Anime like Dennou Coil

serial experiments lain

Also known as Serial Experiments Lain.

Studio: TV Tokyo , NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan , Genco , Funimation , Triangle Staff , Pioneer LDC , TV Tokyo Music , Fujipacific Music
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological , Sci-Fi , Supernatural

We're all connected... There is the world around us, a world of people, tactile sensation, and culture. There is the wired world, inside the computer, of images, personalities, virtual experiences, and a culture all of its own. The day after a classmate commits suicide, Lain, a 14-year-old girl, discovers how closely the two worlds are linked when she receives an e-mail from the dead girl: I just abandoned my body. I still live here...

Has the line between the real world and the wired world begun to blur?



Tags: Denpa , Virtual World , Philosophy , Dissociative Identities , Augmented Reality , Female Protagonist , Memory Manipulation , Artificial Intelligence , Software Development , Cyberpunk , Gods , Cosmic Horror , Conspiracy , Cult , Video Games , Suicide , Religion , Urban , Meta , Tragedy , Primarily Female Cast , Amnesia , Afterlife , Adoption , Orphan , POV , Anti-Hero , Drugs , Trains , Aliens , School , Death Game , Age Gap , Bullying , Zombie

Chikyuugai Shounen Shoujo

Also known as The Orbital Children.

Studio: Production +h , Netflix , Avex Pictures
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Sci-Fi

The anime is set in 2045, where the Internet and AI are commonplace even in space, and centers on a group of children stranded in space after a large-scale accident occurs in a space station. By using narrowband, social networking, and a drone that they can manipulate through smartphones and low-intelligence AI, they overcome many crises.



Note: Also released in Japan as a 2-part film series with the same content, the first part showing in theaters simultaneously with the worldwide Netflix release.

Tags: Space , Artificial Intelligence , Survival , Conspiracy , Primarily Child Cast , Software Development , Robots , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Ensemble Cast , Philosophy , Terrorism , Disability , Environmental , Suicide

Shinsekai yori

Also known as From the New World.

Studio: Aniplex , TV Asahi , A-1 Pictures , Pony Canyon , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Horror , Mystery , Psychological , Sci-Fi , Supernatural

Following a sudden outbreak of psychokinesis in 0.1% of the population, a rapid transformation swept the world. The godlike ability to manipulate matter remotely turned many power wielders to violence, inciting a long period of upheaval. Finally, after a chaotic era shaped by the rise and fall of oppressive regimes, the psychic humans were able to achieve a fragile peace by isolating their society, creating a new world bound by complex rules.

In the town of Kamisu 66, 12-year-old Saki Watanabe has just awakened to her powers and is relieved to rejoin her friends—the mischievous Satoru Asahina, the shy Mamoru Itou, the cheerful Maria Akizuki, and Shun Aonuma, a mysterious boy whom Saki admires—at Sage Academy, a special school for psychics. However, unease looms as Saki begins to question the fate of those unable to awaken to their powers, and the children begin to get involved with secretive matters such as the rumored Tainted Cats said to abduct children.

Shinsekai yori tells the unique coming-of-age story of Saki and her friends as they journey to grow into their roles in the supposed utopia. Accepting these roles, however, might not come easy when faced with the dark and shocking truths of society, and the impending havoc born from the new world.



Tags: Class Struggle , Dystopian , Lost Civilization , Post-Apocalyptic , Philosophy , Coming of Age , Tragedy , Super Power , Anti-Hero , Time Skip , Female Protagonist , Slavery , Conspiracy , Memory Manipulation , Politics , Revenge , Bisexual , Survival , War , Animals , Cosmic Horror , Magic , Rural , Environmental , Amnesia , Cult , Gore , Body Horror , LGBTQ+ Themes , Fugitive , Chimera , Heterosexual , Religion , Love Triangle , Torture , Anthropomorphism , School , Boys' Love , Aviation ,

Noein: Mou Hitori no Kimi e

Also known as Noein: To Your Other Self.

Studio: Satelight , Lantis , Ashi Productions , Rikuentai , Toshiba Entertainment , Funimation , Manga Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Psychological , Sci-Fi , Slice of Life

In the near future, a violent battle takes place between the dimension La'cryma (protector of humanity) and the dimension Shangri-La, bent on the annihilation of all space-time. A group known as the Dragon Calvary is dispatched through space and time, searching for the only thing that can stop the invasion: the Dragon's Torque.

In the present, twelve-year old Haruka and her friend Yuu, are contemplating running away from home when they meet a member of the Dragon Calvary named Karasu (Crow). He believes that Haruka possesses the Dragon's Torque and claims to be Yuu from fifteen years in the future...



Tags: Time Manipulation , Tragedy , Alternate Universe , Female Protagonist , Coming of Age , Post-Apocalyptic , Super Power , Lost Civilization , CGI , Gore , Heterosexual , Denpa , Bullying

Digimon Tamers

Studio: Toei Animation , Yomiko Advertising
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Sci-Fi

Takato Matsuda, Ruki Matsuno, and Lee Jenrya are children who have, by fate, received real Digimon, unlike the imaginary ones in the card game they play. Each of the children, or "Digimon Tamers", have their different views on how Digimon should be treated. But when other Digimon begin to appear around Japan, they must put aside their differences to fend off the digital intruders; even though Yamaki, who is the head of a secret organization called Hypnos is trying to eliminate all of the Digimon himself.



Tags: Primarily Child Cast , Artificial Intelligence , Virtual World , Tragedy , Denpa , Animals , Kids , Cosmic Horror , Male Protagonist , Kaiju , Isekai , Card Battle , Dinosaurs , Kuudere , Anthropomorphism , Henshin , Proxy Battle

Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction

Also known as DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION.

Studio: Production +h , GAGA , TV Tokyo , Shogakukan , Toy's Factory , Sony Music Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Sci-Fi , Slice of Life

As the world is threatened by the sudden appearance of a mysterious alien mothership, best friends Koyama Kadode and Nakagawa “Ontan” Oran carry on about their high school life. But as they grow up, they face existential questions, learning adulthood’s complexities and that the true threat may not be from above.



Note: Includes Episode 0, which chronologically occurs between episodes 16 and 17.

Tags: Aliens , Philosophy , Urban , Coming of Age , Politics , Post-Apocalyptic , Denpa , Tragedy , Alternate Universe , Anti-Hero , Female Protagonist , Terrorism , Time Manipulation , Military , Seinen , Gore , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Female Cast , Achronological Order , LGBTQ+ Themes , Dystopian , Surreal Comedy , Heterosexual , Primarily Adult Cast , School , Suicide , Language Barrier , Bisexual , Crossdressing , Age Gap , Transgender , Crime

Shinreigari: Ghost Hound

Also known as Ghost Hound.

Studio: Production I.G , Pony Canyon , Sentai Filmworks , Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures
Status: Finished
Genres: Horror , Mystery , Psychological , Sci-Fi , Supernatural

In an isolated region of Kyushu lies the town of Suiten. Though seeming small and modest, Suiten is not a picturesque place for a vacation, unless it is from the “Unseen World”. Taro, Makoto and Masayuki, three boys with traumatic pasts, learn to let their souls cross between the two parallel worlds. However, the Unseen World is no mere copy of the real Apparent World. The Unseen World is the home of ghosts, but changes are now allowing the souls of the dead to pass over into the Apparent World, with unpredictable effects. Follow the journey of Taro, Makoto and Masayuki, as they cross between the two worlds, trying to unravel a great mystery.



Tags: Denpa , Ghost , Rural , Dissociative Identities , Cosmic Horror , Rehabilitation , Tragedy , Male Protagonist , Cult , Kuudere , Conspiracy , Mythology , Seinen , Bullying , Philosophy , Love Triangle , Nudity

Yurei Deco

Also known as YUREI DECO.

Studio: Science SARU , Bandai Namco Filmworks , Crunchyroll , NetEase Games
Status: Finished
Genres: Mystery , Sci-Fi

The story begins when Berry, an average girl from an average home, meets Hack, a girl who looks like a boy. Charmed by Hack, Berry meets up with the team Hack leads, the Ghost Detectives Club. Members of this club are “socially dead,” working invisibly within the digitally controlled society of Tom Sawyer. As she works with the group, Berry learns about Zero, a mysterious figure who lurks within Tom Sawyer’s underground. She and Hack decide to chase down this figure, and in time, the truth behind the city is revealed...



Tags: Female Protagonist , Dystopian , Augmented Reality , Artificial Intelligence , Detective , Satire , Conspiracy , Cyberpunk , Alternate Universe , Found Family

Haibane Renmei

Also known as Haibane Renmei.

Studio: Radix , Funimation , Fuji TV , Kourin Mitsuzou Koubou
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Mystery , Psychological , Slice of Life

A dream of falling from the sky... and then birth. Rakka is born from a large cocoon into the Old Home, greeted by a group of girls with small wings on their backs and shining halos above their heads. Soon Rakka’s own wings grow, a halo is placed on her head and she is told that she must work in the nearby town of Grie. She soon realizes that the town and the entire world they live in are confined behind the Wall, a tall, impenetrable wall that none except the mysterious Toga are allowed to exit.



Tags: Angels , Philosophy , Found Family , Female Protagonist , Tragedy , Afterlife , Amnesia , Coming of Age , Rehabilitation , Suicide , Primarily Female Cast , Rural , Family Life , Religion , Delinquents , Drawing

Summer Wars

Also known as Summer Wars.

Studio: MADHOUSE , VAP , Yomiuri TV , Funimation , Kadokawa Shoten , Warner Bros. Japan , GKIDS , D.N. Dream Partners , Nippon Television Network
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama , Romance , Sci-Fi

When timid eleventh-grader and math genius Kenji Koiso is asked by older student and secret crush Natsuki to come with her to her family's Nagano home for a summer job, he agrees without hesitation.

Natsuki's family, the Jinnouchi clan, dates back to the Muromachi era (1336 to 1573), and they've all come together to celebrate the 90th birthday of the spunky matriarch of the family, Sakae. That’s when Kenji discovers his "summer job" is to pretend to be Natsuki's fiance and dance with her at the birthday celebration.

As Kenji attempts to keep up with Natsuki's act around her family, he receives a strange math problem on his cell phone which, being a math genius, he can't resist solving. As it turns out, the solution to the mysterious equation causes Oz, the program that controls nearly every aspect of life to be hacked into, it's up to Kenji and his new "family" to stop the hacker before it's too late.



Tags: Family Life , Virtual World , Artificial Intelligence , Ensemble Cast , Software Development , Rural , Male Protagonist , Terrorism , CGI , Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Heterosexual , Card Battle , Military , Alternate Universe , Robots , Tanned Skin , Fake Relationship , Work , War , Kemonomimi , Matriarchy , Anthropomorphism , Estranged Family , Space , Baseball , Revenge , Gods