Best tv shows like Stars Align
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Constantly outperformed by the girls' club, the boys' soft tennis club faces disbandment due to their poor skills and lack of positive results. In desperate need of capable players, Toma Shinjou is looking to recruit, but he fails to do so. Enter Maki Katsuragi, a transfer student who demonstrates great reflexes when he catches a stray cat, Instantly capturing Toma's attention. Toma ambitiously asks Maki to join the team but is quickly rejected, as Maki doesn't wish to join any clubs. Toma refuses to back down and ends up persuading Maki - only under the condition that Toma will pay him for his club expenses. As Maki joins the team, he immediately outshine the rest of the team. This gives rise to conflict among the team, Maki challenges his fellow team members to devote themselves to the game they once neglected. This story focuses on the boys' soft tennis club and their discovery of their own capability, while also enduring the darker side of growing up in middle school.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 582
Genere: Animation, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, motivational, inspirational, sincere, touching, 2d animation
Best tv shows and movies like Stars Align (2019):
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Backflip!! (2021)
Plot Summary:
The final summer of middle school, Shotaro Futaba discovers boys gymnastics and is completely enamored by it. Shotaro ends up going to Soshukan Private High School (aka Ao High) and decides to visit the boys gymnastics club. He's greeted by very unique senpais and a star gymnast named Misato Ryoya. Dedicating your life to something you love during your fiery days of youth... Of course, there is frustration, and fights, but see how these boys work together as a team towards a similar goal in this drama about sports and youth.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 271
Genere: Animation, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, captivating, entertaining
Similar in 80%
Ping Pong the Animation (2014)
Plot Summary:
Despite having drastically different personalities, high school boys Peco and Smile have been friends since childhood. Now, they’re both talented members of a table tennis club—but what happens when these sports lovers have to go up against each other in tournaments?.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 275 min
Plot tags: anime, psychological, inspirational, captivating, intense, adult animation, seinen, motivational
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Salaryman's Club (2022)
Plot Summary:
Mikoto Shiratori is a childhood prodigy at badminton that lost in high school; after joining the sales department of the Sunlight Beverage company, he starts playing badminton again.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 193
Genere: Animation, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, captivating, entertaining
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Prince of Stride: Alternative (2016)
Plot Summary:
"Stride," is an extreme sport that involves six people on one team who run relay races through towns. Hōnan Academy and other schools compete to win eastern Japan's top Stride competition, "End of Summer." However, Hōnan's team has shut down. First-year high school students Takeru Fujiwara and Nana Sakurai attempt to restart the club, but they must recruit six members for the team. They ask Riku Yagami to join, but he turns them down by saying that Stride is the one thing he doesn't want to do.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 340
Genere: Animation, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, entertaining
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The New Prince of Tennis (2012)
Plot Summary:
The Seigaku tennis club has been invited to train at the U-17 (Under 17) camp. Seigaku is one of the 50 middle schools invited and must compete with high school players to prove they are just as good.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 145
Genere: Animation, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, entertaining
Similar in 77%
The Gymnastics Samurai (2020)
Plot Summary:
In the year 2002, the formerly powerful Japanese men's gymnastics team member Jotaro Aragaki is no longer able to compete. Even though he trained strenuously daily, he is asked about retiring by his coach Amakusa. However, a certain encounter alters Aragaki's fate.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 159
Genere: Animation, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, captivating, suspense
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Fanfare of Adolescence (2022)
Plot Summary:
The jockey curriculum at the Horse Racing School... A school with incredibly difficult entrance requirements, where only one out of every ten to twenty applicants is accepted, and students need not just book smarts, but also physical and athletic abilities. There, a boy who is a popular idol meets his real dream for the first time. A boy who grew up on an island dreams of spending his days racing with horses. A boy from England is unsure of the path his parents have chosen for him, but still chooses to follow his dreams. This is a story about boys who pursue their dream of becoming a jockey.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Animation, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, captivating, entertaining, disturbing
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Skate-Leading Stars (2020)
Plot Summary:
Kensei Maeshima left figure skating behind, now only using his athleticism to help several high school teams. But his rival announces a shift to a team sport, bringing a kid familiar with Kensei’s past to offer him an invite to the world of skate-leading.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 98
Genere: Animation, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: captivating, entertaining, anime
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2.43: Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Team (2021)
Plot Summary:
Kimichika Haijima was a strong junior high school volleyball team member. After getting into trouble with the team, he moved to his mother's hometown and reunites with his childhood friend, Yuni Kuroba. The two become an ace pair at volleyball, but in their last tournament, get into a big fight. Will they ever play volleyball together again?.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 359
Genere: Animation, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, captivating, entertaining, josei
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Tsurune (2018)
Plot Summary:
When Minato Narumiya joins Prefectural Kazemai High School, he is quickly invited to join the archery club by the club's advisor, Tommy-sensei. His childhood friends Seiya Takehaya and Yamanouchi Ryohei swiftly agree to join, but Minato is hesitant at first. Because Minato is the rare student with experience in archery, Tommy-sensei orders him to give a demonstration, which Minato does... except his arrow doesn't hit the target. It is revealed that Minato has developed a terrible dysfunction regarding archery.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 552
Genere: Animation, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, disturbing, super sentai
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TAMAYOMI: The Baseball Girls (2020)
Plot Summary:
In her Junior High years, the pitcher Yomi Takeda was not able to get very far in a cross-school baseball tournament. Since the catcher on her team wasn't at her level, she couldn't use her signature move, the "Magic Throw," and eventually regretted not being able to use it. After Junior High, she decided to stop playing baseball and went to Shin Koshigaya High School, a school without a baseball club. There, she found her long lost childhood friend, Tamaki Yamazaki, who used to play catchball with her when they were kids. Tamaki also played baseball during her Junior High years as a catcher, and could even catch Yomi's "Magic Throw!" Their promise with each other during their childhood could now be fulfilled! Walking together on the road of baseball once again... The story of the girls who love baseball will begin!.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 73
Genere: Animation, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, captivating, entertaining, adult anime
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Baby Steps (2014)
Plot Summary:
Eiichirō Maruo (nicknamed "Ei-chan" for his grades being straight "A") is an honor student, bookworm, and is not interested in anything other than studying. In order to solve his problem of lacking physical strength, he enrolled a tennis school and soon found the fascinating side of tennis. Being a tennis newbie lacking physical strength, he supplement his shortcomings with his excellent observing and analyzing skills.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 406
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Romance, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, light, sincere, uplifting, feel good, captivating
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Ace of Diamond (2013)
Plot Summary:
Eijun Sawamura is a pitcher who joins an elite school with a brilliant catcher named Kazuya Miyuki. Together with the rest of the team, they strive for Japan's storied Koushien championships through hard work and determination.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Animation, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, feel good, humorous, touching, captivating, light, shounen
Similar in 76%
Free! (2013)
Plot Summary:
The story revolves around Haruka Nanase, a boy who has always loved to be immersed in water, and to swim in it. Before graduating from elementary school, he participated in a swimming tournament along with his fellow swimming club members, Makoto Tachibana, Nagisa Hazuki, and Rin Matsuoka. After achieving victory, each of the boys went their separate ways. Time passed, and in the middle of their uneventful high school lives Rin appears and challenges Haruka to a match, showing Haruka his overwhelming power. Not wanting it to end like this, Haruka, gathers together Makoto and Nagisa once again and brings a new member named Rei Ryugazaki to create the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club in order to defeat Rin.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, exciting, light, humorous, motivational
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Futsal Boys!!!!! (2022)
Plot Summary:
Haru Yamato watches the championship of the U-18 world cup and is inspired by a Japanese player Tokinari Tenōji. He joins the Koyo Academy High School's futsal team with the goal of becoming a player like Tenōji. There, he finds friends, and together they face their rivals.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 96
Genere: Animation, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, captivating, entertaining
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Ao Ashi (2022)
Plot Summary:
Ashito Aoi is a young, aspiring soccer player from a backwater town in Japan. His hopes of getting into a high school with a good soccer club are dashed when he causes an incident during a critical match for his team, which results in their loss and elimination from the tournament. Nevertheless, he catches the eye of someone important who happened to be visiting from Tokyo. How will things turn out for Ashito?.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, entertaining, disturbing, semi serious, seinen
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Hoop Days (2003)
Plot Summary:
A defunct high school basketball team finds a new student and things may start looking up for them.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 73
Genere: Animation, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, inspirational, captivating, exciting, light, entertaining
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Hungry Heart: Wild Striker (2002)
Plot Summary:
Kyosuke Kano has lived under the shadow of his successful brother Seisuke all his life who is a professional soccer player. Tired of being compared and downgraded at, he abandoned playing soccer until a boy from his new highschool discovered him and asked him to join their team. Kyosuke joins it and befriends two other first year players named Rodrigo and Sakai with the dream of becoming professional soccer players themselves.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 313
Genere: Animation, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, shounen, entertaining
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Eyeshield 21 (2005)
Plot Summary:
Eyeshield 21 is a Japanese manga series written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata. The series tells the story of Sena Kobayakawa, a introverted boy who joins an American football club as a secretary, but after being coerced by Hiruma, turns out to play wearing an eyeshield and the number 21, under the pseudonym of "Eyeshield 21". Inagaki chose American football as a central subject of Eyeshield 21 after realizing that it fit perfectly with his idea for the series. The manga was originally serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from July 2002 to June 2009. The series consists of 333 chapters collected in 37 tankōbon volumes. An anime adaptation consisting of 145 television episodes was directed by Masayoshi Nishida, and co-produced by TV Tokyo, NAS, and Gallop. The television series first aired on Japan's TV Tokyo network from April 6, 2005 to March 19, 2008. The Eyeshield 21 franchise has spawned two original video animations, audio albums, video games, and other merchandise. In North America, the manga was released by Viz Media from April 2005 to October 2011. The anime series was later licensed in North America by Toonami Jetstream as a joint effort with Viz Media, and aired on December 17, 2007 on its site, but before its completion, the streaming service was shut down. The whole series was streamed in English by Crunchyroll, while Sentai Filmworks licensed the series, with distribution from Section23 Films on DVDs.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 714
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, humorous, semi serious, captivating, disturbing
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High Speed! Free! Starting Summer (2015)
Plot Summary:
A prequel to the 2013 Kyoto Animation series Free! which is an adaptation of light novel High☆Speed!.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 609
Genere: Animation, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: anime, inspirational, captivating, psychological, emotional
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Ahiru no Sora (2019)
Plot Summary:
A stout, weak, yet highly passionate Sora Kurumatani enters Kuzuryuu High School with hopes that he’ll fulfill his mother’s wishes to dominate his first high school tournament. However, the basketball club—turned den for delinquents—does anything but play basketball! Its club members, Momoharu Hanazono, a skilled blocker who can do power jumps but is horrible at shooting, and his twin brother Chiaki, a talented point guard, has also lost interest in the sport. With just one game overwhelmed with adrenaline rush and excitement, and Sora’s pure love for the game, the youth’s burning out spirit for basketball rekindles.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 760
Genere: Animation, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, uplifting, funny, inspirational, sentimental, touching, shounen
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Days (2016)
Plot Summary:
The series is about two boys named Tsukushi and Jin. Tsukushi is a boy with no special talent or traits while Jin is considered a soccer genius. On one stormy night, Jin meets Tsukushi, and they get dragged into the world of soccer.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 451
Genere: Animation, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, entertaining, disturbing, shounen
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Yuri!!! on Ice (2016)
Plot Summary:
Yūri Katsuki carried all of Japan's hopes on his shoulders to win at the Gran Prix Finale ice skating competition, but suffered a crushing defeat. He returns home to Kyushu and half feels like he wants to retire, and half feels like he wants to continue ice skating. Suddenly the five-time consecutive world championship ice skater Victor Nikiforov appears before him with Yuri Plisetsky, a young Russian figure skater who is already defeating his seniors. Victor and both Yuris take up the challenge on an unprecedented Gran Prix series.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 20 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, exciting, yaoi, humorous, light, feel good, manga
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Tsuritama (2012)
Plot Summary:
Yuki Sanada has always felt like a fish out of water. Socially awkward and anxious, he struggles to fit in with his surroundings and moves from town to town with his grandma. As he and his grandma settle into the charming seaside town of Enoshima, Yuki hopes for a fresh start. However, his reputation at school is jeopardized by the arrival of fellow transfer student Haru. The eccentric Haru immediately makes a splash, wildly claiming to be an alien and declaring that Yuki is his friend. Pairing the reluctant Yuki with their classmate and fishing talent, Natsuki Usami, he tasks both of them with the absurd mission of saving the world from a mysterious threat in the ocean. Mischief and hijinks ensue, as these three embark on a whimsical adventure filled with laughs, heart, and self-discovery!.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 302
Genere: Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, stylized, semi serious, exciting, touching, captivating, suspenseful, cute, iyashikei, humorous
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Haikyu!! (2014)
Plot Summary:
Shōyō Hinata began playing volleyball after seeing the "small giants" who played the sport when he was in elementary school. He suffers a crushing defeat in his first and last tournament in middle school at the hands of his rival Tobio Kageyama. So, Hinata joins Kurasuno High School's volleyball team, vowing revenge against Kageyama. However, Kageyama is also on Kurasuno's team. The former rivals form a legendary combo with Hinata's mobility and Kageyama's precision ball-handling. Together, they take on the local tournaments and vow to meet Kurasuno's fated rival school in the nationals.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, captivating, realistic, disturbing, humorous, semi serious, shounen, mind blowing, super sentai
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Captain Tsubasa (2018)
Plot Summary:
The passionate story of an elementary school student whose thoughts and dreams revolve almost entirely around the love of soccer. 11-year-old Tsubasa Oozora started playing football at a very young age, and while it was mostly just a recreational sport for his friends, for him, it developed into something of an obsession. In order to pursue his dream to the best of his elementary school abilities, Tsubasa moves with his mother to Nankatsu city, which is well-known for its excellent elementary school soccer teams. But although he was easily the best in his old town, Nankatsu has a lot more competition, and he will need all of his skill and talent in order to stand out from this new crowd. He encounters not only rivals, but also new friends like the pretty girl Sanae Nakazawa and the talented goalkeeper, Genzo Wakabayashi, who shares the same passion as Tsubasa, and will prove to be a treasured friend in helping him push towards his dreams. Representing Japan in the FIFA World Cup is Tsubasa’s ultimate dream, but it will take a lot more than talent to reach it.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Family, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 22 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, captivating, inspirational, disturbing
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Tiger Mask W (2016)
Plot Summary:
Two young wrestlers face each other in a recently revived underground wrestling organization, the Tiger's Lair, which destroyed the wrestling dojo they grew up in. One took over the training facilities of Naoto Date at the foot of Mount Fuji, as well as the mask he left behind. The other dared to enter the Tiger's Lair and won a fierce competition, receiving a jet-black tiger mask. One tiger walks the path of light, while the other walks the path of shadows. Neither one knows the other's face. On the ring, they are natural enemies, but they have the same purpose—destroy the Tiger's Lair!.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 159
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: exciting, inspirational, uplifting, captivating, intense, anime
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Battery (2016)
Plot Summary:
Meet Harada Takumi – not even in junior high and he’s the best pitcher in the region, although he’s frustrated and ready to give up, because he can’t find a catcher who is good enough to keep up with how he pitches in this backwater town his family has just moved to. Then along comes a kid named Nagakura Gou….
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 118
Genere: Animation, Drama, Sport
Country: Japan
Duration: 22 min
Plot tags: anime, psychological, captivating, disturbing
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The Prince of Tennis (2001)
Plot Summary:
Prince of Tennis follows the story of a 12 year old boy Ryoma Echizen who won four consecutive titles in the American Junior Tennis tournaments. He's an amazing tennis player and is considered a prodigy. He moved from America to Japan and attends Seishun Academy Middle School or Seigaku as it is commonly referred to in the anime. The anime follows the matches between Seigaku and other middle schools such as Hyotei and Fudomine, and Seigaku's preparations for the matches.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 901
Genere: Animation, Action, Comedy, Sport
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 22 min
Plot tags: anime, stylized, humorous, semi serious, captivating, exciting, realistic, campy