Miko Kurono is a livestreamer working under the name Necronomico. While she isn’t exactly popular, she was happy living her life with her childhood friend and fellow streamer, Mayu.
However, when Mayu mysteriously falls into a coma during her own livestream, Miko is desperate to help cover her medical bills. So desperate she accepts a shady sounding invitation that gathered a variety of different streamers together to play a VR game.
Inside the VR space, she discovers that the VR game isn’t a game at all. It is a space filled with Lovecraftian old gods, and one of them is wearing her friend Mayu’s face. Forced to play games where the penalty for losing is to lose your mind and fall into a coma, Miko struggles to save more than just herself.
It takes a minute to manifest, but this kind of slaps, actually. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show, head on down below.
Anime Like Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show
For Fans of Survival Games
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.
Similarities Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Danganronpa
- A non-human with no small amount of malicious snark is forcing a group of people to do something—or die!
- The group of people involved are all eccentric in either personality or character design
- Absurdity combined with real deadly stakes
- The characters are all involved in a specific niche area. (Niche streamers, geniuses at a specific profession/hobby)
- A main character who is trying to save people, and failing
Differences Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Danganronpa
- Danganronpa is about a bunch of kids locked in a school and told they need to murder a classmate and get away with it if they want to leave.
- Danganronpa is less about playing games and more about solving murder mysteries.
- Danganronpa’s characters are not content creators, but they are of a similar vein in that they are all super geniuses at a specific thing (the best baseball player, the best novelist, ect.)
- Danganronpa is not about aliens, and keeps what is really happening close to the chest until all is revealed near the end.
KamiErabi God.App
Goro Ono is an apathetic teenager who spends his days goofing off with his best friend, Akitsu. One day, he receives a notification on his smartphone that declared that he had been chosen and asked him to make a wish. Thinking it was just pointless spam, he thoughtlessly wishes to do naughty things with his crush and classmate, Honoka.
The next day, he is invited by Honoka to an abandoned arcade and told to pull his pants down. The pair are interrupted when a small fairy named Lall manifests and tells Goro of his new fate. He was one of several chosen to be a god candidate. These users are told to kill each other until the last one standing becomes the new god. Unfortunately for him, Goro is already in the room with another god candidate – Honoka.
Similarities Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Kamierabi
- Survival game about modern, struggling characters all on the brink of some sort of mental breakdown
- Shifting loyalties between a group of characters as they work with and against each other for their own personal reasons
- A main character devastated by the loss of their friend that affects how they play the game
- Distinct visual style
Differences Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Kamierabi
- Kamierabi is a bunch of teens killing each other for a chance to become god, not playing games and maybe going brain dead for the amusement of gods.
- Kamierabi is quite a bit more subtle with who is going to betray one another, making even the main character a bit shifty.
- Kamierabi goes far more philosophical with its story.
Battle Game in 5 Seconds
It was just a normal day for avid gamer Akira Shiroyanagi who, while playing a game on his phone, was suddenly dragged onto a battlefield by a being named Mion.
He and the other participants are told that they have been erased from society in order to participate in an experiment.
They are each granted a special ability and told to use this power in order to win a series of games.
Similarities Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Battle Game in 5 Seconds
- Characters forced to play games—or die
- Slowly unraveling reason why the characters are playing games
- Cleverness and tactics is often the key over brute force
Differences Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Battle Game in 5 Seconds
- Battle Game in 5 Seconds has each character gain some sort of ability, which adds an extra layer of strategy.
- Battle Game in 5 Seconds is not about old gods or aliens, it’s more a standard survival game.
- The main character in Battle Game in 5 Seconds is a gamer, and a more tactical minded man compared to the more hot-headed Miko.
Kaiji
Kaiji Itou is a thug in the truest sense. With his days spent drinking and stealing hubcaps, his world is turned upside down when a co-worker tricks him into taking on a huge debt.
In order to pay it off, Kaiji takes up a shady offer to participate in illegal gambling on a cruise ship that is filled with even worse scumbags than him.
Similarities Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Kaiji
- Playing high stakes children’s games with psychopaths
- The characters involved are often somewhat scummy, but also sometimes innocent
- Cunning over brute strength is key
Differences Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Kaiji
- Kaiji features adults being normal, scummy human beings. There is no supernatural element.
- Kaiji is very much a high stakes gambling anime where they often gamble on simple games
- Kaiji is a bit more intense with its storytelling.
Death Parade
After death, there is no heaven or hell, but there is a bar that decides whether you reincarnate or disappear into oblivion. Pairs of the recently deceased must play a random game which decides their fate.
Similarities Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Death Parade
- Characters are sent to another space where they play games
- Supernatural deities of ambiguous morality watch over these games
- Humans are flawed and occasionally live miserable lives
Differences Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Death Parade
- Death Parade is about judging people who have died on whether they should go to heaven or hell, so it isn’t actually the same sort of survival game affair that Necronomico offers.
- Death Parade is more melancholy with its stories and its games aren’t always as intense.
- The deities in Death Parade are less eccentric and energetic. They are often just quiet observers who ponder the results.
For Fans of Content Creators
Mayonaka Punch
Masaki was once a member of the famous NewTube group, the Harikiri Sisters, which she helped found back in high school. However, after losing her temper and punching one of the members during a livestream, she faced backlash online that ultimately led to the group kicking her out.
At her lowest point, she meets Live, a vampire who finds Masaki’s blood to smell absolutely delectable. Masaki offers to give up every last drop of her blood to Live if she agrees to form a NewTube team and they reach one million followers.
Similarities Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Mayonaka Punch
- Content creators. Creating content.
- Content creators interacting with supernatural creatures
- Supernatural creatures being lightly obsessed with their favorite content creators.
- Are content creators actually bad people? The jury’s still out.
Differences Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Mayonaka Punch
- Mayonaka Punch is about a girl kicked out of her old content creation group who ends up starting her own with a bunch of female vampires. So, a bit more wholesome and low stakes than Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show.
- Mayonaka Punch is more about emotional and interpersonal drama
- Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show is about content creators playing various games to please the old gods. Alternatively, Mayonaka Punch is about the actual act of creating content, and gives you more of a peek behind that curtain.
For Fans of Eldritch Horrors in People Form
Nyaruko – Crawling With Love
Mahiro Yasaka is just a normal high school student until he is attacked by a monster one day. Just when all hope seems lost, he is saved by a silver-haired girl named Nyaruko who claims to be the deity Nyarlathotep, of the Cthulhu Mythos.
She claims that the creature that attacked him is an alien called the Nightguard that was trying to abduct him. While all that is pretty hard to swallow, it seems Nyaruko has also fallen madly in love with him.
Similarities Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Nyaruko
- The Old Gods as people.
- Occasionally cute, occasionally menacing, but always playing fast and loose with actual lore.
Differences Between Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Nyaruko
- Nyaruko is very much a romantic comedy, extra emphasis on the ‘comedy’, and nothing else.
- You do get more of the menacing nature of the old gods in Necronomico. Nyaruko is almost all silliness, and all the old gods are cute anime waifus.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show? Let fans know in the comments section below.
