Monday, April 21, 2025

Want To Watch Something Similar To Death Note? Check Out These Great Anime Shows

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Summary

  • Code Geass and Mob Psycho 100 are great anime similar to Death Note, all with complex protagonists and themes.
  • Psycho Pass is the closest anime to Death Note, focusing on conspiracies and justice, but with a different main character.
  • Talentless Nana is an underrated thriller similar to Death Note, featuring a secret assassin among students.

Death Note is the kind of anime that transcends all genres. Even people who don’t watch anime have heard of it, and appreciate the show for the thriller that it is. The show surrounds Light Yagami, a young student who ends up getting his hands on the Death Note. This notebook gives him the ability to kill people by simply writing their names.

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He has a strange sense of justice and becomes a power-hungry serial killer. It’s unique because the main character is the villain, and the heroes are the opposition. Many fans adore this show and keep searching for a similar one to keep them on their toes. Here are some other great anime to watch if you’re looking for something similar to Death Note.

8

Code Geass

Crunchyroll / Amazon Prime

Code Geass is a sci-fi anime surrounding a high schooler with incredibly high intelligence. It’s perfect for fans of Death Note because the main characters are very similar. They both have a somewhat warped sense of justice and they both become unidentified leaders of movements.

This show is more complicated than Death Note given its science fiction genre and, as the show goes on, the plot becomes more convoluted. That being said, it’s a great show with a similar feel.

7

Mob Psycho 100

Crunchyroll / Hulu / Netflix

Mob Psycho 100 follows Shigeo Kageyama, a middle schooler with extreme psychic powers. Mob works side by side with a con man who claims he’s a spirit medium. He suppresses his emotions and power constantly, because when his emotions reach 100 percent, it causes a huge disturbance.

This anime is much lighter than Death Note, but the shows both have complex themes and really strong protagonists. Mob Psycho has great fights and supernatural spirits, so it’s worth a watch.

6

Psycho Pass

Crunchyroll / Amazon Prime

Psycho Pass might be the closest anime to Death Note. The story takes place in a futuristic world where criminal potential and state of mind can be evaluated. The main character has her own sense of justice and learns just how deep the conspiracies go.

This show is a mystery that slowly unpacks it throughout the episodes. There are a lot of great characters, conspiracies, fight scenes, and awesome villains. The main difference between this and Death Note is that it follows Akane, who’s a good person, as opposed to Light, the villain.

5

Monster

Netflix

Monster follows a Japanese brain surgeon working in Germany. He is dissatisfied with the bias of the way that the hospital treats patients. He chooses to treat a set of twins instead of the mayor, which ends in the mayor’s death. Mysteriously, hospital employees start to get murdered.

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It’s discovered later on that the boy he chose to save over the mayor is the one doing all the killing. It’s an intense story that includes a serial killer, mysterious deaths, and themes of ethics and consequences, just like Death Note.

4

Classroom Of The Elite

Crunchyroll / Amazon Prime

Characters from classroom of the elite walking down stairs.

The Classroom of the Elite is a show where the Japanese government has created a school to maximize potential. It’s meant to foster an environment that supports the country in the future while raising kids to be self-sufficient. Instead, the school ends up taking a huge toll on mental health while sparking unhealthy competition and elitism.

This is similar to Death Note because it also follows an intelligent, manipulative student. They’re both masterminds, just in different circumstances.

3

Assassination Classroom

Crunchyroll / Hulu

Assassination Classroom has one of the strangest plots out there, but it’s a surprisingly endearing show. The show is about a magical creature who has plans to destroy the world. In the meantime, he decides to teach a junior high class and give them the opportunity to kill him before he destroys everything.

He ends up being an incredible teacher, and the kids keep trying to assassinate him while becoming more and more attached to him. It’s bittersweet, and a little tortuous to watch. If you love how Death Note is about a group of people coming together against evil, this is the show for you.

2

Tomodachi Game

Amazon Prime / Apple TV

The 5 main characters from Tomodachi Game.

Tomodachi Game follows Yuuichi Katagiri, a student with a great life who has four best friends. When money goes missing from the school trip fund, Yuuichi finds himself in a mysterious game for money. He’s forced to face his inner wants and decide if money or friendship is more important to him.

This game has manipulation, people who aren’t who they say they are, and friendships put to the test. Similar to Death Note, it features a student who isn’t who he says he is.

1

Talentless Nana

Crunchyroll

Talentless Nana - Nana looking angry.

Talentless Nana is another thriller that is basically Death Note on a smaller scale. The show takes place on an island where children with supernatural powers called the ‘talented’ are taught to fight against enemies. Nana is sent to the island, but she’s secretly an assassin there to kill people.

There is another character in the show who suspects her, and slowly starts trying to prove that she is, in fact, a serial killer. This show is underrated, so if you haven’t seen it, give it a watch.

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Aiko Tanaka
Aiko Tanaka
Καλώς ήρθατε στη γωνιά μου στο διαδίκτυο! Είμαι ο Aiko Tanaka, ένας άπληστος λάτρης των anime και αφοσιωμένος κριτικός που βουτάει βαθιά στον κόσμο του anime για πάνω από μια δεκαετία. Με έντονο μάτι στην αφήγηση, την ανάπτυξη χαρακτήρων και την ποιότητα κινουμένων σχεδίων, στοχεύω να παρέχω σε βάθος και ειλικρινείς κριτικές που βοηθούν τους φίλους θαυμαστές να περιηγηθούν στο τεράστιο και συνεχώς αυξανόμενο τοπίο των anime.

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