Highlights

• Game anime focus on character growth and development, showcasing their journey to master their chosen game and build confidence as players.
• Some game anime, like Gamers!, have a heavy emphasis on romantic comedy and misunderstandings, with the gaming aspect being less significant.
• No Game No Life and Sword Art Online are examples of isekai game anime, where characters are transported to worlds ruled by games, offering comedic and action-packed storytelling.

Game anime thrill their viewers for much the same reason that Twitch streams do: it's exciting to see people excited by games and to share one's beloved hobby with others. Whether they depict card games, board games, or VR, the best game anime leave no doubt in viewers' minds as to why characters have picked their chosen pastimes.

Though many of them depict fierce competition, game anime aren't just about seeing characters win. They're about watching characters grow with the game, developing deeper strategies, and building their confidence as players until they one day master moves that once could only look upon in awe.

Updated on February 17, 2024 by Mark Sammut: Game anime are not extremely common, but they do get some love every once in a while. After all, one has to assume there is quite a bit of overlap between audiences that love anime and games, so it makes sense that one industry would occasionally reference the other. Although not set in a game, Winter 2024's Solo Leveling unsurprisingly uses terminology from the medium, and the same can be said for many isekai anime not directly set in MMORPGs. Still, they are not proper game anime.

The article specifically focuses on anime about video games, be it shows set in MMOs or feature characters obsessed with the hobby. Gambling anime like Kaiji and Akagi will not be included.

15 Gamers!

An Anime About Gamers (In Love) Rather Than Games

Obviously, Gamers! must be mentioned in a discussion about the best game anime of all time; at least, that should be the case. However, the show barely qualifies, despite revolving entirely around gamers. Even though the characters are very into gaming of all types, the series predominantly plays out like a romantic comedy with a heavy emphasis on misunderstandings.

Just to be clear, Gamers! is a charming rom-com with quite a few big laughs, but its "gaming" aspect is fairly inconsequential. If the characters loved manga or movies, the show would stay largely the same.

14 Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki

Life Is A Game

While not really about gaming, Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki uses the hobby to define the main characters' philosophies. Fumiya Tomozaki drifts through life with little enthusiasm, leading to consistent isolation; however, he happens to be the player to beat in a fighting game inspired by Super Smash Bros. One day, he agrees to meet an online rival in real life, who winds up being Aoi Hinami, a classmate who is the picture of perfection. Annoyed by Fumiya's lack of effort, Aoi agrees to teach the guy how to play the game of life, a journey that gradually pushes the male protagonist out of his comfort zone while also exposing his teacher's social masks.

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki is partially framed around Aoi giving Fumiya quests that he must complete, and both characters regularly use gaming to contextualize social relationships. While a touch heavy-handed, the anime offers a good mix of drama, romance, and hints of comedy. The side characters are arguably more likable than both of the leads, although that is largely intentional, especially concerning Aoi.

13 D-Frag!

A Slice Of Gaming Life

A beloved anime trope is the school club, whether that club centers around training to be idols, raising livestock, or writing scary stories. In the case of D-Frag!, the club is Game Development Club. D-Frag is basically a slice-of-life anime that pivots around people playing games. Though it could easily end up being a generic example of its genre with this premise, it never does.

Instead, the series has enough off-beat style and characterization to keep viewers hooked. The characters do enough game-hopping to keep things fresh, and there's the occasional injection of genuine weirdness to keep viewers guessing where the series will take them next.

12 No Game, No Life

A World Ruled By Gaming

In the real world, gamers who reach the absolute pinnacle of skill in a given game are often esports pros, playing at tournaments against other competitive teams for cash prizes.

In No Game No Life, there's more to be done with gamer skill than just battle for cash, as Sora and Shiro discover. The pair are undefeated gamers, a fact that draws the attention of a god and eventually leads to that god transporting Sora and Shiro to a world where games settle everything. No Game No Life is an isekai game anime, in which Sora and Shiro's skills are tested again and again with stakes they could have never imagined. Altogether, the series is a funny and charming look at gaming and gamers themselves.

No Game No Life is not set in a game, but its world is entirely run by games. So, it fits.

11 Sword Art Online

The Definitive Isekai Gaming Anime

In Sword Art Online, 10,000 players log into a virtual reality MMO, only to learn that they cannot log out — and that if their characters die in the game, their real bodies die, too. Kirito, a player from the beta, vows not to let any players die, setting out to conquer the 100-floor Aincrad castle, thereby freeing everyone from the game.

Sword Art Online is action-packed, chock-full of characterization, and heavy with lore regarding the company that created the game as well as its founder. The series helped define the genre for a reason and is not to be missed.

10 My Love Story With Yamada-kun At Lv999

Love, Friendship, & MMORPGs

One of Spring 2023's many great romances, My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 revolves around Akane, a girl who joined an MMO at the behest of her boyfriend. Unfortunately, the same guy breaks up with her, causing the protagonist to spiral into depression. Long story short, she meets Yamada, one of the better players in the game, joins his guild, and makes a host of new friends.

Even though My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 does not devote too much screentime to Forest of Savior, its MMO, the game nevertheless plays a pivotal role in dragging Akane out of her funk and bringing her closer to Yamada. Otherwise, this is simply a cute rom-com.

9 Recovery Of An MMO Junkie

Video Game Addiction

Ever since the days of EverQuest and Ultima Online, MMO addiction has been a real and troubling phenomenon. It doesn't take state-of-the-art graphics to immerse players, and there are those who quickly become addicted to their pastime, preferring the virtual world to the real one.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie tackles this subject directly. Fortunately, it's a funny and lighthearted take on the subject rather than an oppressive one, featuring a woman trying to balance paying the bills with spending all of her time on her favorite game. It might be a niche subject in an already niche subgenre, but Recovery of an MMO Junkie does it right.

8 Log Horizon

Living In A Society In An MMORPG

If shows about people trapped inside a video game were rocks, one couldn't walk five feet without stubbing their toe. The game anime genre is flooded with series that play with that premise, making it difficult to sort the best from the just okay.

Log Horizon is amongst the best, for a simple reason: many anime about people trapped in games don't actually care about the rules of those games. Things like team composition, pulling aggro, and metagaming are concepts that normally fall by the wayside in favor of action and drama. In Log Horizon, the elements of the game itself remain at the forefront, so that the setting never degenerates into a bland fantasy environment.

7 Bofuri: I Don't Want To Get Hurt, So I'll Max Out My Defense

Breaking A Game (& Driving The Developers Nuts)

Sometimes an anime's title tells you everything you need to know. In Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, So I'll Max Out My Defense, Maple decides to do just that in NewWorld Online, a virtual reality MMORPG.

Playing as a shield-user and devoting every point to defense as she levels up, Maple is able to survive against seemingly insurmountable odds, climbing the game's ranks through her unusual strategy and quick thinking. The anime shows off its understanding of and love for MMORPGs for all to see, and watching Maple and her friends explore NewWorld Online is a joy. The series could easily have been based on a real RPG. By focusing on a fantasy protagonist who isn't just another sword wielder, Bofuri stands out from the rest.

As the series progresses, the focus shifts to all the ways Maple can break the MMO's rules and mechanics, causing the developers to try progressively more desperate means to bring her back in line.

6 The King's Avatar

The eSports Scene

A game anime that turns its eye to the esports scene, The King's Avatar follows Ye Xiu, a first-rank player who is forced from his pro team and turns to work as the night manager at an internet cafe. When a new server launches, Ye returns to the game he loves, beginning the long grind up from nothing.

While his exceptional skill and encyclopedic game capture the attention of guilds, Ye struggles to relearn and adapt to a game that has changed in his years away. The series is one of the few game anime that demonstrates a genuine understanding of how MMOs play, and it doesn't hurt that the anime is beautiful. Focusing on the professional scene, The King's Avatar looks at the hard realities of the competitive scene, in which games sometimes no longer feel much like play.

5 Hi Score Girl

A Love Letter To Arcades

Do not be put off by its CG visuals as Hi Score Girl is delightful. Packed to the brim with video game references and loving nods to the industry's '90s scene, the anime follows Haruo, a boy who simply cannot beat Akira at any arcade station. Eventually, the two grow closer, although they end up separating before long.

Hi Score Girl covers quite a wide time span, which it uses to chronicle the characters' growth along with touching upon the gaming industry's development.

4 New Game!

Working In the Gaming Industry

New Game! is not about playing a game, but making one. Fresh out of high school, Aoba Suzukaze, gets the chance of a lifetime to work as a character designer on the newest installment in her favorite series: Fairies Story.

Aoba's coworkers are one of the series highlights, including the game's director, Shizuku, who brings her cat to work, and Hifumi who is exuberant in text messages but so shy in person that she won't even make eye contact. New Game! is a fun behind-the-scenes look at what game development is like, from the highs of perfecting a character's look to the lows of game-breaking glitches.

3 Welcome To The N.H.K.

A Character Study About A Hikkimori (Who Tries To Create A Game)

Welcome to the N.H.K. is not shy about exploring difficult subjects. Satou is a hikikomori, an asocial recluse, who, by the age of 22, is an unemployed college dropout, totally withdrawn from society. His isolation is disrupted when he meets a young woman who claims to be able to cure him of his hikikomori lifestyle. Satou insists that a conspiracy is to blame for his current predicament, and difficult subjects like loneliness, social isolation, and suicide feature prominently.

The series could easily count as one of the greatest slice-of-life anime as well. Satou is eventually badgered into becoming the writer for the gal game that his neighbor is developing, and here Welcome to the N.H.K. becomes a game development anime, albeit one of an altogether different breed than New Game! Here, the focus is much more on the psychology of the game makers than the nitty-gritty of development.

2 Shangri-La Frontier

The God-tier Game (That Is At Least Somewhat Realistic)

Shangri-La Frontier offers something that very few game anime actually try to deliver: its eponymous MMORPG actually seems like a game that could (eventually) exist. Sure, it is way beyond VR's current capabilities and features a fair few questionable mechanics, but compared to shows like Sword Art Online, the central game has rules, ideas, and systems that are not far removed from proper MMOs.

Sunraku specializes in breaking bad games, a hobby that has allowed him to develop incredible virtual skills. One day, he decides to use his acquired knowledge to take on a genuinely great MMO, Shangri-La Frontier, and he soon finds himself facing off against massive bosses and attracting the attention of other players. Although not deep, Shangri-La Frontier is a fun action anime that celebrates online gaming. Featuring stellar animation and a fun protagonist, the shonen series is an easy recommendation for anyone searching for an anime set in an MMO that is not an isekai.

1 .Hack//Sign

The World

From its character designs to the premise of its setting, .Hack//Sign is an iconic anime and looms large within the genre, casting the shadow of its influence over many shows and games that followed it. The series features a popular MMO called The World, in which Tsukasa awakens in a dungeon with no short-term memory, unable to log out.

The series is a slow-burn mystery, relying on dialog and steady world-building rather than action to drive the plot. The relative lack of combat means .Hack//Sign is not for everyone, but for those more interested in compelling lore than clashing swords, the series is nearly impossible to beat.