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Imagine starting a new anime only to have the kind and relatable main character immediately having to fight for their life. In several battle royale anime, the stories sometimes begin with the main character in an ordinary world, only to have them thrust into a violent environment to shock viewers. Anime fans have become captivated by this subgenre of psychological horror referred to as the battle royale.
A battle royale traditionally refers to a fight involving several combatants that is fought until only one fighter remains. Animated series have taken the concept of the battle royale and incorporated unique elements such as creative plotlines, relatable characters, and intense fight scenes. Below is a list of the best battle royale anime, including some of those features.
Future Diary
Future Diary Future Diary followed Yukiteru, who noted everything he observed on his cellphone. One day his phone began to make predictions on what he will observe. He read on his phone that he will pick up a dart and make a bullseye during his morning routine. Immediately after, the news showed an update on a local killer in the area, which his phone also predicted.
Unfortunately, this miracle wasn’t without consequences. Yukiteru realized that these new features of his phone meant that he had been chosen to participate in a battle royale for the chance to become a God who had control over time and space. This series is unique in the way that each candidate had a cellphone suited to the personality that gave them an advantage over the other players.
Darwin’s Game
This animated series started with the main character, Kaname, accepting an invitation to play a mobile game called “Darwin’s Game.” This anime also made use of cellphones as a key component for survival where each player was given a Sigil, an ability that allowed them to fight and defend themselves against other opponents.
Shortly after Kaname downloaded the game, “Start Battle” appeared on his phone screen as it would in a fighting game between himself and an opponent named Banda. To keep bystanders safe, he was then teleported into an alternate reality during the battle. He quickly realized that he must fight to survive the game.
Btooom!
Ryota was the top player of a combat video game called “Btooom!”. One day he mysteriously woke up on an island, not remembering how he got there. After waking up, he encountered someone else on the island which began throwing bombs at him. Ryota realized that he was participating in a real-life version of his favorite video game. As the series progressed, it was revealed through a flashback that if a player could collect eight IC chips, then they were free to go home. The IC chips were both sonars and radars that were used in the game.
They were implanted in each player’s left hand and could only be removed after the player was dead. While this animated series didn’t give the characters any supernatural powers or abilities, it did force them to fight using weapons from an online video game.
Juni Taisen
Twelve deadly mercenaries, each with abilities based on the animals of the Chinese zodiac, were pitted against one another in a tournament that took place every twelve years. Each mercenary’s physical features and skills that were respective to their zodiac sign are what gave them their advantage. For example, Rabbit had long rabbit ears, a fluffy tail and used his agility to fight.
During this tournament, each zodiac mercenary was asked to swallow one of twelve crystallized poison jewels known as Beast Gems. The prize of the tournament was to have any wish of their choosing granted. In order to win this prize, each mercenary must have retrieved each of the eleven crystals from the other mercenaries before the deadline. Usually, battle royale anime involve ordinary people, while Juni Taisen followed skilled mercenaries.
Magical Girl Raising Project
As far as she could remember, Himekawa had always loved magical girls. Magical girls are young girls who transform into an alter ego with a cute costume and possess magical abilities that they use to protect people. It is no wonder that as soon as she heard a social network game existed claiming to grant players a 1-in-10,000 chance to become a real magical girl that she began playing right away.
As fate had it, she was chosen to become the magical girl known as Snow White. Though due to a calculation error, there were too many magical girls were residing in one city. To resolve this, the numbers had to be cut in half, eliminating those with the least amount of magical candy. Most anime series with magical girls are light and whimsical. The protagonist in a magical girl anime series always wins in the end without any casualties, but a battle royale among magical girls makes this anime a rare gem.
Fate/Zero
Fate/Zero followed the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War. This war called forth seven mages to summon seven heroic spirits. These spirits were set against each other in a battle to obtain the power of the Holy Grail, which was said to grant a wish to each member of the winning duo. Most mages that were summoned were honored to participate in the Holy Grail War, but there were others who would rather have been left out of the war.
With the Einzbern family’s determination to win, they’d recruited the mage Kiritsugu, the notorious mage killer, to better their chances at winning. However, Kiritsugu found himself to be incompatible with his heroic spirit due to polar opposite ideals, so his partner Irisviel fought alongside him and served as master to their spirit. Ideally, only the heroic spirits would have fought each other. Each spirit had insurmountable strength and abilities beyond any normal human or mage. Unfortunately, some mages became casualties of the war.
Danganronpa
A group of high school students found themselves locked up in “Hope’s Peak Academy.” The students were soon confronted and threatened by their principal, an anthropomorphic bear named Monokuma, who stated that the only way they could escape was if they could murder someone and get away with it.
At first, the students refused to participate, but then they were all shown personal videos that shocked everyone. Shortly after, a student was found dead in another student’s room. What was most compelling about this series was that it was not only a battle royale anime series but a mystery series as well. Viewers could follow along with the students as they tried to collect clues and discover who the murderer is.
Deadman Wonderland
High school student Ganta was the sole survivor of a tragedy that killed all of his classmates. Ganta claimed that it was the doing of someone he referred to as the “Red Man.” He was then placed on trial and shockingly found guilty of the crime. After the trial, he was sentenced to Deadman Wonderland, where criminals had to compete against each other. Prisoners who won the competitions were granted food portions and kept alive.
Though the series didn’t focus on the battle royale aspect entirely throughout the series, the competitions that did occur had unforgiving consequences, which typically resulted in losing a limb.
Gantz
Two high school friends, Kei and Masaru, are killed by a subway train while trying to rescue a drunk homeless man. After death, they awoke in a room with a group of others, where they were instructed by Gantz, a dark black sphere, to complete missions to be able to return to their lives.
The missions given to the group from Gantz were to kill all targets, which appeared to the group as aliens living on Earth. Those that were sent on the mission couldn’t return until all targets had been killed. Though the groups of people weren’t pitted against one another, their lives were at stake as they struggled to survive these missions.
Death Parade
When someone died, they found themselves at a bar in the afterlife with partial amnesia. They remembered who they were but didn’t immediately remember what happened right up to their death. Once there, they were greeted by an arbiter who led them to believe that they had to compete for their soul and that the winner would be granted a good afterlife. The series followed Decim, an arbiter, who became interested in learning about human emotion. The games were usually simple such as darts, pool, and bowling.
Unbeknownst to the deceased, the arbiter decided where their soul went. While one would have thought that the games’ results would have been straightforward, with the winner being reincarnated while the loser wouldn’t have been, it wasn’t that black and white for the arbiter’s judgment. Rather than the arbiter focusing on who the winner is, they observed each person’s true nature during the game and passed judgment based on whether they believe the person to be good or bad. Sometimes both individuals were fortunate enough to be granted reincarnation.
Anime You Are Dying To Watch
The anime subgenre, battle royale, is captivating. For anime viewers who don’t mind violent battles or deaths, it’s a genre of anime worth watching. One of its appeals is its ability to creatively use animation to emphasize the fantasy aspect of the subgenre. While these wild plot lines and brutal fight scenes could be translated to live-action, anime is able to take it to the next level. Future Diary, Darwin’s Game, Magical Girl Raising Project, and Btooom! are all battle royale anime that utilized technology to drive their plot points. At the same time, Gantz and Death Parade explored the afterlife. With animation, artists can turn the color of blood to purple to achieve a certain effect and align it with the art style of the show, such as with Danganronpa.
With the animated series Juni Taisen, Fate/Zero, and Deadman Wonderland, they created colorful fantasy worlds. Animation can also give characters exaggerated expressions that could not be done with a live actor or actress. On top of that, fans can enjoy the many different art styles. For all these reasons, the series listed above are currently ten of the best battle royale anime series to watch. Though, as the subgenre’s fan base grows in size, we will inevitably find the release of new animated series that will push the boundaries of the battle royale. The subgenre won’t end with these ten shows. In time, there will be a new and thrilling battle royale series to watch.
