HBO’s live-action adaptation of the popular video game, The Last of Us has taken the internet to storm in the past few weeks. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in the lead role are winning the hearts of viewers all over the globe. While gamers are enjoying the show, anime fanatics have also fallen in love with the storyline resulting in the increased demand for anime like The Last of Us.

For those who’re new to this franchise, The Last of Us is set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a mutant Cordyceps fungus, which turns humans into mindless aggressive creatures known as the Infected. The series follows Joel Miller, a contrabandist tasked with smuggling and protecting the 14-year-old Ellie Williams, who is stated to be the last key to humanity’s survival.

And, in today’s article, we’ll take a look at some similar survival-themed anime like The Last of Us which involves mindless, undead, flesh-eating monsters that lurk in the shadows. So, without any further ado let’s get started.

Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack

From the supernatural horror universe of Junji Ito, Gyo is one of the most critically acclaimed anime films produced by Ufotable. The film follows Kaori Sawahara, a college student whose delightful excursion to Tokyo became a never-ending nightmare after the sea creatures emerged to the surface with their newly generated legs and started wreaking havoc.

Caught up in this onslaught, Kaori goes on a quest to find her missing boyfriend meanwhile surviving this pandemic. The only difference between Gyo and Last of Us is that instead of human corpses, the protagonists have to control the rampaging caused by incredibly stinky undead fish that are infected by a disease that humans can also contract.

God Eater

God Eater deserves to be called an “anime like The Last of Us” in many aspects. First, it’s based on an action role-playing video game and second, the story takes place in the dystopian future of 2071 where humanity has been pushed to the brink of extinction after the emergence of Aragami, vicious man-eating creatures.

The only individuals who are humanity’s last hope are the God Eaters, a special class of elite humans who’re infused with powerful oracle cells. The oracle cells grant these individuals the ability to wield God’s Arcs which kills the Aragami. Just like Ellie and Joel, these God Eaters must save the world.

Seoul Station

As an anime lover, you would be surprised to know that despite not being so popular Seoul Station serves as the prequel to one of the most successful Korean films in recent years – Train to Busan. The animated film follows the adventure of a young woman who tries to survive after downtown Seoul gets overrun by zombies.

With zombies lurking on every corner, the three main characters who now find themselves trapped at the Seoul Station must find a way to survive. This zombie apocalypse-themed series drives the world to chaos and leaves those who remained unaffected by the virus to fight for their lives.

Is This A Zombie?

While searching for anime like The Last of Us, there’s no room for comic relief but “Is this a Zombie?” takes a slightly contrary approach in this genre. The series revolves around 16-year-old Ayumu Aikawa, who is tragically murdered by a serial killer. However, then an adorable magical girl necromancer resurrects him, but he turns into an immortal zombie.

While on the hunt for the man who took his life, Ayumu comes across a strange girl wielding a chainsaw. She seeks to erase Ayumu’s memories of her, but he ends up absorbing her magic instead. The zombified Ayumu must now take up the role of a Megalo hunter – the beasts that roam the world and are a threat to mankind.

Seraph of the End

Seraph of the End is a post-apocalyptic dark fantasy anime by Wit Studio which premiered in 2015. The series is written by Takaya Kagami and is set in a world that allegedly comes to an end at the hands of a “human-made” virus, ravaging the global populace and leaving only children under the age of thirteen untouched.

It is at this time that vampires emerge from the recesses of the earth, likely followed by age-old horrors of the dark thought only to be a myth. A young man named Yuichiro Hyakuya joins a vampire extermination unit to avenge the deaths of his orphaned family and reclaim his childhood best friend Mikaela from the vampires.

Hellsing Ultimate

The list of zombie or survival-themed anime like The Last of Us is incomplete without the mention of the classic dark shōnen series, Hellsing Ultimate. Featuring one of the most talented marksmen in anime verse, Alucard, the series revolves around the Hellsing organization whose main goal is to control the number of supernatural monsters plaguing England.

Led by Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, the organization digs deeper into the case study of the Nazi remnants called “Millenium” that threatens the safety of England. With the help of the original and most powerful vampire Alucard, the faction goes into an all-out war to protect England from a war-crazed SS-Major who seeks to start an eternal war with his vampire army.

Tokko

The 2006 released anime television series, Tokko follows the story of Shindo Ranmaru who finally meets the girl he has been seeing in his dreams on the day of his graduation from the police academy. The girl, Rokujo Sakura, turns out to be a member of a secret group known as Tokko – Special Public Safety Task Force.

As Shindo joins the group and seeks vengeance against his parents’ killers, bottomless pits start to appear all over Japan. And what follows is a wave of monstrous zombies flooding the streets. In order to survive, mankind must defend against this deadly and unstoppable menace.

Kabaneri of the Fortress

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is set during the Industrial Revolution of the Samurai age when a mysterious virus infected the inhabitants of Hinomoto island causing gruesome creatures to appear and begin to feed on human flesh. Any human bitten by one of these creatures known as “Kabane”, will become one of them.

Humanity now resides in fortified stations to protect themselves from the Kabane. Ikoma, a young man eager to save mankind from this plague tries to save mankind with his new invention. While living behind an enormous wall, mankind’s fight against these creatures is filled with action and horror-induced sequences which makes it one of the best anime like The Last of Us.

Empire of Corpses

Set in an alternate 18th-century Britain, the series revolves around Victor Frankenstein’s revolutionary work which enabled mankind to reanimate corpses. Humanity can now program the living dead and use them as laborers who are set to perform various tasks in several occupations. But there’s one flaw of this reanimation, the dead are awoken without a soul.

John Watson, a medical student, is later tasked by the British government to obtain Frankenstein’s notes and learn the secrets behind reanimating a corpse with a soul. Empire of Corpses deals with the “living dead” situation very differently unlike The Last of Us which works on the concept of Cordyceps’ takeover of the human mind.

Highschool of the Dead

One of the best-known zombie anime to date, Highschool of the Dead is a supernatural ecchi horror series packed with action and gore. Facing the apocalypse and chaos caused by a sudden zombie outbreak, a group of students is forced to run and fight off the flesh-eating monsters if they are to survive.

Produced by Madhouse, the story revolves around teenagers Takashi Komuro and Rei Miyamoto as they attempt to adapt to the rapidly collapsing society around them. Obligatory fan service in a do-or-die situation sounds a bit horrendous but for fans of guns, busty women, and zombie apocalypses, this title should be more than up their alley.

Which one of the following survival-themed zombie anime like The Last of Us is your favorite? Feel free to comment down your thoughts and make sure to recommend some other anime like the ones listed above, also don’t forget to share this article with your fellow otaku friends.

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