Sword Art Online has become one of the most popular anime of all time. Trapped in a video game with only two methods of escape, the harrowing adventures of Kirito and all his friends must reach the top of the dungeon, or die trying.

Besides keeping anime fans on the edge of their seats, Sword Art Online has become something of a gateway for potential viewers new to anime, especially given the series' powerful and charismatic villains. For those who can't get enough of SAO's high-stakes conflict, video game setting, and epic characters, there are several excellent anime to satisfy their appetite.

Update February 5th, 2024 by Louis Kemner: Sword Art Online is still going strong, but not everyone might want to invest in more of Kirito's adventure. However, there are plenty of other anime like Sword Art Online out there, both in the isekai realm and in the realm of being trapped inside of games. We've updated this list to add a few more worthy entries.

15 Solo Leveling Challenges Its Hero With Tough Dungeon Dives

Solo Leveling Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 8.45
• IMDb: 8.4
• Anime Planet: 4.4/5

Solo Leveling is one of the newest anime like SAO for fantasy fans to enjoy. It's true that Solo Leveling isn't a true isekai anime series, but Solo Leveling does have some isekai elements that should feel familiar to SAO fans. In this anime, portals to fantasy dungeons have appeared all over the place, and it's up to armed hunters to raid those dungeons and kill the monsters inside to seal the portals.

Protagonist Jin-woo Sung is an E-rank hunter with feeble skills, but after a near-death experience in a dungeon, everything will change for Jin-woo. He will become the first hunter in history to gain new levels and power up, an arduous process that's bound to pay off in the long run. Jin-woo is now a fantasy swordsman pushing himself hard to slay monsters and save lives, and if he can keep it up, Jin-woo may become one of anime's most OP heroes of all time.

14 Trapped in a Dating Sim is Set in an Action-Packed Game World

Trapped in a Dating Sim Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.34
• IMDb: 7.3
• Anime Planet: 3.84

Trapped in a Dating Sim may not feature dungeons and cool anime swords like Kirito's, but as an action-oriented video game isekai series, it still has similar vibes. The punkish hero Leon Bartfort will be reborn in a bizarre dating sim/mecha game world, where boys and third-borns are near the bottom of society. Leon must use his new giant robot and his meta-knowledge to fight his way to the top, blending robot action with some smooth talking with girls.

Leon will do all he can as a relatable young man trapped in a video game world with unique rules, and for comedy's sake, Leon will make huge strides. Despite constant interference from a bratty girl named Marie, Leon will become a star student with just as many friends as enemies, and he will befriend the good-hearted himedere Angelica Redgrave to back him up. Leon will also bond with the game's original heroine, the shy Olivia, and help her realize her destiny as a magical girl in the making.

13 Saga of Tanya the Evil Tosses Its Antihero Into a War-Torn World of Horrors

Saga of Tanya the Evil Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.96
• IMDb: 7.6
• Anime Planet: 4.17/5

Saga of Tanya the Evil is one of the most delightfully twisted isekai anime series out there. It's one of those series that doesn't have a proper hero, just two sides at war, and the antihero Tanya Degurechaff is always spoiling for a fight. She was once a ruthless Japanese businessman who was reincarnated in another world thanks to Being X's actions.

This isekai anime shows what would happen if World War I extended into the 1920s, with fanciful steampunk technology and even magic thrown into the mix. Tanya doesn't want to die, so she will fight hard and rise in the ranks to become a general who may remain safely distant from the front lines. Paradoxically, that involves joining the conflict's most savage battles to get a promotion, so Tanya will embrace her powerful weapons and magic to score some much-needed victories.

12 No Game, No Life Sends Genius Siblings to a World Where The Only Way To Win is to Play

No Game, No Life Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 8.07
• IMDb: 7.6
• Anime Planet: 4.23/5

No Game, No Life may be a short anime, but it packs plenty of action and dazzling visuals for any isekai lover. The two main characters are Sora and Shiro, hardcore gamer siblings who find themselves in a world where competitive games have replaced war.

This new world is a paradise for Sora and Shiro, and they go about proving how they earned such a fearsome reputation in Earth's online games. SAO is about a new life in a video game, and No Game, No Life does much the same, except it trades swords for chess and the like. Before long in SAO, Kirito became an OP hero who excited fans with his flashy victories, and similarly, No Game No Life's own heroes are nigh unbeatable, but that makes them more fun to watch in this isekai adventure, not less.

11 BOFURI: I Don't Wanna Get Hurt, So I'll Max Out My Defense's Heroine Puts All Her Stats Into Defense

BOFURI: I Don't Wanna Get Hurt, So I'll Max Out My Defense Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.53
• IMDb: 7.4
• Anime Planet: 4.05/5

BOFURI is another series for fans of full dive VRMMO games. In this relaxing slice-of-life series, the protagonist is a young girl named Kaede who's talked into playing NewWorld Online by her friend. She creates her own virtual avatar named Maple and decides to place all of her stat points into defense so her character never gets hurt.

While Maple is incredibly slow in combat, she takes next to no damage during combat encounters. Thanks to her defense stats, her luck at finding rare items, and knack for completing dangerous dungeons, Maple builds a legend for herself, earning a reputation as The Walking Fortress.

10 The King's Avatar Is a Sports-Based VRMMO Series About eSports

The King's Avatar Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.87
• IMDb: 7.5
• Anime Planet: 4.13/5

The King’s Avatar is essentially Sword Art Online minus having the protagonist stuck in an alternate world. Instead, lead character Ye Xiu is a competitive eSports player for the mega-popular video game Glory. After tiring of the politics of the shady eSports world, Ye Xiu abandons that life and his old character and starts from scratch with a new profile during the grand opening of the game’s tenth server.

Like Sword Art Online, The King’s Avatar is very much about life as an ace player in an MMO. However, instead of being purely about survival, it’s about how Ye Xiu spends all of his free time climbing back to the top of the game he left.

9 The Irregular At Magic High School Stars a Highly Capable Action Hero

The Irregular At Magic High School Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.39
• IMDb: 7.0
• Anime Planet: 3.92/5

In a world of magic, Miyuki Shiba is an heir to Clan Yotsuba, one of the major clans in charge of Japan’s magicians. Her brother Tatsuya is assigned to be her bodyguard, but seems to have no affinity for magic at all. Instead, Tatsuya’s incredibly capable at physical combat and designing magical technology, and is secretly a member of an elite magical fighting force.

For every fan of Sword Art Online who loves how Kirito can keep his cool in any situation, they'll enjoy the similarities between him and The Irregular at Magic High School's protagonists. When watching The Irregular at Magic High School, viewers will feel like they haven’t missed a step.

8 Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? Is a Humorous Dungeon Dive

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.54
• IMDb: 7.4
• Anime Planet: 4.07/5

Probably the most frustrating aspect of Sword Art Online for first-time viewers is the shattered belief that Kirito would have to climb his way up the tower. Instead, the story skips over most of that work in favor of jumping to the top floors very early on.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? works the other way around. Bell Cranel doesn’t start out strong, but gains a special ability early on which allows him to power-level. From there, he works his way further and further down his world’s dungeon, seeking treasure for his family.

7 I'm Standing On A Million Lives Shows the Weak Heroes Fighting in Another World as True Underdogs

I'm Standing On A Million Lives Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 6.51
• IMDb: 6.5
• Anime Planet: 3.46/5

I'm Standing On A Million Lives is like Sword Art Online with more interesting lore, but a more generic setting. The story begins when the antisocial Yusuke Yotsuya is summoned to another world, where he's forced to do quests to return to his home world. Yotsuya has several allies from the real world working along with him, but the problem is none of their abilities are powerful at first.

Instead, they're all forced to battle against the creatures and people of this world as relative weaklings, leveling up their skills over time. The only thing working in their favor is that they're all immortal, capable of respawning as long as at least one other member is alive. This series has a serious vibe to it, with each of the characters trying to figure out exactly what's bringing them to this other world, and how they'll ever escape. Incidentally, this premise might also appeal to fans of Solo Leveling, another fantasy anime with a lovable underdog hero.

6 Grimgar Of Fantasy And Ash Is a Terrific Fantasy Anime With Solid Character Development

Grimgar Of Fantasy And Ash Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.65
• IMDb: 7.3
• Anime Planet: 3.91/5

Some people like the idea of being sent to a fantasy world, but aren’t quite so sure about everything else in Sword Art Online. Maybe the harem element is a bit much, or perhaps the lead character is too overpowered.

Rather than one lead character, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash features six adventurers who found their way into a strange new world with no idea how they got there or what home was like. Instead of a harem, there are awkward emotions surrounding early puberty.

5 Btooom! Thrusts Its Unwitting Players Into a Fight For Survival

Btooom! Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.28
• IMDb: 7.1
• Anime Planet: 3.76/5

Ryouta Sakamoto is Japan’s best player of Btooom!, an online game that doesn’t rely on swords or guns, but rather killing opponents by throwing bombs. One day, Ryouta wakes up on an island where the game’s rules and weaponry have been recreated.

Ryouta is asked to kill seven people before he will be allowed to escape the game. He tries ignoring their rules but doesn’t know who he can or can’t trust, and is eventually forced to play along. For people who love the original Sword Art Online’s premise of battling in a life or death game, there’s Btooom!, a game that feels like Sword Art crossed with Battle Royale.

4 The Rising of the Shield Hero Features a Fantasy RPG Combat System

The Rising of the Shield Hero Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.96
• IMDb: 7.9
• Anime Planet: 4.31/5

The Rising of the Shield Hero has garnered a reputation for being an edgy, rough isekai fantasy series, though the second and third seasons helped mellow the series out a little bit. Shield Hero is a partial video game isekai series, because the Kingdom of Melromarc may not be a game world, but the four Cardinal Heroes do have an RPG-like HUD to use. It's like an improved version of the HUDs that Kirito and Asuna used in Sword Art Online.

In The Rising of the Shield Hero, protagonist Naofumi Iwatani must fight back against ten Waves of monsters who threaten to overrun the world, and after getting framed for a crime, Naofumi must also form a new team of heroes. Slowly but surely, Naofumi will mend ties with the other three Cardinal Heroes so they can face the mutual threat together, but it still won't be easy.

3 Accel World's Hero Aims to Defeat the Six Kings and Reach Level 10

Accel World Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.22
• IMDb: 7.0
• Anime Planet: 3.76/5

Accel World and Sword Art Online are actually both novels by the same creator, Reki Kawahara, so it's no wonder this is an isekai anime like Sword Art Online in so many ways. These two series are both centered on gamers spending way too much time in a virtual reality game, but the goal for the lead characters in Accel World is a bit different.

Haruyuki Arita and Kuroyukihime work together in the world of Brain Burst, an augmented reality fighting game to battle against the Six Kings of Pure Color, the strongest enemies in the game. By beating them, the two will be able to reach level 10, the highest level available, and be able to meet the creator of Brain Burst to discover why the game was created.

2 Sword Art Online Alternative - Gun Gale Online Is SAO, But With Rifles

Sword Art Online Alternative - Gun Gale Online Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.01
• IMDb: 6.8
• Anime Planet: 3.73/5

Not enough people have checked out the Sword Art Online spin-off centered on the third game in the franchise, Gun Gale Online. The series is written by Keiichi Sigsawa, best known for his work on Kino’s Journey. Sword Art Online Alternative - Gun Gale Online centers on a college-aged woman named Karen Kohiruimaki

Embarking on a new journey, Karen gets into Gun Gale Online because the avatar she gets is small and cute compared to her tall real-world self. Alternative takes place in the same world as Sword Art Online and even references the latter's events throughout the series. However, it does its own thing, with plenty of cool, tense gunfights. Even people who don't like Sword Art Online should give this series a second chance.

1 Log Horizon Takes Place in the Elder Tale Game World

Log Horizon Scores:

• MyAnimeList: 7.92
• IMDb: 7.5
• Anime Planet: 4.12/5

Log Horizon was one of the earliest “clone” series of SAO. But there’s one major difference between Log Horizon and SAO: Dying here means the player respawns. This fundamental change switches things from a tense battle against both enemies and other players to that of players trying to learn what it means to exist in the world.

Slowly, those stuck in Elder Tale begin to build their own society. The characters must figure out ways to purchase property and feed themselves while seeing how the rules have changed with the mysterious 12th expansion of Elder Tale that’s altered the game’s rules in ways even the players are not privy to.

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