Finding quality anime to watch is a typical trait among Mind Game lovers. When I first learned about psychological mind-game animes through Death Note, I was startled by the wits’ fight in the anime, and it immediately made me want to see more of such kinds of shows. You might have experienced this feeling too! Check out this if you loved Death Note!
However, I struggled a lot to locate excellent ones to watch. Nevertheless, a lot of time has gone by since I first saw Death Note. And since my understanding of anime has increased, here’s a list of the top 19 best mind game anime.
Darwin’s Game
Kaname Sud, a 17-year-old high school sophomore, accepts an online invitation from a friend to play Darwin’s Game, unaware that it involves a fight for life and death. Those who participate in the game are given a Sigil, which varies from player to player.
Darwin’s Game is short indeed but it was full of intense moments and it’ll not leave you sleeping. It is one of the Top 19 Mind Game Anime.
Promised Neverland
The “Promise” was an agreement in which each would live in their own separate “worlds”. The human world, which was free of the threat of demons, and the demon world. It had human breeding farms set up to provide food for the demons. By eating humans, demons acquire human characteristics that keep them from devolving into mindless monsters.
A special breeding program was set up in the demon world under the guise of orphanages. There a human “Mother” would oversee the children to ensure they grew up as intelligent as possible. These children were tattooed with identification numbers and did not know the outside world.
Promised Neverland’s initial world-building is top notch. With every episode, you are more interested in what’s actually outside the walls and what dangers await the characters.
However, with the second season, the entire thing became one of the most wasted opportunities in anime history probably. With such mysterious plot and great characters, it gave us a half-assed second season and compiled more than 100 chapters into a 11 episode painful watch! But, the opening and ending songs are great!
Read the Manga after the first season for a better experience. It is one of the best Top 19 Mind Game Anime and Manga.
Hyouka
The plot of Hyouka follows Hotaro Oreki, a high school student who dislikes expending energy on anything.
Forced by his older sister to join the Classic Lit Club to keep it from closing down, Hotaro encounters Chitanda Eru. She, Satoshi Fukube, and Mayaka Ibara join him. They work together to solve various mysteries around the school, mostly at Eru’s request.
The series is based on Honobu Yonezawa’s 2001 mystery novel, book one of six, with the remaining five books published between 2002 and 2016. Taskohna created a manga adaptation in 2012, and Kyoto Animation quickly followed with a 22-episode anime. It is one of the Top Mind Game Anime.
Monster
Tenma is now the Chief of Surgery at Eisler Memorial. Junkers mutters about a “monster” after saving a criminal named Adolf Junkers. Tenma returns with a clock for Junkers, only to discover that the Junkers have vanished.
Tenma follows the trail to a half-finished building near the hospital, where she finds Junkers held at gunpoint. Junkers warns him not to get any closer and begs him to flee. Tenma refuses, and the gunman is revealed to be Johan Liebert.
Despite Tenma’s attempts to persuade him otherwise, Johan shoots Junkers. He walks off into the night, telling Tenma that he could never kill the man who saved his life.
Monster provides you an incredible plot from the get go and puts you in the doctor’s shoes. Should Doctor Tenma protect his career? Or treat his patients equally? Here are some quotes by one of the best antagonists of all anime, Johan Liebert.
Steins Gate
It takes place in 2010 and follows Rintaro Okabe and his friends. They unintentionally discover a method of time travel through which they can send text messages to the past. Thereby changing the present.
Steins;Gate is probably the best time-travel out there with great characters and obviously the Tsundere queen, Miss Makise! The anime might come off as a bit slow during the beginning, but halfway through the series, you’ll love every single aspect of it! It is one of the Top Mind Game Anime.
Mirai Nikki
The plot revolves around the Diary Game, a deadly battle royale between 12 different people who are given “Future Diaries.” They are special diaries that can predict the future. By Deus Ex Machina, the God of Time, and Space, with the last survivor becoming his heir. It is one of the Top Mind Game Anime.
Danganronpa
A group of 15 elite high school students gathered at a very special high school. Graduating from this high school implies that you will be successful in life, but graduating is extremely difficult. The school is presided over by a bear named Monokuma.
It informs them that their graduation is contingent on committing murder. The only way to graduate is to murder and escape with one of your classmates.
However, if they’re unable to apprehend the killer, only the killer will graduate and the others get annihilated. Which of the 15 will survive the oncoming bloodbath? It is one of the Top Mind Game Anime.
No Game No Life
Sora and Shiro are two hikikomori step-siblings who are known as Blank. It is an undefeated group of gamers, in the online gaming world. Tet, a god from another reality, challenges them to a game of chess one day.
The two are victorious and are allowed to live in a world centered on games. It is one of the Top Mind Game Anime.
The only downside? There’s no news of a season 2!
Kakegurui
Students are ranked based on their monetary contributions to the Student Council. It fuels an intricate gambling system. In this system, students freely bet against one another after class. Those who win gain popularity, prestige, and connections, while those who lose and go into debt become slaves.
Known as Pets, nicknamed “Doggy” or “Kitty” and identified with a collar-like tag around their necks, it’s downright degrading. Pets, unable to pay off their debts by graduation are given “Life Schedules” that dictate their futures while they work to pay off their debts.
Kakegurui is an interesting gambling anime with lots of ecchi elements. If you don’t like it in the first few episodes, then it just might not be for you. But, it is one of the Top 19 Mind Game Anime.
Psycho-Pass
Psycho-Pass is an anime that asks, “What if the whole country’s ruling body knew you were some online asshole?” That is the dismal truth of the world in Psycho-Pass albeit it is even more serious. Thoughtcrime will be real shortly, and a specialized police force will be present to prevent crimes from even being contemplated.
Akane Tsunemori is a rookie detective on the force who is soon drawn into the realm of determining a person’s intrinsic potential to commit crimes using a specific type of pistol.
After a short while as part of the police, she’s involved in an intricate string of murders where she must question what a criminal is and fight with how her society has evolved to suppress itself. Psycho-Pass is more on the political Sci-Fi side of the genre
One Outs
Tokuchi purchases the Lycaons three times the original bid. Despite strong opposition from the team due to his dubious nature, Tokuchi begins to implement a wide range of changes, most notably the L-Ticket. It’s the old admission ticket with a new 1.5 admission fee, but it comes with the promise of a full refund if the Lycaons lose.
Furthermore, by paying 200 yen per vote, spectators can cast up to five votes for the MVP on the ticket, which will directly influence the new player’s salaries. Though the Lycaons are in disarray as a result of the new changes, the team gradually realizes that these changes are exactly what the team needs to become strong enough to win the championship.
Kaiji
Kaiji fails to find steady employment three years after graduating from high school and moving to Tokyo to look for work due to the country being mired in its first recession since World War II. Depressed and liveing in his apartment, passing the time with cheap pranks, gambling, liquor, and cigarettes.
Kaiji is constantly concerned with money, and his perpetual poverty frequently brings him to tears. Kaiji’s unending misery continues until he is unexpectedly visited by a loan shark named Yji End, who wants to collect an outstanding debt that Kaiji carelessly co-signed for his former coworker. The end gives Kaiji two options: repay the debt over ten years or board the gambling ship Espoir for one night.
Death Note
As L and the cops draw in, Light puts the Death Note’s abilities to the test. Fortunately, Light’s father, the director of the Japanese National Police Agency, and important material regarding the case is left lying around the home.
Light can stay one step ahead of the authorities with access to his father’s files. But who is the odd guy pursuing him, and how can Light protect himself against adversaries whose names he doesn’t know?
Death Note is an intense show. Every episode, there’s a cliff-hanger, incredible plot-twists, and mystery elements.
Code Geass
After the Holy Empire of Britannia attacks and conquers Japan, reducing the once proud nation to a state of occupation, Lelouch, an exiled Imperial Prince of the Britannia empire, vows to wrestle Japan to its freedom. He meets a mysterious girl named C.C., who bestows the mystical power of Geass upon him.
Code Geass is probably the perfect mecha/mind game anime out there. Featuring one of the best endings of any anime, the intermediate episodes might feel slow. Also, Code Geass has one of the most unique art-styles.
Death Parade
The concept of heaven or hell is non-existent in the mysterious anime Death Parade. Those who die will end up at Quindecim, a bar where they will play various games against other recently deceased people under the watchful eye of the bartender, Decim.
Watch these dearly departed souls battle it out, whether it’s darts, air hockey, or even bowling because those who win will safely reincarnate to their next life, while those who don’t will be cast into the void.
This establishment run in this manner for all eternity until the arrival of a certain man causes even the ever-patient Decim to question himself.
Death Parade is the go-to short anime that I would recommend to anyone wanting a good mind-game anime. Filled with interesting ideas and characters, Death Parade will make you rethink heaven and hell (probably).
Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni
Maebara Keiichi spends his days blissfully in school after moving to the quiet town of Hinamizawa, frequently playing games with his local friends. Appearances, however, can be deceiving.
One fateful day, Keiichi comes across information about a murder in Hinamizawa. From this point forward, horrific events unfold in front of Keiichi, as he soon discovers that his close friends may not be who they appear to be. The story is told in a series of different scenarios based on the amateur mystery game by 7th Expansion.
Umineko No Naku Koro Ni
The time for rational discussion and magical ruses is over; the truth about Beatrice, the Golden Witch, is about to be revealed. Bernkastel, the game master, has chosen Will Wright, the Mage-Hunter, to go onto her board and solve a single question: Who killed Beatrice?
Lion Ushiromiya, Krauss’s firstborn and heir, joins him in the game, though his purpose remains a mystery. Will’s line of questioning connects all the loose ends from the previous games, weaving them into a thread of truth, reliving Kinzou’s initial meeting with the young Beatrice and going through the tales that have subsequently sprouted up around her.
Future Dairy
Yukiteru’s debt-ridden father Kurou is tricked into stealing his son’s diary by John Bacchus, the city’s mayor and designer of the Future Diaries. Kurou fails and assassinated by Bacchus’ soldiers after unintentionally murdering his ex-wife Rea. Yukiteru swears that he will win the game and bring his parents back to life.
Minene, Bacchus, and Kamado Ueshita, who operates an orphanage, are the last remaining dairy keepers. Meanwhile, Yukiteru’s smart friends Aru Akise and Nishijima examine the discovery of three deaths in Yuno’s residence. Two are as Yuno’s parents and the third’s Yuno Gasai, casting doubt on her identity.
Future Diary might not be the best and everyone’s cup of tea, bit it’s atleast worth a watch.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
A young man Giorno Giovanna lives in Naples and is the son of DIO, an enemy of the Joestar family. When he was younger he was bullied and took action, but one day he saved a gang member, and then he learned to trust people. Oddly enough, he never forgot it and learned to show respect for his gang who straightened him out. Thus, he also began to aspire to become a gang star. Now, 15-year-old Giorno is in trouble with the Passione gang, which controls the Italian mafia’s underworld and is now the target.
That’s all folks! These were the Top 19 Mind Game Anime of all time. If you know any more mind game anime do mention them in the comment section below. We would love to hear from you!
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