When people think of isekai characters, they generally think of someone so overpowered that their ability to win any fight is never in question. This is such a new concept that it can be off-putting for some people to watch, but as the genre ages there are some fans who prefer to watch series with overpowered protagonists. It can feel comfy to know that no matter what the enemy does, the main character is going to win, and with relative ease.
However, that doesn’t mean that the only thing the isekai genre has is overpowered lead characters. While fans might immediately assume characters headed to a fantasy universe are OP, there are plenty of them that are either average, or actually fairly weak relative to the world they live in.
10 Red Saw Everyone Far Surpass His Strength (Banished From The Hero's Party)
Red was a character that started out overpowered in his party, but over time everyone else not only caught up, but surpassed him. The problem with Red is that he can’t get any stronger than he already is, like a pre-promoted unit in Fire Emblem. That works fine when he’s only hanging around the average people, but the second he gets close to the battlefield, he’s more of a liability than anything. That’s why he was kicked out of his sister’s party by one of the other party members, and why he’s retired to create his own business with his friend Rit.
9 Haruhiro Is A Leader But Can Barely Survive (Grimgar Of Fantasy And Ash)
No one in Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is overpowered, and that’s arguably the point of the series. These aren’t characters who can magically be given weapons to make them overpowered, like in KonoSuba. They can’t grind their way into being one of the strongest people ever. The only thing they can do is work together and survive. Haruhiro’s the leader of his group, but as a thief he’s not even supposed to be doing major combat, and instead plays more of a support role most of the time. He’s a great team leader, but that doesn’t get them any further than the beginner areas of their world.
8 Yotsuya Has Access To Many Classes But Never Gets Anything Powerful (I'm Standing On A Million Lives)
No one in I'm Standing on a Million Lives is an overpowered character, but especially not Yotsuya. Though he starts out trying to grind his way into being dangerous, he’s got one problem: he never gets a useful class. He gains classes like farmer and chef, and is willing to grind it out to learn as much about the class as possible and make something useful out of what he learns.
Because of this, Yotsuya has been able to help the rest of the party make it out of dangerous situations numerous times. Even when he gets proper offensive classes, he still has to train in battle to make them do anything remotely useful.
7 Masato Oosuki Takes A Backseat To His Mother (Okaa-San Online)
Masato is invited to take part in a video game world where he becomes closer to his mother as he plays. His mom, Mamako, tags along and gains her own incredible power, complete with two swords that allow her to beat anything with a single two-hit combo. Unfortunately, Masato isn’t anywhere near as powerful. He expected to be overpowered in this new world, but his mom overshadows him by so much that he’s barely able to stand on his own and do anything noteworthy.
6 Youji Is Just A Soldier Working For The JSDF (GATE)
Itami Youji is a member of the JSDF who's asked to travel into an alternate world after a gate opens and a bunch of fantasy creatures pop out to attack civilians. Itami himself isn’t anything special—he didn’t excel at his job, and only became a member of the JSDF because he wanted a way to feed his otaku habits. He’s not any more overpowered than any of his other soldiers, he’s just a capable leader and gets along well with the people from the other world.
5 Kagome Mostly Needs Inuyasha To Protect Her (Inuyasha)
Kagome’s most overpowered skill is the ability to tell a half-demon guy to “Sit” and he simply has to obey whatever she says. Aside from that, she’s decent with a bow and arrow, but that doesn’t save her from so many of the challenges their group deals with on a regular basis.
Inuyasha himself isn’t even that powerful compared to some of the other threats in the series. Plus, he’s been beaten up by his older brother Sesshomaru enough that everyone watching knows just having him as a guard isn’t enough. Aside from being the reincarnation of Kikyo and having some of her powers, Kagome’s a normal high-school girl surrounded by powerful fighters, mages, and demons.
4 Rudeus Has Access To The Best Teachers But Is Surpassed By Many With More Experience And Talent (Mushoku Tensei)
Rudeus might seem overpowered from how quickly he’s learned everything so far. He became a Saint class water mage in no time, and he learned multiple sword styles training with his dad. But he’s shown time and again that he’s nothing compared to some of the true heavy hitters in the series. He constantly comes up short against his opponents, and he’s proven he’s capable of beating the average brigands and kidnappers, but that’s about it. The second Rudeus runs into someone with some experience, let alone a genius in their field, he’s got no chance.
3 Shiroe Is The Villain In Glasses But Needs To Rely On His Friends (Log Horizon)
Surprisingly, a guy named “the villain in glasses” isn’t overpowered at all. He’s a genius, but that’s the thing that makes him special, not his power. Though he’s a max level character in the game at first, he’s soon left behind by the people still actively going on adventures while he’s forming his guild.
Moreover, even when he was one of the max level characters, he was never a fighter. He’s not a character who's meant to fight alone, his class is built around working with people, and it’s only with other players that he shines.
2 Kazuma Was Offered A Cheat Item But Chose A Useless Goddess Instead (KonoSuba)
Kazuma probably should have been overpowered. He had the opportunity to pick any overpowered item he wanted, but instead of doing that he got petty and chose Aqua. But even then, Aqua is incredibly powerful and her spells can do everything from high-level healing to immediately getting rid of undead.
But Aqua’s useless, and Kazuma’s stats only have one good thing—luck, which is dragged down by the rest of his party. He makes up for it by using all his skill points learning from everyone else's basic techniques, but his party consisting of characters who are completely stupid means his jack-of-all-trades approach doesn’t help nearly as much as he’d like.
1 Katarina Was Supposed To Be A Villain But Isn't Talented (My Next Life As A Villainess)
Katarina Claes was reincarnated into a world where she was supposed to be the villain of the universe. Generally villains are supposed to be overpowered, but that's not the case here. Katarina’s only spell is the ability to make tiny earth lumps appear on the ground. She doesn’t really try to learn other spells in the first season, and instead spends her time making convincing fake snakes to scare her betrothed, and becoming an amazing farmer. The most overpowered thing about her is her personality.