Anime like Cowboy Bebop

Samurai Champloo

Also known as Samurai Champloo.

Studio: Manglobe , Fuji TV
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy

Let's break it down. Mugen's a reckless sword-slinger with a style that's more b-boy than Shaolin. He's got a nasty streak that makes people want to stick a knife in his throat. Then there's Jin, a deadbeat ronin who speaks softly but carries a big blade. He runs game old-school style, but he can make your blood spray with the quickness. When these roughnecks bring the ruckus, it ain't good for anybody, especially them. Enter Fuu, the ditzy waitress who springs her new friends from a deadly jam. All she wants in return is help solving a riddle from her past. She and the boys are tracking the scent, but there's 99 ways to die between them and the sunflower samurai.



Tags: Travel , Swordplay , Samurai , Rural , Historical , Orphan , Martial Arts , Anachronism , Episodic , Assassins , Primarily Adult Cast , Male Protagonist , Female Protagonist , Anti-Hero , Prostitution , Kuudere , Tanned Skin , Politics , Drugs , Yakuza , Ninja , Religion , Heterosexual , Crossdressing , Nudity , Language Barrier , Zombie , Noir , Baseball , LGBTQ+ Themes

TRIGUN

Also known as Trigun.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Nippon Victor , Arts Pro , Funimation
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy , Drama , Sci-Fi

Vash the Stampede is a wanted man with a habit of turning entire towns into rubble. The price on his head is a fortune, and his path of destruction reaches across the arid wastelands of a desert planet. Unfortunately, most encounters with the spiky-haired gunslinger don't end well for the bounty hunters who catch up with him; someone almost always gets hurt - and it's never Vash.

Oddly enough, for such an infamous fugitive, there's no proof that he's ever taken a life. In fact, he's a pacifist with a doughnut obsession who's more doofus than desperado. There's a whole lot more to him than his reputation lets on - Vash the Stampede definitely ain't your typical outlaw.



Tags: Guns , Fugitive , Male Protagonist , Philosophy , Incest , Primarily Adult Cast , Crime , Travel , Tragedy , Desert , Steampunk , Post-Apocalyptic , Shounen , Episodic , Twins , Aliens , Cowboys , Space , Slapstick , Religion , Body Horror

GREAT PRETENDER

Also known as Great Pretender.

Studio: Wit Studio , Fuji TV , Production I.G , Toho , BS Fuji , Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama , Thriller

Self-styled “Japan's greatest swindler” Makoto Edamura is mainly targeting elder people and occasional foreign travelers. But when he tries to scam an apparently clueless French tourist in Tokyo, he can't possibly imagine that what looked like just another ordinary job is going to take him all the way to Los Angeles, tied upside-down on the famous Hollywood sign… And he is yet to find out what fate awaits him!



Tags: Crime , Anti-Hero , Foreign , Primarily Adult Cast , Male Protagonist , Urban , Language Barrier , Work , Mafia , Filmmaking , Drawing , Drugs , Gangs , Triads , Football , Acting , Bisexual , Heterosexual , Aviation , Tragedy , Slavery , Tomboy , Detective , Nudity , Tanned Skin , War , Mahjong , Baseball , Guns , Terrorism , Boys' Love

Space☆Dandy

Also known as Space Dandy.

Studio: bones
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Sci-Fi

The story of the anime revolves around Dandy, an alien-hunter. His job is to seek out new aliens never seen before, and receives a reward whenever he finds a new species. His mission is to find those new species faster than anyone else as he travels the galaxy. Together with the bucket-of-bolts robot QT and the dimwit alien Meow he picked up along the way, he comes into contact with new planets and their inhabitants..



Tags: Space , Surreal Comedy , Episodic , Aliens , Parody , Philosophy , Space Opera , Robots , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Meta , Achronological Order , Primarily Male Cast , Zombie , Surfing , Mixed Gender Harem , Kaiju , Yuri

BLACK LAGOON

Also known as Black Lagoon.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Funimation , Selecta Visión , Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Thriller

Okajima Rokuro is a Japanese businessman in a town full of Japanese businessmen. His normal day consists of social drinking with clients and being kicked around by his bosses. He finally gets a break though, as he's sent by his company to the tropical seas of Eastern China to deliver a disc. But his boat gets hijacked by a band of mercenaries hired to retrieve the disc. Rock (as he is newly dubbed by his captors) catches the interest of the only female merc Revy as she thinks he's worth a ransom, taking him hostage. However, the disc that was stolen has a terrible secret that's unknown to Rock, which causes massive confusion and chaos for both him and his kidnappers.

Tags: Crime , Seinen , Guns , Primarily Adult Cast , Pirates , Anti-Hero , Gangs , Travel , Ensemble Cast , Mafia , Assassins , Female Protagonist , Tomboy , Foreign , Ships , Military , Episodic , Male Protagonist , Triads , Noir , Maids , Politics , Nudity , Nun , Gore

Baccano!

Also known as Baccano!.

Studio: Aniplex , Brain's Base , Aniplex of America , Sakura Create , Happinet Pictures
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mystery , Supernatural

During the early 1930s in Chicago, the transcontinental train, Flying Pussyfoot, is starting its legendary journey that will leave a trail of blood all over the country. At the same time in New York, the ambitious scientist Szilard and his unwilling aide Ennis, are looking for missing bottles of the immortality elixir. In addition, a war between the mafia groups is getting worse. On board the Advena Avis, in 1711, alchemists are about to learn the price of immortality.

Based on the award winning light novels of the same name, this anime adaptation follows several events that initially seem unrelated, both in time and place, but are part of a much bigger story—one of alchemy, survival and immortality. Merging these events together are the kindhearted would-be thieves, Isaac and Miria, connecting various people, all of them with their own hidden ambitions and agendas, and creating lifelong bonds and consequences for everyone involved.



Tags: Mafia , Ensemble Cast , Crime , Achronological Order , Historical , Trains , Urban Fantasy , Foreign , Noir , Primarily Adult Cast , Alchemy , Guns , Gore , Travel , Urban , Demons , Meta , Disability , Surreal Comedy , Vore

Michiko to Hatchin

Also known as Michiko & Hatchin.

Studio: Manglobe , Media Factory , Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures , Shouchiku , Fuji TV , Yomiko Advertising
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure

After escaping from prison, the criminal Michiko rescues an abused girl known as Hatchin. The two are about as opposite as they come, but their fates become intertwined through the connection of a man from both their pasts. On the run from the police and Hatchin's abusive foster parents, the unlikely duo set out to find this man and ultimately discover their freedom.



Tags: Crime , Fugitive , Tanned Skin , Female Protagonist , Gangs , Foreign , Travel , Anti-Hero , Tomboy , Urban , Primarily Female Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Guns , Police , Found Family , Mopeds , Episodic , Parenthood , Coming of Age , Drugs , Nudity , Martial Arts , Tragedy , Unrequited Love , Circus , Crossdressing , Time Skip , Femboy

Lupin III

Also known as Lupin the 3rd.

Studio: Tokyo Movie Shinsha , Discotek
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Comedy

Hard-boiled, cocky, classy and silly. These words only begin to describe the amazing master thief Lupin the Third. With the help of some quick gunplay by his partner Jigen, Lupin takes on the world in elaborate heists, classic car chases, and nasty explosions. Fujiko, a buxom redhead with a penchant for betrayal, always gets tangled up in Lupin's capers. The stoic but swift swordsman Goemon is just as inclined to kill Lupin as he is to help him. And Lupin can never seem to lose the relentless Tokyo Police Inspector Zenigata. What sort of trouble will this band of misfits get into next?



Tags: Seinen , Anti-Hero , Fugitive , Episodic , Crime , Male Protagonist , Guns , Primarily Adult Cast , Mafia , Detective , Cars , Police , Samurai , Travel , Crossdressing , Football , Yakuza , Prison

Koukaku Kidoutai: STAND ALONE COMPLEX

Also known as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

Studio: Production I.G , Kodansha , Trilogy Future Studio , Bandai Entertainment , Tokuma Shoten
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mystery , Psychological , Sci-Fi

In the not so distant future, mankind has advanced to a state where complete body transplants from flesh to machine is possible. This allows for great increases in both physical and cybernetic prowess and blurring the lines between the two worlds. However, criminals can also make full use of such technology, leading to new and sometimes, very dangerous crimes. In response to such innovative new methods, the Japanese Government has established Section 9, an independently operating police unit which deals with such highly sensitive crimes.

Led by Daisuke Aramaki and Motoko Kusanagi, Section 9 deals with such crimes over the entire social spectrum, usually with success. However, when faced with a new A level hacker nicknamed “The Laughing Man”, the team is thrown into a dangerous cat and mouse game, following the hacker’s trail as it leaves its mark on Japan.



Tags: Cyberpunk , Police , Politics , Episodic , Robots , Philosophy , Crime , Artificial Intelligence , Cyborg , Work , Urban , Military , Detective , Seinen , Conspiracy , Female Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Dystopian , Memory Manipulation , Real Robot , Ensemble Cast , Guns , CGI , Kuudere , Body Swapping , Gore , Bisexual

Seihou Bukyou Outlaw Star

Also known as Outlaw Star.

Studio: Sunrise , Sotsu , Victor Entertainment , Bandai Entertainment , Selecta Visión
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy , Sci-Fi

Gene Starwind is a jack-of-all-trades responsible for odd jobs and bounty hunting with his partner, Jim Hawking. Stuck on a rundown planet, he’s going nowhere fast. But when a bodyguard job goes sideways, he finds himself the proud owner of the Outlaw Star and on an adventure to find the mysterious Galactic Leyline. Facing pirates and dangers galore, can he survive the journey through space?



Tags: Space , Artificial Intelligence , Assassins , Male Protagonist , Aliens , Primarily Adult Cast , Pirates , Seinen , Guns , Lost Civilization , Nekomimi , Space Opera , Tomboy , Magic