Death Billiards - Recommendations

• TV (26 eps)
• 2005 - 2006

Has someone done something to hurt you or the ones you love? Are you seeking revenge? Rumor has it that there’s a website that can service your needs. Titled “Hotline to Hell”, it contains a form that can be accessed only at midnight. Type in a name, and the Hell Girl will carry out your bidding – for a price. For though your appetite for revenge will be satisfied, your soul will also be condemned to hell after you die. But who is the Hell Girl, and does she care whether your revenge is justified? Apparently not, as long as she gets more souls…

• TV (26 eps)
• 2007 - 2008

Kaiji Ito is as pathetic a person as they come; a man who gambles his days away, only winning enough to lose significantly more. He hates himself, is riddled with envy for others, but is ultimately too weak to think of a way out of his massive debts. Then one day he is approached by a strange man who offers him what seems the solution of a lifetime – to take a short journey on a ship called Espoir, during which time he will be given the chance to win more cash than he can dream of in a card game like no other. Ever the desperate, Kaiji takes the gamble of his life; however, the game turns out to be far darker than he expected and the hard lessons pile on thick and fast. Now stuck in a closed world of unsavory characters willing to do anything to destroy him, can Kaiji gather enough courage to outwit them all?

• OVA (3 eps x 23 min)
• 2014 - 2015

The story follows a group of three friends who suddenly awaken in a completely different alternate world. At first they think it's all a dream or a joke, but they soon realize that the only way to survive in this world is to participate and win deadly survival games.

• Web (1 ep x 13 min)
• 2011

• TV (11 eps)
• 2006

The dark and brooding Ayakashi is composed of three horror stories: the narration of a young woman named Oiwa who was abandoned and betrayed by the one she truly loved, leading her to curse all who stood in her way; a story of two star-crossed lovers – a human and a forgotten god – and their struggle to have a future together; and the tale of an evil and malicious demon who is haunting and murdering a family for unknown purposes. Though different in animation style and tone, each story shares a similar theme: the darkness of the human heart.

• Movie (1 ep x 130 min)
• 2010

A boy arrives in purgatory after dying, where he is informed that in his past life he committed a terrible sin, and cannot be reincarnated until he can remember what it was. Until he does, he is placed in the body of a middle school student named Makoto who committed suicide three days ago, and is instructed to live the deceased boy’s life. New Makoto quickly becomes fed up with his host body's situation, as the boy doesn't have any friends, his family life is in shambles, and his mere presence makes everyone around him nervous. But giving up is not an option, and if the spirit ever wants to move on, he must adjust to Makoto's life and understand what happened in the past.

• TV (11 eps)
• 2011

Kimimaro Yoga could use a break. At nineteen years old, he's not only a student at Heisei College of Economics, he's also a part time employee and flat out broke. So when an eerie man offers the boy a special ATM card and an exorbitant amount of cash, Kimimaro gives in to temptation – but there's a catch. In exchange for his good fortune, Kimimaro's very future is put at stake, held as collateral by the Bank of Midas and tied to the amount of yen in his bank account. In addition, he must participate in a special battle every week in the mysterious 'Financial District' – a battle where losing against one's opponent can mean bankruptcy, a fate that carries an unthinkable cost in the normal world...

• Movie (1 ep x 26 min)
• 2004

Near the ruins of an old and abandoned city, there is played a game simply known as "Otokoyo." It is said that when children play this game, they go missing one by one. Some say it is ghosts. Others say it is demons. But for Hikora, one thing is certain: his sister disappeared playing the game and he will do whatever it takes to find her, even if it means playing the game himself. He and seven others will do just that, all for their own reasons, and learn that rumors aren’t always fictitious. Escaping with their lives will become the main concern when this game of hide-and-seek turns deadly.

• TV (12 eps)
• 2017

Hyakkaou Private Academy. An institution for the privileged with a very peculiar curriculum. You see, when you're the sons and daughters of the wealthiest of the wealthy, it's not athletic prowess or book smarts that keep you ahead. It's reading your opponent, the art of the deal. What better way to hone those skills than with a rigorous curriculum of gambling? At Hyakkaou Private Academy, the winners live like kings, and the losers are put through the wringer. But when Yumeko Jabami enrolls, she's gonna teach these kids what a high roller really looks like!

• OVA (1 ep)
• 2010

Yuki, a disaffected middle school boy has no dreams, or goals in his life, in fact, the only thing he does have is his diary. Writing down everything he observes and documenting every thought, the young boy uses it as an outlet for his imagination. One morning however, he wakes up to find his cell phone filled with diary entries for the next ninety days. Thinking nothing of it, he continues his morning until he begins to realise that everything on his phone is rapidly coming to pass, and it isn’t just mere coincidence. Now Yuki suddenly finds himself thrust into a survival game against other future diary owners to become the new Lord of Time.