Gambling animes generally feature betting games, many with serious consequences, involving fame, fortune, life, and power. In this article, we will look at a list of the best gambling, betting, and mind game animes.
In these animes, characters use words and actions to psychologically manipulate others. In some of the animes in this article, characters are forced or choose to play a special type of High Stakes Game: you play to win or die trying.
Whether for fun, to gain an advantage, or for darker purposes, the characters in these animes use manipulation to achieve their goals. The bets and rules can be agreed upon by the parties involved or imposed by an external force.
Table of Contents
Kaiji – Play to Survive
In this anime, the protagonist Kaiji is in debt to the Mafia, and to pay it off, he boards a ship where gambling games test his mental skills. The game has a significant psychological plot, and the stakes become increasingly deadly.
This takes the top position in betting games, but many stopped watching due to the traits that can be quite uncharismatic at first. I ignored it for years because of that, but when I gave it a chance, I loved the anime!
In Kakegurui, they practically repeat Kaiji, but without strategy and without real tension in the games. If you really want to feel what Kakegurui tried to convey in its work, watch Kaiji without fail. There are two seasons!
Kakegurui – Compulsive Players
Shiritsu Hyakaou Gakuen is a prestigious Private School attended by high-class students from the political and business world. In addition to famous athletes, skilled individuals, and others who stand out in front of society.
In this school, there is a great war and hierarchy based on gambling, where winners live like kings and losers are put in the grinder. The story shows a newcomer named Yumeko Jabami who demonstrates how to really play.
The young protagonist has a tremendous desire to play against the members of the Student Council, as they use strict methods that also put the gambler’s life at risk, leaving Yumeko Jabami excited, as she loves to take risks and face danger.
Liar Game – Lie to Win?
Unfortunately, there is no Liar Game anime, but we have a manga and a dorama, both of which are good and I wish to include in this list. The premise is similar to Kaiji, the difference being that money and debts are involved instead of one’s own life.
The games are designed to win based on lies, but the innocent protagonist cannot lie, distorting the entire objective of the game, but in the end, everything works out because of the genius of another protagonist. It is truly a very good dorama.
The manga has a very dark atmosphere, the games are well-crafted and intelligent, it even made me want to create these games in real life. The work is full of mystery and keeps you hooked from start to finish. Make an effort to watch the dorama or read Liar Game.
No Game no Life – The World of Trivial Games
This anime manages to use clichés, ecchi, fan service without being excessive and maintaining the intelligence of the characters. This work of art created by a Brazilian shows two siblings entering a world where everything is resolved with trivial games.
A globally successful anime and Light Novel that also received a very emotional movie, is also available on Netflix and shows how to properly create an anime about games and betting. You have probably already watched it; if not, I recommend it!
I don’t want to give too much spoiler about this work of art, but let’s say the protagonists need to lead the simple and weak human race to win against other races that have powers, strength, and superhuman abilities in territorial disputes.
One Outs – Manipulation in Baseball
One Outs is not just another sports anime; it is completely different. The protagonist is a myth in psychological games, manipulating enemies and applying these mind games during baseball matches over 25 episodes.
The anime is a bit old and unknown, but it captivated me from start to finish, even though I am not a sports fan. I feel a significant absence of psychological genre animes; it reminded me a lot of the atmosphere present in Kaiji.
The story begins when Kojima Hiromichi, the best batter of the Lycaons, goes to the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to train. There, he meets Tokuchi Toua, a pitcher and undisputed leader of a form of baseball game called “One Out.”
Toua is recruited by Hiromichi Kojima, the star batter of the professional baseball team Saitama Lycaons, to help the team get out of a bad phase.
Toua agrees to join the team, but with an unusual condition: instead of receiving a fixed salary, he decides that he will earn 5 million yen for each out he makes and lose 50 million yen for each point scored against him. This leads to a series of strategic games and psychological manipulation between Toua, his opponents, and the team’s management.
Akagi – Mahjong Betting
On a stormy night, a desperate man finds himself playing Mahjong with yakuza thugs; the prize is his life. He is losing, and death seems certain, until a teenager stumbles out of the darkness into the Mahjong room, drenched in rain.
With permission to watch, the boy soon offers to play in place of the marked man, and that night, a legend is born. After his first taste of Mahjong, Akagi Shigeru finds himself entangled in the dark underworld of Mahjong: for money, reputation, and lives.
The anime is from the same creator as Kaiji; you will see similarities in the traits and style of the work. Prepare for many bets and psychological terror. I highly recommend this anime, although patience is needed to learn Mahjong.
Death Parade – Bet Your Fate
When two people die at the same time, they are sent to a place that is neither heaven nor hell: a luxurious bar between worlds where the stakes are high and the rules are simple: if you win, you live again; if you lose, you are gone forever.
Decim is the bartender in charge of serving the souls that enter Quindecim. He can prepare a mean cocktail, but his true profession is to act as an arbiter: a judge who determines whether a soul is worthy of reincarnation or not.
To assist in his judgment, the bar’s customers are forced to play simple games mixed with sadistic twists designed to bring their true nature to light. For Decim, judgment has always been black and white – that is until he meets a young woman…
Danganronpa – Kill and Get Innocent
The anime is based on a successful Visual Novel game and has over 3 seasons, with plenty of psychological horror. Hope’s Peak Private Academy is a super-exclusive institute that brings together the best and brightest students.
The school provides them with a world-class education and pushes them toward any career they desire. At least it was supposed to be, as the only way to “graduate” is by murdering a classmate and deceiving everyone else in a trial that determines life or death!
In this anime, students are trapped in a school where people are murdered, and everyone must figure out who the killer is in a kind of trial that takes place in a courtroom. If the killer goes unpunished, all the students die.
Btooom! – Kill to Survive
Ryouta, 22 years old, is a useless unemployed person who spends his days living at home and playing Btooom, an extremely popular online game that has sold over three million copies worldwide.
Together with other teammates, Ryouta fights against others using powerful bombs and sonars that can reveal hidden enemies, and his dedication has earned him the title of best player in Japan.
But soon, Ryouta’s pastime becomes a terrifying reality, as he and many others are thrown onto a tropical island and forced to play Btooom – but this time in real life. Now, he and the rest must fight to the death using any means necessary.
Other Life Betting Animes
Sword Art Online – Although it fits into the MMORPG Isekai genre, it is worth noting that in this anime, people fight to survive in a virtual world. It is somewhat a kind of game for life.
Mirai Nikki – In this game, 12 people try to kill each other to see who will become the new God, using simple diary apps that share an individual ability for each player.
Tower of God – An anime where people try to climb a tower by passing various challenges.
Higashi no Eden – The protagonist is involved in a life-or-death game linked by missiles that hit Japan.
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle – An anime about mind games and dangerous puzzles where failure can lead to death.
Mondai-Ji Tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? – The masters of this world host the Present Games, in which extraordinary prizes can be won and lost by gods, spirits, monsters, and people with extraordinary abilities.
Darwin’s Game – Players fight each other using superpowers called Sigils.
Deadman Wonderland – A prisoner must fight against other prisoners using a power that manipulates blood.
More animes about betting, games, and manipulation:
- Rio: Rainbow Gate!
- Tobaku Haouden Rei
- Gamble Fish;
- Dongwa Gwolleyok;
- Mardock Scramble;
- C: Control
- Shichisei no Subaru;
- Code Geass;
- Yakusoku no Neverland;
- Death Note;
- Great Pretender;
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