Anime like Wagahai wa Neko de Aru

Manga Nippon Mukashibanashi (1976)

Studio: Mainichi Broadcasting System , Group TAC
Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy

An omnibus-format TV series consisting of anime adaptations of Japanese folk tales, this is one of Japan's longest-running TV series, and Group Tac's second TV series. The governing rule of the series was that the creative staff change from episode to episode. While later other anime series like Nippon Animation's Famous Works of Japanese Literature would attempt the same, none would be as long-lived or successful. The reason for rotating the staff each episode was so that each episode would have a completely different look and feel from its predecessor, and in this it was eminently successful. This is a series that is genuinely rewarding to watch, and is visually one of the richest in anime history. While this system also meant that quality varied, there were also occasionally superb episodes, as on the staff were many veterans like Group Tac founder SUGII Gisaburo himself, SHIBAYAMA Tsutomu, FURUZAWA Hideo, RIN Taro, and HIKONE Norio. Old episodes started being repeated more and more frequently as the years went on, and production of new episodes finally ceased completely in late 1995, but the series is still widely broadcast.



Tags: Historical

Hi no Tori

Also known as Phoenix.

Studio: Touhouku Shinsha , NHK , Tezuka Productions , Media Blasters , NYAV Post
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi , Supernatural

Hi no Tori is a collection of stories that all have something in common. The Phoenix, whose blood is believed to give an eternal life to one who drinks it. Therefore many seek to kill it, but as the Phoenix of the tale, it's reborn from the ashes. Stories take place in future and the past, where humans fight with each other as always, and everyone is afraid to die. But still, every story teaches a lesson: Life is beginning of an eternity, an never-ending cycle.



Tags: Historical , Mythology , Anthology , Reincarnation , Philosophy

Seishun Anime Zenshuu

Also known as Animated Classics of Japanese Literature.

Studio: Nippon Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Romance

A brilliant collection of beautifully animated episodes based on selected masterpieces of Japanese modern literature.

The aim of this series is to appeal to the viewer at large and to give him or her some idea of the variety and individuality which Japanese literature has developed over the last hundred years.

The authors range from Higuchi Ichiyou (Takekurabe), Mori Ougai (The Dancing Girl) and Natsume Souseki (Botchan) to Kawabata Yasunari (The Izu Dancer), Nobel laureate of 1968, and Mishima Yukio (The Sound of Waves).



Tags: Historical , Anthology , Classic Literature

Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae

Also known as Sabu & Ichi's Arrest Warrant.

Studio: Toei Animation , Mushi Production , Mainichi Broadcasting System , Studio Zero
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama

The series follows the adventures of Sabu, a young Edo bakufu investigator traveling with the blind master swordsman Ichi. In their travels, they assist the common people in solving mysteries and righting wrongs (usually committed by bandits or corrupt officials). Sabu is engaged to Midori, the daughter of his boss, who works as a police officer for the Tokugawa shogunate.



Tags: Seinen , Achromatic , Historical , Swordplay , Male Protagonist

What's Michael?

Studio: Kitty Film
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy

A series of adventures featuring the one cat apparently everyone in the world owns... Michael.

Tags: Heterosexual , Animals , Age Gap , Educational , Dancing , Musical Theater , Denpa , Mixed Media

Anime 80-nichikan Sekai Isshuu

Also known as Around the World with Willy Fog.

Studio: Nippon Animation , BRB Internacional
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Romance

Willy Fogg accepts a bet from members of the Reform Club that he can make it around the world in 80 days. His plan however does not include being stopped by unknown enemies. Based on the Jules Verne novel.



Tags: Classic Literature , Travel , Foreign , Male Protagonist , Historical , Kids , Primarily Male Cast , Heterosexual , Anthropomorphism , Ships

Hashire Melos (Movie)

Studio: Toei Video , Visual 80 , Rise Spirit , Dentsu , TV Asahi , Asahi Shimbun
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama

Melos is a good boy from Messina and has come to Syracuse, the magnificent city of temples, to buy a ritual sword for his sister's marriage ceremony. He meets a very talented sculptor and they become friends.

Later, the King's guards arrest Melos while he was having a walk in the castle's gardens and Syracuse's King, obsessed by the idea of assassins out to kill him, sentences him to death. Melos is desperate, but most of all he wants to be present at his sister's marriage, so he asks the King for three days to go to Messina for the celebration and then return to Syracuse where he will accept the death penalty. The King does not trust Melos, but, trying to demonstrate that nobody could trust him, asks him to find a volunteer substitute in case he breaks his promise. The sculptor accepts to be Melos' substitute in this case...



Tags: Foreign , Historical , Classic Literature , Primarily Adult Cast , Politics , Male Protagonist , Swordplay , Gore , Tragedy , Nudity