Valkyria Chronicles has a gorgeous hand-drawn anime art style, that makes it look likes it’s almost ripped straight from a storybook. It tells a desperate tale of Squad 7 defending its homeland of Gallia from the militaristic Empire. Despite its bright and beautiful look, it tells a surprisingly dark story that would be right at home in a World War II style anime.
Ni No Kuni is about as close a video game can get to being an anime. The talented team at Level-5 partnered with the legendary animators at Studio Ghibli for this project, with the studio helping with visuals and anime cutscenes. Ni No Kuni really does feel like a Ghibli movie, giving you a fantastical world to explore, packed with interesting creatures and heartfelt storytelling.
Conception II has a premise that you’d only see in an anime. Basically your hero is a student at a high school that also doubles as a training center for demon hunters. Because of his high amount of ether the protagonist can create Star Children by “class-mating” with his classmates to fight the demons. Besides its ridiculous concept, Conception II has some surprisingly good Persona-esque elements, that have you combing dungeons and spending time with your party members outside of battle.
Pokemon is of course one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, that also spawned one of the most successful anime series of all time. Something about capturing its many creatures and battling it out with other trainers is so appealing. The journey in Pokemon is always unforgettable, whether you’re experiencing your own or watching Ash Ketchum’s.
Tales games specifically employ anime tropes and storytelling, on top of each entry having incredibly anime-like visual designs. These lengthy JRPGs have characters that can usually fall into one anime stereotype or another, but more often than not end up becoming well rounded and diverse. Fast pace battle systems with flashy moves, only help the series feel even more anime like.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions screams anime at every glance. The art style is bright and vibrant, and the game itself even has a story that revolves around the Japanese entertainment industry. Anime cutscenes of musical performances play at critical points in the story as well. This game that started out as Fire Emblem x Shin Megami Tense is gloriously Japanese, and it revels in it at every moment.
Like Tokyo Mirage Sessions, the Persona series is about as anime as you can get with a video game. The games each focus on a group of teenagers, in two different respects. On one side you have the day to day life sections, that see your protagonist living high school life, working, and learning more about their friends personalities and pasts. The other side has you exploring dungeons and using the power of Persona to battle shadows and save the world. Complex, multi-layered characters are definitely the strength of the series though.
This strategy-RPG series has more in common with anime than visual design. Each game tells a sweeping tale of massive wars, conspiracies and world ending schemes. As the series has progressed, one of the most appealing factors of each game has become the relationships you can build between characters. Awakening and Fates allows you to build their relationships and watch scenes between them, sometimes even resulting in a child and eventual new unit.
Valkyria Chronicles
Valkyria Chronicles has a gorgeous hand-drawn anime art style, that makes it look likes it's almost ripped straight from a storybook. It tells a desperate tale of Squad 7 defending its homeland of Gallia from the militaristic Empire. Despite its bright and beautiful look, it tells a surprisingly dark story that would be right at home in a World War II style anime.
Ni No Kuni
Ni No Kuni is about as close a video game can get to being an anime. The talented team at Level-5 partnered with the legendary animators at Studio Ghibli for this project, with the studio helping with visuals and anime cutscenes. Ni No Kuni really does feel like a Ghibli movie, giving you a fantastical world to explore, packed with interesting creatures and heartfelt storytelling.
Conception II
Conception II has a premise that you'd only see in an anime. Basically your hero is a student at a high school that also doubles as a training center for demon hunters. Because of his high amount of ether the protagonist can create Star Children by "class-mating" with his classmates to fight the demons. Besides its ridiculous concept, Conception II has some surprisingly good Persona-esque elements, that have you combing dungeons and spending time with your party members outside of battle.
Disgaea Series
The demonic world of Disgaea is done in a lavish anime style, and its story is as fun and ridiculous as you'd find in an anime as well. Each game's protagonist is generally a power-hungry antihero that's forced to fight alongside more heroic characters. This of course leads to some fun situations, with eccentric characters. A deep and demanding grid-based strategy system also means you'll have tens of hours of gameplay with any Disgaea game.
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
Digimon Story has the advantage of being a game actually based on an existing anime series, but it takes some elements from other game series and uses that to its advantage. It has a monster collection system similar to that of Pokemon, while having a real world portion outside of dungeons like a Persona game. It's certainly a different style for Digimon, but one that works surprisingly well and has plenty of anime flair.
Trails Series (Trails in the Sky, Trails of Cold Steel)
The Trails games are generally more concerned about their characters rather than world ending circumstances. That isn't to say there isn't a dire threat, but you'll spend tons of hours adventuring with your party and getting to know them, and all of their strengths and weaknesses. Each game is done with a gorgeous anime art style, adding even more personality to already well fleshed out characters.
Arc the Lad
Arc the lad is a classic tactical-RPG series, that has also received an anime counterpart. Besides its general animeish art-style, Arc the Lad II was actually made into an anime. The series focuses on a young boy named Arc from the town of Touvil, who is destined to fight corruption in the world. The series' world is a fantastical combination of magic and beasts, along with technology and mechanization.
Infinite Space
Infinite Space tells a spacefaring epic that you'd expect to see in something like Cowboy Bebop, all on the Nintendo DS. The story focuses on a young man named Yuri tens of thousands of years in the future, as he finds a way to leave his home planet and unravels a universe spanning plot. It takes place in two different parts across Yuri's life, and cutscenes are presented in gorgeous animation.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
Tokyo Mirage Sessions screams anime at every glance. The art style is bright and vibrant, and the game itself even has a story that revolves around the Japanese entertainment industry. Anime cutscenes of musical performances play at critical points in the story as well. This game that started out as Fire Emblem x Shin Megami Tense is gloriously Japanese, and it revels in it at every moment.
Persona Series
Like Tokyo Mirage Sessions, the Persona series is about as anime as you can get with a video game. The games each focus on a group of teenagers, in two different respects. On one side you have the day to day life sections, that see your protagonist living high school life, working, and learning more about their friends personalities and pasts. The other side has you exploring dungeons and using the power of Persona to battle shadows and save the world. Complex, multi-layered characters are definitely the strength of the series though.
Fire Emblem Series
This strategy-RPG series has more in common with anime than visual design. Each game tells a sweeping tale of massive wars, conspiracies and world ending schemes. As the series has progressed, one of the most appealing factors of each game has become the relationships you can build between characters. Awakening and Fates allows you to build their relationships and watch scenes between them, sometimes even resulting in a child and eventual new unit.
Xenosaga Trilogy
The three Xenosaga games tell a complex and twisting tale filled with conspiracies, higher beings and strange aliens. Top it all off with giant an android named KOS-MOS and giant robots that you can use in battle and you've got a game fitting of an anime. In fact, Xenosaga was actually turned into 12-episode animation.
Tales Series
Tales games specifically employ anime tropes and storytelling, on top of each entry having incredibly anime-like visual designs. These lengthy JRPGs have characters that can usually fall into one anime stereotype or another, but more often than not end up becoming well rounded and diverse. Fast pace battle systems with flashy moves, only help the series feel even more anime like.
Dragon Quest Series
It's little wonder that Dragon Quest has an anime feel, as most of the series' character designs are done by the famed creator of Dragon Ball Z, Akira Toriyama. The bright character designs are just one thing that always stands out in Dragon Quest games, not to mention the epic journeys you undertake in each game.
Pokemon
Pokemon is of course one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, that also spawned one of the most successful anime series of all time. Something about capturing its many creatures and battling it out with other trainers is so appealing. The journey in Pokemon is always unforgettable, whether you're experiencing your own or watching Ash Ketchum's.
