Anime Like thirtysomething
If you loved thirtysomething's Drama storytelling, these anime deliver a similar experience — selected for art style, narrative depth, and emotional impact. Each includes where to stream it now.
★ Top Picks
The Chi
A relevant, timely and distinctive coming-of-age story following a half dozen interrelated characters in the South Side of Chicago. The story centers on Brandon, an ambitious and confident young man who dreams about opening a restaurant of his own someday, but is conflicted between the promise of a new life and his responsibility to his mother and teenage brother back in the South Side.
8 Simple Rules
Paul and Cate are raising their three children -- Bridget, Kerry and Rory -- which is no easy task. Oldest daughter Bridget is traversing the dating scene. Kerry is cute and smart, but she has a hard time getting in touch with her true feelings because of her lack of self-confidence. The youngest of the three children, and only boy, Rory is beginning to discover one of life's greatest mysteries -- girls.
Bel-Air
The journey of a book smart teen whose life is forever transformed when he moves from the streets of west Philadelphia to live with his relatives in one of LA’s wealthiest suburbs.
Servant
A Philadelphia couple are in mourning after an unspeakable tragedy creates a rift in their marriage and opens the door for a mysterious force to enter their home.
Physical
Sheila Rubin is a quietly tormented housewife in ’80s San Diego. Behind closed doors, she battles extreme personal demons and a vicious inner voice. But things change when she discovers aerobics, sparking a journey toward empowerment and success.
Red Oaks
A coming-of-age comedy set in the "go-go" 80s that is equal parts hijinks and heartfelt about a college student enjoying a last hurrah before summer comes to an end--and the future begins. David Myers, an assistant tennis pro at the Red Oaks Country Club in suburban New Jersey in 1985, is both reeling from his father's heart attack and conflicted about what major to declare in the fall. While there, he meets a colorful cast of misfit co-workers and wealthy club members including an alluring art student named Skye and her corporate raider father Getty.
More Anime Like thirtysomething
Everwood
After the death of his wife, world-class neurosurgeon Dr. Andrew Brown leaves Manhattan and moves his family to the small town of Everwood, Colorado. There he becomes a small-town doctor and learns parenting on the fly as he raises his talented but resentful 15-year-old son Ephram and his 9-year-old daughter Delia.
Queer As Folk
Brash humor and genuine emotion make up this original series revolving around the lives, loves, ambitions, careers and friendships of a group of gay men and women living on Liberty Avenue in contemporary Pittsburgh, PA. The show offers an unapologetic look at modern, urban gay and lesbian lives while addressing the most critical health and political issues affecting the community. Sometimes racy, sometimes sensitive and always straight to the heart.
Marlon
A loving (but immature) father is committed to co-parenting his two kids with his very-together ex-wife. While his misguided fatherly advice, unstoppable larger-than-life personality and unpredictable Internet superstardom might get in the way sometimes, for Marlon, family really always does come first - even if he's the biggest kid of all.
Chesapeake Shores
A divorced mom deals with an old romance and complicated family issues when she returns to her hometown with her twin daughters.
How I Met Your Father
In the near future, Sophie tells her son the story of how she met his father: a story that catapults us back to the year 2021 where Sophie and her close-knit group of friends are in the midst of figuring out who they are, what they want out of life, and how to fall in love in the age of dating apps and limitless options.
Grace and Frankie
Elegant, proper Grace and freewheeling, eccentric Frankie are a pair of frenemies whose lives are turned upside down - and permanently intertwined - when their husbands leave them for each other. Together, they must face starting over in their 70s in a 21st century world.
Shameless
Chicagoan Frank Gallagher is the proud single dad of six smart, industrious, independent kids, who without him would be... perhaps better off. When Frank's not at the bar spending what little money they have, he's passed out on the floor. But the kids have found ways to grow up in spite of him. They may not be like any family you know, but they make no apologies for being exactly who they are.
Hill Street Blues
A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.
Cuckoo
Cuckoo is every parent's worst nightmare - a slacker full of outlandish, New Age ideas. Ken is the over-protective father of a girl who's impulsively married an American hippie on her gap year.
The Game
When her boyfriend Derwin Davis is chosen as the new third-string wide receiver for the San Diego Sabers, Melanie Barnett decides to attend a local college so she can be with him. While Derwin worries about the plays on the field, Melanie adjusts to her new lifestyle. She gets a play-by-play account of the lives and relationships among NFL wives, girlfriends and mom/managers who use their best game to help their men stay on the field and on their arm.
Shoresy
Foul-mouthed, chirp-serving, mother-loving, fan favourite character, Shoresy, joins the Sudbury Bulldogs of the Northern Ontario Senior Hockey Organization (The NOSHO) on a quest to never lose again.
Why These Anime Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with thirtysomething (1987): Drama themes, comparable animation style, and similar narrative pacing. NoBadPicks uses TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface anime most likely to resonate with fans of thirtysomething.
See full details for thirtysomething (1987)