10 Best Meta Anime About the Manga, Gaming & Anime Industry
Illustrating, animating, 3D modeling, voice acting, programming, writing, concepting: whatever your passion, thereâs a world of industry out there to embrace your skills and ambitions! Though the road to achieving your dreams is never easy and paved with challenges, hard work, and requiring determination, those with the gumption to tackle such ventures are sure to find fulfilment along the way, so long as they keep doing what they love. And these anime depict such endeavors!
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Whether itâs a comedy portraying the beginnings (and shortcomings) of pursuing a passion or a series showing the gritty behind-the-scenes process of what it takes to make a production, these shows reveal the sweat, blood, tears, heartfelt moments, and laughter that come with turning these charactersâ dreams into realities. And with some of them going through challenges that are actually pretty true to their respective industries, their experiences can hit pretty close to home with how relatable their struggles are.
1) Bakuman
J.C.Staff
Creator of a popular gag manga, Tarou Kawaguchi is Moritaka Mashiroâs uncle and childhood role model to become a mangaka. But when his uncle dies, so too do Moritakaâs dreams of becoming a mangaka, eventually settling on becoming a run-of-the-mill salaryman instead. But when classmate Akito Takagi notices drawings in Moritakaâs notebook, he confesses he himself wants to be an author mangaka, so he proposes they team up. With the potential for his crush, Miho Azuki, to become a voice actress for an eventual anime adaptation of the manga they create, Moritaka becomes convinced, and his passion for creating manga is rekindled. And so, hoping to become the greatest mangaka in Japan, Moritaka and Akito begin their manga journey under the pen name Muto Ashirogi.
If you want to go far in the industry, you definitely need to have the passion to do so. And if you can start as early as possible, the better. But whatever the circumstances, if you want to break into the industry, such as striving to become a mangaka like Moritaka, in the words of Shia LaBeouf, âDonât let your dreams be dreams. Just do it!â
Bakuman can be streamed on Hulu, Peacock, or Tubi where available.
2) Shirobako
P.A. Works
Five best friends at Kaminoyama High School, Aoi Miyamori, Ema Yasuhara, Midori Imai, Shizuka Sakaki, and Misa Toudou, who share a love for anime, decide to not only start their own animation club, but create their first amateur anime together, showcasing it at the culture festival. And so, the friends promise to pursue careers in the industry and eventually work together to create their own full-fledged anime. After two and a half years, though Aoi and Ema managed to break into the industry, their friends struggle to catch up with Shizuka struggling as a voice actor, Misa designing 3D models, but for a car company, and Midori studying at university to be a story writer. While they find the road to succeeding in their dreams to be a difficult one, they still pursue achieving them through determination and creativity.
Breaking into the industry can be hard work and take some real elbow grease, like what these five friends discover. But itâs not impossible! Whether you want to pursue drawing, animating, 3D modeling, voice acting, writing, or what have you, strive for your passion until you achieve it!
Shirobako can be streamed on HIDIVE.
3) Seiyuâs Life!
Gonzo
With a passion for voice acting, aka âseiyuâ, Futaba Ichinose constantly fervently searches for auditions and performance sessions to try to get her career started and break into the industry. Along the way, she befriends two other voice actors, Rin Kohana, a child actress struggling to balance her career and school life, and Ichigo Moesaki, an aspiring idol claiming to be a princess from Planet Strawberry. Together, they face the challenges of the entertainment industry, honing their own unique voices and styles.
Seiyuâs Life! gives an interesting behind-the-scenes perspective into the trials and triumphs of what itâs like to strive to be a professional voice actor. The series even includes a bit of an educational edge, too, explaining certain terms and processes alongside charactersâ entertaining endeavors. Which must be pretty meta for the voice actors playing the roles of said characters striving to be voice actors.
4) Look Back
Studio DURIAN
Although fourth grader Ayumu Fujino receives praise for her hand-drawn, four-panel comics, when classmate Kyoumoto also receives a chance to feature art in the schoolâs newspaper alongside Fujinoâs, for the first time, Fujino feels inadequate to her faceless rival. Obsessing over drawing and studying the process of creating manga to the point of becoming reclusive over the course of a year to overtake her artistic adversary, Fujino ultimately gives up. After another year passes and graduation day has come, Fujino finally meets her unknown rival, Kyoumoto: a reclusive, unkempt, shy girl whoâs actually Fujinoâs biggest fan. Reigniting Fujinoâs passion, the two become close friends, sharing in their love of manga and admiration for one another.
The process of trying to be a virtuoso within a certain field can be one with a great many challenges. While sometimes such competitiveness can be a driving force for determination, other times it can drive one to have feelings of inadequacy or hopelessness. But while the road to achieving oneâs goals is never easy, so long as you have the passion and gumption, never stop doing what you love!
Look Back can be streamed on Prime.
5) Zenshu
Natsuko Hirose kicks off her career in animation with a bang as an absolute virtuoso in the industry, quickly rising to the rank of director with renowned recognition. With her next project, a rom-com film themed around first love, Natsuko finally faces a new challenge in her career that sheâd never come across before: not understanding the concept herself. As she struggles to figure out where to even start storyboarding, her life is brought to an end. Awakening to find that her life has begun anew, Natsuko isnât just transported to any world, but the one within her favorite childhood anime movie, A Tale of Perishing.
While many anime fans would think being isakaiâd into their favorite anime would be a dream come true, Zenshu brings to light the consequences that would become as real as the worlds. As an animator herself, Natsuko may think she has the upper hand in understanding her favorite animation, but does she truly understand the world within?
Zenshu can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
6) New Game!
Doga Kobo
After recently graduating from high school, Aoba Suzukaze is hired on at Eagle Jump as a character designer to work on a new installment in her favorite game series, Fairies Story. Under the supervision of lead character designer Kou Yagami, Aoba meets and makes new friends in the office workspace: monster designer Yun Iijima; shy Hifumi Takimoto, who struggles with in-person communication; animation team member Hajime Shinoda, who collects figurines; art director Rin Tooyama; game director Shizuku Hazuki and her cat; and tempermental head programmer Umiko Ahagon. Together, the team works toward both overcoming the struggles of making a video game and becoming good coworkers and friends.
Although many anime in the Cute Girls Doing Cute Things genre tend to follow groups of girls at school, New Game! makes a refreshing reminder that the trope can also be found in adulthood, with cute coworkers in the video game industry.
New Game! can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
7) Kakushigoto
Ajia-do
As a somewhat popular mangaka known for his works including inappropriate content, when his daughter Hime was born, Kakushi Gotou vowed to keep his profession hidden from her. But being a single father desperately trying to keep his profession a secret, his paranoid endeavor often leads to hectic antics and going to extreme measures like guising as a salaryman every day to prevent his daughter from becoming disillusioned. As much as he tries to preserve the status quo, itâs only a matter of time until Hime not only learns her fatherâs secret, but the reality behind her upbringing.
The workplace isnât just about the industry, but about the people working hard to support themselves and their families. And Kakushigoto delves into the livelihood of a mangaka father going to great lengths to support his precious daughter and all the misadventures along the way.
Kakushigoto can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
8) Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
Science SARU
Midori Asakusa is inspired by both anime and the world around her to fervently sketch fantastical landscapes, backgrounds, and concept art, letting her imagination run wild. Although her best friend Sayaka Kanamori isnât exactly an anime fan herself, when the two have a chance encounter with the young model Tsubame Misuzaki who also loves to draw and aspires to become an animator despite her parentsâ disapproval, Asakusa and Misuzaki really hit it off as they share their passion for creating; Asakusa creating concept art for backgrounds and settings while Misuzaki enjoys sketching characters. Having more calculated, pragmatic ambitions, Kanamori senses an opportunity to cash in on and has the idea of the trio starting an animation club under the guise of a motion picture club.
While otaku typically have an emphasis on consuming media, some gain a passion for creating it. Anime can have a certain hold on some fans to the point of inspiring them to want to create such magical worlds and characters for themselves, like Asakusa and Misuzaki.
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
9) 16bit Sensation: Another Layer
Silver
Although Konoha Akisato loves bishoujo games and dreams of becoming a renowned artist within the industry, in 2023, the industry itself faces a problem: low-effort, cheap, and tiresome titles. And Blue Bell, the game company, Konoha, has landed her first job as a sub-illustrator at, is at the core of the problem. But when Konoha stumbles upon a vintage game store, reminiscing on past innovative titles, she finds herself transported back to 1992, the beginning of the bishoujo game golden era. Joining a small game company, Alcohol Soft, as an illustrator, though she believes her technologically advanced skills will be of superior benefit, Konoha quickly learns how difficult it is to adapt her skills to the vintage, limited technology.
While the industry today holds its own set of challenges, remember: it all had to start somewhere! And even though technology has advanced rapidly since its shortcomings in the â90s, it can be humbling to observe some of the difficulties and accomplished feats from times of yore.
16bit Sensation: Another Layer is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
10) Monthly Girlsâ Nozaki-kun
Doga Kobo
When Chiyo Sakura confesses to her crush, Umetarou Nozaki, sheâs taken a bit aback, with his response: him giving her his autograph. But Chiyo discovers that Nozaki does have one thing going for him: Nozaki is actually a respected shoujo manga artist, the pseudonym Sakiko Yumeno. In fact, she even owns some of his published manga. Eventually, the series of misunderstandings leads Chiyo to become one of Nozakiâs manga assistants, even befriending the shameless Mikoto Mikoshiba and âPrince of the Schoolâ Yuu Kashima. Despite Nozakiâs obliviousness, Chiyo endeavors to help him with his manga throughout all the ensuing hilarious mishaps and antics in the hopes that Nozaki will eventually notice her feelings.
They say to âwrite what you knowâ, but, while Natsuko in Zenshu is ignorant about love and therefore unable to portray it in her work, Nozaki, on the other hand, is somehow able to very believably depict romance in his work despite his obliviousness to experiencing such a feeling for himself.
Monthly Girlsâ Nozaki-kun can be streamed on Netflix or HIDIVE where available.
Whatâs your favorite anime set within the industry of anime/video games/manga/your passion? Let us know in the comments if you too strive break into the industry!
