Anime like Penguin Highway

Tenki no Ko

Also known as Weathering With You.

Studio: CoMix Wave , JR Higashi Nihon Kikaku , Toho , Lawson Entertainment , Kadokawa Shoten , STORY Inc. , GKids , Madman Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance , Slice of Life , Supernatural

High school student Hodaka leaves his home on an isolated island and moves to Tokyo, but he immediately becomes broke. He lives his days in isolation, but finally finds a job as a writer for a shady occult magazine. After he starts his job, the weather has been rainy day after day. In a corner of the crowded and busy city, Hodaka meets a young woman named Hina. Due to certain circumstances, Hina and her younger brother live together, but have a cheerful and sturdy life. Hina also has a certain power: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky.



Tags: Urban Fantasy , Urban , Environmental , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Fugitive , Orphan , Family Life , Heterosexual , Magic , Work , Gods , Guns , Found Family , Crossdressing , Time Skip , Estranged Family , Restaurant

Ame wo Tsugeru Hyouryuu Danchi

Also known as Drifting Home.

Studio: Studio Colorido , Twin Engine , Netflix
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Mystery , Supernatural

Sixth-graders Kousuke and Natsume grew up in the same apartment building as childhood friends. During summer break, while playing in the apartment building that is set to be demolished, they find themselves caught in a strange phenomenon. All they can see around them is a vast sea. Will Kousuke and the others make it back to their world? A journey of farewells in summer has just begun.



Tags: Primarily Child Cast , Found Family , Urban Fantasy , Coming of Age , Kids , Survival , Isekai , Ghost , Coastal , Iyashikei , Football , Photography

Gake no Ue no Ponyo

Also known as Ponyo.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , Dentsu , d-rights , Toho , Walt Disney Studios
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Fantasy

A young boy named Sosuke rescues a goldfish named Ponyo, and they embark on a fantastic journey of friendship and discovery before Ponyo's father, a powerful sorcerer, forces her to return to her home in the sea. But Ponyo's desire to be human upsets the delicate balance of nature and triggers a gigantic storm. Only Ponyo's mother, a beautiful sea goddess, can restore nature's balance and make Ponyo's dreams come true.



Tags: Environmental , Primarily Child Cast , Rural , Magic , Coastal , Anthropomorphism , Natural Disaster , Urban Fantasy , Ships , Female Protagonist , Family Life , Kids , Male Protagonist , Gods , Swimming , Mermaid , Chibi

Yoru wa Mijikashi Arukeyo Otome

Also known as The Night is Short, Walk on Girl.

Studio: Science SARU
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Romance

A black haired girl is walking around the streets of Kyoto, from the night scene of Pontocho to a second-hand book fair in Shimogamo, then off to a college fair. The main character that has a romantic feeling for her secretly follows her around and looks for the opportunities to run into her in a manner that seems like a coincidence. Unfortunately for him, she is not interested in love yet, so she does not notice his feelings. What awaits these two characters are a series of crazy incidents caused by bizarre individuals, such as a person who introduces himself as Tengu, the god of second-hand books, or a money lender, who collects young men's underwear and lives on a three story barge.



Tags: Surreal Comedy , Female Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Philosophy , Coming of Age , Bar , Musical Theater , Heterosexual , College , LGBTQ+ Themes , Crossdressing , Trains

Sora yori mo Tooi Basho

Also known as A Place Further Than the Universe.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Media Factory , AT-X , Movic , Sony Music Communications , Crunchyroll
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Comedy , Drama

Mari Tamaki is in her second year of high school and wants to start something. It's then that she meets Shirase, a girl with few friends who's considered weirdo by the rest of the class and nicknamed "Antarctic" since it's all she ever talks about. Unlike her peers, Mari is moved by Shirase's dedication and decides that even though it's unlikely that high school girls will ever go to Antarctica, she's going to try to go with Shirase.



Tags: Travel , Coming of Age , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , Outdoor , Snowscape , Foreign , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Tragedy , Primarily Teen Cast , Work , Konbini , Iyashikei , Educational , Ships , School

Nakitai Watashi wa Neko wo Kaburu

Also known as A Whisker Away.

Studio: Studio Colorido , Tohokushinsha Film Corporation , BS Fuji , KDDI , KADOKAWA , Twin Engine , Dentsu Meitetsu Communications , Fuji Creative Corporation , Fuji TV , Toho , Universal Music Japan
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Romance

Miyo Sasaki is an energetic high school girl who comes from a broken family consisting of her unconfident father and an overly invested stepmother, whose attempts at connecting with Miyo come across as bothersome. Seeing Kento Hinode as a refuge from all her personal issues, she can't help herself from forcing her unorthodox demonstrations of love onto her crush.

While Miyo is unable to get Kento's attention as herself, she manages to succeed by interacting with him in the form of a white cat, affectionately nicknamed ""Tarou"" by Kento. But Miyo soon realizes that she can't help Kento with the various problems she overhears in her cat form and is now caught between two tough choices. Will she continue her relationship with him as a cat, or will she reveal her identity and risk what they have, in order to help him as her human self?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Note: The film was slated to open in theaters in Japan on June 5, but was postponed due to COVID-19 and received an exclusive streaming on Netflix beginning on June 18.

Tags: Shapeshifting , Animals , Female Protagonist , Henshin , Kemonomimi , Family Life , Urban Fantasy , Heterosexual , School , Anthropomorphism , Bullying , Tragedy , CGI , Nekomimi , Rural

Uchouten Kazoku

Also known as The Eccentric Family.

Studio: Bandai Visual , Lantis , P.A. Works , YTV , Magic Capsule
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Fantasy , Slice of Life , Supernatural

In Kyoto, there are three kinds of residents: humans, raccoon dogs, and tengu. Shimogamo Yasaburou is the third son of the Shimogamo raccoon dog family. His father, Souichirou, had been the head of Kyoto raccoon dog community until he was eaten by the human members of "Friday Club". While taking care of old tengu, fighting with other raccoon dogs, and playing with a psychic human girl, Yasaburou approaches the truth of his father's death.

Tags: Mythology , Urban Fantasy , Family Life , Male Protagonist , Shapeshifting , Youkai , Philosophy , Animals , Primarily Adult Cast , Gender Bending , Age Gap , Surreal Comedy , Crossdressing , Tragedy , Twins , Love Triangle , Bar , Archery , Nudity

Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei

Also known as The Tatami Galaxy.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Funimation , Sony Music Entertainment , Fujipacific Music
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Mystery , Psychological , Romance

When a college dropout stops for a late night bite at a mysterious ramen stand, he crosses paths with a self-proclaimed deity of matrimony. This bizarre meeting sends the young man hurtling through a horrifying flashback to his not-so-glorious college days when the influence of a cruel new friend turned him from a hopeless romantic into a mischievous “black cupid.”



Tags: Coming of Age , Surreal Comedy , College , Time Loop , Philosophy , Primarily Adult Cast , Male Protagonist , Alternate Universe , Episodic , School Club , Time Manipulation , Achronological Order , Cult , Meta , Heterosexual , Satire , Ensemble Cast , Proxy Battle , LGBTQ+ Themes , Cowboys , Mythology , Cycling , Tennis , Gods

Kaijuu no Kodomo

Also known as Children of the Sea.

Studio: Studio 4°C , Madman Entertainment , GKids , DMM pictures
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Supernatural

One summer vacation, Ruka meets two boys, "Umi" and "Sora," whose upbringing contains strange and wonderful secrets. Drawn to their beautiful swimming, almost more like flying, Ruka and the adults who know them are intertwined in a complex mesh...
Meanwhile, an unexplained anomaly is occurring all over the world: fish are disappearing. Thus begins a marine adventure of boys and girls to captivate all the senses!

Tags: Philosophy , Primarily Child Cast , Space , Environmental , Animals , Cosmic Horror , Female Protagonist , Coming of Age , Mythology , Swimming , Seinen , Astronomy , Urban , CGI , Bullying , Ships , Kaiju , Monster Boy , Handball , Amnesia

Mirai no Mirai

Also known as Mirai.

Studio: Studio Chizu
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Fantasy , Slice of Life

One day, Kun’s mother brings home a new family member. For the four-year-old boy, joy quickly turns to disappointment when the little sister replaces her brother as the center of attention. The boy can’t bring himself to accept her as his sister. But things turn magical when, with a mysterious garden as his gateway, the boy encounters his mother as a little girl and his great-grandfather as a young man, and has a series of surprising adventures with his older sister from the future. These experiences change how he sees the world and help him grow into the big brother he was meant to be.



Tags: Family Life , Urban Fantasy , Time Manipulation , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Alternate Universe , Trains , CGI , Urban , Animals , Parenthood , Pregnant