Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor

Both animes are very similar to each other, both heroes plot an ingenius plan to survive, both keeps you guessing until the end and hunger for the next one, both has amazing storyline. Kaiji is a genius anime without the supernatural stuff from Death note. 

Both are gambling animes done by the same director and mangaka, both main character's are also voiced by the same seiyū, Hagiwara Masato. 

Similarly crazy gambling, but the mc is more competent. The first episode feels like it could be a tribute to Kaiji, definitely some similarities. 

Pretty much the same aura around both of these animes. OneOuts is about baseball gambling with alot of money on the line. Both of them use there wits to outsmart the opponent but there is always someone with money they can try to scam... 

Both are wilfully ridiculous and over-the-top macho silliness revolving around seemingly idiotic protagonists who both have an excellent knack for gambits. 

Those two animes have very few in common. Art is totally different, Kaiji has a mature feeling without any anime cliché, one is fantastic and the other not. However, just because they're not similar doesn't mean you won't like one another. If you enjoyed Sora's point of view, how tricky he acts, how gambles work, and how easy is to mindf*ck someone while playing, you'll love Kaiji. That part is similar. They both will make you think "Oh God, That trick is totally legit! It makes sense!"  

Both series put their main characters in psychologically distressing situations, and both of them are about their characters rising above the challenges and owning their fates. Plus, lots of man tears... 

Both shows have the same kinda calm animation. Also the fact that a lot of the characters go through tough, sometimes life or death situations that show the true colors of who they are, whether they be good or bad. Also... MANLY TEARS!!!!!!!!!!!  

These thriller series have twisted games. In Kaiji, most of them are based on intelligence and strategy, made to reduce Kaiji's debts or just to survive, but in Death Parade they are made to choose if a person goes to heaven or hell, depending on his or her behaviour during the game (and during his or her whole life). All of this implies a great psychological background. Also, that suspense atmosphere made in Madhouse. 

Both characters play game to Pay off debt 

Both series involve high stakes gambling and unorthodox game playing, with the use of psychological strategy. Both series also contain the use of a similar psychological battle game: E-Card from Kaiji is extremely similar to Raijinhai in Yu-Gi-Oh!  

Tense as hell, adrenaline-pumping, and manly tears-inducing. People pitted against each other. Same studio. Everything else is pretty much different - Kaiji is psychological and Ippo is raw power - but you should give the other a try if you're looking for something addicting. 

Both shows feature the underworld of gambling and overall give off the same kind of feel. While Tetsuya focuses entirely on mahjong and Kaiji has a variety of games, if you enjoy one you'll likely enjoy the other. 

Both are very negative and depressing animes. The main protagonist in both animes are normal ordinary individuals who become leaders and always find a way to survive.  

They're both about money, but more importantly, they both have amazing narrator/announcers. 

- Both anime deal with protagonists who are young people addicted to gambling. - Both shows are psychological in nature and have a survival game feel to them. - They all gamble with their lives,freedom and bodyparts and you constantly get to see the terror going on inside their heads when stuff isnt going their way. - both shows are full of powerhungry psychopaths and show the worst of humanity. 

-Similar harsh art style and character design -Both main characters fall in some dangerous situation that seems inescapable but they always manage a way out due to their wits -Side characters that do nothing but take the role of a commentator and explain what's going on -both use similar effects or different situations -The 2nd season of stardust crusaders also has gambling at some arcs 

People are drawn into a strange and isloated contest that encourages them to be selfish and egoistic. 

Both series have intelligent characters and in many scenes, require them to think to survive. Also, they are both made by Madhouse. 

In DMW, prisoners of a particular prison take part in dangerous events meant to entertain spectators. In Kaiji, debtors are scammed into high stakes gambling in order to get a shot at having their debts erased. Some of the high stakes gambles are extremely dangerous or otherwise risky, and sometimes there are upper class spectators watching the poor gamblers fight for their lives. 

Mysterious circumstanced high -stakes gambling with human lives in the balance amongst complete strangers. That describes both of these anime's. Kaiji happens to be through rock-paper-scissors, Bus Gamer through actual physical human survival of the fittest! 

The mindf*ck while playing a 'game' with lives on the line + same producing studios. 

Both Protagonists are very intelligent and quick witted , they both work at their best under pressure and in dangerous situations. Both lead characters are trying to work towards a goal and will do anything to see it through. Both series tackle real life struggles and dark times, however there are some great comedic scenes throughout the story. Both Narrative's have Psychological, Thriller, and adventure genre components. 

Both series are animated by Madhouse and have an OP by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. However, I feel like both anime conveyed strong emotions and philosophical themes in a very well done way. 

Top-tier psychological fights. A unique GAR art-style with: - angular character designs, - manly tears - and a glorious campy narrator making lengthy explanations with exaggerated metaphors and emphasis on the situation. A very good balance of smart/stupid. For example, at the beginning of some arcs, you will feel like the drama is overdone, the characters state obvious things with emphasis, which is made worse by the narrator, with a situation going nowhere, but actually, it is a very good setup for the following events to unfold in the witty cerebral fights, down to the sillier moments, who also set the mood for the bizarre situations occurring. I still get had very often about this. "Geez, this episode is a bit cringey, did it get worse or was I a fool?". but then it picks up, and I feel all the greatness once again... Kaiji in particular will spend chapters/episodes setting out a situation, where it's often obvious Kaiji will lose, and you wonder what they will be able to do with such games whose outcomes seem random, especially with all the time they used up already, but it's handled very well. Just go along with it at first, you'll be rewarded and you'll end up trusting the series. These anime adaptations are very good (MadHouse, David Pro!), but they are a bit dragged out at times (the first cour for JoJo and the second for Kaiji). On one hand, they're faithful adaptations, and you can actually enjoy the sometime lengthy arcs if you consider it as suspense (since they've finished airing, you won't feel the frustration of waiting for the conclusion of an arc, and it'll always be less dragged out than most perpetually on-going fighting shounen). Thanks to experience, this got fixed in the latest season of JoJo, and MadHouse would probably do so if they animated the following arcs of Kaiji! Kaiji is a bit more serious and much more realistic. but both are well written, dead characters stay dead, there is very little plot convenience, the arcs are not repetitive and dragged out, ... JoJo was the most influential. It probably influenced Kaiji too. read more 

While the demographic is certainly different, both shows have similar themes. In both anime, the main protagonist finds himself playing high stakes card games against powerful enemies, which he has to win using his ingenuity. Overall, the both have a similar atmosphere, despite Kaiji being more mature. 

high stake gambling with unpredictable outcome. 

You're in it to win it, both anime revolve around such a theme as the characters are taken to a luxury facility and put in a situation of competition as they compete to better their own lives. Kaiji differs being a more brutal as a seinen anime, revolving around gambling. While Souma is much more light-hearted with its input of comedy and shounen demographic whilst revolving around cooking. So, if your a fan of competition anime, that involves strategy and wit you'll probably like both series. 

Setting: Ship Mood: Suspenseful Involves a game? In both cases, yes. Quite psychological. Stakes are only lower with Layton because of a demographical difference. It's a kids movie. 

Both have characters having to survive against multiple enemies, both have a smart MC who unknowingly loves to risk. 

Kaiji And Hataraku Saibou Black are strangely similar in a way that the both of them perfectly grasp the seinen spirit. The two shows can be described in one word and that is; raw. While in one hand Kaiji tells about debt and addiction meanwhile having an extremely dense and stressing atmosphere for all of the show. On the other hand, code black is a visualization of an unhealthy body in which the cells who are portrayed as characters and try desperately to work their best in the decaying body they're stuck in. Like Kaiji, it also has a very tense vibe all throughout the show.  read more 

Mardock Scramble's 2nd movie and 3rd movie both half an arc about a gambler duel in a casino that doesn't play fair. Both have a lot of dialog about the psychology and mathematics of gambling, and a clever MC who beats the casino by thinking out of the box. Both animate the gambling sequences similarily. While Kaijii is purely about gambling, in Mardok it's just an arc taking up ca. 1/3 of the total plot. 

If you've watched this rather odd JoJo's OVA maybe you'll remember fondly the third episode, the "battle" against Dabby, which didn't involve any battle and was purely gamble, cheats and mind games, just so happens that all that is what the Kaiji series is all about, if you've liked that episode chances are that you'll like Kaiji for all the same reasons. Not many other similarities between the two, maybe that both have a thing for suspense moments or that JoJo's battles also have a knack for being more than just punch battles and the characters have to use their heads, but that's all. 

Shinichi and Kaiji both have a similar method of deduction and meticulous yet mysterious sense of planning things out. If you enjoy the thrilling drama from one series and sense of discovery the main character gives, especially as the series goes on, you might end up liking the other. 

Both of them start with a lame protagonist who finds himself in a tough and "unfair" world. Kaiji also has a prison arc which makes them even more similar. If you liked this show, you will definitely love Kaiji!  

Both shows focus on the thrilling and rough world of gambling. Competition and mental strength are big themes in these series. The main characters have comparable backstories. Kaiji and Joe both start from the bottom and work their way up in their respective industries. They are incredibly perseverant and take on all challenges, no matter how grave the consequences may be. Additionally, Megalo Box involves match-fixing schemes that are similar to the cheating in Kaiji's gambling scene. This illustrates how injustice is a motif in these sensational, but violent anime. 

While Golgo 13 is episodic and Kaiji is not: Both are manly af. Both have badass protagonist. Both deal with dark stuff, assassination in Golgo 13 and gambling in Kaiji. Both are Seinen and are aimed at adults. Both have similar atmosphere and vibe. Both have similar art style (bold art lines, shadows). Both are kind of dramatic. 

both are survival anime. both are strategic anime. both are do or die .  

Both have that awesome narrator, you know the one. Love that guy.  

Similar feeling to it (high stakes games), though, for the main character - my vote goes to Bak.  

Both these series tell a story of an honest man, trying to make his way in this rotten, wicked world. Kaiji and Simon are real man's men, they have principals and won't forfeit them no matter what. You can see them doubt, you can see them tumbling down and degrading, but they soon realize their mistakes to remain steadfast and strong. However, Simon is surrounded by a number of trustworthy friends, he can rely onto, whereas Kaiji is a lone wolf among heavily armed hunters. Kaiji is more about betraying while TTGL is focused on friendship and loyalty. Thus the ideas of them are also different. Kaiji's author wants to show, how important the ability to remain human in any circumstances is, whereas TTGL shows what role determination plays in our lives. Frim this point of view Kaiji is more "capacious", because the latter problem is payed attention to, but not that emphasized as the first one. So, if you want to watch an anime about people, who choose a thorny path of resistance to the common sense not to lose self-respect, these animes are what you need. read more 

I know these seem totally different, and the art styles are polar opposites, but they actually feel the same at times. They are both based around high stakes games with a focus on psychological aspects and mind games. Kaiji is far grittier, and WIXOSS has some high-school slice-of-life elements, but both are dark and a bit twisted in a similar way. I'd recommend both to any fans of psychological type anime. 

High-stakes gambling, on a boat! Both take somewhat simple things like rock-paper-scissors and tennis and make them RIDICULOUSLY DRAMATIC, with Kaiji making such things as flipping over a card or emptying a tissue box INCREDIBLY INTENSE, and Tenipuri cranking its characteristic improbable physics up to eleven. Tezuka kills the dinosaurs. With tennis. I'm completely serious. 

Kaiji is constantly in situations of despair, but when it comes down to it he can create ridiculously amazing and effective strategies to break out from the seemingly impossible sitautions, similar to the latter parts of spiral where narumi is faced with problems with his life on the line. 

The art style in both has a certain stylistic "bad and unattractive, yet awesome" quality to it. This is more apparent in the manga versions of both series, but the animation manages to capture that. In addition, both series have a lot of battles of wits, Kaiji with its gambling and Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro with solving detective cases. Add a little extremism - for example Neuro's physical and mental abuse of Yako and the ridiculous stakes Kaiji wagers in some of his gambles - and it's easy to see at a glance why a fan of one would enjoy the other. 

It's hard to compare Giant Killing with any other football related anime because they almost play real football. There is no jumping 20 feet in the air or the ball is not on fire when the player makes a free kick etc... So i think Kaiji is similar in more way's that one. Both anime's are about a game, and while Giant Killing is a team play Kaiji from Kaiji makes sure that he has teammates when he plays the games he is forced. So Kaiji is more darker anime but the two main protagonist from these anime's are very similar, they smart and analyzing all little details to makes sure they win! Giant Killing has it's funny side and it's more relaxed from Kaiji. But the art is also quite similar and the music in both anime's are WIN! read more 

Both involve a battle of minds, as well as themes of psychology and violence. 

Almost the same feeling, great psychological atmosphere. The two main characters made a mistake that changed their life. While Kaiji risks his life in games and gambles that lead to stressful situations, Kasuga risks his place in the japanese society. Since Aku no Hana is quite hated, I'll add : don't judge a book by its cover, make your own opinion, the situation of Kasuga is a big deal, and the tension is real. Everyone has made a mistake in his life, and everyone tried to hide it by fear of the consequences : that's the situation in which Aku no hana's main character is, and it's very well done and very stressful. read more 

Both Attack on Titan and Kaiji have a similar style of suspense. That each time a character takes one step forward, something happens and then they took 2 step backs, adding the suspense even more. Both the stories have a narrator as well, who recaps what happens in the previous episode, or just describe events and stuff. Also, manly tears. Freakin' manly tears...*sniff 

Tatsumi lives in a dark fantasy world. Kaiji lives in modern day Japan. Tatsumi joins a band of rebels and fights alongside them. Kaiji gambles by playing mind games. Their lives couldn't be more different. However, their goals are the same: challenge and defeat the corrupt elite. Both Tatsumi and Kaiji will have to experience betrayal, death and setbacks before they achieve their goals. Both anime are dark where people actually die; there is no plot armor and no one is safe. The main difference is that Akame ga Kill is a fast paced action anime; while Kaiji is a snail paced psychological anime where battles are decided by games. read more 

This may be a bit of a stretch, but both Kaiji and Initial D share a distinct passion for their subject matters, both on different sides of the spectrum. On the one hand, Kaiji very much romanticizes its subject matter (gambling) building it up as an much larger than life thing. On the other hand, Initial D plays it straight with its subject matter (street racing) giving you an incredibly earnest look at it. Both series do not come off contrived at all, and have this real purity to them; a true interest in the subjects that they are dealing with, subjects that most people would not find to be a fascinating premise for anime, but sure enough, provide enthralling experiences. read more 

both have do or die or kill before you get killed situations. both the main characters share same thoughts while they are scared or frighting . both have many people betraying the main character. both have somebody conducting the survival games. both have Game, Thriller genre. both the main character blame themself for being a loser. both get same feeling while watching them and get exited to watch next episode. both the main character have lost interest in life . 

Both are anime shows with a high level intensity that involve strategy games, although Hikaru no Go is specifically about the game of Go whereas Kaiji is deeper and the gambles more varied. 

Both animes have a great amount of psychological thriller, both keep you guessing, both have intellectual methods to counter problems. If you enjoyed Steins Gate intense twists and suspense, then I assure you Kaiji delievers a lot better. However if you would like to add some comedy + romance in, Steins Gate is the one. 

Believe me, the massive differences between the two series subject matter (Ookiku: Baseball, Kaiji: Extreme gambling) and characters (Ookiku: High-school boys, Kaiji: Mature gamblers and typical seedy fair) are not lost upon me. That being said, I couldn't help but think of Kaiji while watching the way Ookiku's games unfold. Both series do a fantastic job of making their subject matter become interesting and dramatic without feeling forced or unbelievable. Both cause you to watch each and every second while feeling totally engrossed, nearly forcing one to cheer when the protagonist(s) succeed(s), and despair when they falter. This recommendation isn't for everyone, but if you preferred the way either series approached their subject matter, than the other will be unlikely to disappoint.  read more 

Both series challenge moral ethics found in society often claiming that money is worth everything. Kaiji is strictly about psychological gambling found in human greed while Speed Grapher dives into super powers revolving around human lusts. These shows dig into ambiguous concepts of good & evil where it is explored through Kaiji's struggle for freedom. The villain of Speed Grapher, Chouji Suitengu, holds a tragic secret that may result in justifying his crimes upon human beings.