This is the tale of 12 warriors, each burdened with the names of the 12 Chinese Zodiac. They are all in a fight to the death in order to have just one wish granted.

A simple synopsis might have made you pass this one up, but if you are a fan of a good old-fashioned fight to the death, this series delivers with flair. Instead of an intricate plot, it instead uses unique characters and many action-heavy fights to create interest. If you want to follow it up with more of the same, then give these anime recommendations a try.

For Fans of Fights for Survival

Btooom!

Unemployed and living with his mother, Ryouta Sakamoto’s only real achievement is being the top player in Japan of a video game called Btooom! However, one day he wakes upon on an island with nothing but a small green crystal embedded in his hand. He soon finds out that someone wants him and others players to play Btooom! for real.

There are many differences between Juuni Taisen and Btooom, but they are united by the same fundamental plot of kill everyone else. While Btooom is steeped in the modern world, its game has tons of rules, and it has a touch more intrigue to the plot, both shows are about battles and how you connect to the characters. Some you hate, some you love, but all have a varied risk of dying.

Future Diary

Yukiteru Amano likes to imagine himself as an observer. He spends his days keeping a diary on his cell phone, but not about himself, about everything that goes on around him. At home, he spends his time conversing with his two imaginary friends, Deus Ex Machina, the God of space and time, and Murmur, his assistant. However, one day he discovers his friends are not so imaginary when they imbue him with the power of a diary that tells the future and forces him into a bloody survival game with godhood on the line.

You can’t make an anime series about survival games without Future Diary popping up as a recommendation. Both series are about a bunch of characters that are notable by sheer weirdness fighting each other. Alliances are formed and broken just as quickly, for in the end, there can only be one winner.

Magical Girl Raising Project

There’s a rumor going around about a new game called the Magical Girl Raising Project. The rumor states that one in thousands who play it have a chance to become a magical girl, and the rumors turn out to be true. This chance allows them to have supreme beauty, strength, and other abilities so that they can help humanity. However, when 16 magical girls end up in one district, the administration announces that only half may remain. At first it is a race to get the most magical candy, but as time goes on, the game twists into something much darker.

In Juuni Taisen, they fight for a wish. In Magical Girl Raising Project, they fight to cull their numbers. In both shows they may not necessarily want to fight, but end up doing it anyway. The characters are unique and strange in appearance in both, but magical girls are, as expected, very moe.

For Fans of Large Casts of Unique Characters

Basilisk

When two warring ninja clans each find themselves supporting a different son of Hidetada Tokugawa as the next shogun, they each send 10 representatives to fight to the death. The winner of this fight not only gets Tokugawa support, but they earn the right to wipe out the other clan.

If you took all the characters in Basilisk and made it a free-for-all death match instead of a clan-based one, you would end up with something almost the same as Juuni Taisen (in a different setting, of course). Both series have some very creatively designed characters, and neither will shy away from vicious deaths.

Fate/Zero

With the promise of granting any wish, the Holy Grail has sparked three wars in the past, each too brutal to leave a winner. Despite this, the Einzbern family has been confidently preparing for the fourth war. To ensure their victory, they have hired the hated Magus Killer, Kiritsugu Emiya, to fight and solidify their victory.

They are calling Juuni Taisen “Fate/Zero” this season for a reason. They are incredibly similar. Both shows have a bunch of unique characters fighting to the death for their one wish. However, the difference is that Fate/Zero has ten tons of exposition and very little actual fighting while Juuni Taisen is almost exclusively fighting or setting up for one.

Danganronpa

Hope’s Peak Academy is an elite high school where those accepted are given special titles that showcase their skills. This year, only fifteen were accepted, and one of them was the completely normal Makoto Naegi who got in on sheer luck. The students are thrilled, that is until they are trapped inside the school by principal and bear Monokuma who tasks them with killing one of their peers and not getting caught to escape. However, if they are caught, they will be executed.

Like uniquely designed and quirky characters? Danganronpa has Juuni Taisen beat in that department, making it a good follow up. Both shows allow participants to kill any time and in any way, but Danganronpa is marketed as more of a closed room mystery-type of anime series rather than a straight-up death match.

For Fans of Chosen Warriors

Rokka no Yuusha

According to legend, the revival of the Demon God will cause the Goddess to appoint six heroes, called Braves, to prevent the world from becoming a living hell. Adlet Mayer, the self-proclaimed strongest man in the world, travels to Piena in hopes of becoming a Brave. However, after being jailed, he is called and he sets off on a journey with the princess, another Brave, to defeat the Demon God. However, when all six Braves assemble, there are seven in total and the others soon suspect Adlet is a fraud.

One of the major differences in Rokka is that all the participants are supposed to be united against a common foe. However, when someone gets murdered and they suspect a traitor in their midst, they turn on each other. So thus, it ends up being more like Juuni Taisen because instead of fighting the Demon God, they end up fighting each other.

Magi

Aladdin, a talented young magi, has lived his life in seclusion, but he is eager to go explore the world. After he sets out, he becomes friends with a courageous Alibaba Saluja who, after seeing his powerful Djinn Ugo, suggests they go conquer a dungeon for fame, power, and treasure.

The magi in Magi are a lot like the zodiac warriors in Juuni Taisen. They are expected to back a king, and then end up fighting each other because of it. However, there is a lot more plot to Magi, and thus more long exposition moments. However, when they do battle, they are just as brilliant as the fights in Juuni Taisen.

Samurai 7

On the brink of starvation and under constant threat of abduction by mechanized bandits, the villagers of Kanna pool the last of their rice harvest to hire samurai to protect their village. They amass seven samurai of varying talents and mechanical augmentations to help them fight against the bandits.

Do you like the characters in Juuni Taisen because of how unique they are? Then there is something lovely to be found in Samurai 7. While the samurais don’t fight each other so much as they fight a variety of enemies, each fight with each warrior is distinct and fun to watch, which is wholly Juuni Taisen’s charm.

Did we miss any more good anime recommendations of Juuni Taisen? Then let the world know in the comments section below.