Best 15 Anime About Animals To Watch This Winter (2024)

Animals are frequent parts of anime; many anime feature certain animals, some as comic reliefs and some as an important part of the story. But today, we’ll be talking about those anime that have predominantly animal cast or have animals as central characters. We’ve made sure to include anime for various genres for our readers to enjoy. So, let’s see our list of the best 15 anime about animals.

Best 15 Anime About Animals

1) Beastars

Beastars is set in an anthropomorphic world where herbivores and carnivores live side by side in harmony but there’s an unspoken tension always present between these two sides.

The protagonist, Legoshi is a wolf with a reserved and sensitive personality. But because of his looks and species, he’s always seen as a threat. 

When he meets a dwarf rabbit named Haru, he falls in love with her despite their differences. It’s an anime about animals that talk about prejudice and discrimination wrapped in an intriguing story.

2) Wolf Children

A heartbreaking anime movie about animals, Wolf Children is a must-watch. It follows a college student named Hana who meets a strange man in her class and eventually falls in love with him. When she learns that he is from a different species who can turn into wolves, her love for him doesn’t diminish.

The two get married and eventually have two children, Ame and Yuki. But when tragedy strikes and her husband is killed, she has to take care of two wolf children all by herself.

3) Odd Taxi

Odd Taxi is an underrated anime about animals that every anime fan needs to check out. It’s set in an anthropomorphic world and follows three eccentric individuals whose lives collide one day: the blunt Hiroshi Odokawa, the jobless Taichi Kabasawa, the mysterious Miho Shirakawa, and the delinquent Dobu.

When a girl goes missing, the police investigation leads them to Odokawa who is a taxi driver. Soon, Odokawa encounters various people who make it clear that there’s more to the story.

4) BNA: Brand New Animal

BNA is a fantasy action anime about animals where there is a species called Beastmen. They are able to shift into animals. But due to their straining relationship with humans, they conceal their powers. But in Anima City, they can finally be themselves.

It’s the day of the 10th anniversary of Anima City when Michiru Kagemori’s life turns upside down. Living as a human all her life, Michiru is shocked when she transforms into a tanuki. There seems to be more to her past than she knows.

5) The Boy And The Beast

This beautiful story revolves around two very different individuals suffering different problems in life. One is the orphaned and lonely nine-year-old Ren and the other is Kumatetsu who is aspiring to become the lord of his realm.

When their lives finally collide, they each see an opportunity to find something they want. Ren wants to belong somewhere and Kumatetsu wants a disciple to train. As Kumatetsu takes Ren to his realm and spends years training him, they realize their lonely days are over.

6) The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today

Both fun and funny, The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today is another great anime about animals. It’s about a young working woman, Saku Fukuzawa, who finds a black cat one day and takes him with her. Eventually, Yukichi, the cat she rescued, becomes more of her housekeeping partner than a pet.

He keeps their home, makes sure she eats proper meals, and is terribly excited by the sales at the supermarket. Watch the lives of these unlikely partners. 

7) Sacrificial Princess And The King of Beasts

A new anime from Spring 2023, Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts is a fantasy romance series where the Kingdom of Ozmargo is the home of beasts of all kinds and is ruled by the beast king, Leonhart. After winning a several-year-long war against the neighboring kingdom of humans, Leonhart is presented with a sacrificial human from the neighboring king once a year.

The latest sacrifice is an orphan girl named Sariphi who neither fears Leonhart nor wants to escape. Intrigued by her, the beast king eventually falls for her.

8) Princess Mononoke

One of the greats by Studio Ghibli that has stood the test of time is Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke. The movie shows the relationship between humans and nature and how technology affects that relationship. It’s a story about finding balance through mutual acceptance.

The story follows a young prince Ashitaka who is cursed by a dying demon boar. In his pursuit to cure the curse, he meets a strange girl in a forest. The girl, Sen, is raised by the wolves and believes herself to be one of them.

9) Silver Fang

This old anime about animals focuses on the protagonist, Gin the Akito dog who is born a brindle. This leads to his people believing that Gin is destined to become a mighty bear-hunting dog. But when Gin’s father is killed by a demon bear named Akakabuto, Gin must face his destiny. 

As Akakabuto begins to gather allies, Gin sets out on his own journey to become able to defeat Akakabuto.

10) A Whisker Away

This romance drama on Netflix follows a teenage girl named Miyo Sasaki who lives an unhappy life with a stepmother who is overzealous in her pursuit of connecting with Miyo and a father who hardly bothers with anything. The only bright thing in her life is her crush, Kento Hinode.

Miyo’s attempts at showing Kento her adoration fail every time. But when she transforms into a cat, she gets to become close to him. As Miyo learns that Kento’s life has its own problems, she must choose between staying a cat to be with him or staying a human to help him.

11) Aggretsuko

Aggretsuko is a workplace comedy set in an anthropomorphic world. A red panda named Retsuko works in an office where she is given too much work by her colleagues who are too lazy to do their work themselves. She spends most of her evenings working at the office filled with frustration.

The only way she channels her frustrations and anger is by singing aggressive death metal at a local karaoke bar. This anime is way too relatable and hilarious to miss.

12) Chi’s Sweet Home

An absolutely adorable and lighthearted anime, this is a great watch to uplift sour moods. It’s a simple story about a small kitten named Chi who is found by a little boy named Youhei and his mother. They take the kitten home and she finds a new home with this family.

The anime shows Chi’s daily life through many little adventures and fun memories.

13) Wolf’s Rain

This anime about animals is set in a decaying world where the gate to paradise is promised to open at the end of the world. But only wolves can find their way into the paradise. Unknown to most people, the fabled wolves still live, hiding in plain sight by disguising themselves as humans.

When young wolf Kiba is drawn to the Freeze City by a mysterious smell, he is completely unaware of how his life is about to be turned upside down.

14) The Cat Returns

A spin-off of Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart, The Cat Returns tells the story of Haru Yoshioka, a high school student who ends up saving the life of Lune, the prince of the Cat Kingdom. To thank her, the Cat King asks her to become the wife of Lune.

Not being able to communicate with cats, Haru unknowingly agrees and stumbles into one misunderstanding after another. The more time she spends in the Cat Kingdom the more cat-like she becomes. Now Haru must find her true self to stop her transformation.

15) My Roommate is a Cat

This charming slice-of-life story follows the 23-year-old introverted mystery author who lost his parents years ago and lives a lonely life. One day he finds a small stray cat near his parents’ grave. The cat, named Haru, is living a pitiful life in the streets.

Subaru takes Haru home with him, giving her plenty of food and shelter. Haru, as grateful as she is to the kind man, however, cannot help but notice that her new caregiver is extremely poor at taking care of himself. Thus begins their unlikely friendship strengthened by mutual care.

We’ve reached the end of this list of the best 15 anime about animals. Every anime on this list tells a different kind of story and brings a different vibe. Check these out and for more anime recommendations and top 10 lists, follow Otakus’ Notes.

Do small things with great love.

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Anamika Das

Anamika loves words and stories and putting them to pages. She also loves anime, manga, books, movies and everything fantasy. She has been a fan of anime since childhood and her admiration for it only grew with years. Her passion for writing is even more elevated by writing about the things she loves.