20 anime similar to Kuroko's Basketball OVA based on genre, format, studio, and popularity
Looking for anime similar to Kuroko's Basketball OVA? Here are 10 anime recommendations that share similar themes, genres, or storytelling styles.
We selected these anime based on shared genres (Sports), similar narrative structures, comparable art styles, and positive fan overlap. If you enjoyed Kuroko's Basketball OVA, these series should appeal to your taste.
With a stray pitch that completely missed the batter, Eijun Sawamura loses his final middle school baseball game. Frustrated by this defeat, Eijun and his teammates vow to reach the national tournament once they are in high school. But everything changes when a scout unexpectedly invites him to Tokyo's prestigious Seidou High School after seeing the potential in his unusual pitching style. Encouraged by his teammates, Eijun accepts the offer, ready to improve his skills and play at a much more competitive level of baseball. However, now surrounded by a large number of skilled players, Eijun struggles to find his place on the team. He declares that he will one day become the team's ace, but that's only if fellow first year Satoru Furuya doesn't take the title first, with his breakneck fastballs that earn him a coveted spot on the starting roster. With the addition of these talented new players to an already powerful lineup, the Seidou baseball team aims to become the best in Japan, facing off against a number of formidable foes that stand in their way. (Source: MAL Rewrite)
The second season of Diamond no Ace. After the National Tournament, the Seidou High baseball team moves forward with uncertainty as the Fall season quickly approaches. In an attempt to build a stronger team centered around their new captain, fresh faces join the starting roster for the very first time. Previous losses weigh heavily on the minds of the veteran players as they continue their rigorous training, preparing for what will inevitably be their toughest season yet. Rivals both new and old stand in their path as Seidou once again climbs their way toward the top, one game at a time. Needed now more than ever before, Furuya and Eijun must be determined to pitch with all their skill and strength in order to lead their team to victory. And this time, one of these young pitchers may finally claim that coveted title: "The Ace of Seidou." [Written by MAL Rewrite]
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?(Source: Shogakukan Asia)
The event anime will tell an original story that reveals "a surprising side of a popular player." Lev Haiba is determined to become Nekoma High's ace volleyball player, but can barely hit the ball. The team's coach orders Kenma Kozume to help out Lev with his practice, much to the former's annoyance. However, as they continue to work together, Kenma realizes that Lev's height might actually be able to help in games if his skills are honed in the right way. (Source: Anime News Network, edited) Note: The OVA was screened at Jump Festa 2014 on November 9, 2014. It was later bundled with the 15th volume of the manga.
Inspired after watching a volleyball ace nicknamed "Little Giant" in action, small-statured Shouyou Hinata revives the volleyball club at his middle school. The newly-formed team even makes it to a tournament; however, their first match turns out to be their last when they are brutally squashed by the "King of the Court," Tobio Kageyama. Hinata vows to surpass Kageyama, and so after graduating from middle school, he joins Karasuno High School's volleyball team—only to find that his sworn rival, Kageyama, is now his teammate. Thanks to his short height, Hinata struggles to find his role on the team, even with his superior jumping power. Surprisingly, Kageyama has his own problems that only Hinata can help with, and learning to work together appears to be the only way for the team to be successful. Based on Haruichi Furudate's popular shounen manga of the same name, Haikyuu!! is an exhilarating and emotional sports comedy following two determined athletes as they attempt to patch a heated rivalry in order to make their high school volleyball team the best in Japan. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Teikou Junior High School's basketball team is crowned champion three years in a row thanks to five outstanding players who, with their breathtaking and unique skills, leave opponents in despair and fans in admiration. However, after graduating, these teammates, known as "The Generation of Miracles", go their separate ways and now consider each other as rivals. At Seirin High School, two newly recruited freshmen prove that they are not ordinary basketball players: Taiga Kagami, a promising player returning from the US, and Tetsuya Kuroko, a seemingly ordinary student whose lack of presence allows him to move around unnoticed. Although Kuroko is neither athletic nor able to score any points, he was a member of Teikou's basketball team, where he played as the "Phantom Sixth Man," who easily passed the ball and assisted his teammates. Kuroko no Basket follows the journey of Seirin's players as they attempt to become the best Japanese high school team by winning the Interhigh Championship. To reach their goal, they have to cross pathways with several powerful teams, some of which have one of the five players with godlike abilities, whom Kuroko and Taiga make a pact to defeat. (Source: MAL Rewrite)
With the Interhigh Championship finally over, Seirin's basketball team refocuses their efforts, training harder than ever to get the chance to participate in the Winter Cup. Both Kuroko and Kagami see old friends walk back into their lives, providing a challenge both on and off the court. As new skills are developed and new alliances created, enemies from various teams—giants of high school basketball such as Yousen, Shuutoku and Touou—stand in the way of Seirin's steadfast attempts to get to the top. All of these schools prove to be formidable foes whose abilities progress exponentially, while Kuroko struggles to find a balance between his resolve to play as part of a team and his desire to win. With old wounds reopening, new challenges to face on the court, and a new set of foes—the "Uncrowned Kings"—vowing to defeat the new hopefuls, will Seirin ever be able to achieve their dream of beating the Generation of Miracles? (Source: MAL Rewrite)
Following their triumph against Yousen High, Seirin's basketball team has reached the semifinals of the Winter Cup along with Kaijou, Rakuzan, and Shuutoku. Each of these teams possesses a member of the Generation of Miracles, and Seirin prepares to face the largest obstacles on their path to winning the Winter Cup. In the final season of Kuroko no Basket, Kuroko goes head-to-head with his old teammates once more as he attempts to show them that individual skill is not the only way to play basketball. His firm belief that his form of basketball, team play, is the right way to play the sport will clash with the talents of a perfect copy and an absolute authority. While Kuroko tries to prove that his basketball is "right," he and the rest of Seirin High ultimately have one goal: to win the Winter Cup and overcome the strength of the Generation of Miracles, who have long dominated the scene of middle and high school basketball. (Source: MAL Rewrite)
First exhibited at Jump Festa 2020. In the Miyagi Prefecture qualifiers for the Spring Tournament, Karasuno High School Volleyball Team manages to defeat Shiratorizawa Academy in an intense battle and secures their spot in the national tournament. Meanwhile in the Tokyo qualifiers, Nekoma High School, Fukurodani High School, Nohebi Academy, and Itachiyama Academy fight for the 3 slots to go to nationals.Will Nekoma High School be able to secure their spot in the tournament? Will we able to see a rematch of Nekoma and Karasuno's Battle of the Garbage Dump on a national level? The Tokyo qualifiers are about to begin!!(Source: Crunchyroll)
Following their participation at the Inter-High, the Karasuno High School volleyball team attempts to refocus their efforts, aiming to conquer the Spring tournament instead. When they receive an invitation from long-standing rival Nekoma High, Karasuno agrees to take part in a large training camp alongside many notable volleyball teams in Tokyo and even some national level players. By playing with some of the toughest teams in Japan, they hope not only to sharpen their skills, but also come up with new attacks that would strengthen them. Moreover, Hinata and Kageyama attempt to devise a more powerful weapon, one that could possibly break the sturdiest of blocks. Facing what may be their last chance at victory before the senior players graduate, the members of Karasuno's volleyball team must learn to settle their differences and train harder than ever if they hope to overcome formidable opponents old and new—including their archrival Aoba Jousai and its world-class setter Tooru Oikawa. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
After the victory against Aoba Jousai High, Karasuno High School, once called “a fallen powerhouse, a crow that can’t fly,” has finally reached the climax of the heated Spring tournament. Now, to advance to nationals, the Karasuno team has to defeat the powerhouse Shiratorizawa Academy. Karasuno’s greatest hurdle is their adversary’s ace, Wakatoshi Ushijima, the number one player in the Miyagi Prefecture, and one of the country’s top three aces. Only the strongest team will make it to the national tournament. Since this match is the third-year players’ last chance to qualify for nationals, Karasuno has to use everything they learned during the training camp and prior matches to attain victory. Filled with restlessness and excitement, both teams are determined to come out on top in the third season of Haikyuu!!. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
The series revolves around a closed-down "Stride" club at Hounan Academy. 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. However, Takeru and Nana drag Riku into the clubroom to try to convince him. (Source: Anime News Network)
An animated film adaptation of the Kuroko no Basket: Extra Game manga. An American street basketball team called Jabberwock comes to Japan and plays a friendly match with a Japanese team, but after the Japanese team suffers a crushing defeat, the team members of Jabberwock start mocking Japanese basketball. Their comments enrage Riko's father, and so he gathers a team made up of the five members of the Generation of Miracles plus Kuroko and Kagami, called Vorpal Swords, to have a revenge match against Jabberwock. (Source: Anime News Network)
Gion Kenji is short and perpetually pissed off about it. Iwashimizu Sumiaki is tall but timid. Although it's bullies that bring this unlikely pair together on the first day of high school, it's the rugby club that will make them friends.
Ever since their champion was defeated, the world of girls' junior high ping pong has been in turmoil. Koyori is the new smirking transfer student at her junior high and she's ready to shake up girls' ping pong. (Source: Anime News Network)
Former ace runner of Sendai Josei High School, Kakeru Kurahara is chased away from a convenience store for shoplifting. Shaking off his pursuer, he runs into Haiji Kiyose, another student from his university. Haiji is impressed by Kakeru's agility and persuades him to live in Chikusei-sou, the run-down apartment where Haiji resides along with eight other students. Having lost his entire apartment deposit at a mahjong parlor, Kakeru accepts the offer reluctantly. However, Haiji reveals a secret during Kakeru's welcoming party: the apartment is actually the dormitory of the Kansei University Track Club. He unveils his ultimate goal of participating in the Hakone Ekiden—one of the most prominent university marathon relay races in Japan. Unfortunately, all the residents apart from Haiji and Kakeru are complete running novices. Worse still, none of the inhabitants are even remotely interested in being involved with Haiji's ridiculous plan! With only months before the deadline, will the fourth-year student be able to convince them otherwise and realize his elusive dream of running in the Hakone Ekiden?
Picking up the next year after the end of the fall tournament, Seidou High School baseball team battle it out with new and old faces as they begin their tournament run at Koshien. (Source: Crunchyroll)
“A piece of spaghetti or a military unit,” George S. Patton famously said, “can only be led from the front end.” However, once the heat of battle has cooled and the fog of war turns as thick as minestrone, determining which end was front and who pulled on what can be difficult. Therefore, for the enthusiasts who’ve puzzled over the epic tank battle between the girls of Oorai Girls’ Academy and their Italian-themed rivals from Anzio High School, we present these classified videos for your eyes-only! Miho and Team Oorai will have their hands full with the impulsive attacks of Vice-Commander Pepperoni and facing the raw fury of Vice-Commander Carpaccio… but the real question is whether they can hold off Anchovy’s ultra-secret secret weapons! Will they persevere? Or will their opponents end up saying “tank” you very much… (Source: Sentai Filmworks)
A retelling of the first season of the TV anime Haikyuu!!. Includes some new story material not previously released in the TV anime.
The second retelling movie of the first season of the TV anime Haikyuu!!. Includes some new story material not previously released in the TV anime.