Souten Kouro's story is based loosely on the events taking place in Three Kingdoms period of China during the life of the last Chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao (155 – March 15, 220), who also serves as the main character.
The Three Kingdoms period has been a popular theme in Japanese manga for decades, but Souten Kouro differs greatly from most of the others on several points. One significant difference is its highly positive portrayal of its main character, Cao Cao, who is traditionally the antagonist in not only Japanese manga, but also most novel versions of the Three Kingdoms period, including the original 14th century version, Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. Another significant difference from others is that the storyline primarily uses the original historical account of the era, Records of Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou, as a reference rather than the aforementioned Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel. By this, the traditional hero of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei, takes on relatively less importance within the story and is portrayed in a less positive light. Yet, several aspects of the story are in fact based on the novel version, including the employment of its original characters such as Diao Chan, as well as anachronistic weapons such as Guan Yu's Green Dragon Crescent Blade and Zhang Fei's Viper Blade.
A consistent theme throughout the story is Cao Cao's perpetual desire to break China and its people away from its old systems and ways of thinking and initiate a focus on pragmatism over empty ideals. This often puts him at odds with the prevalent customs and notions of Confucianism and those that support them.
Beyond the Heavens has finished airing and it has 26 Episodes. It is also Known as: 蒼天航路, Soten Koro
Genres: Earth , China , Three Kingdoms , Asia , War , Past , Violence , Historical , Action , Adventure
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Top 10 Anime Like Beyond the Heavens (Souten Kouro) [2026 List]
10. 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
9. Gifuu Doudou!!: Kanetsugu to Keiji
The Sengoku era gave birth to many historical legends. One of them is Naoe Kanetsugu, the brilliant military general of the Uesugi family. Together with Maeda Keiji, a legendary warrior on the battlefield, who become lifelong friends with each other, they carve out a piece of history in the most dangerous and volatile time in Japan's history. The two men recall their beginnings and the journey they took to get to the accomplished position they now sit at.
Gifuu Doudou!!: Kanetsugu to Keiji has finished airing and it has 25 Episodes. It is also Known as: 義風堂々!! 兼続と慶次, Gifuu Doudou!! Naoe Kanetsugu Maeda Keiji Sakegatari
8. NIPPON SANGOKU: The Three Nations of the Crimson Sun
A revolution sparked by nuclear war, natural disaster, and misrule leads to the collapse of Japanese society. The country splits into three nations vying for hegemony, and the Sangoku era begins. Aoteru Misumi, a former agricultural officer, vows to reunify Japan. He rises through the ranks with only his knowledge and eloquence. Witness the legend of the man later hailed as a genius strategist.
NIPPON SANGOKU: The Three Nations of the Crimson Sun is currently airing and will have 12 Episodes. It is also Known as: Nippon Sangoku, 日本三國, NIPPON SANGOKU: The Three Nations of the Crimson Sun
7. Utawarerumono
Everything about him is shrouded in mystery. The mask he can't remove. The past he can't unravel. And the very survival of the people who have chosen him as their leader. But what Hakuoro does know is this: he was gravely injured and left for dead in a forest. A kind young girl named Eruruu found him and nursed him back to health. He was welcomed into a barren land where strange creatures roam, an angry god seeks vengeance, an oppressive government slaughters the innocent, and a bloody war looms on the horizon. Will the masked hero liberate the people who saved him? Can he unlock the memories that elude him? Or will he remain a stranger even to himself?
Utawarerumono has finished airing and it has 26 Episodes. It is also Known as: うたわれるもの, The One Being Sung
6. Kingdom 2nd Season
A year after the devastating battle against the formidable Zhao, the State of Qin has returned its focus to pursuing King Zheng Ying's ambition of conquering the other six states and unifying China. Their next target is Wei, a smaller state which stands as a geographic stepping stone for the sake of conquest.
Xin Li, now a three hundred man commander of the swiftly rising Fei Xin Unit, continues to seek out lofty achievements in order to garner recognition for himself and his soldiers, motivated by those previously lost in battle. In the preliminary battles ahead of Qin's invasion of Wei, Xin finds competition in other young commanders who are of a higher social status than him. Back in Qin, the royal palace faces turmoil as opposing factions begin to make their move against Zheng Ying's regime.
With their hands full both abroad and at home, Zheng and Xin must lead the way in this era of unending war, resolved to etch their names in history by creating a unified China.
Kingdom 2nd Season has finished airing and it has 39 Episodes. It is also Known as: キングダム 第2シリーズ, Kingdom Hisho Hen, Kingdom: Dai 2 Series
5. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
On August 10th of the year 2010, the Holy Empire of Britannia began a campaign of conquest, its sights set on Japan. Operations were completed in one month thanks to Britannia's deployment of new mobile humanoid armor vehicles dubbed Knightmare Frames. Japan's rights and identity were stripped away, the once proud nation is now referred to as Area 11. Its citizens, Elevens, are forced to scratch out a living while the Britannian aristocracy lives comfortably within their settlements. Pockets of resistance appear throughout Area 11, working towards independence for Japan.
Lelouch, an exiled Imperial Prince of Britannia posing as a student, finds himself in the heart of the ongoing conflict for the island nation. Through a chance meeting with a mysterious girl named C.C., Lelouch gains his Geass, the power of the king. Now endowed with absolute dominance over any person, Lelouch may finally realize his goal of bringing down Britannia from within!
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion has finished airing and it has 25 Episodes. It is also Known as: Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch, コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch
4. Hokuto no Ken: Raoh Gaiden Ten no Haoh
In the wastelands following the great nuclear war, a legend grew of a man. “Hokuto No Ken.” The Fist of the North Star. Master of a legendary fighting technique. A man of impossible strength and endurance. Yet before Ken claimed the title of the Fist, there was another master, trained in the art of Hokuto Shinken, the King of the Fist, the Divine Fist of Heaven. Raoh: the ultimate assassin, the ultimate warrior. This is the story of the world before Fist of the North Star, and how one man took the future of a savage world into his deadly hands and reshaped its destiny. Not as a hero but as a conqueror. For in the mind of the man called Raoh, the only way to save Mankind is to grind it under his giant heel! The greatest battle is about to begin in Legends of the Dark King ~ Fist of the North Star!
Legends of the Dark King: A Fist of the North Star Story has finished airing and it has 13 Episodes. It is also Known as: 北斗の拳 ラオウ外伝 天の覇王, Ten no Haou: Hokuto no Ken Raou Gaiden
3. Sengoku Basara
During Japan's Sengoku period, several powerful warlords fought in politics and in arms with hopes of unifying the country under a central government. Nobunaga Oda had asserted himself as being the most powerful of these rulers by possessing the strength and military resource necessary to conquer all of Japan.
Shingen Takeda and his trusted warrior Yukimura Sanada led one of the main clans standing in Nobunaga’s way. One night, Sanada had been ordered to lead a sneak attack against General Kenshin Uesugi, which was then thwarted by Masamune Date and his army. Sanada and Date fought to a draw, which forged a heated rivalry out of their newfound admiration for one another.
Nobunaga continues to exert his forces in Sengoku Basara by doubling down on his influence across the country. Sanada and Date find themselves having to put their differences aside in order to quell the rise of Nobunaga and save feudal Japan from his tyrannical reign. Magical, militant, and political powers fly forth as these warriors and leaders clash amongst themselves and the armies of Nobunaga.
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings has finished airing and it has 12 Episodes. It is also Known as: 戦国BASARA, Sengoku Basara
2. Legend of the Galactic Heroes
For 150 years the galaxy has been locked in an interstellar war between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance, fighting battles with thousands of spaceships and millions of soldiers on both sides. The crumbling Goldenbaum dynasty rules the Empire while the Alliance is in an increasingly dysfunctional democratic state.
Two new commanders enter the stage: Imperial Admiral Reinhard von Lohengramm and the FPA's Yang Wen-Li. Reinhard is a talented minor aristocrat given a high station—and a powerful grudge—after the Kaiser took his older sister as a concubine. Wen-Li originally joined the military only to fund his university education, but has become a brilliant though reluctant leader. Each begins to attract a circle of similarly gifted soldiers, generals and thinkers around him, and in time the rivalry between these two very different men will shatter the existing stalemate. As they deal with superiors and subordinates, maneuver through personal and political problems, plot strategies and fight battles, both will bend the course of events to their will and, in turn, be tested and changed by the greatest war in human history!
Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a vast, sentimental and thoughtful military space opera. This 110-episode OVA is the central part of the franchise, and the other connected titles are supplements to it.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes has finished airing and it has 110 Episodes. It is also Known as: Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, 銀河英雄伝説, LoGH, LotGH, Gin'eiden, GinEiDen, Heldensagen Vom Kosmosinsel
1. Kingdom
China's Warring States period, a raging dragon that would raze the land for 500 years, saw many kingdoms rise and fall, making way for the next generation of kings and generals to fight for supremacy. Eventually, seven powerful states emerged from the endless cycle of warfare.
In the kingdom of Qin, Xin Li, a war-orphaned slave, trains vigorously with fellow slave and best friend, Piao, who shares his proud dream of one day becoming a Great General of the Heavens. However, the two are suddenly forced to part ways when Piao is recruited to work in the royal palace by a retainer of the King.
After a fierce coup d'état unfolds, Piao returns to Xin, half dead, with a mission that will lead him to a meeting with China's young King, Zheng Ying, who bears a striking resemblance to Piao. Kingdom follows Xin as he takes his first steps into the great blood-soaked pages of China's history. He must carve his own path to glory on his long quest to become a Great General of the historic Seven Warring States.
Kingdom has finished airing and it has 38 Episodes. It is also Known as: キングダム, Kingdom
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