Anime like STAR DRIVER: Kagayaki no Takuto

Shoujo Kakumei Utena

Also known as Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Studio: J.C.STAFF , TV Tokyo , The Right Stuf International , Central Park Media , Yomiuri Advertising , SoftX
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Mystery , Psychological , Romance

Just after Utena's parents died, she was consoled by a prince who gave her a ring with a rose crest on it. Utena was so impressed by the Prince that she vowed to become one herself one day. A few years later, Utena is attending Ohtori Academy where she gives all the teachers headaches because she dresses in a boy's uniform so she can be like the prince she met long ago.

After Utena's friend is insulted by a member of the Student Council, Utena fights in a duel for her friend's honor. Utena's rose crest allows her to enter the dueling arena, where Utena wins the duel and becomes engaged to the Rose Bride. Unknowingly, Utena is pulled into a series of duels with other members of the Student Council for the possession of the Rose Bride. As she becomes fond of Anthy, the Rose Bride, she must fight to keep her friend safe and to discover the horrifying secret behind Ohtori Academy.



Tags: Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Philosophy , Fairy Tale , LGBTQ+ Themes , Tomboy , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Incest , Swordplay , Yuri , Tragedy , Psychosexual , Time Loop , Bisexual , Surreal Comedy , Age Gap , School , Witch , Conspiracy , Memory Manipulation , Ojou-sama , Henshin , Meta , Love Triangle , Fencing , Episodic , Crossdressing , Magic , Bullying , Kuudere , Boarding School , Twins , Suicide , Boys' Love , Astronomy , Aliens , Athletics , Body Swapping , Politics , Cheating

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight

Also known as Revue Starlight.

Studio: Kinema Citrus , Pony Canyon , OVERLAP , APDREAM , TBS , Sound Team Don Juan , Nelke Planning , Bushiroad , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Music , Psychological

The franchise centers on "Starlight" — the song and dance revue troupe loved throughout the world. Karen and Hikari make a promise with each other when they're young that one day they'll stand on that stage together. Time passes, and now the girls are 16 years old. Karen is very enthusiastic about the lessons she takes every day, holding her promise close to her heart. Hikari has transferred schools and is now away from Karen. But the cogs of fate turn, and the two are destined to meet again. The girls and other "Stage Girls" will compete in a mysterious audition process to gain acceptance into the revue.



Tags: Musical Theater , Primarily Female Cast , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Acting , Meta , Female Protagonist , Fairy Tale , Battle Royale , Unrequited Love , Philosophy , Animals , School , Coming of Age , Boarding School , Henshin , Time Loop , Swordplay , Dancing , Time Manipulation , LGBTQ+ Themes , Yuri , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Revenge , Tomboy , Archery , Urban , Love Triangle , Writing , Baseball , Motorcycles , Foreign

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Also known as Gurren Lagann.

Studio: Gainax , Aniplex , Konami , Half H.P Studio , Bandai , Bandai Entertainment , Aniplex of America
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama , Mecha , Romance , Sci-Fi

In a far away future, mankind lives underground in huge caves, unknowing of a world above with a sky and stars.

In the small village of Jiha, Simon, a shy boy who works as a digger discovers a strange glowing object during excavation. The enterprising Kamina, a young man with a pair of rakish sunglasses and the passion of a firey sun, befriends Simon and forms a small band of brothers, the Gurren Brigade, to escape the village and break through the ceiling of the cave to reach the surface, which few believe exist.

The village elder won't hear of such foolishness and punishes the Brigade. However, when disaster strikes from the world above and the entire village is in jeopardy, it's up to Simon, Kamina, a girl with a big gun named Yoko, and the small yet sturdy robot, Lagann, to save the day.

The new friends journey to the world above and find that the surface is a harsh battlefield, and it's up to them to fight back against the rampaging Beastmen to turn the tide in the humans' favor! Pierce the heavens, Gurren Lagann!

Tags: Super Robot , Coming of Age , Dystopian , Found Family , Male Protagonist , Post-Apocalyptic , Primarily Adult Cast , Space Opera , Tragedy , Travel , War , Space , Time Skip , Aliens , Class Struggle , Politics , Desert , Anthropomorphism , Heterosexual , Outdoor Activities , Henshin , Military , Mixed Media , Animals , Guns , Alternate Universe , Urban , Nudity , Love Triangle , Cosmic Horror , Suicide , Swordplay , CGI , Boys' Love

Kill la Kill

Also known as Kill la Kill.

Studio: Aniplex , TRIGGER , Dentsu , Kadokawa Shoten , Mainichi Broadcasting System , Ultra Super Pictures , Movic , Aniplex of America
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Ecchi

After the murder of her father, Ryuuko Matoi has been wandering the land in search of his killer. Following her only lead—the missing half of his invention, the Scissor Blade—she arrives at the prestigious Honnouji Academy, a high school unlike any other. The academy is ruled by the imposing and cold-hearted student council president Satsuki Kiryuuin alongside her powerful underlings, the Elite Four. In the school's brutally competitive hierarchy, Satsuki bestows upon those at the top special clothes called "Goku Uniforms," which grant the wearer unique superhuman abilities.

Tags: Henshin , Female Protagonist , Revenge , Nudity , Parody , Surreal Comedy , Class Struggle , Dystopian , Tomboy , Super Power , Aliens , Coming of Age , Primarily Teen Cast , School , Incest , Military , Anti-Hero , Cult , Psychosexual , Villainess , Bullying , Ensemble Cast , School Club , Tokusatsu , Delinquents , CGI , Gore , Tragedy , LGBTQ+ Themes , Orphan , Exhibitionism , Tsundere , Meta , Cosplay , Yandere , Cheerleading

SSSS.DYNAZENON

Also known as SSSS.DYNAZENON.

Studio: TRIGGER , Graphinica , Pony Canyon , Tsuburaya Productions
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mecha , Romance , Sci-Fi

One day, Yomogi Asanaka, a first-year student at Fujiyokidai High School, runs into a mysterious man named Gauma who claims to be a “kaiju user.”

The sudden appearance of a kaiju is followed by the entry of the gigantic robot, Dynazenon. In the wrong place at the wrong time are Yume Minami, Koyomi Yamanaka, and Chise Asukagawa, who are dragged into the fight against the kaiju.



Tags: Kaiju , Super Robot , Tokusatsu , Denpa , Ensemble Cast , Superhero , Super Power , Coming of Age , Heterosexual , Henshin , Alternate Universe , Tragedy , Rehabilitation , Male Protagonist , Bullying , Hikikomori , CGI , Suicide , Reincarnation , Female Protagonist

Captain Earth

Also known as Captain Earth.

Studio: bones , Mainichi Broadcasting System , Good Smile Company , Shouchiku , Bandai Namco Entertainment , Dentsu , Lawson Entertainment , A-Sketch , Avex Pictures
Status: Finished
Genres: Mecha , Sci-Fi

When Daichi Manatsu sees a mysterious rainbow appearing near the Tanegashima Space Center, he immediately recognizes it as being similar to an apparition that formed when his father was killed in a mysterious accident years earlier. Traveling to Tanegashima, Daichi quickly finds himself involved with the machinations of Globe, a secret agency created to defend mankind from extraterrestrial forces. And while it might seem like a big job for a mere teenager, it turns out that the skills Daichi has honed on video games, combined with a special weapon called the Livlaster, make Daichi ideally suited for operating the Earth Engine Impacter, a giant robot that may be Mankind's best hope against aliens whose goal is to completely drain our world's lifeforce energy. Fortunately, Daichi won't be on his own, as he's quickly joined by a group of equally dedicated young people who all have their own skills and abilities to contribute to the battle.



Tags: Space , Super Robot , Aliens , War , Super Power , Heterosexual

Kidou Butouden G Gundam

Also known as Mobile Fighter G Gundam.

Studio: Sunrise , TV Asahi , Bandai Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Mecha , Romance

It is time for the "Gundam Fight" tournament! Each country sends a Gundam to Earth for this prestigious tournament in the hopes of winning power and glory for their homeland! But this time, there's an unseen evil lurking behind the scene. Domon Kasshu, Neo Japan's reluctant Fighter, is determined to uncover this evil and clear his family name! The fight to the top begins now!



Tags: Battle Royale , Martial Arts , Male Protagonist , Super Robot , Foreign , Revenge , Wrestling , Heterosexual , Henshin , Surreal Comedy , Cultivation , Space , Dystopian , Episodic , Love Triangle , Real Robot , Tragedy , Wuxia , Environmental

Back Arrow

Also known as BACK ARROW.

Studio: Aniplex , Studio VOLN , BANDAI SPIRITS , BS11 , ABC Animation , Movic , Legs
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Fantasy , Mecha , Sci-Fi

Lingalind is enclosed by the Wall. The Wall covers, protects, cultivates, and nurtures the land. The Wall is God. One day in Edger, a village on the outskirts, a mysterious man named Back Arrow appears. Arrow has no memory, but he claims that all he knows is that “I came from outside the Wall.” Arrow tries to go beyond the Wall to regain his memories but is pulled into one conflict after another.



Tags: Super Robot , Male Protagonist , CGI , War , Tokusatsu , Slapstick , Ensemble Cast , Henshin , Dissociative Identities , Tragedy , Nudity , Anachronism

Promare

Also known as Promare.

Studio: TRIGGER , XFLAG , GKids
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mecha , Sci-Fi

Thirty years have passed since the appearance of the Burnish, a race of flame-wielding mutant beings who destroyed half of the world with fire. When a new group of aggressive mutants calling themselves Mad Burnish appears, the epic battle between their leader, Lio Fotia, and Galo Thymos, a new member of the anti-Burnish rescue team Burning Rescue, begins.



Tags: Firefighters , Robots , Super Robot , Male Protagonist , Environmental , Super Power , Primarily Adult Cast , Aliens , CGI , Satire , Politics , Urban , Conspiracy , Terrorism , Post-Apocalyptic , Philosophy , Motorcycles , Dystopian , Alternate Universe , Class Struggle , Dragons , Artificial Intelligence , Rescue

SSSS.GRIDMAN

Also known as SSSS.GRIDMAN.

Studio: TRIGGER , Tsuburaya Productions , Fields , Pony Canyon , Docomo Anime Store , KLOCKWORX , Mainichi Broadcasting System , Ultra Super Pictures , BS11 , Graphinica
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mecha , Sci-Fi

Collaboration with Tsuburaya Productions.

Yuta Hibiki awakens with amnesia and the ability see things that others cannot. He first encounters a Gridman in the reflection of his friend Rikka Takarada's computer and it tells him to "Remember his calling," but Yuta doesn't understand what this means. Later, in the distance, he sees an extremely large monster but it doesn't move. It's only when Yuta gets to school that the two sightings make sense: a monster attacks and the hero Yuta saw in the computer screen pulls him within the computer and transforms Yuta into a giant hero named Gridman.



Tags: Tokusatsu , Kaiju , Super Robot , Alternate Universe , Denpa , Memory Manipulation , Virtual World , Meta , Superhero , Anti-Hero , Henshin , Gods , Hikikomori , Amnesia , CGI , Super Power , Aliens , Yandere , Male Protagonist , School , Ensemble Cast , Female Protagonist , Gore , Villainess , Love Triangle