20 Best Anime movies like Angelic Layer (2001)

When 17-year-old Makoto Konno gains the ability to, quite literally, "leap" backwards through time, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. However, she soon realises that changing the past isn't as simple as it seems, and eventually, will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future of herself and her friends.

Twenty-six-year-old Hiroto Suwa; his wife, Naho; and their old high school classmates—Takako Chino, Azusa Murasaka, and Saku Hagita—visit Mt. Koubou to view the cherry blossoms together. While watching the setting sun, they reminisce about Kakeru Naruse, their friend who died 10 years ago. Mourning for him, they decide to visit Kakeru's old home, where they learn the secret of his death from his grandmother.

The morning after his high school graduation ceremony, Araragi goes to the bathroom to wash his face but is struck by the sensation that his reflection is watching him. Touching the mirror, Araragi’s hand passes straight through and he is sucked into a mysterious world.

The show takes place in Ogikubo, which is the name of the specially designated area in space in the Milky Way where Earthlings and aliens can live together. Luluco is a female middle school student who lives with her father, and no matter where she is, Luluco is a common, "super normal" girl. As she is living her normal life, one day the mysterious transfer student ΑΩ Nova abruptly appears before her. That meeting will change Luluco's fate.

It is 300 years into the future. Earth's environment had been devastated by mankind's own foolish plans and humankind is beleaguered by the sentient forests which they have awoken. The world balance is tipped when a young boy named Agito stumbles across a machine that glowed in a strange blue hue inside a forbidden sanctuary.

Buta the sword for hire is recruited by the Tufugu Pirates on their voyage to seek a stockpile of treasure. On board he discovers a child Kitsune locked away below deck. After some misunderstandings and with the promise of more money, the two of them go on their own adventure.

Arata Kaizaki (27) quit the job he landed after graduation in only three months. His life did not go well after that. Now his parents are threatening to stop sending money, and want him to come back to the country. He has no friend or girlfriend to share his troubles with...as he hits rock bottom a strange man named Ryou Yoake appears. He invites Arata to join a societal rehabilitation program for NEETs called ReLife. This program uses a mysterious drug to make him look younger, and sends him back to high school for a year...

As a child, Masamune Makabe once suffered greatly at the hands of a wealthy and beautiful girl named Aki Adagaki, who nicknamed him "Piggy" due to his chubby appearance. Seeking revenge against his tormentor, Masamune works hard to improve himself and returns as an incredibly handsome, albeit narcissistic, high school student. When he encounters Aki once again, he is prepared to exact vengeance. With the aid of the rich girl's maid, Yoshino Koiwai, Masamune slowly begins to build his relationship with Aki, intending to break her heart when the time is right. However, as his friendship with Aki begins to grow, Masamune starts to question the objectives of his devious plans, and if bringing them to fruition is what his heart truly desires.

The year is 2071. Following a terrorist bombing, a deadly virus is released on the populace of Mars and the government has issued the largest bounty in history, for the capture of whoever is behind it. The bounty hunter crew of the spaceship Bebop; Spike, Faye, Jet and Ed, take the case with hopes of cashing in the bounty. However, the mystery surrounding the man responsible, Vincent, goes deeper than they ever imagined, and they aren't the only ones hunting him.

A group of students from the Cosmo Academy are about to take their final exam: surviving for over fifty days in a derelict ship. But when they arrive, they discover that instead of ten students, there are eleven. One of them doesn't belong there...

A Tree of Palme is an interpretation of the Pinocchio tale. It concerns a small puppet, Palme, who was tasked by his creator to look over his ailing wife, Xian. After her passing, Palme is visited by a mysterious woman who he mistakenly believes to be Xian. Shaken out of his sadness, Palme accepts her request to deliver something special to a far-off place known as Tama. This sets Palme off on a journey to discover his own emotions, and what it truly means to be human.

An anthology of various tales told in various styles with robots being the one common element among them.

Gaea is a mythical realm ruled by sword and sorcery and immersed in blood and violence. Thrust into a conflict she doesn't quite understand, Hitomi Kanzaki helps aid the young Prince Van as they embark upon a journey to fight the Black Dragon Clan. The battle over a legendary suit of dragon armor, Escaflowne, has begun.

Our naïve protagonist proposes to a female character in an online game, only to find out that the player is actually a guy. Traumatized by that, he decides to never trust a girl online, but now, two years later, a female player is proposing to him. What will happen?

High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other.

On planet Amoi, a great society has developed, creating a computerized city called Tanagura, ruled by supercomputer Jupiter. The populace is almost entirely male and is based on hair color; silver and/or blonds are the elitist, ending with dark/black haired as the bottom of society, often known as "mongrels". Blondies keep "pets", young boys kept for a few years, especially made for performing sexual actions for the Blondie's voyeurism entertainment. Blondies aren't suppose to keep pets for long or interact sexually with pets, but one blondie named Iason Mink has kept a pet named Rikki, for years and is rumored to sleep with him. Iason refuses to let go of Rikki, even with Jupiter's disapproval. Rikki fights with his emotions and society problems, unable to decide what to do about his old friend/lover Gai (Guy) and their gang. Iason is obsessed with keeping Rikki, and Rikki doesn't know what to do; fight against him or surrender to him.

Tomoya Okazaki is a third year high school student resentful of his life. His mother passed away from a car accident when he was younger, causing his father to resort to alcohol and cigarettes. This results in fights between the two until Tomoya's shoulder is injured in a fight. Since then, Tomoya has had distant relationships with his father, causing him to become a delinquent over time. While on a walk to school, he meets a strange girl named Nagisa Furukawa who is a year older, but is repeating due to illness. Due to this, she is often alone as most of her friends have moved on. The two begin hanging out and slowly, as time goes by, Tomoya finds his life shifting in a new direction. Anime based on a popular visual novel game.

Amid the desolate remains of a once-thriving city, only the rumbling of a motorbike breaks the cold winter silence. Its riders, Chito and Yuuri, are the last survivors in the war-torn city. Scavenging old military sites for food and parts, the two girls explore the wastelands and speculate about the old world to pass the time. Chito and Yuuri each occasionally struggle with the looming solitude, but when they have each other, sharing the weight of being two of the last humans becomes a bit more bearable. Between Yuuri's clumsy excitement and Chito's calm composure, their dark days get a little brighter with shooting practice, new books, and snowball fights on the frozen battlefield.Among a scenery of barren landscapes and deserted buildings, it is an uplifting tale of two girls and their quest to find hope in a bleak and dying world.

The anime's setting is a fictional Japanese city named Sugomori City. One day, Noriko Sonosaki tells her classmate Katsuhira Agata, "You have been selected to be a Kiznaiver." The Kizuna System, which allows Katsuhira to share his wounds, connects him to the classmates whose lives and personalities completely differ from his. The Kizuna System is an incomplete system for the implementation of world peace that connects people through wounds. All those who are connected to this system are called Kiznaivers. When one Kiznaiver is wounded, the system divides and transmits the wound among the other Kiznaivers. Sugomori City is built on reclaimed land, but as the years go by, the city's population is decreasing. The story is set in this town where Katsuhira and the others live.

In Fujisawa, Sakuta Azusagawa is in his second year of high school. Blissful days with his girlfriend and upperclassman, Mai Sakurajima, are interrupted by the appearance of his first crush, Shoko Makinohara.

Clinging to an unfinished letter written by her recently deceased father, young Momo moves with her mother from bustling Tokyo to the remote Japanese island of Shio. Upon their arrival, she begins to explore her new habitat, meeting local children and learning their routines and customs. However, it's not long before several bizarre occurrences crop up around the previously tranquil island. Orchards are found ransacked, prized trinkets start disappearing and, worst of all, each morning after her mother leaves for work, Momo hears strange mumblings coming from the attic of their home. Annoyed by these creepy goings-on and her mother's refusal to believe them, Momo embarks on a strange and supernatural adventure to discover the source of the mischief, which leads her to a trio of troublesome imps: the flatulent lizard Kawa, the childlike Mame and their hulking ogre leader Iwa. Momo also learns that her visit to the island is in some way connected to her father's mysterious letter.

The year is 1991 and 6th grader Yaguchi Haruo only has video games to live for. He's not popular in school and he's neither handsome, funny, nice nor even friendly. The only thing he has going for him is that he is good at video games. One day at the local arcade, he plays Oono Akira, a fellow classmate but who's popular, smart, pretty and a rich girl that absolutely destroys him at Street Fighter II. Not only does he lose to her 30 times in a row, he can’t beat her at any game. Haruo can’t seem to shake Akira off as she follows him from arcade to arcade everyday after school and beats him every time. As weird as it sounds, the odd couple begins a strange bond and friendship.

In the fourth recap movie, episodes 1-59 of the anime are retold, compiling the first three seasons of the anime into one two hour event.

Satoru Fujinuma is a struggling manga artist who has the ability to turn back time and prevent deaths. When his mother is killed he turns back time to solve the mystery, but ends up back in elementary school, just before the disappearance of his classmate Kayo.

Keita Amano is a perfectly mediocre loner with no particular distinguishing features other than his love for games. One day, his school's prettiest girl and Gamer Club President Karen Tendo suddenly calls out to him. That moment changes Keita's life forever, as he now finds himself in the midst of a romcom with beautiful girl gamers... or, well, that's how it usually goes. Not with him, however.

Three different stories of youth set in different cities of China. 1 Shanghai Love. 2 Sunny Breakfast. 3 Small Fashion Show. Directed by Zhenxing Yi, the plot revolves around a young man working in Beijing. He used to live with his grandma in his less developed hometown Hunan. While he is drown in his childhood reminiscence, he receives an unexpected call – Grandma is in critical condition.

Life seems to drift by for Kana Koumoto and her friends in their small Japanese town. Every day is just like the last, and it feels like every new day will be the same. Kana goes to school, hangs out with her friends, and likes to paint her nails and listen to music, but it feels like nothing special is ever going to happen. As a change of pace, Kana and her friends decide to design a bottle rocket and launch it into space, even though it might not get there at all. However, just when the rocket is completed, a robot suddenly crashes into and destroys it, shortly followed by a pink-haired woman claiming to be a "Galactic Investigator." Kana's life quickly becomes more exciting than she ever imagined, dealing with new feelings, changing friends, and even boy troubles. It turns out life can go by in the blink of an eye, fast enough to even miss it, so what's with these weird robots that seem to show up at the worst times?!

A man is transported through time and space to a special starship, where he and 12 other people must work out what happened.

The Pictorians have arrived from deep in space. They also have dangly glow-balls on their heads, which is kinda cool, but still. The freaky aliens are using use their crazy rainbow-beam-thingy to paint everything on Earth the same color: white! See, now the title of the movie makes more sense, right? Anyway, if the Pictorians are to be stopped, the Allied guys and the Axis boys - plus some new characters, too - must set aside their differences, unite against their common foe, and hopefully get together for a sweaty workout to make sure they're super-ready to save the world!

The film centers on the love relationship among the band's bassist Haruki Nakayama, drummer Akihiko Kaji, and Akihiko's roommate and ex-boyfriend Ugetsu Murata.