10 best anime like Log Horizon

Log Horizon is a popular anime series that follows a group of gamers who get trapped in the virtual MMORPG world of Elder Tale. With its unique premise exploring life in a virtual but very real fantasy world, immersive storyline, and endearing characters, it has understandably garnered a big fan following.

If you’re a fan of the ingenious Log Horizon anime craving new shows that capture a vibe of intrigue, adventure, and great world-building interjected with fun gaming elements, read on. We’ve compiled 10 anime like Log Horizon spanning adventure fantasy, science fiction, and more for fans to add to their watch list.

10 must-watch anime like Log Horizon

1) Sword Art Online

Sword Art Online (Image via A-1 Pictures)

If you’re searching for that quintessential stuck-in-an-MMO anime like Log Horizon, Sword Art Online should undoubtedly top your list. This action-packed series follows gamers trapped in the virtual reality world of the fictional VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online.

However, the stakes are higher - if they die in-game, they die in real life. Packed with intriguing adventures, boss battles, inventive game mechanics, and the overarching mystery of escaping this deadly game, Sword Art Online delivers an immersive vicarious gaming experience.

The endearing romance between protagonists Kirito and Asuna is a big bonus. Sword Art Online is widely considered one of the best anime like Log Horizon in the “stuck in a video game” genre.

2) Overlord

While most trapped-in-a-game anime feature unwilling players desperate to log off, Overlord’s unique premise turns this trope on its head.

It follows Momonga, who gets transported into the game world of Yggdrasil when the servers shut down. Now inhabiting as the avatar of his powerful wizard character from the game, Momonga decides to embrace life in this new challenging world. His adventure unfolds as he interacts with sentient NPCs.

With game mechanics seamlessly blended into the storytelling and gorgeous world-building borrowing from popular RPG lore, Overlord is a great pick for anime like Log Horizon.

3) Re:ZERO - Starting Life in Another World

Re:ZERO - Starting Life in Another World (Image via White Fox)

This dark fantasy isekai anime like Log Horizon centers on protagonist Subaru who suddenly finds himself pulled into a fantasy video game-esque world where he has no weapons or special powers.

This anime stands out for its psychological depth, with Subaru navigating survival and challenges through complex interpersonal interactions. It also boasts a gripping, complex narrative focused on gaining information to overcome obstacles that make for compulsive viewing.

With emotionally intense drama, mystery-shrouded characters, inventive fantasy elements, and top-notch animation, this show delivers an impactful rollercoaster ride for fans seeking anime like Log Horizon.

4) KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!

KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! (Image via Studio Deen)

If the lighthearted, comedic escapades in Log Horizon’s virtual world tickled your funny bone, put the outrageously entertaining KonoSuba on your watch list next. It follows early high school shut-in Kazuma who dies pathetically before getting a shot to turn his life around in another reality that resembles a fictional MMORPG.

Accompanied by delightfully dysfunctional, useless goddess Aqua, KonoSuba parodies typical stuck-in-a-game tropes through Kazuma’s misadventures, highlighting flaws of online gaming in a bizarre, satirical light.

Boasting ridiculous gags, over-the-top slapstick comedy, and a lovably silly cast with contagious camaraderie, this anime like Log Horizon, guarantees endless laughs.

5) No Game, No Life

Siblings Sora and Shiro are genius NEET gamers who get whisked away into a fantasy world where everything from minor disputes to national conflicts gets settled via elaborate games.

Like the gaming masterminds of Log Horizon, Sora and Shiro must strategically navigate around opponents and strange rules using their game knowledge to carve out a decent life in their new reality.

With vibrant, surreal visuals and fast-paced, suspenseful competitions testing the main leads’ quick wits and bold risks against all odds for high rewards, No Game, No Life captures exhilarating gaming escapism on an inter-world scale.

The eccentric protagonists sharing an endearing bond also mirrors Log Horizon’s central team chemistry.

6) Tower of God

Tower of God (Image via Telecom Animation Film)

This gripping, gorgeously dark fantasy anime like Log Horizon is based on a hit webtoon that centers on protagonist Twenty-Fifth Bam. Bam enters a mysterious, labyrinthine tower to chase after his only friend Rachel, and makes new companions on each challenge-filled floor armed only with his wits and courage.

Tower of God boasts expansive world-building filled with intriguing quests and battles as characters compete to climb the tower’s levels by participating in complex games testing strength, teamwork, and wit.

Fans seeking anime like Log Horizon will find Tower of God’s mysterious vertical microcosm thoroughly captivating.

7) Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (Image via J.C.Staff)

This inventive action-adventure anime, set in the fictional city of Orario with an engrossing “living in a fantasy RPG” flavor reminiscent of Log Horizon, is captivating.

Aspiring adventurer and 21st-century Tokyo teenager Bell Cranel finds himself reborn into this world and joins the goddess Hestia’s Familia to dive into monster-filled dungeons, gain XP, and skyrocket up leaderboards.

With game mechanics seamlessly woven into compelling storytelling, strange deities and creatures, intriguing world lore, and Bell’s heartwarmingly wholesome coming-of-age, complete with new camaraderie and budding romance, this anime beautifully blends RPG fantasy escapism with slice-of-life.

8) Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash (Image via A-1 Pictures)

This poignantly crafted isekai anime like Log Horizon, depicts a group of young adults trying to survive in the dangerous yet breathtakingly scenic fantasy world of Grimgar while piecing together faded memories of their past lives on Earth.

With no special powers or privileges, the protagonists must join a volunteer soldier reserve group to take on assignments battling threats for funds, while learning to cooperate, supporting and keeping each other alive.

Grimgar’s somber, beautiful watercolor art style and realistically portrayed character growth through adversity mirrors Log Horizon’s underlying theme - how bonds between ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations strengthen with time.

9) Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense

BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense (Image via Silver Link)

This anime like Log Horizon, explores characters navigating an immersive MMORPG game world—albeit on a much more easygoing and playful level.

Mediocre gamer Maple decides to allocate all her skill points to Vitality when starting NewWorld Online, out of fear of dying quickly, a choice justified by her previous frustrating PvP losses.

This has outrageously overpowered effects no one saw coming, skyrocketing her to max defense levels and godly invincibility despite her airheaded, happy-go-lucky play style.

Echoing Log Horizon’s comedic moments and touching friendships, Bofuri provides feel-good escapist fun celebrating the joys of gaming with friends.

10) Btooom!

If you enjoyed the “trapped in a game” premise of Log Horizon and don’t mind a darker, more violent take on the genre, the intense action-thriller anime Btooom! should make your watch list.

This show throws unemployed slacker Ryota into a nightmarish real-life recreation of his favorite online video game called Btooom!, featuring the same gameplay, mechanics, weapons, and locations.

However, now the explosives and game feel frighteningly real as players battle under sick rules where everyone tries killing each other off to somehow earn the right to leave this hellish island they're trapped on.

Btooom! mixes graphic violence and psychological drama, delivering an adrenaline-fueled twist to the gaming narrative for fans of anime like Log Horizon.

Conclusion

If you fell in love with the virtual reality adventure premise of Log Horizon, hopefully, our recommendations of 10 anime like Log Horizon will give you a comprehensive lineup for your next anime binge.

From psychological survival thrillers to zany comedy, gripping fantasy, and sci-fi RPG worlds with game mechanics seamlessly woven into storytelling like Log Horizon, this diverse selection promises hours of binge-worthy escapism for gamers and isekai lovers!