Though isekai anime has been around since the '80s with series like Aura Battler Dunbine, it wasn't until the past decade that they managed to become mainstream. Thanks to series like Sword Art Online, these days, there has rarely been an anime season without at least one isekai series.
The fantasy anime sub-genre has grown so large there are sub-genres within sub-genres, but it's not without its flawsーperhaps the biggest being so many of the series feel like carbon copies of one another. Even down to the character design, which can often lead to characters that look so close to one another, it's a wonder there isn't someone calling copyright infringement.
10 Yuuto Suoh
Yuto Suoh is the main character of Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar. The character was teleported to another world after taking a selfie. On Yggdrasil, Yuto becomes the leader of his own clan and utilizes knowledge gleaned from his cell phone to boost his clan. He’s known specifically for stealing his military tactics from famous tacticians from the real world, leading him to countless victories over his opponents.
9 Taichi Nishimura
Taichi Nishimura was brought to the world of Altia and quickly found himself to be a top-class magician, with the ability to use spells instantly that most magicians could only dream of. The character refers to himself as a “Cheat” Magician because he’s vastly stronger than everyone around him, and he often relies on his abilities as a Summoner. Though he’s mighty, he’s not exactly the most ambitious and chooses not to use his power to take over the area around him.
8 Shin Wolford
Wise Man’s Grandson, Shin Wolford, was brought to a new world and trained by his adoptive grandfather Merlin and Merlin’s ex Melinda. The two of them were top-class mages, and Shin was a natural talent, and so Shin quickly began to surpass them both in terms of abilities. A light-hearted boy, Shin immediately sets out to teach all of his friends how to do magic the same way he does, vastly increasing their powers as well.
7 Touya Mochizuki
Touya was granted a handful of gifts from the god of worlds after he’s reincarnated. He gets to keep his smartphone, which runs on magical energy and allows him to understand what’s happening in his old world.
At the same time, he’s granted incredible physical and magical power, even gaining access to a special type of magic element almost no other mage possesses. Fortunately, he’s generally a nice, friendly guy who prefers to help those in need.
6 Satou Pendragon
Satou Pendragon was originally Ichiro Suzuki, a game programmer working on a new mobile game. After taking a nap post working on the game, Satou finds himself in a fantasy world as a video game character. While there, he witnesses a giant army of monsters and realizes he has access to a powerful spell, “Meteor.” Using the spell, he rains down comets onto an entire army and obliterates them, gaining both hundreds of levels and the treasure for doing so. Satou sets out to explore the continent with his incredible power, gradually making friends in all places.
5 Hajime
Hajime eventually doesn’t resemble the rest of this group, but he’s as much a trope as all the rest when the character is first introduced. In the first episode of Arifureta, the main character is dumped at the bottom of a dungeon and is forced to fight his way out. Floor by floor, the character climbs his way back to the dungeon's top, drinking the dungeon’s miracle water and eating the enemies he killed to power up further.
4 Wendelin Von Baumeister
Wendelin was a salaryman who got transported to another universe. He’s noble in their world but from a house without much power or importance. But thanks to his ability to read, Wendelin can learn about how talented he is with magic.
This grants him access to high-level officials and gives him the chance to prove his incredible power over and over, causing him to grow in prestige and name until he has a harem following him.
3 Masato
Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks, Masato Oosuki, is a young teen who gets thrown into a video game RPG along with his mother. Masato is embarrassed by his mother because she’s somewhat overbearing, and when he gets tossed into the new world, he’s all too happy to prove he’s the most powerful character. However, his mom not only followed him to this new world, but she’s vastly more powerful than him, making Masato the only one on this list who’s not one of the most powerful people in his world.
2 Haruhiro
The lead protagonist of Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, this series stands out a bit from the rest as it's an amazing coming-of-age story instead of just being another power fantasy. Haruhiro works with his team of fellow teenagers, and unlike the rest of the characters, here isn’t remotely overpowered. On the contrary, both he and his friends are doing their best to survive. Rather than be granted immense power as a mage, Haruhiro was trained by a thieves guild, focusing on using his skills for recon rather than normal battling.
1 Kirito
The man who started it all. Kirito was born Kazuto Kirigaya and is the lead character for Sword Art Online. Originally one of the beta testers for the VRMMORPG Sword Art Online, the character was able to succeed in the world of Sword Art largely because of the knowledge he had about the game in advance. Kirito is largely known for his ability to dual-wield swords and his talent in hand to hand combat (though he's not the best in all of anime), something he carries with him into future seasons and games a hidden ability that indicates he’s gotten serious.