Anime like BanG Dream! Ave Mujica

GIRLS BAND CRY

Also known as Girls Band Cry.

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

Feeling out of place in the countryside, high school dropout Nina Iseri moves to Tokyo. After a rough first day and getting locked out of her apartment, she meets her favorite guitarist, Momoka Kawaragi. The two put on a street performance together and decide to start a band with three other girls. While each girl faces her own struggles, their passion for music keeps their dreams alive.



Tags: Band , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , Rock Music , Coming of Age , Full CGI , Urban , Bullying , Found Family , Tragedy , LGBTQ+ Themes , Yuri , Vocal synth , Family Life , Acting , Tanned Skin

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight

Also known as Revue Starlight.

Studio: Kinema Citrus , Pony Canyon , OVERLAP , APDREAM , TBS , Sound Team Don Juan , Nelke Planning , Bushiroad , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Music , Psychological

The franchise centers on "Starlight" — the song and dance revue troupe loved throughout the world. Karen and Hikari make a promise with each other when they're young that one day they'll stand on that stage together. Time passes, and now the girls are 16 years old. Karen is very enthusiastic about the lessons she takes every day, holding her promise close to her heart. Hikari has transferred schools and is now away from Karen. But the cogs of fate turn, and the two are destined to meet again. The girls and other "Stage Girls" will compete in a mysterious audition process to gain acceptance into the revue.



Tags: Musical Theater , Primarily Female Cast , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Acting , Meta , Female Protagonist , Fairy Tale , Battle Royale , Unrequited Love , Philosophy , Animals , School , Coming of Age , Boarding School , Henshin , Time Loop , Swordplay , Dancing , Time Manipulation , LGBTQ+ Themes , Yuri , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Revenge , Tomboy , Archery , Urban , Love Triangle , Writing , Baseball , Motorcycles , Foreign

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Movie

Also known as Revue Starlight: The Movie.

Studio: Kinema Citrus , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Music , Psychological

The stage emulates life and compresses it, setting free skills learned over lifetimes in brief but dazzling displays for the amusement and judgment of others. For the performers, it is the ultimate risk, and some will rise while others must fall. Nowhere is this truer than at the Seisho Music Academy, where music, dance and real weapons all come into play in the creation of the next great Star. Karen and Hikari’s destinies have been linked since a childhood promise, but their journeys here have taken very different paths. Now, after Hikari leaves, Karen must discover who she is without her opposite, while Hikari must rediscover her own course.



Tags: Acting , Coming of Age , Musical Theater , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , Swordplay , Meta , Primarily Teen Cast , Animals , LGBTQ+ Themes , Yuri , Trains , Dancing , Henshin , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Urban , Desert , Yandere , Archery , Athletics , Boarding School , School , Foreign , CGI , Classic Literature , Love Triangle

Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica

Also known as Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Studio: Aniplex , Shaft , Mainichi Broadcasting System , Movic , Nitroplus , Aniplex of America , Madoka Partners , Houbunsha , Manga Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Fantasy , Mahou Shoujo , Psychological , Thriller

One night, 14-year-old Madoka Kaname has a terrible nightmare - against the backdrop of a devastated city, she witnesses a girl fight a losing battle against a dreadful being lingering above, while a cat-like magical creature tells Madoka the only way to change such tragic outcome is for her to make a contract with him and become a magical girl.

The next day, the teen's dream seemingly becomes reality as the girl she saw in her dream - Homura - arrives at Mitakihara Middle School as a transfer student, mysteriously warning Madoka to stay just the way she is; but when later on she and her best friend Sayaka encounter the same cat-like magical creature from her dream - who introduces himself as Kyubey - the pair discovers that magical girls are real, and what's more, they can choose to become one. All they must do is sign a contract with Kyubey and agree to take on the duty to fight abstract beings called 'witches' that spread despair to the human world, and in return, each one of them will be granted any single wish they desire. However, as Homura's omen suggests, there might be far more to becoming a magical girl than Madoka and Sayaka realize...

Notes:
Due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the broadcasts of episodes 11 and 12 were delayed and were later aired as a double feature on April 21, 2011.

Tags: Magic , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , Witch , Primarily Female Cast , Time Manipulation , Urban Fantasy , Philosophy , Alternate Universe , Primarily Teen Cast , Kuudere , Time Loop , Coming of Age , Henshin , Survival , Aliens , Yuri , Urban , Primarily Child Cast , Ensemble Cast , Gods , Anti-Hero , Spearplay , Suicide , Achronological Order , Love Triangle , Guns , Archery , LGBTQ+ Themes , Heterosexual , Mixed Media , School , Tomboy , Anthropomorphism

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Also known as Umineko: When They Cry.

Studio: NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan , Studio DEEN , Frontier Works , Movic , NIS America Inc.
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Horror , Mystery , Psychological , Supernatural

Considered as the third installment in the highly popular "When They Cry" series by 07th Expansion, Umineko no Naku Koro ni takes place on the island of Rokkenjima (六軒島), owned by the immensely wealthy Ushiromiya family. As customary per year, the entire family is gathering on the island for a conference that discusses the current financial situations of each respective person. Because of the family head's poor health, this year involves the topic of the head of the family’s inheritance and how it will be distributed.

However, the family is unaware that the distribution of his wealth is the least of Ushiromiya Kinzo's (family head) concerns for this year's family conference. After being told that his end was approaching by his longtime friend and physician, Kinzo is desperate to meet his life's true love one last time: the Golden Witch, Beatrice. Having immersed himself in black magic for many of the later years in his life, Kinzo instigates a ceremony to revive his beloved upon his family's arrival on Rokkenjima. Soon after, a violent typhoon traps the family on the island and a string of mysterious murders commence, forcing the eighteen people on the island to fight for their lives in a deadly struggle between fantasy and reality.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tags: Tragedy , Death Game , Achronological Order , Witch , Magic , Detective , Ojou-sama , Butler , Alternate Universe , Gore , Primarily Adult Cast , Ensemble Cast , Meta , Maids , Male Protagonist , Dissociative Identities , Guns , Crossover , Bar , Demons , LGBTQ+ Themes , Transgender , Kuudere , Time Skip , Tsundere

Onii-sama e...

Also known as Dear Brother.

Studio: NHK , NHK Enterprises , Tezuka Productions
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological

Before leaving her cram school, Nanako Misonō asks one of the teachers if they can become pen-pals. The teacher, Takehiko Henmi, is reluctant at first, but eventually accepts the offer. The story is narrated through the letters sent from Nanako as she enters Seiran, a renowned private high school for girls only. There she encounters many difficulties as an ordinary middle-class girl invited to the prestigious Sorority, the most traditional and sophisticated club on campus..



Tags: Shoujo , Boarding School , Tragedy , School , Ojou-sama , Coming of Age , Bullying , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , LGBTQ+ Themes , Yuri , Tomboy , Suicide , Drugs , Heterosexual , Villainess , Trains , Basketball

Shoujo Kakumei Utena

Also known as Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Studio: J.C.STAFF , TV Tokyo , The Right Stuf International , Central Park Media , Yomiuri Advertising , SoftX
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Mystery , Psychological , Romance

Just after Utena's parents died, she was consoled by a prince who gave her a ring with a rose crest on it. Utena was so impressed by the Prince that she vowed to become one herself one day. A few years later, Utena is attending Ohtori Academy where she gives all the teachers headaches because she dresses in a boy's uniform so she can be like the prince she met long ago.

After Utena's friend is insulted by a member of the Student Council, Utena fights in a duel for her friend's honor. Utena's rose crest allows her to enter the dueling arena, where Utena wins the duel and becomes engaged to the Rose Bride. Unknowingly, Utena is pulled into a series of duels with other members of the Student Council for the possession of the Rose Bride. As she becomes fond of Anthy, the Rose Bride, she must fight to keep her friend safe and to discover the horrifying secret behind Ohtori Academy.



Tags: Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Philosophy , Fairy Tale , LGBTQ+ Themes , Tomboy , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Incest , Swordplay , Yuri , Tragedy , Psychosexual , Time Loop , Bisexual , Surreal Comedy , Age Gap , School , Witch , Conspiracy , Memory Manipulation , Ojou-sama , Henshin , Meta , Love Triangle , Fencing , Episodic , Crossdressing , Magic , Bullying , Kuudere , Boarding School , Twins , Suicide , Boys' Love , Astronomy , Aliens , Athletics , Body Swapping , Politics , Cheating

Hibike! Euphonium

Also known as Sound! Euphonium.

Studio: Kyoto Animation , Pony Canyon , Lantis , Rakuonsha
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Slice of Life

Spring in the first year of high school. Kumiko, a member of the brass band in junior high school, visits the high school brass band club with classmates Hazuki and Sapphire. There, she comes across Reina, her former classmate from junior high. Hazuki and Sapphire decide to join the club, but Kumiko can’t make up her mind. She recollects her experience with Reina at a competition in junior high school.



Tags: Band , School Club , Female Protagonist , Coming of Age , School , Primarily Teen Cast , Primarily Female Cast , Ensemble Cast , Classical Music , Unrequited Love , LGBTQ+ Themes , Love Triangle

Rozen Maiden (2013)

Also known as Rozen Maiden: Zurückspulen.

Studio: Studio DEEN , TBS , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama

Each decision we make in life leads us down a different path. Have you ever wondered what would be if the path not chosen weren't lost to the chaos of the universe? For Jun Sakurada, just such an opportunity is presented to him in his darkest hour: a chance to communicate with a future version of himself who did not win the key and bring forth the Rozen Maidens, and a chance to fix the shattered remains of his own world.

For Jun-who-did-not-win, the messages from his younger self represent a beacon of light in his mediocre and disappointing existence. When the adult Jun discovers a box with parts and building instructions for a familiar red-dressed doll, the goal becomes clear: revive Shinku in his world to save both worlds from succumbing to the evils of Kirakisho, the seventh Rozen Maiden in a desperate search for a body and master. The Alice Game will become a war of dimensions as two worlds hang by the threads of fate.



Tags: Magic , Battle Royale , Primarily Female Cast , Urban Fantasy , Seinen , Alternate Universe , Anthropomorphism , Ojou-sama , Male Protagonist , College , Kuudere , Time Skip , Urban , Hikikomori , Heterosexual , Rehabilitation , Super Power , Tsundere

Shingetsutan Tsukihime

Also known as Lunar Legend Tsukihime.

Studio: J.C.STAFF , TBS , Movic , Geneon Entertainment , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Horror , Mystery , Romance , Supernatural

Shiki Tohno sustained a life threatening injury as a child, and due to that incident he was sent away from the Tohno household and was given to a relative to be raised. Years later, when Shiki is in high school, the head of the Tohno household—his father—dies, and he is ordered to move back in by his sister Akiha, who is the new head of the household. However, Shiki holds a huge secret. Ever since that injury, he has been seeing lines on objects, and only with a special pair of glasses is he able to stop seeing them. Also he is unable to remember anything well from the time before his accident. The day he moves back to the Tohno household is the day he stumbles upon a woman named Arcueid Brunstud and decapitates her with one stab of his knife in a temporary fit of insanity. When she suddenly showed up beside him later alive and well, and ask him to be her bodyguard, Shiki's journey to unravel the mysteries of his past begins.



Tags: Vampire , Super Power , Adoption , Urban Fantasy , Amnesia , Gore , Nun , Maids , Heterosexual , Memory Manipulation , Male Protagonist , Reincarnation , Revenge , Female Protagonist , Dissociative Identities , Twins , Kuudere