Best movies & TV Shows like Arakawa Under the Bridge

Riku, the heir to a corporate conglomerate, is determined to go through life never owing anything to anyone on principle. However, one day he nearly drowns in a river and is saved by a homeless girl named Nino. To repay his debt, he begins living together with her on the banks of the river as her lover.

Keiichi Morisato is looking forward to university life. But in reality, he has no luck in anything, and he has trouble with clubs, love, etc. The truth is that he has an unlucky star above his head. One day, Keiichi is stuck watching the dorm while his sempai are away, and has a mountain of chores to do to boot. But Keiichi is a good-natured person, and is set about doing his duties. As he is about to finish his final chore, he makes a phone call to his sempai. But the words that came through the receiver are, 'Goddess Help Line.' Shortly afterwards, a beautiful goddess named Belldandy appears in front of him from the mirror of his room.

Misaka’s electro-manipulation abilities – and delightfully destructive Railgun projectile move – make her a rock star in Academy City. The techno-metropolis is packed with supernaturally powered students known as espers, including Misaka’s flirty friend and roommate, Kuroko. She uses her teleportation skills as a member of the Judgment law enforcement team, fighting crime alongside her fellow agent Uiharu. Joined by their friend Saten, a spunky Level 0 esper, Misaka, Kuroko, and Uiharu have a blast taking on danger whenever and wherever it arises.

Ichinomiya Kantarou grew up with the ability to see demons, but was isolated and bullied by others who did not share the same gift. Instead, he became being friends with the demons, gaining a great attachment to their existence. One day, Kantarou was told about the strongest demon, the one known as the ogre-eating Tengu. Amazed by the news of his strength, Kantarou vowed to find this demon who was far stronger then any other, deciding to call him Haruka when he did so. Since this time, Kantarou searched far and wide for the ogre-eating Tengu with no luck, making his living by becoming a folklore writer and demon-buster. On a particularly job, Kantarou had finally found news of a nearby shrine supposedly the place where the ogre-eating Tengu was sealed.

A terminally ill girl named Himari Takakura is miraculously saved from death by a strange spirit who resides in a penguin-shaped hat. However, in exchange for extending her life, the spirit tasks Himari's brothers, Kanba and Shōma, to seek out an elusive item known as the Penguin Drum with assistance from a trio of strange penguins.

Kaiji Itou is a good-for-nothing loiterer who spends his days drinking beer and stealing hubcaps—that is, until he ends up being tricked by his former co-worker. Unable to suddenly repay his friend's huge debt all by himself, Kaiji is offered a shady deal to participate in an illegal underground gamble on a cruise ship. This turns out to be nothing more than the beginning of his new life of hell—thrown headlong into a life-threatening roller coaster of mind games, cheating, and deceit.

16-year-old Hayate is really down on his luck. Because his unemployed parents are good-for-nothings who waste what money they have on gambling, Hayate had to start working at a young age to help out his family. Although such experience has made him inhumanly fast and tough and skilled at things boys aren't normally skilled at, it has also left him in an awkward position, as his parents have racked up such a huge gambling debt that they have sold Hayate to the yakuza for the value of his organs. In a desperate attempt to avoid that fate, Hayate decides to become a "bad guy" and kidnap someone to be held for ransom, but his efforts to do so are mistaken as a confession of love by the girl he targets. When he helps save the (as it turns out) ultra-wealthy 13-year-old Nagi from real kidnappers, she takes him in and gives him a job as her new personal butler (and love interest) until he can pay off his debt. But Hayate is more attracted to Nagi's beautiful teenage maid Maria, and head butler Klaus is initially disapproving of a boy with such a poor look. And then there's Nagi's pet Tama, who is also a force to be reckoned with.

Nana Osaki is a guarded and ambitious young woman with a strong will and a rough past. She is the vocalist for a punk band called Black Stones and she desires fame and recognition more than anything else. Nana Komatsu is an outgoing and flighty young woman with a weak will and a stable past. Her life revolves around her desire to find love and marriage. The two meet for the first time while traveling to Tokyo - in pursuit of their respective dreams - and they later decide to be roommates. Although drastically different people, the two become very close and together they find out if their biggest dreams have room for their best friend.

In the post-apocolyptic future, the earth is buried in an enormous megastructure created by machines. There is barely a trace of humanity and silicon beings run rampant. The last hope for mankind is information on a data disc from an engineer called Cibo.

Doujin Work follows the life of a young girl named Najimi Osana and her exposure into the doujin world. She was first tempted into becoming a doujin artist after seeing how much one of her friends can make at a convention. Najimi loves to draw, though soon learns contrary to what she expected that this new world is anything but easy. As she attends more conventions and meets more people, Najimi eventually manages to find a group of very interesting friends. These friends already have some experience in the field and help her out along the way so that she can someday make a name for herself creating doujinshi.

Kou Ichinomiya has always lived according to the creed of his wealthy, successful family: never be in debt to anyone. But one day, under the Arakawa Bridge, his life is saved by a homeless girl named Nino. In order to pay her back, Kou promises to be her boyfriend; and thus begins his new life under the bridge.

Kazuna’s family has a history of suffering from a disease that creates an uncontrollable vampire-like thirst for blood. Knowing none of this, Kazuna was sent to live with the Eda couple as a child. As the sickness begins to show signs of being present within himself, he comes into contact with his older sister, Chizuna, who has been suffering from it since early childhood. Knowing that the sickness incurs a heavy weight upon those that suffer from it, Chizuna tries to ease her brother’s burden, to help him learn to control his urges, but…

Tomoya’s father remarries to another woman, giving him a stepsister, Ichika. However Ichika is 17-years old and has completely fallen in love with her stepbrother who is only 13!! Families will collide in the most unusual fashion this season, in the new anime short: ONEE-CHAN GA KITA!

Rei is a 17-year old professional shōgi player, who lives by himself, not having a real family, and has scarcely any friends. Among his acquaintances is a family, which consists of a young woman, Akari, and two young girls, Hinata and Momo, and who also keep a numerous number of cats.

The story is set in 1914 in Breisford in Wisconsin, near Lake Koshgonong. One spring day the little Sterling finds in the forest a raccoon cub whose mother has just been killed by a hunter; He decides to treat him and keep him by giving him the name Rascal. The boy and the raccoon become inseparable friends from that day, although Sterling soon realizes, after a series of small disasters that Rascal causes in the gardens of neighbors, that cohabitation between men and wild animals can sometimes be very difficult . Thus began the last unforgettable year of Sterling childhood, punctuated by small and big adventures with its large Rascal friends, Oscar and Alice among the animals she loves so much, but marked by the death of the mother and the financial ruin of the father who lost almost all that he has to repay debts.

On a visit to his hometown, Souta Tawara meets a strange child who loves udon and frogs... and has ears and a tail?! Although ordinary at first glance, it turns out that this little tyke is actually a tanuki in a human disguise! So begins the tale of a gentle, warm, and slightly weird family in Kagawa prefecture, better known as "Udon Prefecture," where time passes at a less hurried pace than in the big city...

Kobayashi lives alone in an apartment, until one day, Tohru appeared and they ended up living together. Tooru looks down on humans as inferior and foolish, but having been saved by Kobayashi-san, she does everything she can to repay the debt and help her with various things, although not everything goes according to plan. A mythical everyday life comedy about a hard working office lady living with a dragon girl.

Tsutsui Hikari (a.k.a "Tsuttsun") is a high school student who is content with his virtual life of anime and video games. One day, he gets stuck cleaning the pool with Iroha, a real live girl who is stylish, sassy and known to be easy with boys ... and she aggressively approaches him! Tsuttsun, who has few friends and lives in his own world, finds himself smitten by the confident and wild Iroha ... and his whole world is turned upside down!! It's the awkward and pure love story of a boy who experiences relationship for the first time.

A town of people slowly go insane over increasing obsessions with spiral shapes: patterns in the clouds, everyday objects, hair, insects, skin.

The stage is Sapporo, Hokkaido. One night, our heroine, Minare Koda, spills her heartbroken woes to a radio station worker she meets while out drinking one night. The next day, she hears a recording of her pitiful grumbling being played live over the air. Minare storms into the station in a rage, only to then be duped by the station director into doing an impromptu talk show explaining her harsh dialogue. With just one recording, the many eccentric facets of Minare's life begin to pull every which direction as she falls ever deeper into the world of radio.

Shinya Yukimura and Ayame Himuro are two scientists that want to find out if love can be solved by a scientific theory. These two scientists also have feelings for each other and want to be able to solve their feelings through similar theoretical facts. With this perfect opportunity, these scientists will attempt to solve the theory of the love they express for each other.

One day, Kaede, a gyaru, picks up a dinosaur and begins living with it. The short comedy depicts their daily lives together as the dinosaur consumes human food, watches TV, and enjoys fashionable things. Thus begins the story of a gal and a dinosaur cohabiting that transcends time.

"Grovel enough, and you'll get what you want." This is the motto that Suwaru Doge firmly stands by, believing that kneeling and begging will grant him the majestic view of a woman's naked body. After realizing the power of groveling in the dogeza stance, Doge wastes no time in exploiting it for lewd requests. Targeting the cutest and hottest girls in the school, he is one step closer to his goal of beholding their nude bodies, no matter what harm it may cause to his social standing.

After disappearing from the underworld, the legendary yakuza known as the "Immortal Dragon" resurfaces — as a fiercely devoted stay-at-home husband.

One rainy day, salaryman Amakusa Ryo is saved by a high school girl he doesn't know at the station. He later finds out that the girl is Arima Ichika. Ryo is somewhat of a womanizer and to repay her for saving him, he suggests giving her a kiss or going out on a date with her, in which Ichika tells him he's creepy. This, however, opens a new door for Ryo and he falls madly in love with her. Ever since then, Ryo tries to overly express his feelings to Ichika. Ichika just keeps insulting him and says he's being creepy, but he just seems to take it as her way of showing affection towards him...

Nervous to meet her new stepdad, Hiyori heads to the place she always feels at home—the ocean. When a curious girl named Koharu shows up, Hiyori decides to teach her how to fish, just like her father did before he died. But after Koharu reveals she’s also meeting her new family that night, the girls come to a startling realization. Their friendship is about to reach a whole new level!

Hitori Gotoh, a shy, awkward, and lonely high school student dreams of being in a band despite her doubts and worries, but when she is recruited to be the guitarist of a group looking to make it big, she realises her dream may be able to be fulfilled and come true.

Filled with rage against spirits known as tsukumogami, Kunato Hyoma is sent to live with Nagatsuki Botan to help him see a different side. Though both are part of a clan that return the spirits back to their world with divine powers, their experiences with the otherworldly vessels are vastly different. Kunato, robbed of a loved one, and Nagatsuki, saved by them. Can she get through to him?

Dr. Goro is reborn as the son of the young starlet Ai Hoshino after her delusional stalker murders him. Now, he wants to help his new mother rise to the top, but what can a child do about the dark underbelly of the entertainment industry?

Dungeons, dragons... and delicious monster stew!? Adventurers foray into a cursed buried kingdom to save their friend, cooking up a storm along the way.

Asahi, a boy who loves video games is killed in a traffic accident and ends up in another world. He tries to enjoy the otherworldly adventuring life he's always dreamed of, but his stats are on the level of an NPC's. He is in big trouble and is being chased by a monster when he hears, "Fear not, little brother!" and the monster is killed in one hit by Asahi's older sister, Maya, who followed Asahi to this world. So Maya has acquired some seriously OP skills, but she takes her adoration of her younger brother to extremes. Thus begins their story about an overpowered older sister with a brother complex and a younger brother with the weakest of stats in another world.

The story centers on a salaryman who has a reliable wife and a daughter in university who can sometimes act a bit rebellious, but has a happy life in his own way. Until one day he finds out his daughter has been beaten, and thus begins his journey into a dangerous world to protect his family.

Umika is a sweet yet shy high school girl. She has trouble speaking to others and dreams of having a friend from another planet. But her lonely school life takes a cosmic turn when she meets transfer student Yu, an alien with telepathic powers! The two become close and promise to go to space one day. So, they decide to build a rocket and shoot for the stars, making new friends along the way.

"I know! I'll become a monk!" Akagami Akemitsu has spent his days and nights absorbed in studying and part-time work in an effort to distance himself from his family, which is notorious as a household of philanderers. One day, he falls in love at first sight with a girl named Aoba Yuzuki, and suddenly he's constantly drowning in worldly desires. Hoping to fight back against his genes and live a more stoic life, he enters a temple... only to find out that it's a convent filled with gorgeous girls! So begins a new rom-com about the temple life of three adorable triplets and two beautiful freeloaders!

A legendary hitman trained to become the world's best assassin is asked to lay low for a year by the head of his crime family.