Anime like Miyori no Mori

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

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 , Travel , Male Protagonist , Animals , Iyashikei , Outdoor Activities , Exorcism , Tragedy , Snowscape , Seinen , Historical , Wilderness , Coastal , Primarily Adult Cast , Amnesia , Cult , Monster Girl , Suicide

Chikyuu Shoujo Arjuna

Also known as Arjuna.

Studio: Bandai Visual , Satelight , Bandai Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Mahou Shoujo , Sci-Fi

Juna was just an ordinary high-school girl, right up until the day she died in a motorcycle accident. But there, in the twilight of death, she saw the future of the barren earth destroyed by the Raaja, and was offered a second chance at life if she would stop them. Now she must learn to cast aside her thoughtlessly destructive ways and face her destiny as the Avatar of Time, the one being who can decide the fate of the planet.



Tags: Environmental , Eco-Horror , Urban Fantasy , Magic , Female Protagonist , CGI , Gods , Super Power , Reincarnation , Educational , Rural , Archery , Motorcycles , Agriculture , Coastal , Pandemic , Henshin , Estranged Family , Orphan , Disability , Mixed Media , Philosophy , Love Triangle , School , Heterosexual , Body Horror

Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko

Also known as Pom Poko.

Studio: Kyoto Animation , Studio Ghibli , Daiei , Walt Disney Studios , GKIDS
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Fantasy

Faced with the destruction of their habitat due to the growth of Tokyo, a group of tanuki try to defend their homes. They decide to use their transforming talents to try to hold back the new development. Two of them, especially skilled at transforming, are sent to Shikoku to enlist the help of three sages. Meanwhile, the rest of them do their best to disrupt the construction site, at first causing accidents, and then actually haunting the site. However, the humans are very persistent, and soon the tanuki are forced to use more and more extreme measures to save their home.



Tags: Environmental , Mythology , Ensemble Cast , Animals , Rural , Primarily Animal Cast , Anthropomorphism , Henshin , Shapeshifting , Revenge , Youkai , Primarily Male Cast , Slapstick , Male Protagonist , Kids , Travel , Transgender

Mushishi Tokubetsu-hen: Suzu no Shizuku

Also known as MUSHI-SHI Special: Bell Droplets.

Studio: Artland
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Fantasy , Mystery , Psychological , Slice of Life , Supernatural

The anime adaptation of the final Mushishi manga arc. Ginko stumbles upon a young girl in a mountain with branches and leaves growing out of her body. He later realises that she is the lord of that mountain but finds it strange that a human like her was chosen as the lord. He later meets her older brother who has continued to search for her ever since she disappeared while she was accompanying him on a stormy day. The story is about that girl, Kaya, and how she is torn between continuing her duty as a mushi lord and returning back to her loving human family.



Tags: Philosophy , Male Protagonist , Mythology , Environmental , Urban Fantasy , Tragedy , Rural , Historical , Seinen , Youkai , Demons , Travel , Exorcism

Momo e no Tegami

Also known as A Letter to Momo.

Studio: Production I.G , GKIDS
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Supernatural

Momo is a young girl who grew up in a big city. However, following the premature loss of her father, she has to move with her mother to the old family house on a remote island. Here, time seems to have stopped: old wooden buildings, holy shrines surrounded by trees, fields painstakingly carved out from steep hills... and no shopping mall.

Needless to say, Momo is not too overenthusiastic about this new environment. Most of all, her heart is still feeling uneasy about an unfinished letter left by her father. A letter that contained only two words: "Dear Momo..."

What was dad going to say?

One day, exploring the attic of her new big house, Momo finds a dusty and worn out book. And from that moment, something really unexpected starts happening around her...



Tags: Youkai , Mopeds , Ghost , Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Rural , Family Life

Wakaokami wa Shougakusei! (Movie)

Also known as Okko's Inn.

Studio: MADHOUSE , DLE
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life , Supernatural

The film will tell a story not told in either the original book series or the television series — specifically, a story about "Okko" and her parents.



Tags: Ghost , Female Protagonist , Demons , Primarily Child Cast , Inn , Work , Rural , Ojou-sama , CGI

Misaki no Mayoiga

Also known as The House of the Lost on the Cape.

Studio: David Production , Aniplex , Fuji TV , Kodansha
Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy

17-year-old run-away Yui and 8-year-old Hiyori, who lost her family and her voice, have no place to go when they run into Kiwa, a strange old lady. She offers them a place to stay, in a slightly banged-up old house overlooking the sea, a Mayoiga. Despite joining Kiwa on a whim, the two girls find comfort in Mayoiga, a legendary house, said to look after lost travelers, and the warm hospitality of Kiwa. Both girls' damaged hearts begin to heal little by little. Until one day, a variety of strange beings which Kiwa calls “Fushigitto” begin popping up around the house.



Tags: Rural , Found Family , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , Youkai , Coming of Age , Estranged Family , Adoption , Orphan

Inochi no Chikyuu: Dioxin no Natsu

Also known as The Summer of Dioxin.

Studio: Magic Bus
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

This film was based on a real-life 1976 accident in Italy, when deadly dioxins threatened the area surrounding a biological research laboratory where an explosion took place.

Tags: Tragedy , Historical , Environmental , Foreign , Crime , Disability , Politics

Hakaba Kitarou

Also known as Graveyard Kitaro.

Studio: Toei Animation , Sony Music Entertainment , Fujipacific Music
Status: Finished
Genres: Horror , Supernatural

Kitarou is a youkai boy born in a cemetery, and aside from his mostly-decayed father, the last living member of the Ghost tribe. He is missing his left eye, but his hair usually covers the empty socket. He fights for peace between humans and youkai, which generally involves protecting the former from the wiles of the latter.

This version of the Kitarou story is based on the original Hakaba Kitarou manga, the manga which inspired the popular Gegege no Kitarou series in the late 60's.



Tags: Youkai , Suicide , Tragedy , Orphan , Anti-Hero , Male Protagonist , Vampire , Kemonomimi