Unable to resist taking in abandoned kittens, and amassing quite a collection of them, Sorata Kanda is forced to move to Suimei High School’s infamous Sakura Hall. This dorm is used to house all the misfit students that don’t quite fit in the regular housing. There, Sorata meets an array of different oddballs that inspire him to work towards getting back into the regular dorms and away from them. However, when a new transfer student moves in, he meets the incredible artist, Shiina Mashiro. While talented, she is completely incapable of taking care of herself, and so, Sorata brings her into his care and his strange days truly begin.
Full of light-heart comedy and light romance, The Pet Girl of Sakura Hall is a great slice of life comedy for those that just want to relax and have a few laughs. While in the romance genre, it remains subtle and so much more fascinating is the array of different characters that it displays.
Anime Like The Pet Girl of Sakura Hall
For Fans of Relaxed Romance
Golden Time
Banri Tada has finally been accepted into a private law academy in Tokyo, but due to an accident, he is without all his memories. During his freshmen orientation, he meets Mitsuo Yanagisawa who is consummately stalked by Kouko Kaga, a girl from his old school. Banri begins to hit it off with both of them. As they spend more time together, their fates seem intertwined, but for better or worse?
When it comes to romance in anime, Pet Girl of Sakura Hall keeps it somewhat realistic, but still surprisingly mature considering the comedy. Golden Time is considered one of the most mature romance shows in the genre. Both shows, however, deliver some stunning character development as well as engaging comedy.
The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior
Kazunari Usa is starting high school and finally talked his parents into letting him live alone. Excited for his new life, he moves into the Kawai Complex boarding house, only to find his new roommate a complete BSDM weirdo. Being put off by the eccentricity of it all, he is on his way to leave when he runs into his senior in high school, Ritsu Kawai, who also lives there. The sheer presence of this cool beauty talks him into giving life in this new house a try.
Out of all the other series on this list, Kawai Complex is the most similar to the Pet Girl of Sakura Hall, both are all about the laughs, lightly romantic, and about the female and male leads growing up and growing closer in a dorm and school setting. If you want the same vibes, these two series have the same vibes.
Toradora
Ryuuji Takasu is a gentle student with a passion for housework, but his thuggish face causes his fellow students to think him a delinquent. Taiga Aisaka is small and cute, but with an attitude as fierce as a tiger. Both of these misunderstood students also harbor feelings for their crushes, and after a series of misunderstandings of their own, they find themselves in an unlikely alliance to get their crushes to notice them.
While Toradora is about two unlikely souls coming together, Pet Girl of Sakura Hall is about two similar souls coming together. The male leads in both like to take care of other people, and both female leads are strongly dependant in terms of care. However, Taiga is much more aggressive about it, but both her and Shiina are poor at expressing their feelings.
For Fans of Oddballs
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend
Tomoya Aki is your typical otaku who takes on part-time jobs to fund his anime and light novel obsession. However, one day when he was out riding his bike, he catches the beret of a girl and is so captivated by the scene before him that he sets out to create the ultimate dating sim. While he struggles to do so, he eventually recruits three of the school’s most popular girls, who also happen to be good at drawing, writing, and music as well as are otakus themselves. After some debate, each agrees to help make his vision come to life. In this new doujin circle, he also happens across the girl that inspired him, but she was not what he expected and certainly doesn’t stand up to his 2D expectations.
While seemingly very different, at one arc in Pet Girl of Sakura Hall, they almost become the same anime. Both feature the characters coming together to create a game, but Pet Girl of Sakura Hall only focuses on it for a few episodes while Saekano is all about it. The romance is a bit different, too. Saekano is a harem while Pet Girl of Sakura Hall is more of a romantic triangle.
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions
Everyone has that stage in their life where they think themselves special, different from mere humans. This phenomenon is called Chunibyou Syndrome and most common in pre-pubescent children. In middle school, Yuuta Togashi thought himself the Dark Flame Master. He has since grown out of it upon entering high school and looks back at those cringe-worthy times with displeasure. Unfortunately, after a chance meeting with Rikka Takanashi, a girl believing to have a God in her eye, she attaches herself to him and brings that Chunibyou past back out.
Were you a fan of Pet Girl of Sakura Hall because of all the odd characters it introduced? Well, Chunibyo takes odd characters and turns the dial to eleven with them. If you’re an otaku that likes slice of life comedy with strong anime jokes, both series will be right for you.
My Little Monster
Shizuku Mizutani is highly intelligent, but apathetic to her classmates. However, when she is tasked with bringing homework to a violent delinquent, Haru Yoshida, her entire view of life slowly begins to change. Alongside the energetic Haru, they both learn how to interact with the world a little better.
Both anime series are about young people with some kind of emotional problems, however in each anime the male and female leads have different ones. In My Little Monster, the female lead is too cold while the male is too violent. In Pet Girl of Sakura Hall, the female lead is too helpless while the male is too caring. Both series are about them trying to overcome their flaws and figure themselves out.
For Fans of Making the Best Out of Life
Your Lie in April
Although once a child prodigy in the music world, pianist Kousei Arima is left in a downward spiral after his mother’s death, unable to even hear the sound of his own piano. Even after two years, Arima has all but left the music world behind, disappointing fans and rivals alike, and living in a colorless world. Then one day that that all changes when he is introduced to the beautiful violinist Kaori Miyazono who brings color into his world once more.
While Pet Girl of Sakura Hall is somewhat bittersweet in the end, Your Lie in April is built on the platform of bittersweet. However, each series is about how the female leads inspire the male leads to figure out what they want out of their lives.
Honey and Clover
Yuuta, Takumi, and Shinobu all share an apartment with no bath. The low rent is perfect for their poor college student lifestyle. However, while they all have their own lives going on, they always come together for each others.
In its most basic form, these two series are exactly the same. A gentle boy falls for a quiet girl that is good at art. However, each presents different ways of handling the romance with the characters in Honey and Clover being just slightly more adept at life.
Hanasaku Iroha
Ohana Matsumae is an energetic teenager that lives with her mother in Tokyo. However, when her mother decides to run off with a man, she is sent to the country to live with a grandmother she has never met. As it turns out, her grandmother runs a traditional Japanese inn, but due to her frivolous mother, treats Ohana quite coldly. Eager to earn her keep and grandmother’s affection, Ohana begins the hard work that makes sure an inn runs smoothly.
Instead of focusing on a boy and a girl as in the Pet Girl of Sakura Hall, this anime focuses on just a girl and her almost-loves. In both series, the main characters learn different views on life that ultimately help them decide what they want to do in their futures.
Did we miss any of your favorite anime recommendations for the Pet Girl of Sakura Hall? Tell us about them in the comments section below.
