Anime Like Empire
If you loved Empire's Drama and Soap 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
Queens
Estranged and out-of-touch, four women in their 40s reunite for a chance to recapture their fame and regain the swagger they had as the Nasty Bitches—their ‘90s group that made them legends in the hip-hop world.
Atlanta
Two cousins work through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives and the lives of their families.
Dynasty
Follows two of America’s wealthiest families, the Carringtons and the Colbys, as they feud for control over their fortune and their children focusing on Fallon Carrington, the daughter of billionaire Blake Carrington, and her soon-to-be stepmother, Cristal, a Hispanic woman marrying into this WASP family and America’s most powerful class.
Succession
Follow the lives of the Roy family as they contemplate their future once their aging father begins to step back from the media and entertainment conglomerate they control.
Tyler Perry's The Haves and the Have Nots
Follow the complicated dynamic between the rich and powerful Cryer family and the hired help who work in their opulent Savannah, Georgia, mansion.
Bloodline
A dramatic thriller that explores the demons lurking beneath the surface of a contemporary American family. The Rayburns are hard-working pillars of their Florida Keys community. But when the black sheep son comes home for the 45th anniversary of his parents' hotel, he threatens to expose the Rayburns' dark secrets and shameful past, pushing his siblings to the limits of family loyalty.
The Newsreader
An unconventional relationship in a world on the cusp of change; a star newsreader and an ambitious bisexual reporter join forces in a ruthless 1986 newsroom, as events unfold that will change their lives.
One Tree Hill
In Tree Hill, North Carolina two half brothers share a last name and nothing else. Brooding, blue-collar Lucas is a talented street-side basketball player, but his skills are appreciated only by his friends at the river court. Popular, affluent Nathan basks in the hero-worship of the town, as the star of his high school team. And both boys are the son of former college ball player Dan Scott whose long ago choice to abandon Lucas and his mother Karen, will haunt him long into his life with wife Deb and their son Nathan.
More Anime Like Empire
Days of Our Lives
The Horton and Brady broods endure the romantic trials of life in Salem, a Midwestern hamlet filled with evil geniuses, star-crossed lovers and a rich family history.
Goliath
Once a powerful lawyer, Billy McBride is now burned out and washed up, spending more time in a bar than a courtroom. When he reluctantly agrees to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against the biggest client of Cooperman & McBride, the massive law firm he helped create, Billy and his ragtag team uncover a vast and deadly conspiracy, pitting them all in a life or death trial against the ultimate Goliath.
This City Is Ours
Notorious gang boss Ronnie (Sean Bean) steps back from his criminal empire, triggering a violent power struggle between his volatile son Jamie (Jack McMullen) and trusted lieutenant Michael (James Nelson Joyce), who sees his chance to seize control. As rivalries ignite and loyalties fracture, the family behind the city’s cocaine trade descends into open war.
Smart Guy
T.J. is a boy genius who gets bumped up from the fourth grade to high school. T.J. tries to adjust to his new life, but he shares some classes with his 14 year-old brother Marcus, the school jock, and his clueless and self-absorbed 16 year-old sister Yvette.
Ballers
Looking at the lives of former and current football players, the show follows former superstar Spencer Strasmore as he gets his life on track in retirement while mentoring other current and former players through the daily grind of the business of football.
Popular
Brooke McQueen, a popular cheerleader at Jacqueline Kennedy High School, and Sam McPherson, the editor of the school paper, are polar opposites. When their single parents unexpectedly meet and get engaged, Brooke and Sam have to deal with their new situation on top of regular teenage girl problems.
Parenthood
The trials and tribulations of the very large, colorful and imperfect Braverman family.
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera. The show's storylines concern the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in Erinsborough, a fictional suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The series primarily centres around the residents of Ramsay Street, a short cul-de-sac, and its neighbouring areas, the Lassiters complex, which includes a bar, hotel, cafe, news office and park. Neighbours began with three families created by Watson – the Ramsays, the Robinsons and the Clarkes. Watson said that he wanted to show three families who are friends living in a small street. The Robinsons and the Ramsays had a long history and were involved in an ongoing rivalry.
Degrassi
The life of a group of adolescents going through the trials and tribulations of teendom at Degrassi Community School.
The Young and the Restless
The rivalries, romances, hopes and fears of the residents of the fictional Midwestern metropolis, Genoa City. The lives and loves of a wide variety of characters mingle through the generations, dominated by the Newman, Abbott, Baldwin and Winters families.
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 Empire (2015): Drama and Soap 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 Empire.
See full details for Empire (2015)