Highlights
- Liar Liar is an anime with an interesting premise, featuring games that determine everything on an island and a protagonist who gets dragged into mind games and bluffs.
- Other anime like Liar Liar, such as Phi Brain and The World God Only Knows, also involve games that challenge the intelligence and skills of their characters.
- Anime like King's Game, Tomodachi Game, and Darwin's Game have high-stakes games, suspenseful plots, and diverse characters, similar to Liar Liar's themes.
Liar Liar is one of Summer 2023s less popular titles but with an interesting premise. It features a protagonist, Shinohara Hiroto, who arrives at an island within which there are various academies, and everything is decided through different games. The games could either be simple or complex, with different special abilities available to each of the games’ participants. Furthermore, the ranks of the students on the islands are determined by stars, with the highest count being seven.
After beating the undefeated seven-star Sarasa Saionji through sheer luck, Hiroto is dragged into a bigger challenge that involves mind games, lies, and bluffs, all with great consequences. The story follows Hiroto on his journey as he tries to maneuver his way out of dangerous situations while also discovering truths behind the island. Anime like Liar Liar could involve strategy, helpful female sidekicks, and a host of other interesting features.
10 Phi Brain
Phi Brain and Liar Liar are both anime that involve games that challenge the intelligence of their characters. Phi Brain, however, contains extremely complex puzzles, most of which are thrown at Kaito Daimon, the protagonist and an expert puzzle solver.
The scenarios in the anime can also be described as dangerous, as the puzzles Kaito is required to solve have high stakes, which could even result in death. However, Kaito shows on many occasions that he is up to the task and uses his sharp intuition and impressive puzzle-solving skills to get through each challenge.
9 The World God Only Knows
Keima Katsuragi was originally a dating sim-obsessed nerd who had no business with girls of the real world. However, after coming across the demon girl Elsie, he finds himself needing to draw upon his knowledge of dating sims and apply it to real-life situations. This is because Elsie was tasked with securing loose souls, and the only way to extract them from young girls’ hearts is by making them fall in love.
Though some might see it as just another harem anime, The World God Only Knows has a great story with interesting characters who have equally interesting backstories. It mixes comedy, drama, and the supernatural really well and is a special one of its kind.
8 D-Frag
A thoroughly entertaining anime presented mostly in an episodic format, D-Frag is an amazing comedy that follows the adventures of Kenji Kazama during his time at the Game Development Club. Despite its seemingly descriptive title, the Game Development Club does anything but create games, as they mostly spend their time lazing off and playing around. Kenji was forced to join after his abduction by the club’s eccentric members and regularly gets caught up in their antics.
It is a hilarious anime with witty dialogue, absurd situations, and lovable characters. It shows how the club members, who were originally at odds with Kenji, spend time together and grow closer through shared experiences and challenges
7 Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends
Haganai is an anime where social outcasts gather. It features an eccentric cast of characters lacking in social skills who strive to overcome their shortcomings one day at a time. The central focus of the anime is the Neighbors Club, consisting of seven members with unique characteristics.
Though Haganai does not include an explicit gaming experience or any form of mind games, the anime has some similarities to Liar Liar that you may find interesting. For example, the protagonist Kodaka Hasegawa develops relationships with different girls, he has a tougher exterior than he has an interior, and he has a special relationship with a tsundere who also happens to be one of the female leads.
6 King’s Game
As the name implies, King’s Game is an anime that revolves around a deadly survival game where students receive orders from a mysterious “King.” Failing to heed the orders from the king attracts fatal punishments, capable of resulting in death. After transferring to a new school, the protagonist Nobuaki Kanazawa finds himself participating in the game like he has done once before in the past. The only way of survival is to follow the king’s orders and hope for the best outcomes.
It is a horror anime that contains themes of fear, paranoia, and betrayal, as the students are forced into making difficult choices with great consequences.
5 Tomodachi Game
A psychological thriller that goes to great lengths to test the bonds of friendship, Tomodachi Gameis a suspenseful anime where a group of friends is trapped in a room and forced to participate in a series of challenges. The challenges are presented to them as a way of escaping their debt of twenty million yen, and each challenge serves to test their loyalty, trust, and cooperation.
The main characters have parts of their pasts shrouded in mystery and have to overcome personal issues as well as conflicts in order to make progress. Like Liar Liar, it features a series of high-stakes games, characters with mysterious pasts, and an interesting protagonist.
4 Darwin’s Game
King’s Game focuses on a group of classmates, while Tomodachi Game focuses on a group of friends. However, Darwin’s Game focuses on random people from various backgrounds. These people are brought together by a mysterious mobile game that draws them into a deadly battle. They are granted unique abilities known as sigils, and their types vary from person to person.
The anime involves a lot of action, superpowers, survival elements, and a diverse cast of characters. While there is a genuine risk of death, it has a slightly more lighthearted tone than the previous two mentioned on this list.
3 Kakegurui
Continuing with the theme of game anime with far-reaching consequences, Kakeguruiis a gambling series with high stakes and even higher risks. It follows the exploits of Yumeko Jabami, a compulsive gambler, and Suzui Ryouta, who she attaches herself to early on in the series. They both attend Hyakkaou private academy, where proficiency in gambling determines your place in the hierarchy.
Coming out on the wrong end of these games could result in students losing their freedom, such as becoming house pets and essentially slaves. However, even in this twisted environment, Yumeko stands out as one of the best gamblers in the series, continually feeding her compulsion with the riskiest games she can come across.
2 No Game No Life
Be it card games, board games, or physical games involving strategy, No Game No Life’s main duo, Sora and Shiro, are formidable forces in every aspect. The two go by the name Blank, and before being transported to a different world, were known for their overpowering presence in multiple online games.
Their new world, Disboard, has intriguing dynamics, as everything is decided by games. It also has interesting cultures and species, all of which make for a captivating story. The games being played here are, more often than not, advanced and exciting forms of already existing games, and watching Blank get through each challenge is an exciting experience.
1 Classroom Of The Elite
The top spot and one of the most entertaining anime on this list, Classroom of the Elite, is a psychological school anime where classes are ranked based on points that can be obtained through various types of activities. Most of these activities involve cooperation and teamwork, as well as strategy. The school constantly comes up with unique scenarios to assess its students, and they must get through them while having internal struggles and personal conflicts of their own.
The main character Kiyotaka Ayanokouji has an unassuming aura but is truly extremely manipulative and cunning. He hides his true character from most of his peers and orchestrates various schemes that slowly but surely ensure Class D’s rise in the school hierarchy.