Anime like Kino no Tabi: the Beautiful World

Bilibili TV

Mushishi

Also known as MUSHI-SHI.

Studio: Artland , Marvelous Entertainment , Funimation , Delfi Sound
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Fantasy , Mystery , Psychological , Slice of Life , Supernatural

Neither good nor evil, they are life in its purest form. Vulgar and strange, they have inspired fear in humans since the dawn of time and have, over the ages, come to be known as "mushi." The stories of the Mushi and the people they affect are all linked together by a traveling Mushi-shi, or "Mushi Master," who seeks rare Mushi sightings and uses his shaman-like knowledge of Mushi to help the affected people.

What are the Mushi and what do they want?

Tags: Environmental , Youkai , Mythology , Episodic , Philosophy , Rural , Male Protagonist , Travel , Snowscape , Tragedy , Outdoor , Seinen , Historical , Coastal , Primarily Adult Cast , Amnesia , Urban Fantasy , Cult , Suicide

Where to watch?

Hulu

Tubi TV

Majo no Tabitabi

Also known as Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina.

Studio: C2C , Lantis , Kadokawa Shoten , Movic , Bandai Namco Arts , AT-X , SB Creative , Kadokawa Media House
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Fantasy , Slice of Life

Inspired by her favorite book, Elaina ventures out to see the world she's read so much about. Like a leaf on the wind, she travels from one country to another, looking to sate her inquisitiveness and searching for new experiences. She's confronted by humanity in all its forms, whether strange, bizarre, or emotional. Exploration and curiosity drive her journey. Where to next, Elaina?

Tags: Witch , Episodic , Magic , Female Protagonist , Travel , Primarily Female Cast , Time Skip , Achronological Order , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Tragedy , Anti-Hero , Philosophy , Time Manipulation , Gore , Foreign , Incest , Alternate Universe , Feet , Body Swapping , Gangs , Slavery , Suicide , Iyashikei , Amnesia , Yuri

Where to watch?

Hulu

Bilibili TV

Sousou no Frieren

Also known as Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.

Studio: Toho , MADHOUSE , Shogakukan , Nippon Television Network , Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions , Aniplex , Dentsu
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy

The adventure is over but life goes on for an elf mage just beginning to learn what living is all about. Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her? Decades after their victory, the funeral of one her friends confronts Frieren with her own near immortality. Frieren sets out to fulfill the last wishes of her comrades and finds herself beginning a new adventure…

Tags: Travel , Magic , Elf , Philosophy , Time Skip , Found Family , Foreign , Shounen , Female Protagonist , Kuudere , Iyashikei , Demons , Snowscape , Adoption , Tragedy , Heterosexual , Dungeon , Episodic , Rural , Aromantic , Asexual , Religion , Dragons , Rotoscoping , Isekai

Where to watch?

Bilibili TV

YouTube

Haibane Renmei

Also known as Haibane Renmei.

Studio: Radix , Funimation , Fuji TV , Kourin Mitsuzou Koubou
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Mystery , Psychological , Slice of Life

A dream of falling from the sky... and then birth. Rakka is born from a large cocoon into the Old Home, greeted by a group of girls with small wings on their backs and shining halos above their heads. Soon Rakka’s own wings grow, a halo is placed on her head and she is told that she must work in the nearby town of Grie. She soon realizes that the town and the entire world they live in are confined behind the Wall, a tall, impenetrable wall that none except the mysterious Toga are allowed to exit.

Tags: Angels , Philosophy , Female Protagonist , Found Family , Afterlife , Amnesia , Tragedy , Coming of Age , Denpa , Primarily Female Cast , Suicide , Rural , Family Life , Religion , Cosmic Horror , Iyashikei , Delinquents , Drawing

Where to watch?

No streaming links available

Fumetsu no Anata e

Also known as To Your Eternity.

Studio: Brain's Base , NHK Enterprises , NHK
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Psychological , Supernatural

In the beginning, an "orb" is cast unto Earth. "It" can do two things: change into the form of the thing that stimulates "it"; and come back to life after death. "It" morphs from orb to rock, then to wolf, and finally to boy, but roams about like a newborn who knows nothing. As a boy, "it" becomes Fushi.

Through encounters with human kindness, Fushi not only gains survival skills but grows as a "person". But his journey is darkened by the inexplicable and destructive enemy Nokker and cruel partings with the people he loves.

Tags: Shapeshifting , Tragedy , Coming of Age , Philosophy , Rural , Travel , Survival , Ensemble Cast , Body Horror , Agender , Foreign , Gore , Shounen , Animals , Time Skip , Afterlife , Prison , Language Barrier , Historical , Primarily Female Cast , Memory Manipulation , CGI , Snowscape , Orphan , Zombie , Adoption , Demons , Battle Royale , Yandere

Where to watch?

YouTube

iQ

Max

serial experiments lain

Also known as Serial Experiments Lain.

Studio: TV Tokyo , NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan , Genco , Funimation , Triangle Staff , Pioneer LDC , TV Tokyo Music , Fujipacific Music
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological , Sci-Fi , Supernatural

We're all connected... There is the world around us, a world of people, tactile sensation, and culture. There is the wired world, inside the computer, of images, personalities, virtual experiences, and a culture all of its own. The day after a classmate commits suicide, Lain, a 14-year-old girl, discovers how closely the two worlds are linked when she receives an e-mail from the dead girl: I just abandoned my body. I still live here...

Has the line between the real world and the wired world begun to blur?

Tags: Denpa , Virtual World , Philosophy , Dissociative Identities , Augmented Reality , Female Protagonist , Memory Manipulation , Artificial Intelligence , Software Development , Cyberpunk , Gods , Cosmic Horror , Conspiracy , Cult , Video Games , Suicide , Religion , Urban , Meta , Tragedy , Primarily Female Cast , Amnesia , Afterlife , Adoption , POV , Orphan , Anti-Hero , Drugs , Trains , Aliens , School , Isekai , Death Game , Age Gap , Bullying

Where to watch?

No streaming links available

Ginga Tetsudou 999

Also known as Galaxy Express 999.

Studio: Toei Animation , Discotek
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Mecha , Sci-Fi

After witnessing the death of his mother and being left for dead at the hands of Count Mecha, ten-year old Tetsuro Hoshino is awakened by a mysterious woman, Maetal. In exchange for only his company, Maetal offers him the ride of his life on the Galaxy Express 999. It is said that those who travel aboard the legendary train to the end of the line can receive a free mechanical body and with it, immortality. Impoverished and alone, Tetsuro leaps at the opportunity and joins Maetal on a quest that will span the cosmos. As the Galaxy Express 999 makes its way across our solar system and beyond, Tetsuro is drawn deeper into a dangerous universe where peril lurks at every stop.

Tags: Space , Dystopian , Trains , Robots , Space Opera , Coming of Age , Episodic , Philosophy , Travel , Tragedy , Environmental , Male Protagonist , Cyborg , Shounen , Guns , Crossover , Time Manipulation

Where to watch?

Tubi TV

Tengoku Daimakyou

Also known as Tengoku Daimakyo.

Studio: Production I.G , NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan , Avex Pictures , Kodansha , NetEase Games , Mainichi Broadcasting System , Production I.G
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Mystery , Sci-Fi , Thriller

In the year 2024, the world has collapsed. Grotesque monsters lurk amongst the ruins of Japan, while remaining people scrape together what they can to survive. Kiruko, an odd-job girl in Nakano, accepts a mysterious woman's dying wish to take a boy named Maru to a place called Heaven.

Tags: Dystopian , Post-Apocalyptic , Survival , Achronological Order , Travel , Tragedy , Seinen , Body Swapping , Conspiracy , Male Protagonist , Gender Bending , Orphan , Super Power , Gore , Denpa , Demons , Body Horror , Artificial Intelligence , Female Protagonist , Guns , Unrequited Love , Coming of Age , Heterosexual , Nudity , Suicide , LGBTQ+ Themes , Kuudere , Cyberpunk

Where to watch?

Disney Plus

Star+

Hulu

Ookami to Koushinryou

Also known as Spice and Wolf.

Studio: Imagin , Funimation , Kadokawa Pictures Japan , Victor Entertainment , Pony Canyon , Movic
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Fantasy , Romance

The peddler Kraft Lawrence travels through the world selling all kinds of things. After visiting a village, he discovers a sleeping girl under the pelts in his cart. She has wolf ears and a tail. The wolf girl explains that she has been called a "god", but that her name is Holo and nothing more. Lawrence teases the girl a little, but after hearing more of her story, he is moved and decides to accompany her further north. On their travels the two have many adventures, often getting into trouble, but the bond between them grows stronger.

Tags: Economics , Male Protagonist , Work , Primarily Adult Cast , Historical , Kemonomimi , Monster Girl , Female Protagonist , Politics , Heterosexual , Travel , Rural , Foreign , Gods , Agriculture , Nudity

Where to watch?

Hulu