Anime Like Absentia
If you loved Absentia's Crime and 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

Without a Trace
The series follows the ventures of a Missing Persons Unit of the FBI in New York City.

Missing
Jess Mastriani was a normal person who only wanted to take over her parents' restaurant in Indiana. But that changed when she was hit by lightning. After that she began seeing visions of missing people. Jess decides to use her newfound ability to be a consultant to the FBI, helping locate missing individuals. Eventually, she is hired by the bureau full-time and trained to become an agent, but her by-the-book nature sometimes clashes with the personality of her partner. Jess and her colleagues work out of the FBI's Washington, D.C., office.

Kidnapped
Kidnapped is an American television drama series from Sony Pictures Television which aired on NBC from September 20, 2006, to August 11, 2007. The series returned on Universal HD in 2008.

Criminal Minds
An elite team of FBI profilers analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again. The Behavioral Analysis Unit's most experienced agent is David Rossi, a founding member of the BAU who returns to help the team solve new cases.

The Blacklist
Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.

Cross
Alex Cross is a brilliant but flawed homicide detective and full of contradictions. A doting father and family man, Cross is single-minded to the point of obsession when he hunts killers. He is desperate for love, but his wife’s murder has left him too damaged to receive it.

Crime
Detective Inspector Ray Lennox investigates the disappearance of a schoolgirl while battling cocaine addiction and a mental breakdown.
More Anime Like Absentia

Strike
A war veteran turned private detective operates out of a tiny office in London’s Denmark Street. Although wounded both physically and psychologically, his unique insight and background as a military police investigator prove crucial in solving complex crimes that have baffled the police. Based on the bestselling novels written by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Barnaby Jones
Barnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. The show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement. William Conrad guest starred as Frank Cannon of Cannon on the first episode of Barnaby Jones, "Requiem for a Son" and the two series had a two-part crossover episode in 1975, "The Deadly Conspiracy".


Found
In any given year, more than 600,000 people are reported missing in the U.S. Of these reported cases, more than half of the missing people are people of color, too easily neglected by the system. Gabi Mosely, a former missing person herself, now specializes in PR and leads a crisis management team that seeks out these missing people. But unbeknownst to anyone, Mosely is hiding a dark secret of her own.

Dexter: Resurrection
Dexter Morgan awakens from a coma to find Harrison gone without a trace. Realizing the weight of what he put his son through, Dexter sets out for New York City, determined to find him and make things right. But closure won't come easy. When Miami Metro's Angel Batista arrives with questions, Dexter realizes his past is catching up to him fast. As father and son navigate their own darkness in the city that never sleeps, they soon find themselves deeper than they ever imagined - and that the only way out is together.

Unsolved Mysteries
Combines four to five segments of dramatic re-enactments, interviews and updates of real human and paranormal mysteries. An audience interactive call-to-action request allowed viewers to call in with tips to help solve the cases.

Profiler
Rachel Burke is a criminal profiler, one of the best, actually. She, along with a sophisticated team of specialists on the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force in Atlanta, investigates crimes throughout the country. Together, they solve the toughest of cases while trying to live their lives as best they can.

CSI: Vegas
Facing an existential threat that could bring down the Crime Lab, a brilliant team of forensic investigators must welcome back old friends and deploy new techniques to preserve and serve justice in Sin City.

The Following
Notorious serial killer Joe Carroll, after being found guilty of murdering 14 female students on the Virginia college campus where he taught literature, escapes from death row. The FBI calls former agent Ryan Hardy to consult on the case, as he was the one responsible for Carroll’s capture in 2003. Ryan, working closely with an FBI team, including Mike Weston and FBI Specialist Debra Parker, piece together the ever-growing web of murders orchestrated by the devious Carroll.

Clarice
In 1993, six months after the events of The Silence of the Lambs, FBI Agent Clarice Starling returns to the field to pursue serial murderers and sexual predators while navigating the high stakes political world of Washington, D.C.

Numb3rs
Inspired by actual cases and experiences, Numb3rs depicts the confluence of police work and mathematics in solving crime as an FBI agent recruits his mathematical genius brother to help solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles from a very different perspective.

Elementary
A modern-day drama about a crime-solving duo that cracks the NYPD's most impossible cases. Following his fall from grace in London and a stint in rehab, eccentric Sherlock escapes to Manhattan where his wealthy father forces him to live with his worst nightmare - a sober companion, Dr. Watson.
Why These Anime Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with Absentia (2017): Crime and 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 Absentia.
See full details for Absentia (2017)
