In a world where warfare is constant – and great for business – there are twelve individuals that thrive on the battlefield. These individuals each bear traits that coincide to one animal from the Chinese Zodiac. Those who are born into the right zodiac families or chosen to be the successor to that line are all invited to a competition that takes place every twelve years. In this competition, they will fight to the death. The last one standing will have their any wish granted.
Not every anime needs a grand plot. Sometimes you want to watch cool character designs murder each other as you see them fleshed out with flashbacks. If you want more anime recommendations like Juuni Taisen, head on down below.
Anime Like Juuni Taisen: Zodiac War
For Fans of Fight to the Death
Btooom!
Unemployed and living with his mother, Ryouta Sakamoto’s only real achievement is being the top player in Japan of a video game called Btooom! However, one day he wakes up on an island with nothing but a small green crystal embedded in his hand. He soon finds out that someone wants him and others players to play Btooom! for real if they want to live.
There are many differences between Juuni Taisen and Btooom, but they are united by the same fundamental plot of kill everyone else. While Btooom is steeped in the modern world, its game has tons of rules, and it has a touch more intrigue to the plot, both shows are about battles that result in alliances made or enemies killed.
Future Diary
Yukiteru Amano likes to imagine himself as an observer. He spends his days keeping a diary on his cell phone, but not about himself, about everything that goes on around him. At home, he spends his time conversing with his two imaginary friends, Deus Ex Machina, the God of space and time, and Murmur, his assistant. However, one day he discovers his friends are not so imaginary when they imbue him with the power of a diary that tells the future and forces him into a bloody survival game with godhood on the line.
You can’t make an anime series about survival games without Future Diary popping up as a recommendation. Both series are about a bunch of unique characters that are notable by sheer weirdness who fighting each other. Alliances are formed and broken just as quickly, for in the end, there can only be one winner.
Magical Girl Raising Project
There’s a rumor going around about a new game called the Magical Girl Raising Project. The rumor states that one in thousands who play it have a chance to become a magical girl, and the rumors turn out to be true. This chance allows them to have supreme beauty, strength, and other abilities so that they can help humanity. However, when 16 magical girls end up in one district, the administration announces that only half may remain. At first it is a race to get the most magical candy, but as time goes on, the game twists into something much darker.
In Juuni Taisen, they fight for a wish. In Magical Girl Raising Project, they fight to cull their numbers. In both shows they may not necessarily want to fight, but end up doing it anyway. The characters are unique and strange to keep things interesting, but magical girls are, as expected, very moe.
Akuma no Riddle
Tokaku Azuma has just transferred to the elite Myoujou Academy. Alongside her other 11 classmates, she is tasked with trying to kill another sweet-natured classmate. The assassin that succeeds is granted their deepest desire, but each assassin only gets one shot. However, when Tokaku develops feelings for the mark, she finds herself taking a different course of action.
Both series are about a group of talented killers put in a confined area and told to kill someone (or everyone) in order to have their fondest wish granted, no matter what that is. Akuma no Riddle is just more female character-oriented.
Angels of Death
Rachel awakens to find herself trapped in the basement of an abandoned building. After wandering around – lost, dizzy, and without her memories – she happens across a man in full bandages named Zack. While at first he tries to kill her, eventually they come to an agreement. Together, they try to find a way to escape from their bizarre circumstance. In return for his help, Rachel offers up her own life to him.
While Angels of Death is more vague with the goal of the whole situation, both series are about wandering around and fighting the people that start fighting with you in gory, brutal spectacles. While Juuni Taisen does a better job, both series also have very interestingly creative characters.
For Fans of Large Casts of Unique Characters
Basilisk
When two warring ninja clans each find themselves supporting a different son of Hidetada Tokugawa as the next shogun, they each send 10 representatives to fight to the death. The winner of this fight not only gets Tokugawa support, but they earn the right to wipe out the other clan.
If you took all the characters in Basilisk and made it a free-for-all death match instead of a clan-based one, you would end up with something almost the same as Juuni Taisen (in a different setting, of course). Both series have some very creatively designed characters, and neither will shy away from vicious deaths.
The Fate / Stay Night Series
The Holy Grail War is a battle royale in one city in Japan among seven magi selected to be Masters. These Masters summon a Servant, a Heroic Spirit of historic or mythical heroes past, and gain command seals to order their Servant to do their bidding. Together, Masters use their Servants to fight a proxy war for the Holy Grail—a magical artifact capable of granting its wielder any wish. In the Fifth Holy Grail War, Rin Toosaka is among the magi entering the competition. With her Servant, Archer, she hopes to obtain the Holy Grail and have her wish granted. However, when Rin’s classmate Emiya Shirou accidentally enters too, things get much more interesting.
Both shows have a bunch of unique characters fighting to the death for their one wish. However, the difference is that Fate/Stay has ten tons of exposition between the actual fighting while Juuni Taisen is almost exclusively fighting or setting up for one.
The Fate series can be a bit complicated to get into. However, if you want to get into it, check out our Fate / Stay Franchise Watch Order.
Danganronpa
Hope’s Peak Academy is an elite high school where those accepted are given special titles that showcase their skills. This year, only fifteen were accepted, and one of them was the completely normal Makoto Naegi who got in on sheer luck. The students are thrilled to be in such a prestigious school. That is, until they are trapped inside the school by principal and bear Monokuma who tasks them with killing one of their peers and not getting caught by the others in order to escape. However, if they are caught and found guilty in a trial, they will be executed instead.
Do you like uniquely designed and quirky characters? Danganronpa has Juuni Taisen beat in that department, making it a good follow up. Both shows allow participants to kill any time and in any way, but Danganronpa is marketed as more of a closed room murder mystery-type of anime series rather than a straight-up death match.
Akudama Drive
The region of Kansai is overrun by powerful criminals known as Akudama. One night, after picking up 500 yen dropped by an Akudama, an Ordinary Girl finds herself wrapped up in a huge plot to foil a public execution. Now with a bomb collar around her neck, she and other Akudama must complete tasks given by a mysterious Black Cat.
You like wild and creative characters? Do you not necessarily need a battle royale-type game to frame it all? Akudama Drive may be for you. It still has wild, violent, creative, and criminal main characters, but they are instead tasked with working together to complete various tasks. Of course, if they fail, they also die.
Akame ga Kill
Tatsumi is a naive boy from a rural village that makes the trip to the city in order to join the military and help his hometown. However, after he is rejected, he ends up joining Night Raid, a group of assassins part of a revolutionary movement to overthrow the government. From there, he must fight a brutal and increasingly bloody shadow war.
While Akame ga Kill has more of a fleshed out plot, it is a series, like Juuni Taisen, that you will remember for two things. You remember the creative cast of characters and their unique abilities, but you also remember the sad and brutal ways they die. Both series, despite not having the same set up, kill off the vast majority of their casts.
Talentless Nana
Earth has been assaulted by monsters that have come to be known as the enemy of humanity. To combat this, secluded schools were formed to train children with extraordinary powers to fight back. However, that is an elaborate lie. The truth is that these super powered children are the threat to humanity and one powerless girl has been sent to their school to kill them off.
If you choose to watch Talentless Nana, it will not take you long to form the thought, “Boy, Nana is like Niwatori (the Chicken) when she was doing work in the field.” She manipulates people best, but also gets her hands dirty in order to complete the job.
For Fans of Chosen Warriors
Rokka no Yuusha – Braves of the Six Flowers
According to legend, the revival of the Demon God will cause the Goddess to appoint six heroes, called Braves, to prevent the world from becoming a living hell. Adlet Mayer, the self-proclaimed strongest man in the world, travels to Piena in hopes of becoming a Brave. After being briefly jailed for causing trouble, he is indeed called and he sets off on a journey with the princess, another Brave, to defeat the Demon God. However, when all six Braves assemble, there are seven in total and the others soon suspect Adlet is a fraud.
One of the major differences in Rokka is that all the participants are supposed to be united against a common foe. However, when someone gets murdered and they suspect a traitor in their midst, they turn on each other. So thus, it ends up being more like Juuni Taisen because instead of fighting the Demon God, they end up fighting each other.
Samurai 7
On the brink of starvation and under constant threat of abduction by mechanized bandits, the villagers of Kanna pool the last of their rice harvest to hire samurai to protect their village. They amass seven samurai of varying talents and mechanical augmentations to help them fight against the bandits.
Do you like the characters in Juuni Taisen because of how unique they are? Then there is something lovely to be found in Samurai 7. While the samurais don’t fight each other so much as they fight a variety of enemies, each fight with each warrior is distinct and fun to watch, which is wholly Juuni Taisen’s charm.
Killing Bites
After unwittingly participating in a kidnapping, college student Yuuya finds his friends murdered by the girl they kidnapped. Forced to drive her somewhere, he now finds himself the prize in a match between two Therianthropes, animal-human hybrids. Being saved by the girl, Yuuya finds himself in the middle of a proxy war between four companies through a blood sport known as Killing Bites.
Killing Bites has much the same set up as Juuni Taisen. Talented warriors fight each other to the death and are betted on by mysterious rich people. However, Killing Bites has them more aware that they are proxy warriors. If you are a big fan of Tora the Tiger, this is the series for you.
Record of Ragnarok
Every 1,000 years, all gods from every religion are convened to decide the fate of humanity. Due to their abuses against each other and the planet, the gods are about to unanimously vote for ending humanity. However, just as it is about to pass, Brunhild, a Valkyrie, puts forth a proposal. Humans are given a chance to have 13 warriors from throughout history fight against gods in a one-on-one tournament style battle that will ultimately decide their fate.
Both series are tournaments – of different styles – that gather the best warriors on Earth and make them fight. However, in Record of Ragnarok, those warriors aren’t fighting each other, but they are fighting a fun array of deities. It is utterly plotless violence rife with flashback, but still a treat to watch.
Did we miss any more good anime recommendations like Juuni Taisen? Then let the world know in the comments section below.
