Anime like Neko to Ryuu

Tonari no Youkai-san

Also known as Tonari no Yokai-san.

Studio: LIDENFILMS , ABC Animation , East Press
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life , Supernatural

Welcome to Engamori, the cozy town where supernatural beings are your friendly neighbors. For generations and to this day, the otherworldly Yokai and humans have continued to protect their easygoing way of life. Enjoy the mountain breeze and uncover the mysterious bonds that lie within.



Tags: Youkai , Urban Fantasy , Rural , Josei , Alternate Universe , Family Life , Iyashikei , Anthropomorphism , Ensemble Cast , Heterosexual , Tragedy , LGBTQ+ Themes , Amnesia , Gods , Demons , Shapeshifting , Boys' Love , Aromantic

Dragon, Ie wo Kau.

Also known as Dragon Goes House-Hunting.

Studio: Pony Canyon , Signal.MD , Studio Mausu , Age Global Networks , Yomiuri TV Enterprise , Production I.G , Nexon , Funimation
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Fantasy

Letty is having a monster of a bad day. He can’t fly, breathe fire, and was just kicked out of his family’s lair. Hapless and homeless, this beast needs new digs, but where to start? Enter Dearia, the Demon Lord of Real Estate, making buyers’ dreams come true. Alas, that unique fixer-upper listing shown was infested with a horde of undead squatters—and no fireplace. House-hunting can be a beast!



Tags: Dragons , Elf , Male Protagonist , Episodic , Iyashikei , Satire , Adoption , Anthropomorphism , Demons , Dungeon , Ojou-sama , Shounen

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 , Female Protagonist , Philosophy , Time Skip , Medieval , Found Family , Kuudere , Iyashikei , Demons , Shounen , Foreign , Asexual , Adoption , Rural , Heterosexual , Aromantic , Dungeon , Episodic , Religion , Rotoscoping , Snowscape , CGI , Spearplay , Food , Dragons , Horticulture

Ramen Aka Neko

Also known as Ramen Akaneko.

Studio: E&H Production , Good Smile Company , GAGA , TBS , Movic , E&H Production , Legs , Bushiroad
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Fantasy , Slice of Life

Welcome to Ramen Akaneko, a restaurant run solely by cats. That is, until a human named Tamako Yashiro interviews for a job. Oddly enough, her candor about being a dog person lands her the job. This is a beautiful story of human and feline relationships woven through the many customers who visit Ramen Akaneko. Get ready for an extra helping of heartfelt moments that warm the body and soul.



Tags: Food , Restaurant , Animals , Primarily Animal Cast , Work , Iyashikei , Anthropomorphism , Ensemble Cast , Found Family , Urban , CGI , Shounen , Idol

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

Somali to Mori no Kamisama

Also known as Somali and the Forest Spirit.

Studio: Satelight , HORNETS , Mixer , North Stars Pictures , JY Animation , Crunchyroll , CA-Cygames Anime Fund , Movic
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Slice of Life

The world is ruled by a diversity of inhuman beings, who persecuted humans and drove them to near-extinction. One day, the forest guardian Golem meets a human girl. This is a chronicle of a journey that would bind a member of the dying "human" clan to the forest guardian Golem, as father and daughter.



The first episode received an advance web distribution on January 3. The regular TV broadcast started on January 10.

Tags: Adoption , Found Family , Female Protagonist , Family Life , Iyashikei , Travel , Parenthood , Lost Civilization , Elderly Protagonist , Survival , Demons , Male Protagonist , Youkai , Seinen , Orphan , Slavery , Witch , CGI , Body Horror , Disability , Elf

Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue.

Also known as My Roommate is a Cat.

Studio: Zero-G , AT-X , TOKYO MX , Avex Pictures , ABC Animation , Q-Tec , BS11 , GYAO! , BookLive , NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Mystery writer Mikazuki Subaru, who isn't good at dealing with people, finds them to be a disturbance when it comes to building his imaginary world. One day, he chances upon a stray cat and feels inspiration strike, so he brings the cat home as his muse.

Can watching the inexplicable behaviors of a cat form material for a novel?

Tags: Animals , Iyashikei , Hikikomori , Family Life , Male Protagonist , Writing , Primarily Adult Cast , Rehabilitation , Tsundere , Female Protagonist , Shoujo , Tragedy , Primarily Male Cast , Found Family

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 , Youkai , Bullying , Tragedy , Nekomimi , CGI , Coming of Age , Rural , Feet

Kawaisugi Crisis

Also known as TOO CUTE CRISIS.

Studio: SynergySP , Pony Canyon , Sotsu , Kansai TV , BS Asahi , CHOCOLATE
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Sci-Fi , Slice of Life

Invading alien Liza Luna wants nothing more than to destroy planet Earth... after she gets in a little sightseeing, first. But her travels soon take her into a cat café, where the furry felines inside invade her heart just as surely as Liza invaded Earth! Destroying the world won’t be so easy now that she’s discovered the joys of kitty cats...



Tags: Female Protagonist , Animals , Aliens , Iyashikei , Shounen , Slapstick , Educational , Primarily Adult Cast , Nekomimi , Primarily Female Cast

Ame to Kimi to

Also known as With You and the Rain.

Studio: Lesprit , NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan , BS Asahi , TV Asahi
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

On a rainy day, Fuji meets a cute critter posing as a dog and offering an umbrella and a cue card that says, “Please take me home” and she can’t resist. With this dog-poster’s quirky charm and mysterious ways, life together becomes a heartwarming adventure of friendship and shared seasons.



Tags: Iyashikei , Female Protagonist , Animals , Seinen , Urban , Primarily Adult Cast , Episodic , Writing , Bowling , Pregnancy , Nudity