Anime like Giovanni no Shima

Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni

Also known as In This Corner of the World.

Studio: MAPPA , Genco , Animatsu Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

The story follows a young lady named Suzu Urano, who in 1944 moves to the small town of Kure in Hiroshima to live with her husband's family. Suzu's life is thrown into chaos when her town is bombed during World War II. Her perseverance and courage underpin this heart-warming and inspirational tale of the everyday challenges faced by the Japanese in the midst of a violent, war-torn country. This beautiful yet poignant tale shows that even in the face of adversity and loss, people can come together and rebuild their lives.



Tags: Historical , War , Family Life , Female Protagonist , Tragedy , Seinen , Rehabilitation , Drawing , Disability , Heterosexual

Hotaru no Haka

Also known as Grave of the Fireflies.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

In the aftermath of a World War II bombing, two orphaned children struggle to survive in the Japanese countryside. To Seita and his four-year-old sister, the helplessness and indifference of their countrymen is even more painful than the enemy raids. Through desperation, hunger and grief, these children's lives are as heartbreakingly fragile as their spirit and love is inspiring.



Tags: Tragedy , Survival , Orphan , War , Family Life , Historical , Primarily Child Cast , Homeless , Rural , Military , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Autobiographical , Educational

Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru

Also known as Night on the Galactic Railroad.

Studio: Group TAC , TV Asahi , Nippon Herald Eiga , Asmik Ace , Asahi Shimbun
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Mystery

Based on a short story by the popular children’s writer Kenji Miyazawa, Galactic Railroad offers viewers a slow-paced, dreamlike journey through space and time. When Giovanni, a lonely boy in a hill town, goes to get milk for his ailing mother, he finds himself crossing the Milky Way on a faster-than-light steam railroad. The stations he visits in various constellations, like the planets explored by St. Exupery’s Little Prince, offer curious adventures and an assortment of human "types." Reality and fantasy blur aboard the train, and its travels across the light-years sometimes suggests the journey through life. The characters are depicted as cats, presumably to avoid the problems of animating humans.



Tags: Afterlife , Philosophy , Trains , Classic Literature , Tragedy , Anthropomorphism , Primarily Animal Cast , Travel , Astronomy , Space , Animals , Religion , Mythology , Male Protagonist , Kids , Historical , Bullying

Hadashi no Gen 2

Also known as Barefoot Gen 2.

Studio: MADHOUSE , GEN Productions , Discotek
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

Three years have passed since the bombing of Hiroshima and Gen is now a fourth-grader. Hiroshima is still a ruin, and Gen must scrounge for scrap metal to help keep himself and his remaining family fed, but at least commerce has returned to the land. As his mother gradually grows ill from radiation sickness, Gen and Ryuta befriend a group of orphans led by a tough-nosed older child and including a girl who still bears ugly burn scars from the day of the bomb. An old man suffering from depression is also drawn into the group as they come together to support each other and form a makeshift family. Reality is still harsh, however, as many orphans still die lonely deaths and the grim reminders of what happened linger everywhere.



Tags: Historical , Tragedy , Autobiographical , Male Protagonist , Primarily Child Cast , Shounen , Educational

Hadashi no Gen

Also known as Barefoot Gen.

Studio: MADHOUSE , RCC Chugoku Broadcasting , GEN Productions , Discotek
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

It's the summer of 1945. 3 years have elapsed since the war between Japan and USA began. Gen is a young boy living a struggling yet satisfying life in the city of Hiroshima, that has been strangely spared by the bombing taken in almost every other Japanese City. Food is scarce, and Gen's family is suffering from severe malnutrition, which endangeres his pregnant mother. There isn't much spare time as Gen and his little brother Shinji help their father and mother at work and try to make sure their family survives the tought times. Little do they know, what the Americans have in store for the city of Hiroshima and as of the 6th of August 1945, their lives are about to change dramatically.



Tags: Historical , Tragedy , War , Autobiographical , Gore , Body Horror , Male Protagonist , Primarily Child Cast , Nudity , Educational

Mai Mai Shinko to Sennen no Mahou

Also known as Mai-Mai Miracle.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Avex Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Slice of Life

The story is set in 1955 in Kokuga, Hofu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

One thousand years ago it was the site of the ancient capital, Suo no Kuni, and traces of the Heian Period (year 794-1185) are passed down to us in the form of ruins and historical place names.

The protagonist is Shinko, a third grade elementary school student, who was born and raised in one of the town's venerable families. She is a little girl whose characteristic is a strange curl on her forehead (she calls it her "Mai Mai"), and her love for playing in the fields. On the other hand, her secret joy is to imagine and to daydream about the world of one thousand years ago. Her fantasies travel far into the days of the Heian Period…

One day, a girl called Kiiko transfers from Tokyo and enters Shinko's class. This girl from the big city has difficulty feeling at home in this small town, but gradually her friendship with Shinko deepens.

Before long, the two of them become engulfed in a strange incident of one thousand years earlier...?!

Tags: Primarily Child Cast , Rural , Historical , Female Protagonist , Tragedy , Coming of Age , Family Life , Autobiographical , Yakuza , Kids , Suicide

O-Hoshisama no Rail

Also known as Rail of the Star: A True Story of Children.

Studio: MADHOUSE , ADV Films , Shanghai Animation Film Studio
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

A young Japanese actress remembers her war childhood in Korea. Her father goes to fight, her baby sister Miko dies of typhoid, her beloved Korean maid Ohana is fired due to a mistake which could cost Chiko her life... By and by Chiko realizes that the country is being ruled by the Japanese and the Koreans are persecuted. When the war ends, the Koreans chase the Japanese rule and the roles change. Now Chiko's family is unwanted. But then the Russians come and this is the end. They have to burn all the pictures to avoid all suspicions... even Miko's picture. But when the Russians come to their house, they decide to flee over the 38th Parallel towards freedom. A group of men, women, children struggles along the mountains, led by the light of the North Star. Along the way they meet a Korean man, who is willing to help them to escape the Russian soldiers although his family was killed by the Japanese.



Tags: Historical , Autobiographical , Foreign , Fugitive , Tragedy , War , Family Life , Language Barrier

Goodbye, Don Glees!

Also known as Goodbye, Don Glees!.

Studio: MADHOUSE , KADOKAWA
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Comedy , Drama

Teen misfits Roma, Toto, and Drop call themselves the “Don Glees”, an informal name for their backyard adventures. One day, when the trio gets blamed for a nearby forest fire, they set off into the woods to prove their innocence. As disaster strikes their expedition, tensions flare between the friends as they realize that growing up has taken them on wildly different paths in life.



Tags: Travel , Coming of Age , Outdoor , Primarily Male Cast , Rural , Photography , Time Skip , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Cycling , Crossdressing , Shoujo , Foreign

Golden Kamuy

Also known as Golden Kamuy.

Studio: Geno Studio , Funimation , Good Smile Company , Twin Engine , TOKYO MX , JR Higashi Nihon Kikaku , Sammy , NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy

In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi “Immortal” Sugimoto scratches out a meager existence during the postwar gold rush in the wilderness of Hokkaido. When he stumbles across a map to a fortune in hidden Ainu gold, he sets off on a treacherous quest to find it. But Sugimoto is not the only interested party, and everyone who knows about the gold will kill to possess it! Faced with the harsh conditions of the northern wilderness, ruthless criminals and rogue Japanese soldiers, Sugimoto will need all his skills and luck—and the help of an Ainu girl named Asirpa—to survive.



Tags: Historical , Outdoor , Seinen , Survival , Ensemble Cast , Military , Snowscape , Primarily Adult Cast , Guns , Food , War , Primarily Male Cast , Gore , Educational , Anti-Hero , Assassins , Male Protagonist , Gender Bending , Crime , Body Horror , LGBTQ+ Themes , Episodic , CGI , Archery , Torture , Twins , Transgender , Medicine , Oiran , Cute Boys Doing Cute Things

Ojii-san no Lamp

Studio: Telecom Animation Film
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

A boy finds a strange object while playing hide-and-seek. His grandfather tells him the story of his own youth, and the important role the old lamp played. This story is about the modernization of Japan and the changes that came with it.

The Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan invested 214 million yen ($2.26 million) in "Young Animator Training Project" and entrusted the execution of the project to Japan Animation Creators Association (JaniCA). JaniCA produced four original anime (23 min long with OP and ED sequences) in cooperation with four production studios. Ojii-san no Lamp was one of these four projects.

Tags: Historical , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Rural , Tanned Skin , Outdoor , Work , Marriage , Agriculture , Family Life , Heterosexual , Orphan , Time Skip , Economics , Youkai , Revenge