4Anime

The 4Anime design

The archived capture of 4anime.to from February 2021 preserves the home page with its inline styles and its main style sheet, and they were measured closely. The page was a deep near-black, with light grey text set in Roboto. The header held a logo, three simple links, Browse, Random and Genre, a wide search box with a thin grey outline and a Login link. Below came rows of seven posters, each about thirteen percent of the page wide with fifteen pixels between them, and under each poster a centred white title and a grey line with the episode number or the year. Near the bottom, a line invited visitors to join the community, and a thin donation meter showed a bright red bar on a dark grey track. The style sheet also carried the brand's purple, a soft pink and a deep red.

This 4Anime keeps those values and that rhythm: the near-black page, the Roboto type, the outlined search, the rows of seven posters with centred titles and grey lines, the gentle zoom of each poster under the pointer and the thin red bar, which now measures anime by year. The logo is original, a bold purple 4 beside a white anime wordmark with a short pink underline.

The header

The header is slim and quiet, so the posters can shine. On the left sits the 4Anime logo, which always leads home. Beside it run the main links: Browse for every series, Genre for the collections, Films, the current year and the A-Z index. The link for the page you are on carries a thin purple underline. On the right sits the wide outlined search box, glowing purple when you type, and a My List link where the old Login link used to be. On a phone, the links fold into a menu button that opens the search box and every section.

Recently Added

The home page opens with a short introduction and then the Recently Added row, seven posters of the newest anime in the catalogue, sorted by premiere date. For series, the grey line under the title shows the latest episode number, such as Episode 24, just as the original site did. For films it simply reads Movie. It is the quickest way to see what the newest seasons have brought, from Touring After the Apocalypse and Yano-kun's Ordinary Days to CITY THE ANIMATION and Secrets of the Silent Witch.

Popular This Week

Next comes Popular This Week, seven posters of the most popular anime in the catalogue, with the year each began under the title. Popularity changes as new seasons air and old favourites are rediscovered, so this row changes too. Today it features series such as Mission: Yozakura Family, Blue Box, Anne Shirley and Aoashi.

Anime by year

Below the two opening rows sits a small chart drawn in the style of the old donation meter: one thin line for each year from 2025 back to 2019, with a red bar showing how many anime from that year are in the catalogue and the number at the end. Each line is a link to that year's collection. The chart shows at a glance how the catalogue spreads across the years, and it makes travelling back in time a single click.

The year rows

Then come rows for the four most recent years, each with seven of that year's most popular series and a View more link to the full collection. The year collections are the heart of 4Anime. Each gathers every series and film that premiered in that year, so you can revisit a whole season of anime, from the headline hits to the quieter shows that were easy to miss the first time round. The anime seasons guide explains how the anime calendar works.

The anime page

Every anime on 4Anime has its own page, with the poster, the title, the year, the studio, the genres and the rating, followed by the story and the voice cast. Series pages list every season and episode with its air date, and you can mark the episode you reached. Next to the poster sits the country selector and the Watch now button, which opens the anime on JustWatch for the country you choose. The how to watch guide walks through each step.

The class of 2019

2019 was a year of bold originals. CAROLE & TUESDAY, from the studio BONES and the director Shinichiro Watanabe, follows two young women on Mars who meet by chance and write songs together, in a future where most music is made by artificial intelligence. Stars Align is a moving sports drama about a boys' soft tennis club that tackles family troubles with rare honesty, and Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life follows a school koto club, the traditional Japanese harp, fighting for its future. revisions sends a group of high school friends from Shibuya into the distant future.

2019 also brought To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts, a dark fantasy about soldiers transformed into monsters after a civil war, Levius, a steampunk boxing story in striking computer animation, Boogiepop and Others, a layered urban mystery, and My Roommate is a Cat, a gentle comedy told from the points of view of a shy novelist and the stray cat he adopts. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.: Reawakened gave the psychic schoolboy one more round of chaos.

The class of 2020

2020 was the year the world stayed home, and anime kept many people company. ID: INVADED follows a detective who enters the subconscious worlds of serial killers to solve their crimes, and The Millionaire Detective – Balance: UNLIMITED pairs a rich young detective with an old-fashioned partner. Arte follows a young noblewoman in Renaissance Florence who fights to become a painter, Appare-Ranman! follows an inventor and a samurai in a race across nineteenth-century America, and Somali and the Forest Spirit follows a forest golem protecting a small human girl in a world of spirits.

Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW returned to a famous village mystery, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story expanded the world of the magical girls, and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen brought a classic fantasy back over four seasons. Smile Down the Runway follows a short aspiring model and a young fashion designer, and Drifting Dragons follows the crew of an airship who hunt dragons for their meat.

The class of 2021

2021 brought one of the most daring originals of the decade, Sonny Boy, in which a whole school class drifts into a strange dimension in the middle of summer vacation and must learn to live by its shifting rules. SSSS.DYNAZENON brought giant robots and teenage feelings from the studio TRIGGER, Kageki Shojo!! follows students at a famous all-female musical theatre school, and Taisho Otome Fairy Tale is a warm romance set in the Taisho era. The Faraway Paladin follows a boy raised by three undead guardians in a ruined city, a gentle and thoughtful fantasy.

Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan is a dry comedy about the tired host of a cheerful children's exercise show, Remake Our Life! sends a game developer back to his art school days, and Super Crooks is a colourful heist story from the studio BONES based on an American comic. The World Ends with You: The Animation adapts the beloved Shibuya video game, and Scarlet Nexus adapts a psychic action game.

The class of 2022

2022 was rich in sports and fantasy. Aoashi follows a raw young footballer from a small town who is scouted by a top youth academy in Tokyo and learns to see the whole pitch, and it runs to two cours. The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt follows a prince who would love to sell his kingdom but keeps saving it by accident, and Parallel World Pharmacy follows a pharmacologist reborn in a medieval world. Tomodachi Game is a tense psychological game about friendship and debt, and Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall is a striking science fiction action series.

The Orbital Children is a six-episode science fiction adventure from the director Mitsuo Iso about children on a space station, and Vampire in the Garden is a short, beautiful story of a vampire queen and a human girl. Raven of the Inner Palace is an elegant fantasy mystery set in an imperial court, Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness follows a young man returning to his family's Kyoto sweet shop, and Do It Yourself!! follows a high school club that builds things by hand.

The class of 2023

2023 gave us Skip and Loafer, a sunny coming-of-age story about a country girl who moves to Tokyo for high school with a big plan for her future, and one of the most loved anime of the year. Buddy Daddies follows two assassins who suddenly find themselves raising a four-year-old girl, Insomniacs After School follows two sleepless students who find each other in an abandoned school observatory, and Undead Murder Farce follows an immortal head, her half-oni partner and a maid solving supernatural mysteries across Europe.

Horimiya: The Missing Pieces returned to the beloved couple with side stories, MF GHOST brought the spirit of street racing to a future of electric cars, and The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior follows a girl who remembers she is destined to become a game's villain and chooses a kinder path. Ragna Crimson is a fierce dragon-slaying fantasy, Dead Mount Death Play follows a necromancer reborn in modern Shinjuku, and Sugar Apple Fairy Tale follows a young confectioner and her fairy companion.

The class of 2024

2024 is the biggest year in the catalogue, and it is full of treasures. Orb: On the Movements of the Earth is a remarkable historical drama about people across generations in fifteenth-century Europe who risk their lives to prove that the Earth moves around the Sun. Blue Box is a sweet sports romance about a badminton player who falls for the basketball star who comes to live in his family's house. The Elusive Samurai follows a young heir who survives by running rather than fighting, animated with dazzling energy by CloverWorks, and Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF is a new adaptation of the classic story of a travelling merchant and a wolf goddess.

Mission: Yozakura Family follows a shy boy who marries into a family of spies, Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! is a clever comedy about the girls who lose at love, Girls Band Cry follows a girl who moves to Tokyo alone and finds her voice in a rock band, and Rising Impact follows a boy with a natural gift for golf. The Fable follows a legendary hitman ordered to live an ordinary life for a year, 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! follows a heroine on her seventh life, and The Witch and the Beast is a stylish dark fantasy. DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION follows two schoolgirls living ordinary lives under a giant alien mothership.

The class of 2025

2025 brought Medalist, a heartfelt story of a young girl who dreams of figure skating and the failed skater who becomes her coach, Anne Shirley, a lovely new version of Anne of Green Gables, and CITY THE ANIMATION, a joyful comedy from Kyoto Animation about the everyday chaos of a single town. Secrets of the Silent Witch follows a shy genius who casts magic in perfect silence and must go undercover at a school for nobles, and Witch Watch follows a teenager guarding his witch-in-training childhood friend.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes tells the story of heroes working outside the law, YAIBA: Samurai Legend brings a classic samurai adventure back, Umamusume: Cinderella Gray is a surprisingly stirring racing drama, and Touring After the Apocalypse follows two girls on a motorbike through a quiet, empty Japan. Ruri Rocks follows a girl who loves shiny stones and learns the science of minerals, Food for the Soul follows college friends who love to eat together, and Catch Me at the Ballpark! is a sweet romance at a baseball stadium.

Anime films

The Films collection gathers the anime movies of 2019 to 2025. Ride Your Wave, from the director Masaaki Yuasa, is a moving love story about a young surfer and a firefighter, set to a pop song that becomes part of the plot. The Imaginary, from Studio Ponoc, follows a boy who is a girl's imaginary friend and must find his way when she is lost to him. Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain and Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage follow the mysterious Medicine Seller into the women's quarters of an Edo castle, in dazzling colour.

Big franchises bring their stories to the screen too. Gintama: The Very Final ends the long-running comedy with a grand finale, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM continues the Cosmic Era story, and Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet and Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback continue the yearly Conan films. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 1 and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie Part 1 bring the magical girls back, The Rose of Versailles returns to the classic story of Marie Antoinette and Oscar, and the Project Sekai rhythm game reached cinemas in 2025 with its own Hatsune Miku film. The anime films guide has more.

Hidden gems

One of the joys of following anime season by season is discovering series that deserve a bigger audience. Sonny Boy and ID: INVADED are among the most original anime of their years. Somali and the Forest Spirit is a tender road story, The Faraway Paladin a thoughtful fantasy, and Touring After the Apocalypse a peaceful journey through a world returned to nature. Ruri Rocks turns geology into an adventure, and Insomniacs After School turns sleepless nights into a love story under the stars. The hidden gems guide gathers more.

Romance

Romance anime cover every stage of life. At school, Blue Box, Skip and Loafer, Honey Lemon Soda, A Condition Called Love and The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses capture the nerves and joys of first love, and Yano-kun's Ordinary Days follows a class representative who worries about a boy who is always injured. At work, My Senpai Is Annoying and My Tiny Senpai find romance in the office, and Catch Me at the Ballpark! finds it at a baseball stadium. Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii adds danger to an arranged marriage, and Days with My Stepsister is a quiet, careful story of two teenagers learning to live under one roof. The romance guide has more.

Sports

Sports anime turn practice into drama. Aoashi shows football from the inside, with its tactics and its training, Medalist follows the long road of a young figure skater, and Rising Impact and Tonbo! find thrills on the golf course. Stars Align uses soft tennis to tell a story about family, MF GHOST races through the mountain roads of Japan, and Umamusume: Cinderella Gray follows a fiery runner from a country track to the national stage. The sports guide has the whole team.

Other worlds

Many anime of recent years send their heroes into other worlds, often with a light touch. Parallel World Pharmacy follows a pharmacologist who brings modern medicine to a medieval land, Reincarnated as a Sword follows a hero reborn as a talking sword who protects a young cat girl, and Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon follows a man reborn, as the title says, as a vending machine. Beast Tamer follows a gentle tamer who can befriend any creature, and I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability follows a magic-obsessed sorcerer reborn as a prince. Isekai Quartet brings the heroes of four famous other-world series together at one school.

Mystery and suspense

Mystery anime reward sharp eyes. ID: INVADED builds its puzzles inside the minds of killers, Boogiepop and Others weaves urban legends into an intricate story, and Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW returns to a village where every summer ends in tragedy. Undead Murder Farce solves supernatural cases with wit, Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions pairs a brilliant but banned detective with a clumsy young police officer, and Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective follows a doctor who solves medical mysteries. SHOSHIMIN: How to Become Ordinary follows two students who try very hard to be ordinary and keep stumbling onto puzzles, and Case Closed: The Culprit Hanzawa is a comic spin-off told from the point of view of the famous shadowy culprit.

Comedy

Anime comedy is quick and generous. CITY THE ANIMATION turns a whole town into a stage for daily chaos, Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan finds laughs in adult exhaustion, and Aharen-san wa Hakarenai follows a tiny girl who stands either much too close or much too far from her classmate. Go! Go! Loser Ranger! follows a foot soldier of a defeated villain army who plans his revenge on the heroes, Sasaki and Peeps follows an office worker whose pet sparrow is a wizard from another world, and Akiba Maid War turns the maid cafés of 1999 Akihabara into a wild gangster parody.

Music

Music runs through some of the brightest anime of these years. CAROLE & TUESDAY follows two songwriters on Mars, Girls Band Cry follows a fierce young singer and her new rock band in Tokyo, and Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life follows students playing the koto. Listeners imagines a world where music has vanished and a boy and a girl search for it, and many series on 4Anime have opening and ending songs that fans play long after the final episode.

Slice of life

Slice-of-life anime are made for slow evenings. Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness follows a Kyoto sweet shop, Food for the Soul follows friends who eat and laugh together, Solo Camping for Two follows a solitary camper who gains an eager student, and ZatsuTabi -That's Journey- follows a young manga artist who travels wherever a poll sends her. Do It Yourself!! follows students who love building things, mono follows a high school photography club, and With You and the Rain follows a young woman and the strange rain-loving creature who moves in with her.

Fantasy

Fantasy anime range from grand quests to cosy adventures. Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF is a slow, clever journey of trade and companionship, Unnamed Memory follows a prince who climbs a tower to ask a witch to lift his curse, and Clevatess follows a demon lord who ends up raising a human baby. Sengoku Youko follows a fox spirit and her companions through war-torn Japan, Once Upon a Witch's Death follows a young witch who learns she has a year to gather a thousand tears of joy to save her own life, and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash follows a gentle girl and her little slime.

Science fiction and robots

Science fiction anime look far ahead. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX reimagines the Gundam universe with a schoolgirl pilot and a bold new look, SSSS.DYNAZENON mixes kaiju battles with teenage drama, and The Orbital Children follows children fighting to survive on a damaged space station. Metallic Rouge follows an android girl hunting renegade androids, ATRI -My Dear Moments- follows a boy and an android girl in a half-sunken seaside town, and Train to the End of the World sends four friends along a railway through a world transformed. T・P BON brings a classic time-patrol story to life, sending a boy across history to save lives.

Two cours and more

Some series settle in for the long run. The Two cours or more collection lists every series with twenty-four episodes or more, from Aoashi and Mission: Yozakura Family to Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, Higurashi: When They Cry - NEW and Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon. They are perfect companions for a whole season of evenings, and My List keeps track of the episode you reached.

Top rated

The Top rated collection lists the highest-scoring anime in the catalogue, each with a strong score from dozens of viewers or more on TMDB. It shows how varied great anime can be: a sports drama sits beside a historical epic, a romance beside a mystery. Open it when you want a sure pick for tonight.

Subtitles and dubs

Anime fans watch in many ways. Many prefer the Japanese voices with subtitles, which often appear within an hour of the Japanese broadcast on the big anime services, so a new episode can reach the world on the day it airs. Others prefer a dub, and many popular series now receive English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and German dubs a few weeks after the original. Every anime page on 4Anime shows the original language, and the player's audio and subtitle menu lets you switch at any time. The subtitles guide explains more.

How Watch now works

Each anime page carries a country selector and a Watch now button. Pick your country, press the button, and the anime's page on JustWatch opens, listing the services that stream it where you live, from subscriptions and free services with adverts to stores where you can buy a season. Pick one and the anime opens in that service's own player. Anime licences differ a great deal from country to country, which is why 4Anime checks JustWatch each time instead of keeping a fixed list.

The services behind the guide

Crunchyroll carries a large share of the anime on 4Anime in many countries, and HIDIVE carries many others. Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and Hulu also carry a growing number of anime series and films, often as exclusives, and regional services carry more. Apple TV, Google TV and Prime Video sell many anime films and seasons. The services guide gives a short tour.

Free anime

There are legal ways to watch some anime at zero cost. A few services offer selected episodes free with adverts in some countries, and many studios and distributors post first episodes, trailers and clips on their official video channels, a lovely way to sample a new season. When you press Watch now and choose your country, JustWatch shows any free options beside the paid ones. The free anime guide has the details.

Apps and devices

4Anime works in every modern browser, on a phone during the commute or on a laptop at home, and you can pin it to your phone's home screen. The anime itself plays in each service's official app from Google Play, the App Store, your console or your smart TV's store, and casting sends a phone's picture to the TV in a couple of taps. The apps and devices guide covers each one.

Following a season with My List

My List is built for following a season. Press Add to My List on the page of any anime you want to follow, and on its season page tap the episode you reached each week. When the next episode arrives, the list shows exactly where you stopped, even if you are following a dozen series at once, as many fans do at the start of a busy season.

The list is saved in the browser where you created it, private to you and ready from the first tap, with zero accounts to create. Export turns it into a small file and Import loads that file on another phone or computer. The My List guide has the steps, and the My List link in the header opens your list from any page.

Finding an anime

The search box in the header accepts English and Japanese titles, characters and studios, so Aoashi, Ashito or Production I.G will all lead to the right place. Press Enter for the full results page, where you can filter by type, genre and year. Browse lists every series, Genre opens the collections, and the A-Z index lists every anime in alphabetical order. The finding an anime guide has more tips.

The official 4Anime site

The official 4Anime site is easy to recognise: a near-black page, a bold purple 4 beside a white anime wordmark, a wide outlined search, rows of seven posters with centred titles and grey lines, and a thin red chart of anime by year. Every Watch now button leads to JustWatch and from there to the official services. Bookmark the home page to keep the right address close. The official site guide describes it in detail.

Streaming safely

Good habits keep anime nights safe. Install service apps from Google Play, the App Store or your television's store. Use a different strong password for each service and turn on two-step sign-in. Before paying, make sure the address bar shows the real name of the service. 4Anime links to JustWatch, and JustWatch links to the official services, so every step stays on trusted ground. The safety guide has a short checklist.

Is 4Anime working?

If a page loads slowly, try the simple test: open the home page, then any anime page. If both appear, 4Anime is working. A refresh, a cleared cache, a different browser or a different network fixes most slow pages. Episodes play on the streaming services, so their help centres answer playback questions. The site status guide lists the fixes in order.

Privacy

4Anime keeps little. My List, your episode marks and your chosen country stay in your own browser. Posters, backdrops and details come from TMDB, the community-built film and television database, and every Watch now link goes to JustWatch. The privacy page explains it in plain words.

How the catalogue is chosen

The 4Anime catalogue gathers anime series and films that premiered from 2019 to 2025, chosen year by year from the most watched and best rated. It favours stories for a broad audience: fan-service and ecchi series and explicit titles are left to other guides. It also leaves room for its sister guides: series already chosen for 123Anime, 1Anime, XPrime, 1XAnime and others appear there, so 4Anime can focus on the wider range of each season, from its hits to its hidden gems.

Villainesses and second chances

One of the liveliest trends of recent years follows young women who wake up inside a story as its villainess and decide to rewrite their fate. The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior follows a princess who turns her destined cruelty into kindness, 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! follows a duke's daughter who has lived six lives before, and I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss follows a jilted noblewoman who sets out to win over the demon lord instead. Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion follows a heroine who strikes a bargain with a duke to escape a fatal plot, and Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp follows a surgeon reborn as a princess who chooses to heal.

Spies and assassins

Spies and assassins have been everywhere in recent anime, often with a warm heart. Mission: Yozakura Family follows a shy boy who joins a family of elite spies by marriage, Buddy Daddies follows two hitmen who become fathers overnight, and The Fable follows a hitman learning to live an ordinary life in Osaka. Love of Kill follows a bounty hunter and the assassin who keeps crossing her path, Spy Classroom follows a team of young spies in training, and Revenger follows a band of avengers in the Edo period.

Sequels and spin-offs

Many anime on 4Anime continue stories that fans already love. My Hero Academia: Vigilantes explores the streets beneath the hero world, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story expands a famous magical girl story, Horimiya: The Missing Pieces adds the side stories of a beloved romance, and FAIRY TAIL 100 YEARS QUEST sends the guild on its greatest mission. Fate/strange Fake opens a new Holy Grail War in America, Case Closed: The Culprit Hanzawa turns the shadowy culprit of Detective Conan into a comedy hero, and The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.: Reawakened gave the psychic schoolboy one last round.

Your first visit

On your first visit, start with the two opening rows. Pick one title from Recently Added and one from Popular This Week, read their stories and press Watch now. Then open the red chart and travel to a year you remember well, to see the anime that was airing at the time. Save anything that catches your eye to My List, and let the seasons lead you from one favourite to the next.

An anime weekend

For a whole anime weekend, try this plan. On Friday night, start with a comedy such as CITY THE ANIMATION or Go! Go! Loser Ranger!. On Saturday, settle into a longer story such as Aoashi or Orb: On the Movements of the Earth, and end the evening with a film such as Ride Your Wave. On Sunday afternoon, slow down with Touring After the Apocalypse or Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness, and finish with a romance such as Skip and Loafer. Mark every episode in My List, and next weekend will plan itself.

Dark fantasy and action

For viewers who like their stories sharper, 4Anime has plenty of dark fantasy and action. Tougen Anki follows a young man who discovers he descends from the oni of legend and joins their fight against the heirs of Momotaro. Orient follows two friends who become samurai to fight the demon gods ruling Japan, Ragna Crimson follows a dragon hunter on a time-bending quest, and MARS RED follows a unit of vampires working for the army in 1920s Tokyo. No Guns Life follows a man with a revolver for a head working as a fixer for other cyborgs, and Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood follows an assassin in an alternate twentieth-century Japan.

Coming of age

Many of the best anime of these years are about growing up. Skip and Loafer follows a country girl finding her place in Tokyo, Kageki Shojo!! follows two very different students at a strict theatre school, and A Galaxy Next Door follows a young manga artist caring for his siblings after his father's death. Remake Our Life! follows a man given a second chance at his university years, Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki follows a gaming champion who treats real life as a game to master, and Honey Lemon Soda follows a shy girl who blossoms in a new school with a friendly classmate. These are stories that stay with you long after the last episode.

Grown-up life

Anime also tells stories about adult life, with humour and warmth. My Senpai Is Annoying and My Tiny Senpai follow young office workers and their colleagues, Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan follows a children's television host who is tired of it all, and Sasaki and Peeps follows an office worker who finds adventure after work. From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman follows a humble middle-aged sword teacher who is far stronger than he thinks, and Catch Me at the Ballpark! follows a tired office worker who finds joy at the baseball stadium.

History on screen

Anime often travels into the past, and some of the finest series of these years are historical. Orb: On the Movements of the Earth follows the dangerous pursuit of astronomy in fifteenth-century Europe, The Elusive Samurai follows a young heir in fourteenth-century Japan who survives by his gift for escape, and Arte follows a young painter in Renaissance Florence. Appare-Ranman! races across the American West of the nineteenth century, Taisho Otome Fairy Tale takes place in the Taisho era of the 1920s, and Akiba Maid War recreates the Akihabara of 1999 with affectionate detail. Watching them together is like a small tour through history, told with the imagination that only animation allows.

Magical girls and witches

Magic comes in many shapes on 4Anime. Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story returns to the famous world of wishes and witches, Witch Watch follows a cheerful young witch whose spells rarely go to plan, and Once Upon a Witch's Death follows an apprentice witch on a heartfelt quest. Secrets of the Silent Witch follows a brilliant but painfully shy sage, and The Witch and the Beast pairs a cursed young woman with a tall, soft-spoken companion on the trail of witches. Many of these series are gentle enough for younger fans and rich enough for grown-ups.

A growing guide

4Anime grows with every season. As new series premiere, they join the Recently Added row and the current year's collection, and as the year closes the red chart grows a little longer. Come back at the start of every season, in January, April, July and October, to see what is new, and let 4Anime show you where to watch it. Whether you follow every new series from its first episode or prefer to catch up on a whole year at once, the seasons will always be here, neatly arranged, with every episode listed and every title one press away from the services that carry it officially.

Following a new season

A new anime season can feel overwhelming, with dozens of series starting in the same few weeks. Many fans follow a simple habit known as the three-episode rule: try the first three episodes of every series that catches your eye, then keep the ones you love. 4Anime makes that easy. Open the current year's collection, save the promising titles to My List, and mark each episode as you go. By the middle of the season your list will hold only the series you truly enjoy, and the rest will be waiting in the year collection if you change your mind.

The studios behind the seasons

Anime fans often follow studios as closely as stories. BONES made CAROLE & TUESDAY, Super Crooks, Metallic Rouge and T・P BON. Madhouse made Sonny Boy, No Guns Life, Boogiepop and Others and Orb: On the Movements of the Earth. CloverWorks made The Elusive Samurai, Horimiya: The Missing Pieces and The Millionaire Detective – Balance: UNLIMITED, Production I.G made Aoashi, TRIGGER made SSSS.DYNAZENON, MAPPA made To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts and Listeners, Kyoto Animation made CITY THE ANIMATION, and P.A.WORKS made Appare-Ranman!, Akiba Maid War and Food for the Soul. Every anime page lists its studios, so you can follow a favourite team from one season to the next.

Manga, novels and games

Most anime begin somewhere else. Many adapt manga, such as Skip and Loafer, Blue Box, Medalist and Orb: On the Movements of the Earth, and reading the manga after the anime is a favourite way to find out what happens next. Many others adapt light novels, especially fantasy stories such as Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF and Secrets of the Silent Witch, and some adapt video games, such as The World Ends with You: The Animation, Scarlet Nexus and Umamusume: Cinderella Gray. Original anime, written for the screen, include Sonny Boy, ID: INVADED, CAROLE & TUESDAY and Buddy Daddies.

Watching together

The original 4Anime invited its visitors to join a community, and watching anime together is still one of its great pleasures. Pick a series from the current season with friends, agree to watch each new episode on the day it arrives, and talk about it afterwards. Mysteries such as ID: INVADED and Sonny Boy are especially good for this, because every episode leaves new questions. Share the anime's 4Anime page, and each friend can press Watch now to find it in their own country.

The story of 4Anime

The name 4Anime was one of the most visited anime addresses of its time, with a simple dark layout, weekly rows of new episodes and an active community, and many later sites borrowed the name. This 4Anime keeps the dark look, the seven-poster rows and the love of the anime calendar, and turns them into an honest guide, with every anime linked to the services that carry it officially.

Questions