After being saved from thugs trying to rob him in high school, passionate computer nerd Manabu “Gaku” Taira becomes friends with the confident, ambitious Haru Tennouji. Sticking together through college and now on the hunt for jobs, Haru convinces Gaku to apply to Dragon Bank, one of Japan’s largest companies.
While the high-powered Kirika Kokuryuu who interviews them at Dragon Bank is intrigued by their contrasting personalities and friendship, when she hires Haru but not Gaku, Haru quits on the spot, giving her a rejection she is not accustomed to.
Now, the pair have decided on a new ambitious plan—start their own company and make a trillion dollars.
I can’t decide whether “How NOT to Start a Company” or “How to Fail Upwards” is a better descriptor for this unexpectedly amazing series. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Trillion Game, head on down below.
Anime Like Trillion Game
For Fans of Confidence Men
The Great Pretender
After life turned him down the path of crime, Makoto Edamura cockily thinks himself the best swindler in Japan. However, after trying to swindle a tourist only for the tourist to swap it back, he finds the police on his trail.
Making his escape, he runs into this tourist again, a move that would take him all the way across the sea to Los Angeles. There, he learns that this tourist was in fact a man called Laurent Thierry, a successful confidence man, who wants to recruit him onto his team.
Similarities Between Trillion Game and The Great Pretender
- Confident, charming, wildly mysterious man who leads everyone and is observed by the more average, more neurotic actual main character of the show.
- Growing cast of characters who each have their own specialties that are used in various schemes.
- Rich people are awful and deserve no mercy.
Differences Between Trillion Game and The Great Pretender
- The Great Pretender is a heist series, so it is following criminals that are scamming and robbing the fabulously wealthy.
- The Great Pretender introduces you to its larger cast all fairly quickly while Trillion Game adds characters over time as needed.
- The Great Pretender puts a lot more effort into crafting emotional back stories for its various characters.
Kakegurui
Hyakkaou Private Academy is an institution for the elite of society with a very special curriculum.
These students are the children of the wealthiest people in the world, but they won’t need athletic prowess or book smarts for a successful life, they will need to know the art of the deal and how to read people.
So instead of traditional classes, this school features a curriculum of rigorous gambling where the winners live like kings and the losers suffer.
However, they haven’t seen anything yet until they meet new student Yumeko Jabami.
Similarities Between Trillion Game and Kakegurui
- Confident, sociable, wildly mysterious main character who is good at so many different things who is shown through the viewpoint of their average companion who is technically the main character.
- Rich people being rich people, as well as often awful people.
- Sets up schemes and you enjoy watching the unexpected ways that they are pulled off.
Differences Between Trillion Game and Kakegurui
- Kakegurui is set in high school about high school-aged rich kids.
- Kakegurui is a gambling anime, but not gambling over business strategies, just gambling over silly games.
- Kakegurui’s is a master of creating intensity in its more tense moments, giving it quite a bit more visual flair.
Lupin the III
Arsene Lupin III is the grandson of famed thief Arsene Lupin and is keeping the family tradition going as a successful thief himself.
Under constant threat by the law due to his high profile crimes, Lupin, together with his partner Daisuke and his girl Fujiko, who may or may not be working for her own gain, he tries to stay one step ahead in his daring escapades.
Similarities Between Trillion Game and Lupin the III
- Confident main character confidently gets into difficult situations, but his plans work out
- Main character employs dubious tactics to get the results they want
- Companions who specialize in different skills that serve the main character’s vision.
Differences Between Trillion Game and Lupin the III
- Lupin the III is a heist series that follows criminals, so no big business tactics
- As all of the characters are criminals in Lupin the III, they act like it. They can be scummy to each other and serve their own motives.
- Lupin the III has a fair bit more action than Trillion Game.
Tomodachi Game
Although he suffers from financial hardship, Yuuichi Katagiri has always been kept positive by his friends. They even inspired him to furiously work in order to get the funds to go on the school trip with them.
However, when the gathered money goes missing, his friends are blamed.
Days later, the friends all get mysterious letters that end up with them being force to join a Tomodachi Game where each game they win together lowers a debt.
However, when betrayal and secrets start pouring out, these simple games become a malicious test of trust.
Similarities Between Trillion Game and Tomodachi Game
- When money is involved, people become their worst and/or best selves.
- Large amounts of money essentially gambled on various strategies
- Cunning strategies that sometimes go unexpectedly
Differences Between Trillion Game and Tomodachi Game
- Tomodachi Game isn’t about corporate business. It’s about a friend group playing a survival game where they can win or lose money.
- The main character in Tomodachi Game is not eccentric and mysterious like Haru or nice and normal like Gaku. Instead, he has a cunning, cold side that he uses to manipulate his friends, many of whom are, as it turns out, also manipulative people.
- Overall, Tomodachi Game is a darker, more malicious series.
For Fans of Business Administration Practices of Dubious Real Life Viability
Dungeon of Black Company
Kinji has finally perfected his NEET lifestyle through shrewd money management. However, just when he is able to hang out for the rest of his life, he is transported to another world.
There, he is immediately shoved into a harsh mining job for a black company that cares only about profits and quotas. However, as the world’s laziest and most clever NEET, Kinji is determined to be a layabout.
Similarities Between Trillion Game and Dungeon of Black Company
- Main character of gray morality decides to get into business for money.
- Scummy, underhanded business strategies are used to get ahead
- Expanding cast of eccentric employees
Differences Between Trillion Game and Dungeon of Black Company
- Trillion Game is a serious story that is occasional comical—both intentionally and unintentionally. The Dungeon of Black Company is unambiguously a comedy.
- The Dungeon of Black Company is an isekai, and meant to be satirical about black company business practices.
- The business in Dungeon of Black Company doesn’t scale as wildly as the business in Trillion Game.
Spice and Wolf
For generations, Holo was a revered wolf deity that helped the local wheat harvest in exchange for tribute. However, as the villagers become more self-sufficient, they no longer need or even believe in her anymore.
During her annual festival, she sneaks into the cart of Kraft, a visiting merchant, hoping he will let her hitch a ride home.
Similarities Between Trillion Game and Spice and Wolf
- Causal glimpses at economics and business practices that can sometimes are explained in intense detail.
- Normal main character often dragged into things by their more eccentric, assertive, confident companion.
- Arc-based storytelling as they move ever-forward towards the goal of the plot.
Differences Between Trillion Game and Spice and Wolf
- Spice and Wolf is about a medieval merchant and the wolf goddess that travels with him. So, different setting, supernatural fantasy elements, and not about a corporate business.
- Spice and Wolf has a fairly large focus on the building romantic relationship between the two main characters
For Fans of Wealthy People Being Wealthy and Ridiculous
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 Trillion Game and Kaiji
- Wealthy people doing what they want—usually terrible things—because they can
- Normal main character slowly gaining wealth, and being a bit of a spaz
- Main characters are not always doing the most aboveboard things to succeed
Differences Between Trillion Game and Kaiji
- Kaiji is a gambling anime, but the characters are playing high stakes simple games with sometimes deadly consequences.
- The main character in Kaiji is an actual scumbag with minimal redeeming qualities
The Millionaire Detective – Balance Unlimited
Daisuke Kanbe is a man of extraordinary wealth and has been assigned to the Modern Crime Prevention HQ as a detective. He gets himself partnered with the stalwart defender of justice, Haru Katou.
They are polar opposites, with Haru frequently upset that Daisuke throws money at everything. However, they need to find a way to solve mysteries together.
Similarities Between Trillion Game and Millionaire Detective
- Money. Money, money everywhere, to throw at every problem and make it fix itself.
- Ridiculous, over-the-top solutions to any problem, set back, or roadblock
- An eccentric, mysterious person and his capable, but also neurotic friend that is really the main character of the series.
Differences Between Trillion Game and Millionaire Detective
- Millionaire Detective is indeed about a millionaire that decided to become a detective, and then throws money at any problem.
- Millionaire Detective is ridiculous, but knows it is being ridiculous. Trillion Game feeds you ridiculous solutions like they are perfectly valid and normal.
- Millionaire Detective, as a police series, does have some actual action to it.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Trillion Game? Let fans know in the comments section below.
