user191: If you want to find an anime or manga on your own and you remember something about it, this post is for you!
If you have a picture, but you don't remember anything, see how to reverse-search images instead. 

user191: I only remember the animals
Anime Planet has a wide range of animal and other creature tags:

Dogs
Cats
Birds
Rabbits
Reptiles
Frogs

If you don't see the type of creature you're looking for, look through the full tag list.

user191: I only remember the characters
Search characters by their unique traits:

Anime character database − tags, work type, hair color, eye color, hair length, age, gender, etc.
Anime Planet − name, gender, hair color, tags (select multiple unique character descriptions)
MyAnimeList all character names list − name


user191: tl;dr

Search for "anime" or "manga" + keywords uniquely describing it.
If step 1 didn't solve it, see recommendations/similar titles to what you're looking for.


1. Search for unique identifiers
Remember the things that uniquely describe the work you're searching. You need something very unusual that you don't see in a lot of other titles. This may come as a surprise, but these keywords will immediately get you the results:

Mecha robots, angels − Evangelion
TV robot, giant iron − FLCL
Vampire, red round glasses − Hellsing
Police, pistol, criminal − Psycho-Pass
Banana, microwave, time travel − Steins;Gate
Photographer, camera, explosion, cult − SpeedGrapher
Space, garbage collectors − Planetes

Of course, there are a lot of works related to either castles, fighting, vampires or detectives, but if you can remember at least one more distinguishing detail, it will narrow down a lot of results:

Flying castle − Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Fighting without a sword − Katanagatari
Vampire blonde little girl − Bakemonogatari
Detective dream − Paprika

When searching the internet, include the word "anime" or "manga" (or light novel, etc), or you might get a movie or something else non-relevant.
2. Look at recommendations and similar works
If you've found something that looks similar to what you're looking for, take a look at its recommendations and similar works. On MyAnimeList, it would be "Recommendations" tab:


191: <p>If you want to find an anime or manga on your own and you remember something about it, this post is for you!</p>

<p>If you have a picture, but you don't remember anything, see <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/21618/where-is-this-picture-from-how-do-i-use-reverse-image-search-to-find-the-source">how to reverse-search images</a> instead. </p>
 191: <h2>I only remember the animals</h2>

<p>Anime Planet has a wide range of <a href="http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/animals" rel="nofollow">animal</a> and other creature tags:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/dogs" rel="nofollow">Dogs</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/cats" rel="nofollow">Cats</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/birds" rel="nofollow">Birds</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/rabbits" rel="nofollow">Rabbits</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/reptiles" rel="nofollow">Reptiles</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/tags/frogs" rel="nofollow">Frogs</a></li>
</ul>

<p>If you don't see the type of creature you're looking for, <a href="http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/all#multipletags" rel="nofollow">look through the full tag list</a>.</p>
 191: <h2>I only remember the characters</h2>

<p>Search characters by their unique traits:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/search.php" rel="nofollow">Anime character database</a> − <strong>tags</strong>, work type, hair color, eye color, hair length, age, gender, etc.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/all" rel="nofollow">Anime Planet</a> − name, gender, hair color, <strong>tags</strong> (select multiple unique character descriptions)</li>
<li><a href="http://myanimelist.net/character.php" rel="nofollow">MyAnimeList all character names list</a> − name</li>
</ul>
 191: <h3>tl;dr</h3>

<ol>
<li>Search for "anime" or "manga" + keywords uniquely describing it.</li>
<li>If step 1 didn't solve it, see recommendations/similar titles to what you're looking for.</li>
</ol>

<hr>

<h3>1. Search for unique identifiers</h3>

<p>Remember the things that uniquely describe the work you're searching. You need something very unusual that you don't see in a lot of other titles. This may come as a surprise, but these keywords will immediately get you the results:</p>

<ul>
<li>Mecha robots, angels − <em>Evangelion</em></li>
<li>TV robot, giant iron − <em>FLCL</em></li>
<li>Vampire, red round glasses − <em>Hellsing</em></li>
<li>Police, pistol, criminal − <em>Psycho-Pass</em></li>
<li>Banana, microwave, time travel − <em>Steins;Gate</em></li>
<li>Photographer, camera, explosion, cult − <em>SpeedGrapher</em></li>
<li>Space, garbage collectors − <em>Planetes</em></li>
</ul>

<p>Of course, there are a lot of works related to either <em>castles, fighting, vampires</em> or <em>detectives</em>, but if you can remember at least one more distinguishing detail, it will narrow down a lot of results:</p>

<ul>
<li>Flying castle − <em>Laputa: Castle in the Sky</em></li>
<li>Fighting without a sword − <em>Katanagatari</em></li>
<li>Vampire blonde little girl − <em>Bakemonogatari</em></li>
<li>Detective dream − <em>Paprika</em></li>
</ul>

<p>When searching the internet, include the word "anime" or "manga" (or light novel, etc), or you might get a movie or something else non-relevant.</p>

<h3>2. Look at recommendations and similar works</h3>

<p>If you've found something that looks similar to what you're looking for, take a look at its recommendations and similar works. On MyAnimeList, it would be "Recommendations" tab:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/E7w1M.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/E7w1M.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
