Anime like Glass no Kamen

Versailles no Bara

Also known as Lady Oscar: The Rose of Versailles.

Studio: Tokyo Movie Shinsha , The Right Stuf International
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Romance

Raised from birth as a man, the Lady Oscar commands the palace guards at Versailles in the years before the French Revolution. Her beauty and noble spirit make her a shining figure in the eyes of both men and women but she is torn between her chosen life of service and duty to class and country and her own heart and desires. She lives as a noble amidst the opulence of Versailles but her keen senses and compassion are not blinded to the poverty of the French people.



Tags: Historical , Class Struggle , Tragedy , Royal Affairs , Foreign , Military , Politics , Shoujo , Female Protagonist , Ojou-sama , Crossdressing , Primarily Adult Cast , Gender Bending , Tomboy , Swordplay , Time Skip , War , Philosophy , Guns , Heterosexual , Maids , LGBTQ+ Themes , Religion , Unrequited Love , Love Triangle

Ace wo Nerae!

Also known as Aim for the Ace!.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Tokyo Movie Shinsha , Mainichi Broadcasting System , Anime Room , Tokyo Animation Film , Imagica , King Records , Studio Sign , Discotek
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Sports

On her first day at Nishi High School, 15-year-old Hiromi Oka is inspired by top player Reika "Ochoufujin" Ryuuzaki to take up tennis. Shortly after joining the school's tennis club, she encounters Jin Munakata, the club's new coach. Munakata puts everyone under rigorous training that even puts Ochoufujin to shame. Despite the hardships, Hiromi's determination prompts the coach to select her as part of the club's main players. Because of this, Hiromi must endure the peer pressure from her seniors to become an ace tennis player.



Tags: Tennis , Shoujo , School Club , Female Protagonist , Primarily Female Cast , Coming of Age , Primarily Teen Cast , Bullying , Ojou-sama , Slapstick , Delinquents , Coastal

Kaleido Star

Also known as Kaleido Star.

Studio: GONZO , Production I.G , TV Tokyo , Hal Film Maker , ADV Films , Funimation , G&G Entertainment , Horipro , MediaNet
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Sports , Supernatural

Sora, a young girl from Japan, comes to America in search of her dream. She wants, with all her heart, to be a member of the Kaleido Stage, a world famous circus, with a combination of musicals, acrobatics and magical effects. With the help of her friends, she struggles to make this dream come true.

Tags: Circus , Female Protagonist , Foreign , Acting , Coming of Age , Acrobatics , Work , Fairy Tale , Ghost , Dancing , Animals , Primarily Teen Cast , Musical Theater , Idol , Police , Cosplay

Full Moon wo Sagashite

Also known as Full Moon.

Studio: Studio DEEN , Viz Media , NAS
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Mahou Shoujo , Music , Romance , Supernatural

Twelve-year-old Kouyama Mitsuki was devastated when she was diagnosed with a malignant tumor of the throat. She had made a promise to the boy she loves that she would one day become a singer, but her illness made singing impossible. To make matters even worse, two angels of death, Takuto and Meroko, appeared to Mitsuki and informed her that she only had one year left to live. This news provides an even greater motivation for Mitsuki to fulfill her dreams, and with a little bit of divine intervention, she begins her quest to become a professional singer so she can be reunited with Eichi before time runs out.



Tags: Female Protagonist , Idol , Musical Theater , Shoujo , Angels , Tragedy , Heterosexual , Afterlife , Found Family , Denpa , Disability , Philosophy , Urban Fantasy , Work , Unrequited Love , Henshin , Youkai , Rehabilitation , Age Gap , Kemonomimi , Orphan , Primarily Child Cast , Suicide , Mythology , Nekomimi , School , Animals , Love Triangle , Reincarnation

Sennen Joyuu

Also known as Millennium Actress.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Genco , WOWOW , KLOCKWORX , Kadokawa Shoten , Bandai Visual , Techno Sound , Chaos Union
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Romance

Millennium Actress blurs the lines between the past and the present, and truth and fiction, when a documentary filmmaker fulfills his quest to find the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, and learn why she mysteriously vanished at the height of her brilliant career. When Chiyoko grants the filmmaker’s request, he, in turn, presents her with a token – a key she had lost and thought was gone forever. The filmmaker could not have imagined that the key would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life, but also his own.



Note: The film received an early premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival on July 28, 2001.

Tags: Acting , Biographical , Historical , Meta , Primarily Adult Cast , Female Protagonist , Work , Unrequited Love , Time Skip , Heterosexual , Coming of Age , War , Snowscape , Filmmaking , Class Struggle , Anachronism , Denpa , Fugitive , Swordplay , Age Gap

Sasurai no Taiyou

Studio: Mushi Production , Fuji TV
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music

Two baby girls were born in the same hospital: one of them is the daughter of an aristocratic family while the other belongs to a depraved household which lives in the slums of the city. However, the nurse-in-charge, Michiko, secretly switches the two babies due to a personal grudge, resulting in a change of fates of the girls from then on. Many years later, the lives of the two girls continue to be intertwined with each other, with the rich Miki ill-treating the poor Nozomi, yet both of them hold similar dreams to become a singer.



Tags: Travel , Philosophy , Bullying , Female Protagonist , Shoujo , Coming of Age , Idol , Revenge , Tragedy , Family Life , Yakuza , Urban , Heterosexual

Attack No.1

Studio: Tokyo Movie Shinsha , Fuji TV
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Sports

Kozue Ayuhara is a highschool girl and enthusiastic volleyball player. Her dream is to play in the Japanese national volleyball team. During the series she makes it from the school district league up to the Japanese volleyball finals, step by step till the international volleyball championship. But the faster and higher Kozue climbs the career ladder up, the more she gets confronted with the dark side of success: too high expectations, self-conceit and envy are progressing towards serious problems.



Tags: Shoujo , Volleyball , Adoption , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , School Club , Primarily Female Cast , Foreign , Primarily Teen Cast , School , Heterosexual , Delinquents

Onii-sama e...

Also known as Dear Brother.

Studio: NHK , NHK Enterprises , Tezuka Productions
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological

Before leaving her cram school, Nanako Misonō asks one of the teachers if they can become pen-pals. The teacher, Takehiko Henmi, is reluctant at first, but eventually accepts the offer. The story is narrated through the letters sent from Nanako as she enters Seiran, a renowned private high school for girls only. There she encounters many difficulties as an ordinary middle-class girl invited to the prestigious Sorority, the most traditional and sophisticated club on campus..



Tags: Shoujo , Boarding School , Tragedy , School , Ojou-sama , Coming of Age , Bullying , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , LGBTQ+ Themes , Yuri , Tomboy , Suicide , Drugs , Heterosexual , Villainess , Trains , Basketball

Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari

Also known as Tales of Little Women.

Studio: Nippon Animation , Saban Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Meg, faithful and gentle, Jo, independent and energetic, Beth, quiet and shy, Amy, amiable and precocious–the four sisters live vigorously and happily at home with their gentle mother while waiting for their father to return from the Civil War. Helping each other, they challenge their fates and grow up to become wonderful women.

Tags: Classic Literature , Historical , Family Life , Foreign , Primarily Female Cast , Travel , Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Writing , Tsundere

PERFECT BLUE

Also known as Perfect Blue.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Rex Entertainment , ONIRO , Techno Sound , GKids
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Horror , Psychological , Thriller

Rising pop star Mima has quit singing to pursue a career as an actress and model, but her fans aren’t ready to see her go... Encouraged by her managers, Mima takes on a recurring role on a popular TV show, when suddenly her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima’s reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia. As her stalker closes in, in person and online, the threat he poses is more real than even Mima knows, in this iconic psychological thriller that has frequently been hailed as one of the most important animated films of all time.



Note: The film received an early premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival on August 5, 1997.

Tags: Dissociative Identities , Denpa , Female Protagonist , Acting , Idol , Primarily Adult Cast , Meta , Work , Filmmaking , Philosophy , Tragedy , Gore , Nudity , Noir