It may sound cliche, but there really is an anime for everybody. With thousands upon thousands of shows to choose from, where does somebody who is trying to get into anime for the first time know where to start?
One easy way is to pick a particular interest of yours. Do you like comedy? Sports? Drama? Romance? What about video games? If you spend all your free time playing World of Warcraft or fragging campers in Call of Duty, there is a ton of great anime that will likely be right up your alley.
This brings us to the shows listed below, for example. All have various video game elements to them. Some take place in virtual fantasies where players use their gaming skills to come out on top. Others focus on the relationships that form online between players who log on night after night to live in a virtual world.
No matter whether you watch one or all of the anime listed below, gamers will find plenty to love about each.
No Game No Life
What is it? Together, a young man and his little sister, who collectively go by the name screen name Blank, are the best gamers in the entire world. So good, in fact, that the "god of games" from another dimension transports the two to his domain in order to mix up the status quo. In this fantasy world, all political conflicts are settled via various games of skill and chance. The humans of this realm have nearly lost their entire empire to other magical races due to their lack of gaming skill. However, Blank and their prowess at various games may just be what the kingdom needs to return the human empire to its former glory.
Why should every gamer watch? In addition to being funny, watching how Blank overcomes one ridiculous gaming scenario after the next by bending the rules or outhinking their opponents at every turn is too darn entertaining. From card games to a full-fledged third person shooter, a number of different types of games are played, each with a unique set of rules that have to be taken into account. The idea of a vast fantasy world where everything is determined by skills that most would consider "useless" in the real world is a gamer fantasy in and of itself, and one explored in a fun way here.
Sword Art Online
What is it? Kirito is a skilled MMO gamer playing the hottest new virtual reality MMO: Sword Art Online, played with the latest and greatest virtual reality headset. Once he logs in, however, he finds that he and thousands of other players are being held hostage within the game. Removing the virtual reality headset from a person's head while they are in the game will fry their brain, killing the player instantly in both worlds. The only way to escape is to defeat the final boss of Sword Art Online. And so, Kirito and his friends unite to carve their way out of their fantasy prison, one battle at a time.
Why should every gamer watch? With virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus creeping ever closer toward a retail release, a future where gamers spend countless hours fully immersed in a game while wearing a VR headset isn't far off. Sword Art Online imagines that near future, while also exploring ideas about the blurry line between the real and virtual worlds, as PvP becomes a deadly pastime for some players, while others never want to return to the real world they've been closed off to.
.Hack//Sign
What is it? A series of various anime and video games that all take place in an MMORPG called The World. One of the more popular series, .Hack//Sign, revolves around a character named Tsukasa, a player who wakes inside the game to find he has short-term memory loss and is unable to log out. He and his friends embark on a quest to discover more about Tsukasa's unusual condition and find a way for him to finally log out.
Why should every gamer watch? .Hack//Sign, while similar to some other anime on this list, is unique in that it doesn't focus so much on the action or fantasy of being in a virtual world, but more on the complex interpersonal relationships that can form in a virtual environment. In today's world, meeting friends online in a game happens every day. However, what happens when those friends want to meet in real life? A number of emotions come into play, and .Hack//Sign, with its emphasis on relationships and drama over action, does a great job of bringing those emotions to the forefront.
Summer Wars
What is it? A 17-year-old math genius by the name Kenji becomes falsely accused of unleashing a dangerous artificial intelligence on the virtual world of OZ. Together, he and his friends do battle with the Love Machine virus across the Web to prevent it from doing further harm in the real world.
Why should every gamer watch? Hackers are the antiheroes of the geek/gamer world. Cool yet dangerous, they have real power at their fingertips, powers that can be used for both good and ill. Kenji is definitely a hero here, as he and his friends do battle with the Love Machine virus in a visually-striking fashion using various avatars. It's a gamer's idea of what fighting a virus in cyberspace might look like. However, for all its outlandish virtual landscapes, Summer Wars shows the very real danger in living in a insecure, inter-connected online world, where everything from satellites to traffic signals are controlled via the power of the Internet. Luckily, we will have hackers like Kenji to save us when everything goes completely haywire.
Log Horizon
What is it? A group of friends, along with 30,000 other gamers, find themselves actually becoming their in-game avatars in one of the world's most popular fantasy MMOs. Forced to accept their new reality, the group of friends unite to overcome the challenges of this dangerous fantasy world.
Why should every gamer watch? The trope of "trapped in a video game" isn't a new one in anime, but Log Horizon approaches the idea differently. Rather than being trapped in a virtual world and seeking to break free, this group of friends instead embrace this new fantasy world they call home. What gamer hasn't dreamed of becoming their avatar and saving the day? Log Horizon explores that idea perfectly and often in surprising ways.
Btooom!
What is it? Sakamoto Ryota is a deadbeat 22-year-old who won't find a job and spends all his time playing a combat game called Btooom. Then, one day, he wakes up on a tropical island and is attacked by another person, who throws a peculiar bomb at him, one that looks like it came straight out of Ryota's favorite game. He soon comes to understand he has been placed in a deadly real-life version of the game he spends all his time playing and must use all the virtual skills he has learned over the years and implement them into the real world if he is to survive.
Why should every gamer watch? We often play violent shooters and multiplayer games for entertainment, but what happens when that game becomes a very real bloodsport? Every gamer has wondered how their virtual skills might translate into a real world scenario, and Btooom! explores that idea with gory results. Think something akin to the Hunger Games, but with a video game twist, and you have an idea of why Btooom! is worth watching.
Accel World
What is it? A short (super short), overweight junior high student with low self-esteem by the name Haruyuki is regularly picked on at school. However, his gaming skills get him noticed by the school's popular student council vice-president, who lets Haruyuki in on a secret in the form of an augmented reality online fighting video game called "Brain Burst," where players duel against one another to win "Burst Points." These points can be used in the real world to accelerate player abilities. Haruyuki makes it his mission to achieve the max level in the game and meet the game's creator in order to learn the true purpose behind the project.
Why should every gamer watch? As you've seen on this list, many of the above anime have a "trapped in a fantasy MMO" theme. That's not the case here. Not only is the idea of a fighting game explored, but players aren't trapped in a virtual world. It is instead an augmented reality, albeit one where duels between players can reward powerful prizes in the real world. Even if players' real lives aren't on the line, the show manages to deliver some fresh ideas, while still keeping the stakes high.
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