The 20+ Gaming And Videogames Anime To Watch Now

Gaming is a mainstream phenomenon as of now and anime couldn’t miss the opportunity to represent it.

We will include those series that have gaming throughout the series or where it’s a key component of the plot. For this reason, expect to see some shows that aren’t totally about the topic but feature it.

The majority of the anime here are isekai for obvious reasons, as it’s easier to deal with the topic in fictional worlds.

This listicle is based on our opinions and experience, let us know what you think about it and how we can improve it.

21. And You Thought There Is Never A Girl Online?

And You Thought There Is Never A Girl Online? is a sentimental comedy with harem and ecchi elements, and its main theme is gaming.

The story centers on Hideki Nishimura, a young man who had confessed to someone he thought was an online girl, only to find out that it was instead a boy, leading him to no longer trust online girls.

One day, an online girl he met on the MMORPG they were playing confesses to him again, and it will turn out that this time she is a girl, named Ako Tamaki.

The girl will turn out to have behavioral problems, so he will begin the campaign to heal her and make her a good partner for Hideki.

Comic anime that conceals as one can guess a social critique on the subject of online relationships, now increasingly common these days.

20. My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute

The story of My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute follows the daily life of an ordinary high school boy named Kyosuke Kosaka, whose sister, Kirino, is a rather famous model.

For years Kyosuke and Kirino have ignored each other, but one day the boy, on his way home, happens to find an anime DVD at the front door.

Intrigued, Kyosuke opens the box, making a rather puzzling discovery. Inside it will not be a rather racy adult video game.

This will give rise to several comical and funny situations, making this anime a very basic but still enjoyable light comedy with sentimental moments.

19. Sword Art Online Series

Certainly one of the most talked-about series of recent times, with many series under its belt and the quality of them not exactly consistent.

The events center on Kirito, nicknamed the black swordsman, in different virtual MMORPG video game worlds, accompanied by as many allies as enemies.

Nonetheless, Sword Art Online is all about gaming and is one of the anime that novices watch when exploring the medium.

18. Btooom!

The premise of this anime is a little different from the others, as we survival blended with the gaming theme.

Ryouta Sakamoto, an unemployed guy living with his mother has no connection with real life and is obsessed with this online videogame called Btooom.

He will find himself stranded on an island with a crystal embedded in his hand and will realize that he is inside a recreation of his favorite game.

He will soon realize that to escape the hellish virtual world he will have to kill seven of his fellow players.

Ryouta will team up with Himiko and the two of them will try to free themselves why figuring out why did they end up there, to begin with.

17. Gamers!

A purely slice-of-life anime released in 2017 in 12 episodes. The story revolves around the lives of some video game-loving high school students.

Keita Amano is a lonely boy who loves video games. Karen Tendou is the beautiful president of the video game club. Chiaki Hoshinomori, who constantly argues with Keita, and Tasuku Uehara, who pretends to be satisfied with his life in the real world but loves gaming.

A sentimental slice of life like the others, but one that goes on to add this component of video games given the shared passion of the characters, which will make them grow closer and fall in love at first sight.

16. Magic of Stella

Another slice of life revolving around the world of video games, this time from 2016.

This story follows Tamaki Honda, a young first-year high school student who joins a somewhat peculiar circle of people called SNS-Bu, which is involved in creating indie video games.

An anime with a very moe vibe and characters, with a relaxed atmosphere. This is another comedy show that is good for those who want to watch something light and trivial.

The typical cute girls doing cute things anime that is also suitable if you enjoy workplace shows.

15. Accel World

Action opera within the classic virtual world, with the addition of sentimental elements.

It’s 2046, and Haruyuki is a middle school boy who is constantly bullied by bullies because he is overweight.

During one fall, the protagonist meets Kuroyukihime, the most beautiful girl in school, who changes his life by introducing him to a virtual world called Accel World.

Haruyuki will then become the Burst Linker, a paladin tasked to protect Kuroyukihime.

An anime with a good technical aspect and slightly better than Sword Art Online. We are making this comparison because Accel World is based on a light novel by Reki Kawahara, the same author of SAO.

Still, it’s full of stereotypes and tropes, it’s another anime that you should watch if you are really into the genre.

14. Overlord

Overlord is an anime based on another light novel series by Kugane Maruyama and illustrated by So-Bin in 2012.

A great Isekai classic, it takes the basics of the genre and reworks them into a dark fantasy atmosphere all its own. The protagonist Momonga isn’t reincarnated into a weakling, but rather into what is considered the most powerful being in his MMORPG world.

That’s different from what you see on other shows where there is progression and balance.

The great virtue of Overlord is the rawness of the actions performed by Momonga and the real and tangible weight they have on the people of the world.

13. D-Fragments

A high school-style comedy starring aspiring gangster Kazama Kenji and the boisterous four members of the high school game club.

The latter in fact like to live and commit even illicit acts thinking they are in a videogame.

Examples include using a taser thinking it is a thunder element weapon or kidnapping people by passing them off as videogame quests. The encounter with Kazama will then begin the events.

A funny anime that will make you bend over in laughter in a videogame context bordering on the absurd.

12. Summer Wars

From director Mamoru Hosoda, Summer Wars is a 2009 film. You may already be familiar with Hosoda from his previous work in Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!, with which the similarities are very pronounced.

The story revolves around Kenji Koiso, a math genius boy with social problems who spends most of his time in Oz, a virtual world.

At the beginning of the summer, Natsuki, the most popular girl in school, offers him an unusual job, which is to play the part of his future spouse in front of his grandmother.

A mishap caused by Kenji himself will unleash a powerful computer virus called the Love Machine, which attacks Oz and makes a series of disasters all over the globe.

It will then be up to Kenji to stop the threat and restore peace within the network.

The countryside setting will be the main focus of this movie, which has as its pivotal theme the risks that technological and videogames advancement can bring to our world if left unchecked.

11. My Dress-Up Darling!

My Dress-Up Darling has been able to make a name for itself thanks to its wise use of fanservice and to a pleasant cast.

The events revolve around the young high school boy Wakana Gojo and his particular passions.

His life will change considerably after he makes the acquaintance of his classmate Marin Kitagawa. The girl, after catching him sewing clothes for dolls, will ask for his help in creating custom-made clothes for her, as she is fond of cosplay.

This will not only push the boy out of his comfort zone in several ways, but it will also open him up to a new way of thinking.

The bizarre situation in which Gojo finds himself is good to hone his social skills and discover love.

The videogame component is present in the cosplays, as many of them will be inspired by fictional videogame characters. Marin is a fan of eroge and this will be clear when you will see what cosplays she is proposing to Gojo.

10. High Score Girl

Based on a seinen manga, Hi Score Girl is divided into 24 episodes released in 2018.

It is 1991, and Haruo Yaguchi is a senior in elementary school. He doesn’t have any great characteristics except being good at videogames.

One day in the arcade he finds himself playing against Akira Oono, a popular, smart, beautiful, and rich classmate of his to who he loses resoundingly.

Not only does he get ripped 30 times in a row in Street Fighter II, but Akira can beat him at any game. Haruo ends up playing against her every day after school in an attempt to beat her as a bond develops between the two.

An anime with a vintage flavor that knows how to convince and wink at those who, like the protagonists, were children in the 1990s.

9. Recovery of an MMO Junkie

We move on to something more serious, which behind the videogame world also examines psychological and mental aspects.

Moriko Morioka is in her 30s, single, and has just quit her job because she could no longer handle the burden and stress of work. She has thus become a NEET and now tries to fill her life with an online game: Fruits de Mer, her only escape from reality.

Back in the days when she was still employed, she had befriended another gamer, who in turn was trying to fill the loneliness through videogames and was always ready for her in time of need.

Perhaps by playing Fruits de Mer she could meet that boy again?

Loneliness, anxieties, and insecurities in life are the real theme of this anime, with video games used as a method of examining these topics.

A more serious viewing than the others examined that is capable of highlighting some real issues that plague our relationship with the digital world.

8. BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense.

BOFURI comes out in 2020, with just 12 episodes and strong comedy elements.

Kaede Honjou has been invited by her friend Risa Shiromine to play a new virtual reality MMO New World Online. Since she is not very experienced and does not like pain, she chooses as her weapon a large shield to defend herself, which she will upgrade greatly.

But contrary to expectations, this tactic works great, and soon the incredible girl with the shield will end up the talk of the town.

This is a different and almost parodic take on similar anime classics, with the strong, sword-wielding, and skilled hero.

7. New Game!

New Game! is a workplace and sometimes comedy slice-of-life anime with the main theme being videogames and the work related to them.

The main character Aoba Suzukaze, having finished high school, starts working for a video game company headed by the man who designed her favorite video game.

We will follow her life and that of other women working in the industry. This anime is really centered on games and is wholesome as well since it belongs to the cute girls doing cute things genre.

Even though New Game! isn’t really the best example of what we mentioned above, but it’s still a good production that deserves a chance and is very relevant to gaming.

6. Wotakoi

Wotakoi is an 11-episode anime series based on a manga of the same name written and drawn by Fujita.

The series stars Narumi Momose, a serious and impeccable employee who hides from friends and colleagues the fact that she is an otaku and a nerd, who loves to play videogames.

At the office where she works, however, Hirotaka Nifuji, a charming and affable old friend of hers from high school, lives his otakuhood head-on. In addition, Hanako Koyanagi, Narumi’s senpai, and her boyfriend Taro Kabakura, are also otaku in the office.

The story then follows the affairs of these four “fanatics” and how they reconcile their passions, including videogames with the responsibilities of adult life.

Fans of video games and Japanese pop culture will know how to appreciate the countless quotes in the anime, which are very cute and best convey the protagonists’ otaku-ness.

5. King’s Avatar

An anime of pure action and character development, released in 2017 in 12 engaging episodes.

Ye Xiu, despite being revered as a top player and an example to follow, is thrown out by his team of players of the popular online videogame Glory.

But when the developer launches his new server, he throws himself back into the video game. With 10 years of experience on his back, his memories, and an unfinished weapon he created himself, the protagonist returns to take back what is his.

While there is much room for improvement, this anime is a perfect representation of the eSports scene and we feel it’s a good fit for this listicle.

4. Welcome to the NHK

You have all probably heard of the Hikikomori at least once. They are young boys who self-isolate themselves from society by totally locking themselves up at home, out of fear of going out caused by various reasons.

The protagonist of the events Tatsuhiro Sato is one of them, who spends his days playing videogames and watching animes due to past dramas.

One day like any other, however, to his surprise and unbeknownst to him there will be a knock on his door from a religious old woman in the company of a girl.

What Sato will not know, however, is that the same girl will later get in touch with him, claiming that she can and will help him out of his condition.

Welcome to the NHK is one of the best anime about depression and gives a message of hope to anyone suffering from this illness.

3. .hack//Sign

.hack//Sign is an anime belonging to a large multimedia project, namely the .hack project. It belongs to the Isekai genre, with the characters ending up in a videogame-like world of the MMORPG genre.

The videogame world is rendered in a truly realistic way that is recognizable to the viewer, thanks to the frequent use of videogame jargon terminologies such as bugs, servers, pg, or skills.

It stars Tsukasa, a mage class character controlled by the boy of the same name in the real world. However, one day, for unknown causes, he fails to log out of the game, raising doubts about its true reality of it.

.hack//Sign is one of those gems you don’t want to miss, including the videogames.

2. Log Horizon

Log Horizon is an anime based on the light novel series of the same name written by Mamare Touno and illustrated by Kazuhiro Hara.

The plot of the series is set in the world of Elder’s Tale, the world’s most popular MMORPG played by thousands of players.

Unfortunately for the protagonists of the series, Shiro, Naotsugu, and Akatsuki, this fantasy world will become their prison, as they mysteriously cannot get out of it.

But what makes this anime truly unique is its more mature approach than the classic isekai where the hero must save the world.

This is also due to its darker world-building and more serious and adult-characterized characters.

1. No Game no Life

No Game No Life is a very popular isekai anime released in 2014. Its great success is undoubtedly due to its focus on the compelling games that set the pace of the episodes but also thanks to its charismatic and engaging characters.

The main characters are siblings Sora and Shiro, two Hikikomori who spend their days in their room together playing video games, which they are true legends of how strong they are.

That is, until they are teleported to the world of Disboard, a realm revolving around various games, gambling, and otherwise, where they can reach their full potential.

A much-loved isekai, a must if you are a fan of games of all kinds, traditional, gambling, and more.

No Game No Life is definitely not the best anime on this list but is very fitting for the gaming theme.