Anime like Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen

Touhai Densetsu Akagi: Yami ni Maiorita Tensai

Also known as Akagi.

Studio: MADHOUSE , VAP , DR Movie
Status: Finished
Genres: Psychological , Sports , Thriller

While mahjong is a game that is often played with family and friends, it is also a game that is played in the darkest corners of society. Nangou is a compulsive gambler who has accumulated a debt of over three million yen. In a last-ditch attempt to clear his record, he decides to wager his life on a game of mahjong with the mafia. Unfortunately, as the game progresses, Nangou only moves further from the prize and closer to death.

When all hope seems lost, the game parlor is suddenly intruded upon by Shigeru Akagi, a young boy on the run from the police. Desperate to turn the game around, Nangou hands the game over to Akagi after teaching him a few of the rules. The mafia can only smirk as Akagi sits down to play. However, they soon come to learn that Akagi is a natural-born gambler. An imposing figure who does not fear death. One who is destined to become a legend.



Tags: Gambling , Mahjong , Death Game , Noir , Time Skip , Seinen , Anti-Hero , Historical , Crime , Yakuza , Police , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Vampire , Body Horror

One Outs

Also known as One Outs.

Studio: MADHOUSE , VAP
Status: Finished
Genres: Psychological , Sports

The story begins when Hiromichi Kojima, the star batter of the fictional Lycaons in Japan's Pacific League, heads to the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to train and bring himself out of a slump. There, he meets Toua Tokuchi, a 134-kmph (83 miles per hour) pitcher and the undisputed king of a gambling form of baseball called "One Out." At Kojima's urging, Tokuchi signs up with the Lycaons under an unusual contract: he gets 5,000,000 yen (about US$46,000) for every out he pitches, but loses 50,000,000 yen (US$460,000) for every point he gives up.



Tags: Baseball , Gambling , Philosophy , Seinen , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Anti-Hero , Male Protagonist

Kakegurui

Also known as Kakegurui.

Studio: MAPPA , Square Enix , Dentsu , Movic , DIVE II Entertainment , Netflix , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological

During daylight hours, an exclusive, elite private school prepares its illustrious students for careers in business, politics, and high society. But when darkness falls, the halls of this esteemed establishment transform into an underground gambling den where bright-eyed youngsters learn the timeless art of bluffing, backdoor dealings and social manipulation. In this school for the rich and elite, money is power, and the tyrant of the betting books rules with an iron fist. So when the beautiful Yumeko Jabami upsets the academy hierarchy with her voracious appetite for the thrill of the gamble, the entire student body mobilizes to send her house of cards tumbling down.



Tags: Gambling , Female Protagonist , School , Primarily Female Cast , Body Horror , Masochism , Primarily Teen Cast , Poker , Ojou-sama , School Club , LGBTQ+ Themes , Anti-Hero , Shounen , Bullying , Villainess , Slavery , Death Game , Yandere , Delinquents , Battle Royale , Guns , Idol , Male Protagonist

DEATH NOTE

Also known as Death Note.

Studio: MADHOUSE , VAP , Viz Media , Nippon Television Network , Konami , Ashi Productions , Shueisha , Selecta Visión
Status: Finished
Genres: Mystery , Psychological , Supernatural , Thriller

Light Yagami is a genius high school student who is about to learn about life through a book of death. When a bored shinigami, a God of Death, named Ryuk drops a black notepad called a Death Note, Light receives power over life and death with the stroke of a pen. Determined to use this dark gift for the best, Light sets out to rid the world of evil… namely, the people he believes to be evil. Should anyone hold such power?

The consequences of Light’s actions will set the world ablaze.



Tags: Crime , Detective , Anti-Hero , Male Protagonist , Police , Philosophy , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Unrequited Love , Kuudere , Gods , Urban Fantasy , Memory Manipulation , Primarily Male Cast , Urban , Yandere , Amnesia , Espionage , Shounen , Tennis , Suicide , Time Skip , Acting , Feet , Assassins , Achronological Order , Asexual

JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Stone Ocean

Also known as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: STONE OCEAN.

Studio: Warner Bros. Japan , David Production , Shueisha , KLOCKWORX , Medicos Entertainment
Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Supernatural

In Florida, 2011, Jolyne Kuujou sits in a jail cell like her father Joutarou once did; yet this situation is not of her own choice. Framed for a crime she didn’t commit, and manipulated into serving a longer sentence, Jolyne is ready to resign to a dire fate as a prisoner of Green Dolphin Street Jail. Though all hope seems lost, a gift from Joutarou ends up awakening her latent abilities, manifesting into her Stand, Stone Free. Now armed with the power to change her fate, Jolyne sets out to find an escape from the stone ocean that holds her.

However, she soon discovers that her incarceration is merely a small part of a grand plot: one that not only takes aim at her family, but has additional far-reaching consequences. What's more, the mastermind is lurking within the very same prison, and is under the protection of a lineup of menacing Stand users. Finding unlikely allies to help her cause, Jolyne sets course to stop their plot, clear her name, and take back her life.



Tags: Super Power , Female Protagonist , Primarily Female Cast , Foreign , Police , Crime , Urban Fantasy , Fugitive , Shounen , Primarily Adult Cast , Revenge , Time Manipulation , Prison , Tragedy , Body Horror , Gore , Memory Manipulation , Surreal Comedy , Shapeshifting , Agender , Ghost , Masturbation , Ensemble Cast , CGI , Disability , LGBTQ+ Themes

Death Billiards

Studio: MADHOUSE
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological , Thriller

Two men have just arrived at a location known as Quindecim and are unable to remember how they got there. They are immediately greeted by a young woman who escorts them to a small bar, where a bartender awaits them. They are told that they will have to participate in a game, randomly chosen by roulette, and will be unable to leave until its completion; if they refuse, the consequences will be dire. In addition to the rules of the game, the two men are told to play as if their lives are at stake.
The game that has been chosen is billiards. But there's more to it than just pocketing pool balls, as the two are about to find out the outcome could mean life or death.
Death Billiards is one of the four anime works that each received 38 million yen (about US$480,000) from the "2012 Young Animator Training Project." Just like in 2010 and 2011, the animation labor group received 214.5 million yen (US$2.65 million) from the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs, and it distributed most of those funds to studios who train young animators on-the-job.


Tags: Afterlife , Philosophy , Gambling , Primarily Adult Cast , Death Game , Bar , Amnesia , Primarily Male Cast , Kuudere

Kakegurui ××

Also known as Kakegurui xx.

Studio: MAPPA , Netflix , Avex Pictures , KLOCKWORX , Dentsu , 81 Produce , Movic , flying DOG , Sentai Filmworks , Square Enix
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological

At Hyakkao Private Academy, Yumeko Jabami’s star rises just as the student council’s reputation starts to dim. In the shadows of the council’s dwindling power, discord reigns supreme. In a bold effort to rebalance the social scales, student council president Kirari Momobami intends to place her bet on the election for the council’s next president. Everyone starts with a single chip, and at the end of 30 days, the whoever holds the most becomes the president of the Momobami Clan. But chips aren’t the only things students can wager as they fight tooth and nail to ascend to the council presidency, and Yumeko Jabami intends to clean house no matter the prizes she must risk in the betting pool.



Tags: Gambling , School , Female Protagonist , Primarily Female Cast , Revenge , Anti-Hero , Twins , Primarily Teen Cast , Yandere , Villainess , Yuri , Death Game , Slavery , LGBTQ+ Themes , Ojou-sama , Shounen , School Club , Gender Bending , Idol

Tomodachi Game

Also known as Tomodachi Game.

Studio: Okuruto Noboru , King Records , Kodansha , Nippon Television Network , Crunchyroll
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological , Thriller

High school student Katagiri Yuuichi, who values friendship above all else, enjoys a fulfilling life with his close friends Sawagiri Shiho, Mikasa Tenji, Shibe Makoto, and Kokorogi Yutori.

However, after a particular incident, they're dragged into a debt repayment game.

The only way to beat the "Tomodachi Game" is to not doubt their friends. Bound together by solid friendships, the game should've been easy, but– The hugely popular comic that sold over two million copies is finally becoming an anime! Will they trust or betray their precious friends? The true nature of humanity is exposed in the ultimate psychological game!



Note: Premiered on Hulu and d Anime Store at 0:00 on Wednesdays, 1 hour 29 minutes ahead of Nippon TV's broadcast.

Tags: Male Protagonist , Survival , Anti-Hero , Shounen , Crime , Battle Royale , Revenge , Death Game , Torture , Acting , Tragedy , Gambling , Ensemble Cast , Bullying , Heterosexual , School , Love Triangle , Gangs , CGI , LGBTQ+ Themes

Usogui

Studio: Soft Garage
Status: Finished
Genres: Psychological

There are gamblers out there who even bet their lives as ante. But to secure the integrity of these life-threatening gambles, a violent and powerful organization by the name of "Kakerou" referees these games as a neutral party. Follow Baku Madarame a.k.a. Usogui (The Lie Eater) as he gambles against maniacal opponents at games—such as Escape the Abandoned Building, Old Maid, and Hangman—to ultimately "out-gamble" and control the neutral organization of Kakerou itself.

Tags: Death Game , Mafia , Gambling , Seinen , Bisexual , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast

No Game No Life

Also known as No Game, No Life.

Studio: MADHOUSE , Media Factory , Movic , Frontier Works , AT-X , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Comedy , Ecchi , Fantasy

Bored with life and considering the real world to be just a “crappy game,” savvy sibling shut-ins Sora and Shiro have withdrawn into their own fantasy world filled with video games.

However, one day they find themselves summoned to another world by a boy who calls himself “God,” their abilities are about to be put to the ultimate test! Now not only their fates — but the fate of all of humanity — will be decided by a series of games that may just be the hardest these super-geniuses have ever faced!



Tags: Isekai , Gambling , Alternate Universe , Video Games , Hikikomori , Magic , Male Protagonist , Politics , Primarily Female Cast , Parody , Gods , Female Protagonist , Travel , Kuudere , Memory Manipulation , Kemonomimi , Meta , Class Struggle , Kingdom Management , Female Harem , Nudity , Nekomimi , Elf , Super Power , Judo