We may earn small commission from the products mentioned in this post.

Anime like Gantz: Whether it is about reality or fantasy mixed – you simply can’t say no to some amazing pieces that have received a positive response from fans for offering unique stories with perfect character development. Even if it’s about some anime including dark fantasy, secrets, and sharp protagonists, or some thriller or suspenseful anime like Gantz, the mood is set as long as the story is good.

About Gantz

Gantz clearly shows that death is not the end and can be worse. There’s no peace in the afterlife, no salvation, and no lord waiting for you to take in their care. However, there can be a game you might be thrown into and asked to fight green aliens along with robot monsters to get another opportunity at life.

The story is about Kei Kurono, who is killed and the next movement finds himself in a similar game – more like a test of his morals, skills, and will to live. The story further includes things like violence and gore – every type of ugliness you might witness in today’s society.

Gantz may not show the reality involved but it has several parts which will help you realize a few things like struggle, that death is not the end and what society is actually filled with. If you have taken an interest in this anime and want more anime like Gantz, then we have cut short your research because, in this article, we have presented a good list of 7 anime similar to Gantz.

Shigurui

Episodes: 12
Premiered: 19 July 2007
Genre: Drama, Action, and Psychological
IMDB: 7.7/10
Where to watch: Crunchyroll

Shigurui: Death Frenzy begins with the Edo era when humans enjoyed a peaceful time and Lord Tokugawa Tadanaga used to hold fighting contests. At that time, matches were fought with the help of wooden swords but this time – the swords will be real.

Now, Fujiki Gennosuke with one arm, and blind Irako Seigen – are the disciplines of Japan’s most famous and greatest swordsman named Iwamoto Kogan, will fight in this match. Both are ready to give their 100% in the match and prove themselves as the most sincere successor of Iwamoto’s school, but since only one among them can be champion – the rest of the story includes how they struggle to get on top of each other.

Watch Shigurui

Sing Yesterday For Me

Episodes: 12 + 6 Shorts
Premiered: 1 April 2020
Genre: Drama and Romance
IMDB: 6.9/10
Where to watch: Netflix and Crunchyroll

Sing “Yesterday” for Me tells about Rikuo Uozumi, who has everything he needs but is currently living an aimless life working at a convenience store in Tokyo – after graduating from university. His dull life is soon changed when a cheerful Haru Nonaka makes an appearance – frequently visiting his workplace to make friends with him.

One day, Rikuo comes to know that his crush and an old university friend have come back to town and so he reaches out to her to strengthen the relationship. But, he is not aware that Shinako is currently struggling with her painful memories and they are the same reason why she isn’t accepting his feelings.

On the other hand, Haru is continuously showing a bright side of herself to Rikuo, trying to open up to him and that is how Rikuo assumes that she is also like him – living by herself and wanting to let go of all the worries and step out of her comfort zone.

The past is lingering in every character’s mind but since the future will simply remain the same, even if they cared about their past or not – with the paths crossed, the three characters experience letting go of their feelings of yesterday and accept the change that tomorrow will bring.

Watch Sing Yesterday For Me

Monster

Episodes: 74
Premiered: 7 April 2004
Genre: Mystery, Drama, and Suspense
IMDB: 8.7/10
Where to watch: Netflix

Monster speaks about Dr. Kenzou Tenma – a great neurosurgeon who is engaged to his hospital’s director’s daughter and is on his way to getting control of the hospital’s hierarchy. However, everything goes well until one night while the doctor is preparing to perform the surgery, he gets a sudden call from the director and is asked to instead work on the surgery of a popular performer.

The surgery is successful and he gets applause from his fiancé, doctors, and the hospital director but because of the switch, an immigrant worker is now dead – something causing regret to flow near Dr. Tenma.

To make up for the loss, the next time he gets in a similar situation, he performs the surgery on a young boy instead of choosing the town’s mayor. Although his regrets seem to lessen, he has to face several consequences in society from his social connections.

Suddenly, the director along with a few of the doctors in the hospital dies – helping Dr. Tenma to restore his position as the hospital director. Nine years after the incident, the doctor saves the life of a criminal and that is when his past is back to hunt him down.

Watch Monster

Babylon

Episodes: 12
Premiered: 7 October 2019
Genre: Suspense and Mystery
IMDB: 6.4/10
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

Babylon starts with a new formation of a district in Tokyo named Shiniki with Zen Seizaki, a good public prosecutor working at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.

He is currently involved in the case of false advertisement and the prosecutor along with his assistant officer named Atsuhiko Fumio is now investigating Japan Supiri – a well-known pharmaceutical brand that has seemed to provide fabricated clinical reports on the company’s new medicine.

While investigating a certain anesthesiologist involved in the case, Zen finds a strange page with strains of blood, skin, and hair with the letter F scribbled across the page. He continues to investigate the case as it goes beyond his vision and becomes so vast that it is now challenging Zen’s knowledge of justice.

As he digs deeper, the inquiry uncovers a good set of mysteries and secrets – mostly leading to the upcoming election with ties connected to many political bodies involved in the election. Soon enough, he finds himself in the pit of corruption and scenes behind the election, the truth behind the debut of the new district is unraveled along with a sudden appearance of a mysterious woman associated with all this.

Watch Babylon

Shiki

Episodes: 22
Premiered: 9 July 2010
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, and Fantasy
IMDB: 7.6/10
Where to watch: Crunchyroll and Funimation

Shiki talks about a small town named Sotoba – where people are living a modest life with connections all over the town. All this peace comes to an end one day when a young girl Megumi Shimizu with high goals and dreams dies unexpectedly due to an unknown disease. Followed by her – many more villagers die, leaving the town’s doctor Toshio Ozaki with an assumption that something more than disease has taken control over the town.

To unravel the secrets behind deaths in Sotoba, Toshio joins hands with Natsuno Yuuki, a cheerful teenager along with his siblings and also Kaori and Akira Tanaka, two of Megumi’s best friends. The group of four sets on a journey of investigation which eventually leads them to a horrifying secret that includes the new family living in the Kanemasa mansion.

Watch Shiki

Beastars

Episodes: 12
Premiered: 10 October 2019
Genre: Drama and Slice of Life
IMDB: 7.7/10
Where to watch: Netflix

Beastars include a civilized society where anthropomorphic animals live. There is peace but there’s always a tension existing between the herbivores and carnivores. The same topic emerges in the Cherryton Academy after a predation accident takes place in the school’s drama club – where an alpaca named Tem dies.

The blame is immediately shifted to Tem’s friend Legoshi – a gray wolf in the stage crew called. He has been feared and suspected for his entire life and after the sudden tragedy, the immediate response of students was to blame him. Therefore, he tries to hide his grades from everyone but somehow – a red deer and a star actor from the drama club named Louis still have eyes on him.

When Louis enters the drama club to train Tem’s replacement, he asks Legoshi to be on the lookout. Meanwhile, Legoshi is also meeting Haru, a white dwarf rabbit every night and his feelings for her get complicated as he tries his best to control his predatory instincts. To take entire control – he forced himself to confront his true nature while facing the circumstances surrounding him and the world which is just getting messier.

Watch Beastars

Casshern Sins

Episodes: 24
Premiered: 2 October 2008
Genre: Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
IMDB: 7/10
Where to watch: Crunchyroll and Funimation

Casshern Sins speaks about the distant future where the world has become a wasteland on which humanity died ages ago. The only remnants are robots, which were supposed to be living forever but this strategy was ruined when one of them called Luna died.

After Luna, robots start dying one after the other and their bodies will rust, with no solution to fix them. Now robots have no specific objective in life as they are simply waiting for death. But there’s a rumor going around that if they eat that one thing called Casshern – they will gain immortality again.

The highlight of this anime is that Casshern is a living creature who is not aware of his past and he doesn’t know what to do with this life. However, he’s currently running away from all those robots who are trying to hunt him down and simply eat him so that they don’t die.

Watch Casshern Sins