10 Most Brutal Death Games In Anime History

The most brutal death games in anime history plunge unwilling groups of players (the more, the merrier) into a series of horrific challenges with their lives on the line. These games can be extremely high-stakes versions of real-world games that the players are likely to be familiar with, or much more original creations designed specifically to be as hostile to human life as possible. Any player who can’t adapt immediately is doomed, and large casts can be expected to shrink really fast.

Most often, the players’ worst traits and weaknesses are quickly brought to light when push comes to shove. Efforts to stick together, form alliances, and save as many people as possible are often easier said than done. To the heroes’ horror, they are usually the only ones even trying; the villains’ example of throwing everyone else under the bus to be the sole survivor tends to be much more popular.

10 Tomodachi Game Exposes the Players' Dirtiest Secrets

Based on the manga by Yuki Sato and Mikoto Yamaguchi

Friends mean so much more than money…don’t they? That’s the question that every friend group kidnapped into the Tomodachi Game — well, most are kidnapped; one of them is the desperate debtor who sold them all out to solve their own money problems — is forced to answer. Yuuichi Katagiri and his four best friends must play publicly broadcast games that lay bare all their secrets and deceptions.

Surprisingly, while there are deadly consequences for rebelling against or trying to expose the game, the impact on the players is primarily emotional. Everyone has something to hide, and they all must question whether they really knew each other or were friends at all. Yuuichi in particular, who all his friends considered gentle and reliable, reveals a shocking appetite for brutality.

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9 Alice In Borderland Is a Modern Take on Battle Royale

Based on the manga by Haro Aso

Ryohei Arisu feels like an NPC in his own life, with no excitement or hope for the future. He winds up having to scrape up some motivation pretty quickly when he and his friends are suddenly transported to the apocalyptic world of the Borderland. As outsiders, they are given a limited amount of time to stay in the Borderland before being instantly killed, but can extend their lifespans and find clues to escape by winning deadly games.

As physically challenging as they can be, the greater danger is the psychological strain they are designed to put on the players. Arisu and his fellow humans must draw on every challenge they’ve faced before to come out the other side. Straightforward skill or strength isn’t enough: the beings running the Borderland have zero interest in making all the games fair.

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8 Gantz Has Dead Humans Hunting Dangerous Aliens

Based on the manga by Hiroya Oku

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The original 2004 anime was followed up by a 2016 movie, Gantz:0.

When Kei Kurono is hit and killed by a train, he wakes up confronted by a mysterious black sphere named Gantz. Gantz gives Kei and his fellow resurrected dead a mission: embark decked out in high-tech armor and weaponry and hunt aliens that it wants dead. The one who performs the best on each hunt, by its scoring system, can save up enough points to receive out-of-this-world rewards.

Years before the major isekai boom of the 2010s, Gantz combined the most popular isekai elements with the death game premise. More than that, it’s best known for its highly bleak tone and considerable blood and gore. In a subgenre where many protagonists are the strongest or the sole source of morality in a brutal world, Kei is just as cruel and selfish as his enemies are.

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7 Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor's Players Gamble With Their Lives

Based on the manga by Nobuyuki Fukumoto

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Like many high rollers, Kaiji Itou is on a lifelong streak of bad luck. But it’s particularly terrible luck to not only get on the yakuza’s bad side, but to wind up trapped on their cruise ship and forced to gamble for his life. Kaiji and his fellow gamblers will have to scrounge up all their skill and what luck they’ve got to make it out alive.

One of the best anime like Squid Game, Kaiji is half about the strategy of each game and half about tackling the system that runs it. Kaiji’s success might help him keep his life longer, but it brings him dangerously closer to the Teiai Group, which exploits the poorer classes for the entertainment of the rich. Much as people like Hyoudou try to either break Kaiji or corrupt him into believing the worst of the world, Kaiji is a lot better at keeping his resilience than he is at keeping his money.

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6 King’s Game The Animation Shows the Brutal Reality of a Survival Game

Based on the light novel and manga by Nobuaki Kanazawa

The only thing worse than being forced through a nightmarish death game is being forced through it twice. Nobuaki Kanazawa (who shares a name with his author) was the sole survivor of a King’s Game, a series of anonymous challenges and punishments that killed his entire class. When a new King’s Game begins, he’s the only one who knows exactly how much danger they’re all in.

The King’s Game brings out the absolute worst in its players near-instantly, as it becomes clear that disobeying the King’s texted orders, no matter how unfair or impossible, results in a gruesome punishment. Even the ones that aren’t instantly fatal still have permanent consequences. From condemning their classmates to death to committing appalling crimes against them, Nobuaki knows better than anyone how low people will sink just to survive.

5 Akuma no Riddle Pits Trained Killers Against Each Other

Based on the manga by Yun Kouga and Sunao Minakata

The prestigious Myojo Academy has a dark secret: Class Black, a secret class of twelve killers competing to assassinate their unlucky thirteenth member. However, this year Tokaku Azuma is bucking tradition and swearing to protect this year’s target, Haru Ichinose. As their other twelve classmates close in, Tokaku and Haru not only fight together to survive Class Black’s game but grow much closer in the process.

In a death game, devoting your efforts to protecting someone else is putting an extra target on your back. But Tokaku not only rejects her family business of assassination to protect Haru, but is skilled enough to put her money where her mouth is. Haru, for her part, is way too used to her life being a coveted prize for the most cold-blooded killer, and is adept enough at survival to make her relationship with Tokaku an even partnership.

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4 Juuni Taisen Crowns The Champion Of The Chinese Zodiac

Based on the light novel by Nisio Isin and Hikaru Nakamura

In this world, the Zodiac War is a tradition going back generations. The warriors representing each animal of the Chinese Zodiac gather on the twelfth of December every twelve years, and at midnight, they battle until only one is left standing. The last Zodiac standing gets a wish granted, which could technically bring everyone back to life, if the winner chooses.

As the carnage continues, the players reveal their different motives for joining the game and risking their lives to win. Their fighting styles and approaches to the Zodiac War correspond to their animal namesakes, from Boar’s merciless lust for blood to Dog biting enemies and allies alike. It potentially might not have any winner: the deadline is enforced by a poison that will kill anyone who hasn’t killed all eleven other competitors in time.

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3 Alien Stage Is A Deadly Singing Contest

Original web series by Studio Lico

Reality shows are just about the closest thing there is to death games, though in real life they stop short of terminating contestants who displease the audience. The showrunners and audience of Alien Stage have no such limits: after aliens conquered the Earth, they forced humans to become their entertainment. Now, contestants of this singing competition must impress their alien viewers or be killed on stage.

The aliens have been in control for so long that the competitors have grown up together, forcing them to destroy long-held connections or die. Worse, their captors don’t care about such trivial things as love: winners either watch their loved ones killed or risk death themselves to rebel against the game. The sleazier competitors are even willing to take advantage of their peers’ grief to try and get ahead in their rounds.

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2 Fate/stay night Throws Ancient Legends Into A Battle Royale

Based on the visual novel developed by Type-Moon

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Most death games have primarily personal stakes for the players involved. The once-in-a-generation Holy Grail Wars affect the state of the entire world, and the Fourth Grail War in Fate/zero ended in widespread chaos and destruction. Now new competitors, including the children and heirs of the last, are taking up arms to fight for the right to make a wish on the holy relic and claim its power.

Seven players, called Masters, are paired with Servants, legendary warriors or heroes from the past. Masters use their Servants as proxies to take out every other team and become the last ones standing to get their hands on the prize. Shirou and Saber are one of the pairs that come to get along surprisingly well, becoming one of the best battle couples in anime and overcoming even more physically powerful and vicious partnerships.

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1 Deadman Wonderland Is a Whole Deadly Theme Park

Based on the manga by Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou

Ganta Igarashi knows he didn’t murder his class, but nobody, up to and including the court, believes him. So he’s thrown into Deadman Wonderland, a theme-park-style prison where, thanks to the poison-injecting collars the inmates wear, death is always just three days away. To take the antidote regularly, they have to win it in deadly games around the park.

If there’s not a shadowy organization running the death games in the top horror anime of all time, then it’s something even worse: the government. To recover from a severe disaster in Tokyo, Japan has turned to the massive privatized prison to provide bread and circuses for the people. Ganta has enough to deal with risking his life alongside his fellow inmates in front of jeering crowds, and he has the added burden of trying to clear his name.

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