20 Best Anime About Art & Art School
Anime series and movies are often known for amazing art styles. Some of the anime go even further and depict art and art schools as their main plot topics. In this article, we are bringing you exactly that, the best anime about art and art schools.
There are not many anime that talk about art and art school, but we have managed to make for you a list of 20 best of them. So, check them out below and choose your next art anime watch.
Le portrait de petite cossette (2004– )
The series focuses on Eiri Kurahashi, a college art student who works in an antique shop. One day, he sees the image of a girl in an antique glass. To his shock, she appears to be moving and living out her life before his eyes. He becomes infatuated with the girl, and one night at midnight, he somehow makes contact with her. He learns that her name is Cossette, and that she was an aristocrat’s daughter during the 18th century.
She reveals to him that her spirit has been entrapped within the glass because the artist Marcello Orlando murdered her. She tells Eiri that, in order to set her free, a man must be willing to take upon himself the punishment for the sins Marcello committed.
As the series progresses, Eiri is tortured mentally and physically by Cossette, who demands that he prove his professed love for her. It is revealed that Eiri is the reincarnation of Marcello, and that Cossette is becoming as infatuated with him as he is with her. Also depicted are the efforts of the women in Eiri’s life—relatives, friends, mentors, and the girl who secretly loves him—to free him from what is becoming apparent to them as a self-destructive path.
Carole & Tuesday (2019)
In the future on a partially terraformed Mars, teenager Tuesday Simmons runs away from her affluent lifestyle as the daughter of a politician and makes her way to Alba City to pursue her dream of being a musician with just a suitcase and her Gibson acoustic guitar.
On her first day in the city, she crosses paths with Carole Stanley, an orphaned refugee from Earth and another aspiring musician who plays the piano. The two decide to team up as a singer-songwriter duo under the name Carole & Tuesday.
The Garden of Words (2013)
Takao, who is training to become a shoemaker, skipped school and is sketching shoes in a Japanese-style garden. He meets a mysterious woman, Yukino, who is older than him.
Then, without arranging the times, the two start to see each other again and again, but only on rainy days. They deepen their relationship and open up to each other. But the end of the rainy season soon approaches …
Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (2016)
A man is released from prison and becomes the apprentice of a famous rakugo performer, Yakumo Yurakutei. The story focuses on the backstories of the performers and their struggle to gain popularity, following Yakumo’s apprenticeship and rise to fame and his friendship with fellow performer Sukeroku.
Princess Tutu (2002–2003)
Inspired by ballet and fairy tales, particularly The Ugly Duckling and Swan Lake, the story follows a duck who is transformed into the mythical ballerina Princess Tutu in order to save the shattered heart of a storybook prince come to life.
Welcome to the Ballroom (2017– )
Third-year middle school student Tatara Fujita is a guy who has no plans for his future or dreams, but tries to find something he can pursue for his whole life.
With him being bullied and extorted, he is saved from delinquents by a man named Kaname Sengoku, a motorcycle-riding dance instructor. Tatara is entered into the Ogasawara Dance Studio where he is shown the ropes of the world of Competitive Ballroom Dancing.
Miss Hokusai (2015)
The time: 1814. The place: Edo, now known as Tokyo. A much-accomplished artist of his time and now in his mid-fifties, Tetsuzo can boast clients from all over Japan, and tirelessly works in the garbage-loaded chaos of his house-atelier. He spends his days creating astounding pieces of art, from a giant-size Bodhidharma portrayed on a 180 square meter-wide sheet of paper, to a pair of sparrows painted on a tiny rice grain.
Third of Tetsuzo’s four daughters and born out of his second marriage, outspoken 23-year-old O-Ei has inherited her father’s talent and stubbornness, and very often she would paint instead of him, though uncredited. Her art is so powerful that sometimes leads to trouble. “We’re father and daughter; with two brushes and four chopsticks, I guess we can always manage, in a way or another.”
Honey and Clover (2005–2006)
Yūta Takemoto, Takumi Mayama and Shinobu Morita are three young men who live in the same apartment complex and are students at an art college in Tokyo. One day, they are introduced to Hagumi “Hagu” Hanamoto, the daughter of a cousin of Shūji Hanamoto, an art professor, who has come to live with Hanamoto and has become a first-year art student at the art school that everyone attends.
Yuta and Shinobu both fall in love with Hagu, but Yuta hides his feelings and tries to be a friend to Hagu while Shinobu expresses his love in ways that seem only to scare Hagu, such as calling her “Mousey” and constantly photographing her. Hagu herself, though initially timid and afraid of company, gradually warms up to the three.
The group comes to include Ayumi Yamada, a master of pottery who is well known by her nickname “Tetsujin” (Iron Lady), who becomes very close to Hagu. When not at school, she helps run the family liquor store. While Ayumi is popular with many young men, she falls in love with Takumi, who does not reciprocate her feelings and considers her a very dear friend.
Instead, Takumi pursues an older woman, Rika Harada, a widowed friend of Professor Hanamoto who runs an architecture studio she founded with her late husband. The story follows these five characters in their love triangles, unrequited love, graduating from college, finding jobs, and learning more about themselves.
Nodame kantâbire (2007–2010)
Shinichi Chiaki, an arrogant, multilingual perfectionist, is the top student at Momogaoka College of Music and has secret ambitions to become a conductor. Born into a musical family, he is talented in piano and violin and once lived abroad in the music capitals of the world as a young boy (namely Prague), but is trapped in Japan because of his childhood phobia of airplanes and the ocean.
In contrast, Megumi Noda, or “Nodame”, is a piano student at Momogaoka, notorious for messiness and eccentric behavior. Despite being very talented, Nodame prefers to play by ear rather than according to the musical score; thus, she is regarded as sloppy and playful.
When they meet by accident, Nodame quickly falls in love, but it takes much longer for Chiaki to even begin to appreciate Nodame’s unusual qualities. Their relationship causes them both to develop and grow. Along the way, they meet some crazy people (like Masumi, Mine, and Stresemann) and make lasting friendships.
Because of Nodame, Chiaki gets the opportunity to lead a student orchestra and begins to have a broader appreciation of people’s musical abilities. Because of Chiaki, Nodame faces her fears and enters a piano competition. Opportunities open up as both begin taking risks, stretching themselves far more than they ever thought possible.
After graduation, Nodame succeeds in curing Chiaki from his phobias and they both move to Paris, where Nodame continues her piano studies at the Conservatoire de Paris while Chiaki starts a professional career as a conductor. In Europe, they encounter new friends and rivals, as well as keep in touch with their friends from Japan.
Kids on the Slope (2012)
Kaoru Nishimi is an intelligent, introverted first-year high school student from a wealthy family who moves to different cities frequently as a result of his father’s career; consequently, he has never made lasting friendships. In the summer of 1966, he relocates from Yokosuka, Kanagawa to Sasebo, Nagasaki to live with his extended family.
On his first day of school, he encounters Sentarō Kawabuchi, a delinquent student feared by his classmates. Sentarō’s love of jazz music inspires Kaoru to study the genre, and the two boys begin to develop a close friendship through jazz sessions at a record shop owned by the family of Ritsuko Mukae, a classmate.
The slice-of-life series follows Kaoru, Sentarō, and Ritsuko over the course of their three years of high school, and the relationships that develop among and between them.
Shirobako (2014– )
Aoi Miyamori and her four best friends, Ema Yasuhara, Shizuka Sakaki, Misa Tōdō, and Midori Imai, were all part of their school’s animation club, promising to make an anime together. Years later, Aoi is now working as a production assistant for the animation production company, Musashino Animation, where Ema also works as an animator, while Shizuka, Misa, and Midori are working as a voice actors, 3D graphics artist, and an aspiring writer respectively.
The story mainly focuses on Aoi and her team at Musashino Animation as they work on two different anime projects; an original anime series and a manga adaptation, facing the various obstacles that each project brings with them.
Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad (2004–2005)
It tells the story of a group of Japanese teenagers who form a rock band and their struggle to fame, focusing on 14-year-old Yukio “Koyuki” Tanaka, who until meeting guitar prodigy Ryusuke Minami was an average teen with a boring life.
Sketchbook: Full Colors (2007– )
Sketchbook begins with Sora Kajiwara joining the art club of her unnamed Fukuoka high school, and goes on to chronicle her subsequent experiences and those of her fellow club members.
Kiniro No Corda: Blue Sky (2014– )
Soon after transferring to Seisou Gakuin, Kanade finds the orchestra club in the middle of preparing for the National concur. Teaming up with the other members, she will improve her skills, meet new rivals and create memories for what will become an unforgettable summer…
Memories (1995)
An animated science fiction anthology from the visionary anime director, Katsuhiro Otomo.
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The film is composed of three shorts: Magnetic Rose, directed by Studio 4°C co-founder Kōji Morimoto and written by Satoshi Kon; Stink Bomb, directed by Tensai Okamura of Darker than Black fame and written by Otomo, and Cannon Fodder, written and directed by Otomo himself.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun (2014)
High school student Chiyo Sakura has a crush on schoolmate Umetarou Nozaki. When she confesses her love to him, he mistakes her for a fan and gives her an autograph. When she says she wants to be with him, he invites her to his house and has her help with some drawings.
Sakura discovers that Nozaki is actually a renowned shōjo manga artist working under the pen name Sakiko Yumeno. She agrees to be his assistant in order to get closer to him. As they work on his manga Let’s Fall in Love, they encounter other schoolmates, who assist them and serve as inspirations for the story.
Barakamon (2014)
Seishu Handa is a professional calligrapher, despite his young age. When the elderly curator of an exhibition criticizes his calligraphy for being too unoriginal (“like a textbook”), Seishu gets angry and punches him. Because of this, his father sends him off for a retreat on Goto Island, near Kyushu. There, he meets the colorful villagers, interacts with them, and begins to find his own style.
The story of the prequel spin-off Handa-kun is about the hilarious high school days of the calligraphy genius, Seishu Handa, who was also the protagonist of Barakamon.
Bakuman. (2010–2013)
When Moritaka Mashiro, a junior high student, forgets his notebook in class, he finds his classmate, Akito Takagi, who notes Mashiro’s drawings. Takagi asks him to become a manga artist to his stories. However, Mashiro declines, citing his late manga artist uncle, who died from overworking. Takagi incites Mashiro to meet with Miho Azuki, Mashiro’s crush, and tells her the two plan to become manga artists. In response, Azuki reveals her plans to be a voice actress.
Mashiro proposes to her that they should both marry when Azuki becomes a voice actress for the anime adaptation of their manga. She accepts, but under the condition that they not meet face-to-face again until then. The two then start creating their manga, under the pen name Muto Ashirogi, in hopes of getting serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump.
After submitting many one-shots to Shueisha, Ashirogi begin with their first published series in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Detective Trap, which is eventually canceled due to its declining popularity, after Mashiro is hospitalized for overworking on the manga. Their next series is the gag manga Vroom, Tanto Daihatsu, which they give up on, realizing it will never be popular, coupled with Takagi’s difficulty with writing rapid-fire humor.
After being challenged by the editor-in-chief of Jump to create a superior manga to their rival’s, Ashirogi develops their current series Perfect Crime Party. It is met with considerable popularity but due to its theme, is unfit for an anime series. When their rival, Eiji Niizuma, submits a one-shot for serialization, Ashirogi competes by submitting Reversi which replaces Perfect Crime Party while the latter is moved to Shueisha’s fictional monthly magazine, Hisshou Jump.
After many conflicts involving the graphic novel sales and the voice actress choice, Reversi is chosen for an anime adaptation with Miho as the primary actress, after she passes a public audition. After fulfilling their dreams, the series ends with Mashiro officially proposing to Miho at the place they made their promise, the front gate of Miho’s old home, followed by their first kiss.
Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (2017)
A man is released from prison and becomes the apprentice of a famous rakugo performer, Yakumo Yurakutei. The story focuses on the backstories of the performers and their struggle to gain popularity, following Yakumo’s apprenticeship and rise to fame and his friendship with fellow performer Sukeroku.
Sound! Euphonium (2015– )
The Kitauji High School Concert Band Club had at one time participated in national tournaments and was a championship-caliber school, but after the club’s adviser changed, they had not been able to even participate in the qualifying tournament.
However, thanks to the newly appointed adviser’s strict instruction, the students are steadily improving and building up their strength. As they fight over who plays solos, some students give priority to studying and quit club activities. Finally, the long-wished-for day of the competition arrives, and the club wins the qualifying tournament.
