Anime like Aka no Kioku

Look Back

Also known as LOOK BACK.

Studio: Studio Durian , Avex Pictures
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Ayumu Fujino is a fourth grader who draws a manga strip for the school newspaper. Her art makes her the star of the class, but one day she's told that Kyomoto, a student who refuses to come to school, would also like to submit a manga for the paper...



Tags: Drawing , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , Coming of Age , Otaku Culture , Primarily Female Cast , Philosophy , Meta , Hikikomori , Time Manipulation , Work , Rotoscoping , Autobiographical , School , LGBTQ+ Themes , Shounen , Rural

Shishigari

Studio: Studio Durian
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure

Deep in the northern mountains, there are people who have been living with the blessings of the mountains. A boy, who is coming of age, journeys into the mountains for his first hunt. He must find the "Kuroshishi." The mountain is a world where life and death are divided by a paper-thin line. Sometimes, nature will show its fangs...



Tags: No Dialogue , Survival , Coming of Age

Garden of Remembrance

Studio: Science SARU , Avex Pictures
Status: Finished
Genres: Music

Beer cans and a whisky glass are placed in an open space on the floor. Though a bit disorganized, ”Your” room is filled with art supplies and an electric guitar lining the perimeter of the room.

The alarm on a phone goes off, and “You” leisurely wake up to start your day.

The anemone flower that “I” liked. A precious flower that holds memories which tie “You” and “I” together. After opening your bedroom closet one day, “You” become engrossed in your memories of "Me." A story that represents “Me,” “You,” our “Childhood Friend,” and our goodbyes.



Tags: No Dialogue , Drawing , Female Protagonist , Heterosexual , Food

Genius Party

Studio: Horipro , Studio 4°C
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Fantasy , Mecha , Music , Psychological , Romance , Sci-Fi

An anthology of seven short animated films from Studio 4°C:

1.) Genius Party (directed by Atsuko Fukushima)
A bizarre bird-like creature runs through a barren desert and finds what seems to be a smiling egg lying on the ground.

2.) Shanghai Dragon (directed by Shouji Kawamori)
An imaginative Chinese boy finds a futuristic device that can make his own drawings come to life. After discovering the device, the town he lives in is about to be invaded by spaceships and machines of mass destruction that are all centuries ahead of Earth's time.

3.) Deathtic 4 (directed by Shinji Kimura)
A tale set in a world full of zombies, living their normal zombie lives. A living frog falls from the blackened sky of the zombie world, and a little zombie boy with his friends try to bring the living creature back to its own world.

4.) Doorbell (directed by Youji Fukuyama)
The main character is a ghost in his own world. He must outrun the other versions of himself, or they will take over his life.

5.) Limit Cycle (directed by Hideki Futamura)
An existential examination of the world as seen through the lens of a man seemingly trapped in an endless cycle of work.

6.) Happy Machine (directed by Masaaki Yuasa)
An infant who is happily secured in his own nursery suddenly discovers that everything about the nursery is fake. Soon the infant is forced out of the nursery into the world that exists outside, where adventure awaits, and there are many alien-like creatures to encounter.

7.) Baby Blue (directed by Shinichirou Watanabe)
A small adventure of two young students who decide to go anywhere they can for just one day, to enjoy that day without caring about the rest, and simply be together.



Tags: Anthology , CGI , Zombie , Aliens , Nudity , Episodic