In recent years, the isekai genre has become particularly popular and has dominated both the Japanese anime and manga worlds. Isekai refers to a genre where the protagonist is transported into another world, whether through death or other means. Anime and manga have evolved so much over the years that new genres are always emerging and with them new subgenres as well.

With manga and light novels being the medium's foundation, it's no surprise that the isekai genre has seen more popularity in light novels and anime, while isekai manga is gradually picking up steam.

Updated on February 26th, 2024 by Sage Ashford: This list has been updated to reflect changes in CBR's editing standards.

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25 Most Powerful Isekai Anime Characters, Ranked
Isekai characters like Dr. Stone's Senku Ishigami and SAO's Kirito are extremely overpowered, making them fearsome forces in their new worlds.

25 Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy Matches Comedy With Great World Building

11 Volumes

Makoto Misumi was enjoying a normal life until one day he discovers his parents were originally from an alternate world, and were only allowed to escape if they sent one of their children back to their home world. Makoto is chosen and given special abilities by the god Tsukuyomi, but when he arrives in the new world, he discovers their goddess wants nothing to do with him because of his "average" looks. Instead, he's forced to live among the demi-humans, where he gradually builds a life for himself and those around him.

Tsukimichi manages to walk the line between serious isekai and comedy series well. While there is an ongoing threat of a powerful Demon Lord, most of the time the series is just about Makoto and his friends' shenanigans. Still, there's enough cool world building for people who want more than just another comedy series.

24 How A Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom Focuses On A Civil Servant Saving A Country

10 Volumes

Liscia Elfrieden from Realist Hero raising a weapon in her hand

Kazuya Souma is a young man with a simple dream of being a civil servant. That dream is interrupted when he's summoned to another world, where he suddenly takes over running the impoverished country of Elfrieden. Though he's never been a king before, his knowledge of politics and the modern world gradually allow him to pull the country out of debt and turn it into a prosperous nation again.

Realist Hero is a great light novel and anime, and the manga adaptation is solid as well. Watching Souma basically save his own skin and an entire country with nothing more than a humanities degree is a delight. It will also offer a break to people who are tired of seeing heroes in isekai stories come out on top only through overpowered skills.

23 Arata Kangatari Combines Isekai With The Body Swap Genre

24 Volumes

Protagonists of Arata Kangatari together, with Arata holding a blade and Kotoha smiling next to him

Arata Kangatari is from Yuu Watase, creator of the isekai classic Fushigi Yugi. Another isekai classic, Arata takes place in a world where every 30 years a new princess is picked to work for the sword-spirits known as the Hayagami. Once again it's time to choose a new princess, but with no women born in that time span, a young boy named Arata has to pretend to be the princess until they can find someone else.

However, Arata has other problems, as suddenly the current princess is killed and Arata is framed for it. Now forced to run for his life, Arata has much bigger problems...until he's suddenly forced to swap places with an Arata from modern day Japan. Arata Kangatari has a lot going on story-wise early on, but the benefit of manga is readers can take it at their own pace. Yuu Watase is a master of creating engaging narratives and characters, so it won't be long before readers are drawn in completely.

22 Knight's & Magic Combines High Fantasy With Giant Robots

17 Volumes

Ernesti from Knight's & Magic standing with his mecha

Knight's & Magic was published in the seinen magazine Young Gangan from 2016 to 2022, stopping with its 17th volume. The story focuses on a mecha fanatic that reincarnates into a new world as Ernesti Echevalier, a member of a noble family. In this world, magic is everywhere, and is often used to power giant robots that help protect the people from monsters. Finally living in a world where he can live out his dream, Ernesti puts his all into becoming the pilot of a Silhouette Knight, and one day creating his own.

The Knight's & Magic anime was a fantastic series with one of the most likable anime heroes in isekai. Ernesti just wants to have fun building and piloting giant robots--it's hard not to find that relatable. The focus is just on Ernesti finding new ways to improve his mech, only to venture back out and explore more of the strange new world he's found himself in.

21 Magic Knight Rayearth Asks A Group Of Middle Schoolers To Save A World Not Their Own

6 Volumes

Magic Knight Rayearth's lead character Hikaru in her transformed state
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CLAMP's Magic Knight Rayearth Is the OG Isekai - and STILL One of the Best
CLAMP's Magic Knight Rayearth is one of the first isekai anime and manga. For now, it remains one of the best.

One of CLAMP's earliest works, Magic Knight Rayearth got its start as a manga in the shoujo magazine Nakayoshi back in 1993. One of the earliest isekai, the story is based around three eighth grade girls who find themselves summoned to the magical world of Cephiro. Once there, they learn Cephiro's existence is maintained only by the existence of a being known as the Pillar, who prays for Cephiro. The young girls are asked to recover the Pillar if they want to go back home, but this leads to them getting caught up in the truth behind the world of Cephiro.

Magic Knight Rayearth is a legendary anime, but it's arguably even better as a manga. Good as the anime is, CLAMP's inimitable art style conveys the story even better in the source material. Magical girl and mecha don't combine often, but the first experiment turned out great.

20 Silver Diamond Features A Hero Saving The World Through Gardening

27 Volumes

Long before the isekai trend took manga by storm, Silver Diamond introduced fans to the exciting combination of fantasy adventures and tender boys' love romance in 2003. Rakan Sawa used to be an ordinary high schooler tending to his gardening hobby.

Yet, after a strange man from another world, Chigusa, crashes into his yard, Rakan's green thumb is revealed to have supernatural origins. As the last known "sanome," a magical plant life cultivator, Rakan must journey with Chigusa to his deserted home world to restore its flora.

19 The Faraway Paladin Shows A Human Hero Raised By The Undead

11 Volumes

William and Meneldor from The Faraway Paladin. Meneldor is on his knees while William is behind him, weapon drawn.

The Faraway Paladin's hero, Will, is a single human living in a city of the dead. With only vague memories of his previous life in contemporary Japan, which didn't amount to much, Will was raised by three undead from the ground up.

Yet, his enigmatic past, the secrets of the surrounding undead, and the mysteries of the decaying land push Will to look for answers. The paladin's introspective quest to shed light on his perplexing circumstances is exciting and thought-provoking like no other isekai adventure.

18 The Rising Of The Shield Hero Relies On A Reluctant Hero Who Only Wants To Go Home

11 Volumes

Naofumi and Raphtalia from The Rising of the Shield Hero, brandishing their weapons. The  other Three Heroes and Myne are in the background.

Equally popular in all of its iterations, The Rising of the Shield Hero tells the story of Naofumi Iwatani, an ordinary man summoned to protect a fantasy world from impending doom. While the three Cardinal Heroes gathered alongside Naofumi receive weapons, he gets the Legendary Shield, the only artifact unsuitable for attack.

Failing to establish a good relationship with other heroes and nobility, Naofumi swiftly turns into the group’s outcast. Yet, the world-ending threat doesn't wait for Naofumi, and he establishes his own party to train to be a hero.

17 Drifters Shows Legendary Heroes Battling Against A Powerful Army

6 Volumes

Three of the main characters from Drifters, Shimazu, Nobunaga Oda, and Nasu, with weapons drawn heading into battle.
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Why Drifters is a Perfect Subversive Anime for Isekai Fans
The isekai genre has a lot of different and interesting ways to set the stage, but Drifters subverts many of those expectations.

Coming from Hellsing's creator Kouta Hirano, Drifters is a rare isekai story originating from a manga. Instead of summoning a single no-man to a mysterious parallel world, Drifters' universe calls upon myriads of legendary heroes from history.

Killed in the heat of the Battle of Sekigahara, samurai Shimazu Toyohisa ends up in the land of elves and magicians to aid in their fight. The warriors flooding Drifters' world range from Oda Nobunaga to Jeanne d'Arc, fighting to either preserve the magical fantasyland or destroy it.

16 Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden Continues To Build On A Beloved Universe

12 Volumes

Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden's protagonists Takiko and Rimudo, embracing one another.

The original Fushigi Yugi series is an isekai that premiered before SAO and achieved incredible popularity in the '90s. Genbu Kaiden takes place almost a century earlier, built around young woman Takiko Okuda. Takiko has absolutely nothing going right for her, right down to having a father who cares more about his research than he does the passing of his wife.

Out of frustration, Takiko takes her father's research—a translated journal known as "The Universe of the Four Gods"—but when she opens it, she finds herself transported to another realm. There, she learns of her role as the Priestess of Genbu, a legend that will last for decades.

15 Isekai Ojisan Brings A Hero Back From Their Isekai Adventures

8 Volumes

Takafumi Takaoka's life is changed forever when he learns his uncle Yosuke has woken up from a nearly twenty-year coma. Yosuke reveals that he spent the last seventeen years in another world, and has become a master of magic during that time. With Yosuke having been gone for so long, he and Takafumi find a way to help one another.

Takafumi decides to use Yosuke's powers to create a YouTube channel to make money, while Takafumi is guided through the world he's missed. Isekai Ojisan is the rare occasion of an isekai storyline that didn't originate as a light novel, but rather a seinen manga published in the magazine ComicWalker.

14 Trapped In A Dating Sim: The World Of Otome Games Is Tough For Mobs Parodies Isekai And Otome Game Tropes

9 Volumes

Trapped in a Dating Sim character Marie Fou Lafan holding a ladle while Leon Fou Bartfort and Luxion look on with mistrust behind her.

After being forced to play through an otome game, a certain man has an accident on his way to the store, resulting in him being reincarnated into another world. In this new world, he's known as Leon Fou Bartfort, a noble in the world of the otome game he was previously playing.

In this world, women are in control of the world, leaving Leon to only want to find a kind wife and live life away from the rest of society. To do so though, he'll have to go against many of the systems already in place, upsetting a bunch of powerful people who only see him as a "mob" character.

13 Reborn As A Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting The Strongest Starship Shows The Fun Of Being Sent Into The Far Future

5 Volumes

Reborn As A Space Mercenary I Woke Up Piloting The Strongest Starship character Takahiro sitting in the pilot seat of his space ship while his partner Elma leans against the seat.

One day, Sato Takahiro went from being an ordinary guy in the regular world to waking up aboard a ship within the world of his favorite online game, Stella Online. Unsure of how this world works, Sato has one thing going for him that makes everything else simple: he owns an incredibly powerful spaceship.

This ship allows him to hunt for rare items and do battle with dangerous pirates, and come out completely unscathed. From there, Sato gets to build a new kind of life on a way to reaching his true dream: finding a planet he can settle down on. Reborn As A Space Mercenary stands out for being one of the few isekai series set out in space.

12 Grimgar Of Fantasy & Ash Turns Isekai Adventuring Into A Coming Of Age Story

19 Volumes

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash characters Haruhiro, Yume, Shihoru, Manato, and Moguzo with their weapons drawn in a forest.
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Anime fans may hate isekai, but Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is the exact opposite of what the genre is known for, resulting in a gritty fantasy series.

Grimgar of Fantasy & Ash stars Haruhiro after he wakes up in darkness with no recollection of where he came from, why he was there, and if there was any way to leave. He was surrounded by other people in the same situation. The darkness faded, and the group was introduced to an RPG set in "Grimgar," a fantastical world where they have to learn how to fight and survive on their own. Haruhiro builds his own party and they train hard to survive in this new world.

Grimgar of Fantasy & Ash is a unique isekai manga since its heroes aren't overpowered by their introduction. Instead, they're introduced as average people who have to overcome their fears and become warriors, making their stories more realistic.

11 Red River Merges Isekai And Shoujo Tropes To Create Something Unique

28 Volumes

Yuri and Kail Mursili from Red River. Yuri is placing a wreath of flowers around Kail's neck.

Red River stars Yuri, an average high school student who's suddenly isekai'd over to the Hittite empire in Anatolia. The queen orders Yuri for a blood sacrifice to kill off every heir except for her son so she can take over the throne. Prince Kail saved Yuri from the queen's tyranny and vowed to help get her back home.

However, the stubborn, bloodthirsty queen doesn't back down so easily and always comes up with new plans to kill them off. Red River is a great blend of isekai, adventure, and romance. It's one of the best isekai manga because it combines tropes from both isekai and shojo, so it feels familiar, yet totally innovative compared to its counterparts.

10 Welcome To Demon School! Iruma-Kun Combines the Excitement of Shonen with Isekai

29 Volumes

Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun follows the titular Iruma Suzuki, a kid forced to grow up too soon and take on whatever dangerous jobs his deadbeat parents asked of him. Unfortunately, nothing ever gets easier for him since his parents signed a contract and sold his soul to a demon named Sullivan.

Iruma was shocked when Sullivan really felt for his struggles and wanted to take him under his wing. Sullivan became a grandfather-like figure to Iruma and enrolled him at Babyls, a demon school where he'd have to keep his humanity a secret from his peers. However, Iruma is far less human than he actually thought.

9 From Far Away Focuses On The Bond Between Two People Who Have Only Each Other

14 Volumes

From Far Away protagonists Izark and Noriko staring in opposite directions.

From Far Away follows Noriko after she's suddenly thrust into a fantasy world. Izark takes her under his wing and helps guide her through this strange new land, but there's more to him than what meets the surface. He may seem charming and kind, but there's a monster inside of him bubbling to the surface.

According to an old prophecy, Noriko has what it takes to bring that evil out of Izark. After discovering this information, Izark and Noriko become allies who need to have each other's backs in a world where no one else can save them but each other.

8 So I'm A Spider, So What? Features A Non-Human Protagonist Learning To Survive In The Toughest Environments

16 Volumes

Wakaba fighting worms in So I'm A Spider, So What?.

So I'm A Spider, So What? is a story about Kumoko, who has reincarnated into a spider—specifically a low-level monster called the Lesser Taratect. Not only that but she is forced to survive in the game's most dangerous dungeon known as the Great Elroe Labyrinth.

The manga is faithful to the source material for the most part, but there are some differences such as ignoring some of the side stories present before. So I'm A Spider, So What?'s anime adaptation is wildly popular, so it's not surprising so many people also think it's one of the best isekai series.

7 The Twelve Kingdoms' Protagonist Grows From A Spoiled Kid Into A True Warrior

9 Volumes

Youko Nakajima in The Twelve Kingdoms dressed in royal garb and looking serious.

The Twelve Kingdoms follows Youko Nakajima after she's forced out of her ordinary high school life and thrust into the world of the titular twelve kingdoms. This new world is unforgiving, harsh, and governed by a delicate moral code that tips society into chaos and poverty if the wrong person ascends to the throne.

Youko must now learn how to survive in this strange new world built to destroy her. Fans appreciate that The Twelve Kingdoms has a strong female protagonist who, unlike some of her male counterparts, actually pulled herself up by the bootstraps and forced herself to adapt.

6 No Game No Life Takes Place In A World Where Games Are Everything

11 Volumes

Sora and Shiro from No Game No Life sitting on a throne together wearing crowns.

No Game No Life takes place in a world where players have to beat the god of games to take the throne. It stars Sora and Shiro, who make up the undefeated gamer group Blank as they go through a series of board games that test the players' wills.

After defeating the god of games in chess, Sora and Shiro are transported to the world of Disboard where everything is decided through games. No Game No Life became quite popular even before it got its anime adaptation, with the light novel selling over three million copies as of 2017. It's not necessarily for everyone, but its unique art style is easy on the eyes and engaging to read.