Real life isn’t always our favorite plotline, so why not try entering a fictional world where characters enter another world? Double escapism!
Isekai is an anime genre where characters are teleported into other worlds. They are usually summoned there, (literally) sucked into the world, or reincarnated there. Commonly entering a mystical and magical world, the characters must learn how to survive in their newfound home.
There is an abundance of Isekai anime to choose from. From MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) type stories to the life of a reincarnated bookworm. Take your pick!
1. Sword Art Online
Last year, anime news site Anime Senpai, released a poll to determine the most popular anime of the decade. More than 1,000 anime lovers responded, and Sword Art Online ranked number one across all animes in general. Surely that must give you a hint of how iconic it is.
The stakes are high for Kazuto Kirigaya after he logs on to a game he can never log out of. How does he cope with the knowledge that death in the game results in death in real life?
Filled with epic fight sequences and captivating plot lines (that resulted in numerous spin offs), Sword Art Online may be considered as one of the pioneer Isekai animes.
2. The Devil is a Part-Timer! (Hataraku Maou-sama!)
This anime is actually an example of a reverse Isekai where a character comes from a mystical realm and is dropped into our version of reality. In the case of The Devil is a Part-Timer!, you may have guessed, it just so happens that the devil is now walking among us.
Fleeing defeat from hero Emilia, Demon Lord Satan escapes to modern-day Japan. Turns out that only having “Demon Lord” on your resume won’t get you many job opportunities. With no magic to help him out, the Devil has to take a part-time job at a fast-food restaurant.
Prepare to laugh and fall in love with the devil himself. Watch the entertaining way that the devil develops relationships with those around him, even with Emilia who comes running after him, landing herself a telemarketer gig in the real world.
3. Log Horizon
30,000 people are transported into the world of a popular game called Elder Tale, and intelligent Shiroe is one of them. Using his wit and knowledge of the game, Shiroe makes it his mission to keep the peace in his new home, Akihabara.
With an overly intelligent main character in the lead, Log Horizon is full of strategies and politics while still being action-packed. This anime shows viewers that brains can beat brawns any day.
4. Overlord
Another Isekai classic may be Overlord. What happens when you have unlimited power after being sucked into the world of a game you love? You gotta conquer it completely of course!
On the night that his favorite game was scheduled to shut down, Momonga stayed on till the last minute. Momonga, now known as his avatar Ainz, was the only person he knows that was sucked into the world of the game.
Journey with Ainz as he travels across this new world and as the non-playing characters around him begin to develop their own consciousness too. In his quest to conquer the entire world of the game, he builds a following and gathers information about any other people who might have been sucked in as well.
5. The Boy and The Beast (Bakemono no Ko)
A quick break from all the anime series, here is an Isekai animated movie. What happens when you introduce a cynical and neglected 9-year-old boy to a grumpy and stubborn beast? Chaotic good, wholesome fun, and maybe even a few tears.
After having a rough 9 years of life, Ren enters the beast world to be trained by Kumatetsu who is hoping to prove himself as a worthy successor to the Lord of the beasts. Both outcasts in their worlds, Ren and Kumatetsu take a while to warm up to one another, but when they do, their bond is unbreakable.
6. The Rising of the Shield Hero (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari)
After finding a particular book in the library, Naofumi Iwatani is one of four people summoned to be warriors tasked with the little mission of saving the world. The 4 heroes each receive a weapon to help them on their journey. With options like a spear, bow, and sword, Naofumi receives the shield and is seen as the weakest of the heroes.
As if being considered the weakest warrior wasn’t enough, Naofumi is quickly framed for a crime and shunned by the entire kingdom. In his banishment, he decides to surpass the other three heroes and become the strongest warrior there is. Despite being an outcast, Naofumi’s kind nature allows him to form a team of his own. Still recovering from being framed, it takes a while for him to trust those around him.
7. No Game No Life
Brother-sister duo, Sora and Shiro are legends in the gaming world. Undefeated even by cheaters, the duo sparks the interest of a god named Tet, the God of Games.
Tet offers the siblings a chance to live in a world where any and all things can be resolved by playing a game. When everything can be decided by a game, some people are bound to cheat to get their way.
The siblings may be legends, but they are newbies in a world unfamiliar to them. Watch the siblings battle it out with veteran residents and pull out all the stops to survive in the world of Disboard.
8. Restaurant to Another World (Isekai Shokudou)
Restaurant to Another World may be considered as a more relaxed Isekai anime. The title says it all. Nekoya is a known restaurant that serves excellent dishes from Monday to Friday. Its dishes are so excellent that it isn’t just humans who come here to eat. Come Saturdays, the customers of this restaurant change as it opens up to another world.
Enter the relaxing (and often funny) ambiance of this restaurant and get to know its human and mystical regulars!
9. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken)
Satoru Mikami has lived his 37 years content with monotony. This monotony is broken the day he is violently attacked on the street. As he lay dying, Satoru hears a voice whose words he can’t decipher.
Satoru finds himself waking up in a new realm, and just like the title says, reincarnated as a slime. Watch as he lives his new slimy life, getting into paranormal antics and discovering the mystical and magical powers his body now possesses. As his powers grow, so do his relationships with those around him. Every character has their own complex story which unfolds gracefully.
10. Ascendance of a Bookworm (Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen)
Another Isekai with a more down-to-earth storyline, Ascendance of a Bookworm follows Urano Motosu who – yup, you guessed it—is a total bookworm. Urano loves reading so much that as she lay dying after a horrendous accident, her one wish was to be able to read more books.
It seems like someone heard her wish. Urano wakes up in a medieval world as a simple girl named Myne, her love for books just as strong. Despite her second life, Myne’s social status and new world make it hard for her to gain access to books that are considered rare and expensive.
But Myne is a devoted bookworm, so if she can’t get access to books then maybe she’ll just have to make her own.
11. Drifters
Do the names Toyohisa Shimazu, Nobunaga Oda, and Yoichi Suketaka Nasu ring a bell? If you’re a history buff you might enjoy Drifters. It takes some iconic characters from history and summons them together in a world where they are either reincarnated as “Drifters” or “Ends”.
Main Toyohisa Shimazu is reincarnated as a Drifter, a part of the resistance hoping to end the tyrannical rule of the Ends. This Isekai is jam-packed with action and epic battles.
12. Saga of Tanya the Evil (Youjo Senki)
Tanya Degurechaff is a brutal soldier rising through the ranks of an army in a war-torn world. But little do people know that she used to be a man working in HR as someone who (unforgivingly) fired people. He was so callous that he was pushed to his death by someone he unsympathetically fired.
Tanya came face to face with a god known as Being X. Even in the face of a literal god, Tanya refused to believe in him and his existence. This didn’t please Being X one bit, so he decided to reincarnate Tanya in an orphanage in the middle of a battlefield in the hopes that she would have to ask for the help of Being X.
Not only did Tanya refuse to ask for Being X’s help, but she did it with style. With her magical skills and knowledge of the prior World Wars, Tanya becomes an influential and ruthless military leader who brings in the rise of an empire.
13. Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World (Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu)
#2 on Anime Senpai’s best anime of the decade poll, Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World is one more classic Isekai anime. Out of nowhere, Subaru Natsuki is transported into another world filled with mythical creatures and magic. But this isn’t even the weirdest part…
While exploring his new home, Subaru is attacked, but lucky for him someone comes to save the day – Satella. Hoping to repay his savior, Subaru tries to help her out on her quest. Less lucky for him is the fact that they are brutally murdered in the process.
Instead of waking up in yet another world or in the afterlife, Subaru finds himself reliving the same day over and over again. Well, it’s a good thing that there is some type of respawn system set in this new world because Subaru has a habit of… dying.
14. Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest (Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou)
Hajime Nagumo and his entire class are summoned into another world. Here, they are each given a magical power to help them survive and save all of mankind. Hajime receives the power of transmutation.
Compared to his classmates, Hajime’s power is seen as weak and he is quickly abandoned by his class, left to fend for himself in a dangerous labyrinth. This Isekai anime is another example of brains beats brawns as Hajime hones his power in the labyrinth to make it a formidable force.
15. In Another World with my Smartphone (Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni)
When Touya Mochizuki is accidentally struck by lightning, the god that made that mistake grants him the chance to live in another world and one other wish Touya has. Touya’s wish? To enter his new home with his smartphone.
Smartphone in hand, Touya explores his new world. He finds anything he needs with the help of his trusty phone and a more magical and durable body bestowed upon him by the god—which allows him to magically keep his phone charged.
Bonus:
16. Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi)
An Isekai animated movie that deserves its own honorable mention is Spirited Away, one of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s iconic classics.
On the way to her new home, Chihiro and her family stumble upon an abandoned amusement park. One thing leads to another and suddenly her parents are transformed into pigs and Chihiro has to work in a bathhouse for the spirits to earn her keep and hopefully save her parents before they are served as a main course.
If you haven’t seen this stunning film, now is probably the time!
These are only a few of the many Isekai anime existing out there. When reality gets tough, why not try visiting an alternate one? But remember that these worlds aren’t problem-free either.
Which world would you want to be transported to? Do you think you’d be able to survive?
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