Sword Fine art Online has managed to go ane of the nearly pop anime of all time. There'due south something about the story of Kirito and all his friends trapped in a video game with only 2 methods of escape (decease or attain the height of the dungeon) that is pretty captivating to well-nigh people. More that, the serial has go something of a gateway for potential viewers new to anime.

This list is for those individuals, merely not just them. This listing exists for anyone who loves Sword Art Onlinefor any reason. Whether information technology's the overpowered master character, the video game settings, or even the harem attribute. There'south no judgment here, only solid recommendations of where to go next.

Update August 11th, 2020 by Louis Kemner: Some anime fans are a bit burnt out on the isekai genre, which is growing fast. Others can't get plenty of it, and they take likely already seen the famed Sword Art Online every bit a gateway series to the genre. Just the adventures don't have to end at Aincrad. Fans of SAO can dig into other, equally exciting isekai series or swordfighting series to go along their ambition sated.

15 NO GAME, NO LIFE

This series may be a short one, but it packs enough of action and dazzling visuals for any isekai lover. The two primary characters are Sora and Shiro, hardcore gamer siblings who find themselves in a world where competitive games have replaced war.

This new world is a paradise for Sora and Shiro, and they go about proving how they earned such a fearsome reputation in Earth'south online games. SAO is nigh a new life in a video game, and No Game, No Life does much the same, except it trades swords for chess and the like.

14 BLEACH

bleach ichigo kurosaki

This series ranks up in that location with the likes of Naruto and 1 Piece, and SAO fans volition find plenty to similar about it. Most of the characters wield swords (known every bit zanpakuto), and some of these sword slingers are the stuff of legend.

If that weren't plenty to win over SAO fans, Bleach has soft isekai themes, such every bit when the hero Ichigo takes a portal to the Japanese-inspired Soul Society (the afterlife), Afterward, he also journeys to Hueco Mundo, a supernatural desert of monsters.

13 THE RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO

This is 1 of the grittier isekai series out there, setting it apart from the "OP main character goofing off in a fantasy globe" series. Hither, the lead is Naofumi Iwatani, who tin only use shields in combat. Then he'south going to need a team to back him upwards.

Naofumi and the other heroes must fight off waves of mortiferous enemies who threaten the Melromarc kingdom, and it's all like a video game... only with heaven-high stakes. There'southward stat-boosting, swords, monsters, and, of form, cool shields in this series. Naofumi is the new Kirito.

12 SAMURAI CHAMPLOO

Anime Samurai Champloo Mugen Champloo Kendo Fighting

If SAO fans desire a artistic, relaxing, and whimsical accept on the swordfighting genre, then Samurai Champloo is merely the ticket. This serial features some well-animated and slick swordfighting scenes, simply in that location'due south plenty of quirky, anachronistic humor forth the way.

The three main characters meander across early 20th century Nihon, looking for Fuu'due south begetter. Along the way, they'll cross swords, play baseball, and hear a few hip-hop beats. It's not an adventure to miss.

11 DEMON SLAYER

Like Bleach, Demon Slayer is all about sword and monsters. This series, set around the turn of the 20th century, depicts a Nihon torn between its traditional past and the Western-style hereafter, with demons lurking in the shadows all the while.

Hero Tanjiro Kamado is on a quest to restore his demon sister's humanity, and he'll have to learn the way of the sword and take on the deadliest demons out there. He's a quick learner, and he soon forms a whole team of sword-slinging heroes.

x THE KING'S AVATAR

The King's Avatar is substantially Sword Fine art Online minus the whole protagonist stuck in an alternate world bit. Instead, lead grapheme Ye Xiu is a competitive eSports player for the mega-pop video game Celebrity. After tiring of the politics of the shady eSports world, Ye Xiu abandons that life and his former character and starts from scratch with a new profile during the grand opening of the game's 10th server.

Similar Sword Fine art Online, The King'due south Avatar is very much nigh life as an ace role player in an MMO, but instead of beingness purely nearly survival, information technology'southward most how Ye Xiu spends all of his complimentary fourth dimension climbing back to the pinnacle of the game he left.

9 THE IRREGULAR AT MAGIC Loftier School

In a earth of magic, Miyuki Shiba is an heir to Clan Yotsuba, i of the major clans in charge of Japan's magicians. Her brother Tatsuya is assigned to be her bodyguard but seems to take no analogousness for magic at all. Instead, he'due south incredibly capable at concrete gainsay and designing magical technology, and is secretly a member of an elite magical fighting force.

For every fan of Sword Art Online who loves how Kirito is able to keep his absurd in any state of affairs, and his ability to overcome every threat thrown at him normally with ease,TheIrregular at Magic Loftier School will brand them feel like they haven't missed a stride.

8 IS Information technology Incorrect TO Endeavour TO PICK Upwardly GIRLS IN A DUNGEON?

Probably the about frustrating aspect of Sword Art Online for first-time viewers is the shattered belief that Kirito would have to gradually climb his style upwards the tower. Instead, the story skips over the majority of that work in favor of jumping to the top floors very early.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? works the other fashion around - Bell Cranel doesn't start out very strong, simply gains a special ability early on which allows him to ability-level. From at that place he starts working his way further and further downwardly his world's dungeon, seeking treasure for his family.

vii UNBREAKABLE Motorcar-DOLL

Machine Doll'south atomic number 82 character Raishin Akabane is a lot like Kirito—even-tempered, mostly a likable beau such that they have a harem post-obit them around, and incredibly gifted which means most battles are a breeze for him. Raishin is a puppeteer, a kind of magician in this world that's able to give life to mechanical dolls called automatons.

Raishin and his automaton Yaya seek admission to the Royal Academy of Machinart's Evening Party, a place where puppeteers and automatons battle it out to decide who the all-time among them. Though the winner is granted access to sectional cognition, Raishin seeks to restore the good name of the Akabane Clan...and gain revenge on those who took his clan out.

vi GRIMGAR OF FANTASY AND ASH

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

Some people like the idea of being sent to a fantasy earth, but aren't quite and so sure most everything else in Sword Art Online. Possibly the harem chemical element is a bit much, or perhaps the lead character is too overpowered. For those people, we have Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash. Rather than ane lead character, in that location are vi adventurers who found their way into a foreign new earth with no thought how they got there or even any memory of what abode was like.

Rather than a harem, in that location are just the bad-mannered emotions surrounding early on puberty. Instead of overpowered characters, you become ones who take to work difficult to shell upwardly slimes and goblins.

5 BTOOOM!

Ryouta Sakamoto is Japan's best player ofBtooom!, an online game that doesn't rely on swords or guns, but rather killing opponents by throwing bombs. One solar day, Ryouta wakes up on an island where the game's rules and weaponry take been recreated.

Ryouta is asked to kill seven people before he will be immune to escape the game. He tries ignoring their rules but doesn't know who he can or can't trust, and is eventually forced to play along. For people who love the original Sword Art Online's premise of battling in a life or death game, there's Btooom!, a game that feels like Sword Art crossed with Battle Royale.

four ACCEL WORLD

Accel World and Sword Art Online are actually both by the aforementioned creator, Reki Kawahara. They are both centered around gamers spending mode too much time in a virtual reality game, but the goal for the lead characters in Accel World is a chip different. Haruyuki Arita and Kuroyukihime work together in the earth of Brain Burst, an augmented reality fighting game to battle against the Six Kings of Pure Colour, the strongest enemies in the game.

By beating them, the 2 will be able to attain level x, the highest level available, and be able to meet the creator of Brain Flare-up to discover why the game was created.

3 SWORD ART ONLINE ALTERNATIVE - GUN GALE ONLINE

This feels like a weird inclusion, but non enough people have checked out thisSword Art Online spin-off centered around the third game in the franchise, Gun Gale Online. The series is written past Keiichi Sigsawa, best known for his work on Kino's Journey.

This series centers around a college-aged woman named Karen Kohiruimaki, who gets into Gun Gale Online because the avatar she gets is minor and cute compared to her alpine real-world self. Alternative is ready in the same world as Sword Art Online and even references the latter'due south events throughout the serial; however, it does its own thing, with plenty of cool, tense gunfights.

2 LOG HORIZON

Log Horizon was one of the earliest "clone" serial of SAO. Only there's one major difference between Log Horizon and SAO: Dying here means the player respawns. This cardinal change switches things from a tense boxing against both enemies and other players to that of players trying to learn what it means to be in the world.

Slowly, those stuck in Elderberry Tale begin to build their own society. The characters must figure out ways to purchase property and feed themselves while seeing how the rules have changed with the mysterious 12th expansion of Elder Tale that's altered the game's rules in means fifty-fifty the players are not privy to.

1 KNIGHT'S & MAGIC

Tsubasa Kurata is a immature man who dies later being hit by a truck and wakes up in a fantasy world with magic...and giant robots. Reborn every bit Ernesti Echevalier, Kurata still has his love for giant robots and uses both his programming knowledge and his surprising aptitude for magic in this earth to become a super inventor/pilot.

Much like Sword Fine art Online, not long after entering an alternate earth, Ernesti (or Eru, as he's called past friends) becomes ane of the most important people in his country cheers to his inventing skills and piloting prowess, even somewhen getting to create his own Knight company where he employs his friends.

NEXT: 10 All-time Mecha/Giant Robot Anime Of The '90s

Obi-Wan Kenobi Proves the Legendary Jedi Is a Truly Shattered Human

Read Side by side