Persona 5 is about the story of Ren, a boy who has just transferred into Shujin Academy. There, he meets a standoffish teacher and finds a mysterious app that brings him and his newly acquainted friend Ryuuji into a castle where his teacher and one of their classmates is there? After awakening as a Persona user and escaping, they go back in on a later day to learn more but end up meeting Morgana who explains a lot. They square off and Morgana reveals that the darkness residing in the teacher’s heart has created the castle. They need to steal the treasure of the castle thus hopefully forcing the criminal to confess to their crimes. With the help of classmate Ann Tamaki, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts is born!

This one is more or less an easy association. Both Caligula and Persona 5 are produced by Atlus, which means that eventually, there are going to be similar aspects. Both Ritsu and Ren are a bit odd for a main character and this means that they are naturally the first to awaken to the false realities around them. Though, Ritsu is very very late in awakening in the series. Both have some sort of supernatural incident that has forced them to act showing another reality placed over the one they know. Naturally, fight scenes are RPG-esque and involve the characters using attacks with some sort of magical effects and honestly you can almost see the way turns would play out in both series as if they are a game themselves. If you love puzzles, plots that take a moment to build up, and a wide variety of cast members, then Persona 5 is an excellent choice. Plus, the music in both series is top notch!

Yuzuru Otonashi opens his eyes like he would any other day, but today is different. Today, he learns that he is dead from a girl named Yuri who has a rifle in hand? When he tries to recall anything about himself, Yuzuru cannot. Trapped in a school, they are threatened by a rather quiet girl named Tenshi. She’s some sort of evil being trying to attack them. So, naturally, Yuzuru does what is right and teams up with Yuri where he meets a slew of other classmates who are fighting against her. Trying to stay himself as he is while recalling his past, Yuzuru struggles against the tides of change.

Looking at both Angel Beats and Caligula, the stories are incredibly similar just that the AB! characters are dead and the Caligula characters aren’t. Both are struggling to understand a system that has been forced on them while it’s also trying to take them out. µ and Tenshi are trying to help others while not realizing the damage and anguish that they are inflicting while doing so. Naturally too, both focus on a group of high school students who aren’t friends, forced to band together to survive.

Shintarou is a shut-in. He has been for two years and nothing will force him to go outside. That is until he destroys his keyboard by accident. He decides to buy a replacement online, but due to it being a holiday, he cannot find a store open online. Dejected, he decides to go outside to buy one. However, that proves to be his undoing as he get mixed up in a hostage situation. Shintarou is saved by some strange characters with some sort of powers where his online friend Ene is there. After everything settles, he gets sucked into their group where while no one seems related, they are all connected by a secret that is revealed like a puzzle; piece by piece.

Yet again, here we have a series full of characters that are connected, but how they are connected is a complete mystery that has to be solved as we watch the series. Both Shintarou and Ritsu find themselves facing not only a crisis in their worlds, but another world full of something clearly supernatural is overlapping their own. It’s just a matter of finding out what the source of that overlap is.

Chaos;Head is about Takumi Nishijou, a student at another private academy, who heads about a repeat incident that continues to happen in Shibuya. Called the “new gen” murders, he shrugs it off because what else would a teenager do with no investment in the cases? That is… until he starts receiving strange messages on his computer which end up leading him to meet a pink-haired beauty named Rimi. As he desperately tries to get a grasp on the reality around him, something tells Takumi that it may not be what he is seeing, but rather what he is being shown. Nothing is as it seems.

While Caligula does not jump around as much as Chaos;Head does, these two anime have a lot in common starting with their shared theme of psychology. Ritsu has his head in it nonstop while Takumi is trying to figure out what he is being shown. This is further compounded by the new gen murders in one and µ in the other. Both are setting up the protagonists for failure if they cannot get a good head on their shoulders and start to see through the fog of deception. A lot of the time, the main character stops as if to say “I’m not losing my mind, right?” and we have to agree. Where Caligula is deep, Chaos;Head is violent, however either way, both will make you scratch your head as you mash the next button.

Aya Asagiri has it really rough. Her brother abuses her and her classmates are downright human trash. One night while desperate about what is happening around her, a strange little site shows up with a creepy doll-like face. It tells her that she needs help. Thus, Aya is given the power to become a magical girl. She accepts and struggles to learn about her powers. However, it is not easy at all for her as there is someone going around targeting magical girls like her. Can she make allies while also dealing with this murderer?

Oddly, at first glance, horror/thriller anime Mahou Shoujo Site does not seem like it would go with psychological/game anime Caligula, however the similarities are there. Both face yet another reality on top of their own. There are real dangers in this other world that they are a part of and one misstep could spell out death. Each character also acquires their own set of powers and weapons, though Caligula takes a lot longer to roll it out. However, both will make you wanting more.

Yuuta Gamon is a weirdo. He hangs out in a cafe all the time with his best friend Ryouka as he runs a blog proclaiming that all supernatural events are hoaxes. However, when something happens and now all of a sudden he is connected to more people that honestly seem to have nothing to do with him, the clock is ticking. You see, there’s murder, kidnappings, and much much more at stake. In fact, their own lives hang in the balance. The worst part though is that it’s a race against the clock to solve the mystery surrounding the nine individuals. Can they make it in time though?

Occultic;Nine, other than Persona 5, has to be the anime most like Caligula on this list. The series is not a mess, but it’s very busy and is like a puzzle. In fact, both are multiple puzzles connected to one another and it doesn’t really make sense how they are connected at first, but it becomes evident later throughout the series that these total strangers have to rely on each other to make it out alive. Nothing is sacred and nothing is safe. Thankfully, both sets of characters have their own unique personalities, quirks, and abilities to help them out!