Anime like Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni

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 , Female Protagonist , Military , Male Protagonist , Autobiographical , Educational

Kaguya-hime no Monogatari

Also known as The Tale of The Princess Kaguya.

Studio: Studio Ghibli
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Romance

Okina is a bamboo cutter in ancient rural Japan. One day in the forest, he finds a tiny baby in the folds of a bamboo shoot. He brings the creature home to his wife Ounaa and they decide to keep her and raise her as a princess. She is clearly not of this world. Kaguya grows at an unnatural rate, soon maturing into an uncommonly beautiful young woman. Since Okina has now also found a cache of gold and treasure in the forest, every suitor wants Kaguya. But this is not a fairy tale of courtship and marriage.



Tags: Philosophy , Classic Literature , Tragedy , Fairy Tale , Historical , Female Protagonist , Rural , Family Life , Gods , Religion , Primarily Adult Cast , Amnesia , Travel , Adoption , Heterosexual , Agriculture , Unrequited Love , Environmental , Calligraphy

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 , Marriage , Natural Disaster , Drawing , Trains

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

Omoide Poro Poro

Also known as Only Yesterday.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , Tokuma Shoten , GKIDS
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

Taeko Okajima is a typical "office lady" in a big company in a big city. When she takes a sabbatical to the countryside in Yamagata Prefecture, the hometown of her brother-in-law, the journey recalled her memory of her 5th grade year. During her stay in Yamagata, she works hard and happily as a farmer and is surrounded by friendly relatives and villagers, bringing up more memories. Their hospitality makes her to reconsider her choice of life.



Tags: Female Protagonist , Iyashikei , Rural , Coming of Age , Biographical , Philosophy , Family Life , Agriculture , Josei , Historical , Travel , School , Heterosexual , Acting , Baseball , Cohabitation

Koe no Katachi

Also known as A Silent Voice.

Studio: Kyoto Animation , ABC Animation , Kodansha
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

After transferring into a new school, a deaf girl, Shouko Nishimiya, is bullied by the popular Shouya Ishida. As Shouya continues to bully Shouko, the class turns its back on him. Shouko transfers and Shouya grows up as an outcast. Alone and depressed, the regretful Shouya finds Shouko to make amends.



Tags: Disability , Bullying , Rehabilitation , Language Barrier , Coming of Age , Suicide , Tragedy , Male Protagonist , Primarily Teen Cast , School , Time Skip , Female Protagonist , Heterosexual , Urban , Shounen , Unrequited Love , POV

cocoon: Aru Natsu no Shoujo-tachi Yori

Studio: Sasayuri , NHK
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

San and Mayu are two schoolgirls living in Okinawa during the closing months of the Pacific War. Together with their classmates, the two friends are drafted into the war effort as nurses for wounded soldiers. When ordered to die for their country, the remaining members of the group escape only to face the harsh environment of a tropical paradise that has become a hellish battlefield.

Tags: Historical , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , Survival , Josei , War , LGBTQ+ Themes , Coastal , Primarily Female Cast , Military , Primarily Teen Cast , Medicine , Rural , Gore , Crossdressing , Suicide

Taishou Otome Otogibanashi

Also known as Taisho Otome Fairy Tale.

Studio: SynergySP , Bit Grooove Promotion , Pony Canyon , Funimation
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

Shima Tamahiko is a self-proclaimed pessimist who hates the world, and with good reason—he’s been exiled to the countryside by his wealthy family because of his disability. But his lonely life is turned upside down by the arrival of Tachibana Yuzuki, his arranged bride. Her cheerfulness slowly heals Shima’s heart in this slice of life romance set during the Taisho era.



Tags: Disability , Rehabilitation , Historical , Heterosexual , Marriage , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Primarily Teen Cast , Rural , Cohabitation , Family Life , Tragedy , Arranged Marriage , Fairy Tale , Shounen , Hikikomori , Tsundere , Iyashikei , Achronological Order , Bullying , Twins

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 , Family Life , Coming of Age , Tragedy , School , Kids , Autobiographical , Yakuza , Suicide