Following the story of a 19-year-old boy named Minato Sahashi, who one day fatefully encounters a girl that crashes onto him. The girl named Musubi is a ‘Sekirei’, a humanoid being that has enhanced physical and elemental powers. The Sekirei appeared on earth following a spaceship that crashed landed on the earth not so long ago. They seek humans who have the ‘Ashikabi’ gene that when they kiss the human with the gene, it allows them to awaken temporarily enhanced power through the bond that can be used in battle.

The Sekirei appear to be involved with a game known as the “Sekirei Plan”, where the Sekirei and their partners are fighting each other for survival, where the winner is rumored to be able to ‘ascend to the higher sky’. Musubi, who was being hunted by two other Sekirei, sees the Ashikabi gene in Minato after crashing into him incidentally. She kissed him and Minato unwillingly becomes a part of something much bigger.

If what you liked about Fate/stay night were the intense battles and the concept of battling for survival, then Sekirei is an anime that you’ll also like but with added fan service. Sekirei has many similarities to Fate/stay night in the fact they both are stories about a competition of some sorts to win something legendary and are special servants that must fight against another to survive.

Our next recommendation is Shakugan no Shana. An anime about a reality where another world exists parallel to our own that contains beings known as Crimson Denizens, which can travel through to the human world to consume the life energy of human beings.

Shakugan no Shana follows the story of a high school student named Yuuji Sakai that becomes consumed by a Denizen, however before all traces of his existence vanishes a girl named Shana saves him. Yuuji is reduced to only a small remnant of his soul known as a “Torch”, which eventually fades away along with the memories of his existence from the minds of everyone that ever knew him. Shana is a warrior known as a “Flame Haze” that is tasked with defeating the Denizens to restore peace to the human realm. Together they discover that Yuuji actually has a mysterious power that somehow is able to keep him alive in the world.

In Fate/stay night, Shiro was saved by Saber after he unintentionally entered a world he was not meant to see or was it always fate that he would inevitably get involved? Well, that could be said about Yuuji in Shakugan no Shana, he also gets saved by a girl but Yuuji also has something about him that maybe his involvement too was inevitable. The two male protagonists are both weak and unable to fight on their own. They both need the help of a powerful yet innocent female warrior that teaches them the way of the sword.

The next entry to our list is an anime based on a light novel created by the same people that made Fate/stay night. Shingetsutan Tsukihime is about a boy named Shiki Toono, who after suffering a life threatening injury as a child became able to see ‘Death Lines’. Lines that are by objects that will break when they die, this includes both animate and inanimate objects. As a result of such power, Shiki’s mind cannot manage the sight of death. He has immense headaches when he uses the power, so he has to wear a special pair of glasses that are able to block out his sight of the lines. After his injury, he was banished from his household.

After 8 years, Shiki returns home after the passing of his father. He has trouble readjusting to the old-fashioned lifestyle that they once lived in and Shiki doesn’t seem to remember his past very well. Upon his return Shiki finds himself meeting a vampire named Arcueid Brunestud, whom he decapitates in a temporary fit of insanity. Being an immortal being, she returns alive and asks Shiki if he’d become her bodyguard as they go on a journey together to figure out Shiki’s past.

Shingetsutan Tsukihime is a different type of anime to that of Fate/stay night, but still, has a lot of the similar aspects. They both are about a boy who gets dragged into the affairs of a different world. Where their normal lives are drastically changed as they fight together with a strong female companion, whom they both cherish and want to protect. In addition, Shingetsutan Tsukihime is actually set in the same universe as Fate/stay night!

Another anime with the theme of a battle for survival is Mirai Nikki, a thriller that follows the story of a high school student by the name of Yukiteru Amano. Yuki is a loner that spends most of his time writing a diary on his cell phone and likes talking with his imaginary friends, Deus Ex Machina and Murmur, the god of space and time, and the god’s servant. Until one day he finds out that they are actually real and grants Yuki a ‘Random Diary’, which allows him to read into the future. However, he isn’t the only one to receive a special diary, as 11 other people were given unique future diaries of similar powers.

Yuki is forced to find and kill the 11 other diary holders in order to survive in a game of battle royale, or else the world will end in 90 days. Where the winner will be granted the power to become the new god of time and space, and would be able to prevent the apocalypse. Yuki has no desire to win but becomes forced to team up with another future diary holder by the name of Yuno Gasai, who is an obsessive stalker that seems to have an unrequited love for Yuki and will do anything to protect him, to have him all for herself.

With a similar plot as Fate/stay night, Yuki, who is weak finds himself in a game where he has to battle to survive. Gaining help from another person and with the added bonus that if he wins can get an immense power to realize his dreams. Like a weak Shiro and a strong Saber, fighting to win the Holy Grail, to save it falling into the wrong hands.

Entering the world of online games, we have Accel World. An anime about a short and overweight boy named Haruyuki Arita who is bullied at school, that retreats to video games in order to get away from all the stress of the real world. Having a place that he can control and dominate, Haruyuki feels at home in the virtual world where he holds many unbeatable high scores. That is until one day he finds that all of his high scores had been beaten by the popular vice president of the school council, Kuroyukihime.

Kuroyukihime introduces Haruyuki to the ‘Brain Burst’ program. A special gaming program that is able to accelerate brain waves up to where time appears to stop. It works as an augmented reality fighting game that pits players to battle against each other to win points, which can be used to ‘accelerate’. However, if a player should lose all their points dueling, they will also lose access to the Brain Burst program forever. Kuroyukihime helps Haruyuki with his bullying problems and in return, he decides to help Kuroyukihime, as they enter the Brain Burst program in order to find the creator and to discover the truth.

Accel world’s similarities to Fate/stay night are apparent in the way that the duo ventures into a world where they have to compete against others in order to reach a specific goal. Instead of obtaining the Holy Grail, they aim to reach the ‘level 10’ status in order to get to the top. On their way, they must defeat the powerful factions leaders instead of heroic spirits that stand in their way, who are known as the ‘Six Kings of Pure Color’.

The final recommendation of this list is Toaru Majutsu no Index, which is an anime that takes place in a futurist place known as Academy City, a city full of schools where students live and learn to develop their innate psychic powers as espers. Following the story of a high school boy named Touma Kamijou, who has the power to negate other supernatural abilities; his ‘Imagine breaker’ though may not be seen as a powerful ability to have and as a result of that he is ranked as one of the lowest espers in the city.

He lives a comfortable regular life until one day he encounters a young girl named Index Librorum Prohibitorum. A young girl nun whose life is dedicated to memorizing the ‘forbidden grimoires’, which are a series of magical books that contain powerful and forbidden magic. As a result of her occupation, she is hunted by dangerous organizations. Touma takes it upon himself to protect Index after seeing her chased by people looking to harm her.

Touma is like Shiro from Fate/stay night, he is a powerless being who regardless of any consequences will fight to protect others. The relationships of Touma are quite similar to that of Shiro, where Tohsaka and Saber are to Shiro as Misaka, and Index is to Touma. They both have a strong desire to do what is morally right and will try to save as many people as possible, even if they have to risk their own lives to do it.