Taichi Tanaka is a middle-aged office worker who enjoys playing video games in his free time. Upon the release of a new VRMMO called One More Free Life Online, he decides to give it a try.
In One More Free Life Online, the player is free to do as they like, and for Taichi – now logged in as a player named Earth – he decides to master skills that are deemed to be useless by the player community. However, the skills he picks turn out to be increasingly valuable to not just his character, but others as well.
If you watch real people play MMOs on Twitch, I think this is the anime for you. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like A Playthrough of a Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life, head on down below.
Anime Like A Playthrough of a Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life
For Fans of MMO Play
Log Horizon
Thirty thousand Japanese players of the popular Elder Tale game all log in to explore the new update of their game, only to discover they are unable to log out.
The story focuses on the socially awkward college student Shiroe, a master strategist in-game, and his friends as they try to navigate their new reality.
While Log Horizon features a series of players actually trapped in their VRMMO, there are no real life-or-death stakes to it, which means it is… essentially just about people playing a VRMMO.
Like A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life, Log Horizon dedicates itself to exploring the systems in the game and letting adventure find the main character rather than having a looming linear plot. Sometimes that means wonderful action, but more often that means watching the characters engage in commerce and non-combat MMO aspects.
Infinite Dendrogram
Infinite Dendrogram is the world’s first successful full-dive VRMMO. It can replicate the five senses and provides infinite possibilities.
College freshman Reiji has just started playing with his brother Shuu and is ready to set off on adventure.
Both Infinite Dendrogram and A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life are about people just playing a VRMMO. That’s it. There is no bigger plot to it aside from what they do in the game.
Both series are very much about just watching players enjoy a MMO experience, but the plots in both can also seem a little disjointed as they hop from leveling one skill to the next.
The biggest difference is that Infinite Dendrogram has a larger focus on battle compared to A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life with its split between combat and non-combat skill leveling.
Full Dive – The Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Even Shittier than Real Life!
Average high school student Hiro Yuuki obtains a copy of the full dive RPG game called Kiwame Quest. This game is uses the pinnacle of gaming technology to create an experience as close to real life as possible.
Unfortunately, while the sights, smells, and sensations are very realistic, it does make it a difficult game to beat. For players, their real life abilities are reflected in game and being hit also leaves serious wounds on your character that hurt and heal slowly.
It is not a game for casuals, but with a supreme sense of accomplishment on the line for beating it, who could say no?
A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life is all about a main character playing an MMO and choosing skills that no one else wants – which makes it a bit harder for him, but suits his play style. Alternatively, Full Dive is about a VRMMO Dark Souls experience where the main character has difficulty due to the game mechanics and difficulty.
While both series are about players playing a VRMMO, A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life is a pleasant play experience. Full Dive is more about the main character suffering since he gets hurt for real if he gets hurt in the game. As such, it adapts a comical tone, but not a light-hearted sort of comedy. Instead, it is more comedy over his suffering.
For Fans of Unique Play Styles
Shangri-La Frontier
For high schooler Rakurou Hizutome, he enjoys playing games like any teen. However, his pleasure in gaming comes from playing trash games.
The broken, the janky, the terribly designed, the ridiculously difficult – he has conquered all of the trash games that no one plays!
After his most recent conquest, the games clerk recommends that he try something that isn’t trash – a new VRMMO game called Shangri-La Frontier. While he decides to give this VRMMO a try, his min-maxing trash game play style allows him to discover some little known secrets of this incredibly popular game that even the major tryhards haven’t found out.
Both A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life and Shangri-La Frontier are about guys playing a VRMMO in a unique way.
While Shangri-La Frontier is more focused on big, flashy action and thus better received than the more laid-back A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life, they actually have the same sort of plot. Both series are about guys who forsake the meta build of games to pick the skills that no one uses because they are bad. They then end up becoming extremely overpowered due to the way they play the game.
Bofuri – I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense
After receiving an invitation from a friend, Kaede Honjou starts playing the VRMMO game New World Online as a character named Maple.
However, in her desire to not get hurt, she puts all her stats in Vitality. This makes her move very slowly, unable to use magic, and get attacked by even the smallest creatures. However, it does allow her impenetrable defense, and the gear she finds while wandering grants her a one-hit counter skill.
And so, her adventures begin.
A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life can best be described as “pleasant” sort of fantasy anime about a guy playing a VRMMO. It has action, but it isn’t the big focus. It follows the main character being nice to everyone he meets, and there isn’t much struggle. Bofuri offers the exact same affair.
Both series are fully about characters just logging in an happily playing their VRMMO by themselves or with friends. The main characters also both pick non-meta builds in the game either through preference or lack of knowledge – which then ultimately make them OP.
Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear
Yuna much prefers staying home and playing her favorite VRMMO instead of going to school.
During an update, she receives a strange and powerful bear outfit. It was overpowered, but too embarrassing to wear in-game.
However, she finds herself suddenly transported to the world of the game, and her bear suit becomes her best chance of surviving.
Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear has the immediate difference from A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life by being an isekai about the main character sent inside her VRMMO for real. However, aside from that caveat, it still plays out pretty similarly.
Both series end up about main characters that have unique play styles that end up OP in the game. The series then focuses on them simply doing as the please in a low-stakes and pleasant sort of fantasy anime experience.
However, while the unique play style is by choice in A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear sort of forces the main character into looking ridiculous so as to not risk dying for real.
For Fans of Low-Stakes Fantasy Action
My Unique Skill Makes Me OP even at Level 1
After working at an exploitative company, Ryouta Satou died from overwork, but was reincarnated to a fantasy world. There, he makes the unfortunate discovery that in a world of adventure, he is level-locked at level 1.
While he can’t level up, Ryouta gains access to a special cheat dungeon that shouldn’t exist. Inside, the monsters that don’t drop items for anyone else will drop weapons and items that let him rank up his skills.
After maxing his stats and gathering weapons only he can use, he finds that he is now overpowered even such a low level.
Although My Unique Skill Makes Me OP even at Level 1 is an isekai not based on an VRMMO world, it still offers an extremely similar experience to A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life.
Both series feature main characters whose unique skills make them unexpectedly overpowered in the world. Furthermore, the plots of each series have a strong focus on the main character actually going out with the specific intention to level up his own skills before doing any team adventure.
While both series offer decent action and a rather pleasant world with minimal strife, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP even at Level 1 does occasionally threaten to form a harem since the main character is nice and most people he meets are women.
In The Land of Leadale
After an accident put her on life support, Keina took up playing the VRMMO game, World of Leadale.
After a power outage at the hospital, she wakes up fully inside the game as her avatar, Cayna. Furthermore, it seems that 200 years have passed since she last played and no other player characters can be found.
While In The Land of Leadale is an isekai, it is an isekai about a girl reincarnated into the VRMMO world she was playing before she died.
While both In The Land of Leadale and A Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life are about main characters that just sort of do what they want in an MMO world, In The Land of Leadale is more driven by a plot surrounding why 200 years have passed in the VRMMO world and where all the other human players are.
Outside the the differences, both series offer nice main characters who do still have a bit of shrewdness to them so they aren’t walked all over by others. While both series have powerful abilities, In The Land of Leadale has minimal focus on her leveling them up since her character was already quite strong when she reincarnated into it.
Do you have more anime recommendations like A Playthrough of a Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life? Let fans know in the comments section below.
