Anime is awesome. Board games are also awesome. Put the two together, and you get tabletop fun that not only shows off some of the hottest anime series out there, but can also capture the wild nature of the animated media and their associated tropes.
While there are plenty of games that have animed-themed versions like Naruto Monopoly or Dragonball Z Yahtzee, this list instead focuses on games that use the IPs they feature as a theme rather than simply being an anime reskin, and games that do a great job in replicating the look, feel, or tropes of this beloved art form.
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Just as a side note before we get into the list itself, this will only feature board games and won’t go into the plethora of solid anime TCGs that exist, like Digimon and One Piece, or TTRPGs either. Those are out there, and I recommend seeking those out, too, if that is more your style.
Re;ACT - The Arts of War
Millennium Blades
Crack packs, build decks, and outfit yourself with the coolest deckbox out there in Millennium Blades – a board game about competing in a card game. Players are pro TCG players who are all vying to win the most points by doing well in the game’s three tournaments. Outside of the actual tournaments, which see you playing cards to score points, there are real-time trading and buying phases where you will trade cards with other players or the store, and buy packs of cards using Monopoly-esque money.
Just like the real world, the meta of the game will change as the game progresses and force you to adjust your approach and swap out cards. There are so many clever nods and homages to other games and anime that give Millennium Blades a wonderful identity, but don’t let its silliness fool you – it's a tense and highly strategic game with plenty of content, so you'll never play the same game twice.
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