While many people are interested in anime for intense action, vivid animation, or cerebral plots, there is a particular group of people that just want to watch something to relax and feel a little better about the world. For these specific people, there is the iyashikei genre of anime.
Iyashikei essentially translates to “healing,” and it is a term used to define a genre that is meant to have a more soothing effect on the audience.
Iyashikei is meant to be a sort of episodic escapism where you slip into a relaxing setting to turn off the brain and soak in the good vibes. Usually, it doesn’t have too much of a plot to follow and often is about characters just happily doing slice of life activities.
Occasionally, the genre can also mix in some more cathartic sad moments as well, so it isn’t all just peaceful bliss.
While iyashikei anime is certainly not a genre for everyone, there are people that crave it after another long day living in this world. If you need a little healing in your life, check out these iyashikei anime recommendations.
Best Iyashikei Anime
Amanchu
There are many anime series that highlight scenery even outside of the iyashikei genre, but Amanchu sets itself apart by highlighting the joys of underwater scenery.
Amanchu follows a small high school free diving club in a rural school by the sea. They do nothing competitively, but you do follow an inexperienced main character as she learns about the joys and techniques of free diving without equipment.
Non Non Biyori
Legendary as a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things anime, coincidentally the cute girls doing cute things genre is quite the close cousin to iyashikei.
Non Non Biyori may just be jokes and slice of life activities, but it is also long lingering shots of the serene countryside as well. It is healing in every respect as it shows you the simple, pleasant life of four country girls just trying to entertain themselves.
Super Cub
Super Cub follows a girl with no family and no friends. She lives in a routine, but one day she finds her life brightened by the addition of a Super Cub motor-scooter that allows her a greater sense of freedom.
Super Cub has great rural visuals and it is generally pleasing to watch the main characters’ world expand and improve from her initial bland and depressing existence. Sometimes all it takes to connect to others is a shared passion.
Tonikawa – Over The Moon For You
While romance generally promotes a sense of healing, not all romance anime are iyashikei since some do tend to put emphasis on drama between the characters. Tonikawa doesn’t do that.
The main characters are married in the first episode, and every subsequent episode focus on the relationship growing in a positive (and yes, unrealistically pleasant) way.
Polar Bear Cafe
Polar Bear Cafe is simply cute animals having small comical skits in and around a cafe run by a polar bear.
It has some lovely animal-based comedy and a particularly soothing light color palate. It is definitely one of those shows that you put on to relax since it doesn’t expect you to keep track of much.
Wakakozake
Wakakozake is a short-form anime with two minute-long episodes about an office lady who enjoys food and drinking.
She does so by herself after work, and the entire series puts a big emphasis on being able to enjoy small pleasures as well as enjoy your own company.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is a series about an office lady who drunkenly saves a dragon one night, and then that dragon shows up the next day to be her maid.
While Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid does have a plot on occasion, much of the the series is just jokes, housekeeping activities, and outings with friends and family.
As Kobayashi is a hardworking office lady, she benefits from all of these events in the same soothing way that audience probably benefits watching them.
My Roommate is a Cat
My Roommate is a Cat is a healing anime for both the audience and the main character.
The plot is simple and relatable. The main character ends up with a stray cat that he takes in. He lives alone and now must learn how to take care of a cat, but half the episode is from the cat’s perspective about how she takes care of him, too.
It is a lovely option for the stressed cat lover out there.
Adachi and Shimamura
Adachi and Shimamura is a wholesome yuri romance, but you know what most of it is? Just two girls hanging out and doing silly stuff to pass time.
While romance anime can sometimes be corny or overly dramatic, Adachi and Shimamura follows a very realistic path to romance. It is just two people becoming friends, and slowly realizing that they mean more to each other.
How to Keep a Mummy
Much like My Roommate is a Cat, How to Keep a Mummy is about a kid being sent a tiny, adorable mummy.
He learns to take care of it, the mummy gets into cute shenanigans, and that’s all there is.
Interviews With Monster Girls
Many of the monster girls you see in anime are either lewd or action-oriented. The titular monster girls in Interviews With Monster Girls are neither.
Interviews With Monster Girls is a school life anime where demi-humans exist in the world in small numbers compared to humans. The series primarily explores the slice of life problems that demi-humans face through the lens of one of their teachers who decides to study them.
While a very solid comedy, thankfully Interviews With Monster Girls features a well-adjusted adult main character who doesn’t act like a creep to high school girls.
Hitori Bocchi’s Lifestyle
Hitori Bocchi’s Lifestyle is a relatable anime about a girl with social anxiety starting in a middle school where she knows no one.
You follow her nerve-frazzled journey to make friends despite the anxiety. While perhaps a little too relatable sometimes, it is very cute none-the-less.
The Meddlesome Fox Senko-san
Much like Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Senko-san features a fox deity taking care of an overworked salaryman.
Meddlesome Fox Senko-san is an anime laser-targeted at overworked salaryman since it is mostly just a cute fox girl taking are of him and soothing away his troubles.
Gourmet Girl Graffiti
Food and friendship. Those are the only two themes in this series, and possibly, the only two themes you need right now.
Every episode of Gourmet Girl Graffiti is about the characters deciding to cook some sort of food, doing that, and then eating it together happily.
It makes you hungry, and also really emphasizes that food tastes better when eaten with friends.
Sweetness and Lightning
Similar to Gourmet Girl Graffiti, Sweetness and Lightning is about a single father learning to cook from one of his students in order to better feed his young daughter.
The trio makes food together, then they enjoy eating it together. It is wholesome, cute, and also makes you very hungry.
Girls’ Last Tour
Girls’ Last Tour is one of those iyashikei anime series that can lean on the cathartic sad side, so it may not be the vibe everyone is looking for right now.
In Girl’s Last Tour, the world has ended in a mutually-assured destruction world war. Only a handful of people are left, so with no society or civilization left, two girls just roam the barren world looking for supplies.
Now, you may wonder what is so “healing” about the rather grim-sounding Girls’ Last Tour? A major theme in this sometimes very melancholy anime is to enjoy the small moments when and where you can find them – because those moments are fleeting.
The series takes place in a bleak world, but bad times make you appreciate small, nice things a lot more.
The Flying Witch
The Flying Witch is perhaps one of the most down-to-earth magic anime series around.
It features a teenage witch still honing her magic moving to the country where her powers will be improved by the natural setting.
In The Flying Witch, you watch her explore her new rural community and practice minor magic while spending time with her cousins. It is unexpectedly engaging and really makes you want to keep watching to see what whimsical thing happens next.
Engaged to the Unidentified
If Engaged to the Unidentified treated itself like an actual romance, it might not be iyashikei, but it doesn’t.
In Engaged to the Unidentified, a motherly girl discovers on her sixteenth birthday that she is engaged, apparently. Her strong silent-type future husband moves in with his loud, meddling, comic relief little sister.
While there are moments of romance, but because the male character doesn’t talk much, mostly it is just gags and allowing the cute characters to be cute.
Engaged to the Unidentified is fine as a romance, but it really shined as a comedy.
By the Grace of the Gods
Isekai may be the big genre dominating anime at the moments, but the escapism offered to fans of isekai is not really so different from the escapism offered in iyashikei. In fact, you find quite a lot of crossover between the genres.
While there are plenty of iyashikei isekai anime about doing nothing in particular in another world, By The Grace of The Gods offers pretty much the quintessential experience of both isekai and iyashikei.
You follow an overworked salaryman who is reincarnated into another world. He is blessed by the gods and spends his childhood honing magic that interests him – the ability to tame and raise slimes.
Eventually, he moves to a small city where he helps people, makes friends, starts a rewarding business, and lightly adventures at his leisure.
Bartender
While too many drinks can certainly be a cause of problems, Bartender works with the philosophy that a good cocktail can heal what ails you – emotionally, anyway.
Regardless of if you watch the original Bartender anime or the 2024 remake, the premise remains the same. Bartender follows a skilled bartender who makes cocktails that are catered to what a person needs based on what is going on in their life.
The original Bartender focused more on telling episodic character stories and how that cocktail healed their emotional wounds. The 2024 remake is more focused on telling the stories of the main characters, but still has its iyashikei elements intact in other ways.
Aria
If if beautiful visuals are your passion, then Aria is your addiction.
Aria follows a gondola operator on a beautiful water planet strong evocative of a sci-fi Venice. You follow her giving tours and engaging in other minor slice of life activities.
While the characters are charming and cute, the scenery is really the star of the show in Aria.
Barakamon
Barakamon is another iyashikei anime that is healing both the audience and the main character.
In Barakamon, the main character is a high-strung calligraphy artist who gets banished to a rural island in order to chill out. He resigns himself to working on his art, but is plagued by the whims of the local children who are intrigued by the new resident to their island.
Barakamon offers slice of life and comedy adventures, and is beloved for the comical antics of the children. However, it is equally as pleasant to watch the main character grow as a person through his exposure to their child-like view of life.
K-On
Due to its very marketable potential combination of cute characters an great insert songs, music anime has grown in popularity in recent years. However, it was really K-on that started the boom in popularity.
The curious thing about K-on is that it is a music anime that doesn’t actually have much music in it. The appeal of K-on was less the songs, and more the cute girls being silly together. The girls start a band, and they attempt to get it off the ground despite one character not able to play an instrument as well as the general attention deficit of the group.
While certainly not the most cerebral watch, K-on is definitely a pleasant show to just consume with your brain switched into standby.
Laid-Back Camp
Laid-Back Camp is another lovely anime for those that love serene wilderness visuals.
As an anime about high school girls who go winter camping, Laid-Back Camp manages to capture the appeal of camping – which is the peace of nature and the serene camaraderie of going out there with friends.
Laid-Back Camp masterfully combines the appeal of Cute Girls Doing Cute Things with the beautiful sweeping visuals of Japan’s countryside.
Makura no Danshi
Makura no Danshi is part of the very small genre of POV anime in which a character is talking directly to you. As in, you are the main character in a literal sense and not a self-insert sense.
In Makura no Danshi, you enjoy handsome boys gently talking to you. They ask about your day, compliment you, and give the full boyfriend experience. As each episode is a new guy, you get a lot of different boyfriend experiences.
Of course, Makura no Danshi is aimed at lonely, tired office ladies, but there are other POV anime aimed at male audiences as well. Sleeping With Hanako is an applicable alternative for male iyashikei enjoyers.
Natsume’s Book of Friends
Perhaps the most beloved iyashikei anime because it has many seasons to consume, Natsume’s Book of Friends is essentially dealing with low-intensity spirit problems and doing slice of life things with the spirits since Natsume doesn’t have many other friends.
Atmospheric and lightly comical, Natsume’s Book of Friends is a show that you can jump into at any episode of any season and not really lose anything. He makes connections with people, but each episode is a new story with a new spirit.
Do you have more iyashikei anime that you enjoyed? Let fans know in the comments section below.
Mushishi