NoBadPicks

Anime Like Aikatsu Friends!

If you loved Aikatsu Friends!'s Animation and Comedy 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

Aikatsu!
6.7

Aikatsu!

2012

Ichigo Hoshimiya is a regular, ordinary middle school girl. But when her best friend Aoi invites her to join the idol training academy, Starlight Academy, her whole world is turned upside down. As she encounters all kinds of rivals and learns what it takes to be an idol, she uses her Aikatsu Cards to challenge countless auditions.

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
8.2

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU

2013

So exactly what’s going to happen when Hachiman Hikigaya, an isolated high school student with no friends, no interest in making any and a belief that everyone else’s supposedly great high school experiences are either delusions or outright lies, is coerced by a well meaning faculty member into joining the one member “Volunteer Services Club” run by Yukino Yukinoshita, who’s smart, attractive and generally considers everyone in her school to be her complete inferior?

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad
7.7

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad

2004

Koyuki Tanaka's boring life is changed after meeting Ryusuke Minami, a local musician with a bad attitude, who introduces him to foreign music.

The Day I Became a God
7.7

The Day I Became a God

2020

At the end of the last summer vacation of high school, Youta Narukami spends his days preparing for the university entrance exams, when a young girl named Hina suddenly appears, proclaiming herself as the "god of omniscience." Youta is confused and does not believe Hina when she tells him "The world will end in 30 days." After witnessing Hina’s God-like predictive ability, Youta begins to believe her powers are real. Hina, who is innocent and childlike despite her supernatural powers, decides for some reason to stay at Youta’s home. Thus begins the start of their lively summer before the end of the world.

Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life
7.3

Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life

2019

Since the graduation of the senior members of the club, Takezou ends up being the sole member of the "Koto" (traditional Japanese string instrument) club. Now that the new school year has begun, Takezou will have to seek out new members into the club, or the club will become terminated. Out of nowhere, a new member barges into the near-abandoned club room, demanding to join the club. How will Takezou be able to keep his club alive and deal with this rascal of a new member?

Skip and Loafer
7.8

Skip and Loafer

2023

Iwakura Mitsumi, a tenacious country girl, prepares for high school in the big city. She meets the handsome Shima Sousuke, whose easygoing ways help her adapt in the real world.

Love Flops
6.6

Love Flops

2022

Asahi Kashiwagi lives the typical life of an average high school student — until the day a TV fortune teller’s predictions come true one after another, culminating in a series of risqué encounters! Destiny seemingly draws five beautiful girls into Asahi’s path, and soon he finds himself fielding not one, not two, but five love confessions. Asahi will need to follow his heart to find the perfect love for him, or else his love fortunes may end in one epic flail and flop.

K-ON!
8.0

K-ON!

2009

Yui Hirasawa has no clue which club to join, but she’s determined to do something this year. As luck would have it, she discovers a flyer for the Light Music Club and decides this is the club for her. But there's one problem: She first must learn guitar!

More Anime Like Aikatsu Friends!

Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club
6.5

Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

2020

Nijigasaki High School is located in Odaiba, Tokyo. The school is popular due to its free school style and diverse majors. The story centers on the members of school idol club in Nijigasaki, and their attempt to prevent the club from being abolished.

LoveLive! Superstar!!
8.2

LoveLive! Superstar!!

2021

Yuigaoka Girls High School is a newly established school that lies between the Omotesando, Harajuku, and Aoyama neighborhoods of Tokyo. The story centers on its first batch of students. With no history, no upperclassmen or alumni, and no reputation, it is a school full of unknowns. Five girls, among them Kanon Shibuya, have a fateful encounter with school idols. Kanon decides, "I love singing. I want to make something come true with song!" Many feelings converge upon a star that has only started to grow. The future is blank and full of possibility for these girls, and their story that everyone will make possible has only just begun. Soar with your wings, our Love Live!

Candy Candy
8.5

Candy Candy

1976

This story is about a girl, Candy, who is a orphan. She is a nice and optimistic girl and she has a warm heart. When she was a child, she lived in an orphanage called Pony's Home. She had a good friend called Ann. And she met the "handsome boy on the hill" who is a important person in her life, on the hill behind the orphanage. She was adopted by the Loka's family. What's awaiting her are the bad-hearted Leo and his sister, Eliza. One day, in the rose garden, she met a boy, who is identical to the "handsome boy on the hill" who she had met in her childhood. The boy is called Antony. Thereafter, a fantastic story that she has never expected begins.

Urusei Yatsura
7.3

Urusei Yatsura

1981

The invasion of an alien race known as the Oni begins a new life for Ataru Moroboshi, a lecherous trouble-making tenth grader in the small town of Tomobiki. After unwittingly proposing to the Oni princess Lum Invader instead of his sweetheart Shinobu, Ataru becomes a conduit for aliens arriving on Earth, causing all sorts of havoc for him and his companions, not to mention his own reputation!

Tanaka-kun Is Always Listless
7.5

Tanaka-kun Is Always Listless

2016

A lethargic student dozes through class, activities and pretty much everything, frustrating his best friend but attracting the affections of others.

Clannad
8.3

Clannad

2007

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.

Akebi's Sailor Uniform
6.9

Akebi's Sailor Uniform

2022

It’s Komichi Akebi’s first year of junior high and she has her heart set on one thing: Robai Private Academy’s sailor uniform. As the next chapter of her life gets closer, she dreams of all the exciting new experiences she’ll get to have—school lunches, classes, club activities, and of course, making lots of friends! With her favorite outfit on, Komichi feels ready for anything.

From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke
8.4

From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke

2009

Nicknamed "Sadako" for her spooky appearance, high schooler Sawako begins to break out of her shell when she befriends popular boy Kazehaya.

Komi Can't Communicate
8.3

Komi Can't Communicate

2021

At a high school full of unique characters, Tadano helps his shy and unsociable classmate Komi reach her goal of making friends with 100 people.

Horimiya: The Missing Pieces
7.6

Horimiya: The Missing Pieces

2023

A new anime project that adapts popular side stories that were left out of the main anime series As the graduation ceremony at Katagiri High School comes to an end, Kyouko Hori, her boyfriend Izumi Miyamura, and their friends begin to look back on their time as students. The moments they shared together may be fleeting, but each one is a colorful piece of their precious memories.

White Album 2
6.8

White Album 2

2013

One evening in fall, with one month left before the school festival, the last member of the ruined light music club, Haruki Kitahara, looks out the window and plays his guitar in the direction of the festival stage set up outside. This was the simple little adventure that the conscientious honor student had hoped for two and a half years to achieve before his graduation in half a year. But then, when a flowing piano melody and a bell-like singing voice joined the clumsy sound of his guitar...

Aharen-san wa Hakarenai
7.3

Aharen-san wa Hakarenai

2022

Socially awkward Aharen-san has personal boundary issues, either getting too close or too far from her classmates. When fellow student Raido picks up an eraser she drops, Aharen-san decides they’re now best friends. Whether studying, playing the arcade, or just eating lunch—she’s along for the ride. What follows is an impromptu bonding that shows affection can blossom in the unlikeliest of places!

Why These Anime Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Aikatsu Friends! (2018): Animation and Comedy 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 Aikatsu Friends!.

See full details for Aikatsu Friends! (2018)

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