25 Best Anime Like Toradora! You Need to Watch in 2023
Toradora! is a light novel series by Yuyuko Takemiya, illustrated by Yasu. The first volume was released on March 10, 2006 in Japan. The series has been adapted into manga by Zekkyō since 2007 and then into anime broadcast from October 2, 2008. Toradora is a very popular series and is one of the most popular and best-known examples of its genre, which is why we have decided to write about it.
To honor the legacy of Toradora, we have decided to compose a list of the best anime series like Toradora that every fan needs to see. The list is going to include a total of 25 different titles which resemble the Toradora anime in one way or the other.
1. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
Original Run: April 14, 2011 – June 23, 2011
Number of Episodes: 11
A group of six childhood friends split up after one of them, Meiko “Menma” Honma, died in an accident. Ten years after this tragedy, the leader of the group, Jinta Yadomi, isolates himself from society and lives in seclusion.
One summer day, however, Menma appears to Jinta, looking older, asking him for help in fulfilling her wish. She believes she needs to accomplish it to fulfill her destiny. But Menma doesn’t remember what her wish was, causing Jinta to reunite her childhood friends again, as she believes they are the key to solving this problem.
However, the hidden feelings, internal conflicts and the persistence of feelings of sadness by Menma’s parents result in complications for the group as they struggle not only to help Menma but themselves.
2. Your Lie in April
Original Run: October 9, 2014 – March 19, 2015
Number of Episodes: 22
Kōsei Arima, a piano child prodigy, dominated various music competitions in Japan and became famous among children’s musicians, but also controversial. After his mother Saki dies, he has a nervous breakdown at a piano competition, which leads to the fact that he can no longer hear the notes of his piano even though he can hear everything else normally.
Two years have passed since then, in which Kōsei has not touched the piano and only perceives the world in black and white, without atmosphere or color. His best friends, the softball player Tsubaki Sawabe and the soccer player Ryōta Watari, try to cheer him up and arrange a kind of “double date” in which Kōsei meets a girl who brightens up his colorless world again: Kaori Miyazono.
The free-spirited 14-year-old violinist, whose playing style reflects her manic personality, helps Kōsei return to the music world by pushing him back to play the piano. By playing the violin, she also shows him that, in contrast to the structured and rigid style that Kōsei plays, she appears free and lively.
3. Dagashi Kashi
Original Run: January 7, 2016 – March 30, 2018
Number of Episodes: 24
The story immerses us in the daily life of Kokonotsu, a young teenager who, despite his father’s insistence, does not want to take over the family business: a candy store in the countryside. One day, a candy-worshiping girl named Hotaru walks into the store.
From then on, she kept coming back to convince our hero to take over the family business. Furthermore, the candies and other sweets featured in the artwork are products that actually exist (or have existed). Their story is told to us most of the time by Hotaru, but also from time to time by Kokonotsu, depending on the context.
4. School Rumble
Original Run: October 5, 2004 – September 25, 2006
Number of Episodes: 52 + 4 OVA
Tenma Tsukamoto is a young Japanese student living in the city of Yagami. In love with a rather atypical classmate, Ōji Karasuma, who seems to ignore everyone, she does not realize the interest of Kenji Harima, the school boss. Both, unaccustomed to these romantic approaches, will do everything to get noticed by their respective targets by means that are often unconventional, but always entertaining.
Subsequently, new stories develop alongside the main story, as the characters arrive (Yakumo, Eri, Mikoto, Imadori, etc.). This manga is quite original given that each character is in love with someone (example: person A is in love with person B, who she is in love with person C, who she is in love with person D, etc. .).
5. Daily Lives of High School Boys
Original Run: January 9, 2012 – March 26, 2012
Number of Episodes: 12 + 6 specials
A trio of teenagers, Tadakuni, Hidenori, and Yoshitake, and their second A class live a very mundane everyday life. They attend the Sanada Nord high school, an establishment reserved exclusively for boys. Tadakuni, the main character, lives in a charming house with his younger sister and parents.
He wishes to have a companion like his two best friends, but his life is far from quiet because they often involve him in more than embarrassing situations and crazy plans, between his friends who constantly squat at his house, fittings of her sister’s female clothes, and their jealous classmates who can’t stand to see one of their own going out, or even talking with a girl.
6. Violet Evergarden
Original Release: January 11, 2018 – April 5, 2018
Number of Episodes: 13 + OVA
The story is set around a young girl who performs the trade of “automatic memory dolls”: dolls initially created by Professor Orland to help his blind wife Mollie write her novels, and later rented out to others. people who needed their services.
The term refers to people who perform the function of a public writer, whose purpose is to transcribe the words and feelings of people. After four years of bitter warfare, this young girl with a heavy past tries not without difficulty to rebuild her future, starting with the exercise of this profession. However, among all the wounds inflicted on him during the war, there is one that seems unwilling to heal.
7. Shirobako
Original Run: October 9, 2014 – March 26, 2015
Number of Episodes: 24
Five best friends named Aoi Miyamori, Ema Yasuhara, Shizuka Sakaki, Misa Tōdō and Midori Imai all go to work in the anime industry after gaining experience in their animation club in high school.
Their respective jobs will not be easy at all, so much so that the story describes daily difficulties, as well as their efforts to overcome them. In particular, the series centers on the production of two anime television series, by Aoi and her staff at the animation studio Musashino Animation.
8. Nisekoi
Original Run: January 11, 2014 – June 26, 2015
Number of Episodes: 32 + 4 OVA
Nisekoi follows the story of high school student Raku Ichijō, son of yakuza leader Shuei-Gumi, and Chitoge Kirisaki, the daughter of a rival gang boss known as Bee Hive. They unexpectedly meet when Chitoge jumps off a wall and punches Raku in the face. After she runs away, Raku realizes that he has lost his pendant given to him by his childhood sweetheart who he made a secret promise to. After discovering that Chitoge is a new transfer student in his class, he forces her to help him search for the pendant. During this search, they begin to hate each other.
9. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Original Run: April 2, 2006 – July 2, 2006
Number of Episodes: 14
Haruhi Suzumiya is an eccentric high school student whose sole purpose in life is to meet people of the paranormal type such as aliens, time travelers, or psychics.
Supernatural, strange or mysterious phenomena attract him and, conversely, normal people are indifferent to him. Kyon, meanwhile, is a young high school student who became down to earth after realizing that all these paranormal phenomena do not exist.
10. Fruits Basket
Original Run: July 5, 2001 – June 29, 2021
Number of Episodes: 89
Tohru Honda is a 16-year-old high school student who lives alone in a tent after the death of her mother. Without knowing it, she moved to the property of the Sôma family. When she explores the surroundings, she sees a house and enters it. There she meets Yuki and Shigure Soma. Having learned that she was living in a tent, they offered to stay with them in exchange for household chores.
Tohru accepts and then begins to live with Yuki, Kyô, and Shigure. Very quickly, she learns the secret of the family: 13 of its members are victims of a curse. These people transform into one of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, and the cat, when a person of the opposite sex throws themselves at their neck or when they feel embarrassed, or even weakened.
They become human again a few minutes later (the duration of the transformation can vary), but reappear completely naked (which can be very annoying especially for Tohru who is often there during the transformation).
11. Azumanga Daioh
Original Run: April 8, 2002 – September 30, 2002
Number of Episodes: 26
The action takes place mainly in a high school near Tokyo. The protagonists are young girls, students of this high school, and two of their teachers. Thus, the reader can discover, during their three years of study, their daily life punctuated by sometimes funny situations, both in class and after school or during their trips with friends.
The comic spring of this work is mainly based on the personalities and the antagonisms between characters, all very different and sources of recurring gags.
12. Hori-san to Miyamura-kun
Original Run: January 10, 2021 – April 4, 2021
Number of Episodes: 13
Kyōko Hori is a bright and popular high school girl, contrasting with her classmate, Izumi Miyamura, a gloomy boy and supposed otaku wearing glasses. Outside of school, Hori is a homebody who dresses simply and takes care of the house and her younger brother Souta. One day, when Souta returned home injured, he was helped by a stranger with multiple piercings.
This person is revealed to be Miyamura. While surprised that he is a different person at school, Hori is upset when Miyamura saw his true appearance at home, but the two agree to keep their true selves a secret from their classmates.
13. Laid-Back Camp
Original Run: January 4, 2018 – March 23, 2020
Number of Episodes: 37 + 4 OVAs
When high school student Nadeshiko Kagamihara moved with her family to a Japanese country town, she fell asleep on a bike ride and only woke up at night. The experienced camper Rin Shima helps her until Nadeshiko is picked up by her older sister. They exchange their cell phone numbers and Nadeshiko resolves to go camping again with her new friend.
At school, enterprising Nadeshiko joins the outdoor club. With the other two girls in it – Chiaki Ōgaki and Aoi Inuyama – she wants to go on camping trips. Rin also goes to the same school and is urged by her friend Ena Saitō to camp with the others.
But the quiet girl prefers to stay to herself. But her friend tells Nadeshiko the destination of Rin’s next excursion, so that Rin gets a surprise visit while looking at Mount Fuji. Nadeshiko prepares her a real camping meal and Rin begins to like company.
14. NEW GAME!
Original Run: July 4, 2016 – September 26, 2017
Number of Episodes: 24 + OVA
Aoba Suzukaze, who has just finished high school, finds a job at a video game creation company, EagleJump. She discovers that her superior is the character designer of the game she loved so much as a child, “Fairies Stories”. She begins to work as a chara-designer too, discovers her colleagues and the world of work.
15. Silver Spoon
Original Run: July 11, 2013 – March 27, 2014
Number of Episodes: 22
Yūgo Hachiken comes from Sapporo and wants to get as far away from home as possible after high school. Therefore, he chooses the Ōezo agricultural high school in Yezo, which is remote in the country and has a boarding school. The normal school subjects are easy for him, but he has unexpectedly many practical hours, so that he hardly has any free time.
The other classmates mostly come from farming families in the region and are ahead of him with their specialist knowledge. Most of them, unlike him, already have plans for what to do after school. On the other hand, he can help them with subjects like math.
He quickly befriends Ichirō Komaba, Shinnosuke Aikawa, Tamako Inada and Keiji Tokiwa. Since Hachiken also has to join a club, he opts for the riding club. His classmate Aki Mikage, with whom Hachiken falls in love, is also active in this.
16. My Love Story!!
Original Run: April 8, 2015 – September 23, 2015
Number of Episodes: 24
Takeo Gōda and Makoto Sunakawa are childhood friends, despite their great physical and psychological difference. The first conceals great sensitivity behind an imposing body and easily falls in love without success because all the girls he has loved have preferred his friend to him, while the second is of great beauty but remains indifferent to the passions he unleashed.
One day, Takeo intervenes in the metro to protect a young girl, Rinko Yamato, from being touched by a pervert. This one multiplies the gestures of gratitude against him but shows a certain embarrassment in his presence, which Takeo attributes to the fact that she too has certainly fallen in love with Makoto. However, it seems that, this time, it’s Takeo who is the object of love at first sight.
17. Shakugan no Shana
Original Run: October 6, 2005 – March 24, 2012
Number of Episodes: 72 + 5 OVA
A young high school student, Yûji Sakai, sees the world freeze around him, he is in a fuzetsu as he quietly returns from school. Then appear two monsters devouring people, as if suspended in time, around Yūji. While the monster is interested in this human who can still move, a young girl with the aura of fire, a Flame haze, appears and slices the Rinne, as well as Yûji. The girl then explains to him that he is already long dead and has been replaced by a Torch, a temporary surrogate soul.
The friend who accompanied her, Yukari Hirai, is revealed to have been replaced by a torch at the end of this fight. This gradually sinks into collective oblivion and then disappears after a few days. Shana, having witnessed its evaporation, recovered some of its flames and took its place in the world of humans, since her classmates call her Hirai without having noticed any differences with the previous Hirai.
18.Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku
Original Run: April 13, 2018 – June 22, 2018
Number of Episodes: 11
The series follows the awkward romantic comedy between “otaku” office workers, one of whom, Narumi Momose, is a stern fujoshi who somehow tries to hide her passions from others while her partner, Hirotaka Nifuji, is a beautiful, competent man addicted to video games who only lets go of his console to work. If they seem perfect for each other, love is still complicated for the otaku.
19. Wolf Children
Original Release: June 25, 2012
Running Time: 117 minutes
Hana is a nineteen-year-old student who meets a boy she falls in love with at university. He reveals to her that he is a wolfwere, the last descendant of the now-extinct Japanese wolf. Nonetheless, the two get together, and when she finds out she is pregnant, she does not visit for fear of the baby being born a wolf.
Nine months later Yuki (“snow”) is born on a snowy day, and a year later her little brother Ame (“rain”) is born on a rainy day. Shortly after the birth of her son, the father disappears: in search of her, Hana discovers her accidental death during a hunt to procure prey for the young. Despite her pain, the girl decides to raise the children alone, a task that is far from easy for a single woman, especially considering that these children can turn into wolves.
After the owner of the condominium where they live threatens to evict them because she suspects the presence of animals (prohibited by the condominium regulations) and that social workers come to ask questions about the children who have not been subjected to scheduled vaccinations, Hana decides to move to the countryside to allow children to grow up without problems and to decide whether to live as humans or as wolves.
20. K-On!
Original Run: April 3, 2009 – September 28, 2010
Number of Episodes: 39 + 2 OVAs
The story of K-ON! revolves around the Sakuragaoka High School Music Club. Upon arriving in second grade, Ritsu Tainaka forces his childhood best friend, Mio Akiyama, to join the light band. However, the club risks closure if it does not have a minimum of four members.
Ritsu, the self-proclaimed “leader” of the group, manages to recruit Tsumugi Kotobuki. At the same time, we follow the entry into the second of Yui Hirasawa, a dynamic young girl, head in the air and very greedy. A few weeks later, Nodoka Manabe, her childhood friend, pushes the latter to join a club on pain of never “integrating into society”.
Yui ultimately chooses to join the light band, not even knowing what she would do there. Subsequently, Yui decides to learn the guitar under the watchful eye of her new friends. Later, Azusa would join the group as a second guitarist.
21. Golden Time
Original Run: October 3, 2013 – March 27, 2014
Number of Episodes: 24
Following an accident just after graduation, Tada Banri lost all of her memories. Entering a university of law, he gets lost on the way and meets Mitsuo, one of his future classmates also looking for his way. Quickly befriending Mitsuo admits to having chosen this university in order to flee his childhood friend who constantly “harasses” him while proclaiming herself to be his future wife.
No sooner has he finished stating his motives than the young girl in question named Kōko appears in front of them and tells him that wherever he is, she will stay close to him. Finding himself in the middle of this strange couple, Banri will quickly sympathize with Kōko and will have a hard time seeing Mitsuo completely abandon the latter. As he tries to help Koko be more social, his own past slowly comes to the surface.
22. CLANNAD
Original Run: October 4, 2007 – March 26, 2009
Number of Episodes: 47 + 2 OVA
CLANNAD tells the story of Okazaki Tomoya, a brooding third-year high school student. When his mother died when he was young, he remains in the custody of Naoyuki, his father, who, when affected by this tragic loss, ends up immersed in gambling and alcohol.
Father-son relationships get complicated to the point where Tomoya decides to go to his house as little as possible, developing a closed and indifferent personality, full of inner conflicts and no desire to improve.
His life takes a turn when one morning on his way to school he meets Furukawa Nagisa, an enigmatic girl with unusual qualities that will change the way he sees the world. From that moment begins a friendship between them.
Throughout history, new companions, new situations, new challenges, sad and happy moments appear, and together they live strange and unusual experiences that make them understand the strength and fragility of life.
23. Natsume’s Book of Friends
Original Run: July 7, 2008 – June 21, 2017
Number of Episodes: 74
Natsume is able to see youkai and ayakashi (Japanese supernatural spirits) while those around him do not perceive them. When he was little, he didn’t particularly like them because the apparitions tended to put him in embarrassing, even dangerous situations and led him to behaviors that normal humans could not understand.
Categorized as “weird”, the orphan is lonely, rejected by other children, and goes from foster family to foster family. After yet another move, many youkai start chasing him without his understanding why. While trying to flee an attack, he one day enters a sacred place and inadvertently releases Madara, a “cat” who had been trapped there.
This encounter leads Natsume to discover the legacy of his grandmother Reiko, the “Book of Friends”, a notebook containing the names of many spirits which then confers the power to control them.
Overcoming fear and incomprehension, Natsume forges bonds of respect and friendships with certain youkai and sets out in search of “returning” their names to trapped spirits.
24. The Garden of Words
Original Release: April 28, 2013
Running Time: 46 minutes
Takao is a high school student who dreams of becoming a shoemaker. One rainy day, while skipping class to design shoe designs in a Japanese garden, he meets a woman, Yukino. A tacit habit is gradually established between the two: each rainy day they meet in this garden and get to know each other better. Soon the end of the rainy season is approaching.
25. Nichijou
Original Run: April 3, 2011 – September 25, 2011
Number of Episodes: 26
The series follows the daily life of various people in the city of Tokisadame, including the energetic Yūko Aioi, the bright and joyful Mio Naganohara, the calm and impassive Mai Minakami, the worried android Nano Shinonome, its young creator the teacher and Sakamoto. , a cat gifted with words.
Various quirks and nonsense abound, like a robotic girl made by an eight-year-old scientist, a boy who rides a goat to school with his butler, a girl who can get various guns, a cat who can talk, and a principal who once fought a deer. Despite its quirky tone and special characters, the students still lead normal lives.
