Fate/Zero follows the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War, which in the Fate series’ canon has been noted as the most brutal of Holy Grail Wars. Though the show attends to each character and their schemes, the anime predominantly chases after the path of Kiritsugu Emiya, who teamed up with Irisviel von Einzbern, and summoned Arturia from the Saber class. By examining him in detail, the show targets the question of whether the end justifies the means.

This anime is probably the most like Re:Creators. To begin, it is the supernatural beings that are being brought into the real world and each character has a single goal but a different purpose for it. In Fate/Zero it is achieving the Holy Grail, while in Re:Creators it is finding your creator. Achieving such a goal could lead to life-altering events in both shows. This premise leads to a lot of scheming and both anime are kind enough to develop each character enough to have their own personal reasons. Sharing a similar premise is the main similarity, but both shows also demonstrate a similar approach to animation and fighting. The fluidity of motion in each show is amazing and makes the show worth watching even if there wasn’t a good story.

Both also handle battles in a similar fashion. Neither are afraid to show a bit of blood and it’s pretty clear that both like to go all out with the battle animation. However, Fate/Zero is a bit bloodier, but it’s not on the level of Hellsing Ultimate or anything. The real difference is that the characters in Fate/Zero know exactly what’s happening. In Re:Creators practically no one fully understands what twist of fate caused such events to transpire.

Subaru Natsuki is leaving a convenience store when he is suddenly transported to a new world and is brutally murdered minutes later. Then he finds himself alive again and still in this new, fantasy world. Apparently, he gained the power to restart life after dying when making this transition. This power of his leads him down a perilous path as he digs deeper into the truths that surround this new world.

Yes, Re:Zero has a lot about it that is like Re:Creators. First off, both start with “Re:”. Okay for real, both shows use the “another world” premise, but more importantly the shows have a similar tone and progression strategy. In each of these anime we are given decent action, a little bit of blood, and a dosage of light moments. Neither particularly target a niche market by trying to be incredibly different. Instead, they put a unique twist on a rather common idea and then push the story forward on the strengths of their character’s personalities.

Bakuman follows the manga career of the writer and artist team of Takagi and Mashiro. Together the two tackle the manga and anime industry with a relentless spirit. They sacrifice time and health and a normal teenage lifestyle to create stories that enthrall the public. The question is if their stories are good enough to make it to the top and be made into an anime?

Considering the two shows above, you might be wondering how Bakuman is like Re:Creators. Well, the main focus of Bakuman is essentially the secondary focus of Re:Creators. To be specific, both shows dive into the creative process. Bakuman is primarily about the struggles that go into creating any type of artistic project, while Re:Creators touches upon this topic in various ways through Sato and the other “creators” introduced. Despite the difference in depth of coverage, both anime give time to portraying just how much thought goes into creating a character and a fictional world and how difficult this process can be. Hopefully, there will be more moments as the show goes on (it does foreshadow that this will happen), but one can see such attention in Re:Creators with Sato sitting at his desk in front of a blank screen. Any artist will attest to having been in a similar situation.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer follows Satan (Sadao Maou) as he is suddenly transported from his world to Earth. Drained of most his magic, Sadao is forced to adapt to the new world and its rules. This means he must follow the source of power in this world. That power is money and so he quickly gets a job at a fast-food chain. From this position, he not only plans how to retake his home world, but how to conquer Earth!

Once more, you are seeing the ‘another world’ premise, which is definitely the main reason this is an anime like Re:Creators. In fact, the premise in The Devil Is a Part-Timer! does share more similarities with Re:Creators than any other show on this. In each, the fantastical and overpowered are being brought to Tokyo’s cityscape. They are also being used in a bigger scheme that they have no idea about in the beginning.

There is a pretty clear difference between the two though. The Devil Is a Part-Timer! is more of a comedy than an action-oriented drama. It plays with the tropes that are usually involved with “another world” premise by having Satan actually get a job and become extremely accustomed to life in Tokyo, to the point of comfort even.

Drifters throws historical figures from all eras into a fantasy world of elves, dwarves, orcs, dragons, and so much more. One set of historical figures are called the “Ends” and plan on destroying the current order of the world and bringing about a monster (orc, goblin, dragon) ruling class. Then there are the Drifters, who are essentially meant to stop that from happening as well as bring about social reform for the elves and dwarves. Needless to say, humans (specifically Drifters/Ends who were brought in earlier) essentially messed up the natural process and now things need a large overhaul.

As you can probably tell, Drifters is an anime like Re:Creators because it shares a pretty similar premise. Even though Drifters’ “another world” approach is more traditional, both shows essentially set up two different ideologies and put them against each other. Both shows also shine in that despite their being an overall ideology that a group is fighting for, each character has their own personal goals that decide how they fight and approach the world. In Drifters, Toyohisa’s desire is far different than Oda Nobunaga who really wants to set up his own world order in this new land. You can see that with characters like Celestia and Yuuya in Re:Creators, who consider themselves allies but have extremely different approaches.

The main difference between these shows is that Drifters delights in gore and wants to display the dirty work that needs to be done in order to create world change. Its characters are also a little more on the intense side of things.

This anime follows the journey of Yotarou after he is released from prison. He had been part of the yakuza, but no longer desires a life of crime. Instead his passion, one that had been ignited while in prison, is for the performance art that is Rakugo. Thus, he puts himself at the feet of one of the masters, Yakumo Yuurakutei, in hopes of becoming the man’s apprentice.

Maybe you expected this when Bakuman also popped onto this list. Maybe you did not expect this show to pop up on a list of anime like Re:Creators at all. Well, Rakugo is one of the most intricate portraits of the creative process. It’s all about the performance and how we use, develop, and improvise traditional structures and thoughts in order to create something unique. It intimately gives us a look into the emotional and physical output required to build a story that enthralls the public. These are notes that Re:Creators touches upon and plays with. There is, after all, quite a bit of focus in Re:Creators about what makes a character stand out and capture the public interest. In the end, each show successfully captures just how much a good story can impose itself on your life.