10 best anime to watch if you like Squid Game

Squid Game took the world by storm when it was released on Netflix in September 2021. The Korean thriller survival drama tells the story of a group of people participating in a series of children's games with deadly consequences for the losers.

With its shocking violence, high emotional stakes, and thought-provoking commentary on economic inequality, it resonated with viewers globally. Fans of this hit series may seek anime with high-stakes survival games, moral dilemmas, psychological tension, and violence.

The following 10 anime all feature these elements that Squid Game fans would appreciate. They are must-watch shows for viewers who can't get enough of the edge-of-your-seat suspense and emotional storytelling of Squid Game.

10 must-watch anime for fans of Squid Game

1) Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor

Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor (Image via Madhouse)

Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor follows a down-on-his-luck gambler named Kaiji Itou who gets coerced into participating in high-stakes gambling matches after being tricked into taking responsibility for a friend’s debt. Initially, he is forced onto a gambling cruise ship where debtors play games of chance with life-altering consequences.

However, as the series progresses, Kaiji faces even more dangerous games in underground labor camps and against the powerful elites who control the system. With intense mind games and gambles that continue raising their danger level, Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor is a dark, ruthless tale.

Like Squid Game, it depicts economically desperate people struggling against rich and powerful adversaries who want to exploit them for entertainment and profit. The emotional storytelling and moral questions on human nature resonate long after the show reaches its dramatic conclusion.

2) Kakegurui

Kakegurui is a psychological thriller anime series that centers around a prestigious high school where student social status is determined by skill in high-stakes gambling. Transfer student Yumeko Jabami, a gambling prodigy, challenges the school’s elite by beating them at their own games for high rewards and penalties.

Kakegurui focuses on unusual gambling competitions with characters risking their money, pride, and sanity in dramatic mind games and battles of luck and strategy. It presents fascinating insight into human nature through the extremes characters go to for wealth, status, or their warped personal fulfillment.

With two seasons filled with cunning rivalries, deception, and plot twists, Kakegurui captures a similar tone of suspense and mind games as Squid Game.

3) Darwin's Game

Darwin's Game follows Kaname Sudō, who receives an invitation to join a mysterious mobile game that forces players into real-life battles to the death. Players gain special abilities and fight in lethal matches with other users.

As the number of unexplained deaths increases, Kaname investigates the true nature behind this terrifying game. With a similar premise to Squid Game—ordinary people trapped as players in a deadly competition—Darwin’s Game provides intense battles mixing supernatural powers with high emotional stakes.

It highlights how the game exposes the ugliness of human morals when survival is on the line. Dark, violent, and unpredictable, Darwin’s Game will quickly pull fans of Squid Game into its terrifying mysteries.

4) Danganronpa: The Animation

Danganronpa: The Animation (Image via Lerche)

This anime packs all the intensity of Squid Game into a murder mystery format. The plot follows a group of gifted teenagers locked inside a high school. The enigmatic robotic bear Monokuma forces the students into a death game called the Class Trial.

If a student commits a murder without getting caught, they are allowed to graduate, while the losers get executed. As characters give in to suspicion, paranoia, and eventually murder, the show explores many meaningful themes about human morality.

Danganronpa has the same shocking brutality and psychological games as Squid Game. With a tight 13 episodes, it will leave viewers stunned and wanting more.

5) Death Parade

In Death Parade, the recently deceased are sent to a mysterious bar called Quindecim, where their souls are judged before being reincarnated or sent into the void. The bar hosts games where pairs of strangers gamble with their lives for the sadistic entertainment of the bar’s employees.

Like Squid Game, Death Parade delivers exciting psychological games packed with emotion. It poses deep, philosophical questions on the human condition that will keep viewers engaged long after the credits roll. Horrifying, heartbreaking, yet beautiful, this 12-episode anime is a must-watch for fans of the dark tone of Squid Game.

6) Tomodachi Game

Tomodachi Game (Image via Okuruto Noboru)

Tomodachi Game forces a group of school friends to compete in a series of twisted games that test the limits of their trust and morality, with each failure increasing their debt rather than leading to death.

As distrust and paranoia escalate, friendships are shattered, and psychological warfare becomes the key to survival. Matching Squid Game’s tone of psychological horror and sinister commentary on human nature, it relentlessly exposes the ugliness that emerges when people are pushed to their limits.

Raw emotion combines with cruel mind games to pose unsettling questions about what people are willing to sacrifice for a chance at survival.

7) Btooom!

The plot of this action-packed anime centers around a real-life multiplayer video game called Btooom!, where players utilize powerful bombs to hunt and kill each other.

The unemployed protagonist, Ryōta Sakamoto, suddenly wakes up on a deserted island and discovers he must take part in this game in real life, fighting against others to return home. Like Squid Game, Btooom! displays ordinary people participating in a brutal real-world replication of a game with deadly stakes.

It offers thoughtful commentary on the darker side of human behavior when one’s survival is at risk. With 12 episodes, this suspenseful anime will appeal greatly to Squid Game fans.

8) Gantz

Gantz features people who have recently died being mysteriously transported into a room and forced to participate in a twisted game run by a cryptic black orb that sends them on dangerous missions. They earn points for staying alive and killing aliens assigned as their targets.

The anime explores many meaningful existential questions as the resurrected strangers debate morality while attempting to earn their way back to life. Gantz matches the violence, gore, and social commentary of Squid Game while adding a sci-fi twist. It is a profoundly impactful viewing experience.

9) King’s Game

King’s Game tells the horror story of a high school class receiving a text message informing them they must participate in the “King’s Game,” where failure to obey the orders results in mysterious and gruesome deaths.

As classmates start disappearing one by one, paranoia erupts and friendships collapse in the face of the game’s terrifying power. This anime mimics the escalating madness and violence forced upon people desperate to save themselves, like in Squid Game.

Viewers who enjoyed the sinister tone and psychological aspects of Squid Game would appreciate this anime’s frightening commentary on human nature and morality.

10) Future Diary

Future Diary follows 12 characters who obtain “Future Diaries” that predict the future and are forced into a battle royale orchestrated by the God of Time and Space, Deus Ex Machina.

The last survivor becomes the new god. As alliances form and unlikely friendships develop, the diary owners descend into distrust and madness, willing to do anything to avoid being killed. It is perfect for viewers who relished the edge-of-their-seat suspense of the Squid Game challenges.

With tragic deaths, plot twists, and thought-provoking commentary on human nature, Future Diary matches the intensity of Squid Game while adding supernatural elements that make for profound fiction.

Conclusion

From psychological horror to sci-fi thrillers, riveting game shows to gruesome mysteries, these anime share Squid Game’s tense life-or-death stakes, social commentary, complex characters, and existential questions that linger long after the final episode.

Fans owe it to themselves to experience these other classic and critically acclaimed anime titles that explore themes similar to Netflix's record-breaking thriller drama. Every show mentioned here is guaranteed to satisfy viewers seeking more high-energy suspense, emotional storytelling, and intense violence.