20 Best Anime series like Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Iwatani Naofumi was summoned into a parallel world along with 3 other people to become the world's Heroes. Each of the heroes respectively equipped with their own legendary equipment when summoned, Naofumi received the Legendary Shield as his weapon. Due to Naofumi's lack of charisma and experience he's labeled as the weakest, only to end up betrayed, falsely accused, and robbed by on the third day of adventure. Shunned by everyone from the king to peasants, Naofumi's thoughts were filled with nothing but vengeance and hatred. Thus, his destiny in a parallel World begins...

Seventeen-year-old Hajime Nagumo is your average, everyday otaku. However, his simple life of pulling all-nighters and sleeping in school is suddenly turned upside down when he, along with the rest of his class, is summoned to a fantasy world! They're treated like heroes and tasked with the duty of saving the human race from utter extinction. But what should have been any otaku's wet dream quickly turns into Hajime's nightmare. While the rest of his class are blessed with godlike powers, Hajime's job, Synergist, only has a single transmutation skill. Ridiculed and bullied by his classmates for being weak, he soon finds himself in despair. Will he be able to survive in this dangerous world of monsters and demons with only a glorified blacksmith's level of strength?

Nakano is an employee of an exploitative "black" company, who meets a divine fox spirit named Senko. While she looks like a young girl, Senko is in fact 800 years old. She offers to spoil Nakano as much as possible, and begins looking after him.

In the year 2138, virtual reality gaming is booming. Yggdrasil, a popular online game is quietly shut down one day. However, one player named Momonga decides to not log out. Momonga is then transformed into the image of a skeleton as "the most powerful wizard." The world continues to change, with non-player characters (NPCs) beginning to feel emotion. Having no parents, friends, or place in society, this ordinary young man Momonga then strives to take over the new world the game has become.

On a continent ruled by chaos, the Lords have the power of a holy seal that can calm the chaos and protect the people. However, before anyone realizes it, the rulers cast aside their creed of purifying the chaos, and instead start to fight each other for each other's holy seals to gain dominion over one another. Siluca, an isolated mage who scorns the Lords for abandoning their creed, and a wandering knight named Theo, who is on a journey to train to one day liberate his hometown, make an everlasting oath to work together to reform this continent dominated by wars and chaos.

Just when Masato thought that a random survey conducted in school was over, he got involved in a secret Government scheme. As he was carried along with the flow, he ended up in a Game world! As if that wasn't enough, shockingly, his mother was there as well! It was a little different from a typical transported to another world setting, but after some bickering,"Mom wants go on an adventure together with Maa-kun. Can mom become Maa-kun's companion?"With that, Masato and Mamako began their adventure as a mother and son pair. They met Porta, a cute traveling merchant, and Wise, a regrettable philosopher. Along with their new party members, Masato and co. start on their journey.

In a fantasy world, fighter Tatsumi sets out for the Capitol to earn money for his starving village, and finds a world of unimaginable corruption, all spreading from the depraved Prime Minister who controls the child Emperor's ear. After nearly becoming a victim of this corruption himself, Tatsumi is recruited by Night Raid, a group of assassins dedicated to eliminating the corruption plaguing the Capitol by mercilessly killing those responsible.

The historical epic centers on Shichika Yasuri, the seventh generational head of the Kyotō-ryū school of martial arts in medieval Japan. He and his older sister Nanami live on an isolated island, until a military advisor named Togame tells him of the final 12 swords forged by a legendary swordsmith. At Togame's bidding, Shichika embarks on a journey to find all 12 of the swords.

As regular high school students Taichi and Rin disappeared in a beam of light. When they came to, the two of them were already in a world of swords and magic. Finally getting away after experiencing an attack by monsters, following the suggestion of adventurers they headed on the path towards the guild. In the guild, the two of them found out that they possessed unbelievably powerful magic. Thus the regular high school students transformed into the strongest cheats...

Toru Acura is a 20-year-old retired soldier meandering through life now that the war has ended. He encounters Chaika Trabant, a 14-year-old sorceress carrying a coffin, and follows her in hopes of finding meaning to his life again. The two travel with Toru's adopted sister, Akari, the employed member of the group and thus Toru's source of income.

Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East is a Japanese manga series by Miyuki Abe based on the epic novel series Nansō Satomi Hakkenden. An anime adaptation of the manga, produced by Studio Deen, premiered on January 5, 2013. A second season has been announced to premiere summer 2013.

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Invertia was a meteor storm that caused an unprecedented disaster during the 20th century. Because of this disaster, numerous cities around the world were destroyed. However, within the meteor, an unknown element called mana was discovered. It allowed human technology to make rapid strides giving rise to a new species of super-powered humans, the Star Pulse Generation (Genestella). The Festas (Star Warrior Festivals) host battles between Genestella at a city of six academies called “Rikka,” also commonly known as “Asterisk.”Scholarship student Ayato Amagiri transferred into Seidoukan Academy in order to fulfill his own wish, swearing he too will fight in this city.

Kogarashi has the ability to see supernatural, and has been possessed by ghosts since he was a kid but now he has learned to fight back against them! Unfortunately, he's now also very poor, homeless, and hoping for a happier, more normal, high school life. In his search for housing, he's introduced to a very cheap boarding house called Yuragi Manor, which was formerly a hot springs inn. It's so cheap because the house is haunted by the spirit of a high school student whose corpse was found there.Kogarashi doesn't think this is going to be a problem for him. Soon he finds that Yuragi Manor's ghost is a 16-year-old girl named Yuna, who lives in his room. Kogarashi has no desire to hurt a ghost girl, and instead he ends up agreeing to help her to figure out her unfinished business so that she can move onto the afterlife before turning evil. Once it is clear that he is fine with Yuna, the other tenants reveal their own secrets—his life in Yuragi Manor is going to be far from ordinary!

In the Sun Kingdom, sunshine is part of its citizens' everyday lives, and rain is something that they have never even heard of. However, in a faraway land called the Rain Dukedom, the weather is reversed, and everybody has the power to create rain with their voices.Livius Ifrikia has conquered the entire world and expanded the Sun Kingdom's influence in the three short years since he was crowned king. Upon learning about the powers to create rain, Livius decides to marry Nike Remercier, one of the princesses of the Rain Dukedom. However, those outside the Sun Kingdom have spread a rumor that Livius is a cruel, ruthless, and tyrannical ruler, and as word reaches the princess, she begins to prepare herself for the worst. But when she finally meets her fiancé, Nike discovers that he is an entirely different person from what she originally expected.

As a child Sakura Mamiya mysteriously disappeared in the woods behind her grandma's home. She returned whole and healthy, but since then she has had the power to see ghosts. Now a teenager, she just wishes the ghosts would leave her alone! At school, the desk next to Sakura's has been empty since the start of the school year, then one day her always-absent classmate shows up, and he's far more than what he seems!

After hitting her head particularly hard one day, Duke Claes' daughter, Katarina, suddenly recalls all the memories of her past life: that of a teenage Japanese girl. Just before her untimely death, this girl recalls playing an otome game... that is exactly like the world she's living in now! She is now Katarina Claes, the antagonist of the otome game, who nastily hounded the protagonist until the end. Knowing all the possible outcomes of the game, she realizes that every single possible route ends with Katarina being murdered or exiled! In order to avoid these Catastrophic Bad Ends, she has to use her knowledge of the game and her own wiles, starting with breaking off this engagement with the prince... Will Katarina survive while making her way through this world, where bad flags trip at every turn? Find out in this reverse-harem rom-com, led by everybody's favorite villainess!

Ushio thinks that his father's talk of an ancient ancestor impaling a demon on a temple altar stone with the legendary Beast Spear is nuts, but when he finds the monster in his own basement, Ushio has to take another look at the family legend! To save his friends and family from the invading spirits, Ushio is forced to release Tora from his captivity. But will the creature prove to be worse than the curse?

Born in battle, baptized in fire, it's kingdoms have been ravaged by war for thousands of years. Now, an evil stirs, an ancient goddess of destruction awakened by an evil wizard. A party of six is forged to defeat this threat, or die in the attempt. Join Parn, the young fighter, as he leads his warriors into the heart of a land where dragons rule and evil holds sway over the earth. Six swords are now drawn against this darkness. The war for Lodoss has begun!

Ren Amamiya is about to enter his second year after transferring to Shujin Academy in Tokyo. Following a particular incident, his Persona awakens, and together with his friends, they form the “Phantom Thieves of Hearts” to reform hearts of corrupt adults by stealing the source of their distorted desires. Meanwhile, bizarre and inexplicable crimes have been popping up one after another… Living an ordinary high school life in Tokyo during the day, the group maneuvers the metropolitan city as Phantom Thieves after hours. Let the curtain rise for this grand, picaresque story!

Most girls waking up without any memory and meeting a serial killer would panic, but not Rachel. In fact, far from being her biggest problem, killer Zack might just prove a convenient resource when it comes to finding a way out of the building in which they're both trapped!

34-year-old virgin loser is kicked out of his home by his family and realized that his life is completely over. As he regrets wasting his life, a truck runs him over and he died. When he wakes up... He’s in a world of sword and sorcery! Reborn as a baby named Rudeus, he decides that this time, he’ll live a life he won’t regret!

All thanks to the special ability that he developed, Yuu was able to cheat his way into a very prestigious high school. With his power, he thought nothing was going to stand in his way, until he met a mysterious girl named Nao Tomori and other students with special abilities just like him. It was the beginning to a new life.

A samurai lord has bartered away his newborn son's organs to forty-eight demons in exchange for dominance on the battlefield. Yet, the abandoned infant survives thanks to a medicine man who equips him with primitive prosthetics—lethal ones with which the wronged son will use to hunt down the multitude of demons to reclaim his body one piece at a time, before confronting his father. On his journeys the young hero encounters an orphan who claims to be the greatest thief in Japan.

Year 526 of the Liturgical Calendar. The world knew that witches existed, and that they practiced the notorious art of sorcery. Nevertheless, the world did not know anything about the study of magic. Our story follows a half-man, half-beast mercenary; humans mockingly call his kind the “fallen beasts”. He always dreamt of becoming a human, but one day, he met a witch who would change his life forever. “Do you desire a human form? Then be my escort, mercenary!” The witch introduced herself as “Zero”, and explained that she was searching for a one-of-a-kind magical tome that bandits had stolen from her lair. Entitled “The Book of Zero”, the grimoire supposedly contained valuable magical knowledge that could be used to effortlessly bring the world to its knees. Thus, in order to realize his dream of becoming a human, the mercenary must accompany Zero on her journey—despite her being one of the witches he so loathed. This is the story of a haughty sorceress and a kindhearted beast.

The Vision of Escaflowne is a 26-episode Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise Studios and directed by Kazuki Akane. It premiered in Japan on April 2, 1996 on TV Tokyo, with the final episode airing on September 24, 1996. Sony's anime satellite channel, Animax also aired the series, both in Japan and on its various worldwide networks, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. The series is licensed for Region 1 release by Bandai Entertainment.The series follows a teenage high school girl named Hitomi, who finds herself pulled from Earth to the planet Gaea when a boy named Van appears on the high school track while battling a dragon. In Gaea, she is caught in the middle of a war as the Zaibach Empire attempts to take over Gaea. Van, with aid from Allen, commands his mystical mech Escaflowne in the struggle to stop the Zaibach Empire. Hitomi's fortune telling powers blossom in Gaea as she becomes the key to awakening Escaflowne and to stopping Zaibach's plans.While the anime series was in production, two very different manga retellings were also developed and released: a shōnen version of the story entitled The Vision of Escaflowne and a shōjo retelling titled Hitomi—The Vision of Escaflowne. In addition, a second shōjo adaptation called Escaflowne—Energist's Memories was released as a single volume in 1997. The story was novelized in a series of six light novels by Yumiko Tsukamoto, Hajime Yatate, and Shoji Kawamori. A movie adaptation, Escaflowne: The Movie was released on June 24, 2000, but bears only a basic resemblance to the original series. Four CD soundtracks and a drama CD have also been released in relation to the series.

Kojou Akatsuki's days as an ordinary high school student in the Demon District of Itogami Island come to an abrupt end after a fateful encounter leaves him with the remarkable abilities of a vampire. It isn't long before he is thrust into the center of attention when it is discovered that he is the fourth primogenitor, an immensely powerful vampire whom most consider to be merely a legend. Fearing Kojou's destructive potential, the Lion King Organization sends in an apprentice sword-shaman, Yukina Himeragi, to monitor, and should he become a threat, kill the boy deemed the world's most powerful vampire. Forced together by circumstance, the two form an unlikely alliance as Kojou comes to terms with his abilities and they both struggle to protect the city from various emerging chaotic forces.

In regards to the MMORPG Cross Reverie, Sakamoto Takuma boasted an overwhelming strength that was enough for him to be called the Demon King by the other players. One day, he gets summoned to another world with his appearance in the game. There, there are two people that insist "I am the real summon master." Takuma gets slave-turning magic used for summoned beasts cast on him by the girls―However, the peculiar ability "Magic Reflection" is invoked! The ones that were turned to slaves were the girls!Takuma was bewildered. He's the strongest magician but, he doesn't have any social skills. Panicking, the first words that came out were the ones that he used inside the game role-playing the Demon King?! "I'm amazing you say? Of course I am. I am Diablo... The one feared as the Demon King!"This is the story the Demon King (acting) that would soon inspire the world and his other world adventure that he plunges through with his absolute strength, raise the curtain!

Friendless college girl Sorawo finds a door to another world one day — a strangely post-apocalyptic-feeling Otherside with serene emptiness, which becomes her new “special place.” There, she meets one other human, the beautiful and independent Toriko, and they explore the abandoned Otherside together.

A mysterious switch appeared one day. Upon pressing it, they were sent to a different alternative world!! There are also characters from other alternative worlds gathered together...!?

When she was a little girl, Atsuko "Akko" Kagari saw a magic show performed by a witch named Shiny Chariot. From that day on she wanted to be just like her. Enrolling at Luna Nova Magical Academy and having no magical background, can she become a witch like her idol Shiny Chariot?

I, the protagonist, was just an ordinary high school girl, but suddenly I was reincarnated as a spider monster in a fantasy world. Not only that, but I awakened in a dungeon filled with vicious monsters. Armed with only my human knowledge and my overwhelming positivity, I'm forced to use spiderwebs and traps to defeat far stronger monsters just to stay alive... So begins the labyrinth survival story of a girl with incredible mental strength living as one of the lowest-ranked beasts!

Touya Mochizuki was accidentally killed, and as an apology, God allows him to be reborn in a fantasy world and will grant him any one wish he desires. And so, Touya chooses to keep his smartphone in the next world. In his second chance at life, he befriends many important figures and comes across the world's secret. He inherits the legacy of an ancient civilization and travels around nonchalantly while possessing powers that rival this world's kings.

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, known in Japan as Nurarihyon no Mago, is a manga series written and illustrated by Hiroshi Shiibashi. The series was first published in Shueisha as a oneshot in 2007. The manga has been continuously serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump since March 2008 and has been collected into 25 tankōbon volumes as of December 2012. A Drama CD was released in December 2009. An anime adaptation by Studio DEEN began airing in Japan on July 5, 2010, with the first season consisting of 26 episodes.Viz Media acquired the licensing rights for a North American release of the manga and anime adaptations. The anime episodes have been streamed on Viz Media's anime streaming site, Viz Anime, since July 2010, while the first manga volume was released February 2011.