Best anime games in 2023

While its neighboring South Korea is busy making the best Android tablets on the market, Japan continues to excel at impactful storytelling with anime. Of course, it’s not the only area Japan excels in, but nonetheless, anime has grabbed the attention of millions across the globe.

So much so that its influence has long seeped into many facets of our culture, including video games. Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece have become household names. It makes perfect sense that game developers have caught on to it and turned these stories into interactive adventures.

Indeed, even more interactive than the most colorful visual novels. This list emphasizes the best anime games from the land of the rising sun.

1 Bleach Mobile 3D

Ichigo Kurosaki is a regular high school student. That is, until one fateful night, evil strikes and threatens the well-being of his family. Ichigo manages to fend off the evildoers with the help of Rukia Kikuchi, a powerful Soul Reaper and inherits her powers. However, with great power comes great responsibility, and the pair joins forces to rid the world of evil.

Bleach Mobile 3D is a free-to-play action role-playing game. It features an expansive customization system that allows you to improve your character’s stats. Outfit them with a variety of belts, hats, and accessories. As Ichigo, you’ll hack and slash your way through hordes of demonic enemies and use spectacular special moves to devastate imposing bosses.

2 Bungo Stray Dogs: Tales of the Lost

Become a detective in this video game adaptation of Bungo Stray Dogs. Tales of the Lost follows the events of the anime while also adding new events, characters, and outfits. Assemble a team from familiar characters like Nakajima Atsushi and Dazai Osamu.

Bungo Stray Dogs is a free-to-play puzzle role-playing game. By clearing colored orbs on the bottom portion of the screen, you provide your characters with bonuses. Specific colors increase your character’s attacks for the following turn or even directly hurt or heal them. It may seem simple initially, but the game becomes more challenging whenever new orbs are introduced.

3 DanMachi – Memoria Freese

DanMachi transports you into the wondrous world of Orario, where you’ll assemble a team of valiant adventurers. In this vibrant RPG, you’ll play as the characters from the anime and descend into treacherous dungeons to loot them of their valuables.

When the original creator of the anime is involved in its video game adaptation, you know you’re in for a good time. Fujino Ōmori has written exclusive stories for many of the events portrayed in Memoria Freese. On top of that, the game features actors from the anime reprising their roles.

Fun fact: the Japanese version of Memoria Freese holds the Guinness world record for “Most unique sound bites provided by a voice actor for a mobile game”. A noteworthy feat on its own. But if nothing else, Memoria Freese might answer the all-important question; one that humanity has pondered for eons: is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon?

4 Dragon Ball Legends

Dragon Ball Legends follows a unique standalone story based on the hit anime. You take control of a Saiyan by the name of Shallot and, simply put, must save the world. All in all, Drgaon Ball Legends features over 400 characters, spearheaded by the likes of Goku, Vegeta, Broly, and Frieza.

Dragon Ball Legends mixes elements of an anime RPG with those of a fighting game and a collectible card game. These collectible cards act as abilities. Mixing and matching them in specific sequences allows your chosen character to perform devastating and often spectacular combos.

And in typical Dragon Ball fashion, there’s an array of ultimate finishing moves to make the screen scream.

5 Fate/Grand Order

It’s 2017 A.D. Mash, a quaint young girl, welcomes you into the Chaldea organization. Chaldea works tirelessly to ensure the future prosperity of humanity. But things turn south pretty quickly as humankind’s demise is expected to occur within the next century.

More importantly, though, Mash turns from a timid nerd into a giant shield-carrying monster-killing machine, and you’re now her master. Whoa, right? With Mash at your side, you must figure out what exactly threatens humanity’s existence and prevent it from happening.

Fate/Grand Order costs nothing to install and try. Better yet, it feels like a JRPG in the most classic sense of the genre. In other words, prepare for turn-based combat, lots of reading, and being called senpai.

6 KonoSuba: Fantastic Days

How do you feel about the prospect of hearing Megumin yell “explosion!” for the 5000th time? If you get all excited about it, then KonoSuba was probably developed with you in mind.

In Fantastic Days, you’ll gather a party of characters from the anime, including the aforementioned Megumin, and embark on a perilous journey to thwart the Devil King’s malevolent plan. While Fantastic Days follows the plot line of the anime, it also adds exclusive story scenarios that elaborate on each character’s motivations.

7 My Hero Ultra Impact

In the world of My Hero Academia, 80% of people are born with superpowers. Some use their powers to do good; others become villains and cause mischief. Unfortunately for Izuku Midoriya, he falls into the remaining 20%. But one day, he meets the greatest hero of them all: All Might. He encourages the young man: “You too can be a hero, young Midoriya.”

And you too can be Midoriya, dear reader. Or pretty much anyone else from the hit anime My Hero Academia. My Hero Ultra Impact is a free-to-play turn-based RPG. It features playable characters like Katsuki Bakugo, Shoto Todoroki, and Momo Yaoyorozu. Assemble a team of your favorite heroes in this vibrant adventure and go Plus Ultra on some villainous dastards.

8 Naruto X Boruto Ninja Voltage

Given the Naruto name behind it, Naruto X Boruto could’ve taken the obvious route and become a traditional action-adventure game. With cool ninjas as its backbone, it could also work as a JRPG. But what if it’s an exciting action adventure RPG with elements of tactical fortress defense?

While it’s true that you’ll spend a lot of your time fighting against other ninjas, Naruto X Boruto adds tactics into the mix. With Naruto and Boruto at the helm, the game features dozens of characters from the anime. To succeed, you’ll form teams from these characters, strategically place them, and outfit your fortress to ultimately protect precious resources.

9 One Piece Treasure Cruise

Luffy aspires to become a pirate. But there’s a problem: he’s just a kid. Nonetheless, he’s emboldened by the promise of great treasure. Despite his young age, Luffy stands up to bullies without hesitation. He looks up to his idol, the legendary pirate, Shanks, and hopes to become as brave and righteous as him one day.

One Piece Treasure Cruise takes after many turn-based role-playing games. Tapping on a character prompts them to attack. That said, if you match the tap on the next character as the first finish their attack, you gain a combo boost. This simple addition keeps you involved in combat at all times as you travel along the path to becoming the greatest pirate. Unlike Luffy’s ambitious business venture, One Piece Treasure Cruise is free-to-play.

10 One-Punch Man: Road to Hero 2.0

Compared to Dragon Ball and One Piece, titles that got their start in 1984 and 1997, One-Punch Man is a recent project. Released in 2009, however, the series has already skyrocketed in popularity. It’s also spawned several video game adaptations, one of them being Road to Hero 2.0.

Road to Hero 2.0 features your favorite characters from the anime, along with an enticing story of Saitama becoming a hero. It’s a vibrant RPG with a multitude of game modes to choose from, including a story-based single-player mode, a hectic PvP mode, and everything in-between.

11 Pokémon Masters EX

Aside from Pokémon GO, Pokémon Masters EX is probably the closest you can get to a traditional Pokémon game on a mobile device. And it’s free! As per usual, it lets you create your own trainer, choose a starting Pokémon and embark on an adventure to become the very best. Along the way, you’ll meet familiar characters like Brock and Misty.

Gameplay-wise, you’ll collect and evolve new Pokémon by hatching eggs, outfit your trainer, and develop your team for an exciting 3-on-3 turn-based combat. Unleash the full potential of your Pokémon by using their powers on enemies susceptible to their element. Or initiate mind-numbing special attacks to enjoy epic animated cutscenes.

12 Sword Art Online VS

If you die in the game, you die in real life. Wouldn’t that be a scary premise? That’s the story concept behind the original Sword Art Online anime series. With numerous seasons under its belt, Sword Art Online has already received multiple game iterations, VS being the most recent one.

Similarly, Sword Art Online VS brings you into a new game known as Cross Edge. Though not as dire as death, the game supposedly causes memory loss to its players. To explore this perilous virtual world, you’ll form a team of familiar characters like Kirito and Asuna.

That said, Sword Art Online VS introduces a new character in Layla, along with unique interactions depending on who’s on your team. Combat requires you to form multi-faceted parties with varied skill sets in order to effectively counter and defeat enemies in hectic real-time battles.

13 The Seven Deadly Sins

Based on the anime of the same name, The Seven Deadly Sins faithfully recounts the series’ events. Pivotal characters like Melodias, Gowther, and Esnaor join forces in this colorful role-playing game. The Seven Deadly Sins features a plethora of characters to assemble your team from, along with extensive customization options that let you change their appearance.

There’s a vast amount of combat tactics at your disposal that you’ll need to utilize to take on the game’s numerous challenges. On top of PvP content, The Seven Deadly Sins features a cooperative story mode that lets you and another player tag-team some of the tougher dungeons and bosses.

14 Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

Konami could do a lot better when it comes to its big titles. Series like Castlevania, Silent Hill, and Metal Gear Solid have been dormant at best. On the mobile side of things, though, there’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. Master Duel revolves around the collection of cards.

Build a powerful deck from a selection of over 10000 cards, including the Dark Magician and the ever-awesome Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Amassing all of them could set back your bank balance, but other than that, Master Duel is a free-to-play experience.

Play competitively online or enjoy a lengthy single-player campaign at your own pace. There’s a reason why Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel made it into the list of best card games on Android. If you enjoy card games like Hearthstone and Shadowverse, Master Duel might well be up your alley.

Anime games aren’t all about the role-playing

While the anime aesthetic naturally lends itself to JRPGs, there’s more to the genre than meets the eye. You’ll find plenty of genre variety when searching for your favorite anime game on the Play Store.

How did we do? Leave a comment and tell us about an anime game that you’d like to see featured in a future update.