NoBadPicks

Shows Like Noir

If you loved Noir's Drama and Animation storytelling, these series deliver a similar experience — chosen for tone, narrative quality, and viewer satisfaction. Each includes where to stream it now.

Top Picks

Canaan
6.6

Canaan

2009

Two years ago, Shibuya was ravaged by a biological terrorist attack using the deadly Ua virus. Maria Osawa was saved when her father inoculated her against the virus, but is left with partial amnesia from the shock. She works as a cameraman when she reunites with a girl named Canaan in Shanghai, China. A gifted assassin with synesthesia, she is under orders from an unknown organization for a yet unspecified mission

The Fable
7.8

The Fable

2024

A legendary hitman trained to become the world's best assassin is asked to lay low for a year by the head of his crime family.

Strawberry Panic
7.0

Strawberry Panic

2006

Nagisa Aoi is a new transfer student into one of the three prestigious all-girls Catholic high schools on Astraea Hill: a school called St. Miator (the other two are St. Spica and St. Lelim (known in the anime as Le Rim, for some reason). While getting totally lost on her first day, she stumbles into a clearing with a tree, and also into a girl with long silver hair. Nagisa is immediately smitten with the girl, Shizuma Hanazono, otherwise known as the Etoile of the three schools (the most idolized girl). Shizuma, after picking up a figurine dropped by Nagisa, kisses her on the forehead, leading to Nagisa fainting. After waking up in the school's infirmary, Nagisa then meets her new roommate, Tamao Suzumi. Things, however, will be getting a lot more complicated for the new student than just that.

X
7.3

X

2001

It's the year of destiny and 15 year old Kamui Shirō, a powerful psychic, has returned to Toyko after a 6 year absence. He returns to protect his childhood friends, Fūma, and Fūma's younger sister, Kotori. But destiny and fate are haunting Kamui and pulling in himself and his loved ones. It is his destiny to decide the fate of the world and mankind, no matter if he wants the role or not.

BACK ARROW
6.8

BACK ARROW

2021

Lingalind is a land enclosed by the Wall. The Wall covers, protects, cultivates, and nurtures the land. One day in Edger, a village on the outskirts of Lingalind, a mysterious man named Back Arrow appears. Arrow has lost his memory, but he claims that all he knows is that “I came from outside the Wall.”

Pandora Hearts
6.3

Pandora Hearts

2009

Oz Vessalius, heir to one of the duke houses, has just turned fifteen. His life is rich and carefree, darkened only by the constant absence of his father. At his coming-of-age ceremony, however, everything changes. For no reason that he can discern, he's cast into the prison known as the "Abyss", only to be saved by a "chain" known as Alice, the bloodstained black rabbit. It is unknown why was he cast into Abyss, how does Alice factor into it all, and what does the organization known as "Pandora" want with him.

Ajin
7.9

Ajin

2016

17 years ago, immortals first appeared on the battlefields of Africa. Later, rare, unknown new immortal lifeforms began appearing among humans, and they became known as "Ajin" (demi-humans). Just before summer vacation, a Japanese high school student is instantly killed in a traffic accident on his way home from school. However, he is revived, and a price is placed on his head. Thus begins a boy's life on the run from all of humankind.

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
6.8

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

2002

Two kids whose families own businesses in a shopping arcade that's scheduled to shut down are thrown into a series of dimensions, each one a parody of some form of anime or video game, and try to find their way home.

More Shows Like Noir

Sekirei
7.2

Sekirei

2008

Struggling yet brilliant, 19-year-old Minato Sahashi has failed his college entrance exams for the second time, resulting in him being regarded as worthless by those around him. However, the course of his seemingly bleak future is altered dramatically when a beautiful, supernatural woman falls from the sky and into his life. That woman, Musubi, is a "Sekirei," an extraterrestrial with extraordinary abilities. Recognizing the potential of the Ashikabi gene within Minato, Musubi kisses him, initiating a bond between the two of them. This drags him into the high-stakes world of the Sekirei, where he and his new partner must compete against others in a battle for survival called the "Sekirei Plan." However, unbeknownst to the contestants, there is far more at risk that what the competition initially entailed. Manga series by Sakurako Gokurakuin.

SAKAMOTO DAYS
8.1

SAKAMOTO DAYS

2025

Once the greatest hitman of all, Taro Sakamoto retired in the name of love. But when his past catches up, he must fight to protect his beloved family.

Princess Connect! Re:Dive
6.8

Princess Connect! Re:Dive

2020

In the beautiful land of Astraea where a gentle breeze blows, a young man named Yuuki awakens with no memory of his past. There he encounters a guide who has sworn to care for him—Kokkoro, a lovely swordswoman who's always feeling peckish—Pecorine, and a cat-eared sorceress with a prickly attitude—Karyl. Led by fate, these four come together to form the "Gourmet Guild." And so their adventure begins...

Gunslinger Girl
7.2

Gunslinger Girl

2003

The Social Welfare Agency saves the lives of terminal patients using cybernetic implants. Then it teaches them to kill. After surviving the slaughter of her family, young Henrietta awakens to her new life at the Agency with a rebuilt body and no memory. Teamed with Jose, who is responsible for turning her into the perfect assassin, Henrietta’s been given a second chance—but at what cost?

Samurai Champloo
8.3

Samurai Champloo

2004

Break-dancing but fierce warrior Mugen has to deal with the cold-blooded and conceited Jin, a samurai who believes he is above all. These sworn enemies are brought together by Fuu for a special task.

Happy Tree Friends
7.8

Happy Tree Friends

1999

This action and adventure comedy is drawn in simple appearance and combines cute forest animals with extreme graphic violence. Each episode revolves around the characters enduring accidental events of bloodshed, pain, dismemberment and/or death.

Riddle Story of Devil
7.7

Riddle Story of Devil

2014

The "Class Black," 10th Grade of Myōjō Academy is composed of 12 assassins disguised as students and one target: Haru Ichinose. Fully aware of being the prey, Ichinose vows to survive assassination attempts and graduate from the school alive. One of the assassins, Tokaku Azuma, has started building up feelings for Ichinose and switched side to become her protector. Together they have to face the onslaught from their classmates of 11 assassins.

The Severing Crime Edge
7.3

The Severing Crime Edge

2013

Killing Goods are murder weapons handed down from generation to generation within the families of their owners. They are cursed to compel their current owners to repeat the original murders. The curse also makes them indestructible. Kiri Haimura is the current owner of a pair of shears that can cut seemingly anything, although the only thing he wants to cut is hair. One day he meets Iwai Mushanokoji, a girl of whom he has only heard rumors that her hair cannot be cut, a girl who can grant one wish, any wish, but only to the person who murders her. Every morning he cuts her hair, which grows back every night; and every day he helps protect her from people who know about her curse and who want a wish granted.

The Qwaser of Stigmata
7.5

The Qwaser of Stigmata

2010

When Mafuyu Oribe and her adopted sister Tomo rescue a strange wounded man, they have no idea what they’re getting involved with or what the consequences will be. Alexander Nikolaevith Hell is an Iron Qwaser, one of many opposing factions of super-warriors.

Witch Hunter Robin
7.2

Witch Hunter Robin

2002

Solomon fights the harmful use of witchcraft using a database of witches, which includes those who have obtained the power of witchcraft through genetics and others who carry the gene in order to arrest or eliminate them should their powers "awaken". The series focuses on one STN-J member, Robin Sena.

SWORD GAI: The Animation
6.8

SWORD GAI: The Animation

2018

The swordsmith Amon accidentally comes across an infant and its dead mother in the forest. Although he is initially overwhelmed by the situation, he finally decides to take the boy with him and thus save him from certain death. Ten years after this fateful encounter, the boy from that time, Gai, is apprenticed to Amon. While making a sword, however, there is a tragic accident in which Gai loses his right arm. Amon then decides to use a sword called Shiryuu to make an artificial arm for Gai. Thus, it begins…

Aoi Bungaku Series
6.8

Aoi Bungaku Series

2009

An animated adaptation of six classical Japanese literature pieces, including No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) and Run, Melos (Hashire, Melos) by Osamu Dazai, Kokoro by Natsume Souseki, Hell Screen (Jigoku Hen) and The Spider's Thread (Kumo no Ito) by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom (Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita) by Ango Sakaguchi.

Why These Shows Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Noir (2001): Drama and Animation themes, similar pacing, and comparable production quality. NoBadPicks uses TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface series most likely to resonate with fans of Noir.

See full details for Noir (2001)

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