Top Band Anime Recommendations

Boku no Hero Academia 4

Also known as My Hero Academia Season 4.

Studio: bones
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy , Drama , Sci-Fi

The villain world teeters on the brink of war now that All For One is out of the picture. Shigaraki of the League of Villains squares off with Overhaul of the yakuza, vying for total control of the shadows. Meanwhile, Deku gets tangled in another dangerous internship as he struggles to keep pace with his upperclassman—Mirio.



Tags: Superhero , Super Power , Shounen , Male Protagonist , School , Ensemble Cast , Crime , Primarily Teen Cast , Boarding School , Gangs , Urban Fantasy , Yakuza , Terrorism , Tragedy , Cultivation , Drugs , Police , Espionage , Delinquents , Primarily Male Cast , Band , Heterosexual , Female Protagonist , Nudity , Tomboy , Transgender , Philosophy , Bisexual

Angel Beats!

Also known as Angel Beats!.

Studio: P.A. Works
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama , Supernatural

Otonashi wakes up in the afterlife to find out he has no memories of his life before death. Desperate to survive in a war that could yield another unfortunate fate, he joins the SSS in the battle against Angel, whose very mission is to destroy all inhabitants of this afterlife. As Otonashi struggles to recover his memory and learn more about this world, he finds that not all is as it had seemed.



Tags: Afterlife , Tragedy , Philosophy , School , Amnesia , Primarily Teen Cast , Coming of Age , Kuudere , Memory Manipulation , Politics , Male Protagonist , Slapstick , Ensemble Cast , Angels , Survival , Found Family , School Club , Guns , Rock Music , Isekai , Band , Baseball , Heterosexual , Suicide , Drugs , Chuunibyou

Charlotte

Studio: P.A. Works
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Sci-Fi , Supernatural

The story centers around the special abilities that occur among a small percentage of boys and girls in puberty. Yuu Otosaka uses his power without others knowing, and lives a fairly normal, average school life. Before him suddenly appears a girl, Nao Tomori. Due to his meeting with her, the fate of special power-users will be exposed.



Tags: Super Power , Time Manipulation , Tragedy , Urban Fantasy , Primarily Teen Cast , Male Protagonist , School Club , School , Body Swapping , Amnesia , Dissociative Identities , Female Protagonist , Tsundere , Memory Manipulation , Survival , Urban , Anti-Hero , Primarily Female Cast , Slapstick , Delinquents , Heterosexual , Tomboy , Gore , Yandere , Family Life , Band , Bullying , Baseball , CGI , Torture

K-ON!

Also known as K-ON!.

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

Hirasawa Yui, a young, carefree girl entering high school, has her imagination instantly captured when she sees a poster advertising the ‘Light Music Club’. Being the carefree girl that she is, she quickly signs up. However, Yui has a problem, she is unable to play an instrument.

When Yui goes to the clubroom to explain, she's greeted by the other members: Ritsu, Mio and Tsumugi. Although disheartened at Yui’s lack of musical know-how, they still try to convince her to stay to prevent the club’s disbandment. After playing Yui a short piece which re-ignites her imagination, they succeed in keeping their new member and guitarist.

Along with the tasks of school and homework, Yui begins to learn the guitar with the help of the other band members, experiencing many mishaps along the way. However, with the school-festival drawing near and Yui getting stuck with her practice, will the Light Music Club be ready in time for their debut?



Tags: School Club , Rock Music , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Band , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , Iyashikei , School , Primarily Teen Cast , Episodic , Coming of Age , Ensemble Cast , Food , Slapstick , Seinen , Tomboy

Given

Also known as given.

Studio: Lerche
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Romance , Slice of Life

Tightly clutching his Gibson guitar, Mafuyu Satou steps out of his dark apartment to begin another day of his high school life. While taking a nap in a quiet spot on the gymnasium staircase, he has a chance encounter with fellow student Ritsuka Uenoyama, who berates him for letting his guitar's strings rust and break. Noticing Uenoyama's knowledge of the instrument, Satou pleads for him to fix it and to teach him how to play. Uenoyama eventually agrees and invites him to sit in on a jam session with his two band mates: bassist Haruki Nakayama and drummer Akihiko Kaji.

Satou's voice is strikingly beautiful, filling Uenoyama with the determination to make Satou the lead singer of the band. Though reticent at first, Satou takes the offer after an emotional meeting with an old friend. With the support of his new friends, Satou must not only learn how to play guitar, but also come to terms with the mysterious circumstances that led him to be its owner.



Tags: Band , Boys' Love , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , LGBTQ+ Themes , Coming of Age , Primarily Teen Cast , Tragedy , Suicide , Rehabilitation , Cute Boys Doing Cute Things , School , Urban , Josei , Bisexual , Rock Music , Ensemble Cast , CGI , Basketball

Bocchi the Rock!

Also known as BOCCHI THE ROCK!.

Studio: CloverWorks
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Music , Slice of Life

Hitori Gotou, “Bocchi-chan,” is a girl who’s so introverted and shy around people that she’d always start her conversations with “Ah...”

During her middle school years, she started playing the guitar, wanting to join a band because she thought it could be an opportunity for even someone shy like her to also shine. But because she had no friends, she ended up practicing guitar for six hours every day all by herself. After becoming a skilled guitar player, she uploaded videos of herself playing the guitar to the internet under the name “Guitar Hero” and fantasized about performing at her school’s cultural festival concert. But not only could she not find any bandmates, before she knew it, she was in high school and still wasn’t able to make a single friend!

She was really close to becoming a shut-in, but one day, Nijika Ijichi, the drummer in Kessoku Band, reached out to her. And because of that, her everyday life started to change little by little...



Tags: Band , Female Protagonist , Primarily Female Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Coming of Age , Hikikomori , Rock Music , Rehabilitation , Surreal Comedy , Meta , Slapstick , Work , School , Yuri , LGBTQ+ Themes , Rotoscoping , Chibi

NANA

Also known as NANA.

Studio: MADHOUSE
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Romance , Slice of Life

Two twenty-somethings seemingly share nothing in common apart from their first name, but a chance meeting on a train bound for Tokyo sets Nana Komatsu and Nana Oosaki on a collision course with destiny. Nana Komatsu, a love-at-first-sight dreamer, aims to find enduring happiness in the big city. Nana Oosaki, neo punk rock vocalist, pursues her burning ambitions of musical stardom and worldwide fame. As their fates increasingly intertwine, they each chase their dreams — until the harsh realities of life in big city Tokyo threaten to tear everything apart.



Tags: Female Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Band , Coming of Age , Tragedy , Love Triangle , Shoujo , Rock Music , Netorare , Heterosexual , Fashion , Ensemble Cast , College , Kuudere , Age Gap , Nudity , Gyaru , Mahjong , Yuri , Noir

K-ON!!

Also known as K-ON! Season 2.

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

It is the new year, which means that the senior members of the Light Music Club are now third-years, with Azusa Nakano being the only second-year. The seniors soon realize that Azusa will be the only member left once they graduate and decide to recruit new members. Despite trying many methods of attracting underclassmen—handing out fliers, bringing people into the clubroom, and performing at the welcoming ceremony—there are no signs of anyone that plans to join.

While heading to the clubroom, Azusa overhears Yui Hirasawa say that the club is fine with only five people and that they can do many fun things together. Changing her mind, she decides that they do not need to recruit any members for the time being.

K-On!! revolves around the members of the Light Music Club as they experience their daily high school life. From rehearsing for concerts to just messing around, they are ready to make their last year together an exciting one!



Tags: Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , School Club , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , Band , Coming of Age , School , Primarily Teen Cast , Iyashikei , Episodic , Food , Ensemble Cast , Slapstick , Seinen , Rock Music , Tomboy , Tsundere , Tanned Skin

Hibike! Euphonium

Also known as Sound! Euphonium.

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

Spring in the first year of high school. Kumiko, a member of the brass band in junior high school, visits the high school brass band club with classmates Hazuki and Sapphire. There, she comes across Reina, her former classmate from junior high. Hazuki and Sapphire decide to join the club, but Kumiko can’t make up her mind. She recollects her experience with Reina at a competition in junior high school.



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

Carole & Tuesday

Also known as Carole & Tuesday.

Studio: bones
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Sci-Fi

Fifty years have passed since mankind began migrating to the new frontier: Mars.
It's an age where most culture is produced by AI, and people are content to be passive consumers.

There's a girl.
Scrapping a living in the metropolis of Alba City, she's working part-time while trying to become a musician. She's always felt like something is missing.
Her name is Carole.

There's a girl.
Born to a wealthy family in the provincial town of Herschel City, she dreams of becoming a musician, but nobody around her understands. She feels like the loneliest person in the world.
Her name is Tuesday.

A chance meeting brings them together.
They want to sing.
They want to make music.
Together, they feel like they just might have a chance.

The two of them may only create a tiny wave.
But that wave will eventually grow into something larger...



Tags: Band , Female Protagonist , Cyberpunk , Artificial Intelligence , Urban , Politics , Tanned Skin , Foreign , Dystopian , Post-Apocalyptic , Drugs , Rotoscoping , Gender Bending , LGBTQ+ Themes , Terrorism , Bisexual , Agender , Anachronism

Paripi Koumei

Also known as Ya Boy Kongming!.

Studio: P.A. Works
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Music , Supernatural

Fate and reincarnation deliver brilliant military strategist, Kongming, from warring, ancient China to Japan’s modern party hot spot in Shibuya City, Tokyo. After a lifetime of battles and military skirmishes, Kongming wished with his last breath to be reborn in a world of peace and prosperity. It’s nearly two millennia later and he’s finding his way in a very different world than that of his past life. When he meets Eiko, an amateur musician with big dreams, the unlikely duo strikes up an even unlikelier friendship. Eiko has street smarts to help Kongming navigate this strange new world, and Kongming will use his strategic mind to help Eiko achieve stardom!



An advanced online screening of the first episode was held on March 31, 2022, but the weekly TV release began on April 5, 2022.

Tags: Reincarnation , Urban , Band , Anachronism , Primarily Adult Cast , Idol , Historical , Hip-hop Music , Ensemble Cast , Work , Bar , Male Protagonist , Female Protagonist , Seinen , Military , Classic Literature , Time Manipulation , Dancing , Rock Music , Fugitive

Given Movie

Also known as Given The Movie.

Studio: Lerche
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Romance

The film centers on the love relationship among the band's bassist Haruki Nakayama, drummer Akihiko Kaji, and Akihiko's roommate and ex-boyfriend Ugetsu Murata.



Tags: Love Triangle , Band , Boys' Love , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , LGBTQ+ Themes , Primarily Adult Cast , Bisexual , Josei , Rock Music , Tragedy , CGI

Sakamichi no Apollon

Also known as Kids on the Slope.

Studio: Tezuka Productions , MAPPA
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Romance , Slice of Life

The beginning of summer, 1966.

Because of his father's job situation, freshman high school student Kaoru Nishimi moves by himself from Yokosuka to Kyushu to live with relatives. Until then, Kaoru was an honor roll student who tended to keep to himself, but meeting notorious bad boy Sentaro Kawabuchi starts to change him. Through his devil-may-care classmate, Kaoru learns the attractions of jazz and finds the first person he can call a "friend". He also discovers how much fun it is to play music with a pal.

Other characters include Sentaro's kind childhood chum, Ritsuko, who is the daughter of a record shop owner; the mysterious upperclassman, Yurika; and Brother Jun, the much-admired leader among their peers. Set against the backdrop of a seaside town with a scent of American culture, this series is a drama about young people coming into their own, crossing each other's paths, and finding friendship, love, and music!



Tags: Coming of Age , Band , Love Triangle , Josei , Male Protagonist , Jazz Music , Heterosexual , Found Family , School , Rural , Historical , Primarily Teen Cast , Primarily Male Cast , Age Gap , Religion , Time Skip

Kono Oto Tomare!

Also known as Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life.

Studio: Platinum Vision
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Romance , Slice of Life

In the story, Takezou is the last remaining member of the koto club, a club dedicated to the traditional Japanese string instrument. If he doesn't find new members, the koto club will be terminated. One day, Takezou is alone in the club room when a student barges in and demands to join. The student is delinquent Chika Kudou, a guy who even scares delinquent upperclassmen at other schools.



Tags: School Club , Coming of Age , Ensemble Cast , Tsundere , Male Protagonist , Heterosexual , Primarily Teen Cast , Delinquents , Band , Bullying , Shounen , Primarily Male Cast , Kuudere

K-ON! Movie

Also known as K-ON!: The Movie.

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

With graduation right around the corner, every member of the Light Music Club except for Azusa will be leaving for good. But the girls aren’t going to let something as silly as graduation tear them apart! For their final hurrah, the girls are going on the ultimate vacation tour— all the way to London! Their overseas journey will lead them on a trip of discovery and friendship as they take the stage one last time for their final encore together.



Tags: Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Female Protagonist , Band , Foreign , Coming of Age , School Club , Primarily Female Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Travel , Rock Music , Seinen , Tomboy , Language Barrier , Iyashikei , School , Ensemble Cast

Doukyuusei

Also known as Doukyuusei -Classmates-.

Studio: A-1 Pictures
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Romance , Slice of Life

Sajou is an honor student with perfect scores in every subject on his high school entrance exam. Kusakabe plays guitar in his band that performs at live events and is popular among the girls. These boys would have never crossed paths. But one day Kusakabe offers to help Sajou prepare for their upcoming chorus festival and the two begin to talk. As the two meet after school, they bond through songs and begin to harmonize as their hearts beat together.

It starts out slowly but soon their feelings for one another grow and suddenly they both realize that they are in love. Kusakabe's emotions are frivolous, pure and direct causing Sajou to hesitate at first, but he gradually opens his heart. The boys learn about each other, as well as themselves, as they support one another during this difficult time in their youth.

As the time to start thinking about their futures approaches, what do these young men find as they try to move forward...



Tags: Boys' Love , Coming of Age , LGBTQ+ Themes , Primarily Male Cast , Male Protagonist , School , Primarily Teen Cast , Cute Boys Doing Cute Things , School Club , Band , Motorcycles

BECK

Also known as Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad.

Studio: MADHOUSE
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Music , Slice of Life

Tanaka Yukio, better known by his nickname Koyuki is a 14 year old who feels disconnected from life in general. Through the act of saving a mismatched dog, he meets guitarist Minami Ryuusuke, and becomes involved in Ryuusuke's new band BECK. Koyuki's life starts to change as the band struggles towards fame.


Tags: Band , Coming of Age , Urban , Rock Music , School , Primarily Male Cast , Male Protagonist , Bullying , Female Protagonist , Shounen , Ensemble Cast , Love Triangle , Baseball , Gyaru , Hip-hop Music , Swimming

Hibike! Euphonium 2

Also known as Sound! Euphonium 2.

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

With another tournament fast approaching, Kumiko's band is doubling down on practice and discipline, leaving little time for sleep or other recreational activities. The redoubled practice schedule brings Kumiko and Reina closer together, but elsewhere in the band, it seems like drama threatens to tear the group's unity apart. The ghost of the prior year's mass band exodus still haunts many of Kumiko's classmates, and with former band member Nozomi Kasaki now asking to return, it seems like the grudges of the past will soon be impossible to ignore.



Note: The first episode aired with a runtime of ~48 minutes as opposed to the standard 24 minute long episode.

Tags: Band , Coming of Age , School Club , Female Protagonist , Primarily Teen Cast , Classical Music , School , Primarily Female Cast , Ensemble Cast , Family Life , Unrequited Love , Kuudere

Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou

Also known as Attack on Titan: Junior High.

Studio: Production I.G
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Fantasy , Slice of Life

The school comedy story is set in a junior high school and centers on the original manga's characters such as Eren and Mikasa as they battle with Titans. The spin-off incorporates gags while using Shingeki no Kyojin's story and notable scenes as its basis.

Tags: Parody , School , Chibi , Slapstick , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Revenge , Kaiju , Cute Boys Doing Cute Things , Urban Fantasy , Primarily Child Cast , Shounen , Male Protagonist , Food , Ensemble Cast , Unrequited Love , LGBTQ+ Themes , Ghost , Band , Rock Music

Kaminaki Sekai no Kamisama Katsudou

Also known as KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World.

Studio: Studio Palette
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama , Ecchi , Fantasy

As heir to a cult leader, Yukito centers his life around the mysterious goddess Mitama. But everything changes after he’s killed during a ritual gone wrong. To his surprise, Yukito is reborn into a world with no concept of god! And in this world, life and death are decided by the Imperial State. As Yukito fights to protect his new village, someone from his past life lends a helping hand.



Tags: Gods , Cult , Religion , Parody , Lost Civilization , Male Protagonist , Satire , Anachronism , Isekai , Conspiracy , Super Power , Artificial Intelligence , Anti-Hero , Mythology , Time Skip , Seinen , Time Manipulation , Rural , CGI , Primarily Female Cast , Nudity , Gender Bending , Agriculture , Bondage , Bisexual , Kaiju , Handjob , Gore , Band , Cyborg , Feet , Gyaru , Tanned Skin , Masochism