In order to continue pursuing track and field, Hiyori left her small hometown and moved to Tokyo. After her father gets injured, she takes a part-time job to support herself. The job, as it turns out, is to be a manager-in-training for two male idols who just happen to be her two irritable classmates as well.
Earnest, hard-working female main character not in a romance show? Innovative, and part of what makes this an excellent show! If you are looking for more anime recommendation like Heroines Run The Show, then head on down below.
Anime Like Heroines Run The Show
For Fans of Idol Management
Idolish7
On her first day working for her father’s production agency, Tsumugi was certainly not expecting to become the manager of the agency’s new idol group. Making her job even more difficult, deeming the group too big, she is asked by her father to cut four boys from it. However, after hearing them perform, she declares she won’t cut anyone from the group and dedicates herself to making them stars.
Both series are about girls suddenly managing an idol group of varying size. However, while Heroines Run The Show focuses on more of the personal life of the main character at times, Idolish is all about the idols. Beautiful boys with a variety of problems are in both shows, but in greater number in Idolish.
B-Project
Tsubasa is a new hire in the A&R department of the recording company Gandala Music. She is assigned to B Project, an idol unit made of three groups. Her job quickly becomes managing the different personalities in the unit to ensure their success.
B Project is idol management on a much larger scale than Heroines Run The Show. Still, if you enjoyed Heroines Run The Show for the boys rather than the main character, B Project has that in excess. Unfortunately, more beautiful boys means a diluted focus on each.
Ya Boy Kongming
As a general in China’s Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang Kongming had endured countless battles that shaped him into an excellent strategist. However, on his deathbed, his only wish is to be reborn in a more peaceful world. This results in him being reborn as his younger self in modern day Shibuya, Tokyo. After being dragged around by partiers, Kongming becomes taken with the songs of a struggling singer who ends up sheltering him. He decides to use his tactical genius to make her into a top star!
While Ya Boy Kongming seems like it leans more towards comedy, it, like Heroines Run The Show at many moments, does an excellent job at balancing out comedic moments with dramatic ones. Despite the fact that it is done by a historical figure, Ya Boy Kongming is also a surprisingly deep idol management series too.
For Fans of Chasing Passion
Blue Period
In his second year of high school, Yatora Yaguchi goofs off with his friends and studies hard enough to make good grades. However, neither makes him happy. Bound by normal activities, he wonders if there is something more. One day, he discovers the joy of drawing after becoming enchanted by a painting made by an art club member. Deciding he wants to do art as a living, Yatora faces a number challenges including his own hesitation on how far art can take him.
While Blue Period is about pursuing art as a potential career from zero, both shows do a good job at displaying the determination and passion that drives the characters. They focus on idol performances and creating art, but they also develop the characters in meaningful ways.
Sk8 the Infinity
High school student Reki Kyan is passionate about skateboarding and board-making. While he works part-time in a board shop after school, his real interest is the underground race that happens at night. S is a competitive skateboard race where participants are encouraged to win at all costs. Unfortunately for Reki, his most recent race came in at a loss. The next day at school he meets new transfer student Langa Hasegawa who was a snowboarder when he lived in Canada. After a series of events that led both of them to an S race, Reki discovers that, despite having no experience on a skateboard, Langa’s experience snowboarding is unexpectedly useful in an S race.
While more of a sport anime, Sk8 the Infinity is driven by the passion that a character has like Heroines Run The Show. However, perhaps the biggest similarity is the relationship between the two male leads. Sk8 the Infinity doesn’t really have a female element to it, but it has a similar dynamic between the male characters.
Sound! Euphonium
Swearing off music after a certain incident, euphonist Kumiko enter high school looking for a fresh start. However, it turns out she is surrounded by people with a passion for instruments that end up dragging her into a band aiming for nationals, and not a very good band at that.
Sound Euphonium is more akin to your standard music anime rather than an idol show. However, both series do a nice balance between comedy and drama, though Euphonium definitely leans hard on the drama side sometimes. Regardless, both series have characters aiming for the top from right at the bottom.
For Fans of Entertainment Industry Drama
Tsukiuta
Tsukino Talent Productions manages two idol groups – Six Gravity and Procellarum. While belonging to different groups, all members are housed in the same dormitory where they juggle careers as well as their personal lives. After a handshake event between the two units, it is announced that they will collaborate at the Full Moon Festival in a few months. This sends each member excitedly scrambling to collaborate in order to pull it off.
Most obviously, these shows are both about idols. However, they lend a good amount of time to exploring the personal lives of those idols while also showing them on stage and preparing. Like in other idol anime, this series also becomes more diluted with character drama because it has a large cast. Heroines Run The Show with its small group allows them to focus on the characters better.
Opera Girl
After being forced out of her idol group due to a stalker fostering her discomfort with men, Ai Narata seeks to use her talents at the prestigious Kouka School of Musical and Theatrical Arts. This school has gained renown for producing the best actresses, and Ai fits their criteria even if her demeanor alienates her from her classmates. Upon entering school, Ai meets the tall and eccentric Sasara Watanabe who causes friction of her own with her classmates. Together, these girls find that they will need more than just talent to succeed at the school and earn their prestige.
While Opera Girl has a distinct lack of beautiful idol boys, it is a series that allows its entire plot to be carried by character struggles and growth as they reach for the top spot on the stage. It balances that out with a lot of lovely comedy as well, though.
Skip Beat
Although extremely bright, Kyouko Mogami’s naivety shines brighter as she toils endlessly to support her childhood friend and rising pop star Shou Fuwa. However, when she learns that all her hard work is like free servitude to her friend, she decides to get back at him by joining the ruthless world of entertainment herself.
If you enjoy entertainment industry drama, Skip Beat, as an older school shoujo, has a bunch of it. It, like Heroines Run The Show, also features a kind and naive girl who ends up in the entertainment industry, though Skip Beat focuses on her trying to make it.
Glass Mask
Maya seemed destined to toil in her family restaurant with her bitter and unstable mother. Ayumi has always had success guaranteed to her by her famous parents’ connections, but yearns to prove her own talent. Their paths collide when they decide to vie for the same part in a play. For one to succeed, the other must fall.
Both series focus on those in the entertainment industry trying to reach for the top spot. It shows their struggles but also leave some time for joys. As an older anime, Glass Mask is a bit more heavy handed on the drama.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Heroines Run The Show? Let fans know in the comments section below.
