Summary
If you’ve ever wanted to combine your love of video games and your love ofanime, you’re in luck. After the popularity of Sword Art Online, an anime series featuring characters who get stuck in a game world, there’s been a burst of video-game themed anime.
While a lot of these are anime about people who get transported into the world of a game, the video-game sub-genre ofisekai anime, there are also a lot of great series out there currently about actually being a gamer. So, if you’re looking for something to watch between games, something that you can relate to as a gamer, then look no further.
Streaming
Netflix
A broken family of gamers seek solace in an online game called Planet. What they don’t know is that they’ve all met in the game again, and they’ve created a happier version of their family online. As they avoid each other to (secretly) play together, their digital fantasies and real-world issues start to become more intertwined.
This anime doesn’t take long to watch, so even if the blend of video game-themed action and personal drama falls flat for you, you won’t have wasted too much time. It’s a good place to start if you’re looking to get into anime that centers around gamers (and notjustgames).
Hulu, Amazon Prime, Crunchyroll, YouTube, Google Play
As a complete beginner to the VRMMO, Kaede Honjou is afraid of her character getting hurt, so she makes the choice to pour all of her stats into defense. Although this makes her a worse player in all other areas, it also has the unforeseen benefit of making her almost unkillable, with some powerful benefits that soon attract more attention than she ever anticipated.
The fun of the show is in watching a new player learn the ins and outs of gaming, with all the over-powered hijinks we expect from an anime protagonist. While it isn’t going to be accurate to real-life MMOs, it is a funny, charming, and very cute show that will take your mind off things for a little while.
Amazon Prime, Crunchyroll
Centering around a 30-year-old woman who’s obsessed with the MMO Fruits de Mer,this romantic comedyfollows the progression of two close online players who coincidentally meet in the real world. The anime focuses more on the personal lives of the players than it does on the game, so it’s lighter on the action than other choices.
If you also like playing MMOs or can relate to wanting to spend every free moment in a video game, then this anime will prove incredibly relatable. If you’re simply a fan of romance, fun coincidences, or a heart-warming plot, then there’s also something in it for you.
Amazon Prime, Crunchy Roll, Apple TV
A slice-of-life animethat takes place in the fictional gaming studio Eagle Jump, following a new hire, Aoba Suzukaze, who has loved the games they make all her life. Working there, she meets a cast of colorful characters that help her with the development of the latest game. It’s a lighthearted look at the world of game design by gamers who love what they’re doing.
This anime is all about very cute girls talking about games, so even with the fully adult cast they can come across as immature. That being said, the relationships are the heart of the anime, and it doesn’t shy away from the details of designing a game.
A coming-of-age romance that’s also a love letter to retro gaming, this anime takes us back in time to the 90s world of arcade gaming. Sixth graders Haruo Yaguchi and Akira Oono couldn’t be more different: one of them is a young man who struggles in almost every area of his life and the other is an almost perfect girl.
All that they share is a passion, and skill, for playing games. It’s through their mutual competition that they bond, and the anime explores how this hobby shapes them and their relationship. Though the art style may not be for everyone, it has drama, comedy, and pure gaming.
Amazon Prime, Crunchyroll, Apple TV
A romantic comedy that takes place both in our real world and in the fictional MMO Forest of Savior, this anime has a lot of heart. After Akane Kinoshita breaks up with her boyfriend, she formulates a plan to get back at him during an in-person event for Forest of Savior, which they used to play together.
Luckily for her (and unluckily for him, at first), one of her guild mates is an incredibly high-ranking player named Akito Yamada. As she draws him more into her world, the two find themselves bonding in and out of the game. Who said gaming couldn’t be action-packedandromantic?
Rakuten Viki
Not a Japanese production, this Chinese anime based on a web novel of the same name focuses on the competitive world of esports to tell its story. We follow Ye Xiu, who was one of the best players in the world of an online multiplayer game called Glory. However, as he got older he was pushed out of competing.
If you’re familiar with the plot of Sword Art Online, then this anime’s plot will ring some bells. Following an update to the MMORPG Elder Tale, 30,000 Japanese gamers are now stuck in the game, unable to log out. What sets this one apart is that the characters actually behave like real-life players who are now beholden to the rules of the game.
The entire anime takes place in the game world, but it keeps its focus on this idea of navigating and building a functional society in a game that can accommodate real people full-time. For both those who love and hate Sword Art Online, Log Horizon is a good next choice that has enough episodes to keep you busy for a while.
Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Fandango
High-school student Rakurou Hizutome, who plays as Sunraku, enjoys conquering the VR games he plays, skipping through tutorials to get to the action. Previously, he focused on buggy, terrible games, but he decides to challenge himself and plays the new Shangri-La Frontier, immediately selling off everything he starts with but boxers and a bird mask to earn extra money.
From there, the anime is fully game-centric, focusing on how Sunraku draws on all his previous experience to level-up and continue to make it through the game. While the stakes aren’t about actual life-or-death, that just makes them even more true to real gaming, and anyone who’s ever wanted to beat a game can relate to the intensity foundin these action-packed sequences.
