Title Recommendations based on Utena Tenjou
Rose of Versailles is set in France on the brink of upheaval. Poverty racks the streets, the peasants are grossly overtaxed, and the nobles are indifferent. Princess Marie Antoinette has just arrived in Paris, and Oscar Jarjayes's job is to protect her. Born a female but raised as a male because her parents wanted a boy, Oscar is uniquely suited to care for the Princess.
Princess Tutu follows Duck, a duck who was transformed into a young girl and takes ballet at a private school. She becomes enamoured of her mysterious schoolmate Mytho, and transforms into Princess Tutu to restore his shattered heart. Mytho's girlfriend Rue transforms into Princess Kraehe to frustrate Tutu's efforts, and Mytho's protective friend Fakir discourages Mytho's burgeoning emotions. When it becomes apparent that Duck, Rue, Mytho, and Fakir are meant to play out the characters in a story by a long-dead writer named Drosselmeyer, they resist their assigned fates and fight to keep the story from becoming a tragedy.
Following the manga of the same name,?Sayonara, Zetsubo-Sensei?is an odd, off-beat comedy of the darkest type. With surreal animation and a black sense of humor, it follows the adventures of a suicidal schoolteacher and his mentally unstable students, each a caricature of a topical Japanese social issue. While its dark subject matter may not be for everyone,?Zetsubo's?idiosyncratic style and tone are sure to win over viewers looking for something dark and different.
Pretty Cure, revolves around Yin and Yang, which explains the relationship between Nagisa and Honoka trying to work together as Pretty Cures.
A rumor is going around that if you take a photo of someone you like with your cellphone and keep it hidden, they'll fall for you. Will Makoto win his love by taking a picture of Kotonoha without anyone knowing?
Arsene Lupin III is the grandson of the master thief Arsene Lupin. With his cohorts Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa XIII and his love interest Fujiko Mine, he pulls off the greatest heists of all time while always escaping the grasp of Inspector Koichi Zenigata.
FLCL follows Naota Nandaba, who lives in a small, dusty Japanese town where "nothing amazing happens" and "everything is ordinary." Ordinary, that is, until the day self-proclaimed alien Haruko Haruhara rides in on her Vespa and hits Naota with her guitar. From there on, things only get stranger, and the giant robots spouting from his forehead soon become the least of Naota's worries.
Sakura Kinomoto, an elementary school student, discovers that she possesses magical powers after accidentally freeing a set of magical cards from the book they had been sealed in for years. She is then tasked with retrieving those cards in order to avoid an unknown catastrophe from befalling the world.
Mima Kirigoe is a singer who leaves her trio to become an actress, a career move that angers her fans, who prefer to see her as the pop idol. Plagued by self-doubt and tormented by humiliating compromises, she begins to be stalked. In her waking and sleeping moments, she faces her alter ego who claims to be "the real Mima."
Serial Experiments Lain focuses on Lain Iwakura, an adolescent girl living in suburban Japan, and her introduction to the Wired, a global communications network similar to the Internet. Lain lives with her middle-class family, which consists of her inexpressive older sister Mika, her cold mother, and her computer-obsessed father. The first ripple on the pond of Lain's lonely life appears when she learns that girls from her school have received an e-mail from Chisa Yomoda, a schoolmate who had committed suicide. When Lain receives the message at home, Chisa tells her that she is not dead, but has merely "abandoned her physical body and flesh", and is alive deep within the virtual reality-world of the Wired itself and that she has found the almighty and divine god there. From then on, Lain is bound to a path which will take her ever deeper into both the network and her own subconscious thoughts and sensations.
Focusing on the attempts of hikikomori recluse Tatsuhiro Sato to reintegrate into normal society, Welcome to the NHK is one part slice-of-life adventures, another part dark comedy. Dealing seriously with themes like social anxiety and depression, Welcome to the NHK can be a heavy series to watch. But with its self-aware humor and satiric view of Japanese fan culture, the show manages to be deeply funny.
Saotome Ranma, a teenage martial artist, and his father Genma travel to the 'cursed training ground' of Jusenkyo in China. There, despite the warnings of the Chinese guard, they fall into the cursed springs. From now on, whenever Ranma is doused in cold water, he turns in to a girl, and a cute, well-built red-head at that. Hot water changes him back into a man again, but only until the next time. To make matters worse, his father engages him to Tendo Akane, a girl who hates boys.
When Erika sets out to befriend Tsubomi, she would have never guessed her new neighbor's secret: Tsubomi is a PreCure, a magical warrior tasked with protecting the hearts of the human race. After being approached by the fairies Coffret and Chypre, Erika then becomes Tsubomi's PreCure partner.
While there is a decided lack of rumble in School Rumble, there is enough tangled love triangles for an entire semester of geometry.
Cute, colorful, and fun, Tokyo Mew Mew has been well-received as an entertaining entry in the magical girls manga world. The story doesn't take itself too seriously, and there's plenty of cute outfits, sparkly backgrounds, and romantic storylines. Lurking somewhere underneath that is a environmental message, but it tends to take second place to the five girls' adventures. Artist Mia Ikumi's drawings are just as free-flowing and high-energy as the main character's personality. Tokyo Mew Mew is like a piece of cake—sweet and enjoyable.
