Anime like Otona Joshi no Anime Time

Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki

Also known as Wolf Children.

Studio: MADHOUSE , VAP , Dentsu , Yomiuri TV , Funimation , Kadokawa Shoten , Toho , Studio Chizu
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Romance , Slice of Life

The theme of the film is the love between parents and children. The story covers 13 years and begins with a 19-year-old college student named Hana who encounters and falls in "fairy tale-like" love with a "wolf man." After marrying the wolf man, Hana gives birth and raises two wolf children—an older sister named Yuki who was born on a snowy day, and a younger brother named Ame who was born on a rainy day. The four quietly lived in a corner of a city to conceal the existence of the "wolf children," but when the wolf man suddenly dies, Hana decides to move to a rural town far removed from the city.



Tags: Family Life , Werewolf , Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Environmental , Rural , Shapeshifting , Snowscape , Parenthood , Kemonomimi , Tragedy , Animals , Mythology , Agriculture , Urban , Male Protagonist , School , Heterosexual

Ningen Kousaten

Also known as Human Crossing.

Studio: A.C.G.T. , OB Planning , Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions , TV Tokyo
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Though seemingly unconnected, the characters in HUMAN CROSSING all have something in common. They are dealing with the sometimes joyous, but often horrific realities of everyday life. Set in modern day Japan, this compilation of short stories explores the lives of people from all walks of life. The animation used here is subtle, with realistic renderings that fully express the range of emotions experienced by the film`s characters. HUMAN CROSSING taps into the dramatic potential of reality, focusing on the isolated, sometimes lonely nature of urban life. Ultimately, however, the film suggests that perhaps there is an inter-connectedness between people that binds even the most disparate strangers together.

Tags: Episodic , Family Life , Boxing , Philosophy , Bullying , Coming of Age

Fune wo Amu

Also known as The Great Passage.

Studio: ZEXCS , Kansai TV , KYORAKU
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

The series follows the employees at the Genbu Shobou publishing company. Araki, who is a veteran editor for the dictionary department, is looking for a successor now that he's approaching retirement age. After Majime Mitsuya — a salesman who's a poor talker — meets Masashi Nishioka — Araki's coworker who is sociable and frivolous — Araki overhears their conversation and decides to recruit Majime into the department. The story follows "the awkward humans" Majime and Masashi as they work together to compile a medium-sized Japanese dictionary titled "The Great Passage" (Daitokai).



Tags: Primarily Adult Cast , Writing , Work , Male Protagonist , Time Skip , Philosophy , Coming of Age , Educational , Office Lady , Heterosexual , Office , Marriage , Meta

Kotonoha no Niwa

Also known as The Garden of Words.

Studio: CoMix Wave , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Romance , Slice of Life

Some people revel and play in the rain; others dread it and hide at the first drop. For high school student Takao, a summer shower is a source of artistic inspiration… but when he skips school in order to sketch in a rainy garden, Takao finds an even greater muse in Yukino, an older woman who seems adrift in the world. Despite the difference in their ages and lives, they strike up a comfortable relationship that slowly evolves as they randomly meet in the same garden whenever it rains. But with the rainy season coming to a close, Takao wonders if there's enough time left to put his feelings into actions and words.



Tags: Coming of Age , Age Gap , Feet , Teacher , Male Protagonist , Heterosexual , Urban , Bullying , Drawing , Psychosexual , School , CGI

Ai Monogatari: 9 Love Stories

Studio: Studio DEEN , Animate Film
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance

An OVA based on the work of Kawaguchi Kaiji consisting of nine independent stories, each animated by a different director. With Beatles music involved, somewhere.




Tags: Anthology , Primarily Adult Cast , Heterosexual , Seinen , Snowscape , Nudity , Rugby , Yakuza

Usagi Drop

Also known as Bunny Drop.

Studio: Production I.G , Fuji TV , NIS America Inc. , Sony Music Entertainment , Sakura Create , Fujipacific Music
Status: Finished
Genres: Slice of Life

Going home from his grandfather's funeral, thirty-year-old Daikichi is floored to discover that the old man had an illegitimate child with a younger lover. The rest of his family is equally shocked and embarrassed by this surprise development, and not one of them wants anything to do with the silent little girl, Rin Kaga. In a fit of anger, Daikichi decides to take her in himself. As Daikichi nurtures Rin, he started to understand the struggle while at the same time the joy of parenting.



Tags: Iyashikei , Found Family , Family Life , Adoption , Orphan , Parenthood , Josei , Male Protagonist , Work

Takahashi Rumiko Anthology

Studio: Tokyo Movie Shinsha , TV Tokyo
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Slice of Life , Supernatural

Rumic World TV (2003) consists of thirteen independent series based on short stories from 1987-2000 by Takahashi Rumiko. The episode order is not sorted based on the year the story was written. For example, the first episode "Tragedy of P"'s story was written in 1991 while the last episode "Senmuno inu"'s story was written in 1994.



Tags: Anthology , Shounen

Shouwa Monogatari

Studio: WAO World
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

Dramatic story of the Yamazaki family during the year Showa 39 (1964), the year that Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympics.

Tags: Historical , Family Life

Aoi Bungaku Series

Also known as Blue Literature Series.

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

The series consists of adaptations of six modern classics of Japanese literature: Osamu Dazai’s No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) & Run Melos! (Hashire Melos!), Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro, Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s Hell Screen (Jigoku Hen) & The Spider's Thread (Kumo no Ito), and Ango Sakaguchi's In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom (Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita).

No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) - A high school student becomes lost and alienated. Despondent and aimless, he falls into a cycle of self abuse, depression and drugs that taints his life for years. Told in three chapters, each chapter deals with a different point in his life and the final chapter leaves him standing alone - an empty and hollow charicature of his former self.

In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom (Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita) - A love story between a 12th-century woman and a mountain bandit who abducts her.

Kokoro - A 1914 tale of a young man's life journey during the Meiji era. The work deals with the transition from the Japanese Meiji society to the modern era, by exploring the friendship between a young man and an older man he calls "Sensei". It continues the theme of isolation developed in Soseki's previous works, here in the context of interwoven strands of egoism and guilt, as opposed to shame.

Run Melos! (Hashire Melos!) - An updated retelling of a classic Greek tale of the story of Damon and Pythias. The most prominent theme of "Run Melos!" is unwavering friendship. Despite facing hardships, the protagonist Melos does his best to save his friend's life, and in the end his efforts are rewarded.

The Spider's Thread (Kumo no Ito) - The Buddha Shakyamuni chances to notice a cold-hearted criminal suffering in Hell. But this criminal did perform one single act of kindness in not stepping on a spider in a forest. Moved by this selfless act, Shakyamuni takes the silvery thread of a spider in Paradise and lowers it down into Hell, but it falls upon the criminal to seize the opportunity and pull himself out - if he can.

Hell Screen (Jigoku Hen) - A famous artist is commissioned by a great lord to create a series of paintings depicting scenes of the 'Buddhist Hell'. The artist is unable to paint scenes that he has not seen himself, prompting him to torture and torment the Lord's staff to create his imagined images of hell. His creative efforts taint the household, as the story descends into madness and destruction.



Tags: Classic Literature , Tragedy , Philosophy , Anthology , Historical , Suicide , Autobiographical , Urban , Primarily Adult Cast , War , Drawing , Gore , Trains , Politics , Rural , Demons , Ojou-sama , Writing , Fairy Tale , Afterlife , Delinquents , Female Harem , Psychosexual