Loved Solo Leveling? The Best Anime To Fuel Your Next Binge

If you thought the battle-anime scene was all about tired isekai power fantasies, think again—dungeon-crawlers are where the pace and stakes really kick in these days. Case in point: Solo Leveling, a series that doesn’t just check the action box, it draws outside the lines with wild visuals, ridiculous fight sequences, and a main character who has very few friends for good reason. Basically, if you haven’t already binged Solo Leveling, you’re probably at least seeing people meme about it. There’s something about deadly labyrinths loaded with loot or monsters (or both) that anime fans cannot get enough of. And if you finished Solo Leveling and need a new hit, good news: there are a ton of series that scratch that same dungeon-crawl itch and then go their own weird and wonderful routes.

Here are 12 anime you should absolutely consider if Solo Leveling left you hungry for more underground punishment, tactical showdowns, and—honestly—awkwardly competitive self-improvement:

• Log Horizon (2013): Imagine waking up inside your favorite MMORPG (Elder Tale), except now you’re stuck with 30,000 other people who can’t log out, can’t die, and have to find new meaning fast. Shiroe, our strategic, slightly anti-social lead, figures out how to build alliances, survive dungeons, and basically turns managing a guild into a geopolitical chess match. Instead of relying solely on non-stop action, this one digs into the actual nitty-gritty of community, negotiation, and how you’d really cope if your life was now a server-side fantasy.
• So I'm a Spider, So What? (2021): Let’s be real, most isekai series would make you an overpowered wizard or accidental prince. Not here. One girl gets reincarnated as the weakest spider you could imagine, literally at the bottom of the dungeon’s food chain. She gets zero breaks, but the payoff is watching her grind, evolve, and leapfrog predators using whatever skills she can cobble together—a chaotic, surprisingly strategic power climb. Bonus: there’s a killer underwater dungeon sequence that is not your typical crypt vibes.
• The Dungeon of Black Company (2021): This one’s a little corporate satire, a lot of death-trap escapism. Kinji Ninomiya thinks he’s beaten the system until he gets dumped into a fantasy world, immediately forced to slave away in a sketchy mining company. Here, surviving dungeons is less 'heroic achievement,' more 'avoid destitution.' It’s all about scheming your way out of both dangerous monsters and soul-crushing bureaucracy, which, let’s be honest, might be the scariest boss of all.
• Goblin Slayer (2018): If Solo Leveling’s relentless grind appeals to you but you want something even grittier, Goblin Slayer’s your guy. He’s essentially a dungeon exterminator who obsesses over goblin eradication—monsters most adventurers dismiss as XP fodder until, oops, an entire rookie party bites it horribly. There’s a big focus here on preparation, trauma, and seeing how much hell one determined weirdo can raise beneath the earth, with a surprisingly tactical (and at times, brutal) tone.
• Magi: Adventure of Sinbad (2016): This one’s a prequel to the Magi series and leans hard into the old-school adventure story angle. Sinbad goes from traumatized fisherman’s kid to taking on magical dungeons and their chaos gods—called Djinns. The dungeons are dangerous, intricate, and serve as the backbone for Sinbad’s entire coming-of-age journey. If you want to see high fantasy with a huge scope and a protagonist laser-focused on actual world-changing stakes, give this a shot.
• Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions (2016): Ever thought about what would happen if, instead of powering up fast and breaking the world, you had to scrape together victories with average skills and luck? Meet Grimgar. A group of amnesiacs barely scraping by as adventurers struggle for every monster kill and every meal, sometimes failing miserably and losing friends along the way. It’s slower and more emotional, with an actual sense of risk, so don’t expect instant power-ups—but do expect to care way more than anticipated.
• Shangri-La Frontier (2022): If your thing is VRMMO worlds that are aggressively difficult, full of absurd dungeons, and hosted by a game studio that apparently hates its players, this is right up your alley. Rakurou Hizutome only wants painful gaming challenges, so he jumps into Shangri-La Frontier armed only with a mask and his (often minimal) clothing. It’s fast, explosive, and takes the dungeon/raid format to ridiculous extremes.
• Delicious in Dungeon (2024): What if your only chance of surviving a super-deadly dungeon is to eat what you slay? Yep, this is basically a fantasy cooking show crashed into a dungeon crawler. Laios and his party have one mission: get through the maze, avoid further tragedy, and figure out a way to turn monsters into gourmet dinners. The combat is tight, the monster recipes are unhinged, and it’s heavy on humor. If you like your dungeon-crawls with a bizarre foodie twist, don’t miss it.
• Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (2015): Or, as everyone who’s logged a Crunchyroll account knows it, DanMachi. Bell Cranel dreams of dungeon glory—and romance—but mostly gets a face full of deathtraps, monsters, and near misses. After meeting the goddess Hestia, he gets a much-needed power-up and starts climbing the dungeon ranks. This one mixes RPG-style leveling-up, mythological creatures, and high-stakes adventuring, with a side order of goofy charm.
• That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (2018): Tired salaryman dies, wins the isekai lottery—except, oops, he’s a slime. Turns out, that’s not necessarily bad news: he can absorb his enemies, gain powers, and build a new kingdom from nothing. The series leans hard into evolution, teamwork, and managing a crazy fantasy ecosystem, with action that holds its own against Solo Leveling’s best brawls. Fair warning: this one can actually get you in the feels when you least expect it.

Final word: If you’re stuck waiting for more episodes (or just don’t want the Solo Leveling energy to stop), there’s a whole world of dungeon-dwelling weirdness on offer. Some are all about tactics and anxiety, others just want to make you laugh while they cook a slime-thing’s leg. Either way, you’re not running out of labyrinths to escape from any time soon.

'Each floor of the dungeon presents new dangers and the pursuit of the perfect meal, so it’s either a battle or a banquet.'