Top 5 Anime Like The Cat Returns [2026 List]

The Cat Returns

Haru Yoshioka is your ordinary high school girl who has trouble making decisions for herself. One day, she spots a strange cat crossing the road with a small present... and a truck headed straight for it! Haru doesn’t even stop to think before jumping in front of the truck and getting them both to safety.
This one selfless act initiates a chain of events that sends Haru on an epic adventure. The cat she saved turns out to be no ordinary feline, but Lune, Prince of the Cats. In honour of her bravery and for saving his life, he offers to marry her. Haru mutters a reply which is taken to be a "yes", and for better or for worse, her fate is sealed.

Alongside her cat companions Muta and the Baron, she's aided from above by a raven named Toto, and must travel to the cat world in order to rectify this misunderstanding. Her journey is tougher than it seems: If she cannot escape from the claws of the King of the Cats and find her true self, she will be turned into a cat forever.

Haru may start off as an everyday girl, but after her descent into the world of cats, she returns a different beast entirely.

The Cat Returns has finished airing and it has 1 Episodes. It is also Known as: Neko no Ongaeshi, 猫の恩返し, The Cat's Repayment

Genres: Contemporary Fantasy , Earth , Fantasy World , Japan , Asia , Fantasy , Comedy , High School , Adventure

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Top 5 Anime Like The Cat Returns [2026 List]

5. My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro

Follow the adventures of Satsuki and her four-year-old sister Mei when they move into a new home in the countryside. To their delight they discover that their new neighbor is a mysterious forest spirit called Totoro who can be seen only through the eyes of a child. Totoro introduces them to extraordinary characters, including a cat that doubles as a bus, takes them on a journey through the wonders of nature.

My Neighbor Totoro has finished airing and it has 1 Episodes. It is also Known as: Tonari no Totoro, となりのトトロ, My Neighbour Totoro

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4. Noragami Aragoto

Noragami Aragoto

Yato and Yukine have finally mended their relationship as god and Regalia, and everyone has returned to their daily life. Yato remains a minor and unknown deity who continues taking odd jobs for five yen apiece in the hopes of one day having millions of worshippers and his own grand shrine. Hiyori Iki has yet to have her loose soul fixed by Yato, but she enjoys life and prepares to attend high school nonetheless.
Taking place immediately after the first season, Noragami Aragoto delves into the complicated past between Yato and the god of war Bishamon. The female god holds a mysterious grudge against Yato, which often results in violent clashes between them. It doesn't help that Bishamon's most trusted and beloved Regalia, Kazuma, appears to be indebted to Yato. When lives are on the line, unraveling these mysteries and others may be the only way to correct past mistakes.

Noragami Aragoto has finished airing and it has 13 Episodes. It is also Known as: ノラガミ ARAGOTO, Noragami Aragoto

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3. Haikyuu!! Second Season

Haikyuu!! Second Season

Following their participation at the Inter-High, the Karasuno High School volleyball team attempts to refocus their efforts, aiming to conquer the Spring tournament instead.

When they receive an invitation from long-standing rival Nekoma High, Karasuno agrees to take part in a large training camp alongside many notable volleyball teams in Tokyo and even some national level players. By playing with some of the toughest teams in Japan, they hope not only to sharpen their skills, but also come up with new attacks that would strengthen them. Moreover, Hinata and Kageyama attempt to devise a more powerful weapon, one that could possibly break the sturdiest of blocks.

Facing what may be their last chance at victory before the senior players graduate, the members of Karasuno's volleyball team must learn to settle their differences and train harder than ever if they hope to overcome formidable opponents old and new—including their archrival Aoba Jousai and its world-class setter Tooru Oikawa.

Haikyu!! 2nd Season has finished airing and it has 25 Episodes. It is also Known as: ハイキュー!! セカンドシーズン, Haikyuu!! Second Season

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2. Steins;Gate

Steins;Gate

The self-proclaimed mad scientist Rintarou Okabe rents out a room in a rickety old building in Akihabara, where he indulges himself in his hobby of inventing prospective "future gadgets" with fellow lab members: Mayuri Shiina, his air-headed childhood friend, and Hashida Itaru, a perverted hacker nicknamed "Daru." The three pass the time by tinkering with their most promising contraption yet, a machine dubbed the "Phone Microwave," which performs the strange function of morphing bananas into piles of green gel.

Though miraculous in itself, the phenomenon doesn't provide anything concrete in Okabe's search for a scientific breakthrough; that is, until the lab members are spurred into action by a string of mysterious happenings before stumbling upon an unexpected success—the Phone Microwave can send emails to the past, altering the flow of history.

Adapted from the critically acclaimed visual novel by 5pb. and Nitroplus, Steins;Gate takes Okabe through the depths of scientific theory and practicality. Forced across the diverging threads of past and present, Okabe must shoulder the burdens that come with holding the key to the realm of time.

Steins;Gate has finished airing and it has 24 Episodes. It is also Known as: STEINS;GATE, シュタゲ

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1. Haikyuu!!

Haikyuu!!

Inspired after watching a volleyball ace nicknamed "Little Giant" in action, small-statured Shouyou Hinata revives the volleyball club at his middle school. The newly-formed team even makes it to a tournament; however, their first match turns out to be their last when they are brutally squashed by the "King of the Court," Tobio Kageyama. Hinata vows to surpass Kageyama, and so after graduating from middle school, he joins Karasuno High School's volleyball team—only to find that his sworn rival, Kageyama, is now his teammate.

Thanks to his short height, Hinata struggles to find his role on the team, even with his superior jumping power. Surprisingly, Kageyama has his own problems that only Hinata can help with, and learning to work together appears to be the only way for the team to be successful. Based on Haruichi Furudate's popular shounen manga of the same name, Haikyuu!! is an exhilarating and emotional sports comedy following two determined athletes as they attempt to patch a heated rivalry in order to make their high school volleyball team the best in Japan.

Haikyu!! has finished airing and it has 25 Episodes. It is also Known as: ハイキュー!!, High Kyuu!!, HQ!!

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