What do you want to watch tonight?
Each title says who it's good for, and who it isn't. Tap what you want tonight, or say no to one and why.
Closest to BEASTARS first
Puberty Syndrome—a rumored, mysterious syndrome that only affects those in their puberty. For example, a bunny girl suddenly appeared in front of Sakuta Azusagawa. The bunny girl's real identity is Mai Sakurajima, a teenage celebrity who is currently an inactive high school senior. For some reason, her charming figure does not reflect in the eyes of others. In the course of revealing the mystery behind this phenomenon, Sakuta begins to explore his feelings towards Mai. Set in a city where the skies and seas shine, Sakuta unfolds the meaning behind his bizarre encounters on women with the said syndrome.
The sides of Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
- A girl in a bunny costume nobody can see
- A high schooler who says what he thinks
- A seaside town and its little train line
Good for you if
- you like a couple that actually talks to each other.
- you like long walks home filled with sharp back-and-forth.
- you like an invented syndrome used to say something true about teenagers.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- you won't read subtitles.
- you need the physics talk to hold up.
About: loneliness · first love · adolescence
Mob Psycho 100 2016
Anime
Shigeo Kageyama, a.k.a. "Mob," is a boy who has trouble expressing himself, but who happens to be a powerful esper. Mob is determined to live a normal life and keeps his ESP suppressed, but when his emotions surge to a level of 100%, something terrible happens to him! As he's surrounded by false espers, evil spirits, and mysterious organizations, what will Mob think? What choices will he make?
The sides of Mob Psycho 100
- A boy with psychic powers who wants to be ordinary
- A fake exorcist and his consultation office
- A body improvement club
Good for you if
- you like animation that goes loose and wild when a fight starts.
- you like a con man mentor who gives surprisingly good advice.
- you want a shy kid to learn that powers are not a personality.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- you won't read subtitles.
About: self-esteem · growing up · friendship
Horimiya 2021
Anime
A secret life is the one thing they have in common. At school, Hori is a prim and perfect social butterfly, but the truth is she's a brash homebody. Meanwhile, under a gloomy facade, Miyamura hides a gentle heart, along with piercings and tattoos. In a chance meeting, they both reveal a side they've never shown. Could this blossom into something new?
The sides of Horimiya
- A popular girl who is a homebody at home
- A gloomy classmate with piercings and tattoos
- A couple who get together before the confession
Good for you if
- you like a couple who get together early and stay together.
- you want an easy, warm watch with nothing cruel in it.
- you like last school years, clubs and goodbyes.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- you won't read subtitles for a Japanese school romance.
About: first love · appearances · growing up
The Garden of Words 2013
Anime
Takao, who is training to become a shoemaker, skipped school and is sketching shoes in a Japanese-style garden. He meets a mysterious woman, Yukino, who is older than him. Then, without arranging the times, the two start to see each other again and again, but only on rainy days. They deepen their relationship and open up to each other. But the end of the rainy season soon approaches.
The sides of The Garden of Words
- A teenage boy sketching shoes in a park
- An older woman drinking beer at dawn
- Meetings only on rainy mornings
Good for you if
- you want rain on leaves drawn drop by drop.
- you like a story told in quiet mornings under a shelter.
- you like a bond between two lonely people that has no name.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- you want a full evening's film. This one lasts forty-six minutes.
About: loneliness · age difference · rain
A Silent Voice: The Movie 2016
Anime
Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shouko and Shouya do not speak to each other again... until an older, wiser Shouya, tormented by his past behaviour, decides he must see Shouko once more. He wants to atone for his sins, but is it already too late...?
The sides of A Silent Voice: The Movie
- A boy who bullied a deaf girl at school
- Years later, his attempt to make amends
- Conversations in sign language
Good for you if
- you want a film that breaks your heart and mends it.
- you like a guilty boy who can't look people in the face.
- you like teenagers learning to forgive themselves.
Bad for you if
- you can't watch bullying and suicide attempts on screen.
- you don't watch anime.
About: guilt · forgiveness · disability
Perfect Blue 1998
Anime
Rising pop star Mima Kirigoe quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.
The sides of Perfect Blue
- A pop singer who becomes an actress
- A fan website that knows her daily life
- Murders around her film set
Good for you if
- you like a stalker thriller where you can't trust what you see.
- you like a story where dream, filming and reality blur.
- you like being scared by your own reflection.
Bad for you if
- you'd rather not see a staged rape scene and a nude photo shoot.
- you can't stand stabbings shown up close.
- you don't watch anime.
About: fame · identity · obsession
Your Name. 2016
Anime
High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other.
The sides of Your Name.
- A boy and a girl who swap bodies in their sleep
- Tokyo and a mountain town
- A comet in the sky
Good for you if
- you like a film carried by RADWIMPS songs.
- you like two people searching for someone they've never met.
- you like skies and light painted with breathtaking detail.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch animated films.
- you won't read subtitles. It's in Japanese (a dub exists).
About: connection · memory · fate
Whisper of the Heart 1995
Anime
Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: "Seiji Amasawa."
The sides of Whisper of the Heart
- A girl who reads every library book
- A boy learning to make violins
- A cat riding a train
Good for you if
- you want a quiet summer in the Tokyo suburbs.
- you like a first love that starts with a name on library cards.
- you like a girl figuring out if she can really write.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- you need action to stay hooked. Here a girl writes a story and a boy builds violins.
About: first love · ambition · growing up
I Want to Eat Your Pancreas 2018
Anime
After his classmate and crush is diagnosed with a pancreatic disease, an average high schooler sets out to make the most of her final days.
The sides of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas
- A diary found in a hospital waiting room
- A loner and the dying girl who picks him
- A trip together off her bucket list
Good for you if
- you want to cry over a shy boy and a girl living her last months to the full.
- you like a love that is never quite named between two opposite teenagers.
- you like a closed-off boy slowly opened up by a girl who laughs at her illness.
Bad for you if
- a teenager's terminal illness is too much for you.
- you don't watch anime.
About: death · living fully · connection
Ocean Waves 1993
Anime
At Kichijōji Station, Tokyo, Taku Morisaki glimpses a familiar woman on the platform opposite boarding a train. Later, her photo falls from a shelf as he exits his apartment before flying to Kōchi Prefecture. Picking it up, he looks at it briefly before leaving. As the aeroplane takes off, he narrates the events that brought her into his life...
The sides of Ocean Waves
- Two school friends and the girl between them
- A trip to Tokyo on borrowed money
- A high school reunion years later
Good for you if
- you remember your last year of school and the people you lost touch with.
- you like three teenagers who never say what they feel.
- you like a friendship between two boys tested by the same girl.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch animated films.
- you won't read subtitles for a quiet Japanese drama.
- you need something to happen, and here it is phone calls and train platforms.
About: first love · friendship · memory
Rent-a-Girlfriend 2020
Anime
Kinoshita Kazuya is a 20-year-old failure of a college student. He managed to kiss his girlfriend once, but was dumped after a month. Completely spiteful, Kazuya uses a certain method to date a girl. He goes to their meeting place and a beautiful girl brushing her long, black hair behind her ear was there, smiling at him. Her name was Mizuhara Chizuru. Something real is born after just a single rental! A reckless rom-com filled with love and excitement is about to begin!
The sides of Rent-a-Girlfriend
- A college student who rents a girlfriend by the hour
- A lie told to his grandmother
- A fake couple that keeps going
Good for you if
- you like a fake couple that slowly stops pretending.
- you like secondhand embarrassment as a comic engine.
- you want a light rom-com with low stakes.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- you won't read subtitles for a whole season.
- you need a relationship that moves. The arrangement stays about where it started.
About: loneliness · self-esteem · love
Ghost in the Shell 1995
Anime
In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.
The sides of Ghost in the Shell
- A cyborg agent in a special police unit
- A hacker who can rewrite people's memories
- Long silent shots of a city in the rain
Good for you if
- you like asking what's left of you when your body is a machine.
- you like a dense, rainy city drawn in every detail.
- you like long quiet moments between short bursts of action.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- you want a plot that's easy to follow. Hacked memories and rival police sections tangle fast.
About: identity · technology · the soul
Paprika 2006
Anime
Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a research psychologist who uses a device called the DC Mini to enter her patients' dreams, wherein she adopts the alter-ego "Paprika". When the device is stolen, she must stop rogue elements from merging the dream and waking worlds.
The sides of Paprika
- A psychologist who enters her patients' dreams
- A stolen dream machine
- A parade of objects marching out of dreams
Good for you if
- you like a dream that spills into the waking city.
- you want every frame packed with shifting images.
- you like not knowing whose dream you're in.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- you need a machine to follow rules. This one runs on dream logic.
About: dreams · identity · technology
Neon Genesis Evangelion 1995
Anime
At the turn of the century, the Angels returned to Earth, seeking to wipe out humanity in an apocalyptic fury. Devastated, mankind's last remnants moved underground to wait for the day when the Angels would come back to finish the job. Fifteen years later, that day has come... but this time, humanity is ready to fight back with terrifying bio-mechanical weapons known as the Evangelions. Watch as Shinji, Rei, Asuka and the rest of the mysterious shadow agency Nerv battle to save earth from total annihilation.
The sides of Neon Genesis Evangelion
- A boy ordered by his father to pilot a giant robot
- Angels attacking Tokyo-3
- A final two episodes inside his head
Good for you if
- you like a series that leaves you with more questions than answers.
- you care more about the pilots' minds than the robot fights.
- you like an ending that goes somewhere no one expected.
Bad for you if
- you can't take depression and self-loathing on screen.
- you don't watch anime.
About: depression · fathers and sons · loneliness
Elite 2018
Series
When three working class kids enroll in the most exclusive school in Spain, the clash between the wealthy and the poor students leads to tragedy.
The sides of Elite
- Scholarship kids in a rich private school
- A murder each season
- Secrets, sex and money
Good for you if
- you like a whodunit in a teen drama.
- you like messy love triangles.
- you like scholarship kids clashing with the rich heirs of Spain's most exclusive school.
Bad for you if
- lots of sex scenes aren't for you.
- you won't read subtitles. It's in Spanish (a dub exists).
About: class · secrets · desire
5 Centimeters per Second 2007
Anime
Three moments in Takaki's life: his relationship with Akari and their forced separation; his friendship with Kanae, who is secretly in love with him; the demands and disappointments of adulthood, an unhappy life in a cold city.
The sides of 5 Centimeters per Second
- A train delayed by snow on the way to a first love
- A surfer girl in love with a boy who looks elsewhere
- An adult life in a cold city
Good for you if
- you want falling cherry blossoms and snow drawn in detail.
- you like an hour of trains, letters and silences.
- you can take a love story about distance and time pulling people apart.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- you need a happy ending. This one is about letting go.
About: distance · first love · growing apart
ERASED 2016
Anime
Satoru Fujinuma is a struggling manga artist who has the ability to turn back time and prevent deaths. When his mother is killed he turns back time to solve the mystery, but ends up back in elementary school, just before the disappearance of his classmate Kayo.
The sides of ERASED
- A manga artist sent back to his 1988 childhood
- A classmate who disappears in winter
- A mother who notices everything
Good for you if
- you like hunting who took a classmate with nothing but a child's clues.
- you like knowing a disappearance is coming and racing the date.
- you like a grown son getting his mother back for a while.
Bad for you if
- you can't watch a child being hurt at home.
- you don't watch anime.
About: childhood · regret · a mother's love
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time 2006
Anime
When 17-year-old Makoto Konno gains the ability to 'leap' backwards through time, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. However, she soon realises that changing the past isn't as simple as it seems, and eventually, will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future of herself and her friends.
The sides of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
- A schoolgirl who leaps back through time
- A summer playing catch with two friends
- Small fixes with big costs
Good for you if
- you like Makoto leaping back in time to redo a test or sing karaoke for hours.
- you like three friends who don't want anything to change.
- you like being moved by a girl learning that every choice costs someone something.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- you need time travel rules that hold up.
About: time · friendship · choices
Kamisama Kiss 2012
Anime
Nanami was just a normal high school girl down on her luck until a stranger’s lips marked her as the new Land God and turned her world upside down. Now, she’s figuring out the duties of a deity with the help of Tomoe, a reformed fox demon who reluctantly becomes her familiar in a contract sealed with a kiss. The new responsibilities—and boys—are a lot to handle, like the crow demon masquerading as a gorgeous pop idol and the adorable snake spirit who’s chosen the newly minted god to be his bride. As the headstrong Tomoe tries to whip her into shape, Nanami finds that love just might have cute, pointed fox ears. With romance in the air, will the human deity be able to prove herself worthy of her new title?
The sides of Kamisama Kiss
- A homeless high schooler made a land god
- A fox familiar bound by a kiss
- A shrine with spirits to look after
Good for you if
- you like a slow thaw between a girl and her reluctant fox familiar.
- you like Japanese spirits, shrines and demon courts.
- you want a warm episode before bed, with jokes between the stakes.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- you won't read subtitles for a Japanese shoujo series.
About: first love · duty · belonging
Riverdale 2017
Series
Set in the present, the series offers a bold, subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica and their friends, exploring the surreality of small-town life, the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome facade.
The sides of Riverdale
- Teenagers investigating a murder
- A town full of secrets
- Love triangles at every corner
Good for you if
- you like a small-town murder mystery with teen drama.
- you like love triangles and dramatic kisses.
Bad for you if
- you need a story that stays believable, and this one brings in cults, witches and superpowers.
- seven seasons is more than you want to start.
About: secrets · friendship · small towns