Sword Art Online has become one of the most popular anime of all time. Trapped in a video game with only two methods of escape, the harrowing adventures of Kirito and all his friends must reach the top of the dungeon, or die trying.
Besides keeping anime fans on the edge of their seats, Sword Art Online has become something of a gateway for potential viewers new to anime, especially given the series’ powerful and charismatic villains. For those who can’t get enough of SAO’s high-stakes conflict, video game setting, and epic characters, there are several excellent anime to satisfy their appetite.
Update March 31st, 2023 by Sage Ashford:Sword Art Online is still going strong, but not everyone might want to invest in more of Kirito’s adventure. However, there are plenty of other anime like Sword Art Online out there, both in the isekai realm and in the realm of being trapped inside of games. We’ve updated this list to add a few more worthy entries.
15 Full Dive RPG
12 Episodes
Full Dive RPG is like Sword Art Online if it kept the difficulty but traded the drama for comedy. High school student Hiroshi Yuuki wants nothing more than to retreat into escapism and play full-dive VRMMOs. Rather than buy the latest edition of his favorite game, he’s convinced to buy Kiwame Quest by the shop owner instead.
When Hiroshi logs into Kiwame Quest, he finds a game that’s more lifelike and realistic than any other. The NPCs behave almost like humans, while the story has a near-infinite number of story branches. However, the game is also too realistic, right down to being unable to backtrack or save the game, short of just buying a brand-new console. Though Kiwame Quest is more stressful than real life, Hiroshi just can’t stop logging in to this new world.
14 Infinite Dendrogram
13 Episodes
In the far future, developers create the first real full-dive VRMMO. Known as Infinite Dendrogram, the game allows players to experience a fantasy world on a level they could’ve only dreamed of before. The series follows Reiji Mukudori, a college freshman who decides to try the game out.
To Reiji’s surprise, the game is not only feels realistic, but has more realistic NPCs than he could’ve imagined. They’re so lifelike, it becomes difficult to tell the difference between real people and characters in the game. Reiji finds himself drawn into this world, going on a journey to discover what’s possible within.
13 No Game, No Life
12 Episodes
No Game, No Life may be a short anime, but it packs plenty of action and dazzling visuals for any isekai lover. The two main characters are Sora and Shiro, hardcore gamer siblings who find themselves in a world where competitive games have replaced war.
This new world is a paradise for Sora and Shiro, and they go about proving how they earned such a fearsome reputation in Earth’s online games. SAO is about a new life in a video game, and No Game, No Life does much the same, except it trades swords for chess and the like.
12 The Rising Of The Shield Hero
38 Episodes
This is one of the grittier isekai series out there, setting it apart from the “OP main character goofing off in a fantasy world” series. Here, the lead is Naofumi Iwatani, who can only use shields in combat. So he’s going to need a team to back him up.
Naofumi and the other heroes must fight off waves of deadly enemies who threaten the Melromarc kingdom, and it’s all like a video game, but with sky-high stakes. There’s stat-boosting, swords, monsters, and, of course, cool shields in this series.
11 .Hack//Legend Of The Twilight
12 Episodes
Long before there was Sword Art Online, there was .hack, which was popular enough to spawn multiple anime series. .hack//Legend of the Twilight follows a pair of twins, Shugo and Rena, who have logged into the VRMMO known as “The World”. Though the two are new to the game, they’re given avatars of the legendary characters Kite and BlackRose.
Shugo and Rena try to enjoy The World, making friends as they beat quests and events. However, they’re pulled into a mystery after learning about a new type of monster that can force players into comas when players lose to them. A more comedic version of Sword Art Online’s plot, Legend of the Twilight is a reminder of isekai’s roots.
10 BOFURI: I Don’t Wanna Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense
24 Episodes
BOFURI is another series for fans of full dive VRMMO games. In this relaxing slice-of-life series, the protagonist is a young girl named Kaede who’s talked into playing NewWorld Online by her friend. She creates her own virtual avatar named Maple and decides to place all of her stat points into defense so her character never gets hurt.
While Maple is incredibly slow in combat, she takes next to no damage during combat encounters. Thanks to her defense stats, her luck at finding rare items, and knack for completing dangerous dungeons, Maple builds a legend for herself, earning a reputation as The Walking Fortress.
9 The King’s Avatar
41 Episodes
The King’s Avatar is essentially Sword Art Online minus having the protagonist stuck in an alternate world. Instead, lead character Ye Xiu is a competitive eSports player for the mega-popular video game Glory. After tiring of the politics of the shady eSports world, Ye Xiu abandons that life and his old character and starts from scratch with a new profile during the grand opening of the game’s tenth server.
Like Sword Art Online, The King’s Avatar is very much about life as an ace player in an MMO. However, instead of being purely about survival, it’s about how Ye Xiu spends all of his free time climbing back to the top of the game he left.
8 The Irregular At Magic High School
39 Episodes
In a world of magic, Miyuki Shiba is an heir to Clan Yotsuba, one of the major clans in charge of Japan’s magicians. Her brother Tatsuya is assigned to be her bodyguard, but seems to have no affinity for magic at all. Instead, Tatsuya’s incredibly capable at physical combat and designing magical technology, and is secretly a member of an elite magical fighting force.
For every fan of Sword Art Online who loves how Kirito can keep his cool in any situation, they’ll enjoy the similarities between him and TheIrregular at Magic High School’s protagonists. When watching TheIrregular at Magic High School, viewers will feel like they haven’t missed a step.
7 Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon?
62 Episodes
Probably the most frustrating aspect of Sword Art Online for first-time viewers is the shattered belief that Kirito would have to climb his way up the tower. Instead, the story skips over most of that work in favor of jumping to the top floors very early on.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? works the other way around. Bell Cranel doesn’t start out strong, but gains a special ability early on which allows him to power-level. From there, he works his way further and further down his world’s dungeon, seeking treasure for his family.
6 I’m Standing On A Million Lives
24 Episodes
I’m Standing On A Million Lives is like Sword Art Online with more interesting lore, but a more generic setting. The story begins when the antisocial Yusuke Yotsuya is summoned to another world, where he’s forced to do quests to return to his home world. Yotsuya has several allies from the real world working along with him, but the problem is none of their abilities are powerful at first.
Instead, they’re all forced to battle against the creatures and people of this world as relative weaklings, leveling up their skills over time. The only thing working in their favor is that they’re all immortal, capable of respawning as long as at least one other member is alive. This series has a serious vibe to it, with each of the characters trying to figure out exactly what’s bringing them to this other world, and how they’ll ever escape.
5 Grimgar Of Fantasy And Ash
13 Episodes
Some people like the idea of being sent to a fantasy world, but aren’t quite so sure about everything else in Sword Art Online. Maybe the harem element is a bit much, or perhaps the lead character is too overpowered.
Rather than one lead character, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash features six adventurers who found their way into a strange new world with no idea how they got there or what home was like. Instead of a harem, there are awkward emotions surrounding early puberty.
4 Btooom!
12 Episodes
Ryouta Sakamoto is Japan’s best player of Btooom!, an online game that doesn’t rely on swords or guns, but rather killing opponents by throwing bombs. One day, Ryouta wakes up on an island where the game’s rules and weaponry have been recreated.
Ryouta is asked to kill seven people before he will be allowed to escape the game. He tries ignoring their rules but doesn’t know who he can or can’t trust, and is eventually forced to play along. For people who love the original Sword Art Online’s premise of battling in a life or death game, there’s Btooom!, a game that feels like Sword Art crossed with Battle Royale.
3 Accel World
24 Episodes
Accel World and Sword Art Online are actually both novels by the same creator, Reki Kawahara. They are both centered on gamers spending way too much time in a virtual reality game, but the goal for the lead characters in Accel World is a bit different.
Haruyuki Arita and Kuroyukihime work together in the world of Brain Burst, an augmented reality fighting game to battle against the Six Kings of Pure Color, the strongest enemies in the game. By beating them, the two will be able to reach level 10, the highest level available, and be able to meet the creator of Brain Burst to discover why the game was created.
2 Sword Art Online Alternative – Gun Gale Online
12 Episodes
Not enough people have checked out the Sword Art Online spin-off centered on the third game in the franchise, Gun Gale Online. The series is written by Keiichi Sigsawa, best known for his work on Kino’s Journey. Sword Art Online Alternative – Gun Gale Online centers on a college-aged woman named Karen Kohiruimaki
Embarking on a new journey, Karen gets into Gun Gale Online because the avatar she gets is small and cute compared to her tall real-world self. Alternative takes place in the same world as Sword Art Online and even references the latter’s events throughout the series. However, it does its own thing, with plenty of cool, tense gunfights. Even people who don’t like Sword Art Online should give this series a second chance.
1 Log Horizon
62 Episodes
Log Horizon was one of the earliest “clone” series of SAO. But there’s one major difference between Log Horizon and SAO: Dying here means the player respawns. This fundamental change switches things from a tense battle against both enemies and other players to that of players trying to learn what it means to exist in the world.
Slowly, those stuck in Elder Tale begin to build their own society. The characters must figure out ways to purchase property and feed themselves while seeing how the rules have changed with the mysterious 12th expansion of Elder Tale that’s altered the game’s rules in ways even the players are not privy to.
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