Animal Crossing: New Horizons , the game where you travel to a peaceful new island full of eccentric yet lovable animal people (and learn about the cutthroat world of real estate from Tom Nook), just got a new update, which means that fans are flocking back to it. But a whimsical tale of supply and demand can only satisfy you for so long. What is there after that? Well, the answer to that question is the same as it would be for anything else: WATCH ANIME. When you’re done enjoying the latest Animal Crossing update and inevitably yearn for those impeccable vibes, check out one of these anime. There’s technically no Isabelle in them, but we come pretty close! Skip and Loafer Moving to a new place can be discombobulating, leading you to say stuff like, “Wow, they have a Nook's Cranny here, TOO?!?” But it can also be the chance for a fresh start with new connections. Skip and Loafer captures that feeling well, with country gal Mitsumi heading to Tokyo and learning that the buildings may be tall and the trains can be confusing, but there is still friendship around every corner. That Animal Crossing villager in the far reaches of town might seem like a snobbish bird now, but in time, you’ll grow to love him, and he’ll, eventually, come up with a nickname for you. Apocalypse Hotel The latest Animal Crossing: New Horizons update has you dealing with the creation of a resort hotel, and as anyone who’s ever been to a hotel knows, they can provide a fascinating cross-section of humanity. One person might be super friendly, and the next might not wear shoes to the continental breakfast line. Apocalypse Hotel , an underrated anime from 2025, is all about the delightful (and often intergalactic) weirdos that drop in on a hotel that exists after the end of society. Is it an easy job to manage? Like those times in Animal Crossing when a neighbor wants to make a ridiculous trade for one of your items, you’ll likely find yourself thinking “What is this guy’s DEAL?” more than once. But it’s also charming in its profound quirkiness. Barakamon Moving to the country can be just as troubling as moving to the city, and the deep quiet and complete lack of places that sell chicken pad thai within walking distance can send you rushing back to your urban home. Much like Animal Crossing , you have to find ways to spend your time and earn your keep. Barakamon fits in with that, too, as a disgraced calligrapher is sent to an island as punishment and has to rebuild his life. No, the main character Handa is never asked to, for example, gather the pieces of a dinosaur skeleton for a museum, but he does have to examine his purpose and the way he values relationships with others, something you may end up doing when one of your island neighbors says they want to move. Gintama Animal Crossing is perhaps the ultimate freelancer game. Find anything you can to earn a few bells to pay off the bells from that loan Tom Nook tempted you with (but you really needed the basement space, right?). You find yourself doing the oddest things, like saving expensive critters for Flick and CJ, stressing about turnips, or even making the same item over and over again when Timmy and Tommy offer a good price on it. Similarly, Gintama is the ultimate freelancer anime, with Gintoki and his pals constantly trying to find a new, weird way to keep from starving. It’s a hilarious, exciting and heartfelt anime that will quickly make its way into your list of favorites and have you wishing that Animal Crossing introduced a swordfighting option. You’ll just have to settle for trying to catch scorpions or tarantulas. Natsume’s Book of Friends There’s something beautiful about meeting and making friends. Souls, in a planet of billions of people, somehow find one another and connect over things both trivial and crucial. Animal Crossing captures that feeling sometimes, where loneliness is conquered by neighborliness when one of them visits your house, takes the time to wish you a Happy Birthday, or even cries when you finally decide to play the game again. Natsume’s Book of Friends does the same thing. In it, Natsume works to help ancient yokai and spirits, all while becoming comfortable with his new role. Not all of them are friendly, and some would like nothing more than to kill Natsume, but the story’s main concern is an emotional game of lost and found, and of finding peace among strangers and monsters. Negative Positive Angler For a game that’s not explicitly about fishing, Animal Crossing features A LOT of fishing. And while this can seem like a dull way to keep the creditors off your back (you can only catch a seabass so many times before it loses its appeal), if you fall into the rhythm and curiosity of it, it can be a great way to lose, eh, six months of your life in a nice, reflective way. Negative Positive Angler also has this view on fishing, as the protagonist, Tsunehiro, with his life spiraling out of control, learns about the joys of casting out a line and hoping for the Big One. Fishing might not be for everyone, but anime about fishing? That’s a universal language. Anne Shirley Sure, it’s just a video game, but when it first launched, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a way for a lot of people to focus on a fantasy vision of neighborhood belonging, whether it was with the residents you’d meet in-game or visiting a friend’s island online. And if you watch Anne Shirley , the story of a young girl who goes from life in an orphanage to living with a pair of elderly siblings near a small town, it lets you hang on to that feeling. Anne Shirley is all about harnessing the enthusiasm necessary to bring people closer together and change them for the better. And in times when it feels like separation is all too common, things like Animal Crossing and Anne Shirley can remind us of the pleasure of reaching out. Bananya Look, part of Animal Crossing ’s main appeal is that most of your neighbors are simultaneously odd and adorable. They could burn down your house and you’d still find them fascinating (they won’t do this, but you may get a gentle complaint if you let too many weeds grow). Similarly, everyone in Bananya is a cute cat in a banana, and the draw of that is, well, I just said it. Cute cat in a banana. If you can’t get into that, I’m not sure if I have anything else to sell you here. Astro Note You usually can’t dictate who your neighbors are, but that statement isn’t always ominous. In fact, if Animal Crossing has shown us anything, it's that you can have a neighbor who's half sheep and angry most of the time and they’ll end up being pretty cool. Astro Note , an anime that sees Takumi both struggling to be the cook at an apartment complex and also falling in love with an alien girl, also bridges these gaps. Like Animal Crossing , it is consistently low-key, so don’t go in expecting high drama. But if you want a gentle message about loving those who live next door, check it out. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime Yes, you start out in Animal Crossing building a house, but it later forms into a sort of empire as every action you take ripples throughout town and changes the folks who live there. It’s quite a powerful feeling, really. And to get you through those hard times when you want that feeling, but your Nintendo Switch is, like, waaaaay over there, watch That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime . Learning all of those slime abilities is just the beginning. The titular slime Rimuru ends up creating an entire nation of monsters, which shows the impact one can have when you’re small and blob-ish, but have a big heart.
