Manga like ARIA

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

Also known as Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou.

Status: Finished
Genres: Sci-Fi , Slice of Life

Set hundreds of years in the future after an environmental catastrophe, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (also known as Yokohama Shopping Log) centers on the simple life of Alpha, an android who runs a small coffee shop in coastal Japan. Alpha stands witness to chronicle the end of humanity’s days with coffee, a slice of watermelon, and the sound of her moon guitar backed by distant seagulls. Quiet and bittersweet, this tale is about the melancholy beauty that can be found even as the end approaches.



Tags: Iyashikei , Post-Apocalyptic , Female Protagonist , Coming of Age , Philosophy , Rural , Robots , Time Skip , Lost Civilization , Coastal , Artificial Intelligence , Seinen , Episodic , Work , Yuri , Mopeds , Travel , Restaurant , LGBTQ+ Themes , Family Life , Motorcycles , Nudity

Mushishi

Also known as Mushishi.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Mystery , Slice of Life , Supernatural

Some live in the deep darkness behind your eyelids. Some eat silence. Some thoughtlessly kill. Some simply drive men mad. They are known as mushi—creatures that came into being shortly after life emerged from the primordial ooze. They still exist parallel to our own lives and can only be seen by a select few. As a mushishi, Ginko is one of the few who are aware of their existense, and this young man with a sardonic smile roams from place to place with the knowledge and skill to aid those unwittingly affected by mushi.



Note: Won the Excellence Prize for Manga at the 7th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2003 and the Kodansha Manga Award for General Manga in 2006.

Tags: Episodic , Environmental , Youkai , Seinen , Mythology , Rural , Travel , Iyashikei , Philosophy , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Urban Fantasy , Historical , Work , Demons

Amanchu!

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Hikari Kohinata is a cheerful 15 year-old girl who lives near the ocean and she spends much of her time diving as a result. On her first day of high school, she meets a teacher who also likes scuba diving. There's also a 16 year-old classmate, Futaba Ooki, who gets dragged along in Hikari's maelstrom as soon as they meet at school.

Tags: Iyashikei , Scuba Diving , School , Seinen , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Coastal , School Club , Twins , Heterosexual , Yuri , Urban Fantasy

Sousou no Frieren

Also known as Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.

Status: Releasing
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. With the great struggle over, they all go their separate ways to live a quiet life. But as an elf, Frieren, nearly immortal, will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to terms with the mortality of her friends? How can she find fulfillment in her own life, and can she learn to understand what life means to the humans around her? Frieren begins a new journey to find the answer.



Notes:
Winner of the Grand Prize at the 14th Manga Taisho Awards.
Nominated for the 25th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.
Placed 3rd at the 7th Annual Next Manga Award.

Tags: Magic , Elf , Travel , Philosophy , Female Protagonist , Time Skip , Episodic , Demons , Kuudere , Tragedy , Iyashikei , Shounen , Asexual , Fairy Tale , Dungeon , Time Manipulation

Colori Colore Creare

Status: Releasing
Genres: Fantasy , Slice of Life

Onobori town is located on an island and is protected by a noren (a traditional Japanese curtain). Aka is a naive girl living alone with her grandfather who runs a coffee shop in a quaint windmill hut. The story opens with an encounter with a giant black cat...

Tags: Iyashikei , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Seinen , Female Protagonist , Animals , Urban Fantasy

8-gatsu no Soda Sui

Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy , Slice of Life

Tales of the unusual residents staying in an equally unusual seaside town.

Also includes the additional story "Uwa no Sora ga Oka Yori."

Tags: Environmental , Episodic , Urban Fantasy , Iyashikei , Full Color , Seinen , Primarily Child Cast , Rural , Female Protagonist , Foreign , Magic , Coastal

Yuru Camp△

Also known as Laid-Back Camp.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Setting up a tent, starting a fire, and eating noodles with Mt. Fuji in view...Rin and Nadeshiko absolutely love to camp! Enjoy their zest for travel and maybe even pick up a tip or two about roughing it in the great outdoors. You might just want to go camping yourself!



Tags: Outdoor , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Primarily Female Cast , Iyashikei , Travel , Rural , Educational , School Club , Food , Seinen , Camping , Female Protagonist , Primarily Teen Cast , Environmental , Mopeds

Kotonoba Drive

Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Slice of Life , Supernatural

The story centres on Suu-chan, a girl who works part-time at a pasta restaurant named "Lamp." She witnesses mysterious events while riding her moped in the night, such as the past of a person or place. She can only experience these visions five minutes at a time.

Tags: Iyashikei , Episodic , Work , Seinen , Rural , Outdoor , Ghost , Female Protagonist , Motorcycles , Photography , Cars

Tongari Boushi no Atelier

Also known as Witch Hat Atelier.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy

In a world where everyone takes wonders like magic spells and dragons for granted, Coco is a girl with a simple dream: she wants to be a witch. But everybody knows magicians are born, not made, and Coco was not born with a gift for magic. Resigned to her un-magical life, Coco is about to give up on her dream to become a witch … until the day she meets Qifrey, a mysterious, traveling magician. After secretly seeing Qifrey perform magic in a way she’s never seen before, Coco soon learns what everybody “knows” might not be the truth, and discovers that her magical dream may not be as far away as it may seem...



Notes:
Nominated for the 11th Manga Taishou Award in 2018.
Won the Daruma d'Or at Japan Expo in 2019.
Won Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Asia at the Eisner Awards in 2020.
Won the Best Manga Award at the Harvey Awards in 2020.

Tags: Witch , Magic , Memory Manipulation , Female Protagonist , Teacher , Drawing , Coming of Age , Revenge , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Female Cast , School , Found Family , Conspiracy , Primarily Child Cast , Tragedy , Politics , Seinen , Disability , Philosophy , Spearplay , Rehabilitation , Foreign , Travel , LGBTQ+ Themes , Amnesia , Iyashikei , Boys' Love

Yotsuba to!

Also known as Yotsuba&!.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Hello! This is Koiwai Yotsuba, Yotsuba Koiwai...um, YOTSUBA! Yotsuba moved with Daddy to a new house from our old house waaaaaaay over there! And moving's fun 'cos people wave! (Ohhhh!!) And Yotsuba met these nice people next door and made friends to play with (one of 'em acted like one of those bad strangers Daddy told Yotsuba not to go with, but it was okay in the end). I hope we get to play a lot. And eat ice cream! And-and-and...oh yeah! You should come play with Yotsuba too!



Notes:
Includes an interlude.
Won the Excellence Award for Manga at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006 and the Grand Prize of the 20th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize in 2016.
Was nominated for the Manga Taishō award in 2008 and for the 12th and 20th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize in 2008 and 2016.
Was nominated for the Eisner Award in the "Best Publication for Kids" category.

Tags: Family Life , Iyashikei , Episodic , Female Protagonist , Slapstick , Shounen , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Parenthood , Rural , Adoption , Primarily Female Cast , Tomboy , Fishing