There are plenty of anime out there with countless characters, from shonen adventures filled with allies and rivals to high school comedies with colorful casts. But what about the rarer kind of anime that takes the opposite "less is more" approach?
It's difficult to make a great series with a small number of characters because it means that the characters who are featured need to be all the more likable and interesting. Plus, a minimalistic cast usually means a minimalistic story, as it's only with a wide variety of characters with different dynamics and goals that a complicated plot can get off the ground.
10 Mushi-Shi Is The Story Of One Man
On one level, the cult classic anime Mushi-Shi has a lot of characters. It's an episodic series, so the traveling Mushishi, Ginko, meets a new character or community and helps them with a situation involving the mysterious, spirit-like Mushi in each episode.
But, when it comes to the actual impact of the show, it would be disingenuous to think of it as having a large cast. In the end, it is purely Ginko's story, and it's essential to the series' melancholy atmosphere that he never seems to be able to form lasting connections with anyone.
9 Bakemonogatari's Characters Wander Empty Streets
Technically, Bakemonogatari has a fairly decent-sized ensemble cast, with protagonist Araragi meeting an increasing number of strange and dubiously human girls. But what earns it a spot on this list is the fact that no humans other than the main cast appear at all, including on the metropolitan streets and in the high school. Background characters simply don't exist.
The result is an uncanny one, as the series seems to be set in a world that has been abandoned yet preserved. It's ominous, and more than a little creepy, so it perfectly fits the series' overall off-kilter tone, which includes philosophical musings mixed with harem romance antics.
8 School-Live!'s Characters Lock Themselves Away To Survive
There are plenty of anime that feature a small group of high school girls goofing off in a clubroom that they rarely leave. Usually, though, they can leave, and that's what makes School-Live such a morbid take on the genre. In a dark twist, protagonist Yuki only thinks she's staying over at school voluntarily. In reality, a full-scale zombie apocalypse has forced her and her friends to barricade themselves in as their school's last survivors.
Because of this, all the usual slice-of-life side characters are nowhere to be found in School-Live!. There are no teachers, no parents or siblings, and no other classmates. It's just the School Living Club and a whole bunch of undead.
7 Tonari No Seki-Kun Proves Comedy Doesn't Need An Ensemble Cast
Shows with just two or three characters tend to be on the dramatic side. Being so close with only one other person leads to some incredibly strong emotional bonds, and a series where one character spends a lot of time alone tends to be full of self-reflection.
But minimalist casts can also make for effective comedy. Tonari no Seki-Kun: The Master of Killing Time is a short-form comedy series with an incredibly simple set-up. High schooler Rumi Yokoi finds herself constantly distracted by the classroom antics of her seat neighbor, and that allows it to take off into endless flights of fancy.
6 Hotarubi No Mori E Is A Tender, Minimalistic Romance
One summer, a young girl meets a strange boy with a mask over his face. Over the years, they continue to meet, and their relationship deepens. However, the boy warns the girl that they must never touch each other, or he will disappear.
This is the plot of Hotarubi no Mori e, a romance that is simply the story of these two characters. It's almost guaranteed to leave its audience teary-eyed, and its moving tale of yokai and human relationships make it the perfect watch for fans of Spirited Away or Natsume's Book of Friends.
5 Planetarian Is An Adaptation Of Key's Most Minimalistic Work
Over the years, visual novel studio Key has given the anime community some of its most iconic romance series, including Clannad, Kanon, and Air. But, while these are based on games where the player could romance many characters, Planetarian focuses on only one girl.
That girl is Yumemi, a robotic guide to a ruined planetarium in a dying world. She meets a scavenger, Kuzuya, who ends up agreeing to help her fix the planetarium, and what follows is a romance just as beautiful as any of Key's more well-known stories.
4 Angel's Egg Is A Surreal Cult Classic
Fans will probably be most familiar with Yoshitaka Amano's work through his beautiful, delicate artwork from Final Fantasy. But one of Amano's lesser-known artistic accomplishments is the 1985 film Angel's Egg, a beautiful and surreal masterpiece. With only two characters -- a young girl carrying an egg and a man carrying a cross -- the focus of this film remains on the strange, fascinating landscapes that the two wander through. For anime fans looking for something outside the ordinary, it's a must-watch.
3 Girls' Last Tour Focuses On Two Survivors
Girls' Last Tour is a truly unique anime that combines moe slice-of-life antics with a post-apocalyptic setting. Survivors Chito and Yuuri might be constantly struggling to find food and shelter, but the series makes it clear that all they really need is each other.
The first half of the series does feature a couple of other minor characters whom Chito and Yuuri journey with briefly, but this only makes it seem even more desolate when, as the show comes to an end, it becomes clear that they really are the last two left.
2 She And Her Cat Has Only One Human Character
Many of Makoto Shinkai's works have few characters. Both 5 Centimeters Per Second and The Garden of Words focus on two main characters, with the supporting cast only having very minor roles. Meanwhile, Voices of a Distant Star, a science fiction romance, has no side characters at all.
But it's She and Her Cat, Shinkai's very first film, that has the most minimalistic cast of all his work. This short features only one human -- a young woman -- as it explores her life with her cat.
1 Shelter Is A Music Video That Examines What It Means To Be Lonely
"I'm not lonely," says Rin, the protagonist of the short film and music video Shelter, despite being quite literally alone. The audience watches her travel through the gorgeous fantasy landscapes that she has created using her tablet, while painful memories of how and why she has ended up in this strange world slowly surface.
Despite being only six minutes long, Shelter caused a big splash when it came out in 2016. As a music video for a song by Porter Robinson and Madeon, it captured the imaginations of both Japanese and Western fans with its stunning animation and heartbreaking story.