10 Isekai Anime that are not Trash
If there’s one anime genre that has blown up, it’s isekai.
Because when you really think about it, action, comedy, thriller, romance, these are all things you can get from Hollywood. But isekai seems to be the most present from our creative friends in Japan.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it literally means “transported into a different world”, and is usually inspired by MMORPGs and fantasy worlds.
And for this list we’re going to count down our top isekai anime that are definitely worth watching.
10. Sword Art Online
Sword Art Online feels like the pioneer in this genre, as it absolutely blew up after only a few episodes. Its reputation has gone down as people like to point out how bland and uninspired the main protagonist(Kirito Christ) is. But I think the show is still a lot of fun. The animation is superb, the fights are pretty hyped, it had one of the best pilot episodes, and some of the plot lines are rather interesting.
9. Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest
As the title might suggest, this is a zero to hero story. It all starts when our protagonist Hajime and his class are transported into a fantasy world with the mission of saving the world.
Everyone gets really strong combat powers except our boy Hajime, who ends up with a niche transmutation power. His class quickly screws him over and he’s left in a labyrinth to fight for himself.
He uses his wits to make that niche power of his even more powerful, and to eventually become the strongest in the world. The show falls under guilty pleasure as it might not have the best writing ever, but man is it entertaining.
8. Log Horizon
As far as MMORPGs are concerned, I think no other isekai has captured its essence quite like Log Horizon. This is because in Log Horizon there aren’t any overpowered protagonists who defeat foes with one strike and never get harmed. The world actually functions as an MMORPG would. There are respawn points, raids, mob spawns, guilds, builds, classes, and fighting isn’t about raw power. But rather strategy, juggling agro, team comps, positioning etc.
Even if you haven’t sunk half a decade into World of Warcraft or a similar game, you’ll still be able to appreciate how realistic this show is in portraying that kind of a world.
7. The Ambition of Oda Nobuna
You don’t often hear the words “cute girls” and “historical battlefields” uttered in the same sentence.
But hey, that’s what anime is here for.
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna follows a guy named Yoshiharu who gets sent back in time. However, he quickly notices that this timeline of Japanese history has a few key differences, one of which being that all the warlords are cute girls now. So he uses his knowledge of history, which he got from a video game of course, to predict battles and aid best girl Oda Nobuna in her conquest of conquering Japan.
6. The Devil is a Part-Timer!
The Devil is a Part-Timer can be seen as the reverse isekai.
This is because in isekai shows a person from the “normal” world gets transported into a video game or a fantasy world. However this time around, literal Satan, his right-hand man, and fabled heroes get transported into modern day Japan.
Their magic is basically non-existent. And they soon have to face their strongest foe yet: capitalism and the minimum wage.
The show is a comedy and delivers on that front continuously from episode to episode, so I highly recommend giving it a watch if you haven’t already.
5. Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious
Isekai titles really just get to the point, don’t they?
So yeah, the protagonist is extremely overpowered but is really cautious, how does that work as a plot hook? Extremely well actually. The humor is very absurd, like the protagonist blowing up an entire village just because he wanted to make sure that he properly killed that level 1 slime, and very unpredictable.
The secondary protagonist also has that Aqua vibe, and her voice actress is just top tier. Trust me, you will binge the show and leave with no regrets.
4. The Rising of the Shield Hero
In The Rising of the Shield Hero we see a man take an L from life, and then build himself up to power.
Our protagonist, Naofumi, is transported into a different world alongside three other people and each is given a weapon.
Naofumi gets the short end of the stick and gets stuck with the shield. The stick gets even shorter when he’s quickly outcast by the entire kingdom. So we watch as he forms a rag-tag team of companions, who may or may not be slaves, and tries to help out the people around him while simultaneously giving the king the middle finger. It truly is a sight to behold.
3. KonoSuba
As far as comedies go, KonoSuba is one of my all-time favorites.
Plot wise it’s pretty standard, with a guy dying, meeting a goddess who offers to resurrect him in a different world, so he ends up trolling the system and taking her along with him, etc. However, the characters are anything but standard. The male lead has no moral code whatsoever and will absolutely drop kick a woman in the name of equality. The goddess is anything but godly. Their tank is a pervert, and their mage is a one-pump-chump with a taste for destruction.
The show is hilarious and has my sincere approval.
2. Re: Zero
It’s dark as hell and incredibly addicting. It doesn’t do anything too out of the ordinary plot-wise: a dude just gets transported into an MMORPG-esque world and tries to live his life. The main difference is that here there’s a respawn system in place for our soon-to-be mentally tortured protagonist.
When he dies, he just gets yanked back to a certain safe-point. And boy does he die a lot.
It’s somewhat similar to what Log Horizon did, only here — the mental trauma and gore are completely maxed out.
1. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
It’s about a dude who gets reincarnated as a slime. Surprise, right?
However, he soon becomes overpowered as he consumes a dragon and basically scales infinitely. He then just builds a village and does things village leaders have to do. You know, goes to peace treaties, protects his citizens, seeks outside investment. It all sounds so typical, and yet the show just nails every point so well that you binge the show in a day and remember it fondly ever a year after.
Bonus : Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?
I’m going to put this here for that one person who just really likes trash-isekai, as this is the absolute king of trash-isekai in my opinion.
That’s right, it’s your normal isekai formula, only the main duo consists of a boy and his mommy who loves him very much. If you turn your brain off and don’t think about the implications this show has, it’s actually pretty fun. So there you go.
