Japan has offered all manner of escape from the real world. One of its most iconic purveyors of easy adventure and romance is its special brand of Japanese role-playing games (or JRPGs for short). JRPGs drop the player in wonderfully defined worlds to explore and, in one way or another, fight through.
Famous for their stories, systems, and diverse list of characters, it's easy to get enraptured in their dozens of hours of play. However, once those hands get tired of holding a controller or mouse for too long, anime can serve as another appropriate means of escape, and they do more than a good job of replicating that special means of world building, character writing, and adventure. This list will be looking at a few anime for fans of JRPGs.
10 Sword Art Online
An obvious choice within the anime faithful, Sword Art Online portrays the exact fantasy and nightmare of literally getting sucked into one's favorite JRPG. Sword Art Online is the new, big virtual reality game on the block; and once it hit stores, thousands of players across the globe rushed to get their hands on a copy.
However, once they pressed play, they found themselves trapped in a virtual reality that would either kill them if they tried to escape or if they lost to any of its vicious monsters (or other players). Kirito must find his way across this world, as he struggles through the battles and the various losses he sees along the way.
9 Log Horizon
In a similar premise to SAO, Log Horizon has its main character, Shiroe, become trapped in his favorite fantasy, video game. However, instead of just trudging through with various cute relationships and sword battles, Shiroe takes a much more pragmatic approach, as he utilizes political alliances, merchant knowledge, and various instances of micromanagement to win his various battles for survival.
Leading a rising empire of his own, Shiroe is a hero's journey to impress the more patient gamer.
8 KonoSuba
The isekai genre has been on a bit of an annoying rise within the anime industry. It's hard to get through any season without catching 2 or 3 characters mysteriously falling into a fantasy world. That's why series like KonoSuba are so refreshing, as they turn the genre on its head with its special brand of self-referential humor and slapstick comedy.
Kazuma is a greasy otaku who falls under the same fate as other isekai heroes; yet instead of enlisting the cream of the crop for his party, he kind of works alongside some of the most incompetent adventurers ever to get kicked out of any self-respecting guild. Fighting alongside an air headed goddess, a masochistic knight, and a glass cannon mage, Kazuma struggles to get through just the starting area.
7 Danganronpa
Stepping away from the medieval fantasies, Danganronpa has a distinct advantage here as it is the literal anime dramatization of the game of the same name. Danganronpa is a mystery thriller that focuses on the mysterious events surrounding a group of student who get trapped in their elite private school.
Forced to play a death game, the students must solve each murder lest they risk letting the actual murderers among them get away as well as work to uncover the greater mystery behind their entrapment.
6 One Piece
Even within the Shounen ranks, One Piece is a standard bearer for what world building and adventure should look like in anime form. In a hero's journey that satisfies the rising experience and various alliances that built some of the best JRPGs, One Piece focuses on Monkey D. Luffy's journey to find the Pirate King's treasure, One Piece.
Along the way, he enlists a colorful crew of quirky characters and takes on a variety of pirate battles against adventurers, warlords, and Marines alike. With over 20 years of content to its name, this series is definitely for fans wanting to sink hours of their time into something.
5 Naruto
Another Shounen giant to bring the battle to the fans, Naruto is set within a ninja world that displays the rise of its titular hero to become the leading ninja to all of his village's ninjas. This story features an incredibly detailed and unique ninja world comprised of a long yet entertwined political history that's immensely fun to uncover.
And while it does have adventure elements to rival One Piece, Naruto brings much greater attention to the skills and systems of its combat, as each character takes upon a distinct fighting style to satisfy a variety of strategies and roles. Already a phenomena within the anime industry, Naruto can be the next obsession for any JRPG fan.
4 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood moves away from the colorful worlds of its Shounen brethren and instead enlists the political and moral entanglements of a fantastical and twisted World War II setting. For those interested in the intricate relationships and twists of JRPGs, this anime's story focuses on the dangerous journey of Edward and Alphonse Elric, two government sanctioned alchemists searching for some way to regain their original bodies after a horrific accident.
Along the way, they uncover a dark, government conspiracy that spans into actual demonic roots. With every character on their own moral journey and no happy face without a death flag, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is worth any viewer's time.
3 Goblin Slayer
When Goblin Slayer came out, it made its mark for two things: horrifying people expecting just another colorful, fantasy series and entrancing long time fans of Dungeons & Dragons.
Using systems and elements directly inspired from D&D, Goblin Slayer has its titular character embark a bloody tirade against all goblins using patient combat and intelligent strategies once found in only the most eccentric tabletop campaign. For JRPG fans who want characters that actually play the game well, Goblin Slayer is a nice, gorey option.
2 Re:Zero
A huge issue that people have with most isekai anime is their tendency to display an idyllic, rose-tinted adventure. With actual consequences for player actions few and far between, there's little engagement for the most hardened JRPG fan. That's where Re:Zero gets to leave an impression. Almost scoffing at the arrogance of a typical isekai protagonist, Re:Zero displays its consequences in quick, harsh succession.
If its main character, Subaru makes a mistake with his choices, battles, or even character relationships, he pays the price with a harsh death. Forced to restart from his latest save point, Subaru must examine both his choices and his own character if he's ever to progress in this world.
1 The Rising Of The Shield Hero
Last but not least, this list reaches a beloved, new entry to the isekai genre. A fantasy series that satisfies having a quirky, adventure party, a slow collection of player experience and skills, and a complex world in conflict, this anime portrays a satisfying and constantly shifting hero's journey that keeps fans wanting more.
After stumbling upon a strange book in his library, Naofumi is transported to a fantasy world that requires four heroes to combat incoming waves of monstrous threats to the kingdom. To his dismay, Naofumi finds himself the victim of a grand conspiracy to smear his name and must now work harder than anyone else to accrue skills, build a party, and fight the various threats to the world. The Rising of the Shield Hero is an adventure that engages its fans with a true underdog working his way from the very bottom.