Best Anime With Survival Games

Anime is open to all kinds of genres, not just action, comedy, and romance. Suspense and thriller stories also have a place in anime, and stories about games with a lot on the line are incredibly popular. Sometimes, however, it's not just about money or pride, but the contestants' lives themselves, making for an incredibly tense watch for fans.

Survival games where failure can mean death aren't the most popular anime, but they can make for a suspenseful watch as fans worry about whether their favorite character is going to survive the episode. Here are some of the best anime centered around survival games, ranked.

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7 Magical Girl Raising Project

A Culling Of Heroines

• Studio: Lerche
• Number Of Episodes: 12
• Available On: Crunchyroll, Funimation

Middle school student Koyuki Himekawa discovers that the mobile game Magical Girl Raising Project has a big secret. Very rarely, a player is chosen to become a real magical girl by the mascot, Fav. Becoming the magical girl Snow White, Koyuki feels as if she's accomplished her dream, but there soon arrives an announcement that there are too many magical girls. Competitions will be held to decide who loses their powers.

While it all seems relatively benign at first, the magical girls soon realize that losing their powers also means dying. With their lives now on the line, the magical girls begin fighting to maintain their powers and for survival, resulting in a bloodbath that belies the anime's seemingly cute premise.

6 Gantz

Gamifying The Protection Of Earth

Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato get hit by a train while attempting to rescue a drunk man. To their surprise, they do not die, but instead awake in an empty apartment with several other people. They soon learn that they have been selected by a being called Gantz to fight against strange otherworldly monsters, and are given a variety of equipment and weapons to do so. They earn points for every kill they make, and if they can earn enough points, they can return to their normal lives.

Gantz follows the players and their struggle for survival against the monstrous beings they are called on to fight. Deaths are common, and most missions end with a sizable body count.

5 Deadman Wonderland

A Deadly Prison Sentence

Ganta Igarashi is the only survivor of a massacre that slaughters his entire class. Framed for the murder, Ganta is sent to a prison known as Deadman Wonderland, which doubles as an entertainment park for the rich and corrupt. Fitted with a collar that injects poison into his veins, Ganta can only survive by eating a candy-like medicine, which he can only obtain by participating in the prison's many deadly games.

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Deadman Wonderland paints a unique picture of a bizarre prison where a prisoner's life is constantly on the line. While the tension of Ganta losing his life is a constant factor, the story puts more focus on the mystery of the person who truly killed Ganta's classmates, as well as the unique powers the prisoners gain while in the prison.

4 Danganronpa: The Animation

A Class Trial Of Truth And Betrayal

Makoto Naegi is excited about going to Hope's Peak Academy, where the brightest and most talented high school students attend. His excitement is dampened by the sudden appearance of Monokuma, who declares that the students are all being imprisoned at the academy for the rest of their lives, and that they can only leave if they kill another student without getting caught. Though the students initially refuse to do such a thing, the bloody class trials soon begin nevertheless.

Danganronpa: The Animation is an anime adaptation of the first Danganronpa video game, and is fairly faithful to the original story. The anime mixes murder-mystery with fist-clenching suspense, making for quite an intense watch.

3 Darwin's Game

Survival Game In The Real World

Kaname Sudo receives an invitation from his friend to join something called Darwin's Game. When he does, he finds himself thrown into a real-world survival game, where one wrong move means death. Having already lost two friends to the game, Kaname decides to find the game's creator and stop Darwin's Game once and for all.

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Darwin's Game is a straightforward survival game story, where losing means death. With supernatural powers to mix up the action, Darwin's Game can feel like a battle manga at times, but the stakes are still plenty high.

2 Btooom!

A Popular Video Game Realized In Reality

Ryota Sakamoto is one of the top players in a video game called Btooom!, where the main weapons to use are bombs and explosives. He spends his days playing the game constantly, until he one day awakens on a deserted island with a collection of bomb-like weapons on him. He soon realizes that he has found himself in a real-life version of Btooom!, and must find some way to survive.

Btooom! Is more pure survival than other anime that feature survival games, although there are still game-like elements to the story. The anime is intense and full of action, making it both exciting and incredibly tense.

1 Future Diary

The Competition To Become God

Yukiteru Amano is a loner with no friends, other than his imaginary friend Deus Ex Machina. One day, his phone starts recording events that haven't happened yet, which are surprisingly accurate. He soon finds out that his imaginary friend is not so imaginary, and is in fact the God of Space and Time. Deus is looking for a successor, and has given several people Future Diaries in the form of cell phones. Losing their Future Diary will kill them, and the one remaining winner will be allowed to succeed him as God.

Future Diary was fairly popular when it first released, due to it featuring the yandere heroine Yuno Gasai. The series has an interesting take on the survival game concept, and its bloody and violent story has led to its popularity.

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