8 Non-Mainstream Anime Just Like Solo Leveling As You Wait For Season 2

For many people, watching anime is already the perfect way to escape into other realities. However, when a gaming element is added to the mix, the viewer embarks on a journey to a completely different world along with the protagonists, making the adventure that much more enjoyable.

Solo Leveling has become the first anime series about gaming for many viewers, but it's definitely not the only one that deserves your attention. If you're not ready to log out of virtual reality, choose one of these 8 anime series about gaming and hit play.

Sword Art Online: Aincrad (2012)

While Sword Art Online as a whole is a series that will appeal to any gamer as it tells the story of two players stuck in the virtual world, there is something about the first episode, Aincard, that will appeal to anyone who enjoys solo leveling.

What's even better is that since this is the very first season, if you get hooked on Kirito and Asuna's adventures in the SAO world, you can always continue watching and get even more exciting stories.

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki (2021)

Fumiya Tomozaki's boring life is nothing more than a trashy game. Completing level after level, he spends his free time in the truly exciting virtual reality world of the popular online game Attack Families. There he's ranked much higher than in the society around him.

His life begins to change when he realizes that his popular classmate Aoi Hinami is equally good in both the game and reality, and he agrees to go through life under her guidance.

Protocol: Rain (2023)

This anime series follows the struggles of Tokinoya Shun, a young boy who has taken on a lot of responsibility after his father died in a car accident a few years ago. Now in high school, he tries to provide for his family's stability and gets a part-time job at an esports cafe, which changes his whole life.

To help the cafe stay afloat, he joins the Fox One esports team and enters the world of gaming, expanding his reality and making a few good friends along the way.

Shangri-la Frontier (2023)

Another perfect gaming story follows Rakuro Hizutome, who dedicates his entire life and all of his free time to beating trashy VR games. Some call it an addiction, but he considers himself a professional gamer.

The only problem is that as soon as he decides to challenge himself and embarks on a journey of walking through the popular god-tier game called Shangri-La Frontier, it turns out that his skills are not enough to find all the secrets. Will he give up or try even harder to achieve the impossible?

Hi-Score Girl (2018)

This series tackles gaming in a somewhat unexpected way, taking viewers back to the early 90s and showing the gaming scene not behind PCs, but in the arcade. Behind the machines, sixth-grader Haruo Yaguchi builds his life, dreaming of becoming a professional gamer one day.

There he meets his classmate Akira Oono, who is great at everything, including gaming. After beating him in a game, she becomes his favorite rival.

No Game, No Life (2014)

Sora and Shiro are gaming siblings who are known to be unbeatable online. Gaming becomes their whole life and even more so when they are visited by God who takes them to another world.

There, gaming becomes their best chance for survival, as everything they want and need depends on their skills and scores. No game, no life – as the title of the series suggests. Together, as a team, they must beat it.

Recovery Of An MMO Junkie (2017)

While this is a side of gaming that no gamer ever wants to face, the addiction is very real and can happen to any passionate gamer sooner rather than later.

Though the anime series treats the subject lightly, the example of the main character, Moriko Morioka, a 30-year-old woman who suddenly found her life falling apart because of an excessive obsession with an MMO game, should serve as a warning to anyone entering the gaming field. It can happen to anyone, and it's the way back to reality that counts.

.Hack//Sign (2002)

The .hack series is probably the very first and most important anime series that started the whole obsession with the gaming genre in general. It's a classic that anyone obsessed with virtual realities should watch.

The story follows an introverted protagonist, Tsukasa, who is mentally trapped in the game. While watching his journey, the viewer is left to guess what happened to him in reality and how he can log out and get back, if that is even possible.