15 Best Anime About Making Anime & Manga

Summary

• Shirobako showcases the harsh realities of the anime industry with a positive spin on achieving goals.
• Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! presents a unique and creative take on the struggles of amateur production.
• Bakuman delicately explores the topic of overworking in the manga industry, offering relatability and value.

The anime industry is notoriously difficult to break into, but with anime being as popular as it is, it’s no wonder there are some incredible anime aboutmaking anime and manga. From writers to voice actors, anime is an appealing yet demanding career, and many artists express their frustrations with the industry through their art, creating anime that explores the light and dark sides of the profession.

Many anime series explore the difficulties that their animators, directors, producers, and voice actors go through to make their art, but some do it better than others. Some use a light-hearted tone to present the processes as appealingly as possible, but others go hard on the darker side of things, warning newcomers and fans that the industry is not all sunshine and roses. Whatever the case, there are plenty of great anime that focus on the creative process behind anime and manga, and each of them are plenty worth highlighting.

15 Shirobako Brings “Cute Girls Doing Cute Things” To Anime Production

Original Anime Series Created By P.A. Works

Shirobako is a great female-led anime that follows a group of students who promise to work together on an anime one day after they graduate, and despite the difficulties they encounter after entering the industry, they all remain resolute in their goals. Shirobako follows the production of two types of anime, an original series and a manga adaptation, and Shirobako has received a lot of praise for its depiction of the harsh realities of working in the anime industry while still managing to put a positive spin on everything.

Watch On Spectrum

14 Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! Is A Goofy, Informative Masterpiece

Based on the Manga Created By Sumito Ōwara

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! follows three girls as they try to create short animated films despite the opposition from their school, peers, and parents. The series uses the surrealism of both its writing and its direction courtesy of Science SARU to paint an imaginative and visually creative series.

Series director Masaaki Yuasa is well known for his work on surreal and strange anime such as
Devilman: Crybaby
,
Kaiba
, and
The Tatami Galaxy
.

With its focus on the difficulties of amateur production as opposed to professionals already in the industry, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! ends up being one of the more unique anime about making anime because of its wild visuals and creative use of animation.

Watch On Crunchyroll

Original Anime Series Created By The Yumeta Company

On the opposite end of the spectrum to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, one of the older anime about making anime is Animation Runner Kuromi. Animation Runner Kuromi is an OVA series that’s focused more on the technical side of anime production, and with Animation Runner Kuromi‘s parody angle, it excellently satirizes the practices of the anime industry and how taxing it can be on everyone involved.

The OVAs came out in the early 2000s, so a lot of things about the industry have undoubtedly changed, but it’s still a humorous and informative look into the industry, regardless.

12 Bakuman Is One Of Shonen Jump’s Most Unique & Underrated Stories

Based on the Manga Created By Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

There are plenty of great anime about making manga, as well, and one of the best to watch is Bakuman. Artist Mashiro and writer Takagi attempt to publish a manga together, battling their insecurities as well as Mashiro’s habit of overworking.

Fans might recognize
Bakuman
creators Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata, as they were the duo who created
Death Note
!

Overworking is a serious problem in the creative industry, and Bakuman explores the topic delicately by examining the serious reasons why manga creators sometimes have to take hiatuses. That element is especially relevant with recent news about the anime and manga industry, and it serves to give Bakuman a lot of relatability and overall value over a decade later.

Watch On Hulu

11 Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition Perfectly Balances Comedy & Family

Based on the Manga Created By Kōji Kumeta

With the framing device of protagonist Kakushi not wanting his daughter to know that he draws fanservice-laden manga, Kakushigoto tells a story that alternates between the wholesomeness of Kakushi’s relationship with his daughter and the humor of Kakushigoto‘s creative ways of poking fun at the manga industry, whether it’s making fun of the technical aspects or making fun of the creators, themselves.

The series was created by Koji Kumeta of Joshiraku and Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei fame, so anyone familiar with those stories can expect the same quality writing to be found here.

Watch On Crunchyroll

10 Comic Party Highlights An Underappreciated Part Of Otaku Culture

Based on the Video Game Created By Studio Leaf

When it comes to the fan side of manga production, one of the best depictions comes from Comic Party. Comic Party follows Kazuki as he attempts to sell doujinshi, self-published manga typically sold at anime conventions in Japan.

In addition to being a good look into the production of fan works versus professional works, Comic Party is also a great examination of the struggles of the creative process and how far natural talent can take a person. It has a lot to offer for even people who might not be interested in fan works, so it’s plenty worth anyone’s time.

9 Dojin Work Explores The Reality Of Being A Fan Creator

Based on the Manga Created By Hiroyuki

Another great anime specifically about doujinshi for people to watch is Dojin Work. Dojin Work focuses on the work that goes into producing fanworks, and Dojin Work also does a good job of showing how something like that can be very profitable with effort.

There are a lot of jokes that might come off as inappropriate, but they don’t happen enough to detract from its comedic story and quirky characters, and seeing as how it’s by the creator of Girlfriend, Girlfriend, people can expect to find that same level of comedy writing here in full force.

8 Seiyu’s Life! Does A Great Job Of Highlighting One Of Anime’s Most Important Components

Based on the Manga Created By Masumi Asano & Kenjiro Hata

Voice acting is, naturally, one of the core aspects of anime production, and an anime that does a great job of exploring it is Seiyu’s Life! The series is about three newcomer voice actresses — Futaba, Ichigo, and Rin — who struggle to make it in the world of anime voice acting. Finding little success and limited roles, the three friends start a radio show to boost their popularity.

Series creator Masumi Asano is actually a voice actor herself, having appeared in series like
One Piece
and
Dragon Ball Super
!

Many voice actors deserve more credit for their work, and this show delves into exactly why that is. From the first frame of the show, the actors are shown doing their best to work while dealing with demanding producers and competition from much more famous actors. The characters are cute, and the story of Seiyu’s Life! endears the audience to them, making them easy to root for.

Watch On Funimation

7 Girlish Number Is A Far More Serious Take On Anime Than Its Contemporaries

Based on the Serial Novel Created By Wataru Watari

Another great anime specifically about voice acting is Girlish Number. Chitose is an overly confident and self-absorbed voice actress who blames the industry for her lack of fame until she gets a role in an idol anime alongside four other actresses.

Girlish Number does not pull its punches when it comes to examining the anime industry, and it often brings up the darker side of it, presenting the producers and directors of Chitose’s show as meddling and greedy people who will bully their workers into doing as they are told.

Watch On HIDIVE

Original anime series by Yoyogi Animation Academy & Monthly Animage Magazine

For a metafictional anime without the gimmick of the “cute girls doing cute things” genre of anime, a great anime to watch is I’m Glad I Could Keep Running. As with other anime about making anime, I’m Glad I Could Keep Running focuses heavily on the struggles of being in the voice acting industry, with a specific being drawn to how personal issues can impact someone’s work and how important it is to try and move past personal trauma.

I’m Glad I Could Keep Running only has four episodes, but even that’s enough to depict a story that’s as informative as it is heartwarming.

5 Comic Girls

Based on the Manga Created By Kaori Hanzawa

On the lighter side of things, a great anime centered around making manga is Nexus’ Comic Girls. Comic Girls frames its exploration of the process behind creating manga around typical female-centric slice-of-life anime, so there’s more of a focus on comedic hijinks than the creative process, especially compared to anime which are more about the process of creation.

Comic Girls still does a good job of exploring the creative process and how some creators are forced to make things outside their personal interests to survive, so it still ends up having a lot to offer people.

Watch On Crunchyroll

4 A Galaxy Next Door Adds A Brilliant Science Fiction Angle To Content Creation

Based on the Manga Created By Gido Amagakure

Nothing says that an anime about making anime or manga has to be completely grounded, and a perfect example of that is A Galaxy Next Door. The series adds a sci-fi twist to its narrative by making its female lead, Shiori, an alien, but it still succeeds at showcasing the financial burden being a creator can cause if you’re not successful right off the bat. More than that, however, A Galaxy Next Door is a charming love story between its two leads, so even if someone isn’t interested in the manga process, they’re still likely to find something to enjoy.

Watch On Crunchyroll

Based on the Light Novel Created By Hajime Kamoshida

Another great romance anime about making manga is The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. Female lead Mashiro struggles to learn how to draw manga after spending years as a painter, and through that, The Pet Girl of Sakurasou does a good job of exploring the challenges of making manga and the difficulties that arise from trying to go from one medium to another. The focus on romance between the various characters, most notably between Sorata and Mashiro, also adds a lot of charm to the series, and while it might not be very deep, there’s a lot to enjoy from it, either way.

Watch On HIDIVE

Based on the Manga Created By Shungiku Nakamura

For anyone who might want to see LGBTQ+ representation in an anime about making manga, a great series to watch is Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi: The World’s Greatest First Love.

Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi: The World’s Greatest First Love is focused primarily on the editors in charge of manga, but an equally important part is the various relationship dramas among the cast. The heartfelt nature of the romance adds a lot of charm to the series, and it being a yaoi anime also makes it a great source of representation, so even if someone isn’t interested in editing, they’re still bound to get a lot out of it.

Watch On Crunchyroll

1 Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun

Based on the Manga Created By Izumi Tsubaki

The best anime about making manga is Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun follows the creative process of writing manga under the framing device of a girl trying to get closer to her crush, and as that would imply, Monthly Girls’ is filled with wacky hijinks for both the romance elements and the elements surrounding Nozaki’s creative process. T

he story is both heartfelt with its romance and informative with its commentary on creating manga, and as such, it’s hard to see Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun as anything other than the best anime about making anime or manga.

Watch On HIDIVE