Anime like Anne Shirley

Alps no Shoujo Heidi

Also known as Heidi, Girl of the Alps.

Studio: Fuji TV , Nippon Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

After becoming an orphan, Heidi is forced to live with her grandfather Öhi, who lives in the Alps. She learns he's a very bitter man who only accepted by force to take her in. But Heidi's kindness may be able to open his heart. Together with the shepherd Peter and invalid Klara, she has lots of adventures.



Tags: Classic Literature , Rural , Foreign , Rehabilitation , Female Protagonist , Historical , Kids , Primarily Child Cast , Coming of Age , Animals , Urban , Family Life , Agriculture , Orphan , Philosophy , School

Alps no Shoujo Heidi (1979)

Also known as The Story of Heidi.

Studio: Nippon Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Condensed version of the entire TV series where all the voice actors, except for Heidi and the grandfather, were replaced.

Tags: Classic Literature , Historical , Foreign , Female Protagonist

Kaze no Shoujo Emily

Studio: TMS Entertainment , NHK , NHK Enterprises
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Based on the Emily of New Moon novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Emily is an orphan who gets sent to live with her relatives on Prince Edward Island, after her father dies. In New Moon she lives with her Aunt Elizabeth, Aunt Laura, and Cousin Jimmy, and learns to adapt with the help of her imagination and new friends.




Tags: Historical , Female Protagonist , Rural , Classic Literature , Coming of Age , Tragedy , Primarily Child Cast , Family Life , Writing , Tomboy , Foreign , Bullying , School , Time Skip , Primarily Female Cast , Love Triangle , Animals , Ojou-sama , Heterosexual , Orphan

Kaguya-hime no Monogatari

Also known as The Tale of The Princess Kaguya.

Studio: Studio Ghibli
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Romance

Okina is a bamboo cutter in ancient rural Japan. One day in the forest, he finds a tiny baby in the folds of a bamboo shoot. He brings the creature home to his wife Ounaa and they decide to keep her and raise her as a princess. She is clearly not of this world. Kaguya grows at an unnatural rate, soon maturing into an uncommonly beautiful young woman. Since Okina has now also found a cache of gold and treasure in the forest, every suitor wants Kaguya. But this is not a fairy tale of courtship and marriage.



Tags: Philosophy , Classic Literature , Tragedy , Fairy Tale , Historical , Female Protagonist , Rural , Family Life , Gods , Religion , Primarily Adult Cast , Amnesia , Travel , Agriculture , Adoption , Heterosexual , Unrequited Love , Environmental , Calligraphy

Ashita no Nadja

Studio: Toei Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Romance

This story takes place about one hundred years ago. Nadja is a bright, cheerful girl who was raised in an orphanage near London, England. Nadja was entrusted to the orphanage when she was a baby. So she thought her father and mother were dead. But before her thirteenth birthday, she found out that her mother might be alive..

Nadja sets out on a journey to find her mother! With all of Europe as the stage, Nadja's exciting adventure begins!



Tags: Foreign , Historical , Female Protagonist , Circus , Coming of Age , Twins , Episodic , Work , Found Family , Travel , Class Struggle , Heterosexual , Love Triangle , Disability , Dancing , Male Harem , CGI , Animals , Band , Detective , Shoujo

Candy Candy

Also known as Candy Candy.

Studio: Toei Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

This story is about a girl, Candy, who is a orphan. She is a nice and optimistic girl and she has a warm heart. When she was a child, she lived in an orphanage called Pony's Home. She had a good friend called Ann. And she met the "handsome boy on the hill" who is a important person in her life, on the hill behind the orphanage.

She was adopted by the Loka's family. What's awaiting her are the bad-hearted Leo and his sister, Eliza. One day, in the rose garden, she met a boy, who is identical to the "handsome boy on the hill" who she had met in her childhood. The boy is called Antony. Thereafter, a fantastic story that she has never expected begins.



Tags: Shoujo , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , Historical , Coming of Age , Foreign , Medicine , Orphan , Love Triangle , War , Bullying , Adoption , Work , Ojou-sama , Suicide , Amnesia , Nun , School , Fugitive

Omoide Poro Poro

Also known as Only Yesterday.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , Tokuma Shoten , GKIDS
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

Taeko Okajima is a typical "office lady" in a big company in a big city. When she takes a sabbatical to the countryside in Yamagata Prefecture, the hometown of her brother-in-law, the journey recalled her memory of her 5th grade year. During her stay in Yamagata, she works hard and happily as a farmer and is surrounded by friendly relatives and villagers, bringing up more memories. Their hospitality makes her to reconsider her choice of life.



Tags: Female Protagonist , Iyashikei , Rural , Coming of Age , Biographical , Philosophy , Family Life , Agriculture , Josei , Historical , Travel , School , Heterosexual , Acting , Baseball , Cohabitation

Ai Shoujo Pollyanna Story

Studio: Nippon Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Motherless since birth, Pollyanna was an ordinary happy-go-lucky girl, leaving peacefully with her father, the vicar. Then one day her life changes completely when her father dies and she has to live with her aunt whom she has never met before. In the beginning, she seems to be detested by her but as time passes, they develop a very strong bond.



Tags: Foreign , Historical , Family Life , Female Protagonist , Rural , Classic Literature , Kids , Primarily Child Cast , Adoption , Found Family , Orphan , Rehabilitation , Estranged Family , Heterosexual , Tragedy , Homeless

Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari

Also known as Tales of Little Women.

Studio: Nippon Animation , Saban Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Meg, faithful and gentle, Jo, independent and energetic, Beth, quiet and shy, Amy, amiable and precocious–the four sisters live vigorously and happily at home with their gentle mother while waiting for their father to return from the Civil War. Helping each other, they challenge their fates and grow up to become wonderful women.

Tags: Classic Literature , Historical , Family Life , Foreign , Primarily Female Cast , Travel , Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Writing , Tsundere

Fruits Basket: 1st Season

Also known as Fruits Basket (2019).

Studio: TMS Entertainment , Funimation , TV Tokyo
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Slice of Life , Supernatural

Tohru Honda thought her life was headed for misfortune when a family tragedy left her living in a tent. When her small home is discovered by the mysterious Soma clan, she suddenly finds herself living with Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure Soma. But she quickly learns their family has a bizarre secret of their own: when hugged by the opposite sex, they turn into the animals of the Zodiac!



Tags: Found Family , Urban Fantasy , Female Protagonist , Family Life , Shoujo , Mythology , Coming of Age , Fairy Tale , Primarily Teen Cast , Ensemble Cast , Shapeshifting , Orphan , Rehabilitation , Curses , Animals , Delinquents , Yandere , Unrequited Love , School Club , Homeless , Primarily Male Cast , Kuudere , Heterosexual , Cohabitation , Slapstick , Episodic , School , Male Harem , Bullying , Tsundere , Memory Manipulation , Suicide , Denpa , Philosophy , Femboy , Agriculture , Gender Bending , Crossdressing , Gangs , LGBTQ+ Themes , Nudity , Body Horror , Nekomimi , Kemonomimi , Amnesia , Chibi , Card Battle