Anime Like Special
If you loved Special's 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
Louie
Louis C.K. stars as a fictionalized version of himself; a comedian and newly divorced father raising his two daughters in New York City.
Will & Grace
Will Truman and Grace Adler are best friends living in New York, and when Grace's engagement falls apart, she moves in with Will. Together, along with their friends, they go through the trials of dating, sex, relationships and their careers, butting heads at times but ultimately supporting one another while exchanging plenty of witty banter along the way.
Younger
Liza Miller, a suddenly single stay-at-home mother, tries to get back into the working world, only to find it’s nearly impossible to start at the bottom at 40-year old. When a chance encounter convinces her she looks younger than she is, Liza tries to pass herself off as 26 and lands a job as an assistant at Empirical Press. Now she just has to make sure no one finds out the secret only she and her best friend Maggie share.
Legit
Jim Jefferies, an edgy, foul-mouthed stand-up comedian from Australia, in his mid-30s and living in LA, is endeavoring to make his life and career more “legit,” only to find it a difficult, uncomfortable uphill struggle every step of the way. Jim is encouraged in his quest by Steve, his neurotic best friend and roommate, a cyber-law library salesman who struggles to stay on his feet in the wake of a divorce, and Steve’s brother Billy, who suffers from advanced staged Muscular Dystrophy and is confined to a wheelchair.
Atypical
Sam, an 18-year-old on the autism spectrum, takes a funny, yet painful, journey of self-discovery for love and independence and upends his family.
Mid-Century Modern
Three best friends — gay gentlemen of a certain age – decide after an unexpected death to spend their golden years living together in Palm Springs where the wealthiest one lives with his mother. As a chosen family, they prove that no matter how hard things get, there’s always someone around to remind you it would be better if you got your neck done.
UnPrisoned
A messy but perfectionist relationship therapist and single mom has her life turned right-side-up when her dad gets out of prison and moves in with her and her teenage son.
One Day at a Time
The misadventures of a divorced mother, two teenage daughters, and new building superintendent in Indianapolis.
More Anime Like Special
Grandfathered
Successful restaurateur and man-about-town Jimmy Martino is used to being the most suave, most handsome and most single person in the room. All that changes with the surprise appearance of Jimmy’s adult son, Gerald, and his baby daughter, Edie. Now Jimmy has to unlearn a lifetime of blissful selfishness and grapple with the fact that he went straight from single to grandfather in six seconds flat.
Speechless
Maya DiMeo is a mom on a mission who will do anything for her husband, Jimmy, and kids Ray, Dylan, and JJ, her eldest son with special needs. As Maya fights injustices both real and imagined, the family works to make a new home for themselves and searches for just the right person to give JJ his “voice.”
Uncoupled
Michael thought his life was perfect until his husband blindsided him by walking out after 17 years. Michael has to confront two nightmares — losing his soulmate and suddenly finding himself a single gay man in his mid-40s.
Growing Up Fisher
It's not every family that's brought closer together by divorce, but then again, the Fishers are anything but typical.
Close Enough
A surreal take on transitioning from 20-something to 30-something centering on a married couple juggling such everyday challenges as parenthood, friendship, ham theft, stripper clowns and choosing the right day care.
Married... with Children
Al Bundy is an unsuccessful middle aged shoe salesman with a miserable life and an equally dysfunctional family. He hates his job, his wife is lazy, his son is dysfunctional (especially with women), and his daughter is dim-witted and promiscuous.
Étoile
In an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions, two world-renowned ballet companies in New York City and Paris swap their most talented stars.
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.
Dollface
After being dumped by her longtime boyfriend, a young woman must deal with her own imagination in order to literally and metaphorically re-enter the world of women, and rekindle the female friendships she left behind.
Better Things
Sam Fox is a single, working actor with no filter trying to raise her three daughters – Max, Frankie and Duke – in Los Angeles. She is mom, dad, referee and the cops.
Bupkis
Pete Davidson attempts to work through unique family dynamics and the complexities of fame to form meaningful relationships.
Kim's Convenience
The funny, heartfelt story of The Kims, a Korean-Canadian family, running a convenience store in downtown Toronto. Mr. and Mrs. Kim ('Appa' and 'Umma') immigrated to Toronto in the '80s to set up shop near Regent Park and had two kids, Jung and Janet who are now young adults. However, when Jung was 16, he and Appa had a major falling out involving a physical fight, stolen money and Jung leaving home. Father and son have been estranged since.
Why These Anime Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with Special (2019): 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 Special.
See full details for Special (2019)