Solving the problem of overpopulation on Earth by terraforming Mars using Moss and Cockroaches sounded like a good idea on paper. Unfortunately, like many other theories, this plan completely ignored that evolution is a thing that happens, and thus, 500 years after the original plan was created, we ended up with not only giant humanoid cockroaches on Mars but also a new viral DNA, the Alien Engine Virus, that has a death rate of 100%. In the hopes of finding a cure, the Annex I mission was sent to the red planet to collect some cockroaches because they believe that they carry the A.E. virus in a form that can help mankind to create a vaccine. And that’s when things got more complicated because two previous missions to Mars had managed to make sure that the cockroaches would be very hostile to mankind. This particular entry is so low on the list because while the virus and the epidemic are very important to the plot, they are usually on the background of the story. We’re far more worried about the fate of the latest mission to Mars –especially given the huge mortality rates of the other two missions- and the characters that we see dying for the chance to find a cure. But still, if there was no epidemic, there would be no story, and that is why Terra Formars is the tenth choice on our list.

Five prisoners wake up in an empty building. We don’t know much about them, except very short glimpses at what they did to end up in jail, with one newspaper also talking about a terrible pandemic. However, this is so fast, we don’t know the details. All we know is that the five prisoners are alone with a cat and a seemingly dead old man. It’s when the old man wakes up that things start getting really interesting, as the others figure out that they’re much farther away from home than they thought originally and that only one of them can escape from their prison while all the others will die. At first glance, Norageki! may seem a bit of a departure from the other anime on the list because none of the main characters show any signs of being sick. However, the mention of the pandemic is not gratuitous, and soon, we find out that -once again- everything in the story happened because the Earth Government is trying hard to make sure a horribly unstable virus, called the Undone Virus, can be destroyed. Again, the Virus may not be an active threat to our main characters, but without it, we wouldn't have a story, and thus, Norageki! remains in the ninth place on our list.

Takashi Komuro was having a very bad day already when the dead decided to rise from their graves. He was bored with his life, his friends, and his family, but he never expected to have to fight for his life next to his childhood friend Rei Miyamoto, or with past classmates; Kouta Hirano, Saya Takagi, Saeko Busujima, and their school nurse, Shizuka Marikawa. Still, that’s what he had to do in order to escape his now zombie-infested school and, later, the city that has been apparently abandoned by the defense forces. In Highschool of the Dead, we can clearly see the consequences of a terrible epidemic with no real cure and with a 100% contagion rate. While the story itself never reveals what exactly made the dead rise, it is treated like a disease that has no cure. It only spreads through bites, at least as far as the anime and manga went, which makes it a bit easier to avoid as long as one doesn’t end up surrounded by zombies. Still, because of the obvious decay of society and how deadly this particular virus seems to be, HighSchool of the Dead climbs to the eighth place on our list.

The worst thing that can be done when a virus is threatening to destroy mankind is to avoid researching it. At least that’s what Ikoma thinks, but he is just a young steel smith that works to maintain the trains that go from fortress to fortress to protect what remains of mankind after the Kabane appeared, not someone with authority. The Kabane look human, and they were once people, but upon being infected by a bite from another Kabane, they become metal-covered zombies, hungry for flesh. People have decided that the only solution to this is to kill the bitten before they turn into Kabane, but Ikoma is not sure that it’s the best route and wants to research the virus more. Which comes in handy when he is bitten during an attack and has to find a way to keep his mind. Unlike other Zombie Apocalypse stories, in Koutetsujou no Kabaneri the virus makes it even harder to kill the zombies, and due to the time that has passed since it first appeared and the secrecy that surrounds it and the Kabaneri, those who are not quite immune to the virus but at least don’t become mindless ghouls when infected, have resulted on the fact that the virus and the Kabane have overrun most of the Earth’s surface. There’s also the fact that the little research done means that when the virus seemingly evolves, people aren’t prepared to deal with those changes. And because of those surprises, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri rides all the way to the seventh place on our list.

The most terrifying viruses are the ones that have a slow process. The Apocalypse virus can be quite fast, but it still has, at the very least, four very distinct stages that make the disease even more frightening. While stages 1 and 2 give the infected a few extra abilities and could even be considered useful, once it reaches stage 3 and the person starts growing crystalline structures that will slowly but surely cover all the victim’s body, things get ugly really fast. So fast, that in order to control the epidemic on a night known as the Lost Christmas, Japan gave up their independence in order to get a vaccine and save what was left of their population. Although the story takes place 10 years after the Lost Christmas, and it’s mostly about the fight of an underground resistance group that wants to return Japan’s independence, it still shows the effects that the epidemic had on society and the continuous attempts by scientists at finding a cure, or at least a way to contain the virus. We see many of the victims, as well as how the virus is still active both in Japan and around the world. As we see people fighting for their lives and, thanks to flashbacks, the origin of the virus all the way down from patient zero, Guilty Crown earns the sixth place on our list.

Another virus that forced humanity to live in small, walled cities trying to defend themselves from the infected and have a life as normal as possible, is the Gastrea virus. It infects people and turns them into horrible monsters. Sure, the walls in these particular cities are made of Varanium, an element that can hurt Gastrea, but once they reach a certain evolution stage, even Varanium walls can’t stop them from entering the cities known as Monoliths. To make things even worse, there are certain children whose blood is infected with the virus and, sooner or later, will turn into Gastrea’s abominations, but in the meantime, are used as weapons to protect mankind. This is another series where it seems that science has given up on trying to understand how to fight the virus and is rather interested in how to try to protect those who are still uninfected. While it may seem like a defeat for mankind, the truth is that it's a reasonable attempt at trying to preserve civilization against an unbeatable enemy. At some points, the attitude against the “Cursed Children”, the ones who slowly are turning into Gastrea monsters, can make one feel quite uncomfortable. Even more so when one considers that many of those "Cursed" are quite young. Still, because it shows quite clearly how a disease can destroy a civilization, Black Bullet lands right in the fifth place on our list.

After any natural disaster, one of the very first things that have to be restored for the sake of the population is the health service. After all, with no doctors or medicine, even the common cold can be deadly for those injured. At first, Mirai Onozawa, a thirteen-year-old girl who was with her younger brother Yuuki at an artificial island when an 8.0 earthquake hit, doesn’t really notice that there are no doctors around because she and her brother managed to survive unscathed, but as they start the journey back to try to find their parents, she sees more and more how dangerous a small injury can become when there are no easy ways to reach a hospital. Unlike most of the shows on the list, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 doesn't dwell on the different illnesses that can crop after a natural disaster like an earthquake. Instead, we just witness what happens in the background while we follow Mirai and Yuuki’s journey. And this is quite realistic for the situation, as sometimes, people who aren't sick tend to ignore how bad an epidemic can get until it really hits them close to home. Because of this realism, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 more than deserves the fourth place on our list.

Despite what some people may believe, not all bacteria are dangerous. In fact, some of them can be quite useful to mankind. Tadayasu Souemon Sawaki, the son of a yeast maker, knows this first hand. Not just because of his father’s profession, but also because he has the very unique ability to touch and talk to bacteria that surrounds everyone. While this creates a lot of trouble for him, it also allows him to interact with the world in a way that can be helpful when dealing with both good and harmful bacteria. This is not a good anime for germophobic viewers, as it shows a lot of the daily contact we have with millions of microscopic bacteria, microbes, and viruses. While it is not as dramatic in effect as the other entries on the list, Moyashimon is one of the most realistic in the way in which we interact with those organisms and how not all of them are immediately harmful. This is why we give the series the third place on our list.

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The city Number 6 is a beautiful utopia. After all, it’s of the six cities that house the remains of mankind after a world war, and the government in city-state does everything possible to keep their inhabitants happy and healthy. But Shion soon realizes that it’s not that wonderful when he and his mother are stripped of all their privileges because Shion dared to help Nezumi, a fugitive that came from beyond the walls. Now that he has no protection, Shion witnesses first hand how a parasitic wasp species is starting to kill the poorest inhabitants of No. 6. Here, we see a completely different disease from the titles on our list so far: Parasites are not an illness you can cure, and while there are some methods in real life to kill parasites without harming the host body, people in No. 6 don’t have that particular technology at hand. Even if they had the technology, it would be useless, as there are no symptoms to be observed before the wasps come out of their bodies, killing them, so there’s practically no time to save the victims. And because of that particular nightmarish scenario, No. 6 reaches the second spot on our list.

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Before medicine, the first line of defense our body has against illness are our own cells. The specialized cells that fight against any external threat are the white cells, but they also receive help from other cells such as the Killer T Cells, the Monocytes, the Lymphocytes, and the B Cells. Most common illnesses, such as the common cold, food poisoning, and even small scratches, can be defeated by these hard-working cells who work with the circulatory system and the nervous system to keep us alive. Sure, there's a particular red cell, AE 3803 who tends to lose her way quite often, and a white cell, U-1146, who seems to run into more trouble than his companions, but that doesn't mean the rest of the immune systems and working cells don't do their job to keep their body alive and well. Given that the whole concept of Hataraku Saibou is to watch how our body fights against the possible dangers of the outer world, it’s no surprise that every episode has to do with a different illness. From Pneumococcus to Influenza, from Dengue Fever to even Cancerous Cells, the brave Immune System fights them all with the same fervor. Sometimes, it requires a bit of help from others, like the cute Platelets, but in the end, it’s the immune system cells who keep fighting for our health. And because this series is completely dedicated to that fight, it more than deserves the first place on our list.

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Based on the hit manga by Hiroya Oku, Gantz is an anime that takes the afterlife to such a whole new level that it could be its own religion. Kei Kurono and Masaru Katou were two well-intended teenagers who were trying to help a homeless man who fell off the train platform only to be killed by a train. The next moment, they find themselves in an empty apartment that contains a black sphere, or “Gantz.” The sphere orders those at the apartment to become its minions so they can fight an invading alien species. If a participant gets 100 points, they can either return to their normal life, receive a kick-ass weapon, or revive a participant who permanently died during a previous mission. Just like in Darwin’s Game, Gantz has average and reluctant teenagers participating in a game to ensure their survival (though in this case, they’re technically dead). At the time of writing the purpose Darwin’s Game has yet to be revealed, but winning a lot of money seems to be involved. In the case of Gantz, not only are the characters participating to get points, it mixes some elements of John Carpenter’s “They Live” as they fight an alien force that can’t be seen by regular humans (unfortunately, Gantz doesn’t have an iconic fight scene akin to the fight between Roddy Piper and Keith David have in that cult classic film). What also makes Gantz distinguishing is that it’s reputable for having a lot of carnage and guts so if you really want something intense, Gantz is the anime for you!

Junior high can be a very tough time for kids that don’t fit in and the audience can see that through the eyes of Haruyuki Arita, who tends to be bullied for his weight. To deal with the bullying, he likes to play online games. While playing, he befriends Kuroyukihime, the vice-president of the student council. After getting acquainted, Kuroyukihime introduces Haruyuki to Brain Burst, an online fighting game. What’s also unique about this game is that it allows the players to boost their brainpower to the point that time stops for them. So, what’s the catch? Players must engage in fights with other players for points. With the points, players can boost their attributes in the real world. In the event a player loses all of their points, then they can no longer be part of the game! Accel World and Darwin’s Game are obviously similar where the participating characters must collect in-game currency to buy boosts. However, Darwin’s Game and Accel World differ in where the rules apply. While the players of Darwin’s Game can use the in-game currency to purchase items for the game, as we said before, the Brain Burst allows players to become more advanced in the real world! The motivations between the characters also differ. Kaname was in the game circumstantially before he knew it, and Haruyuki is participating in the Brain Burst out of his own free will so he can thank Kuroyukihime and help her accomplish her goals.

A lot of people may feel that the magical girl genre has been done to death but Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku begs to differ. In the world of Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikau, or Magical Girl Raising Project, girls love to play the titular app and as it turns out, players have a 1/10,000 chance of being an actual magical girl! However, when the app feels that the city has too many magical girls, they hold a contest where if they have the least amount of magical candies—the anime’s in-game currency they can earn by doing good deeds in a week—they will lose their powers. As the contest progresses, the young ladies participating start to see that it’s not just for the sake of not losing their powers, but for their very survival. As seen in Darwin’s Game, the world of Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku involves a game that allows players to physically participate and gain powers. Eventually, that concept takes a turn for the worse in both the game and the real world. While we don’t know about Darwin’s Game at this point with only seven episodes broadcasted by the drafting of this article, Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku’s story goes deep to the point that the very fate of the world is at stake! So if you want an anime that really brings intensity, then Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku is it!

So what do some of you readers remember about November 22, 2010? Yeah, we know it was a Monday but in the world of Higashi no Eden, Japan is attacked by missiles but no one died. Three months later, Saki Morimi goes on vacation to the good old USA and outside the White House, she meets a fellow Japanese national who is naked and has lost his memories. After that, they go to an apartment containing numerous fake passports and they use them to go back to Japan with the amnesiac taking the name Akira Takizawa. While fiddling with his phone, Akira discovers he has over 8 billion yen given to him by a mysterious organization known as Selecao. What’s the money for? It’s for him to save Japan! If he uses up the money or uses it for personal gain, then he will die! The very foundation of what makes Higashi no Eden similar to Darwin’s Game is how everything starts with a cell phone with a mysterious app forced onto it. Just like Kaname, Akira is introduced as someone who was forced into the situation but seeing that he has to participate to get out of it, he has to go with the flow and does his best to avoid violence with the people he encounters. Due to Akira being an amnesiac, he does have a childlike innocence like Kaname and only wants the best outcome for not just him, but for his friends as well

Based on The Caligula Effect for the PS Vita (which would later be ported to the PS4, Switch, and PC), Caligula tells the tale of Ritsu Shikishima, an average high school student. All of that changes when Mu, a vocaloid like Hatsune Miku, brings Ritsu into her world to fight a threat that not only threatens it, but the real world as well. However, Ritsu can’t face this threat alone as he must find allies to fight the evil forces of the Ositanto Musicians. So, how can they defeat them? Thanks to the Catharsis Effect, they can gain powers and weapons through their emotions! Just like in Darwin’s Game, Caligula explores how an average high school student is trapped in a game. In addition, the participants are given unique powers when they’re a part of the world of the game. However, Caligula explores very unique themes that have yet to be explored in Darwin’s Game (as it’s still being broadcast), most notably, how we view reality. Mu is obviously that gateway to understanding those themes as vocaloids are now popular in Japan. When people begin to rely more on technology and its conveniences, can it do more harm than good if vocaloids one day replace real singers? That’s what makes Caligula uniquely enjoyable.

Yukiteru Amano is a teenage loner who keeps a diary on his cell phone and has two imaginary friends, Deus Ex Machina (the God of Space and Time) and Muru Muru, his assistant. As it turns out, his two imaginary friends aren’t so imaginary as Deus Ex Machina turns Yukiteru’s phone into the Random Diary, which can predict the future for up to 90 days! You would think that would be the beginning of something awesome but as it turns out, there are 11 other individuals like him who also possess special diaries and they must all kill each other until there can only be one. So what is the grand prize? The winner gets to become the next God of Space and Time so they can save the world! Just like in Darwin’s Game, we have a motley crew of people who are playing the game in their quest so they can have the power. The participants’ diaries are somewhat similar to the sigils in Darwin’s Game. Yuno’s diary allows her to know what Yukiteru is doing for the next 10 minutes, and there is another character that possesses a diary that allows him to find his next murder victim and tells him what to do with that person. Like Kaname, Yukiteru just wants to live a normal life and he finds himself teaming up with Yuno, a classmate who is obsessed with him. While Shuka in Darwin’s Game kind of serves the same role as a supporting character, at least she’s normal (Yuno’s behavior is perfectly explained in Mirai Nikki).

The concept of fighting crime has always been simple, even as technology has advanced from the days of Jack the Ripper. Establish a crime scene, find the clues, get a motive, and find the killer…not exactly in that order but within the realm of it at least. If we could actually dive into a killer’s ID—or Id Well as the show calls it—then we could possibly see crimes before they happen and/or track a killer’s movement. The first step, though—find a means of actually diving into a person’s mind—we can’t do as far as we know…yet.

Sakaido—Akihito Narihsago—goes into Id Wells often in ID:INVADED and dies often within these worlds. However, as the show establishes, those deaths aren’t that impactful if they don’t continuously happen to stress the diver out. Having the ability to dive into a criminal’s mind would make crime solving a lot safer for detectives and investigators. Instead of possibly running into a trap, the investigators could see the killer’s location and calculate a plan of action to arrest them, safely. Maybe diving into Id Wells is a bit tiring on the psyche but if it prevents a funeral it might be worth while.

We’ve examined why it would benefit crime solving teams to remove the danger of real world problems to examine a “mental landscape” but here’s the million dollar question; Would technology like this be even possible? let alone feasible? There are ways to dig into a person’s mind via hypnotism and such but, beyond what is considered “gimmicky”, we haven’t developed any form of real-world tech that can allow a person to see inside the mind of another. Maybe far into the future, we could pull off what ID:INVADED does but, for now, crime-solving is going to be on foot and with real-world hands-on methods.

The requirement to become a “brilliant detective” in the world of ID:INVADED is to be considered a latent serial killer. If this was real life, do you really believe a serial killer would help the police identify other serial killers? Maybe we could give them incentive to do so—reduced sentencing or controlled living space like Akihito has—but the public would no doubt hate the police force for using such a system. Bottom line folks, this is the one element we can’t see happening IRL.

What’s great about number24 is that it teaches the viewers about overcoming adversity. Not only does Natsusa have to give up playing rugby, but he also has to repeat a year of college. While he still suffers from the effects of the accident, he doesn’t allow it to stop him from wanting to contribute to the team. While Natsusa, upon his introduction, has put the accident behind him on an emotional level, Ibuki hasn’t. Since he was the driver, he naturally feels a lot of guilt over Natsusa's condition but thanks to Natsusa’s help, he crawls out of his hole in order to once again pursue his passion for rugby.

While Natsusa is no longer physically capable of playing rugby, he knows that it will always be a part of him as long as he chooses to contribute. Thanks to his passion and experience, he can be of help by being a manager. As a manager, he can help get the equipment and uniforms ready, assist in getting the players warmed up, and serve as something of an assistant coach by giving players tips. While some team members feel awkward about having one of their former star players as a manager, they eventually come to terms with it thanks to his help and outgoing personality.

When it comes to rugby or any other team sports, teamwork is naturally going to be a theme and number24 takes that theme in another direction. When Ibuki comes back to the team, a lot of the present members initially feel resentment towards him because they feel that with a star player like him on the roster, it could red-shirt some of the other members. In Ibuki’s first game since his comeback, his teammates refuse to pass to him out of jealousy and it actually costs them the game! The team members who blackballed Ibuki come to see that their selfishness cost them the game and that they should learn to rely on each other.

The number one thing you can take out of watching number24 is the power of having a positive attitude, and Natsusa does a great job of demonstrating that. Not once does he complain about his predicament and he’s always willing to put others before himself when he shouldn’t. Upon his return to classes, he is welcomed with open arms and is also willing to be friends with his juniors and classmates; he does his best to get to know everyone and if someone invites him to have lunch with them, he’s never willing to turn down the offer; if he and his friends see someone by themselves, they’re willing to invite that person to join them; and when another player with an ulcer felt doubts about playing, Natsusa tells him he should do what makes him happy. As a result, that teammate decides to be a manager with Natsusa.

Gamers out there will no doubt tell you that it is quite easy to quit a game after taking a quest. Sometimes the real world calls and you know you can just take that fetch quest or protection mission later when your free time opens again. In the world of Infinite Dendrogram, as we learn from episode one, missing a quest can result in some rather big consequences. Players who decide to not help out on a mission might find an NPC gone later and that affects them in truly dark ways. Ray’s brother—Shu—didn’t help Liliana Grandria’s father—the king—and by failing to lend aid allowed her parent to die. If you want to get immersed in a game’s world, Infinite Dendrogram’s world seems the best bet for you.

A fatal flaw of the quest system in Infinite Dendrogram is that it doesn’t cater to new players well. Imagine if you decided to play Infinite Dendrogram months after release. You’d enter the world and possibly find half of the easier quests completed and/or missing. New players would immediately find themselves wondering what they could do in this so-called “infinite possibility” world when half of the earlier missions are done forever.

After several episodes of Infinite Dendrogram we’ve noticed this world is far from peaceful. Not only are the lands littered with PKs—Player Killers for you non-gamers out there—but the NPCs themselves are at war with one another. Without spoiling anything, Infinite Dendrogram is one step away from having a country filled with strife and war! That makes us wonder if the NPCs all kill themselves in bloody conflict…what waits for future players/veterans? Logging out of Infinite Dendrogram means three days have passed in the real world so if you missed several real days then weeks have passed within the game world. Maybe the next time Ray logs in after a long busy week, the surroundings will be barren and lifeless.

Unlike the first season of Sword Art Online or .hack//Sign, Infinite Dendrogram is an isekai but not in the concept of being transported into a new world. However, Infinite Dendrogram’s game mechanics make a player almost feel as if they really are in another world. Ray has stated several times the feeling of losing time in the real world because it seems as if he truly got invested in Infinite Dendrogram. Ironically, this series is more isekai than others as there is a thin line between reality and fiction. If a game could pull that off…in our minds, it means the systems ruling the game world are truly something else!

Sudou Kaname is your ordinary high school student until he received an invite by his friend, Kyouda Hiroyuki, to join mobile gacha game called Darwin’s Game. Without thinking, Sudou joined the game and a snake reached out from his cellphone to bite him in the neck, marking him as a player of the game. Sudou soon come to realize that it was more than just a game where players could gain wealth through the conversion of their points, and they could only be earned by killing opponents. Instead of an angel bestowing power to you, Darwin’s Game gives each player a sigil: a unique ability of their own. Participants from Platinum End and Darwin’s Game are forced, although optional if you’re lucky, to kill each other to win and survive. The main protagonists of both stories didn’t ask for this development but they come from a different background, and situations push them to think what would be the best course of action for their survival.

Koyuki Himekawa, the main protagonist of the story, always dream of becoming a Magical Girl. One day, her dream becomes a reality when a familiar appeared before her eyes from a popular mobile game “Magical Raising Project.” Out of tens of thousands of players, only a handful of them was chosen as Magical Girls. Their job is to gather Magical Candy that could only be earned by helping people. However, an announcement comes from the administration that every week, the Magical Girl with the least number of Magical Candy will be stripped off their powers and killed. Like Platinum End, this is a battle of survival but this time its among Magical Girls until only one remain. The interesting part of this manga is that it showcases the development and background stories of each character of how they perceive others and their true nature to do anything they can to survive. It also makes you question yourself how you maintain yourself as a Magical Girl in the face of despair and insanity. If you are interested to read a story of Magical Girls having a battle royal with modern technologies and traditional magical power in the mix, this is your manga.

Myoujou Academy is a prestigious boarding school. Hidden among the normal classes, there exist “Black Class.” This specific class came with a system: 13 unique assassins and one target. Each assassin is given one chance to assassinate their target without involving people outside their class, including their teacher, and within 48 hours. The assassination will begin when an assassination notice is given to the target. If the target is killed, the killer’s wish will be granted by the academy. Azuma Tokaku, an assassin-in-training, grows a bit of fondness toward Haru Ichinose, the target, and decides to take another course of action. Akuma No Riddle provides a similar concept as Platinum End, but more of the perspective of the hunted, Haru Ichinose. Haru is a cheerful and easy-going person and you find it difficult to believe why such a girl like her is placed in this kind of situation. The art style of Akuma No Riddle is cleaner and simpler than Platinum End, and you could feel the vibe from the characters. This story provides more details of how a bodyguard and assassins operate while living and studying with assasins in the same dormitory and class.

Out of nowhere, Nobuaki Kanazawa and his classmates received a mysterious text message to participate in a game called “King’s Game.” Everyone didn’t take it seriously at first, but little did they know that failure to completing the king’s request within 24 hours results in gruesome deaths. With everyone’s lives on stake, will they be able to find a way to get out of this game safely? The manga lets us experience what it feels like to be ordered and toyed by an unknown entity. Similar to Platinum End, body tolls begin to rise, friendship and sanity are thinning, and characters begin to suspect each other as the actual culprit of this game. Putting ourselves in the characters’ position makes us filled with adrenaline and fear that our lives are just within death’s reach on a daily basis.

Moving to the town of Yomiyama Kouichi Sakaibara was supposed to enrolle at a new school but got stuck in a hospital due to his lung issue. There, he meets a strange girl named Mei Misaki, wearing a uniform of his school. However, he feels something is off around her and his classmates. Students of his class begin to experience indescribable deaths, and he wonders whether this was related to Misaki. This manga provides a range of different, brutal deaths and it keeps you thinking as to who causes all of this until the end of it, just like how in Platinum End. Another tends the focus more on the horror aspects than on the mystery as they do in Platinum End. Another is similar to Platinum in a way that everyone in class suspects Misaki as the main culprit of strange, brutal deaths as if she possesses a supernatural power. The interesting part of this story is that it was difficult for readers to predict who is the actual cause of these strange occurrences. The presentation of the characters in the manga felt more human-like and you will fee

Ueki no Housoku is a story of how 100 god candidates are required to choose a junior high school student as their representatives. Each representative has bestowed a supernatural power to change from one thing to another. This is a story of Kousuke Ueki, a boy who can turn trash into trees, a kind person at heart, although dumb sometimes, and always risk his life for the sake of others. The winning candidate of this battle will be the next King of Celestial World and their fighter will receive the Blank Talent that allows picking talent of their choice. The art style of the manga is a classic and the story of how the fighters are chosen and progress with their lives was like Platinum End. The slight difference is that this manga has comedy added into the mix. If you are looking for a slow-pace, fun and wholesome kind of battle royal with minimum gore, this manga would be appropriate for you.

When otaku and fujoshi Narumi Momose is late for work, she vows that no one will ever learn her best-kept secret that we can all relate to. At work, she runs into an old friend that she went to middle school with, Hirotaka Nifuji. As the two go out for drinks, she continues to try to hide her secret to maintain her image but loses her composure as soon as he asks her about the Summer Comiket. Hirotaka reveals that he too is an otaku and suggests that they go out. Thus begins the adorable romance between otaku. Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii is an endearing anime that all of us, as otaku, can relate to. This anime is similar to the feelings between Yukimura and Himuro in Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita. While, Wotaku lacks the science element, these anime are extremely similar in tone and give the viewer a comparable feel in the romance aspect. If you enjoy the slow-paced, awkward romance, then Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii is the anime for you.

When the student council president and vice president come together, it is the epitome of a hot and cold relationship. While Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya each care strongly about each other, they are extremely competitive, which makes their relationship complicated. Neither wants to admit their feelings or make the first move in order to not seem weak. The battle of love turns into an all-out war once the two become honest with themselves and seek victory above all else. The tension between Shirogane and Shinomiya from Kaguya-sama and Himuro and Yukimura from Science Fell In Love are virtually the same. They each want to prove their devotion but not until they can accept love on the proper terms. While Kaguya-sama does take place in high school, the pair seems to be beyond their age in wit and knowledge. This anime is the perfect one to watch if you are looking for romantic tension as seen in Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita.

Chiyo Sakura falls hard for the aloof Umetarou Nozaki and upon her admittance, he hands the confused Chiyo an autograph. It turns out that her beloved is actually a famous shoujo mangaka who writes under the pen name Sakiko Yumeno. Chiyo soon finds herself employed by her crush, helping him with his manga throughout their relationship formed by a succession of miscommunications. While Umetarou Nozaki remains oblivious to Chiyo’s feelings, she still pursues him in hopes that she can bring their relationship to the next level. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is an entertaining anime that portrays a more mature look into a romance with a similar vibe to that in Rikei ga Koi. While Chiyo is still in high school, her feelings and ways of dealing with them are much more mature than other relationships that we see in high school anime. The tone is also very similar in that, while the pairs are working towards their romance, they still have higher goals in mind for their careers, in Rikei ga Koi they pursue science and in Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun they pursue the very relatable world of mangaka. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is the perfect option if you are looking for an anime with a similar feel to the characters as a whole from Science Fell In Love.

Gaming is competitive now with games such as Call of Duty and Halo, but in the year 1991, it was much harder to become a professional gamer when the gaming craze was arcade games. This does not stop the dreams of Haruo Yaguchi, though, as he surpasses everyone at his local arcade. However, when his classmate Akira Oono defeats him, he questions all of his goals for the future. The two become closer as “rivals” that seek to defeat each other but, do they find more in their relationship than simple competition? Competition is a clear component in the relationship between Yukimura and Himuro. Whether in science or video games, the rivalry in Rikei ga Koi and High Score Girl is an important element in both relationships. High Score Girl takes place in middle school so its characters are much younger than others on this list but if you are looking for an anime that has a less romantic element but still relates to the tone of Science Fell In Love, High Score Girl is it.

Friendship is a great thing to have. Nishikata regrets this, though, upon becoming closer to his classmate Takagi. She teases him regularly and manipulates him by analyzing his personality. While she is never truly mean, she plays many practical jokes that make it particularly hard to focus in class. It is Nishitaka’s goal to get her back and make Takagi blush out of embarrassment. There is a push-and-pull element in Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san that is very similar to the banter in Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita. One individual always has the upper hand in each relationship, whether it is a romantic college relationship or a playful middle school one. If you are looking for a more juvenile and cute anime, you have found it in Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san.

The beautiful and cruel Aki Adagaki traumatizes Masamune Makabe by giving him the nickname “piggy” when he was young. Vowing that he would not live up to that nickname, he lost the weight and became the picture of vanity. He came to hate the malicious Aki and transferred to her high school in order to show her how much he had changed. Despite his efforts, she remains oblivious and cruel, ruining his plans to exact his revenge. Similar to Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai, the relationship in this anime is built on competition, though the competition is extremely cruel. Aki and Masamune’s relationship flourishes as they grow closer on false pretenses. Can the two grow to really love each other as Yukimura and Himuro do? They must learn to overcome their challenges and prejudices to truly prove their love.

Pokemon Go Lab might not be that big, but it doesn’t have to be. What it does have caters directly to what Pokemon Go players want! Half of the store is dedicated to merchandise, with goods related directly to the mobile game available for the first time in Japan. These include hats and t-shirts with team logos to show your allegiance when you’re out battling, along with phone cases, mobile chargers, hand towels and more with team logos and game-related art. There’s even cookies and other snacks in Pokemon Go packaging if you want to pick up something for a friend to make them jealous of where you got to go! The other half of the Pokemon Go Lab is a large open space for players to battle! In the centre of the space is an all-new gym to fight in which is displayed on a rotating TV screen. The screen shows the current Pokemon team that is in the gym, and also displays cool statistics like the percentage for how long each team has controlled the gym, the top countries players are from, which type of Pokemon is most common in the gym, and more! It’s awesome to battle the gym and then see your avatar and Pokemon displayed for everyone to see. Plus it’s a great place to connect with other players from around the world when everyone is gathering together to play.

Akuru “A-kun” Akutsu is your average antisocial guy who studies hard and wants a future with a good-paying job and good living. But his life at high school is pandemonium because his childhood friend, Hanabatake Yoshiko is a complete idiot, and she gets into trouble and creates mayhem due to her lack of intelligence and basic comprehension of, well, literally everything. Despite her lack of spatial awareness, Yoshiko is an energetic girl with a future ahead of her, and she needs Atsuku by her side. The double act routine (or Manzai in Japanese) is one of the usual tropes you see in comedy and slice of life anime. Jin and Ranka are an example of a straight man and funny man pair—Jin is the serious straight man who is mostly annoyed at everything and Ranka is the funny man to liven things up by doing crazy things leading to funny moments at the expense of the straight man. A-kun and Yoshiko from Aho Girl share the same roles as Jin and Ranka in Murenase! Seton Gakuen, and, actually, the pairs are so similar that you can swap them between shows and no one would tell the difference. Jin and A-kun are constantly annoyed at everything Ranka and Yoshiko do, and they prefer to be left alone. Yoshiko is, well, dumb, so she gets into crazy situations that force A-kun to step in and diffuse the problem. Ranka is more a free-spirited girl rather than having the mental capacity of a monkey (A-kun said that, not us!), but Ranka also gets into crazy situations and Jin is forced to play along like helping a beluga whale perform along with the bottlenose dolphins. Oh and Yoshiko and Ranka love their men, whereas A-kun and Jin don't find them attractive even when they’re naked or in heat, HA!

Demi-humans like monsters and mythical beings are real and they’re living peacefully with humans in the human realm. A demi-human transitioning to human society is very difficult and some may not adapt, but here’s where the Interspecies Cultural Exchange Act comes in—Any demi-human who wishes to live in the human realm is assigned to live with host families so they can learn the ins and outs of human society. Kurusu Kimihito is a host and he currently lives with a lamia named Miia and other monster girls. And since Kimihito is one hot guy and one of the nicest people around, the monster girls have fallen in love with him and they show their affection in their own quirky little way. Seeing various animals interacting with each other in Murenase! Seton Gakuen is one thing, and the other is the interspecies relationships that have been going on, like the members of the cooking club being Jin’s harem and the most popular interspecies couple being the lion King and the impala Shiho. If you’re into this sort of kinky thing, then you might want to check out Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou, an anime with a focus solely on interspecies relationships. Instead of animal girls, we get monster girls ranging from lamias (snake girls) and mermaids to centaurs. And of course, just like Murenase! Seton Gakuen, the girls’ personalities and quirks in Monster Musume are based on their species: snake girls hug by constricting the guy, harpies can fly and lay eggs, mermaids dehydrate outside of the water, and centaurs… well… they’re huge and have huge butts.

Japari Park is a massive zoo populated by humanoid, female animals called “Friends” and each species of Friends populates the various biomes ranging from the hot savannas to the frozen tundras. The park has long been abandoned and nature has slowly taken over but the Friends are still thriving and living their happy lives in peace. One day, a strange creature wearing clothes and a hat appears out of nowhere and she has no memories. A chance encounter with the Friend Serval changes everything and she offers her abilities as a serval to help this clothed Friend to cross the vast zoo in search of answers. Serval names this new Friend Kaban, and the two travel together meeting new Friends along the way, facing new challenges, and finding out Kaban’s true origins. Murenase! Seton Gakuen gets compared to Kemono Friends a lot because the premise is almost 1:1 identical. Well, the comparison ratio is obviously exaggerated, but Murenase! Seton Gakuen and Kemono Friends are similar in so many ways. Firstly, both have cute animal girls, the personalities and quirks of the girls revolve around the behavior of the animals they are based on, and we get to learn about animals through Murenase! Seton Gakuen’s narrator and the audio clips from professional zoologists at every first half in Kemono Friends. When it comes to story, both are very different—Murenase! Seton Gakuen is a slice of life anime, focused on animals learning to live together in chaotic harmony and Kemono Friends is an adventure anime where Kaban and Serval cross various biomes and meet Friends from these biomes who help the duo cross using their specialized abilities and adaptations. Don’t be discouraged at the subpar CGI animations of Kemono Friends because despite its lack of polish, Kemono Friends is full of passion and soul thanks to one director who was determined to breathe life into Kemono Friends.

At Cherryton Academy, anthropomorphic animals, be they carnivores or herbivores, are living together and studying together in tranquil peace. However, this unity between the two types of animals is being put to the test when a herbivore is found mutilated, and evidence points out a carnivore is the culprit. Distrust among the animals and fear engulf the academy and it’s only a matter of time until another herbivore falls prey to a carnivore hiding amongst the students of Cherryton Academy. Beastars is a more serious take on interspecies cohabitation and relationships than Seton where they usually gloss over the fact that one type of animal preys on another. In Beastars, the personality of each animal is still based on their behavior in the wild, like Legosi is a literal lone wolf, so he’s socially awkward towards everyone, he’s silent, keeps things to himself, and he can be very aggressive when provoked because he’s a male wolf. Haru is a rabbit and, well, if you heard the term “f*ck like rabbits”, then you now know why Haru is sexually promiscuous in the anime (we know her reason for her promiscuity, just an FYI). Murenase! Seton Gakuen, on the other hand, portrays these animal traits in a more comedic way like the sloth Miyubi is very slow and burns out when doing something rigorous like walking, but she’s a capable swimmer and manages to reach the other end of the pool.

Kuromine Asahi is the type of person who is easy to read and can’t keep a secret even if his life depends on it. Though that’ll change when he accidentally discovers that his crush, Shiragami Youko, is actually a vampire, and now that her cover is blown, she’ll be forced to leave the school. But fear not, young lady! Asahi doesn’t want her to leave and he promises he’ll keep her secret from anyone, despite his inability to keep his mouth shut. So far so good? NIGHTMARE MODE SELECTED! More supernatural beings show up and they’re obviously attracted to Asahi, so he has to keep everyone’s true identities a secret. Murenase! Seton Gakuen isn’t a harem anime, but given the format of one guy surrounded by cute anime girls with animal ears, it might as well be one. Though it sucks Jin hates animals and only has eyes for Hitomi, the rest of the girls like Jin very much and they’re not afraid to show it. And with Jin being the only male in the cooking club, everyone at the academy, and the school council president Miki see him as a miscreant, creating his own interspecies harem. Asahi from Jitsu wa Watashi wa has his own harem of cute supernatural beings because harem magic dictates all girls are attracted to the hero. Let’s see… A vampire, an alien, some god-in-training, a demon, and hey, there’s a time traveler too! Both series follow a similar episode format of hero meets new girl, girl has a unique quirk and she’s the one to solve a problem, girl ends up liking the hero and she’s part of the hero’s group of friends, or a “harem” if you will. Murenase! Seton Gakuen is a fun and crazy ride, and if you want more of that with fewer animals and more harem shenanigans, Jitsu wa Watashi wa is a great recommendation.

Suzuki Iruma has a crappy life—his lazy parents forced him to work at a young age, Iruma never had a decent school life because he’s working his ass off just to pay the bills, and he never had a normal childhood. One day, Iruma gets taken away to the Demon World because his parents sold his soul to one powerful demon. Yep, Iruma’s parents are indeed wonderful people. But, plot twist—the demon Sullivan adopts Iruma to be his grandson and Iruma enrolls in the demon school Babyls. Iruma has got to be careful, though, because if the demons find out he’s a human, he will be on some demon’s menu. Mairimashita! Iruma-kun is like Murenase! Seton Gakuen in many ways—both main characters are humans stuck in a school with non-human students, lots of chaos due to the hero being human, and lots of cute girls. Jin, the human, is technically part of the animal kingdom, but to him, Seton Academy is like a zoo filled with loud, annoying and unruly animals. Iruma is also a human and he’s studying in a school populated with demon students, and he’s trying to keep his identity a secret because it’s completely unheard of to have a mere human studying in a school for demons, and, you know, we’ve heard demons love the taste of human flesh. And, well, yeah, that’s it. Mairimashita! Iruma-kun is simple to understand but it’s also a whole lot of fun. If there’s one thing bad about Mairimashita! Iruma-kun it’s that the ecchi moments aren’t as good as Murenase! Seton Gakuen. Probably. It depends what kind of fanservice you prefer.