In the fantastic city of Orario, adventurers are drawn to the huge and dark underground dungeons in search of valuable treasures, exciting adventures, fame, honor, and (some dreamy ones) love. This is the story of Bell Cranel, a beginner adventurer who has received the blessing of a lesser goddess and has to level up both to bring honor to her goddess and to be noticed by the girl of his dreams.

This fantastic adventure with bits of romance and comedy is quite similar to Grimgar (for short) in several aspects. Both shows remind us of RPG games, in which you have to level up slaying creatures to get better equipment and move up in the world.

The biggest similarity however, is how the main characters struggle to become decent warriors. Both Bell and the main party from Grimgar are utter failures at what they do, which makes them funny and realistic at the same time.

This one is quite a weird show, then again, half the fantasy anime are. A young girl is born from (or transported to) a large cocoon in a mysterious world inhabited by women with small wings on their backs and shiny halos over their heads. They call themselves Haibane; they have no recollection of their prior lives, how they got to that world or who they are.

Haibane Renmei is not an action and adventure fantasy based on a videogame as the rest of the titles on this list. However, it does share some strong similarities with Grimgar. To begin with, the story develops in a fantastic and mysterious world, the main characters have no clue how they got there nor who they were before their arrival. Their only choice is to begin a new life and find out the truth behind these worlds by themselves.

Both shows are also quite dramatic. Haibane Renmei is much more so, since it doesn’t have comedic elements at all, but the two make great emphasis on the importance of life, friendship and letting go.

Cliché or not, Log Horizon is a great fantasy show full of action, magic and adventure. The online RPG game Elder Tale suddenly transports a large amount of players inside the game to take the role of their avatars. Shiroe teams up with Naotsugu and Akatsuki to face the many challenges this new and fantastic world has to offer.

Log Horizon is most likely the best choice for RPG lovers; and if you liked Grimgar you’re probably one of these. What I love and find quite unique about Log Horizon are the combat scenes and the strategy in them. It’s quite original and completely different to most kinds of fighting in fantasy anime.

In Grimgar I found a similar strategic fighting style (or at least it reminded me of LH), in which the members of the party combined their different abilities to defeat those annoying goblins. There is no one-man show on either of these, which is something very rare in fantasy and adventure anime.

When Yggdrasil, a popular online game, is suddenly shut down, the player known as Momonga decides not to log out and he finds himself trapped in the body of his own avatar. With unlimited power, a castle of his own and loyal servants, Momonga begins a new life in this world of fantasy, where evil creatures, powerful warriors and dark wizards are commonplace.

Overlord and Grimgar are obviously similar in their setup. They both display classical RPG game features, such as locations, creatures, jobs and ways of living. Also, I should mention that these two shows are (to me at least) the best depictions of these kind of videogames. The RPG game based anime archetype is getting a little worn out lately, but these two shows were able to successfully pull it off.

Overlord did so with its faithful representation of RPG videogames, while Grimgar amazed us with a more realistic approach to such fantastic worlds. The obvious difference in power between these shows’ protagonists is also another reason why you should watch this show. It’s great to see the two sides of the coin, the ones who struggle and the one who is overpowered.

KonoSuba (for short) is another gem among this season’s fantasy anime. It tells the story of Kazuma Satou, a young gamer boy who dies one day trying to save a girl from getting hit on the road. He’s met in the afterlife by a sexy and cocky goddess, Aqua, who sends him to a fantastic world where he’s assigned to defeat the evil Demon King. He can only take one thing with him, and he chooses her.

This is a fantasy comedy with little action but a lot of adventures. It is similar to Grimgar in its setup; both stories develop in a fantastic world which is not exactly a videogame, but shares many of its features. Konsubu is much more of a light taste comedy, so it’s not as dramatic as Grimgar. It’s a great choice if you want to watch something new along the same lines as Grimgar though.

Btooom is not a fantasy show as the rest on this list, yet it shares certain similarities with Grimgar. It follows the story of Ryouta Sakamoto, one of the world’s top players in Btooom, a popular FPS videogame. One day he wakes up on an island with a set of bombs and is forced to play real life Btooom for his life. He will make more enemies than allies when everything comes down to kill or be killed.

Leaving aside the obvious difference in genre, Btooom is similar to Grimgar in some aspects. The setup is relatively similar; both protagonists are immersed in a place where they have to fight to survive. The main characters in both shows are forced to kill, which is something that shocks and traumatizes them when they do it for the first time.

Consequently, these two titles focus a lot on the value of life. They deal a lot with survival and staying alive no matter the cost. In this sense, both shows do a great job; especially because you get the feeling that any character (even the most important ones) could die at any moment.