Utakoi - Recommendations

• TV (25 eps)
• 2011 - 2012

Chihaya Ayase is a famous beauty at her school, but she’s far from a conventional girl. Three years ago in her final year of elementary school, Chihaya and her friend Taichi became infatuated with the card game, Karuta, after connecting with a lonely boy named Arata Wataya. But when the trio graduated from elementary school, they each went their separate ways but shared one common goal: to excel in the game and meet each other at the national championships. Now, Chihaya is attempting to share her passion for the game by creating a competitive Karuta club at school, but when she reunites with Taichi it seems that maybe she’s the only one with the intention of fulfilling their childhood promise...

• TV (12 eps)
• 2009

Sometimes the greatest distance is between people. Whether a man alienates himself from society with a façade of cheerfulness, or two friends fail to communicate their feelings of betrayal, invisible barriers plague mankind. Although love should bring people together, when a stoic renter and a dutiful monk choose to court a widow’s daughter, their mutual affections drive a bitter gap between them. During each encounter filled with mistrust and despair, the flaws of human nature slowly reveal themselves...

• TV (11 eps)
• 2006

The dark and brooding Ayakashi is composed of three horror stories: the narration of a young woman named Oiwa who was abandoned and betrayed by the one she truly loved, leading her to curse all who stood in her way; a story of two star-crossed lovers – a human and a forgotten god – and their struggle to have a future together; and the tale of an evil and malicious demon who is haunting and murdering a family for unknown purposes. Though different in animation style and tone, each story shares a similar theme: the darkness of the human heart.

• TV
• 2024

In medieval Japan, eight-year-old Hojo Tokiyuki is the heir to the Kamakura shogunate. But the Hojo clan is in decline, and Tokiyuki’s peaceful days of playing hide-and-seek with his teachers come to an abrupt end when his clan is betrayed from within. Now the lone survivor of his family and a fugitive, Tokiyuki is the rightful heir to the throne, but to take it back, he’ll have to do what he does best—run away!

• Movie (1 ep)
• 2022

Inu-Oh was a real-life figure, a Sarugaku Noh performer and playwright who was extremely popular in the 14th century. However, he is all but unknown to people nowadays, because very few documents about his life have survived. Now, around 600 years later, this Inu-Oh project portrays the tales of brotherhood between the legendary Inu-Oh, who vanished from history, and a certain Biwa player, and is full of music and dance sequences.

• Other (20 eps)
• 2018

30-year-old housewife Azu Takamori has opened a nail salon. She feels her husband Junpei does not love her as a woman, but goes about her daily life as normal. Then, Junpei's adultery comes to light.

• DVD Special (1 ep)

• OVA (2 eps)
• 1992

Time-traveling lovers Katsumi and Sakura find themselves in the midst of Japan's medieval civil war between the Heike and Genji clans. 

• Other (1 ep)
• 1998

A special episode released on VHS.

• TV (52 eps)
• 1968 - 1969

The series follows the adventures of Sabu, a young Edo bakufu investigator traveling with the blind master swordsman Ichi. In their travels, they assist the common people in solving mysteries and righting wrongs (usually committed by bandits or corrupt officials). Sabu is engaged to Midori, the daughter of his boss, who works as a police officer for the Tokugawa shogunate.