I’m not too enthused with isekai as a concept, as I typically think of them as “fantasy with extra steps”, but what anime are good because it is an isekai?
You must log in or # to comment.
Late answer but Re:Zero probably fits. I don’t think it’s impossible, but I’m not sure how I’d make the story work without the isekai element.
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! is actually hilarious and also nice. Main character isekais into the body of the main antagonist of a romance game, but years before the game starts. She realizes that there’s only one option to survive from the game outcomes, and that’s that she’s banished to a faraway island.
So she takes up farming. As a fantasy noble of high society.
She’s an air head, but a nice person, and by being nice to the characters they completely change from brooding, broken people to just nice folks, and she … Still thinks she’s in danger. Even though it’s obvious that she’s going to be fine and everyone loves and is in love with her.
It’s a fun comedy, and it’s not a power fantasy or basically saying “Japan is great eat our food”, and the fact she’s from another world is actually important instead of ignored after episode 1.
I liked Inuyasha.
Ascendance of a Bookworm was already mentioned. Fpr all the reasons ppl in other comments stated, it’s a very cozy and interesting watch.
I’ll add Log Horizon to this list.
- it has “gameplay” that actually makes sense
- much better world building And something i rarely see in isekais: the players realize a need for society and there’s politics and stuff going on, how to build a town council, how to treat NPCs etc.
Some of the Isekai I thought was more unique and haven’t been mentioned here already.
So I’m a spider so what?
The Isekai drives the main plot for this one, a class is reincarnated into another world. The anime mainly follows one of the characters who has been turned into a spider monster but also flips to some of the other students who are humans and their teacher who is trying to round them all up to protect them.
The Isekai point is more important later on in the Light Novels (after the anime) as you learn more about the world, what the teacher has been doing over the years and the motives of the most powerful people in the world. If the reincarnations were not introduced into the world it would have gone differently.
No longer allowed in another world
This wasn’t an anime I found particular interesting but I feel it is unique. It follows a writer who has been reincarnated into a world that has lots of other reincarnations already. He ends up using his skills to get rid of reincarnations that are causing havoc on the world.
Another similar anime is The Executioner and her way of life
Miss Kobayashis dragon maid
Reverse Isekai? Dragons coming to earth and living as humans.
A fun anime that shouldn’t be taken serious but is entertaining.
Saving 80000 gold in another world for retirement
What would you do if you had the ability to travel between worlds?
Use it to try and make enough gold that you can retire?
With out the Isekai / travelling between world aspect it just wouldn’t work.
Uncle from another world
The story is uncle telling stories from his time in another world.
Without the Isekai aspect is just an uncle telling his poor nephew his coma dreams.
I wanted to like Spider but the poor CG took it out of me. Might check some of these other ones out though!
Eminance in Shadow.
Its fucking stupid.
Its the funniest thing I’ve yet watched.
Yes, but I’ll put in the caveat “the manga is even better than the anime”. No idea where the original light novel stands; I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.
No like its not even close. The anime wasnt even funny imho. It had good moments, sure but it was a snoozefest while the manga is jokes on jokes and jokes that are even better than in the anime
Its so tongue in cheek and it knows what its doing that its just great to watch.
Good because it is an isekai? It’s when they address the isekai-ed character’s previous life and make it an actual plot point.
It’s probably no coincidence that some of these isekais are all-time favourites of anime fans:
- Mushoku Tensei / Jobless Reincarnation
- Re:Zero
- Saga of Tanya the Evil
- Konosuba (plot point not adapted into anime yet; not much of a spoiler on second thoughts)
Personal favourite:
- Isekai Office Worker (actively worked on getting back to original world)
I really couldn’t stomach Tanya. I couldn’t tell if it was a romanticization of fascism or a condemnation of it. I might be edgy, and I might be an atheist, but I’m not THAT kind of edgy atheist.
You’re not supposed to like Tanya, but also it’s not about fascism. The mechanics of the actual fighting are closer to WWII, but for the most part this is the more “everybody here sucks” framing of WWI. That said the second season does have plenty of condemnation for fantasy Germany; it’s just not condemnation of fascism per se.
I’m pretty sure it’s a condemnation of fascism and war in general, the most recent season especially.
The war stalls and everything turns to shit basically.
Not only that, Tanya just wants the war to end so she can live off a cushy officer job. She’s a pragmatist, she has no romance for fighting.
She’s still fucking evil as the title aptly points out, but the politics in the series gets complicated
Is Animal Farm a romanticization or condemnation?
Personally, I thought the title - Saga of Tanya the Evil - made it pretty clear.
It was technically trying to have ww2 styling and decorations but keeping it politically neutral with more a ww1 empire fighting empire European land war with Geneva convention being obeyed. So they’re ignoring the fascist part or trying to downplay it.
I am confused. Aren’t there 3 seasons of Konosuba with 4th being announced?
The anime hasn’t reach the point where the fact that Kazuma was isekaied was brought up.
But noted; edited original comment for clarity.
spoiler
Later on, Kazuma
- revealed that he was not from that world
- had to choose between staying in that world and returning to his original world
(in hindsight, it’s not really as impactful as, say, Mushoku Tensei, but it is still something 🤷)
You’re confusing me even more with this. It’s clearly shown in the very first episode and Aqua (and Iris) know it the entire time.
Why add spoilers and why make the fact special? Do you count an anime as isekai only when the MC tells it to the entire cast?
i like log horizon a lot, it’s a series where all the people playing an mmo are transported to a world similar to it
Notable for being one of the only isekai where the characters seem to care about getting back to their own world.
I like “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime” its the anime equivalent of a survival crafting game with cheat codes. Not a lot of depth but fun watch.
I have a huge soft spot for Slime Time because while I recognize it’s trashy and extremely heavy on the power fantasy, there’s a sense of altruism – that is, the main goal of the MC is just wanting to make life better for the monsters whether they’re his subjects or not – that makes it more enjoyable than other isekai I’ve been introduced to. The early arcs around Shizu and then the Orc Disaster Geld were so touching that they made me cry.
Escaflowne: Wouldn’t work quite as well without Hitomi’s decision at the end of which world she really belongs in.
The Twelve Kingdoms: Portions of the plot wouldn’t work without the bit with new arrivals not understanding the language and culture.
(Basically, if it predated the coining of the term “isekai” and has stood the test of time well enough that people still remember it, it’s probably good.)
There are also some shows whose plot depends on being able to invert part of the trope, like Eminence in Shadow, or, for the dark and serious version, Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road/The Executioner and Her Way of Life (although I think that one was too tragic and unfinished for most people’s tastes).
I’ll add “Now and Then, Here and There” to those two classics. Not an easy watch, but worth it.
Ribdiculous Reincarnation is just so zany it’s good and the entire concept is basically poking fun at Isekai.
That show was absolutely ribdiculous, and they did not run out of crazy ideas until the end. Also that they switched to multiple animation styles kept me watching. And the twist at the end was actually nice. My favourite show this year.
When it’s good, it’s my second favorite genre, so I consume a lot of it. Sadly, it’s mostly bad. Most of the time, it’s just a crutch for the author to explain the world to the reader/watcher in modern terms and as blatant self-insert pandering. It’s very seldom that the isekai aspect has actual ramifications on the plot. Most isekai would just as well work as a fantasy where the main character just so happens to be born with a special power. The Earth knowledge of most MC’s doesn’t really play into the narrative.
As for good examples, I would recommend Ascendance of a Bookworm. I have problems with the anime adaptation (a whole different can of worms, and once I start, I won’t stop again), but it’s the opposite of a power fantasy (she nearly dies from climbing a flight of stairs), and her modern-day knowledge is her only superpower and her motivation. Without her Earth knowledge, she wouldn’t have the motivation that drives the entire plot, and she wouldn’t have the means to rise above her station.
A lot of great suggestions already.
I’ll add release that witch. It’s chinese and newish. What I enjoyed is that it isn’t a power fantasy (Mc has no powers). He was an engineer so he uses his knowledge to do things like create cement. They keep it realistic in a fantasy setting, so they use magic to heat it up to the right temperature and all that.
It’s full of little details like that, I don’t want to spoil too much of it. It’s political as well.
it isn’t a power fantasy
It’s not so blatant early on, but it absolute is.
I think it’s zero “power fantasy”, more of an “empire building fantasy”, right up to halfway of the web novel where the tone starts to change gradually.
Grimgar was really good. I think ReZero was also really good about exploring what it’s like to actually use these “cheat abilities” that most isekai-Protagonists have (in this case, the protagonist travels to the past after dying, like a video game savepoint), though it overstays its welcome IMO.
Tsuki Michi. The anime skipped a big chunk of the LN and manga, to the point where the manga is behind the anime.
