Anime like Bakuman.

SHIROBAKO

Also known as SHIROBAKO.

Studio: P.A.WORKS
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Slice of Life

Once upon a time, five girls made an animated film and it was so much fun that they pledged to get jobs in animation so that someday they could make another film together. Now, two years later, Aoi, Shizuka, Ema, Misa and Midori have learned the truth about the anime industry: it's not always fun, it's anything but easy, and having talent isn't always enough to open the right doors.

Which is why Aoi's overwhelmed by her job as a production assistant, Shizuka's waiting on tables between auditions, Midori's currently scriptless, Misa's switched to C.G., and Ema's working long hours as a key animator. Is it what they imagined? No. But are they ready to give up? Not just yet! Sometimes, when things happen in animation, they can happen in the most wonderful ways!



Tags: Work , Primarily Adult Cast , Drawing , Female Protagonist , Ensemble Cast , Meta , Otaku Culture , Educational , Office Lady , Primarily Female Cast , Coming of Age , Office , Acting , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Cars , Kuudere , Primarily Teen Cast

Blue Period

Also known as Blue Period.

Studio: Seven Arcs , DMM music , Kodansha , DMM pictures , Mainichi Broadcasting System , Bit Grooove Promotion , Netflix
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

The studious Yatora leaves a dry life of study and good manners behind for a new passion: painting. But untethering yourself from all your past expectations is dangerous as well as thrilling…



Note: The anime premiered on Netflix on Sep 25, 2021 in Japan. The TV broadcast started on Oct 2, 2021.

Tags: Drawing , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , School , Primarily Teen Cast , Educational , Seinen , Philosophy , School Club , Time Skip , Urban , Bisexual , Transgender , LGBTQ+ Themes , Crossdressing , Femboy , Nudity

Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na!

Also known as Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!.

Studio: Science SARU , Crunchyroll , NHK Enterprises , Shogakukan , Warner Bros. Japan
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Comedy , Slice of Life

First year high schooler Midori Asakusa loves anime so much, she insists that "concept is everything" in animation. Though she draws a variety of ideas in her sketchbook, she hasn't taken the first step to creating anime, insisting that she can't do it alone. The producer-type Sayaka Kanamori is the first to notice Asakusa's genius. Then, when it becomes clear that their classmate, charismatic fashion model Tsubame Mizusaki, really wants to be an animator, they create an animation club to realize the "ultimate world" that exists in their minds.



Tags: Drawing , School Club , Primarily Teen Cast , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Otaku Culture , Urban , Surreal Comedy , Coming of Age , Educational , Urban Fantasy , Seinen , Tanned Skin , Filmmaking , Ensemble Cast , Meta , Tomboy

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 , Work , Time Manipulation , Rotoscoping , Autobiographical , School , LGBTQ+ Themes , Shounen , Rural

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Also known as Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun.

Studio: Doga Kobo , Sentai Filmworks , Sony Music Communications , AT-X , TV Tokyo , Frontier Works , Media Factory
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Romance , Slice of Life

You know how the story goes: girl crushes on guy, girl confesses feelings to guy, guy mistakes confession for a job application. Okay, maybe that's not how it usually goes, but that's what happens when Chiyo Sakura finally gets up the nerve to tell her classroom crush Nozaki how she feels. Since she doesn't know that he's secretly a manga artist who publishes under a female pen name, and he doesn't know that she doesn't know, he misunderstands and offers her a chance to work as his assistant instead of a date! But while it's not flowers and dancing, it is a chance to get closer to him, so Chiyo gamely accepts. And when Nozaki realizes how useful Chiyo can be in figuring out what girls find romantic, he'll be spending even more time with her "researching" while remaining completely clueless. Could Chiyo's romantic frustration possibly get any more drawn out of proportion?



Tags: Parody , Slapstick , Drawing , Ensemble Cast , School , Unrequited Love , Otaku Culture , Female Protagonist , Work , Gender Bending , Heterosexual , Tomboy , Primarily Teen Cast , School Club , Shounen , Tsundere , Educational , Crossdressing

Uchuu Kyoudai

Also known as Space Brothers.

Studio: Aniplex , Dentsu , A-1 Pictures , YTV , Sentai Filmworks , Trinity Sound
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Sci-Fi , Slice of Life

Mutta's life has hit rock bottom. He's been fired, blackballed from his profession and now he's had to move back in with his parents. Meanwhile, his kid brother Hibito has been literally riding a rocket and training to be an astronaut. The same career Mutta once dreamed of. So, is it ever too late to go after your dreams? Through a little coercing and a bit of covert activity, Mutta's family and friends can get his resume on the right desk, but from that point on it will be up to Mutta himself. Does he have what it takes to turn his life around and put his footprint on the moon? The first step on the highway to the stars is always the hardest, and in a job where crash and burn isn't just a euphemism, it will be the biggest risk Mutta's ever taken. But with the best support team ever, maybe he'll find what he needs to rekindle the spark inside him and light the biggest candle of them all!



Tags: Space , Work , Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Ensemble Cast , Male Protagonist , Aviation , Astronomy , Tragedy , Educational , Age Gap , Foreign , CGI , Robots , Rescue

Kakushigoto

Also known as Kakushigoto.

Studio: Ajiado , Funimation , A-Sketch , Studio Mausu , Dentsu , AT-X , TOKYO MX , Kodansha , GREE
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Single father Kakushi Gotou has a secret. He’s a top-selling artist of popular erotic manga, but his impressionable young daughter, Hime, can never find out! Now he’s having to bend over backwards just to keep her inquisitive little mind from discovering what he does for a living. A father-daughter tale of love and laughter.



Tags: Family Life , Work , Drawing , Coming of Age , Parenthood , Time Skip , Meta , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Slapstick , Female Protagonist , Amnesia , Male Protagonist , Achronological Order , Shounen

Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to THE ANIMATION

Also known as The Comic Artist & His Assistants.

Studio: ZEXCS
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Ecchi , Romance , Slice of Life

A life description about the mangaka Aito Yuuki and his assistant Ashisu Sahoto.
Aito doesn't understand the feelings of the characters on his stories. So he asks Ashisu to help him. Ashisu would do everything for the work. She would even let him touch her breast so he will know how it feels like?!

The Habit?! The Pervert?! Can we understand them? That's the comedy of a mangaka life.

Tags: Female Harem , Episodic , Drawing , Slapstick , Male Protagonist , Seinen , Work , Tsundere , Heterosexual , Primarily Adult Cast , Primarily Female Cast , Crossdressing

DEATH NOTE

Also known as Death Note.

Studio: MADHOUSE , VAP , Viz Media , Nippon Television Network , Konami , Ashi Productions , Shueisha , Selecta Visión
Status: Finished
Genres: Mystery , Psychological , Supernatural , Thriller

Light Yagami is a genius high school student who is about to learn about life through a book of death. When a bored shinigami, a God of Death, named Ryuk drops a black notepad called a Death Note, Light receives power over life and death with the stroke of a pen. Determined to use this dark gift for the best, Light sets out to rid the world of evil… namely, the people he believes to be evil. Should anyone hold such power?

The consequences of Light’s actions will set the world ablaze.



Tags: Crime , Detective , Anti-Hero , Male Protagonist , Fugitive , Police , Philosophy , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Kuudere , Gods , Memory Manipulation , Urban Fantasy , Primarily Male Cast , Urban , Unrequited Love , Amnesia , Espionage , Shounen , Yandere , Suicide , Tennis , Acting , Feet , Time Skip , Assassins , Achronological Order , Asexual

Bakuman. 3

Studio: J.C.STAFF , Media Blasters
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi have come a long way since they started making manga in middle school, but trials still await them as they head towards their goal of getting an anime adaptation for one of their manga. As they continue to grow as artists and as people, they will be faced with new friends, new rivals, and new hurdles to overcome.



Tags: Writing , Drawing , Coming of Age , Meta , Work , Male Protagonist , Shounen , Heterosexual , Ensemble Cast , Educational