The anime medium has something for everyone. Whether fans are looking for an emotional story, action-filled fight scenes, comedic laughs, or an intense thrill, they are bound to find a show that will suit their interest. The best thing about animation is that it can bring worlds and premises that wouldn't normally be possible to life, making for some highly engaging shows.
An accurate example of this would be the various play-or-die anime that for one reason or another put a bunch of characters in a deadly situation and leaves them with no choice but to play their way out of it. Play-or-die anime are often hit or miss, but they always carry a sense of thrill and excitement that keeps fans hooked until the end. The very best play-or-die anime can keep viewers both guessing and entertained.
6 Alice in Borderland
Three ambitionless friends, Ryouhei Arisu, Daikichi Karube, and Chouta Segawa are talking about escaping their meaningless life one night when they see fireworks going off in the middle of town. Suddenly, an enormous firework comes straight for them transporting them to a weird place known as Borderland.
The only people in this strange new place are the three boys and a mysterious girl. Together, the four must play a set of deadly games and survive the consequences to find a way back home. Alice in Borderland is a short and simple anime that serves as a perfect entry point for fans looking to dive into the play-or-die genre. The show has a rating of 7.31 on MyAnimeList.
5 Tomodachi Game
A high schooler named Yuuichi Katagiri and his group of close friends, Yutori Kokorogi, Shiho Sawaragi, Makoto Shibe, and Tenji Mikasa are deceived into meeting up with each other after school only to be knocked unconscious. The five friends then wake up in a white room with a doll-like figure revealing to them that one of the five friends has a debt of twenty million that they all now share.
To pay the debt and escape the facility, the friends must participate in a series of psychological games that will test their friendships and reveal their true natures. Tomodachi Game has a rating of 7.7 on MyAnimeList.
4 Future Diary
Yukiteru Amano is a normal middle schooler who keeps a digital diary to keep track of his daily events. One day, he finds out that certain parts of his day are being displayed on his phone before they even occur. At first, he dismisses this as a coincidence but soon finds out that the messages are actually revealing future events and that he is not the only one receiving these messages.
The show then reveals that a total of eleven candidates have been entered into a battle royale to determine a champion who will become the successor to a mysterious deity. Future Diary has a score of 7.43 on MyAnimeList.
3 Deadman Wonderland
Everything changes for Ganta Igarashi when a mysterious man in red slaughters his whole class except for him, thereby condemning Ganta to take the fall for the gruesome event. Following the mass murder, Ganta is sent to an amusement park-themed prison called Deadman Wonderland.
As it turns out, Deadman Wonderland is a dangerous place where prisoners are forced to take part in deadly games to entertain audiences. Playing the games helps prisoners to earn medicine that can neutralize the poison keeping them in check. Together with a mysterious girl named Shiro, Ganta must now do what he must in order to survive. Deadman Wonderland has a score of 7.16 on MyAnimeList.
2 Death Parade
Two people who die at the same time are sent to a mysterious place known as the Quindecim before they can pass on. At the Quindecim, they are received by a bartender called Decim who makes them participate in deadly games in order to pass judgment on the two souls.
Without remembering their deaths, the individuals play the games that will decide if their souls will be reincarnated or thrust into an endless void. As the games go on, the players slowly start to recall their memories, revealing their true selves. Death Parade has a rating of 8.16 on MyAnimeList.
1 Fate/Zero
The Fate series stars several champions and their super-powered servants in an all-out war to see who survives to claim the wish-granting Holy Grail. Starting with Fate/stay night, the Fate franchise became one of the most popular anime series and developed a massive fan following. However, the series can be quite confusing, to say the least, due to the many prequels and spinoffs that it spun over the years.
Fate/Zero serves as a prequel to Fate/stay night and is arguably the best Fate entry to date making it the perfect starting point for the series. It has great visuals, a solid narrative, and action-packed fight sequences that will keep fans entertained. The show has a rating of 8.28 on MyAnimeList.