Best tv shows like Kaiji
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Kaiji Itou is a good-for-nothing loiterer who spends his days drinking beer and stealing hubcaps-that is, until he ends up being tricked by his former co-worker. Unable to suddenly repay his friend's huge debt all by himself, Kaiji is offered a shady deal to participate in an illegal underground gamble on a cruise ship. This turns out to be nothing more than the beginning of his new life of hell-thrown headlong into a life-threatening roller coaster of mind games, cheating, and deceit. Based on the first entry of the famous gambling manga series by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor follows our unlucky protagonist as he is forced to fight not only other people, but also the mysteries of their psyches. Kaiji finds out the hard way that the worst sides of human nature surface when people's backs are against the wall, and that the most fearsome dangers of all are greed, paranoia, and the human survival instinct itself.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Animation, Action, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: anime, psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, adult animation, manga, seinen, crying, atmospheric
Best tv shows and movies like Kaiji (2007):
Similar in 80%
Selector Infected WIXOSS (2014)
Plot Summary:
WIXOSS is a card game that's popular with teenagers. Supposedly there exist "LRIG Cards," female character cards with wills of their own. Special girls can hear the voices of the LRIGs, and those who possess them are called "Selectors." These Selectors have card battles in a dimension that other humans cannot access. It's said that whoever triumphs in these battles will have their wish granted. Ruko Kominato is the latest girl to find a LRIG card. She names hers Tama, and without any further explanation is thrown into her life as a Selector.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 179
Genere: Animation, Fantasy, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, humorous, captivating, disturbing, seinen
Similar in 88%
Akagi (2005)
Plot Summary:
Akagi is a mah-jong-centric Japanese comic, written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Fukumoto and first published in 1992. It is featured in the weekly magazine Modern Mahjong, and is a prequel to the author's previous work Ten, in which Akagi's titular character also appears. Due to its popularity, the manga has been adopted into two live-action direct-to-video movies, a 26-episode anime series which aired in Japan in the fall of 2005, and a live-action TV drama series.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 727
Genere: Animation, Sport, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, psychological, seinen
Similar in 79%
Phi Brain: Puzzle of God (2011)
Plot Summary:
Phi Brain: Puzzle of God is a 2011 Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise. The first two series aired on NHK Educational TV between October 2011 and September 2012, with a third season to begin airing in October 2013. The series is directed by Junichi Sato with script supervision by Mayori Sekijima. Hajime Yatate, the collective penname for the creative staff at Sunrise, is credited with the original story. The anime has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks. A manga adaptation by Yoshiki Togawa began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Newtype Ace magazine from November 2011. A PlayStation Portable video game by Arc System Works was released on May 31, 2012.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 131
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, exciting, clever, serious, stylized, psychological, mind bending, suspenseful, shounen, super sentai
Similar in 89%
Aldnoah.Zero (2014)
Plot Summary:
In 1972, the Apollo 17 mission discovered a hypergate to Mars on the surface of the moon. Soon a war breaks out between Earth and Mars, and Martian soldiers begin to descend from the sky, riding steel giants, intent on exterminating humanity.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: anime, suspense, mecha, tense, exciting, semi serious, futuristic
Similar in 76%
Levius (2019)
Plot Summary:
With the casualties of war still haunting him, young Levius uses his prosthetic arm to take his fight into the brutal world of Mecha Boxing.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 642
Genere: Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: anime, mecha, exciting, tense, captivating, seinen
Similar in 83%
Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine (2012)
Plot Summary:
She's a thief. A killer. A saint and a scandal. She's whatever you need her to be to get the job done. She's Fujiko Mine, the slinky, sultry thread that holds Lupin III's crew together -- and this is the heist that started it all.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 888
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 20 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, exciting, tense, suspense, contemplative, detective, ecchi
Similar in 90%
[C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control (2011)
Plot Summary:
Kimimaro works two jobs to make ends meet. He could go from pauper to prince in a parallel world called the Financial District—if he’ll invest his future as collateral in a dangerous game. Winning gets you more wealth, but losing could erase you from existence. When the destructive forces at play compel Kimimaro to confront the most powerful player, can he save the real world from total collapse?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 520
Genere: Animation, Action, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, serious, captivating, stylized, psychological, suspense
Similar in 90%
Durarara!! (2010)
Plot Summary:
Durarara!!, often shortened to DRRR!!, is a Japanese light novel series written by Ryohgo Narita, with illustrations by Suzuhito Yasuda, that has also been adapted into a Japanese anime series. As of May 2012, eleven volumes have been published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation by Akiyo Satorigi started serialization in the shōnen manga magazine Monthly GFantasy on April 18, 2009. An anime adaptation began airing in Japan in January 2010. Durarara!! tells the story of a dullahan working as an underworld courier in Ikebukuro, an internet-based anonymous gang called The Dollars, and the chaos that unfolds around the most dangerous people in Ikebukuro. Two games based on the series for the PlayStation Portable were released.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Animation, Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, touching, manga, exciting, humorous, serious, stylized, feel good
Similar in 88%
Alice in Borderland (2014)
Plot Summary:
Arisu, Karube, and Segawa, a trio of highschool delinquents, are bored with their current lives. During a firework celebration, Arisu wishes that he could live in a different world which would be more exciting for him. As such, his wish was granted, and the three were transported into a seemingly post-apocalyptic-like parallel world. After stepping into what seems to be an empty festival, they are greeted by a woman who tells them that they have already "entered their game". After clearing the game, she reveals to them that, in Borderlands, they must play games to survive.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 601
Genere: Animation, Action, Fantasy, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, exciting, unusual plot structure, suspense, disturbing, intellectual
Similar in 87%
Sengoku BASARA: Samurai Kings (2009)
Plot Summary:
During the Sengoku period, there are many factions constantly at war. One of these is led by a one-eyed man named Date Masamune and another by the imposing Takeda Shingen. The latter has a fiercely loyal subordinate named Sanada Yukimura who goes head to head against Date Masamune multiple times, but the battles between them tend to get interrupted. One such battle occurs when both men try to go after another leader named Imagawa, and they’re forced to break off their heated duel when Imagawa attempts to flee the scene with his body doubles. Yukimura and Masamune go after separate Imagawas, but all of the doubles are killed by a third party, and when their paths cross again, they are in front of the menacing Oda Nobunaga and his army. It was Nobunaga’s subordinates that killed those body doubles, and Nobunaga himself proceeds to kill the real Imagawa with a shotgun blast to the head.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 535
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, exciting, serious, tense, captivating, bleak
Similar in 80%
The Severing Crime Edge (2013)
Plot Summary:
Killing Goods are murder weapons handed down from generation to generation within the families of their owners. They are cursed to compel their current owners to repeat the original murders. The curse also makes them indestructible. Kiri Haimura is the current owner of a pair of shears that can cut seemingly anything, although the only thing he wants to cut is hair. One day he meets Iwai Mushanokoji, a girl of whom he has only heard rumors that her hair cannot be cut, a girl who can grant one wish, any wish, but only to the person who murders her. Every morning he cuts her hair, which grows back every night; and every day he helps protect her from people who know about her curse and who want a wish granted.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 96
Genere: Animation, Action, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, exciting, rough, suspenseful, captivating, suspense, disturbing, serious
Similar in 76%
Legends of the Dark King: A Fist of the North Star Story (2008)
Plot Summary:
The world has been reduced to a wasteland, populated by desperate villagers, marauding bandits, and ruthless warriors. One such warrior, Raoh, dares to challenge the Demon King.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 212
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, captivating, tense, suspense, bleak, serious, suspenseful, stylized, splatter
Similar in 87%
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (2010)
Plot Summary:
Shirou Emiya finds himself an unwilling participant in a deadly competition where seven Mages summon heroic spirits as servants to duel each other to the death. They compete for the chance to make a wish from the Holy Grail, which has the power to grant any wish. Shiro is unskilled as a mage and knows nothing of the Holy Grail War, but he and his servant, Saber, enter into a temporary partnership with another Mage, Rin Tohsaka. However, problems arise between Shirou and Rin's servant, Archer, who seems to seriously despise him.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, captivating, tense, suspense, humorous, manga, shounen, serious, stylized
Similar in 82%
Otogi Zoshi (2004)
Plot Summary:
The time is 972 A.D. in Kyoto, the capital of ancient Japan. Kyoto is becoming a corrupt and run-down city; selfish samurai and onmyoji, who care only about gaining political power are everywhere. To make matters worse the city is suffering from famine and widespread disease. Unable to ignore the condition of the city any longer, the Imperial Court decides to send Minamoto no Raiko, a famous samurai well-known for his archery skills, to recover a legendary gem said to hold mysterious power to save the world. However Raiko also falls ill to disease. Instead his youngest sister, Hikaru, decides secretely to make the journey in his place. Hikaru meets many people, and has many adventures while on her trip for the legendary gem.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 111
Genere: Animation, Action
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: anime, serious, exciting, tense, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Corpse Princess (2008)
Plot Summary:
Corpse Princess is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshiichi Akahito. Premiering in Monthly Shōnen Gangan on April 12, 2005, the series centers around the "Corpse Princess" Makina Hoshimura, an undead girl who is hunting down 108 undead corpses in order to gain entry into heaven with the help of a secret society of anti-corpse Buddhist monks. Feel and Gainax partnered together to adapt the series into a thirteen episode anime series. The first season, Aka, premiered on AT-X on October 2, 2008. A second season, Kuro, aired between January and March 2009. The anime is licensed for North American distribution and release by Funimation Entertainment, which has already started releasing the episodes in subtitled form as Shikabane Hime through various online distribution companies and through its own website. The series made its North American television debut on the FUNimation Channel on November 15, 2010.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 469
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, scary, serious, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 79%
Blood-C (2011)
Plot Summary:
Blood-C focuses on Saya Kisaragi, an outwardly normal girl who serves as the shrine maiden to a country town; in reality, she is a skilled swordswoman charged by her father to defeat Elder Bairns, monsters who feed on human blood. As her battles grow more desperate and more people she cares for fall victim to the Elder Bairns, Saya begins finding faults in her reality, and eventually uncovers a disturbing truth about herself, the town and her surviving friends.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Action, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, atmospheric, exciting, tense, captivating, manga, serious, suspenseful, stylized, surprise ending
Similar in 87%
Magical Girl Site (2018)
Plot Summary:
Aya Asagiri is a middle school girl who has problems both at school with bullying and at home from physical abuse by her brother. While browsing online, a website pops up on her computer featuring a creepy looking person. This person appears to take pity on her, and announces that she has granted Asagiri magical powers.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 525
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, psychological, captivating, suspense, dark fantasy, sincere, mahou shoujo
Similar in 78%
Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor (2005)
Plot Summary:
Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor is a Japanese anime series based on the long-running manga series, Bio Booster Armor Guyver, written by Yoshiki Takaya, adapting chapters 1 - 59 of the manga. The production was in association with ADV Films and Kadokawa Shoten. The series first episode aired in Japan on August 6, 2005 and the last episode aired on February 18, 2006. The series aired in North America on December 20, 2010, on the FUNimation Channel.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 840
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, serious, suspenseful, stylized, captivating
Similar in 75%
Mr Love: Queen's Choice (2020)
Plot Summary:
A girl inherits a company that is almost bankrupt from her late father. Lacking the funds, she must now become the producer herself in order to save the company from collapse. During her work, she meets four boys—financial expert Zen, the idol Kira, police officer Haku, and leading neuroscientist Simon—and is suddenly involved with the conspiracies and mysteries over the existence of special powers known as "Evol.".
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, shoujo, psychological, exciting, tense, touching, captivating, suspense
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Kämpfer (2009)
Plot Summary:
Kämpfer is a Japanese light novel series by Toshihiko Tsukiji, with illustrations by Senmu. The series contains 15 volumes published by Media Factory under their MF Bunko J imprint between November 2006 and March 2010. The main series covers 12 volumes, while the remaining three are short story collections. A manga adaptation by Yu Tachibana started serialization in the April 2008 issue of Monthly Comic Alive. A 12-episode anime adaptation aired in Japan between October and December 2009 on TBS, concluded in spring 2011 with Kämpfer für die Liebe. The series has extensive use of the German language.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 438
Genere: Animation, Action, Comedy, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, ecchi, exciting, captivating, entertaining, adult animation, semi serious, super sentai, humorous
Similar in 89%
Samurai Girls (2010)
Plot Summary:
The story takes place in Japan in the early 21st century, in an alternate reality where the Tokugawa Shogunate has remained in power. In this reality, student councils are tasked with oppressing schools. Yagyuu Muneakira is a high school student who rebels against his student council with the help of girls who've had the names of famous samurai heroes passed on to them.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 424
Genere: Animation, Action, Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, ecchi, exciting, humorous, semi serious, captivating, tense
Similar in 84%
Moriarty the Patriot (2020)
Plot Summary:
In the late 19th century, the British Empire nobility reigns while its working class suffers at their hands. Sympathetic to their plight, William James Moriarty wants to topple it all. Frustrated by the systemic inequity, Moriarty strategizes to fix the entire nation. Not even consulting detective Sherlock Holmes can stand in his way. It’s time for crime to revolutionize the world!.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Animation, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: anime, suspense, suspenseful, atmospheric, stylized, detective
Similar in 89%
Tomodachi Game (2022)
Plot Summary:
Yuuichi Katagiri believes that friends are more important than money, but he also knows the hardships of not having enough funds. He works hard to save up in order to go on the high school trip, because he has promised his four best friends that they will all go together. However, after the class' money is all collected, it's stolen! Suspicion falls on two of Yuuichi's friends, Shiho Sawaragi and Makoto Shibe. Soon afterwards, the five of them are kidnapped, and wake up in a strange room with a character from a short-lived anime. Apparently, one of them has entered them into a "friendship game" in order to take care of their massive debt. But who was it, and why did they have such a debt? Could they have stolen the money from class to pay for entry into the game? Yuuichi and his best friends will have to succeed in psychological games that will test or destroy their faith in one another.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: anime, disturbing, captivating, suspense
Similar in 77%
Eden of the East (2009)
Plot Summary:
Eden of the East is a Japanese anime television series, which premiered on Fuji TV's noitaminA timeslot on April 9, 2009. Created, directed and written by Kenji Kamiyama, it features character designs by Chika Umino and animation production by Production I.G. Based on an original story by Kamiyama, it is the first original noitaminA series. A compilation of the TV series, Eden of The East Compilation: Air Communication, had a limited theatrical release on September 26, 2009. Two other theatrical films have also been released. Eden of the East Movie I: The King of Eden was released in Japan on November 28, 2009 and the second movie, Eden of the East the Movie II: Paradise Lost, was released on March 13, 2010. The TV series and both films have been licensed for release in North America by Funimation Entertainment. On December 27, 2010, the series made its North American debut on the FUNimation Channel.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Animation, Action, Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, captivating, political, mysterious, manga, serious, suspenseful, stylized, psychological
Similar in 87%
Kurau Phantom Memory (2004)
Plot Summary:
Kurau Phantom Memory is a 2004 science fiction anime series, produced by Bones and Media Factory, which was broadcast in Japan by the anime television networks Animax and TV Asahi. Set primarily in the year 2110, it explores themes such as inter-familial relationships and ethics in science. The series was licensed by A.D. Vision for North American localization for $960,000 since the first episode aired, and the first DVD was released on April 10, 2007. In 2008, the series was transferred from A.D. Vision to Funimation Entertainment, along with over 30 other titles.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 170
Genere: Animation, Action, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, atmospheric, exciting, serious, suspenseful, adult animation
Similar in 85%
Blassreiter (2008)
Plot Summary:
Blassreiter is a 2008 Japanese anime from the animation studio Gonzo and the multimedia studio Nitro+. The title is pseudo-German and literally means "Pale Rider". A manga titled Blassreiter -genetic- also exists and is serialized in Champion Red magazine. Along with The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk, and later Strike Witches, this series was officially broadcast with English subtitles on the video websites YouTube, Crunchyroll, and BOST TV. As of April 9, 2012, the full English dub of the series is available on YouTube. It has been licensed for a North American release by Funimation Entertainment.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 260
Genere: Animation, Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, atmospheric, serious, suspenseful, bleak
Similar in 85%
The Future Diary (2011)
Plot Summary:
Yukiteru Amano (Yuki) is a loner who never really interact with people and prefers writing a diary on his cell phone with his only companion being an imaginary friend named Deus Ex Machina, the God of Time and Space. However, Yuki soon learns that Deus is not a figment of his imagination but real when Deus makes him a participant in a battle royale with eleven others. Within this "Diary Game", the contestants are given special diaries that can predict the future with each diary having unique features that gives them both advantages and disadvantages.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, serious, stylized, bleak, manga, shounen, humorous, epic, psychological horror
Similar in 86%
Night Raid 1931 (2010)
Plot Summary:
Night Raid 1931, is a Japanese anime television series produced by A-1 Pictures and Aniplex and directed by Jun Matsumoto. The 13-episode anime aired in Japan on the TV Tokyo television network starting April 5, 2010. Senkō no Night Raid is the second project of Anime no Chikara. Sentai Filmworks acquired the series and released it on Blu-ray and DVD in August 2011.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 82
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, exciting, captivating, tense, suspense, atmospheric, bleak, serious, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 77%
Fate/Zero (2011)
Plot Summary:
War of the Holy Grail - Pursuing the power of the "Holy Grail" which grants a miracle, this is a contest in which seven magi summon seven Heroic Spirits to compete for it. In that battle whose conclusion was postponed three times, now, the fourth war commenced again. Entrusting their dearest wish of victory, the magi joined the battleground called "Fuyuki", but amongst them, there was a man who was always alone, and could not find out the meaning behind his fights. His name was Kotomine Kirei. Not comprehending the guidance of fate, Kirei was lost, and had kept questioning. Why someone like his was given the Command Seals. However, the fate of his fights crossed Kirei's path with a nemesis by chance. That person is - Emiya Kiritsugu. A man who was sterner than anyone else, more merciless than anyone else, and who sought the miracle of the Holy Grail.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, suspenseful, stylized, manga, intense, semi serious, humorous, epic, adult animation
Similar in 82%
Record of Ragnarok (2021)
Plot Summary:
Before eradicating humankind from the world, the gods give them one last chance to prove themselves worthy of survival. Let the Ragnarok battles begin.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, tense, thought provoking, captivating, suspense, adult animation, manga, seinen, powerful