After a deadly police operation, Kazuki Fuse is sent for re-evaluation in an alternate postwar Tokyo. He meets Kei Amemiya while struggling with what happened. Their growing connection unfolds amid rival police interests and a government crackdown, making personal loyalty difficult to separate from the demands of his armed unit.

Standalone film · Approx. 102 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Freedom and controlMood:Tense

Series · 2020

Jujutsu Kaisen

呪術廻戦

Gojo extends his hand through a field of broken glass.

Yuji Itadori swallows a cursed finger to save fellow students and becomes the vessel of Ryomen Sukuna. Sent to Tokyo Jujutsu High, he learns to fight curses born from human emotions. The dangerous force he has taken into himself is also why the jujutsu world considers him a threat.

TV through Culling Game Part 1 (2026) · Approx. 24 hours · 59 episodes

Mood:Intense

Series · 2024

Kaiju No. 8

怪獣8号

Kaiju No. 8's skull-like face and glowing eyes against a blue night background.

At 32, Kafka cleans up the monsters defeated by Japan's Defense Force while hoping to join it himself. A new chance to apply coincides with his ability to become a kaiju. Training, friendships and monster battles now depend on keeping that transformation hidden from the organisation he wants to serve.

Seasons 1–2 · Approx. 9.2 hours · 23 episodes

Themes & tropes:TransformationMood:Energetic

Series · 2012

Kids on the Slope

坂道のアポロン

Genres:DramaRomance
Kaoru faces the taller Sentaro in their school classroom.

In 1966, reserved student Kaoru moves alone to relatives in Kyushu. His meeting with Sentaro, a classmate feared as a delinquent, introduces him to jazz and an unfamiliar kind of friendship. Music connects him with a group whose affections are not as straightforward as playing the same tune.

Complete television series · Approx. 4.6 hours · 12 episodes

Themes & tropes:Belonging

Series · 2018

Laid-Back Camp

ゆるキャン△

Rin looks ahead from inside the hood of her winter coat.

After moving to Yamanashi, Nadeshiko cycles out to see Mount Fuji and gets stranded when darkness and bad weather spoil the trip. Rin, who is camping by herself, helps her. Their meeting introduces different ways of enjoying the outdoors, alone and with other people.

Main television seasons 1–3 · Approx. 15 hours · 37 episodes

Film · 2018

Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms

さよならの朝に約束の花をかざろう

Genres:DramaFantasy
Maquia looks upward against a background of blue flowers.

Maquia belongs to a people who live for centuries while retaining a youthful appearance. When an invasion destroys her home, she escapes and finds a human baby whose mother has died. Raising Ariel gives her a family whose relationship with time is very different from her own.

Standalone 2018 animated film · Approx. 115 min · one film

Themes & tropes:BelongingCaregiving

Series · 2016

March Comes in Like a Lion

3月のライオン

Genres:Drama
Rei and the three Kawamoto sisters stand on a sunny street.

Rei Kiriyama is a teenage professional shogi player living alone after losing his family. The Kawamoto sisters, Akari, Hinata and Momo, draw him into a household very different from his solitary flat. Competition at the board sits alongside the slower task of accepting company and care.

Both television series · main story · Approx. 19 hours · 44 episodes

Series · 2023

MF Ghost

MFゴースト

Genres:Action
Kanata at the steering wheel wearing a radio headset.

Kanata Rivington arrives in Japan from Britain to race in MFG and search for his father. In a near future dominated by self-driving electric cars, the competition brings petrol-powered machines onto public roads. Kanata chooses a Toyota 86GT, relying on his driving skills against more powerful cars.

Season 1 · Approx. 4.8 hours · 12 episodes

Themes & tropes:Motor racingMood:Driven

Film · 2001

Millennium Actress

千年女優

Genres:DramaRomance
A young woman in a red kimono stands before portraits in costumes from different periods.

Two documentary makers visit retired actress Chiyoko to record her life story. As she remembers, they appear inside scenes that shift between her experiences and her film roles. A search for a man she once helped carries the film through changing periods, genres and versions of her past.

Standalone film · Approx. 87 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Memory and the pastMood:Reflective

Series · 2016

Mob Psycho 100

モブサイコ100

Mob uses his psychic powers, surrounded by a pink aura.

Shigeo Kageyama, nicknamed Mob, has psychic powers but struggles to express himself. He works part-time for Reigen, a supposed psychic who relies on Mob to handle real spirits. Mob wants an ordinary teenage life, including getting fitter and closer to his crush, while powerful emotions threaten his self-control.

Season 1 · Approx. 5 hours · 12 episodes

Themes & tropes:CommunicationMood:Playful

Series · 2007

Mononoke (2007 television series)

モノノ怪

The Medicine Seller holds his sword against a field of colourful umbrellas.

A travelling Medicine Seller confronts supernatural beings produced through human suffering and entanglement. His sword cannot simply cut down whatever appears. He must establish the being’s form, the truth of what happened and the human reason behind it before he can draw the weapon.

2007 television series · Approx. 4.6 hours · 12 episodes

Themes & tropes:Memory and the pastMood:Uncanny

Series · 2007

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit

精霊の守り人

Balsa looks across a rocky landscape in an early Moribito episode.

Balsa, a travelling bodyguard, is hired to protect a prince carrying the egg of a water spirit. His own empire wants him dead. Keeping him alive requires spear fights, shelter, food and help from people who understand the spirit, making protection a continuing responsibility rather than a single rescue.

Series · 2005

Mushishi

蟲師

Ginko with white hair and a pipe, standing in woodland.

Ginko travels between communities affected by mushi, forms of life that are neither plants nor animals. His work is to understand what happens when their existence crosses human lives. One visit brings him to an isolated boy whose drawings become real, turning a local mystery into an encounter with unfamiliar life.

Original series · Approx. 10 hours · 26 episodes

Themes & tropes:Living with natureMood:Reflective

Film · 1988

My Neighbor Totoro

となりのトトロ

Genres:Fantasy
Satsuki carries Mei beside Totoro beneath umbrellas in the rain.

Satsuki and Mei move to the countryside near the hospital treating their mother. Exploring their new house and the woods brings them into contact with small creatures and the enormous forest spirit Totoro. The film follows the sisters' discoveries and family worries at an unhurried pace.

Standalone film · Approx. 86 min · one film

Themes & tropes:CaregivingMood:Gentle

Series · 2002

Naruto

NARUTO -ナルト-

A blond ninja in orange reaches forward, with three teammates arranged behind him.

Naruto wants to become Hokage so the village that rejects him will recognise him. Training and missions place him alongside teammates he competes with and must learn to trust. The original series builds its ninja battles around deception, coordinated attacks and a rivalry that becomes increasingly personal.

Original series · Approx. 88 hours · 220 episodes

Series · 2008

Natsume’s Book of Friends

夏目友人帳

Natsume carries a patterned cloth through a moonlit forest beside Nyanko-sensei.

Takashi Natsume can see spirits, an ability that has made ordinary friendships difficult. He inherits his grandmother Reiko’s Book of Friends, which binds the spirits whose names she collected. With Nyanko-sensei beside him, Natsume begins returning those names and meeting the people and spirits connected to them.

TV series through season seven · Approx. 34 hours · 86 episodes

Series · 2007

Nodame Cantabile

のだめカンタービレ

Genres:DramaRomance
Chiaki reacts with surprise in a stylised comic image.

Chiaki studies piano at a music university but wants to conduct. A fear of flying keeps him from pursuing the overseas training he imagines. Meeting Nodame, an unconventional pianist whose playing catches his ear, disrupts both his frustration with music and his orderly habits.

All three television series · Approx. 17 hours · 45 episodes

Mood:Playful

Film · 1993

Ocean Waves

海がきこえる

Genres:Drama
Taku holds a backpack strap on a railway platform.

Taku and his friend Yutaka expect another ordinary school year until Rikako transfers from Tokyo. Her arrival changes their friendship, and a trip involving Taku and Rikako feeds rumours at school. The television film follows young people trying to understand relationships that have stopped feeling simple.

Original television film · Approx. 72 min · one film

Film · 1991

Only Yesterday

おもひでぽろぽろ

Genres:DramaRomance
A woman in a sunhat holds a schoolgirl’s hand in an empty classroom.

Taeko leaves her Tokyo office job for a holiday helping with the safflower harvest in Yamagata. Memories of her fifth-grade self keep interrupting the visit: family disagreements, school embarrassments and a first crush. Rural work and childhood comedy prompt her to reconsider the adult life she wants.

Standalone film · Approx. 119 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Memory and the pastMood:Reflective

Series · 2026

Overgeared

テムパル~アイテムの力~

Grid studies a blade held close to his face in the anime's crafting scene.

Grid hopes success in the virtual-reality game Satisfy will pay his debts. A legendary blacksmith class gives him the ability to make exceptional equipment, but he still lacks money, materials and experience. This profile covers only the opening two episodes, where a crafting advantage meets impatience and practical costs.

Opening sample · Approx. 48 min · 2 episodes

Series · 2015

Overlord

オーバーロード

Ainz raises a skeletal hand amid blue light.

Momonga stays inside his favourite online game as its service ends, only to find that he cannot log out. Still wearing his skeletal avatar, he now commands a fortress whose non-player characters have acquired lives of their own. The former player must work out what his authority means in an unfamiliar world.

Main anime route · Approx. 21 hours · 52 episodes

Series · 2023

Overtake!

オーバーテイク!

Genres:Drama
Three racing drivers carry helmets past open paddock tents, with mechanics working behind them.

Photographer Kouya meets Haruka, a teenage driver racing for a small family-run Formula 4 team. He decides to help, though Haruka resists the encouragement. Getting the car onto the grid requires sponsorship, mechanical work and trust, giving both a reason to accept help from other people.

Complete series · Approx. 4.7 hours · 12 episodes

Themes & tropes:Motor racingMood:Driven

Film · 2006

Paprika

パプリカ

Paprika leans forward, looking toward the viewer.

A device designed to let therapists enter patients' dreams is stolen. Dr Atsuko Chiba investigates through Paprika, her dream persona, as waking life becomes difficult to distinguish from fantasy. Satoshi Kon turns the investigation into a succession of shifting rooms, bodies and images whose rules can change without warning.

Standalone film · Approx. 90 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Dream explorationMood:Surreal

Film · 2013

Patema Inverted

サカサマのパテマ

Age holds on to upside-down Patema against a blue sky.

Patema leaves her underground home and discovers that the surface world's gravity pulls her towards the sky. Age, a boy whose feet stay on the ground, tries to help her. Their opposing gravities make holding on to each other a practical necessity in an adventure about trust and perspective.

Standalone film · Approx. 99 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Freedom and controlMood:Intriguing

Film · 1997

Perfect Blue

パーフェクトブルー

Genres:Thriller
Mima in blue-toned promotional artwork surrounded by toys and objects.

Mima leaves her pop group to become an actress, taking roles that unsettle her fans and her own sense of who she is. A stalker follows her, people around her are murdered, and visions of her former idol self make it harder to separate her work from reality.

Standalone film · Approx. 82 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Identity and selfMood:SurrealTense

Series · 2014

Ping Pong the Animation

ピンポン THE ANIMATION

Genres:Drama
Two table-tennis players appear with bright yellow and green winged figures.

Peco and Smile are friends in the same high-school table-tennis club, but they approach the game differently. Peco advertises his confidence; Smile rarely smiles. A Chinese exchange player and a coach determined to develop Smile’s ability disturb the balance between their friendship and their competitive ambitions.

Complete television anime · Approx. 4.2 hours · 11 episodes

Themes & tropes:Ambition and statusMood:Driven

Series · 2003

Planetes

プラネテス

Hachimaki in an orange spacesuit with his white headband.

By 2075, passenger spacecraft regularly connect Earth, space stations and the Moon. Hachimaki collects orbital debris for a living while dreaming of owning a spacecraft. New recruit Tanabe joins his poorly regarded department, where everyday work brings her into conflict with colleagues whose attitudes differ sharply from hers.

Complete series · Approx. 11 hours · 26 episodes

Themes & tropes:Working lifeMood:Reflective

Film · 1994

Pom Poko

平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ

Genres:DramaFantasy
A tanuki leader in red stands before other tanuki carrying poles.

Magical tanuki live in wooded hills until the construction of a Tokyo suburb threatens their home. They turn their ability to transform into a defence against development. Their campaign brings Japanese folklore into direct conflict with the expansion of a human city.

Standalone animated film · Approx. 119 min · one film

Film · 2008

Ponyo

崖の上のポニョ

Ponyo swims among small fish in blue water.

A young boy named Sosuke befriends Ponyo, a small fish who wants to become human. Her determination carries a magical disturbance from the sea into his coastal home. A child's friendship becomes inseparable from the changing waters around the town.

Standalone animated film · Approx. 101 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Transformation

Film · 1992

Porco Rosso

紅の豚

Porco reclines beneath a beach umbrella with a magazine covering his face.

In the Adriatic, a flying ace turned bounty hunter makes his living with the face of a pig. Porco Rosso's clashes with sky pirates bring him a rival in the American pilot Curtis. Aircraft, coastal towns and an unwanted reputation surround his uneasy independence.

Standalone animated film · Approx. 93 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Transformation

Film · 1997

Princess Mononoke

もののけ姫

The antlered Forest Spirit stands in a glowing opening between forest trees.

Searching for a cure to his curse, Ashitaka reaches an ironworking town fighting the gods of a nearby forest. Lady Eboshi protects the town's people; San fights for the wolves who raised her. The conflict gives each side lives to defend, without making their interests easy to reconcile.

Standalone film · Approx. 133 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Nature and industryMood:Intense

Series · 2002

Princess Tutu

プリンセスチュチュ

Genres:DramaFantasy
Princess Tutu dances in a white and pink ballet costume.

Ahiru is a struggling ballet student who wants to dance with Mytho, a boy whose heart has been lost. Transforming into Princess Tutu lets her search for its missing pieces. Ballet and fairy-tale magic become ways of approaching emotions that the prince can no longer feel.

Complete TV story · assembled version · Approx. 10 hours · 26 episodes

Series · 2016

Re:ZERO

Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活

Subaru turns toward a glowing circular effect.

Subaru arrives in a fantasy world and tries to help the silver-haired girl who first helps him. His unusual ability returns him to an earlier point after death. Repeating events gives him another chance to intervene, but leaves him carrying experiences that the people around him do not share.

Released television route · Approx. 35 hours · 85 episodes

Themes & tropes:Memory and the pastMood:Tense

Film · 2010

Redline

The front of JP's yellow racing car surges down the Yellowline track.

JP drives a customised Trans-Am into an interplanetary race where rivals carry weapons and the host planet threatens military intervention. Distorted machinery, extreme angles and saturated colour make speed the main attraction in Takeshi Koike's standalone film, with a romance between races.

Standalone film · Approx. 102 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Motor racingMood:Intense

Series · 2018

Run with the Wind

風が強く吹いている

Genres:Drama
Haiji smiles in an early indoor scene.

Kakeru is running through the city when Haiji approaches him on a bicycle and asks whether he likes to run. Haiji brings him to an old apartment building with nine residents. The apparently simple offer of a spare room carries an unexpected sporting plan.

Complete television series · Approx. 9 hours · 23 episodes

Mood:Driven

Series · 2004

Samurai Champloo

サムライチャンプルー

Mugen stands in front of Jin and Fuu against an orange background.

Fuu persuades two very different swordsmen to help her find a samurai who smells of sunflowers. Mugen’s unruly fighting and Jin’s formal training make them difficult travelling companions. Their journey takes a samurai road story into an explicitly hip-hop-inflected version of Edo-period Japan.

Complete television anime · Approx. 10 hours · 26 episodes

Series · 2023

Shangri-La Frontier

シャングリラ・フロンティア

Sunraku stands with other armoured figures against a dark blue background.

Rakuro loves finishing badly designed games. For a change, he enters Shangri-La Frontier, a polished virtual-reality game with a huge player base. Using the bird-headed avatar Sunraku, he brings habits learned from unreliable games into a world whose monsters and rules reward a different kind of attention.

Two TV seasons · Approx. 22 hours · 50 episodes

Series · 2016

Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū

昭和元禄落語心中

Genres:Drama
Two rakugo performers kneel on cushions before a red backdrop.

Fresh out of prison, Yotaro seeks an apprenticeship with Yakumo, the rakugo storyteller whose performance he heard while incarcerated. Rakugo is solo storytelling, with a seated performer voicing the characters. The apprenticeship opens a history of artistic rivalry, loyalty and unfinished relationships around Yakumo.

Complete television anime · Approx. 11 hours · 25 episodes

Series · 2021

SK8 the Infinity

SK∞ エスケーエイト

Genres:Drama
Reki holds a small tool and wears his red headband.

Reki’s favourite place to skate is S, a secret race down an abandoned mine in Okinawa. Its dangerous head-to-head contests draw skaters with very different styles. His enthusiasm pulls newcomer Langa towards a world that operates well outside ordinary school sport.

Original 2021 television series · Approx. 4.8 hours · 12 episodes

Series · 2023

Skip and Loafer

スキップとローファー

Genres:Drama
Mitsumi smiles with flushed cheeks in her school uniform.

Mitsumi Iwakura moves from a small rural school to a demanding Tokyo high school with her future carefully planned. Studying comes more easily than navigating the city or reading her classmates. Her friendship with the easygoing Shima begins when the first day goes badly off schedule.

Original 2023 television season · Approx. 4.8 hours · 12 episodes

Themes & tropes:Belonging

Series · 1993

Slam Dunk

スラムダンク

Genres:Drama
Akagi gestures towards Hanamichi inside the basketball gym.

Hanamichi Sakuragi takes an interest in basketball after Haruko asks whether he likes it. Wanting to impress her, he answers yes despite his unhappy association with the sport. His attempt to enter the club quickly brings him into conflict with its captain, Haruko’s brother Akagi.

Original television series · Approx. 39 hours · 101 episodes

Mood:Driven

Series · 2021

So I'm a Spider, So What?

蜘蛛ですが、なにか?

The small white-and-pink spider raises her legs inside a cavern.

A schoolgirl is reborn as a small spider monster in a dungeon full of creatures stronger than she is. Human ingenuity has to work with an unfamiliar body: webs, traps and acquired skills become tools for staying alive. Her first problem is surviving long enough to understand her surroundings.

Complete television anime · Approx. 9.6 hours · 24 episodes

Series · 2024

Solo Leveling

俺だけレベルアップな件

A barefoot young man lies on a circular stone slab crossed by red markings.

Hunters earn a living fighting monsters inside dungeons, and their power usually stays fixed. After a disastrous raid, Sung Jinwoo gains a private system of quests that lets him grow stronger. Battles and dangerous upgrades follow his progress while other hunters continue to judge him by his old rank.

Seasons 1–2 · Approx. 10 hours · 25 episodes

Themes & tropes:Power progressionMood:Driven

Film · 2001

Spirited Away

千と千尋の神隠し

Haku stands protectively in front of Chihiro in the bathhouse.

Chihiro's parents are transformed after the family enters a place inhabited by spirits. She takes a job in Yubaba's bathhouse while trying to free them and return home. Strange customers, demanding work and unfamiliar rules make this a rescue adventure in which a frightened child has to act for herself.

Standalone film · Approx. 125 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Entering a spirit worldMood:Uncanny

Series · 2012

Sword Art Online

ソードアート・オンライン

Kirito raises a weapon above his dark coat.

Kirito enters a virtual-reality online game whose players discover that they cannot log out. Clearing the game is their route to escape, and dying inside it means dying outside it. The fantasy setting therefore becomes a place where ordinary play decisions carry physical consequences.

Main anime route · Approx. 38 hours · 96 episodes

Series · 2018

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

転生したらスライムだった件

Rimuru’s blue slime body rests on a rock inside a luminous cavern.

A man is reborn in a fantasy world as a slime, a creature usually treated as weak. His new form brings unusual abilities and encounters with other inhabitants. As Rimuru, he begins building relationships that turn an individual second chance into a community’s story.

Released television route · Approx. 38 hours · 96 episodes

Series · 2023

The Apothecary Diaries

薬屋のひとりごと

Genres:DramaMystery
A young woman in green stands beneath painted palace beams while a long-haired man looks back beside her.

Maomao wants to finish her palace service without drawing attention. When the emperor's children fall ill, she looks for a physical cause while others blame a curse. Her medical knowledge draws her into investigations where rank shapes whose answer is heard. Medical puzzles and awkward comedy develop alongside court politics.

Series · 2019

The Rising of the Shield Hero

盾の勇者の成り上がり

Naofumi stands in a green cloak with his shield raised.

University student Naofumi is summoned to another world as its Shield Hero. His equipment is built around defence, and an early betrayal leaves him short of money, support and reputation. Protecting the world becomes entangled with finding a way to function in a society that rejects him.

TV through Season 4 (2025) · Approx. 25 hours · 62 episodes

Film · 2010

The Secret World of Arrietty

借りぐらしのアリエッティ

Arrietty peers between large green leaves.

Tiny Borrowers live beneath human floorboards, gathering the supplies they need without being seen. When Arrietty is discovered by a human boy, a friendship crosses the boundary on which her hidden life depends. Familiar domestic space becomes an environment scaled to very different inhabitants.

Standalone animated film · Approx. 94 min · one film

Series · 2010

The Tatami Galaxy

四畳半神話大系

Genres:DramaFantasy
A collage of people and objects gathers around a woman in blue.

An unnamed university student imagines that choosing a different club would have given him a better campus life. Parallel versions of his student years return him to the same troublesome acquaintances and elusive romance. His search for the right choice becomes a story about the opportunities he keeps overlooking.

Complete television anime · Approx. 4.2 hours · 11 episodes

Themes & tropes:Identity and selfMood:Surreal

Series · 2002

The Twelve Kingdoms

十二国記

Yoko stands before an ensemble of people and creatures.

Yoko Nakajima is carried into another world by a stranger who calls her his ruler. Separated from him and pursued by creatures she does not understand, she must first survive. The world she has entered is divided into twelve kingdoms, each ruled through a relationship between a monarch and a kirin.

Complete television anime · Approx. 19 hours · 45 episodes

Themes & tropes:Identity and self

Film · 2013

The Wind Rises

風立ちぬ

Genres:Drama
A young Jiro in flying goggles raises a gloved hand beside an aircraft.

Jiro dreams of flight but cannot become a pilot because of his eyesight. Inspired by aircraft designer Caproni, he turns towards designing aeroplanes. Hayao Miyazaki's film follows creative ambition through a turbulent historical world in which technical achievement cannot be separated from consequential choices.

Standalone animated film · Approx. 126 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Working life

Series · 2008

Toradora!

とらドラ!

Genres:DramaRomance
Taiga raises an arm, her long hair framing her face.

Ryuuji Takasu’s intimidating appearance makes people assume he is a delinquent. Small, fierce Taiga Aisaka has a reputation of her own. A confession gone wrong draws them into an awkward alliance, with Ryuuji helping Taiga approach the friend she likes.

Complete TV series plus OVA · Approx. 10 hours · 26 episodes

Themes & tropes:Communication

Series · 2018

Violet Evergarden

ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン

Genres:Drama
Violet faces forward with an emerald brooch and a letter in her mechanical hand.

After a war, Violet Evergarden takes a job turning other people’s feelings into letters. She is also searching for the meaning of words spoken to her by someone important during the fighting. Each assignment asks her to understand an experience she cannot simply reproduce as an instruction.

2018 TV series + Extra Episode · Approx. 5.8 hours · 14 episodes

Film · 2014

When Marnie Was There

思い出のマーニー

Genres:DramaMystery
Anna stands at a train doorway with an orange and her luggage.

Shy, artistic Anna arrives by the sea and discovers an old mansion across the marshes. Its mysterious resident, Marnie, becomes an unusually close friend. Their connection draws Anna back to the house while the boundary between the familiar and the inexplicable grows uncertain.

Standalone animated film · Approx. 103 min · one film

Film · 1995

Whisper of the Heart

耳をすませば

Genres:Drama
Shizuku rests her cheek on her hand over a bowl and an open book.

Shizuku follows a mysterious cat and begins searching for a talent of her own. Seiji, a boy with a clear ambition, becomes part of that search. An antique cat figurine called the Baron opens a space where her everyday uncertainties and imagination can meet.

Standalone animated film · Approx. 111 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Identity and self

Series · 2024

Wistoria: Wand and Sword

杖と剣のウィストリア

Will looks back over his shoulder in the academy uniform.

Will studies at a magic academy despite being unable to cast magic. In a society that treats magical ability as a measure of worth, he relies on his sword and physical skill. He wants to keep a promise to someone important to him, even when teachers and classmates dismiss his route.

Two TV seasons · Approx. 9.6 hours · 24 episodes

Themes & tropes:Ambition and statusMood:Driven

Film · 2012

Wolf Children

おおかみこどもの雨と雪

Genres:DramaFantasy
Hana holds Yuki and Ame in a sunlit field.

After their father dies, Hana raises two children who can turn into wolves. She moves from the city to a rural house, learning to farm while keeping their secret. As Yuki and Ame grow, each must find a way to live between the human and animal worlds.

Standalone film · Approx. 117 min · one film

Series · 2003

Wolf’s Rain

WOLF’S RAIN

A dark-haired young man stands beside a stained stone wall.

Wolves are believed extinct, but some survive by deceiving human eyes and appearing as people. Kiba searches for a place called Paradise. His encounter with the isolated Tsume and the adaptable Hige brings different ways of surviving into a shared journey.

Complete anime · TV + concluding OVAs · Approx. 12 hours · 30 episodes

Film · 2021

Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop

サイダーのように言葉が湧き上がる

Genres:DramaRomance
A boy with headphones and a masked girl stand among townspeople beneath a bright summer sky.

Cherry writes haiku but avoids conversation; Smile makes videos but feels self-conscious about her teeth. They meet during a summer spent around a shopping centre and help an older man find a missing record. Poetry, phone messages and music give the two teenagers ways to get to know each other.

Film · 2016

Your Name

君の名は。

Two students stand against split city and countryside backgrounds beneath a comet-streaked sky.

Mitsuha's mountain-town routines and Taki's Tokyo school and restaurant shifts become each other's problem when they begin swapping bodies. Notes and rules help them manage the lives they borrow, but their mistakes also bring them closer. Practical comedy grows into a romantic mystery, carried by pop songs and sudden emotional turns.

Standalone film · Approx. 106 min · one film

Themes & tropes:Body swappingMood:Romantic