Hello! 10 Best Anime Like Squid Game? If like everyone else, you’ve just finished Squid Game on Netflix, you are probably looking for anime similar to the series that has remained on the Netflix Top 10 List for weeks now. And is probably the biggest series ever from the streaming platform so far.
So are there anime shows with high-stakes games? With different games? Last man standing wins? With consequences? Betrayal and lots of gore? Yes yes there is, here are the 10 Best Anime Like Squid Game with honorable mentions in no particular order.
Anime Similar to Squid Game
10.
Battle Game in 5 Seconds
Deatte 5-byou de Battle
- Episodes: 12
- Studios: SynergySP, Vega Entertainment
- Aired: Jul 13, 2021 to Sep 28, 2021
- Genres: Action, Game, Super Power
At number 10 is Battle Game in 5 Seconds, the series follows high schooler Akira Shiroyanagi who is kidnapped with others, given a secret ability like the others, and forced to take part in trials that can entail anything from battle royales to even one-on-one duels that can lead to death.
Assumed dead like the others but unlike most of them finds the whole situation exciting, Akira decides to outsmart everyone standing in his way and unravel the enigma surrounding this mysterious organization.
Similarity
Battle Game in 5 Seconds like Squid Game has a shady, all-knowing, and mysterious organization. The plot follows a survival style with different challenges, lots of gore, thriller, and mind games where characters need their wit and sometimes pure luck to survive.
The characters in Battle Game in 5 Seconds also have their reasons and issues for wanting to win, and they are also trapped in an unfamiliar environment.
9.
King’s Game
Ousama Game The Animation
- Episodes: 12
- Studios: Seven
- Aired: Oct 5, 2017 to Dec 21, 2017
- Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural
King’s Game focuses on Nobuaki Kanazawa and his new high school class of 32 students, who all receive a text from someone called “The King” with specific tasks that gradually get more disturbing. With a time limit of 24 hours, and rules that state all students must participate, or be allowed to quit halfway, and the cost of failing death.
Will Nobuaki and his classmates be able to survive this horrific situation? Will it be everyone for themselves? Or will everyone be able to make it out alive?
Similarity
Like Squid Game, King’s Game has deadly games with an emphasis on time and teamwork also. It also has mystery, with the characters trying to figure out who’s behind the games. Both series also excels at showing the evil sadistic side of characters that seem innocent on the outside.
King’s Game is also a death game with gruesome deaths, with a similar atmosphere to Squid Games. Both series also have people forced into a game with rules-based off on a similar game that people are familiar with. And use the last man standing survival troupe, with both repeating the death game cycle over and over again.
8.
No Game, No Life
- Episodes: 12
- Studios: Madhouse
- Aired: Apr 9, 2014 to Jun 25, 2014
- Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Supernatural, Ecchi
No Game, No Life follows two former shut-in NEET siblings, Sora and Shiro that are pulled into a parallel world by Tet, the “One True God” of this world, where everything is decided by games. In this world, humanity is ranked the lowest and least powerful. Will these two genius gamers become humanity’s saviors?
Similarity
Similar to Squid Game No Game, No Life has some very interesting and mysterious characters and involves characters being thrown into another world than what they are used to. Both series also have the main concept which revolves around playing games.
Though No Game, No Life like Squid Game has very smart and devious characters, with both series focusing on overcoming difficult odds and having determined characters, No Game, No Life is not as gory as the Squid Game.
7.
Gantz
- Episodes: 13
- Studios: Gonzo
- Aired: Apr 13, 2004 to Jun 22, 2004
- Genres: Action, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Supernatural, Ecchi
Somewhere in Tokyo is a room. In that room is a black sphere. That seems to randomly transfer people who are close to dying to this room. Once there, words appear on the sphere, Its name… Gantz, saying that everyone’s life there is over, and now everyone must play a game. With points awarded after the successful completion of these missions, to buy all sorts of otherworldly things from Gantz.
The games are always between life or death, becoming more and more tasking each time Gantz calls them back into the room and with no way to escape, will Kei Kurono and the rest of his group make it through these games?
Similarity
Similar to Squid Game, Gantz is a psychological thriller that focuses on human nature and violence. It puts characters into situations that test their morality to survive. Both series revolve around shock value and how it can be turned into a narrative device making you feel the character’s dread. Both series hardly pull their punches managing to horrify and move you at the same time.
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6.
Danganronpa: The Animation
Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei The Animation
- Episodes: 13
- Studios: Lerche
- Aired: Jul 5, 2013 to Sep 27, 2013
- Genres: Horror, Mystery, Psychological, School
Danganronpa follows Makoto Naegi and his 15 classmates of the prestigious Hope’s Peak Academy, an elite high school that accepts only the most talented students. Students who successfully enroll receive their own unique titles, that suitably reflect their skills and traits. Makoto, an ordinary person with no special talents to speak of, gets the title “Super High School-Level Luck” after luckily getting admitted in.
Their first day at the school doesn’t go as planned though, they are trapped inside the school by Monokuma, the principal and literal bear of the school. The only way to escape is to play a game, they must all try killing one another without being discovered by their peers. However, if the other discovers the identity of the killer, he or she will be executed, and the game will continue till there is a victor.
Similarity
Danganronpa like Squid Games, is also a death game with gruesome deaths, with a similar atmosphere. Both series also have characters forced into a game with simple rules. Both series center on a set number of people being pushed to their absolute limit and a grand prize for the victor that will change their life for good.
5.
Eden of The East
Higashi no Eden
- Episodes: 11
- Studios: Production I.G
- Aired: Apr 10, 2009 to Jun 19, 2009
- Genres: Action, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi, Suspense
“Careless Monday” is a terrorist attack that saw ten missiles hit Japan, without harming anyone. Three months later Saki Morimi, a young woman currently in the USA on vacation meets Akira Takizawa, who has lost his memory during a misunderstanding. Only Akira is naked with a gun in one hand and a mobile phone in the other with 8,200,000,000 yen in digital cash!
Will the two be able to unravel the mystery behind Akira and survive the death game against other individuals with similar cell phones to Akira they are forced into?
Similarity
Another anime series like Squid Game is Eden of The East. Both series start with a phone, with both of them having this mysterious feel around the plot and characters, with both working behind the scenes for a larger vision. Both series also share the same theme: money and conspiracies involving shadowy organizations.
4.
Btooom!
- Episodes: 12
- Studios: Madhouse
- Aired: Oct 4, 2012 to Dec 20, 2012
- Genres: Action, Sci-Fi, Psychological
Ryouta Sakamoto is an unemployed NEET whose only real skill seems to be playing Btooom!, an online death game that involves bomb-throwing. On achieving 10th in the global ranking, he and others are kidnapped.
Ryouta finds himself stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere, with a small green crystal embedded in his left hand and no memory of how he got there. To his shock, someone or someones has decided to recreate the game Btooom! in real life, with the stakes being life or death. Will he be able to survive with Himiko and his other allies?
Similarity
Another anime show like Squid Game is Btooom! Both series have a character that is forced to play a game risking their lives together with other people. To escape the game, they have to beat the game following the rules they were given. Both main characters are incredibly dumb, with the setting of both series being the same having the players trapped on an island.
3.
The Future Diary
Mirai Nikki (TV)
- Episodes: 26
- Studios: asread.
- Aired: Oct 9, 2011 to Apr 15, 2012
- Genres: Action, Mystery, Supernatural, Suspense, Psychological
Yukiteru Amano is a high school student that has problems making friends, he copes by making himself a bystander in life and writing down everything he sees in his phone diary. He also creates an imaginary friend, Deus Ex Machina, the Lord of Time and Space.
Except Deus is real, and he’s forcing Yukiteru and 11 others to take part in a death game, with the last person standing becoming the new god of time and space. Will Yukiteru and his obsessive stalker and ally Yuno be able to survive the game?
Similarity
Similar to Squid Game, The Future Diary both series are gory and have great female characters. Both series center around a group of people who are forced to play a game of killing one another to win a life-changing grand prize. Both series also feature a cast of diverse characters each with their own set of skills and personalities.
2.
Kakegurui
- Episodes: 12
- Studios: MAPPA
- Aired: Jul 1, 2017 to Sep 23, 2017
- Genres: Drama, Mystery, Game, Psychological, School
Hyakkaou Private Academy is a usual school for the rich, instead of priding itself purely on academic achievements, valuing strategic prowess and the ability to read people. Students gamble against each other for rank, money, and more.
The series follows Yumeko Jabami, a compulsive gambler, and Ryouta Suzui, a student ranked in the bottom one hundred, forced to serve his peers. Kakegurui is borderline insane with its take on gambling, bringing too many new cards to the table.
Similarity
Like Squid Game, Kakegurui also paints an environment where power and position are determined by a person’s sheer will to control fate with crazy gambling. Both have plenty of mind games and plots where people get themselves into situations where losing is not an option. Both series also covers similar themes of morality and contemplation of mental stability.
1.
Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor
Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor
- Episodes: 26
- Studios: Madhouse
- Aired: Oct 3, 2007 to Apr 2, 2008
- Genres: Game, Suspense, Psychological
Kaiji Itou is a good-for-nothing bum who steals hubcaps and drinks all day, that is until he meets Endou, a debt collector who claims Kaiji owes him 3,850,000 yen for a loan he cosigned for. Endou gives Kaiji two options – either spend years repaying the debt, or board a boat for one night to clear the debt.
On the boat players have to gamble with loaned money, which either ends with them winning, or getting into deeper debt and having to work to pay off their debts.
Similarity
Similar to Squid Game, Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor has a similar down on their luck protagonist. Both series have an amazing storyline, that keeps you guessing until the very end. Both series also put their main characters in psychologically distressing situations, and with their characters having to rise above the challenges and owning their fates. Plus, both can be very emotional.
Honorable Mentions of Anime similar to Squid Game
Deadman Wonderland
- Episodes: 12
- Studios: Manglobe
- Aired: Apr 17, 2011 to Jul 3, 2011
- Genres: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Supernatural
Gleipnir
- Episodes: 13
- Studios: Pine Jam
- Aired: Apr 5, 2020 to Jun 28, 2020
- Genres: Action, Mystery, Supernatural, Ecchi
Darwin’s Game
- Episodes: 11
- Studios: Nexus
- Aired: Jan 4, 2020 to Mar 21, 2020
- Genres: Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Super Power
Death Parade
- Episodes: 12
- Studios: Madhouse
- Aired: Jan 10, 2015 to Mar 28, 2015
- Genres: Drama, Mystery, Suspense, Game, Psychological
Alice in Borderland
Imawa no Kuni no Alice (OVA)
- Episodes: 3
- Studios: SILVER LINK., Connect
- Aired: Oct 15, 2014 to Feb 16, 2015
- Genres: Action, Supernatural, Suspense, Psychological
High-Rise Invasion
Tenkuu Shinpan
- Episodes: 12
- Studios: Zero-G
- Aired: Feb 25, 2021
- Genres: Action, Horror, Mystery
That’s my 10 best anime like Squid Game with honorable mentions. Did you think I missed one? Have you seen any of them yet? Did you like any of them? What did you think of Squid Game? Talk to me down below. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Till next time…Remember you are the best, you can be right now, today, tomorrow, and the day after.
Thanks for reading!
