Summary
Reality TVand animeboth have one thing in common: They are mediums of television that many across the world watch torelax and unwind. Other than that, it’s hard to really say they are similar, but, oftentimes, the two mediums can share aspects.
The very same competitions, slice-of-life viewing, and dramatic relationships that make reality TV so entertaining are the same factors that can often be found in a number of different anime in one way or another. Some anime borrow concepts directly from reality TV, while others have subtle parallels that match the same energy of live-action content. Here are fiveanime that have reality TV-like themes in them.
Blue Lockis a sports animewhere some aspects mirror the common type of physical-challenge-based reality TV competitions, such asPhysical 100,a show where ‘One hundred contestants in top physical shape compete in a series of grueling challenges to claim the honor, and cash reward, as the last one standing’. InBlue Lock, the main characters compete in a football competition where high school athletes battle it out to get a chance to be featured in a future Japanese World Cup squad.
It’s a grueling program these athletes enter, which has the end goal of creating the best striker in the world. The competition is watched by onlookers, including those who work for football federations and entities in and outside of Japan. The contestants are viewed from their training exercises to their hyper-competitive matches.
Blue Lockalso has an entertainingcast of charactersbefitting a reality TV show where competition is key. From those with giant egos to those with unending ambition to those with intense willpower to the crazy, violent competitors and the ones who seem like the physical embodiment of determination itself.Blue Lockhas all the intrigue of an athletic televised contest.
Grand Blue Dreaming
Ahighly humorous animewhich, unfortunately, has only had twelve episodes adapted from the manga so far.Grand Blueis another athletics-based anime, though of a very different flavor. The athletes here are not in a competition, nor do they even compete in their sport in general, instead spending most of their time partying and going on silly misadventures.
Grand Bluefollows the lives of college students on the Izu Peninsula, where our main characters are part of the university’s diving club, but as mentioned before, they hardly do any actual diving. From the goofball, the pranksters, and the comedic straight men,Grand Bluehas all the archetypes of aslice of life‘keeping up with’ type of reality TV show.
Each episode is aBig Brother-type day in the life story, looking into the world of these students, most of whom live together under the same roof, and all of whom are constantly getting into amusing conflicts with each other. With lectures, dates, and the rare beautiful diving session, there’s a lot to see when it comes to reality TV-style people-watching throughoutGrand Blue Dreaming.
Danganronpa: The Animation
Definitely the deadliest entry on this list,Danganronpais a televisedgame of despair, and definitely the last reality-TV style anime that any sane person would want to be a part of. Originally a video game in the murder mystery visual novel genre,Danganronpatells a story that starts with a group of students entering a prestigious high school.
Hope’s Peak Academy, which, aside from its reserve students and lucky lottery winners, typically enrolls those who are the most talented people in their field of expertise. These are known as ‘Ultimates’ or ‘Super High School Level’ athletes, writers, detectives and more. Unfortunately for these Ultimates, and one ‘lucky’ student, the school is not what it seems. They are trapped in the building by the mechanical and maniacal bear Monokuma, and not allowed to leave. The only way to escape is to kill another one of the students and then, when the class trial comes around, get away with the crime without getting caught. That is how they win, either get away with murder, or catch every single murderer in a series of class trials.
It is revealed later in the series that these killings and class trials are televised to the rest of the world, allowing them to wallow in the on-screen despair that matchestheir dystopian world.
Tomodachi Game
An anime that had all the markings of the typical death game, much likeSquid Game,except, unlikeSquid Game, the contestants are not likely to lose their life during most of theTomodachi Game. Instead, they will most likely lose their livelihood, as the game being played by those with life-threatening debt who want to free themselves from it and pass it on to other unfortunate competitors.
A safer but arguably just as cruel game where friends are pitted against each other in a series of physically-taxing and manipulative challenge rounds, similar to that shown in theLiar Gamemanga. Like any entertaining yet cruel fictional competition, theTomodachi Gameis televised in-universe, with fans sending messages and emojis that the host can showcase, as if it was a live stream.
Tomodachi Game,and its eccentric main character with a troubled past, will give new viewers a spectacle ofclever tricks and manipulativemind games as the competition goes on. These mind games, and the promise of erased debt and great wealth, make for highly intriguing viewing, both for fans ofTomodachi Gamein-universe and for viewers in the real world.
1Starship Operators
Reality TV To The Stars
A less popular example than most of the entries on this list, but perhaps the most fitting of all. InStarship Operators, the story follows the 73rd class of the Defense University of a planet called Kibi which, unfortunately, has been conquered by an entity known as the Henrietta Alliance of Planetary Nations. The cadet protagonists need to save their home planet, and require some way to pay for their endeavors. This leads to what is known as the Galaxy Network, to fund their efforts in exchange for live reality TV broadcasts.
The military science-fiction adventures of these cadets and their starships are being broadcast and watched as if it were reality TV. It is one of the most interesting applications of a space-faring plot ever put on the small screen in anime. Why watch a group of celebrities getting into petty conflicts with each other in a house when, instead, a group of space cadets tackling real planetary-level conflicts from inside a spaceship is also available for viewing?
With characters like Executive Officer Sinon Kouzuki and Commanding Officer Cisca Kanzaki, Starship Operators offers the type of reality viewing most reality TV-esque shows do not tackle. The reality of life, death, and the cosmos.
