Natsume Takahashi is a 15-year old boy with a huge secret in Natsume Yuujinchou. He is constantly being chased by yokai or Japanese spirits! His grandmother captured all of them in a book called the “Book of Friends,” which she passed on to Natsume when she died. Now, the yokai are haunting Natsume hoping to earn back their freedom. Without any living family, Natsume spends his days being constantly tortured by these spirits. His only companion is his self-proclaimed bodyguard Madara who takes the form of a cat spirit. Along with Madara, Natsume tries to free the yokai who are trapped by his book, hopefully gaining his own freedom and solitude in the end as well.

Natsume Yuujinchou and Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin are both great anime for people interested in a fusion between modern and ancient Japan. They both tie traditional Japanese folklore to a modern setting, taking place in a world that viewers can understand but with a supernatural twist. Plus Natsume Yuujinchou and Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin are full of yokai! Anyone who loved seeing all of the interesting spirits that showed up in Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin will love seeing even more of them in Natsume Yuujinchou. Plus both anime are about young men who have to deal with their special “gift” of being able to see and communicate with these spirits, and how that affects their lives.

Aoi is just an average university student in Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi - or is she? Turns out that she has inherited a very special ability from her grandfather and can see ayakashi, or spirits! When she is feeding these ayakashi one day, a mysterious demon appears. The demon claims that Aoi’s grandfather owes him a debt, and now Aoi has to repay it by marrying him. Not wanting to marry a demon, Aoi decides to work off the debt instead. And that is how she finds herself in service to a demon and in a life, she could never have imagined for herself.

Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi is a supernatural anime full of Japanese folklore much like Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin. In both anime, the main character had the special ability to communicate and see these strange spirits and has to deal with what that gift means. Plus both Aoi and Arata inherited this gift - Aoi from her grandfather, and Arata from his past self. Now they are both stuck trying to deal with and help these demons and spirits, and both have gotten more than they bargained for. If you want to see even more Japanese folklore brought to life in anime after Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin, you can definitely get your fix with Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi, which presents them in a different style to keep you curious and coming back for more.

Shounen Onmyouji is the story of a young man named Masahiro, the grandson of the great onmyouji Abe no Seimei, who could see and interact with spirits. But Masahiro has lost his ability to see supernatural beings, making it impossible to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and become a great onmyouji! Masahiro has nearly settled on just finding a new career when he encounters a spirit that he names Mokkun. Mokkun is able to show Masahiro just how powerful he can be, and the two set off as partners on a quest for Masahiro to become an onmyouji after all!

First and foremost, Shounen Onmyouji and Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin have something huge in common - a reference and connection to the same historical figure, Abe no Seimen! Masahiro is his grandson, and Arata is his reincarnated form. Thus both anime are tied to the same time in history through the same person despite having entirely different time settings themselves. Because of their connection to Abe no Seimen, both young men have abilities involving Japanese demons and spirits. So both anime have plenty of Japanese folklore, yokai, and more supernatural fun for fans to love. If that historical connection and plenty of yokai made you love Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin, check out the more historical Shounen Onmyouji and see what you think.

Fukigen na Mononokean begins with Hanae Ashiya having the worst beginning to the school new year. When a strange creature attaches itself to him, he finds himself in the infirmary for his entire first week. And his condition just keeps getting worse as the creature grows bigger! When Hanae figures out it is a yokai, he seeks the help of an exorcist in a mysterious room called the Mononokean. The exorcist does help Hanae, but he is unable to afford the payment. Thus Hanae has to work off his debt by helping the exorcist find other yokai and send them back to the Underworld where they came from!

Fukigen na Mononokean and Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin are first and foremost both anime about Japanese yokai - and they both have plenty of interesting ones to keep you entertained. Both anime also tells the story of a young man who works with these yokai, though one is my choice and one by obligation. Regardless, dealing with yokai and making sure they do not hurt humans is the goal for both Hanae in Fukigen no Mononokean and Arata in Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin. Plus both anime deal specifically with exorcists! So if you liked the exorcist story with plenty of Japanese spirits in Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin, you might enjoy watching Fukigen no Mononokean as well.

Watanuki Kimihiro has a strange and inconvenient ability in xxxHOLiC - he can see spirits everywhere. And he really doesn’t like it. He is constantly bothered by these spirits, and all he wants is to be free from them. Then one day he feels compelled to enter a strange house on his way home where he encounters a woman named Yuuko. She claims that she can grant Watanuki his wish and free him from these spirits, but at a price of course. If Watanuki wants to be free, he first has to work at Yuuko’s strange store which grants wishes to people. If Watanuki thought his ability to see spirits was strange, he hasn’t seen anything yet.

xxxHOLiC and Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin both centre on male main characters who have a unique ability dealing with spirits. Watanuki can see them everywhere, and Arata can speak to them. Both of them didn’t ask for this ability, but they have to learn to live and deal with it. Both of these young men end up in a life surrounded by the supernatural thanks to their special ability, whether they like it or not, and they find themselves involved in a world stranger than they could have ever imagined. Both xxxHOLiC and Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin have a darker tone than most of the other anime on our list as well, so if you prefer a darker tale about spirits and the supernatural like in Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin, you may enjoy xxxHOLiC too.

Fairy Gone is set in a fictional world where fairies possess animals and give them strange abilities. Beyond just animals, fairies were harvested for their magical organs which, when transplanted into humans, allowed these humans to summon fairies as alter egos to use in war. Now that the wars have ended, these fairy soldiers have nowhere to go, and many have become terrorists and mercenaries. To answer these fairy soldier crimes, the Dorothea has been created as a response time. Fairy Gone follows a new Dorothea recruit named Mariya on her adventure in a post-war world wrought with political instability, crime, and terrorist fairy soldiers.

Fairy Gone is the most unique entry on our list for sure, but it still has similarities to Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin. Both of these anime follow an organisation that has been created by humans to deal with supernatural forces beyond their power - Dorothea in Fairy Gone and Nighttime Regional Relations Department in Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin. And both anime follow a new employee of these organizations as they experience the supernatural for the first time and grow in their experiences. Fairies and yokai may be to different kinds of creatures, but they’re both fictional and give these anime their supernatural twist. If you enjoyed the work being done in Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin by the Nighttime Regional Relations Department and are willing to see a similar kind of organisation but with a new creature and twist, try Fairy Gone.