Anime like Soukyuu no Fafner

Shin Seiki Evangelion

Also known as Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Studio: Gainax , TV Tokyo , ADV Films , Kadokawa Shoten , NAS , Tatsunoko Production , GKIDS , Madman Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Mecha , Mystery , Psychological , Sci-Fi

In the year 2015, the Angels, huge, tremendously powerful, alien war machines, appear in Tokyo for the second time. The only hope for Mankind's survival lies in the Evangelion, a humanoid fighting machine developed by NERV, a special United Nations agency. Capable of withstanding anything the Angels can dish out, the Evangelion's one drawback lies in the limited number of people able to pilot them. Only a handful of teenagers, all born fourteen years ago, nine months after the Angels first appeared, are able to interface with the Evangelion. One such teenager is Shinji Ikari, whose father heads the NERV team that developed and maintains the Evangelion. Thrust into a maelstrom of battle and events that he does not understand, Shinji is forced to plumb the depths of his own inner resources for the courage and strength to not only fight, but to survive, or risk losing everything.



Note: Later releases include edited versions of Episodes 21-24 called the "Director's Cut" with some visual editing and adding extra scenes that appeared in the theatrical recap 'Death'.

Tags: Philosophy , Coming of Age , Tragedy , Super Robot , Denpa , Dystopian , Post-Apocalyptic , Angels , Psychosexual , Primarily Teen Cast , Suicide , Kaiju , Male Protagonist , Conspiracy , Cosmic Horror , Aliens , Body Horror , Mythology , Religion , Military , Clone , Kuudere , Tokusatsu , Tsundere , Politics , Gore , Trains , Bisexual , Espionage , LGBTQ+ Themes , Nudity , Episodic , Boys' Love

RahXephon

Also known as RahXephon.

Studio: bones , ADV Films , Asatsu DK , Madman Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mecha , Music , Mystery , Psychological , Romance , Sci-Fi

In the year 2012 Japan was invaded by the Mu. Human-like beings from another dimension with blue blood.

In the year 2015 Tokyo is attacked by invaders, who are repelled by a humanoid weapon called a Dolem. During the chaos, Ayato Kamina meets Reika Mishima, a classmate.

During that same day, he is attacked by government officials but a woman named Haruka comes to his rescue, informing him that she was sent to get him by the Organization TERRA, and that Tokyo had been sealed in a time rift where time flows one third as fast as the outside world.

He flees from Haruka onto a train where he sees Reika once more. Arriving at the Room of Rah, he follows her to a tremendous egg where the Dolem RahXephon is hatched from, and upon her singing his mother appears atop the Dolem that had stopped the TERRA Invasion. In the battle Ayato's mother is injured, and Ayato flees Tokyo Jupiter with Haruka upon seeing his mother's blue blood.

Tags: Coming of Age , Memory Manipulation , Mythology , Philosophy , Time Manipulation , Military , Post-Apocalyptic , War , Super Robot , Female Protagonist , Aliens , Amnesia , Primarily Female Cast , Male Protagonist , Age Gap

Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED

Also known as Mobile Suit Gundam Seed.

Studio: Sunrise , Asatsu DK , Mainichi Broadcasting System , Sony Music Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Mecha , Sci-Fi

C.E. 71: In the midst of war between the Naturals (OMNI) and Coordinators (ZAFT), a unit from ZAFT is dispatched to hijack the Earth Alliance's newly developed mobile suits on the neutral colony of Heliopolis. Orb Civilian Coordinator Kira Yamato attends the technical college on Heliopolis. After ZAFT hijacks 4 of the 5 mobile suits, Kira stumbles upon the last one, Strike, forced to pilot it to save his and his friend's lives. During this confusion, Kira also reunites with his childhood Coordinator friend, Athrun Zala, who ironically turns out to be a ZAFT soldier and one of the hijackers at Heliopolis. Having control of Strike, Kira joins the Earth Alliance boarding the ship known as Archangel, to protect his friends while despairing over becoming the enemy of his childhood friend and people.

Note: An HD remaster was broadcasting starting on December 23, 2011 with two recap episodes cut, including new and updated animation, conversion to 16:9, and updated music.

Tags: Military , War , Tragedy , Real Robot , Space , Love Triangle , Male Protagonist , Space Opera , Netorare , Primarily Teen Cast , Politics , Gore , CGI , Clone , Twins

Argento Soma

Studio: Sunrise , Victor Entertainment , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Mecha , Sci-Fi

In the year 2059, the earth has been plagued by aliens for several years. In an effort to learn more about these aliens, Dr. Noguchi and his assistants Maki Agata and Takuto Kenishiro try to revive the professor's experiment, a large Bio-Mechanical alien named Frank. During this process the alien comes to 'life' and the lab is subsequently destroyed leaving Takuto the only survivor and the alien disappearing into the wilderness. While Frank roams the wilderness he meets Hattie, an emotionally distressed young girl whose parents are killed in the first 'close encounter' war. Oddly enough she is able to communicate with Frank and soon after they are taken into custody by a secret agency known only as 'Funeral'. Meanwhile, Takuto wakes up in a hospital bed with his life in shambles, and his face disfigured. Motivated by vengeance and heart break, Takuto accepts an offer from the mysterious 'Mr. X' and receives a new identity as a ranking Funeral officer named Ryu Soma.



Tags: Military , Aliens , Revenge , Aviation , Robots , Foreign , Philosophy , Time Skip , Real Robot

Zegapain

Also known as Zegapain.

Studio: Sunrise , TV Tokyo , Dentsu , Bandai Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mecha , Romance , Sci-Fi

Kyo, an avid swimmer tries his best to keep the high school swimming club going, which is pretty hard when he's the only member. Facing the prospect of the club being closed by the student council, he tries to enlist beautiful Misaki to act in a promo video, shot by his good friend Ryoko, in a bid to start a recruitment drive. She agrees but only if he pilots a mecha under the wing of Celebrum, a resistance organisation fighting to destroy Deutera Areas formed on Earth by the aliens Gards-orm. He agrees but finds it all strangely familiar as if he's done it before...



Tags: Isekai , Artificial Intelligence , Post-Apocalyptic , Time Manipulation , Dystopian , Virtual World , Real Robot , Super Robot , Swimming , CGI , Philosophy , Male Protagonist , Aliens , Reincarnation , LGBTQ+ Themes

Bokurano

Also known as Bokurano.

Studio: GONZO , diomedéa
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mecha , Psychological , Sci-Fi

During a summer camp, 15 children, 8 males and 7 females, find a grotto by the sea. Deep within they discover working computers and some electronic equipment, and later the owner, a man called Kokopelli. Kokopelli claimed to be a programmer working on a brand new game, in which a large robot has to defend the Earth against alien invasions. He persuades the children to test the game and sign a contract. All but one of them signs, barely a moment later they mysteriously awaken on the shore believing what happened was just a dream.



Tags: Tragedy , Ensemble Cast , Super Robot , Alternate Universe , Philosophy , Denpa , Military , Death Game , Aliens , Politics , Seinen , Yakuza , Heterosexual , Age Gap , Tomboy , Love Triangle , Conspiracy , Nudity

Heroic Age

Also known as Heroic Age.

Studio: Xebec , Starchild Records , Funimation
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mecha , Sci-Fi

When the Golden Race invited other races to join them in the stars, three sentient races answered their call. The Goldens called them the Bronze, Silver and Heroic Tribes. Just before the Gold Tribe left to travel to another Universe, a fourth race appeared, traveling to the stars on their own accomplishments. The Golds named the human race the Iron Tribe. During the passing of time, humanity suffers at the hands of the more dominant races and is now facing extinction. Following a prophecy left by the Gold Tribe, Princess Deianeira sets out to search for the powerful being who might be able to save humankind. She meets a wild haired boy on an abandoned planet - a fateful encounter that will not only change the fortunes of Humanity, but also the fate of the universe.



Tags: Military , Aliens , Space , Super Robot , Time Manipulation , Space Opera , Male Protagonist

Sidonia no Kishi

Also known as Knights of Sidonia.

Studio: POLYGON PICTURES
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Fantasy , Mecha , Sci-Fi

It's been a thousand years since the Gauna, a strange alien race with no known method of communication, destroyed the solar system. A portion of humanity managed to escape using enormous "seed ships" like the Sidonia, which have allowed them to maintain the population while drifting through space. Nagate Tanikaze is a young man who has been raised deep in the bowels of the ship. When he goes into training to pilot the huge robotic weapons known as Gardes, Nagate is entrusted with piloting the legendary unit known as Tsugumori. Nagate and his fellow pilots put their lives on the line against the Gauna, in the ultimate battle for the survival of humanity!



Tags: Space , Full CGI , Cosmic Horror , Real Robot , Survival , Military , CGI , Post-Apocalyptic , Philosophy , Male Protagonist , Heterosexual , Aliens , Female Harem , Clone , Seinen , Tragedy , Body Horror , Dissociative Identities , Nudity , Gender Bending , Robots , Environmental , Reincarnation , Agender , Time Skip

Muv-Luv Alternative

Also known as Muv-Luv Alternative.

Studio: Fuji TV , Graphinica , Yumeta Company , FLAGSHIP LINE , Crunchyroll , Bandai Namco Arts , aNCHOR , BS Fuji , Avex Pictures , Dentsu , Tencent
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Mecha , Romance , Sci-Fi

A story of the bonds between those who fight, in a world pushed to its limits. On one of the countless parallel worlds that exist throughout spacetime, humanity has fought a decades long war against the BETA, hostile extraterrestrial invaders, using humanoid fighting machines called Tactical Surface Fighters. This is a story of how humanity lives and dies while on the brink of extinction…



Tags: Aliens , Military , Real Robot , War , Tragedy , Coming of Age , Politics , Heterosexual , Amnesia , Time Manipulation , Isekai , Alternate Universe , Memory Manipulation , Drugs , Tomboy , Body Horror , Artificial Intelligence , Female Harem

Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince

Also known as Majestic Prince.

Studio: Doga Kobo , Orange , Sotsu , Fields
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mecha , Sci-Fi

In the latter half of 21st century, humans leave the Earth and begin to live in space. In order to adapt to the environment in space and deal with the hostile aliens in Jupiter, genetically engineered children called "Princes" are artificially raised and trained to be pilots of armed robots "AHSMB (Advanced High Standard Multipurpose Battle Device). This is a story about one of the teenage "Princes", Hitachi O Izuru, who studies in an academic city Grandzehle.

Tags: School , Space , War , Aliens , CGI , Slapstick , Super Robot , Real Robot , Tokusatsu , Agender