Anime like Hotaru no Haka

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

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

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

Also known as Tokyo Magnitude 8.0.

Studio: bones , Dentsu , Fuji TV , Toho , Kinema Citrus , Maiden Japan , Asmik Ace , Sony Music Entertainment , Sakura Create
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

The premise of the project is the 70% possibility that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake will occur in Tokyo in the next 30 years. The anime depicts what would happen if an 8.0 earthquake took place.

The story centers on Mirai, a middle school freshman girl who goes to Tokyo’s artificial Odaiba Island for a robot exhibition with her brother Yuuki at the start of summer vacation. A powerful tremor emanates from an ocean trench, the famed Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge crumble and fall, and the landscape of Tokyo changes in an instant. With the help of a motorcycle delivery woman named Mari who they meet on Odaiba, Mirai and Yuuki strive to head back to their Setagaya home in western Tokyo.

Tags: Urban , Primarily Child Cast , Survival , Tragedy , Natural Disaster , Female Protagonist , Family Life , Coming of Age , Post-Apocalyptic , Ghost , CGI , Military , Robots , School , Motorcycles , Eco-Horror , Rescue

Kaze Tachinu

Also known as The Wind Rises.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , Walt Disney Studios
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance

Although Jirou Horikoshi's nearsightedness prevents him from ever becoming a pilot, he leaves his hometown to study aeronautical engineering at Tokyo Imperial University for one simple purpose: to design and build planes just like his hero, Italian aircraft pioneer Giovanni Battista Caproni. His arrival in the capital coincides with the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, during which he saves a maid serving the family of a young girl named Naoko Satomi; this disastrous event marks the beginning of over two decades of social unrest and malaise leading up to Japan's eventual surrender in World War II.

Tags: Aviation , Historical , Work , Biographical , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Time Skip , War , Primarily Adult Cast , Heterosexual , Foreign , Drawing , Natural Disaster , Marriage , Trains

RAINBOW: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin

Also known as Rainbow.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Funimation , VAP
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Thriller

Seven teenagers in 1955 have to learn to live together in the same hold in the reformatory of Shounan. Confined in a hall where suffering and humiliation are daily, they are waiting for a ray of hope in a dark, incarcerating world. The story follows their life together and how they move on afterwards.

Tags: Ensemble Cast , Seinen , Tragedy , Coming of Age , Delinquents , Survival , Primarily Male Cast , Rehabilitation , Historical , Crime , Gore , Revenge , Prison , Boxing , Torture , Time Skip , Orphan , Found Family , Philosophy , Drugs , Bar , Gangs , Suicide , School , Yakuza , Language Barrier

Giovanni no Shima

Also known as Giovanni's Island.

Studio: Production I.G
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

Brothers Junpei and Kanta live in Shikotan, a tiny fishing island that has been spared from the devastations of World War II. The two children are named after Giovanni and Campanella from their late mother’s favorite book, Night on the Galactic Railroad, which becomes a source of solace in the aftermath of Japan’s defeat. When Soviet forces arrive with their families to settle in the island, Junpei meets Tanya, the daughter of the commander. Despite their language barrier and growing tension, the children soon form an unlikely friendship.



Note: A special animated movie to commemorate 50th anniversary of Japan Association of Music Enterprises (JAME).

Tags: Historical , War , Tragedy , Language Barrier , Trains , Male Protagonist , Coming of Age

Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku

Also known as Now and Then, Here and There.

Studio: AIC , Pioneer LDC , Central Park Media
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Sci-Fi

Shu is a typical Japanese boy, but has an unbeatable, optimistic and determined attitude. However, when he sees a mysterious girl with strange eyes named Lala-Ru up on a smokestack, he is soon pulled into a strange desert world. Shu soon discovers the true terrors of war, which includes genocide, brutal torture, hunger, thirst, and child exploitation. Now Shu is trying to save Lala-Ru, as well as his hard earned, and often relunctant, new friends from the insane dictator, Hamdo. Whether Shu can possibly accomplish saving those he cares about while still holding up to his values remains to be seen.



Tags: Tragedy , Dystopian , War , Slavery , Survival , Fugitive , Primarily Child Cast , Post-Apocalyptic , Coming of Age , Military , Isekai , Desert , Philosophy , Guns , Male Protagonist , Torture , Orphan , Gore , Kuudere , Prison , Real Robot , Time Manipulation

Hotarubi no Mori e

Also known as Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light.

Studio: Aniplex , Brain's Base , Hakusensha , DAX Production , TV Tokyo , NAS
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Romance , Supernatural

The story of Hotarubi no Mori e centers around Hotaru, a little girl who gets lost in an enchanted forest where apparitions reside. A young boy, Gin, appears before Hotaru, but she cannot touch him for fear of making him disappear.

Tags: Coming of Age , Youkai , Ghost , Tragedy , Rural , Urban Fantasy , Shoujo , Female Protagonist , Time Skip , Age Gap , Iyashikei , Wilderness , Heterosexual , Male Protagonist

Ushiro no Shoumen Daare

Also known as Who's Left Behind?.

Studio: Mushi Production
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Kayoko is a young girl in 1940, just starting first grade. She's a bit of a crybaby, which is no secret to those around her. She loves playing with friends and singing cute schoolyard chants, and occasionally having fun with her three older brothers. Her mother is pregnant, and so she looks forward to being a big sister, only partially understanding the responsibility that might bring. Meanwhile, the war effort is growing, and it`s only the natural thing to do to be patriotic and support the country...

Kayoko goes so far as to contribute her favorite dolly, whose materials could help build explosives. Time passes, and as she grows older, Kayoko sees how the war has affected her life and those around her. Nothing can prepare her for 1945, however, and the bleak times that are soon to come. Based on original creator Kayoko Ebina's real life experience during World War 2 on Showa era.



Tags: Historical , War , Female Protagonist , Autobiographical , Tragedy , Family Life , Coming of Age , Survival , Time Skip

Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä

Also known as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

Studio: Studio Hibari , Topcraft , Walt Disney Studios , GKids
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Sci-Fi

A thousand years after a global war, a seaside kingdom known as the Valley Of The Wind remains one of only a few areas still populated. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley are engaged in a constant struggle with powerful insects called ohmu, who guard a poisonous jungle that is spreading across the Earth. Nausicaä and her brave companions, together with the people of the Valley, strive to restore the bond between humanity and the Earth.



Tags: Environmental , Post-Apocalyptic , Female Protagonist , Philosophy , Lost Civilization , War , Aviation , Military , Eco-Horror , Kaiju , Survival , Primarily Adult Cast , Cosmic Horror , Travel , Anachronism , Guns , Politics , Orphan , Tanks , Cult , Revenge , Nudity , Elderly Protagonist