A young boy named Ash has dreams of becoming a Pokemon Master. Starting off with his first Pokemon, Pikachu, he embarks on an adventure with his friends Brock and Misty that will take him all over the Kanto, Johto, and Orange Islands regions to battle other Pokemon trainers and earn gym badges. However, along with other honest Pokemon trainers, Ash will also cross paths with villains like Team Rocket that seek to steal his Pokemon for nefarious reasons.
You want to be the best like no one ever was? You will need a lot more than the Pokemon anime to get there. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Pokemon, then head on down below.
Anime Like Pokemon
For Fans of Monster Battling
Digimon
When a group of kids head to summer camp, things don’t turn out exactly as planned. In the middle of July it begins to snow and they receive these strange devices that end up transporting them to the digital world. Inside, the children each receive a digital monster as a companion, but not all monsters in the digital world are as nice as their new friends.
Digimon and Pokemon. Pokemon and Digimon. Wars have been waged over which is better, but ultimately they are both the same. If you like watching monsters battle each other while the kids pretty much just stand there and watch, this is a fine series to get into.
Sekirei
One day, completely useless college student Minato Sahashi collides with a beautiful girl named Musubi. She is a Sekirei, a powerful humanoid that descended to earth. She is fleeing from two of her own kind and suddenly kisses Minato to awaken her true power. Due to his special genes, Musubi asks Minato to stay by her side and fight in a survival game between the Sekirei. The winner gets to ascend, but the fate of the Earth might just hang in the balance as well.
Let’s just be clear that due to the sexually charged nature of Sekirei, this isn’t for younger Pokemon fans. However, let’s be real, Minato collects Sekirei like Ash collects Pokemon. They are all just more boobilicious.
Monster Rancher
After playing too much Monster Rancher, Genki is zapped into their world. There he meets a girl named Holly and a whole slew of unique monsters. Together they embark on a journey to revive the great monster Phoenix, the only one capable to taking on a great evil that threatens to consume the world.
In Monster Rancher, the monsters tend to be more like friends than the slaves they are in Pokemon. However, the essence is the same. Both kids are cheery and use their monsters to do the fighting, but the overall plot of Monster Rancher is different because there is a more concrete goal.
Youkai Watch
After freeing a mysterious creature named Whisper from its prison, the thankful Youkai decides to become young Keita Amano’s guardian against supernatural forces. However, Whisper is not the only Youkai in the world. Youkai Watch follows Keita and Whisper as the encounter different Youkai and try to fix all the problems they cause.
You know what they say, Youkai Watch is the new Pokemon. Both based on video games, Youkai Watch feels extremely similar to Pokemon in almost every way. However, there is no Team Rocket and Keita tends to roll with a smaller crew, but they are essentially the same thing.
Bakugan
After mysterious cards descended from the sky, they became the central pieces in a new game called Bakugan. However, as the human dimension and the war-torn dimension where these cards came from begin to merge, the players that took to Bakugan realize that they are playing more than just a game. For up and coming player Danma Kuusou, he comes into possession of a talking fire Bakugan, Pyrus Dragonoid, and gets drawn into a battle where their dimension hangs in the balance.
Both series are monster battlers at their core, but Bakugan is a little bit more intense about things since there is an actual threat to the world.
For Fans of Adventure
Hunter X Hunter
Twelve-year-old Gon Freecss is determined to become a world-class Hunter, a skilled individual that performs all manner of dangerous tasks, just like his long-absent father. However, Gon finds that the path to achieving his goals is more challenging than he could have ever imagined, but in order to overcome it, Gon recruits some powerful friends.
While Hunter x Hunter looks as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as the best of them, it actually does get pretty brutal as it goes on. So fair warning for those perhaps looking for recommendations for younger children. All that being said, it is one of the best anime series when it comes to capturing the spirit of adventure and exploration without getting too caught up in following particular plot strings.
Beyblade
Thirteen-year-old Tyson and his team mates have a dream of becoming the best Beybladers in the world. With the help of their team genius and powerful BitBeasts, they might just have a chance. Follow the team as they battle powerful opponents and struggle to reach their goal.
Aside from often being paired in the same time block with Pokemon, Beyblade also features a main character that travels with his friends to fight and grows more successful in his field. Both have strong rivals and also aim to be the very best.
Spider Riders
One day while in the woods, a boy named Hunter Steel falls into a hole and gets transported to the Inner World. Here, brave humans battle insect armies atop spiders to keep the outer world safe. When Hunter arrives, he is summoned by the Oracle and asked to help unseal her power. Pairing up with Spider Shadow, Hunter seeks to become a member of the Spider Riders and bring peace to this world.
Although a little more grandiose in character designs, both Spider Rider and Pokemon feature two rather bright-eyed and bushy-tailed protagonists that want to grow stronger and are paired with non-human companions to do so. However, the difference is that Hunter does a little more fighting than Ash.
Toriko
In this world, happiness is measured by what you eat. As such, people are always on the hunt for ultimate ingredients that are gotten from powerful monsters. Those who battle these monsters for ingredients are Gourmet Hunters. This story follows Toriko, a Gourmet Hunter and his chef friend Komatsu. Toriko aims to cook the perfect meal while Komatsu wants to reach the level of master chef.
Instead of collecting Pokemon, Toriko is more about collecting food ingredients. So… Eating the Pokemon, essentially. Regardless, Toriko really captures that sense of exploration in the same way Pokemon does since his journey takes him all over.
One Piece
With his dying breath, legendary Pirate King Gol D. Roger let the world know about his treasure, setting in motion the Grand Age of Pirates. Among the many crews that set out to look for the legendary One Piece treasure is Monkey D. Luffy, a young man that has assembled a rag-tag crew to sail the Grand Line and hunt down One Piece.
While One Piece gets more serious and intense with the action over time, you will find that it remains just as silly as much as Pokemon does. Furthermore, both series present a large world to explore and a lot of people and creatures to meet.
For Fans of The Power of Friendship! Yeah!
Yugioh
After solving the mysterious Millennium Puzzle, high school student Yugi Motou suddenly finds himself aided by a mysterious alter ego of a pharaoh prince named Yami. While trying to unravel the mystery of this Yami Yugi, Yugi and his friends find themselves battling powerful opponents in the competitive card game Duel Monster where the opponents seek to steal the Millennium Puzzle. As the stakes mount, so do the questions about the Millennium Objects and this other Yugi.
Ash wants to become Pokemon Master, Yugi wants to become a Master of Games. For both to achieve those ends, they need to collect stronger monsters or cards. In both shows, monsters are summoned through some medium and both shows focus on the main group making both new allies and enemies.
Persona 4 the Animation
Yuu Narukami is the new kid to Inaba. At school he hears a rumor that if you look at a blank TV screen at midnight, you will see the face of your true love. However, when Yuu watches it, he sees a woman getting killed. In an attempt to watch it again, Yuu finds himself able to enter the TV world, a place filled with shadows that can only be fought by personas, awakened manifestations of the user’s true self.
Persona is essentially the more mature, darker version of Pokemon. It is much more psychological and with a fair bit of violence and sexual content. Persona 4 is for a different age group, but remains strangely similar. Unlike Pokemon where everyone can have multiple companions, in Persona 4, only Yuu can use a variety of different Personas, the rest of his friends only have the one.
Dragon Drive
Reiji Ozora gets hooked on a new virtual reality game called Dragon Drive by a friend. In this game, each player is paired with a dragon companion. Hoping for something huge and fierce, Reiji is disappointed when he is paired with Chibi, a dragon cuter and smaller than he is. However, it turns out that Chibi is one of the rarest dragons in the game. Together with his new friend, Reiji must train, for the world has nefarious plans for Dragon Drive.
While not quite as adventure-oriented as Pokemon, both shows have the same feel. Whereas Ash has companion options, Reiji only has Chibi, but throughout the series the pair continue to get stronger.
Naruto
Orphaned at a young age and ostracized by his village due to the nine-tailed fox demon that was sealed within him at birth, Naruto aims for the top. His dream is to eventually become the leader of his village, the Hokage. However, first he must actually become a ninja and gain strength enough to rise to this pinnacle.
Unlike Pokemon, Naruto eventually grows up and becomes a more serious show. However, in the beginning, it is very much about friendship and the places that can take you.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Pokemon? Let fans know in the comments section below.
