Anirban Bhattacharya
‘The Asterisk War’ is an anime which revolves around magic and takes place in a high school setting. It is extremely entertaining and pulls fans from crowds who love harem and ecchi stuff. The plot of the anime is really interesting: Invertia is a catastrophic event which disrupted the power balance of the world. A faction by the name of Integrated Enterprise Foundation now ranks among the top groups. Also, it seems that after the incident, a new breed of humans have come to light. They have superior physical capabilities and people start calling them Genestella. Seidoukan Academy is one of the six most elite schools that train the Genestella to control their powers. The students then face-off against each other in duels, called Festas.
Ayato Amagiri is a teenage Genestella who is transferred to the prestigious Seidoukan Academy. He tries to return a lost handkerchief to a girl but ends up seeing her changing, which makes her challenge him to a duel. But Ayato has no interest in Festa. Actually, no one knows what he is here for or what is his agenda. The series has 2 seasons, each having 12 episodes. If you’re looking for shows that are stylistically and thematically similar to this one, then we’ve got you covered. Here’s the list of best anime similar to ‘The Asterisk War’ that are our recommendations. You can watch several of these anime like ‘The Asterisk War’ on Netflix, Crunchyroll or Hulu.
5. Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry (2015)
‘Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry’ has all the fantasy and magic stuff in a high school setting that we get to see in ‘The Asterisk War’. The show is also a harem, ecchi comedy and has a sort of similar premise to ‘The Asterisk War’. Even the starting set-up is the same in both the shows. Visually, ‘Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry’ is quite good which is kind of a requirement in these kinds of anime. The series has a total of 12 episodes with each episode being 23 minutes in length.
The anime revolves around humans who have special abilities to create weapons using their souls. These weapons are quite powerful and are useful for protecting humans. These special people are called Blazers. Obviously, to make sure that the Blazers learn how to utilize their powers correctly and to the full extent, there’s an academy, named Hagun Academy. The purpose of the academy is to take in young Blazers and train them to become Mage-Knights. One of the students in this academy is Ikki Kurogane. Everyone deems him a failure and for a very solid reason. He is the only F-rated Blazer (and by F I don’t mean fantastic). As if life already isn’t worse, Ikki walks in on a naked Stella Vermillion. Stella is one of the strongest Blazers and she challenges him to a duel, The loser will have to become the slave of the winner. Well, we can guess the rest of it pretty much, right?
4. The Irregular at Magic High School (2014)
Again we have a magic-themed anime taking place in a high school setting. This is a really entertaining anime and has lots of similarities with ‘The Asterisk War’. Both anime take place in a high school setting where the male lead is sort of a misfit. The male protagonist of ‘The Irregular at Magic High School’ is kind of like the protagonist of ‘Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry’ because they are both deemed as a failure because of their performances. Like ‘The Asterisk War’, ‘The Irregular at Magic High School’ has plenty of action and some romance too though you might not get any ecchi or harem content.
Tatsuya and Miyuki Siba are siblings and they appear for the entrance exam for the First High School, an academy which trains its students in magic. Magic that people have long thought to be the stuff of legends and fairy tales is now a commonplace technology and First High School is the place which trains youngsters to be proficient in using this technology. Based on the scores of their entrance exams, the students are divided into two groups. The high scorers go into the first group, which is the Bloomers, while the low scorers go to the Weeds group. Miyuki is excellent and passes with flying colors but Tatsuya ends up in the Weeds. But even if his practical scores are low, Tatsuya is technically proficient and very adept at physical combat. He also has unorthodox magic techniques. Will he be able to make a space for himself in this academy?
3. Seireitsukai no Blade Dance (2014)
A male protagonist ending up in a place full of pretty girls and having a sort of harem and ecchi adventure that started in an awkward way. Yeah, that’s what this anime is all about. Well, there’s magic and supernatural stuff too, all in a high school setting. Also, we have a sort of battle royale coming up and our male protagonist has to participate even though he does not want to. So, yeah if you are a fan of ‘The Asterisk War’, then there is definitely something in this for you.
Areisha Spirit Academy is a prestigious academy. The goal of this academy is to train the holy shrine princesses to become elementalists. They need to be able to form contracts with spirits and make them their slaves so that they can participate in battles against each other. Basically, this has been the privilege of females only for many years but of course, we found a man who can do these things too. The guy’s name is Kamito Kazehaya, the first male in 1000 years who is able to form contracts with spirits. But the truth is that he stole that power from a girl, Claire Rouge. Now, the headmaster of the academy has not only forced Kamito to join the academy but also to take part in the battle which is supposed to take place in two months. As if it was not enough, Claire has been nagging him to form a spirit contract with her. Will Kamito be ready in time for the battle?
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2. IS: Infinite Stratos (2011)
If you were one of those people who after watching ‘The Asterisk War’ thought — wouldn’t it be cool if the show had some mecha and more pretty girls? Well, to you I say, though there isn’t any mecha version of ‘The Asterisk War’, there is another anime similar to it which has mecha elements — ‘IS: Infinite Stratos’. This anime has sci-fi stuff, action, ecchi and harem stuff, and lots of comedy that will keep you entertained throughout. This is one of those anime which you can watch to just chill out. There are a total of 12 episodes, with each being 24 minutes in length.
Japan has been able to create one of the most powerful military weapons, Infinite Stratos. These mecha are so powerful that an international treaty was signed where it was agreed upon that these will not be used on the battlefield. These suits can only be piloted by women and yes, you guessed it: turns out, there’s a guy who can do this stuff too. He is Ichika Orimura, a 15-year-old boy. Due to his ability, he is forced to join the Infinite Stratos School, which is an all-female school that trains the students to become successful Infinite Stratos Pilot. It seems Ichika is in for a big adventure in this new academy, which will be laced with ecchi and harem moments.
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1. Zero no Tsukaima (2006)
‘Zero no Tsukaima’ is a popular magic, fantasy anime. If you like harem comedies mixed with lots of ecchi moments, then this anime should definitely be on your watch-list. The predicament of the protagonist is quite similar to the protagonist in ‘The Asterisk War’. Both of them get into a troublesome situation due to the female lead and now has to do stuff that they never planned on doing. As mentioned above, this anime also has magic and several ecchi moments.
‘Zero no Tsukaima’ takes place in a high school, named Tristain Academy, which is a place where magicians train themselves to become better. Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, the female protagonist of the anime, is a student at Tristain. She is arrogant, selfish, and self-absorbed. But she does not have any qualities to back that kind of attitude, and she cannot cast magic spells properly. This is the reason why her nickname is ‘Louise the Zero’. So when an explosion occurs as an aftermath of her casting a summoning spell, everyone seems to conclude it as another one of her failures. But it seems that the spell worked and a human named Saito Hirata appears. Now, he is Louise’s familiar and the latter starts treating him like a slave, making him do all her work. But it seems Hirata is not just a normal human as he bears the mark of Gandalfr, one of the most powerful familiars. So there might be more to Louise’s magic too. This is a really entertaining anime that I’d highly recommend to fans of ‘The Asterisk War’.
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