Best Japanese music series

Kousei Arima was a genius pianist until his mother's sudden death took away his ability to play. Each day was dull for Kousei. But, then he meets a violinist named Kaori Miyazono who has an eccentric playing style. Can the heartfelt sounds of the girl's violin lead the boy to play the piano again?

A small-town doctor gets sucked into the ruthless world of show business when he crosses paths with a popular teen idol who holds a secret.

Yui Hirasawa has no clue which club to join, but she’s determined to do something this year. As luck would have it, she discovers a flyer for the Light Music Club and decides this is the club for her. But there's one problem: She first must learn guitar!

Nana Osaki is a guarded and ambitious young woman with a strong will and a rough past. She is the vocalist for a punk band called Black Stones and she desires fame and recognition more than anything else. Nana Komatsu is an outgoing and flighty young woman with a weak will and a stable past. Her life revolves around her desire to find love and marriage. The two meet for the first time while traveling to Tokyo - in pursuit of their respective dreams - and they later decide to be roommates. Although drastically different people, the two become very close and together they find out if their biggest dreams have room for their best friend.

Hitori Gotoh, a shy, awkward, and lonely high school student dreams of being in a band despite her doubts and worries, but when she is recruited to be the guitarist of a group looking to make it big, she realises her dream may be able to be fulfilled and come true.

In the near future, Vivy, a diva-type A.I., went up on stage each day with hopes of putting her heart into her song. One day, the A.I. Matsumoto, who claims to have arrived from 100 years in the future, appears before Vivy with an important request...

Two different students - a successful but aloof academic and a rebellious but kindhearted delinquent - form a friendship through their love for music.

Part-timer Carole meets rich girl Tuesday, and each realizes they've found the musical partner they need. Together, they just might make it.

Koyuki Tanaka's boring life is changed after meeting Ryusuke Minami, a local musician with a bad attitude, who introduces him to foreign music.

After swearing off music due to an incident at the middle school regional brass band competition, euphonist Kumiko Oumae enters high school hoping for a fresh start. As fate would have it, she ends up being surrounded by people with an interest in the high school brass band. Kumiko finds the motivation she needs to make music once more with the help of her bandmates, some of whom are new like novice tubist Hazuki Katou; veteran contrabassist Sapphire Kawashima; and band vice president and fellow euphonist Asuka Tanaka. Others are old friends, like Kumiko's childhood friend and hornist-turned-trombonist Shuuichi Tsukamoto, and trumpeter and bandmate from middle school, Reina Kousaka. However, in the band itself, chaos reigns supreme. Despite their intention to qualify for the national band competition, as they currently are, just competing in the local festival will be a challenge—unless the new band advisor Noboru Taki does something about it.

Music is the light that illuminates people's hearts-- and that "light" was suddenly taken from the world. The world changed the night the black "Kuroya Meteorite" fell. Grotesque monsters known as D2 emerged from the meteorite and began to overrun the land and people. As the D2 were drawn to melodies people played, eventually "music" itself became taboo. However, those who opposed the monsters appeared. They the "Musicart," girls who draw power from music. They possess the great operas and musical scores of humanity history and use them to defeat the D2.

General of the Three Kingdoms, Kongming had struggled his whole life, facing countless battles that made him into the accomplished strategist he was. So on his deathbed, he wished only to be reborn into a peaceful world... and was sent straight to modern-day party-central, Tokyo! Can even a brilliant strategist like Kongming adapt to the wild beats and even wilder party people?!

Shinichi Chiaki is a first class musician whose dream is to play among the elites in Europe. Coming from a distinguished family, he is an infamous perfectionist; not only is he highly critical of himself, but of others as well. The only thing stopping Chiaki from leaving for Europe is his fear of flying. As a result, he's grounded in Japan. During his 4th year at Japan's top music university, Chiaki happens to meet Noda Megumi—or as she refers to herself, Nodame. On the surface, she seems to be an unkempt girl with no direction in life. However, when Chiaki hears Nodame play the piano for the first time, he is in awe at the kind of music she plays. To Chiaki's dismay, Nodame moves into the apartment next to his and finds out that she is head-over-heels in love with him.

Otonokizaka High School is planning to close within three years. However, nine female students come together with one thing in mind—form a pop idol group to revive the school’s popularity and keep it from shutting down. 'In order to protect our beloved school, there’s only one thing we can do...become pop stars!'

A group of 3 yakuza failed their boss for the last time. After messing up an important job, the boss gave them 2 choices: honorably commit suicide, or go to Thailand to get a sex reassignment surgery in order to become "female" idols. After a gruesome year training to become idols, they successfully debut, with overwhelming popularity, much to their dismay. This is where their tragedy truly begins.

Since the graduation of the senior members of the club, Takezou ends up being the sole member of the "Koto" (traditional Japanese string instrument) club. Now that the new school year has begun, Takezou will have to seek out new members into the club, or the club will become terminated. Out of nowhere, a new member barges into the near-abandoned club room, demanding to join the club. How will Takezou be able to keep his club alive and deal with this rascal of a new member?

A tranquil tale about two boys from very different upbringings. On one hand you have Kai, born as the son of a prostitute, who's been playing the abandoned piano in the forest near his home ever since he was young. And on the other you have Syuhei, practically breast-fed by the piano as the son of a family of prestigious pianists. Yet it is their common bond with the piano that eventually intertwines their paths in life.

Yuu Haruna, a loner and an avid Twitter user, has just transferred to a new school in Tokyo. He ends up befriending a unique high school girl named Fuuka Akitsuki, despite some initial conflict, and the two wind up forming a band together with their classmates. Their relationship becomes strained however when Koyuki Hinashi, Yuu's childhood friend who has become a popular idol, contacts Yuu on Twitter and attempts to rekindle long lost feelings.

Nina Iseri drops out of high school and moves to Tokyo by herself. In front of the station in the suburbs of Tokyo, Nina sees Momo Kawaragi singing alone and is touched by the power of music. Nina decides to form a band with Momo, Subaru Awasu, a girl who hides her true feelings, Tomo Ebutsuka, who was abandoned by her parents, and Rupa, a lonely girl without any family...

Uranohoshi Girls’ High School, a private school in the seaside neighborhood of Uchiura at Numazu city, Shizuoka prefecture. A small high school in a corner of Suruga Bay, it is home to nine teens, led by second-year student Chika Takami, driven by one seriously big dream: To become the next generation of bright, sparkling “school idols”! As long as we don’t give up, any dream can come true... All we have to do now is keep pushing hard for fame and glory! Now their “School Idol Project” begins to make their dreams come true!

Wakana Sakai was involved in music, but gave it up one day. Konatsu Miyamoto loves singing and can't be torn from it. Sawa Okita would do anything for her closest friends. They laugh, they fight, they worry, they love... Through their very ordinary lives, little by little the girls learn to move forward. Sometimes they feel as if they can't go on alone, but as long as they have their friends, they believe they'll make it someday. Wakana, Konatsu, Sawa, and the music they make in their ensemble weave a tiny but dazzling story of the power of music.

Forced to give up playing guitar when her mother remarried a rich real estate tycoon, Lilisa Suzunomiya's passion for music reawakens when she meets Otoha Kurogane, her seemingly perfect classmate who is secretly a heavy metal drummer!

Matsugorou Sawamura is a shamisen player of legendary talent. Upon his death, his grandson, Setsu Sawamura, lost his ability to play. Having lost his beloved sound, Setsu finds himself in Tokyo in search of a new sound to love. Tachiki Yuna, who works at a club, hooks him up with a gig to play there as a warm up act. Setsu imbues the sound of his shamisen with his many thoughts and feelings he has of others, still searching for his own sound and his own feelings.

Maki Maki, Sebuki Suzume, Beppu Tsukasa and Iemori Yutaka happen to meet and form a quartet. They even begin to live together in Karuizawa during the winter, but there is a big hidden secret.

During a concert by idol group Zwei Wing, an alien force known as the Noise attack the stage. Group members Tsubasa Kazanari and Kanade Amou suppress the attack using their Symphogear armor, but despite their best efforts, innocent bystander Hibiki Tachibana is fatally injured. Distraught and much to Tsubasa's dismay, Kanade sacrifices herself in the process to save Hibiki. Two years later, Hibiki lives on. Tsubasa now fights alone. With the threat of the Noise increasing, Hibiki finds herself encountering the Noise once again but this time she is granted a chance to become attuned with the same Symphogear that Kanade wielded.

Mitsuki loves singing, but a malignant tumor in her throat has prevented her from pursuing her passion. However, Mitsuki's life turns around when two fun-loving Shinigami appear to grant her a temporary reprieve from her illness--and give her singing career a magical jump-start.

Bubbly, energetic first-year high school student Himari falls head over heels for her senpai, Yori, after hearing her band perform on the first day of school. Himari tells Yori she just loves her, and, to Himari's surprise, Yori says she loves Himari back! But when Himari realizes that she and her senpai are feeling two different kinds of love, she begins to ask herself what "love" really means.

The best way to fit in at a new school? Start a band! Anon has just transferred to Haneoka Girls’ Academy where girl bands are all the rage. But she started school late, so there aren’t many girls left to recruit. Then she meets her first friend and Haneoka’s misfit, Tomori, who’s hesitant to join. Still, Anon is determined to persuade Tomori and experience the true power of friendship and music.

Ritsuka Uenoyama is bored with it all—with school, with his basketball club, and even with his one true passion: playing guitar. That is, until the day he finds his favorite hidden napping spot occupied by a strange boy cradling a broken-stringed guitar. At first, Uenoyama is nonplussed by Mafuyu Satō and his slightly odd behavior, but when, on a whim, he asks Mafuyu to sing, the power of that song pierces him to the core.

Yuigaoka Girls High School is a newly established school that lies between the Omotesando, Harajuku, and Aoyama neighborhoods of Tokyo. The story centers on its first batch of students. With no history, no upperclassmen or alumni, and no reputation, it is a school full of unknowns. Five girls, among them Kanon Shibuya, have a fateful encounter with school idols. Kanon decides, "I love singing. I want to make something come true with song!" Many feelings converge upon a star that has only started to grow. The future is blank and full of possibility for these girls, and their story that everyone will make possible has only just begun. Soar with your wings, our Love Live!

Nijigasaki High School is located in Odaiba, Tokyo. The school is popular due to its free school style and diverse majors. The story centers on the members of school idol club in Nijigasaki, and their attempt to prevent the club from being abolished.

"Super Sonico" debuted as Nitro+'s live mascot girl, and her world will be brought to life in the anime, "SoniAni - SUPER SONICO THE ANIMATION -"!

Set in a world where the concept of music ceases to exist. the story begins when a boy encounters Myuu, a mysterious girl who possesses an audio input jack in her body. The two intermingle with the history of rock music and embark on an unforgettable journey.

What would you do to pursue your passion? For Hiyori Suzumi, it’s leaving her simple rural hometown for the bustling city of Tokyo to join Sakuragaoka High School’s track team. Between being a manager-in-training for two cutthroat schoolboy idols, track, and friends, Hiyori shows no signs of slowing down.

35 years have passed since Lynn Minmay had brought peace between the Zentradi and the humans. Nekki Basara is a guitarist and a singer of the band Fire Bomber. Living in the flying colony City 7 , he composes and sings songs in the belief that music holds a greater power. However, an unknown alien race appeared and started laying siege upon City 7.

Asuka had once realized her goal to become a teacher, but after a gutting failure, she gives up her dream profession and becomes extremely withdrawn. After a series of events, she finds herself becoming a live-in housemother for a dorm… where the boy-band septet 8LOOM live together! At the dorm, she is reunited with her former student Dan—as a teacher, Asuka used to encourage him to go for his dreams. Inspired by Dan's leadership in the band and his passion for making his dream come true, Asuka, too, regains the passion she had in her teaching days and comes to terms with her own failure.

Working at an agency owned by your father, seven new idols await. They are all part of an idol unit IDOLiSH7, and each of them have unique personalities. It is your task to manage them. In order to achieve the same goals, as manager and idols together, you gather the seven ununified hearts and aim for the top.

One day, Miu Takigawa suddenly receives a letter notifying her that she has been chosen as a member of a brand-new project. Half in disbelief, she heads over to the location stated on the letter. There, she finds seven other girls summoned there in the same fashion. The girls behold a giant, top-secret facility. They stand in bewilderment as they are told: "You are going to debut for a major record label as an idol group." A new kind of idol, never-before-seen, is about to be born here...

In the fall of his third and final year of middle school, Hajime Aono, a violin prodigy, stopped playing violin for his own personal reasons. But it was also that year when he got to know a girl who told him about a high school with a prestigious school orchestra. Suddenly, the gears in the clock of Aono's life began to turn again. This is the story of a youth drama that brings forth the harmony between music and the heart!

After losing everything in a single night, Sakiko Togawa reaches out toward an even deeper abyss, one that will drag everyone around her down as well. Gathering the lives of girls burdened with their own troubles and desires, Sakiko raises the curtain on a perfect masquerade. On a stage where sorrow, death, fear, love—even the solace of forgetting—are stripped away, will their masks be torn off and shatter into oblivion?

Rinku Aimoto, who has a habit of saying "Happy Around!", has returned to Japan from abroad and enrolls at Yoba Academy where DJing is popular. She is deeply moved by a DJ concert she sees there and decides to form a unit of her own with DJ Maho Akashi, VJ Muni Ohnaruto and keyboardist Rei Togetsu. While interacting with other DJ units like Peaky P-key and Photon Maiden, Rinku and her friends aim for the high stage!

The gateway to Idol stardom might have opened for the newly formed singing group Wake Up, Girls, but the path to fame is full of perils and pitfalls. And for Mayu, Airi, Minami, Yoshino, Nanami, Kaya and Miyu, it's going to be especially difficult knowing who to trust, as their manager Matsuda's lack of experience could give other, less scrupulous, individuals a chance to take advantage.

Saturated in hip hop culture comes the birth of a new movement known as "Phantom Live." Each of the artists have a metal accessory known as "Phantom Metal" which chemically reacts to the wearer's emotions to produce an image, setting a magnificent stage for enthusiastic youths. With legendary club "CLUB paradox" hosting the mysterious Paradox Live, four teams: BAE, The Cat's Whiskers, cozmez and Akanyatsura each receive an invitation to participate, each with their own genre of music in a race to the top.

Legendary rap group The Dirty Dawg could have taken Japan by storm, but then they broke up. Now each member fights in one of the four rival groups. Battles for turf are fought with rap and the Hypnosis Mic, a microphone that can affect the human spirit.

Two fans of pop idol Ai are reincarnated as her "secret" baby twins, Aqua and Ruby, and grow up supporting her until the tragic day she is stabbed by a stalker. Flash forward a few years later, and Aqua and Ruby are high-school students determined to make it on their own in the cut-throat world of entertainment for personal reasons.

The story reimagines Yoshiko Tsushima, the school idol afflicted with chuunibyou (adolescent delusions of grandeur), as a magical girl. The story is set in Numazu, a scenic harbor town surrounded by the sea and mountains. Ever since she was little, the girl Yohane has never fit in, and has always felt apart from everyone in town. Her aspirations and true place in this world lie elsewhere. The story follows this girl who can't follow rules as she journeys into the mysterious world.

Tsubasa is a new hire in the A&R department of the major recording company Gandala Music. Tsubasa is immediately assigned to oversee the idol unit "B-PROJECT," which is made up of three idol groups: Kitakore, Thrive, and MooNs. This is Tsubasa's first job, and she gets involved in various incidents and accidents as she deals with this group of young men who each have their own differing personalities.

Hoshitani Yuta enters Ayanagi Academy, a school focusing on show business activities, specifically music. The academy has a group of the grade three students with the highest grades in the musical department, and they are known as the Kao Kai (Cherry Blossom Flower Association). This organization stands at the top of the pecking order within the academy. The shortcut to entering the musical department is to enter the Star Frame class, which is directly taught by the members, and to be recognized by them. Unfortunately, due to their own problems, students Nayuki Toru, Tsukigami Kaito, Tengenji Kakeru, Kuga Shu and Hoshitani Yuta are all struggling to even remain candidates for the musical department. By a stroke of luck, however, the five are spotted by Kao Kai member Otori, and they pique his interest.

Yuya is part of the idol duo ZINGS, but his laziness and disdain for fans puts him in danger of getting blacklisted. That is, until he meets Asahi, the ghost of a former idol who’s eager to stage her own comeback by possessing Yuya's willing body!

Kirarin Revolution is a Japanese shōjo manga by An Nakahara. The series' title is the supposed name of Kirari's debut single. As of August 2007, it runs in the shōjo magazine Ciao published by Shogakukan. It won the 2007 Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga. The anime adaptation is a Japan and South Korea coproduction, and it premiered on 7 April 2006 in Japan on TV Tokyo and ran for 153 episodes until March 27, 2009. Starting from episode 103, this show aired in High-Definition 16:9 with 3D animation. Its airing time was 18:00-18:30 on Fridays.

Welcome to Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture. For first-year high school student Yuina Akagi, her middling life takes a wild turn the moment a mysterious frog named Keroppe shows up and asks her, “Why don’t you become a witch?” Alongside Azu Niisato, Kyoka Kitahara, Choco Mitsumata, and Mai Kamiizumi, Yuina and her friends are excited to make people’s dreams come true as the Maebashi Witches.

Beautiful immortals have gathered in Harajuku to compete for a grand prize: Immense power! For years now the artists behind worldly culture and music have secretly been vampires, including those who produce Visual Kei. Now, they perform their most beautiful songs in the hallowed grounds of the Prison under the Scarlet Moon.

Although the idol group TiNgS is chasing after big dreams, so far their accomplishments have only been small — and now, suddenly, they're facing a potential break up! Hope seems lost, but when a new manager with a special skillset takes them under his wing, the members of TiNgS find themselves shooting for the stars all over again.

Ichigo Hoshimiya is a regular, ordinary middle school girl. But when her best friend Aoi invites her to join the idol training academy, Starlight Academy, her whole world is turned upside down. As she encounters all kinds of rivals and learns what it takes to be an idol, she uses her Aikatsu Cards to challenge countless auditions.

Two boys meet on a rooftop to escape the world—one guarded, one sincere, and both curiously drawn to each other.

“The Mature Idol Project” - The latest project proposed by Manpuku Entertainment Productions, in a bid to revive the company. Experienced in the successes and failures of the business world, 6 middle-aged men now face the many hurdles of age and physical ability, whilst pursuing their goal to become idols. In an effort to prove that old dogs can learn new tricks, and that you can still learn to shine no matter your age, these middle-aged men, at the end of their ropes, are taking a stand!

The series will feature a new protagonist named Yume Nijino. Yume aims to become a top idol, and she enrolls in the Yotsuboshi Gakuen (Four Stars Academy). This academy has a special group called the S4, who are the top four active idols in the school. Yume and the other first-year students aim to become a part of the S4.

Akira Kiyose, a high schooler who loves to sing, gets recruited by a talent agency called sMiLea Production. Akira learns that the legendary idols “Anela”, who shocked the world with their sudden retirement, are behind the agency developing talent. Together with Banri Naoe and Chihiro Isuzugawa, also recruited by the agency, they form an idol group as they chase their dream towards super stardom alongside other idol groups “LEGIT” and “JAXX/JAXX”.

A VOCALOID x voice actors collaboration, featuring songs from EXIT TUNES. Within a sprawling academic metropolis lies an exclusive academy where students are encouraged to join clubs such as singing and archaeology to earn points for recognition. The most important of these is the big singing contest where all contestants have to sing in front of the entire school!

The main characters, Himari Aozora and Mitsuki Hoshikawa, enter Paradise Private Academy. Himari, who aspires for AIPRI, dreams of making 10,000 friends! But for the shy and anxious Himari, it might be a bit difficult... Himari unexpectedly makes her AIPRI debut!? She has a "secret" she can't even tell her best friend, Mitsuki! But it seems that Mitsuki has a "secret" of her own... Secret-bearers Himari and Mitsuki's AIPRI begins!!

Hibiki Kazaguruma, a sixth grader, meets an amusing little robot named Breakin while coming home from school one day. Breakin, a dancer from an alternate-dimension dance world, challenged the Dance King for the throne and lost. He has been deprived of Dance Stones (crystals containing the powers of different forms of dance) and sent to the human world. To restore his power, Breakin must collect all the Dance Stones scattered around Earth.

Four ownerless androids shack up in an abandoned house, but with no electricity to recharge themselves, they face the threat of a forced shutdown. To get utilities up and running, they rally together to perform at Babel, the epicenter of entertainment where singers sing their way through a tournament for prize money. Will this android boy band have what it takes?

The first mini-anime series of the smartphone rhythm game "Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE! feat. Hatsune Miku", commonly known as "ProSeka", is now available! Enjoy watching the everyday lives of Leo/need, MORE MORE JUMP!, Vivid BAD SQUAD, Wonderlands×Showtime and 25-ji, Nightcord de.!

Hands clasped, hearts alight, our idols take flight! Watch as our wannabe idols band together to forge friendships and pursue their dreams, each with their own unique personalities that light up the screen just as much as the breathtaking visuals and novel storytelling. Embark on a dazzling and heartwarming tale about chasing a shining world.

Hibiki and Kanade are two friends who grew up together in Kanon Town. Very different in their personalities, they share one thing in common: A connection to music. No matter how different they are or how much their differences cause them to quarrel, they both continue to share loving hearts. One day they meet Hummy, who is sent to the Human World from Major Land to collect the scattered notes of the Melody of Happiness. They have to instantly transform into Pretty Cures to resist the threats and evil music from Mephisto. Can they stop the Melody of Sorrow from disrupting their peaceful town, and can their warped friendship measure up to the bonds of Pretty Cure?

It takes place at a fictional theater called Hollywood Tokyo in Harajuku, where members of the idol group "Shonen Hollywood" develop their talents with diligent work and studying.