As a child, Moritaka Mashiro dreamt of becoming a mangaka, just like his childhood hero and uncle, Tarou Kawaguchi, creator of a popular gag manga. But when tragedy strikes, he gives up on his dream and spends his middle school days studying, aiming to become a salaryman instead.
One day, his classmate Akito Takagi, the school's top student and aspiring writer, notices the detailed drawings in Moritaka's notebook. Seeing the vast potential of his artistic talent, Akito approaches Moritaka, proposing that they become mangaka together. After much convincing, Moritaka realizes that if he is able to create a popular manga series, he may be able to get the girl he has a crush on, Miho Azuki, to take part in the anime adaptation as a voice actor. Thus the pair begins creating manga under the pen name Muto Ashirogi, hoping to become the greatest mangaka in Japan, the likes of which no one has ever seen.
Bakuman. has finished airing and it has 25 Episodes. It is also Known as: バクマン。, Bakuman Season 1
Genres: Earth , Japan , Asia , Coming Of Age , The Arts , Present , Comedy , Romance
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Top 10 Anime Like Bakuman. [2025 List]
- 10. Sekaiichi Hatsukoi
- 9. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata
- 8. Nana
- 7. Comic Girls
- 6. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo
- 5. Chihayafuru
- 4. Death Note
- 3. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
- 2. Uchuu Kyoudai
- 1. Shirobako
10. Sekaiichi Hatsukoi
In Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, Onodera Ritsu is a renowned literary editor, and he's so passionate about his career that he doesn't have much time for anything else. Despite his earnestness, he has to deal with the jealousy of his less-successful colleagues on a daily basis. It all becomes too much for him, so he quits and transfers to Marukawa Shoten, where he hopes to continue his career in a friendlier environment. Unfortunately, instead of being placed in the literature department, he ends up in the shoujo manga division.
As if things couldn't get any more complicated in his life, his new boss and editor-in-chief, Takano Masamune, is annoying, bossy and works on incredibly tight deadlines. But that's not all: to Ritsu's surprise, he realizes that his new boss is actually his high school love! Ritsu's new workplace is a lot more complicated than he bargained for.
Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi - World's Greatest First Love has finished airing and it has 12 Episodes. It is also Known as: 世界一初恋 TV, Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi, Sekai'ichi Hatsukoi, World's Greatest First Love
9. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata
One day, an otaku high school student Tomoya Aki has a fateful encounter with a girl. This meeting inspires Tomoya to design his very own “gal-game” featuring a heroine modeled after the girl he saw. In order to make his desire a reality, Tomoya must persuade a few eccentric “creators” such as the ace member of the art club, Eriri Spencer Sawamura and the school’s top student, Utaha Kasumigaoka to join his development team. Meanwhile, Tomoya is shocked to learn that the girl he idolized as his muse for this whole project was none other than his boring classmate, Megumi Kato!
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend has finished airing and it has 12 Episodes. It is also Known as: 冴えない彼女〈ヒロイン〉の育てかた, Saenai Kanojo no Sodate-kata
8. Nana
Nana Komatsu is a helpless, naïve 20-year-old who easily falls in love and becomes dependent and clingy to those around her. Even though she nurses ambitious dreams of removing herself from her provincial roots and finding her true calling, she ends up traveling to Tokyo with the humble reason of chasing her current boyfriend Shouji Endo.
Nana Osaki, on the other hand, is a proud, enigmatic punk rock vocalist from a similarly rural background, who nurtures the desire to become a professional singer. Putting her career with a fairly popular band (and her passionate romance with one of its former members) firmly behind her, she boards the same train to Tokyo as Nana Komatsu.
Through a fateful encounter in their journey toward the metropolis, the young women with the same given name are brought together, sparking a chain of events which eventually result in them sharing an apartment. As their friendship deepens, the two attempt to support each other through thick and thin, their deeply intertwined lives filled with romance, music, challenges, and heartbreaks that will ultimately test their seemingly unbreakable bond.
Nana has finished airing and it has 47 Episodes. It is also Known as: NANA [ナナ], Nana
7. Comic Girls
Moeta Kaoruko (Pen name: Kaos) is 15 years old, a high school student and 4-panel manga artist! After moving to a dorm especially for female manga artists, she meets shojo manga artist Koyume, teen romance manga artist Ruki, and shonen manga artist Tsubasa. Every day, they'll work all through the night trying to ink and finish their work! Her cute, funny life in a manga artist dorm is about to begin!
Comic Girls has finished airing and it has 12 Episodes. It is also Known as: こみっくがーるず, Comic Girls
6. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo
When abandoned kittens and his good conscience force second year Sorata Kanda to move into Suimei High School’s infamous Sakura Hall, the satellite dorm and its eccentric, misfit residents turn his life upside down. The decidedly average Sorata finds it difficult to fit in with the bizarre collection of dorm residents like Misaki, an energetic animator; Jin, a playwright playboy; Ryuunosuke, a reclusive programmer; and Chihiro, the dorm manager, art teacher, and party girl.
Sorata's friend Nanami, a second year student and aspiring voice actress, pushes him to find new owners for the many cats so that he can quickly move back into the regular dorms. However, his desire to escape Sakura Hall wavers when the pet-like and infantile second year Mashiro Shiina, a world-class artistic savant looking to become a mangaka, transfers in during the spring trimester and quickly latches onto him.
Supported by each other's quirks, Sorata and Mashiro come out of their shells and trigger change in the lives of those around them. Based on the light novel series of the same name, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo explores the fine threads connecting talent, hard work, romance, and friendship with its ensemble cast.
The Pet Girl of Sakurasou has finished airing and it has 24 Episodes. It is also Known as: さくら荘のペットな彼女, Sakura-sou no Pet na Kanojo
5. Chihayafuru
Chihaya Ayase, a strong-willed and tomboyish girl, grows up under the shadow of her older sister. With no dreams of her own, she is contented with her share in life till she meets Arata Wataya. The quiet transfer student in her elementary class introduces her to competitive karuta, a physically and mentally demanding card game inspired by the classic Japanese anthology of Hundred Poets. Captivated by Arata's passion for the game and inspired by the possibility of becoming the best in Japan, Chihaya quickly falls in love with the world of karuta. Along with the prodigy Arata and her haughty but hard-working friend Taichi Mashima, she joins the local Shiranami Society. The trio spends their idyllic childhood days playing together, until circumstances split them up.
Now in high school, Chihaya has grown into a karuta freak. She aims to establish the Municipal Mizusawa High Competitive Karuta Club, setting her sights on the national championship at Omi Jingu. Reunited with the now indifferent Taichi, Chihaya's dream of establishing a karuta team is only one step away from becoming true: she must bring together members with a passion for the game that matches her own.
Chihayafuru has finished airing and it has 25 Episodes. It is also Known as: ちはやふる, Chihayafull
4. Death Note
A shinigami, as a god of death, can kill any person—provided they see their victim's face and write their victim's name in a notebook called a Death Note. One day, Ryuk, bored by the shinigami lifestyle and interested in seeing how a human would use a Death Note, drops one into the human realm.
High school student and prodigy Light Yagami stumbles upon the Death Note and—since he deplores the state of the world—tests the deadly notebook by writing a criminal's name in it. When the criminal dies immediately following his experiment with the Death Note, Light is greatly surprised and quickly recognizes how devastating the power that has fallen into his hands could be.
With this divine capability, Light decides to extinguish all criminals in order to build a new world where crime does not exist and people worship him as a god. Police, however, quickly discover that a serial killer is targeting criminals and, consequently, try to apprehend the culprit. To do this, the Japanese investigators count on the assistance of the best detective in the world: a young and eccentric man known only by the name of L.
Death Note has finished airing and it has 37 Episodes. It is also Known as: デスノート, DN
3. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
You know how the story goes: girl crushes on guy, girl confesses feelings to guy, guy mistakes confession for a job application. Okay, maybe that's not how it usually goes, but that's what happens when Chiyo Sakura finally gets up the nerve to tell her classroom crush Nozaki how she feels. Since she doesn't know that he's secretly a manga artist who publishes under a female pen name, and he doesn't know that she doesn't know, he misunderstands and offers her a chance to work as his assistant instead of a date! But while it's not flowers and dancing, it is a chance to get closer to him, so Chiyo gamely accepts. And when Nozaki realizes how useful Chiyo can be in figuring out what girls find romantic, he'll be spending even more time with her "researching" while remaining completely clueless. Could Chiyo's romantic frustration possibly get any more drawn out of proportion? The answer will be profusely illustrated in MONTHLY GIRLS' NOZAKI-KUN!
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun has finished airing and it has 12 Episodes. It is also Known as: 月刊少女野崎くん, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
2. Uchuu Kyoudai
On a fateful summer night in 2006, Mutta Nanba and his younger brother Hibito witness what they believe to be a UFO flying toward the Moon. This impressing and unusual phenomenon leads both siblings vowing to become astronauts, with Hibito aiming for the Moon and Mutta, convinced that the eldest brother has to be one step ahead, for Mars.
Now an adult, life hasn't turned out how Mutta had pictured it: he is diligently working in an automotive company, whereas Hibito is on his way to be the very first Japanese man to step on the Moon. However, after losing his job, Mutta is presented with an unexpected opportunity to catch up to his younger brother when the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, commonly known as JAXA, accepts his application to participate in the next astronaut selection. Despite self-doubts about his prospects, Mutta is unwilling to waste this chance of a lifetime, and thus embarks on an ambitious journey to fulfill the promise made 19 years ago.
Space Brothers has finished airing and it has 99 Episodes. It is also Known as: 宇宙兄弟, Uchu Kyodai, Uchuu Kyodai
1. Shirobako
After making an animated film together in high school, Aoi and her friends Shizuka, Ema, Misa, and Midori made a promise to each other: to all get jobs in the anime industry and someday work together again. Two years later, Aoi is learning that working as a production assistant at a small animation studio is far more demanding than she ever imagined, and Shizuka's aspiring career as a voice actor involves more time waiting tables than recording. Meanwhile, Ema's slowly making a name for herself as a key animator, Misa's moved from 2D to 3D and now works in computer graphics, and screenwriting hopeful Midori is lagging furthest behind, still looking for her first big break. But are they ready to give up on their dreams just yet? No way! Because while anime may come from inspiration, in the end it's the ones who're willing to put in the perspiration that make their dreams real in SHIROBAKO!
Shirobako has finished airing and it has 24 Episodes. It is also Known as: SHIROBAKO, White Box
