Anime like When Marnie Was There

What is When Marnie Was There about?

Studio: Studio Ghibli
Status: Finished

Suffering from frequent asthma attacks, young Anna Sasaki is quiet, unsociable, and isolated from her peers, causing her foster parent endless worry. Upon recommendation by the doctor, Anna is sent to the countryside, in hope the cleaner air and more relaxing lifestyle will improve her health and help clear her mind. Engaging in her passion for sketching, Anna spends her summer days living with her aunt and uncle in a small town near the sea.

One day while wandering outside, Anna discovers an abandoned mansion known as the Marsh House. However, she soon finds that the residence isn't as vacant as it appears to be, running into a mysterious girl named Marnie. Marnie's bubbly demeanor slowly begins to draw Anna out of her shell as she returns night after night to meet with her new friend. But it seems there is more to the strange girl than meets the eye—as her time in the town nears its end, Anna begins to discover the truth behind the walls of the Marsh House.

Omoide no Marnie tells the touching story of a young girl's journey through self-discovery and friendship, and the summer that she will remember for the rest of her life.

Tags: Female Protagonist , Rural , Ghost , Outdoor Activities , Tragedy , Time Manipulation , Drawing , Amnesia , Disability , Classic Literature , Ojou-sama , Bullying , Estranged Family , Kids , Coastal

Where to watch?

Netflix

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Howl no Ugoku Shiro

Also known as Howl‘s Moving Castle.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , d-rights , Tokuma Shoten , Walt Disney Studios , GKIDS
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Romance

Sophie, a quiet girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl. The vain and vengeful Witch of the Waste, jealous of their friendship, puts a spell on Sophie. In a life-changing adventure, Sophie climbs aboard Howl's magnificent flying castle and enters a magical world on a quest to break the spell.

Tags: Magic , Female Protagonist , Elderly Protagonist , Steampunk , Witch , War , Monster Boy , Shapeshifting , Heterosexual , Disability , Fairy Tale , Found Family , Age Gap , Travel , Curses , Philosophy , Rural , Time Manipulation , Politics , Maids , Demons , Aviation , CGI , Coming of Age

Where to watch?

Netflix

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Koe no Katachi

Also known as A Silent Voice.

Studio: Kyoto Animation , ABC Animation , Kodansha
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

After transferring into a new school, a deaf girl, Shouko Nishimiya, is bullied by the popular Shouya Ishida. As Shouya continues to bully Shouko, the class turns its back on him. Shouko transfers and Shouya grows up as an outcast. Alone and depressed, the regretful Shouya finds Shouko to make amends.

Tags: Disability , Bullying , Rehabilitation , Language Barrier , Coming of Age , Suicide , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Primarily Teen Cast , School , Time Skip , Heterosexual , POV , Female Protagonist , Unrequited Love , Urban , Shounen

Where to watch?

Netflix

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Coquelicot-zaka kara

Also known as From Up on Poppy Hill.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , GKIDS
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

Yokohama, 1963. Umi is a high school student living in her family's hillside home overlooking the sea. Every morning she hoists two signal flags towards the bay, sending out a message. A poem about the flags is published in the school newspaper. Could the author be Shun, the daring newspaper editor who has drawn Umi's attention?

While the two teenagers join in the campaign to save their school's old clubhouse, their budding relationship takes an unexpected turn when they discover a secret surrounding their past. In a Japan at the crossroads of tradition and modernization, Umi and Shun share a moving story of friendship, love and hope.

Tags: School , Historical , Shoujo , Primarily Teen Cast , Coastal , Coming of Age , Heterosexual , Female Protagonist , School Club , Ships , Outdoor Activities , Family Life , Adoption

Where to watch?

Netflix

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Karigurashi no Arrietty

Also known as The Secret World of Arrietty.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , Walt Disney Studios
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy

Arrietty, a tiny but tenacious 14-year-old, lives with her parents in the recesses of a suburban garden home, unbeknownst to the homeowner and her housekeeper. Like all little people, Arrietty remains hidden from view, except during occasional covert ventures beyond the floorboards to "borrow" scrap supplies like sugar cubes from her human hosts. But when 12-year-old Shou, a human boy who comes to stay in the home, discovers his mysterious housemate one evening, a secret friendship blossoms. If discovered, their relationship could drive Arrietty's family from the home and straight into danger.

Tags: Rural , Family Life , Classic Literature , Female Protagonist , Coming of Age , Work , Iyashikei , Horticulture

Where to watch?

Netflix

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Hotarubi no Mori e

Also known as Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light.

Studio: Aniplex , Brain's Base , Hakusensha , DAX Production , TV Tokyo , NAS
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Romance , Supernatural

The story of Hotarubi no Mori e centers around Hotaru, a little girl who gets lost in an enchanted forest where apparitions reside. A young boy, Gin, appears before Hotaru, but she cannot touch him for fear of making him disappear.

Tags: Coming of Age , Youkai , Ghost , Tragedy , Rural , Urban Fantasy , Male Protagonist , Shoujo , Female Protagonist , Time Skip , Age Gap , Heterosexual , Iyashikei , Wilderness

Where to watch?

Bilibili TV

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Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi

Also known as Spirited Away.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , Studio Hibari , Walt Disney Studios , GKIDS
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Supernatural

On the way to their new home, 10-year-old Chihiro Ogino's family stumbles upon a deserted theme park. Intrigued, the family investigates the park, though unbeknownst to them, it is secretly inhabited by spirits who sleep by day and appear at night. When Chihiro's mother and father eat food from a restaurant in the street, angry spirits turn them into pigs. Furthermore, a wide sea has appeared between the spirit world and the human one, trapping Chihiro, the sole human, in a land of spirits. Luckily for her though, a mysterious boy named Haku appears, claiming to know her from the past. Under his instructions, Chihiro secures a job in the bathhouse where Haku works. With only her courage and some new found friends to aid her, Chihiro embarks on a journey to turn her parents back to their original forms and return home.

Tags: Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Youkai , Isekai , Shapeshifting , Magic , Urban Fantasy , Mythology , Work , Curses , Gods , Anthropomorphism , Witch , Memory Manipulation , Dragons , Travel , Trains , Primarily Child Cast , Twins , Inn

Where to watch?

Netflix

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Hana to Alice Satsujin Jiken

Also known as The Case of Hana & Alice.

Studio: STEVE N' STEVEN
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Slice of Life

A prequel to the 2004 live action film "Hana to Alice." Hana to Alice Satsujin Jiken (The Case of Hana & Alice) will tell the story of how the two female high school leads in the first Hana & Alice live-action film met. 51-year-old film director Iwai (All About Lily Chou-Chou, Swallowtail Butterfly) conceived, wrote, and directed the original 2004 live-action film.

Tags: Female Protagonist , Rotoscoping , Coming of Age , Urban , Bullying , School , Dancing , Hikikomori , CGI , Religion , Crossdressing

Where to watch?

Amazon Prime Video

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Momo e no Tegami

Also known as A Letter to Momo.

Studio: Production I.G , GKIDS
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Supernatural

Momo is a young girl who grew up in a big city. However, following the premature loss of her father, she has to move with her mother to the old family house on a remote island. Here, time seems to have stopped: old wooden buildings, holy shrines surrounded by trees, fields painstakingly carved out from steep hills... and no shopping mall.

Needless to say, Momo is not too overenthusiastic about this new environment. Most of all, her heart is still feeling uneasy about an unfinished letter left by her father. A letter that contained only two words: "Dear Momo..."

What was dad going to say?

One day, exploring the attic of her new big house, Momo finds a dusty and worn out book. And from that moment, something really unexpected starts happening around her...

Tags: Youkai , Ghost , Family Life , Rural , Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Coastal , Rehabilitation , Mopeds

Where to watch?

No streaming links available

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Liz to Aoi Tori

Also known as Liz and the Blue Bird.

Studio: Kyoto Animation , Animation Do , Kyoto Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Slice of Life

Students and best friends Mizore Yoroizuka and Nozomi Kasaki prepare to play a complex musical duet, Liz and the Blue Bird, for oboe and flute. Though they play beautifully together and have been friends since childhood, Mizore and Nozomi find that with graduation looming and the duet proving difficult, their friendship begins to buckle under the pressure. Interspersed with their story is the fantasy tale of Liz, drawn like a storybook, contrasting with the crisp realism of the school.

Tags: Coming of Age , Yuri , Female Protagonist , Band , Primarily Female Cast , Fairy Tale , Unrequited Love , Classical Music , Primarily Teen Cast , School Club , LGBTQ+ Themes , School

Where to watch?

Tubi TV

Crunchyroll

Criterion Channel

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Kimi no Na wa.

Also known as Your Name..

Studio: CoMix Wave , Kadokawa Pictures Japan , Funimation , NYAV Post , Toho , Madman Entertainment , Selecta Visión
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance , Supernatural

Mitsuha Miyamizu, a high school girl, yearns to live the life of a boy in the bustling city of Tokyo—a dream that stands in stark contrast to her present life in the countryside. Meanwhile in the city, Taki Tachibana lives a busy life as a high school student while juggling his part-time job and hopes for a future in architecture.

One day, Mitsuha awakens in a room that is not her own and suddenly finds herself living the dream life in Tokyo—but in Taki's body! Elsewhere, Taki finds himself living Mitsuha's life in the humble countryside. In pursuit of an answer to this strange phenomenon, they begin to search for one another.

Kimi no Na wa. revolves around Mitsuha and Taki's actions, which begin to have a dramatic impact on each other's lives, weaving them into a fabric held together by fate and circumstance.

Tags: Body Swapping , Time Manipulation , Urban Fantasy , Coming of Age , Memory Manipulation , Tragedy , Urban , Rural , Gender Bending , Heterosexual , Primarily Teen Cast , Time Skip , Environmental , Mythology , Male Protagonist , Alternate Universe , Trains , Shrine Maiden , School

Where to watch?

Netflix

Crunchyroll

Amazon Prime Video

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