by Eric Price
Anime Board Games - The Good, The Great, And The Must-Plays
Why We Love Anime Board Games So Much Ask most gaming enthusiasts and they’ll probably tell you that board games are a great way to have fun with your family and friends. You get to sit together at the table, hovering over the board or shielding your deck of cards from prying eyes as you plot your next move, laughing all the while. You team up to fight your foes and erupt into cheer to celebrate your victories. Anime board games take this experience to a new level. Not only do they bring you the best features of board game play; they also plunge you into the fantasy world of anime and manga, letting you bring your favorite characters to life — or create your own for your next adventure. Whether you want to explore the magic of anime and challenge your gaming skills, or you just want to find an exciting game for your next game night, there’s an anime board game out there for everyone. So keep reading to find the next one to add to your collection! The “Good” Anime Board Games of 2022 Attack On Titan: The Last Stand If you’re a fan of anime, you’ll most likely recognize this title. This anime tabletop game lets you play as your favorite character from the hit anime series, Attack on Titan. Take on the role of a Scout — either Eren, Hange, Conny, or Levi — and protect the city of Trost from the Titans’ destruction. Or, if you’re feeling like causing some damage yourself, you can play as the Titan! The Titan and castle walls form a vertical playing surface, so you must position your Scout tactfully to succeed in this game. Players strategically move their characters up and down to avoid attacks and inflict damaging blows to weaken the Titan and bring it to its knees once and for all. If you’re a fan of strategic gameplay, you’ll love what Attack on Titan: The Last Stand brings to the table. With multiple tactical options and combinations available in this game, players won’t have to worry about boredom. Additionally, one of the main elements that makes this game so much fun is its fast pace. You have to be strategic and simultaneously think quickly on your feet to avoid the Titan’s attacks — so there’s rarely any time to hesitate! Sailor Moon Crystal: Imposterous Fans of Sailor Moon will be over the moon for this board game. Based off of the popular anime series, Sailor Moon Crystal: Imposterous lets players venture into the world of the Sailor Guardians and use their powers to defeat evil forces. This time, you’re up against the Deathbusters, who have captured someone from the Guardians team and replaced them with a Daimon imposter. Thankfully, Artemis and Luna uncovered this evil ploy — and now you and your team must work together to identify the imposter in the group. Throughout the game, players take turns asking a series of open-ended questions and comparing their answers in search of ones that don’t align with the rest of the group. Following every question, each player writes down the answer they think will match the one given by the other players. The more answers a player has in common with the others, the more points they earn. The player with the least amount of points — the one whose answers differ the most — at the end of each round might be the imposter, and their pawn moves down the game board. When a player — or many players — exit the last space on the game board, the team unmasks the imposter and rescues their captured teammate to end the game! The “Great” Anime Board Games of 2022 Tokyo Sidekick Every good Hero needs a Sidekick — and in this game, you get to play as both! Tokyo Sidekick is a 2-4 player game that combines the best elements of deck-building, board movement, and cooperative action. Each player controls one Hero and one Sidekick, equipped with their own unique backstories and abilities. As you move around the board, your teams must fight against powerful villains committing crimes across the city of Tokyo. Throughout your gameplay, you’ll build your deck and use your cards to power every action and movement to gain the upper hand over your adversaries. Additionally, you’ll discover new gadgets, powers, and stronger abilities that enable you to level up your characters and start working with your fellow Heroes to defeat your opponents. But if you take too much damage, crime reaches dangerous levels, or you can’t beat the final boss, Tokyo will dissolve into chaos and the city will be lost for good. Heroes must defeat 2 Villains, 2 Supervillains, and the Final Boss — The Menace — to win the game and save the city in time. Do you have what it takes? Pick up Tokyo Sidekick today to find out! BESM 4th Edition Hardcore anime fans and role-playing enthusiasts won’t want to miss out on the 4th edition of Big Eyes, Small Mouth. This revolutionary and action-packed roleplay game is set in the vast world of manga and anime. As a player, you get to create your very own anime character, delve into the depths of dungeons, tame monstrous creatures, and travel to new realms — all with the unlimited power of your own imagination. One of the features we love most about RPGs is the freedom they bring to gameplay. But we recognize that this can feel overwhelming if you’re just getting started. Thankfully, this volume is a complete and robust system that consists of everything you need to get started — so you can jump right into the world of anime and BESM right away. This volume features over 100 stunning illustrations spread out across its 352 full-color pages, so it’s a dream for anime enthusiasts of all types and stripes, regardless of experience level or expertise. BESM is just the start of your next fantasy adventure — and the enthralling elements found in anime and manga will bring your journey to life. The “Must Play” Anime Board Games of 2022 Kamigami Battles: Rise of The Old Ones Kamigami Battles: Rise of the Old Ones is a fantastic deck-building game designed for 2-6 players. As a player, you take on the role of one of the Great Old Ones and recruit Disciples and Warriors to fight alongside you in your battles against the gods trying to conquer your domain. This game has two modes you can play in: Team Match and Free-For-All. In Team Match, players partner up with each other to beat their opponents in battle. In Free-For-All mode, all bets are off — everyone fights each other at once! Whichever mode you choose to play in, your objective remains the same: destroy all of the opposing gods by reducing them to zero energy, or by being the first player to attain 25 energy. This is no easy feat, however. To achieve your goal, you must draw cards from your deck to boost your stats, or attack an enemy god directly. You also have Powers at your disposal. These special abilities give you an edge over other players during battle. Finally, you have Domain Cards, which grant you access to additional abilities based on the various domains they control. The versatility of Rise of the Old Ones paired with its compatibility with other games in the Kamigami Battles franchise make it a must-play for anime and board game enthusiasts alike. And if you want to expand your options within the base game itself, you can pick up some expansion packs to take your gameplay to a new level! Tanto Cuore The final game on our list is Tanto Cuore — another competitive deck-building game that you need to check out. In this game, you play as the Lord of a mansion and hire maids to serve you as you fill your house (card deck), trying to become the most powerful Master of the House. Your objective is to acquire the most Victory Points by acquiring and employing different maid cards. When combined, certain cards give you different strategies that you can use in your gameplay. At every turn, you have the chance to hire more unique and powerful maids, and use their skills to your advantage. But keep an eye on your opponents — they can make your maids sick or give them bad habits, which will lower your Victory Points and hurt your chances of winning the game. When the game reaches its end, the player with the most Victory Points is deemed the ‘perfect master’ and wins the game! Closing Considerations Anime board games combine the best features of anime and traditional board game play. You get the strategy and fun of friendly competition with the compelling and creative elements of anime, all wrapped into one. Regardless of your skill level or anime expertise, there’s an anime board game out there for everyone to enjoy. So if you’re a gaming enthusiast looking for a game that gives you the best of both worlds, then you can’t go wrong with any of the games featured on this list! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Japanime Games Brings Japan To You For over a decade Japanime Games has been dedicated to bringing you the finest games from Japan and beyond! We're committed to uniting the wonderful world of anime with the classic comfort of tabletop games — a fusion that brings the best of Japanese culture right to your table. Become a Japanimaniac to get behind-the-scenes details on all our ongoing projects, our upcoming releases, access to our private discord channels, a monthly gift card for 10% off all purchases, free shipping over $50, one-of-a-kind variant covers, promo packs, and much more! Did you enjoy this article? Good news - it was just Act 1. For more tabletop wisdom, roll a D6: 1-2: The Best Anime Board Games To Play With Friends 3-4: Japanime Games, Crunchyroll & ZU Studios Partner on ZU Tiles and Fruits Basket 5-6: The Domina Anthology 2: Now on Kickstarter!
