10 Anime Like "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day" (2011)

Feel Your Feelings With Anime Like Anohana

Are you looking for anime like 2011's Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (aka Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae Wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai)? I know your answer is a big YES because that’s why you are here in the first place. Am I right?

It might be the drama. Or is it the sense of fulfillment? Or perhaps, it’s the story. Or maybe, everything! Don’t lie now. I know Anohana made you cry like there’s no tomorrow. Well, that’s the result of watching such a brilliant anime.

Having said that, I’m offer ten more tear-jerker anime (both proven and potential) for you to feast your eyes upon. Don’t worry, they’re all good. Now, it’s just up to you to watch and see!

Plot Summary of Anohana

On a hot summer day, the ghost of a naive girl manifests before Jinta Yadomi. It's Menma, a childhood friend of his who died in an accident five years earlier. She doesn’t know why she’s there, but she knows that she must get the Super Peace Busters together. That’s her mission. Make everyone get along again. With Menma around, long-lasting friendship won't melt in the summer heat.

1. Your Lie in April (2014–15)

Japanese Title: Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso

Kousei Arima was a child prodigy in piano music. He was the best in his own merits and a shining star in the eyes of his audience. But then, his mother died. Kousei lost his ability to hear notes. He became a mere shell of what he previously was. He abandoned his passion and never touched his piano ever again.

Two years later, Kousei is living his life as a student with his best friends, Watari and Tsubaki. He then later meets a quirky girl named Kaori Miyazono. Unknown to him, Kaori Miyazono is a special girl. In fact, she's so special—in both musical talent and personality—she’s going to be the one to pull him from the bosom of silence.

2. Little Busters! (2012–13)

This is the story of a certain group of friends who calls themselves the Little Busters! Riki is a member of the Little Busters. He became a member long ago when four kids drew him out from depression and showered him with happiness and friendship. At that time, his parents just died. And so, it was the Little Busters that broke the silence and brought him up to his knees.

Now, the Little Busters are already in high school and they’re all pretty much still friends and going stronger than ever with their bonds. They’ve all grown but, far greater events and moments of surprises are still yet to happen.

3. Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea (2013)

Japanese Title: Nagi no Asukara

In ancient times, humans lived in the ocean. Humans then had the ability to breathe underwater with the aid of the God-given protection called “Ena.” But, as humans came to love the surface more than the ocean, more and more of them shifted from underwater life to surface life completely! This shift came with the loss of Ena by the humans who chose the surface.

A vast rift formed between the ocean-dwellers and the surface-dwellers. Discrimination, hatred, dislike, loss of contact, and neglect: these are all the problems brought upon by the rift!

In the present time; Hikari Sakishima, Manaka Mukaido, Chisaki Horadaira, and Kaname Isaki were compelled to leave the ocean and attend school at the surface. Unbeknownst to them, it was the just start of the drastic changes that will happen in their lives and the world.

Their lives, the world, the ocean, the surface: something big is brewing to ultimately unleash a storm of feelings and struggles.

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4. Angel Beats! (2013)

Afterlife is such a mystery! What does such an after-death scenario foster? What does it feel like? What exactly is it? Does it even really exist? Otonashi Yuzuru shall soon find out!

After waking up on the grounds of a school, Otonashi is mystified by what’s going on around him. First of all, he’s dead! He’s just a soul now. Next, students are gathered around seemingly battling the odds against a mighty being. Third, the mighty being is a tenshi/angel (or so everyone calls her that) whose ultimate goal is to make them graduate. That is, to put all the souls to eternal rest!

Otonashi tries to negotiate with the tenshi/angel but, he’s met with a fatal attack. He’s dead though so it really doesn’t matter. Thereafter, he discovers that he’s strangely drawn to the tenshi.

What is he feeling? What mystery shrouds the tenshi? What the heck in the after-world is happening? As the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, the mystery of the afterlife is revealed!

5. Clannad (2007–08)

Tomoya Okazaki is a third-year delinquent in Hirazaki High School. The school, the city, his life—Tomoya likes none of them! He sees his life as dull. Deep inside, he wants something or someone to bring color to his dull life.

One day, as Tomoya was walking to school, he meets a strange girl who was muttering to herself. That girl is Nagisa Furukawa, and she’s the one Tomoya has been waiting for all his life.

With Tomoya and Nagisa together, as well as with friends; Sunohara, Ryou, Kyou, and a few more others, they shall take a life-long journey full of colourful feelings, ups and downs, and enthralling moments.

If you enjoy this show, check out eight anime like Clannad.

6. Waiting in the Summer (2012)

Japanese Title: Ano Natsu de Matteru

Summer is that time of the year when everything’s so hot and exhausting. Outside, inside, everywhere’s a haze. What better thing to do than to sleep and lie around all day? But for a certain group of friends, film-making is the way to spend summer and beat the heat!

What came up as just a simple film-making turned out to be something much MUCH more! Instead of creating a superb film and focusing on just the art of filming, what transpires is something way beyond what could be expected.

Feelings, emotions, bonds, and friendship—this summer is gonna be different for this group of friends. It’s gonna be a summer full of new intrapersonal and interpersonal discoveries, reconciliations, friendship, and love.

7. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (2009)

No one can ever truly predict when disasters will strike. Especially earthquakes, the only hope of increasing survivability is to always be prepared. This is the story of a brother and a sister who both wants to survive and go back home safely.

Siblings, Mirai and Yuki, are having a summer visit at a robot exhibition in Odaiba when suddenly, the unexpected happens. A massive earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 shocks the foundation of Odaiba and the neighbouring cities.

Now, the predicament of Mirai and Yuki is how to return home safe and sound. The path is perilous and the aftershocks are much more dangerous than the initial wave of the earthquake. Will they make it home? Will they survive?

8. Plastic Memories (2015–16)

In the distant future, androids called “Giftia” roam the world as companions to mankind. They look exactly like humans and have feelings and personalities that match their features. By and large, Giftias are creations which are the nearest to what human beings are.

There’s one problem with Giftias: they have a limited lifespan! It’s 81,920 hours (9 years and 4 months) to be exact. Not only does this cause problems when sad farewells are expected, but Giftias are also prone to abrupt personality changes, memory loss, and violent outbreaks as they reach their expiration dates. And so, the Terminal Service comes into action!

Tsukasa Mizukagi just applied for work at SAI Corporation’s Terminal Service through his father’s connections. His job is to retrieve Giftias that are nearing their expiration date. And to top it all off, he has to work with a Giftia named Isla whose work in the past few years was preparing tea for her co-workers.

9. Kokoro Connect (2012)

At Yamaboshi High School, the Cultural Research Club is the dumping place for quirky students who don’t fit in with any other club. Five of them are currently members of the club: Taichi Yaegashi, Iori Nagase, Himeko Inaba, Yui Kiriyama, and Yoshifumi Aoki.

That's when a strange being by the name of Heartseed arrives and throws everything out of whack because the five members of the Cultural Research Club suddenly switch bodies with each other! Now, everyone has to just deal with it, learn their differences, and figure out why this happened.

10. Hotarubi no Mori e (2011)

Deep in the forest of someplace far away, there lives a spirit of a young human. His name is Gin. He wears a mask and is very naive. He’s living his carefree life inside the forest with the other spirits. But he has a peculiarity: one touch from a human being and “POOF!”…he disappears!

As fate has it, Gin meets a human girl named Hotaru. He saves her from getting lost in the forest. From there on, they become the best of friends, but with no physical contact.

Every year during summer, Hotaru visits him in the forest. Feelings grow bigger and bigger each summer. Unfortunately, physical contact is and will always be impossible!

How will they deal with their blooming feelings? What is the reason for their meeting? Will they ever be able to reach each other’s hands? The answers will soon be revealed inside the firefly forest!