Sword Art Online anime

Anime Like Sword Art Online

With the aid of NerveGear technology, video game players can now experience their playable worlds like never before – in virtual reality. For Kazuto Kirigaya, his game of choice is Sword Art Online.

After beta testing the game, he logs into the launch and finds himself, as well as ten thousand other players, trapped in the game world.

There are a lot of divisive feelings about Sword Art Online out there, but there is no denying that people enjoy its unique blend of fantasy even if the series has become something completely different from what people thought it would be. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Sword Art Online, then head on down below.

Anime Like Sword Art Online

For Fans of Virtual Reality Games

log horizon anime

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.

Unlike Sword Art Online that shifts into different things even just half way through the first season, Log Horizon maintains that “stuck in an MMO” base plot throughout its seasons.

The main character is also notably different for using more tactics than just overwhelming force.

hack anime

.hack//Sign

In the MMORPG game simply called The World, a wavemaster by the alias of Tsukasa awakens with slight amnesia and cannot log out of the game.

Believed to be a hacker with the Crimson Knights guild, Tsukasa wanders the game looking for answers and avoiding other players that seek to do him harm. A

After reuniting with the Crimson Knights, the players that became acquainted with Tsukasa also seek a reason as to why he cannot log out before the problem becomes worse.

.hack is essentially the Sword Art Online before Sword Art Online. It starts off as characters trapped in and MMO and the plot morphs and grows as the series goes on. It builds complex and interesting lore, though it is a bit on the older side.

Interested in .hack//? Check Out our .hack// Watch Order Guide to jump into it right.

Accel World anime

Accel World

Haruyuki Arita is a loser at school, constantly ridiculed by his peers. Like so many, his only escape is into the virtual world of video games.

One day, his video game skills attract the attention of Kuroyukihime, the school’s popular student council Vice President. She introduces Haru to a new game called Brain Burst that accelerates the human cognitive process to the point at which time appears to stop.

However, it is really actually an Augmented Reality Massively Multiplayer Online (ARMMO) Fighting Game where people fight each other in fierce duels in order to obtain Burst Points which can be spent for acceleration abilities in the real world.

While Accel World has a fair bit more silliness and the main character isn’t particularly cool, it is a series that features VR technology used for gaming, but done so uniquely. It is more of a comedy anime, but it can have its own intense moments.

And You Thought There is Never a Girl Online anime

And You Thought There is Never a Girl Online?

After mustering his courage to ask a girl out online, Hideki “Rusian” Nishimura is crushed when she rejects him. To add insult to injury, she reveals that she is actually a man in real life. After that, he vows off women online.

Years later, after the persistence of another online girl, he agrees to marry her. Although he thinks she is a man, he decides gender doesn’t matter if she is cute online.

However, when his guild arranges an online meet, he finds out that she is not only a girl, but his classmate.

Like Sword Art Online, this anime has a heavy focus on online gaming. However, there is no virtual reality involved, but you still get to see their avatars in the game world as they adventure.

While Netoge is more about comedy and romance, it is a fun watch for those who are heavily into MMOs and enjoyed that aspect of Sword Art Online.

bofuri anime

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.

HIt does allow her impenetrable defense and her gear she finds while wandering grants her a one-hit counter skill.

And so, her adventures begin.

Bofuri is certainly more cute and wholesome, but it is also a VRMMO series about an incredibly powerful main character.

However, unlike in Sword Art Online, they aren’t stuck in the game world and Maple gets incredibly powerful by pure accident.

Still, if you are interested in something more light-hearted and comedic, this is actually a really solid anime.

Infinite Dendrogram anime

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.

Sword Art Online is, as you likely know, an incredibly popular anime. As such, there are many other anime series that were created likely to catch some of the run-off. Infinite Dendrogram is pretty much one of those.

However, while it doesn’t do anything particularly innovative, it is just more VRMMO adventures to enjoy.

overlord anime

Overlord

As the final hour approaches the life cycle of the MMO Yggdrasil, Momonga, a powerful wizard and leader of the dark guild Ainz Ooal Gown, is there to see it off.

However, to his surprise, the servers don’t go down and even stranger is that all the NPC characters have come alive with their own unique personalities.

Instead of being trapped in a VR, Overlord sees the main character actually transported there and trapped in his non-human avatar’s body. While he was quite a powerful player, he wasn’t exactly a hero either. As such, you watch his guild conquer the world.

death march anime

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

Suzuki Ichirou is a programmer for a game company, and in order to keep up with demands, he frequently sets his work pace to “death march” in which he works for days straight with little sleep and without going home.

During one of these death marches, he falls asleep and when he wakes up, he is somehow transported inside of one of his games.

Both series feature characters trapped in an MMO, but also have intimate knowledge of that MMO. For Kirito, he was a beta tester while Ichirou is one of the programmers. They use this knowledge to become powerful very quickly.

For Fans of Fantasy-Type RPG Settings

anime series like is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

In the fantasy city of Orario, there is a massive labyrinth underneath it. For brave adventurers, glory and fortune can be found within. However, in order to tackle the challenging monsters inside, adventurers join guilds of strong gods and goddesses.

For newbie adventurer Bell Cranel, no good guild will have him, except for Hestia, a goddess with no followers. Together they team up to grow strong and find glory.

Although hidden under a healthy dose of fan service, DanMachi and Sword Art Online are actually quite similar. Although DanMachi is never referenced as a game, it does focus on the character leveling up and employing different battle strategies.

Like in Sword Art Online, the more you progress, the tougher the bosses and better the loot.

tower of druaga anime

Tower of Druaga -The Aegis of Uruk

Every few years when the sky-god Anu extends his protection, the monsters in the Tower of Druaga weaken and adventurers go forth for fame and fortune, trying to reach the top.

Like many adventurers, Jil is young and ready to make the push towards the top. While inexperienced in the Tower, his combat skills have the promise for him to go the distance.

While Druaga is not in a video game, it does share a similar dungeon crawling nature of Sword Art Online. The characters progress in their various worlds and are essentially always working their way to what is at the top.

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash anime

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

Thrown into a foreign land with no memory of their previous life, a group of strangers must try and survive in a brutal world filled with dangerous monsters.

While the strong quickly band together, the weak are left to make a patchwork group of their own. Slowly but surely this group becomes fighters, finally earning enough to survive each day.

Although somewhat hinted at, it is never quite discussed if Grimgar is a VR game or not. Regardless, if you were fond of the emotional side of SAO, Grimgar is a perfect match.

The action is slow and it takes forever for the characters to get stronger, but Grimgar does capture the particular emotions of the situation perfectly.

the sacred blacksmith anime

The Sacred Blacksmith

After a war that ravaged the country, the use of devastating demon contracts was outlawed and people went back to the way of the sword. Cecily Campbell is determined to a be a protector of the people, wielding her family heirloom.

However, one day when she steps in to protect citizens from a crazed swordsman, her weapon is shattered. Thankfully she was saved by a man wielding an odd sword.

It turns out her savior is also a blacksmith named Luke Ainsworth who possesses the skill to restore her now-broken heirloom sword.

As such, Cecily is determined to follow him and have him do repairs.

If you enjoyed the fantasy elements and characters, but didn’t so much need the VRMMO setting to enjoy the show, then The Sacred Blacksmith can be an excellent watch.

It is a good fantasy adventure series, though some have faulted it for having rather sudden and jarring ecchi elements that really don’t fit the tale it is telling.

Our Last Crusade or The Rise of a New World anime sorcery and sword

Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World

For years, war has raged between the Empire and the realm of witches, Nebulis.

On the battlefield, a talented young knight is tasked with killing the princess of Nebulis, but he is taken by her beauty and she taken by his honor.

If you enjoyed the fantasy world of Sword Art Online, but were vastly more invested in it for the ample romance moments, then Our Last Crusade is perfect for you.

The characters are both strong already, so the series focuses on their Romeo & Juliet style romance as well as how they make their strong powers work together.

For Fans of Immensely Powerful Main Characters

no game no life isekai

No Game No Life

In the real world, siblings Shiro and Sora are NEET shut-ins. However, in the virtual world, they are a legendary gaming duo.

One day, after a strange email, they find their reality taken away as they are transported to the realm of Tet, God of Games.

Here, Shiro and Sora must play games to defeat the sixteen races of this world as well as Tet in order to become the new gods.

Unlike Sword Art Online and its fantasy action, No Game No Life is all about playing games instead of fighting.

However, it is a series that is carried by its fun characters and amazing visuals. While it isn’t quite the same beast as Sword Art Online, there is much in here that SAO fans will enjoy.

irregular at magic high school anime

The Irregular at Magic High School

After magic, once thought to be folklore, was turned into a technical skill, schools to teach it opened all over. At one such school are siblings Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba.

While Miyuki excels, her brother is placed in a lower class due to his seemingly magical ineptitude.

However, he has rather unique abilities that make him quite irregular.

If you enjoy your main character standoffish and overpowered like Kirito, The Irregular at Magic High School is in the same vein.

It is magic in a modern world compared to the RPG-style settings of Sword Art Online, but you will find similarities between the main characters and notice a similar passion for flashy action.

chivalry of a failed knight anime

Chivalry of a Failed Knight

A certain selection of people, known as Blazers, are able to manifest their souls as weapons. To harness these powers, a number of schools have been established to teach these people how to use them.

Ikki Kurogane is an aspiring Mage-Knight, but unfortunately is also one of the lowest ranked Blazers around.

However, there may be more to his powers than meets the eye.

While Chivalry of a Failed Knight crafts its own magical world, you will notice that it employs the same tropes as Sword Art Online.

The main character is powerful and his power and attitude attract a number of – usually female – people to surround him.

record of grancrest war anime

Record of Grancrest War

After a tragedy that occurred at a wedding between the two nations of Fantasia Union and Factory Alliance, the continent of Atlatan is embroiled in war once again. in this war, an Alliance mage is rescued by a young warrior named Theo that carries a mysterious crest.

His strange crest is able to banish the corrupting chaos which is consuming the countryside, and she finds herself pulled into his epic quest.

Record of Grancrest War is more a standard fantasy world, but what you will find more similar between it and Sword Art Online is the dynamic and romance between the main characters.

Furthermore, because it dedicates itself to world building, it always does feel like there is quite a bit to discover.

Do you have more anime recommendations like Sword Art Online? Let fans know in the comments section below.

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