This list has been updated to include more anime series with a card game focus. Updated by Sage Ashford on July 25th, 2023: Anime has always been about promoting merchandise, so it isn't surprising that there are tons of anime with card games. While this genre is supposedly aimed at children, they still have stories everyone can enjoy. Considering many of the most popular card game anime aired on channels like Cartoon Network, they were likely how many kids were first exposed to anime. Some anime inspired trading cards, such as Pokémon, but others featured a card game essential to the story itself, like in Yu-Gi-Oh!Ĭard game anime series eventually released actual trading cards, allowing fans to collect cards and play the game their favorite characters played. Anime comes in many genres, delivering superheroes in My Hero Academia, horror in Death Note, and even cooking in Food Wars!In the 2000s, anime based on trading card games were all the rage.
