If you are given the chance to play a survival game, would you, participate in such a feat? How much percentage do you think you could win? Or could you even make it out alive? Buzzz… this sounds too dark. But when you think of the survival anime genre, those are exactly the things you need to do! The central theme of survival game anime is typically survival, perseverance, and the human spirit in the face of adversity. They often explore themes such as the power of teamwork, the importance of strategy, and the dangers of relying too heavily on technology.
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So it is a win to survive! Survive to win or both, or just survive!
Anyways, let’s just take a peep at some anime series that tackle such a genre. Be prepared coz some might take you to the edge of your seats! It could immerse you in the situation itself with engaging plots. Or some even might question your own morality and beliefs! So hang tight!
BEST DEATH GAME ANIME THAT YOU SHOULD SEE!
1. Alice in Borderland

Alice in Borderland is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Haro Aso. It follows the story of Arisu, a high school student who, along with his friends, is transported to a parallel world that is ruled by games. The three friends must navigate the games and challenges set by the mysterious Game Master to survive and find a way back home. The world of Borderland is dangerous, with death as the penalty for losing the games. (You already know this!) The series is known for its unique plot and dark, dystopian setting, which is a departure from a typical shonen manga. Alice in Borderland is a thrilling and thought-provoking read that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
2. Future Diary

There is a certain character in this series that is widely known. And that is the yandere queen (as most in the fandom call her) – Yuno Gasai. Anyway, this story follows a high school student named Yukiteru Amano, who discovers that he has been chosen to participate in a survival game where players must use their Future Diary, a device that predicts the future, to eliminate their opponents and become the next god of time and space. And that’s when he met Yuno, and the series became chaos! Have you seen this anime? Go through the Future Diary filler list we have and check if you have seen everything you need!
3. Tower of God

This Japanese anime series based on the Korean webtoon of the same name, follows a young man named Bam, who sets out on a journey to climb the Tower, a mysterious structure that is said to grant wishes to those who reach the top. I would personally climb that tower too! And have all my wishes granted! (*evil laugh*)
Ehem, back to the story — The world of the Tower of God is vast and imaginative, with each floor of the Tower offering new and unexpected dangers and wonders. So watch the series and let us know if you think you can survive this!
4. Btoom!

The title definitely gives out the vibe!!! So, the story takes place on an isolated island, where a group of people finds themselves trapped and forced to participate in a deadly game of Btoom!, a virtual reality combat game that uses real bombs. (sheez!) The main character, Ryota Sakamoto, is a Btoom! champion in the real world and must use his skills to survive the game and find a way back home. (and they have two ending for this series!)
5. Deadman Wonderland

Quite an interesting title and story this is. So, this takes place in a prison theme park called Deadman Wonderland, where the prisoners are forced to participate in deadly games for the entertainment of the visitors. (sounds familiar?) The main character, Ganta Igarashi, is sentenced to Deadman Wonderland after being falsely accused of murder and must fight to survive and clear his name. Of course, this series comes with intense action, some humor, and gore!
6. Sword Art Online

I guess, most of the anime fandom is familiar with or does have an idea about this series. Still, let me give you a brief description of what the main deal is. Here, the story takes place in the near future, where players can fully immerse themselves in a virtual reality MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) called Sword Art Online (SAO). And Kirito, our main character, together with other strong characters must work together to clear the game’s levels and defeat the final boss, or risk being trapped in the game forever – yup in this series, forever is a reality!
7. Darwin’s Game

A high school student named Kaname Sudo becomes involved in a dangerous game called Darwin’s Game, where players can manipulate their own genes to gain special abilities. During the game, Kaname tries to avoid taking lives as much as possible. As the anime progresses, he experiences the loss of friends who are killed by other players in the game. This traumatic experience changes Kaname’s approach to the game and the way he views violence. Unfortunately, there is still no news about the release of the second season of this series.
8. Riddle Story of the Devil

The series takes place at Myōjō Academy, a private girls’ boarding school where thirteen students are admitted into the 10th Year Class Black. Out of these thirteen girls, twelve are assassins from diverse backgrounds, who are assigned to kill the remaining student, Haru Ichinose. Successful completion of the task will result in the assassins being granted their heart’s desires. Failure, on the other hand, will result in expulsion from the class. But one of the assassins, Tokaku Azuma, takes an oath to shield Haru from the other assassins since she started to have romantic feelings for Haru.
9. Danganronpa: The Animation

This is actually an adaptation of the game wherein fifteen top high school students have gathered for an informational event at a high school where graduating is difficult to achieve but ensures success in life. The school’s director, Monokuma the bear, informs the students that they must kill a classmate to graduate. The killer must act undetected, but if the other classmates discover the killer, the killer alone will face death. If the killer goes unnoticed, the other students will die and the killer will graduate. Who will come out alive among the 15 students?
10. Gantz

Kei Kurono is a self-centered person who has a negative attitude toward most people. One day, while waiting for the subway, he witnesses a homeless man fall onto the tracks. His old friend Kato Masaru is trying to save the man and begs Kei to help. Kei reluctantly assists and the two are killed by an oncoming subway train, or so it seems. They find themselves in a room with others who had near-death experiences and are confronted by a giant black sphere called Gantz. So Gantz instructs them to hunt specific aliens and provides them with the necessary equipment. The nature of the aliens and Gantz remains a mystery, leaving Kei and the others to question if they are truly dead. Are they? By the way, this is also considered the first “death game” anime series we had!
11. Magical Girl Raising Project

But this also includes boys, ok? The story goes like this, The Magical Girl Raising Project is a highly successful social network game. Then it offers a rare opportunity for players to become real-life magical girls or boys, selected through a 1 in 10,000 chance. For them to be at the top, players must collect “magical candy” by assisting others. While some see this as a chance to do good, the game is designed in a way that anyone with “appropriate motivation” can become a magical girl. However, as players progress, they realize that the motivation can be either good or bad, and the notion of a selfless and loving magical girl is soon overshadowed by the darkness of human nature. And so there it goes, the real story behind the candies…..
12. Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor

It is the year 1996 and Kaiji Itou, fresh out of high school, moves to Tokyo in search of a stable job. Three years later, he is still unemployed and struggling with depression. He squanders his limited funds on gambling, alcohol, and cigarettes, and turns to vandalizing expensive cars and collecting their emblems to boost his self-esteem. One of these cars belongs to Yuuji Endou, who is connected to the Teiai Corporation financial empire and has been searching for Kaiji. Endou is looking for Kaiji due to a debt he co-signed for his friend Furuhata. Kaiji must choose between working off the debt in a labor camp for 10 years or taking a chance on a one-night gambling cruise called “Espoir” (French for “hope”) with the possibility of paying off the debt if he wins. (this is giving me the John Wick vibe though..)
13. Aoharu x Machine

Hotaru Tachibana, a girl dressed in male attire and serving as the Student Council President and champion of justice, sets out to resolve a problem faced by her friend Kanae with a host. She ends up facing off against the host’s culprit, Masamune Matsuoka, who just so happens to be her neighbor. After a BB gun fight, she must pay compensation to the host club, but Masamune offers to reduce the fees if she joins him and Tohru Yukimura, his childhood friend and apartment mate who is also a hentai manga artist, in a survival game team named Toy ☆ Gun Gun. And their goal is? Of course! To become the top survival game group in Japan.
14. Juuni Taisen: Zodiac War

In a future world, a global event called the Zodiac War takes place every twelve years. The government levels an inhabited city to host the war, where twelve fighters from different nations battle it out in a free-for-all competition. The last fighter standing is granted any wish they desire. The fighters are each given a poisonous jewel that will kill them in twelve hours, adding urgency to the situation. The fighters must extract their opponent’s jewel by any means necessary, leading to intense and sometimes violent battles. Each fighter is assigned an animal from the Chinese Zodiac (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, or Boar) and has unique catchphrases and abilities. Just giving out a disclaimer, if you wanted to check the light novel of this series, just, prepare yourself. (teehee)
15. High Rise Invasion

I think this is one popular anime that shows the survival of the fittest, right? Here, a high school student, Yuri Honjo, is unexpectedly transported to the top of a high-rise building in a strange world surrounded by towering skyscrapers. After witnessing a masked man brutally ending someone with an axe, she realizes she must find a way to survive and escape this dangerous place. (who wouldn’t!) In addition to the threat from the inhuman Angels, Yuri must also face other survivors who have become savage or desperate due to the madness of this high-rise world. Her top priority is to find her beloved brother and escape. There is also a sequel to this story, which we wouldn’t talk about for now.
16. Eden of The East

Saki Morimi, a Japanese woman on her college graduation trip to the US, stumbles upon a strange encounter in front of the White House and meets a mysterious Japanese man who is naked, armed with a gun, and has lost his memories, Saki then provides him with her coat, but later realizes that she had left her passport in the pocket and must find him to retrieve it. As they journey back to Japan, the country is hit by a missile attack that is related to a previous event known as “Careless Monday.” As they search for Akira’s memories, they discover that his cell phone holds 8.2 billion yen in digital money and that he is one of the Seleção, with the responsibility to spend the money and save Japan. Failure to do so will result in his elimination.
17. Bokurano

While at a summer camp, a group of 15 children, consisting of 8 boys and 7 girls, stumbled upon a cave by the ocean. Inside, they found functioning computers and electronics, and soon met the owner, a man named Kokopelli. He told the children he was a programmer developing a game where a giant robot would protect the earth from extraterrestrial attacks and convinced them to play the game and sign a contract. All but one of the children agreed, but moments later, they woke up on the beach, thinking their experience was just a dream.
18. Lostorage Incited WIXOSS

Homura Suzuko, a high school student, returns to her hometown of Ikebukuro with cherished memories of her childhood friend, Morikawa Chinatsu. Upon arrival at school, she finds it difficult to fit in with her classmates but decides that playing the card game WIXOSS might help her make friends. After purchasing a deck set, she finds that the girl on one of the cards can move and speak. The game of WIXOSS involves battling for control of five coins that hold memories, and winning means the ability to leave the game. As Suzuko becomes embroiled in this intense game, Chinatsu too is drawn into the game, leaving both girls uncertain of what their future holds.
19. Granbelm

Returning to school at night to retrieve a forgotten lunchbox ends up being a fateful decision for Mangetsu Kohinata when she’s unexpectedly transported to a strange world filled with girls in giant magical armor engaging in intense battles. Despite the timing, Mangetsu’s appearance in this realm was not a coincidence, as she appears to possess her own mage abilities. With the help of Shingetsu, a mysterious ally, Mangetsu must master summoning and controlling her own giant armor to participate in the competition and compete against other mages for the ultimate prize: control over the lost magic that once dominated the world.
20. Death Parade

Two individuals find themselves in a bar with no memory of how they got there. They are greeted by a white-haired man known as Decim, who tells them they must participate in a life-threatening game. Trapped, they have no option but to comply. As they play, they begin to recover memories of what led them there and their true personalities come to light as they compete against each other. They find themselves in an extravagant bar between life and death, where the stakes are high and the rules are clear: if you win, you will be resurrected, but if you lose, you will disappear forever.
21. Kengan Ashura

Gladiator arenas have existed in certain parts of Japan since the Edo period. With the power of money, wealthy persons rent fighters and the chosen ones fight knuckles to knuckles, and of course, the winner takes everything home. Toki Taouma, also known as “Ashura”, enters these games and becomes a force to be reckoned with, defeating his opponents with ease. This impressive display of strength catches the eye of big business owners, like Nogi Hideki, the chairman of the known Nogi Group. And what role will they play? Let’s just watch this series and find out!
22. Sword Art Online II

Let’s continue the story after the first Sword Art Online events. Kirito is called and seen by Kikuoka Seijirou from the department handling internal affairs and communications of Japan, particularly the Virtual Reality Division to investigate the “Death Gun” happenings in the virtual reality game known as Gun Gale Online (GGO). The incident involved players being targeted by an unknown character, resulting in their deaths not only in the game. Despite having reservations, Kirito logs in to GGO to search for clues. With the help of a gunman (who’s actually a woman), he joins the “Bullet of Bullets” tournament to make contact with the mysterious avatar and uncover the truth behind the “Death Gun” events.
23. God of High School

The story revolves around Jin Mori, a talented 17-year-old martial artist from Seoul, South Korea, and his companions as they compete in the “The God of High School” tournament organized by a mysterious corporation. The participants borrow strength from legendary beings and deities to determine the strongest high school student. The victor of the tournament will have their wish fulfilled by the corporation without any inquiries. However, there are a lot more unexpected things that happened in the competition, leading to an important discovery about Jin Mori.
24. The World Ends With You

This originally is a game developed around 2008. Now the anime adaptation follows Neku Sakuraba, a teenage misanthrope living in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. He becomes embroiled in the Reapers’ Game, a battle in the Underground (UG) version of Shibuya against the monstrous Noise creatures. The animation effectively captures the essence of the original 2008 video game, balancing the inclusion of key elements with efficient episode content. The show gains momentum from episode 4 and culminates in a satisfying finale that will please fans of all levels.
25. Lostorage Conflated WIXOSS

Lostorage Conflated WIXOSS takes a bold step by combining characters and elements from its previous two seasons with the first Lostorage installment, in an intriguing manner. The rules of the game are more uncertain than ever, emphasizing the point that the anime is trying to make – the game is unjust and open to manipulation. With this approach, Lostorage Conflated WIXOSS feels like a fitting conclusion to the story that began three seasons ago, rather than a lackluster addition. However, there is one issue with the overall style of WIXOSS, which is its tendency towards a bittersweet ending – characters gain and lose, with losses being permanent. While this offers a refreshing change from the overly cheerful endings common in the genre, the most recent ending undermines this by resetting the story, leaving characters with memories of pain but erasing much of the damage from prior seasons. This feels like a cheat and takes away the significance of previous battles.
26. Deca- Dence

The initial impression of Deca-Dence as a mix of various dystopian anime, such as AOT, is just based on the pilot episode. But in the second episode, a shocking plot twist is revealed, showing the true nature of the anime. Instead of being a typical dystopian world, it’s actually an amusement park set within a bubble on what used to be Eurasia, where cute robots from a spaceship log in to play the game as the Gears and Gadoll are manufactured. Kaburagi, a robot demoted to live among the Tankers, helps Natsume to find freedom. This twist makes the show stand out as an original anime with an exciting storyline that remains engaging even after the initial surprise has passed. The worldbuilding and storytelling in both the in-game and “real-world” contexts are captivating.
27. Akudama Drive

In Akudama Drive, the main characters are known as the Akudama, but their real identities and backstories are not revealed. However, this anonymity adds a unique touch to the anime. What mattered most was how they lived their day-to-day lives, following their instincts and emotions to achieve their goals. To play the games of the high-ranking officials from Kanto for the citizens of Kansai to survive. As the anime progresses, it takes on a darker tone and reveals the characters’ true nature and the darkness within them. The story raises questions about freedom and the sacrifices society must make for it, causing people to question who the real criminal is – the Akudama or those tasked with protecting them. At first, Akudama Drive appears to have a straightforward story, but it is actually full of symbolism and emotions that add depth to the narrative. And is actually one of the most underrated must-see anime series! (one of my personal favorites too!)
28. Redline

REDLINE is a futuristic film set in a galaxy where the biggest and most dangerous illegal road race takes place every five years at a secret location that’s only revealed when the race is about to begin. To participate, racers must first qualify in a Yellowline competition. One such racer, Sweet JP, almost qualifies, but his car, the TRANSAM 20000, “malfunctions” just before the finish line. Upon waking up from an accident in the hospital with broken limbs, JP is stunned to learn that he actually made it to the race. The venue has been announced, and it’s the military state of Roboworld, who are not happy about their world being used as a racetrack for competitions and make their intentions to stop the racers with force clear. As a result, two racers have already withdrawn, and JP is chosen through a popularity contest to join the race. Can’t spoil you about the ending, so just watch it!
29. King’s Game The Animation

A Japanese anime series based on the popular novel series “Ousama Game”. The story follows a group of high school students who are thrust into a deadly game by an unknown sender who calls himself the “King.” Each student is given a command to carry out within 24 hours, and failure to do so results in a brutal punishment. The game becomes increasingly violent and deadly as the students try to figure out who the “King” is and how to survive. Just a reminder! This series is not for the faint of heart, as it contains graphic violence and mature themes, but for fans of horror and suspense, it’s definitely worth a watch.
30. Kakegurui

Hyakkaou Private Academy is an exclusive school for the privileged with a unique educational program. The curriculum focuses on the art of reading opponents and making deals, which are essential skills for the wealthy. To help students develop these skills, the academy offers a rigorous gambling curriculum. At Hyakkaou, the victors are treated like royalty, while the defeated are subjected to punishment. But with the enrollment of Yumeko Jabami, our female main character, the students are about to learn what it truly means to be a high roller.
Conclusion

After checking this list, we can say that some of the survival game anime include the use of violence and gore but lacks character development, and use tired or cliche plot elements. Additionally, some viewers may find the genre to be too dark or disturbing, and may not be able to suspend their disbelief enough to fully enjoy the series. Some may also find the genre to be too slow-paced or not action-packed enough. Comparing some to battle royale anime series, which of course is different! While both genres feature characters fighting to survive, there are key differences. Survival game anime typically have a larger focus on adventure, exploration, and teamwork, and often have a defined goal or objective for the characters to work towards. Battle royale anime, on the other hand, typically has a greater focus on intense, high-stakes battles, with a smaller group of characters fighting against each other until only one is left standing.
But despite these criticisms, we still enjoyed what this genre has to offer!! And we are looking forward to more, right guys??