Nanaka 6/17

These anime primarily focus on one or more childhood friends. The friends might have reunited after a long period of time apart, or they might be characters who start a relationship in a Romance anime. A Childhood Promise might also be involved.

There seem to be a lot of ways to watch anime but sometimes there are certain outliers that don't make their way to any legal streaming service OUTSIDE OF JAPAN (these criteria are mainly made using LiveChart.me as they list official streaming services to view anime and The Streamable), this stack aims to shine a light on these series, however, some rules are to be followed:

•No 'Kids' demographic, there's a reason MAL makes the distinction for those series, sure they're anime but I don't expect streaming services to lump them with other 'anime' and drown their servers with thousands of episodes (Ojarumaru, Anpanman, Nintama Rantaro). As well as other long-running series that don't fit the demographic rule fully (Sazae-san, Doraemon, Chibi Maruko-chan).
•Avoid recommending retro anime to be added to the stack, we're not counting physical releases or that they used to air in some regions, just that they're currently available in a streaming service (Kinnikuman, Kochikame). Feel free to do an interest stack about them, I'm thinking this one can only go as early as the 2000s for the anime on the stack.
•No lost media, there are better interest stacks for that.
•No series uploaded to Youtube by unofficial channels (Official channels count as legal streaming services, again, outside of Japan that don't require a VPN to view).
•No unofficial doujin anime/fan-made anime.
•No commercials and ads.
•No OVAs or specials, not every OVA such as Hellsing: Ultimate or TV Specials make its way to streaming services as sometimes they're bundled to specific manga volumes, other media, or sold separately from a series.
•No short anime, 5 minutes or less (Gag Manga Biyori, Popee the Performer, Gregory Horror Show).
•No ONA or web anime (Gift ±).
•No donghua (Chinese animation), aeni (South Korean animation), and animation that isn't from Japan, yes we all know many works are outsourced to different studios and animation outside of Japan but this is to make the stack not as loaded and confusing more than it is.
•Sequels not on any streaming services allowed.
•Movies are welcomed albeit sometimes have a similar problem to OVAs, I don't expect things like Gothicmade to ever be on a streaming service let alone outside of Japan. And well... not planning on oversaturating the stack with them.
•Series available as purchase only are not counted on the stack such as Supernatural The Animation: https://thestreamable.com/shows/supernatural-the-anime-series-2011
•If a series seems to be available but it redirects you to a 404 page or simply doesn't appear to be on the streaming service it's eligible for the stack.

As of now Ao No Orchestra (Blue Orchestra) isn't on any streaming service in the West but is available in the French streaming service 'Anime Digital Network' (ADN) therefore isn't considered for the stack.

Why do I use The Streamable for the "Marked as Unavailable" tag? Well, it actually sometimes shows the episode's name and thumbnail so it helps to know if at some point they're available or if there's a record of them being in an streaming service. And it helps a lot in knowing where some shows are available (like Kobato. is in Peacock of all places).

I do not know every anime not on a streaming service and may commit mistakes so please help this stack grow if you know of any series and feel free to call out any and all mistakes I make, I may make changes to the stack in the future as well. This already seems so messy so please bear with any slow progress to the stack and sorry for the inconvenience.

The process to add an anime: Look at LiveChart.me and The Streamable for available streams and purchase-only options (This isn't a promotion of either site in any way they just serve as tools for the process of finding anime not on streaming services), look at ANN for any physical release outside of Japan (if I miss this one let me know), and look up the Japanese title to see if it's available on the region's streaming services (this one is an extra, usually LiveChart tells you if it's on Japanese Amazon, Hulu or Netflix). If a series gets added to an streaming service it's off the stack. The stack aims to be a mix of different genres and stories so I won't overstuff them with a particular franchise, but rather highlight some series and spread a big franchise not on streaming over other parts of the stack.

Part 1: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/29552
Part 3: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/35755
Part 4: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/49195 (made in collaboration with eblf2013)
Part 5: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/52751 (made in collaboration with eblf2013)

Anime taken off the stacks:
-Katanagatari (on Netflix, some regions)
-Planetes (on ITV)

All the anime based on Weekly Shonen Champion Manga
Updated on: March 3rd, 2025
Massage me if there is a new announcement.