Best Isekai Anime Recommendations

The Demon King Diablo is the strongest player in the fantasy MMORPG Cross Reverie. He is a totally overpowered player with the highest level and the greatest artifacts.

Diablo's true identity is Takuma Sakamoto, a shut-in gamer devoid of any social skills. And he suddenly finds himself summoned to another world where he has Diablo's appearance.

Takuma is greeted by the two girls who summoned him. Rem Galeu, a petite pantherian adventurer, and Shera L. Greenwood, a busty elf summoner. They perform an Enslavement Ritual in an attempt to subjugate him, but the spell backfires and causes them to become his slaves instead.

Takuma decides to accompany the girls in finding a way to unbind their contract while learning to adapt to his new existence as the menacing Demon King.

I'm not a big fan of Ecchi and Harem animes, and How Not to Summon a Demon Lord has lots of it. If you are OK with those elements then it's a decent anime.

The Comedy and Fantasy Gameworld elements are decent. The characters and story are also OK. But the Main Character is very overpowered, so this might be a turn off by some.

If you don't mind Ecchi, Harem, and an overpowered MC, then How Not to Summon a Demon Lord might be worth watching.

How Not to Summon a Demon Lord is bad Isekai that is a mix of the summoning and stuck in a game. The main character is summoned in to a game-like world but he is summoned in as the MMORPG game character he plays.

Akira Oono is a developer and manager of the MMORPG Infinity Game. After fifteen years up and running, Oono decides to shut the servers down once and for all.

However, as Oono shuts the game down, he somehow finds himself in the game world. He finds himself in the body of middle-aged Hakuto Kunai, Infinity Game's Demon Lord!

The first thing Oono, now Hakuto, witnesses is a girl being chased by a demon. Hakuto effortlessly dispatches the creature, but he is concerned. He does not remember creating the girl called Aku or the demon his name was Greole.

Hakuto starts doubting that he is in the game world of his creation.

Hakuto brings Aku along as his guide as he starts to investigate his circumstances. Together they set out on a journey to find out exactly who or what summoned Hakuto to this fantasy world.

Demon Lord, Retry! is a mediocre anime. It is many of the standard anime cliches and the plot is not that good.

It is only worth watching if you love like gameworld themes. 

Demon Lord, Retry!is a decent Isekai that is a mix of transportation and game-like. The main character is transported into a game world as a game character he created.

Merlin Walford was once regarded as a national hero in the kingdom of Earlshide. But preferring a quiet life, he secludes himself deep in the rural woods on his older age and dedicating his time to raising an orphan that he saved.

This orphan is Shin. He used to be a normal salaryman in modern-day Japan but he died and reincarnated into Merlin's world. Shin displays unparalleled talent in both magic casting and martial arts, much to Merlin's constant amazement.

But it becomes apparent that Shin only developed his magical skills and nothing else. He is seriously lacking common sense and is very socially awkward. To solve this Merlin enrolled Shin in the kingdom's Magic Academy so he can be with people his own age.

However, living a normal life is impossible, as he is established as a local celebrity almost as soon as he arrives.

Wise Man's Grandchild is a decent Isekai, transported to a game-like world, anime.

The main character is totally overpowered, but that's not unusual for this genre. But the characters are interesting and the story is decent.

Wise Man's Grandchild is a decent Isekai of the Reborn type. The main character dies and is reborn in a medieval fantasy world as a magician.

Hajime Nagumo and his classmates are summoned to a fantasy world and tasked with saving mankind. His classmates are gifted with powerful combat abilities useful for the task at hand, but Hajime was only given an inferior transmutation ability that has no real offensive application.

The Great Orcus Labyrinth is a dungeon going many levels down into the earth. One of the first tasks to save humankind is to conquer this dungeon.

During an expedition in the Great Orcus Labyrinth, Hajime is betrayed by one of his classmates. He falls down close to the hellish bottom of the dungeon.

Hajime survives the fall, but he is faced with menacing monsters far more dangerous than anything he has faced before. Desperate to survive he ends up eating a dead monster. With his skill, he manages to gain some of its abilities.

At the bottom, Hajime finds Yue, an imprisoned vampire. He decides to free her, and she takes an interest in him and decides to follow him on his journey. A journey with only one goal, to find a way back home, to get away from this world.

On this journey, Hajime and Yue pick up some other companions, and Hajime is steadily transforming from commonplace to the world's strongest.

Arifureta is a decent Isakai anime. It not the best of its kind, but also not the worst.

Arifureta is worth checking out if you like this kind of anime and want more of it. Otherwise, stay away.

Arifureta is an OK Isekai anime of the transported or summoned kind. They are summoned to a fantasy world to save humankind. 

Tsubasa Kurata is an otaku and a programmer from modern Japan. He died and was reborn in the Fremmevilla Kingdom, a medieval world where powerful mechs called Silhouette Knights are used to fight horrific demonic beasts.

Tsubasa was reborn into a noble family under the name of Ernesti Echevarria. He has powerful magical abilities and enrolls in the Royal Laihaila Academy. This school of magic trains young men and women on how to pilot the Silhouette Knights.

Ernesti teams up with the twins named Adeltrud and Archid Olter with the goal to create his own Silhouette Knight. This is a feat unheard of for several centuries.

With his powerful magic and his programmer background, Ernesti might be able to create a Silhouette Knight.

Knight's & Magic is a mediocre Isekai anime.

If you like Isekai and Mecha then its worth checking out, otherwise stay away.

Knight's & Magic is a decent Isekai of the Reborn type. The main character dies and is reborn into a medieval world with magic and mechas.

Tsukasa, a young Wavemaster, wakes up in the MMORPG calledThe World with amnesia.

He does do not remember what he did before waking up in the game and being unable to log out from the game. He wanders around looking for answers.

.hack//Sign is an OK anime.

I remember loving it the first time, but it was not as good the second time.

.hack//Sign is one of the older stuck in VR kind of Isekai animes. 

Its a decent anime and it's worth watching if you like Isekai stories.

Hiraga Saito is an average Japanese boy until the day he suddenly finds himself in an alternate universe.

Louise Françoise, a magician at the Tristein Academy, accidentally summon him when she is trying to summon a familiar. A familiar is a servant and partner to support their master as they do magic.

Hiraga and Louise can't stand each other but they have no other choice than to cooperate together. Louise can`t attempt another summoning and Hiraga cant return tho his own world.

Louise is nicknamed Zero Louise by the other students because she is not able to use her magic correctly. More problems start when Hiraga refuses to accept the social inequities that Louise and other aristocrats consider the status quo.

Louise discovers that her magic is more unique than anybody else's magic.

Zero no Tsukaima is a quit good anime. Far from the best, but still more than watchable.

Adults who have never watched animes should probably pick another one if they want to try out an anime to watch. But anyone else should give it a try.

Zero no Tsukaima is good and slightly older Isekai anime of the transportation or summoning kind. The main character gets summoned to a different medieval world with magic.

Zero no Tsukaima is worth watching if you like Isekai anime.

Nakajima Youko is your average high school girl, but one day, a man named Keiki come to her. He is swearing his allegiance to her and before she could understand what happens demon-like creatures attack Youko.

As this is happening Youko and her friends are pulled into a different world, a world, unlike anything they have ever seen.

So begins an epic adventure.

The Twelve Kingdoms are a really great anime.

It`s a must-watch for any anime fan and other people might also like it.

The Twelve Kingdoms is a slightly older, but still very good, transported kind of Isekai anime.

It's worth watching. It's good.

Sword Art Online (SAO), a massive online role-playing game, is launched.

It uses "NerveGear" technology, a technology that lets players control their avatars within the game using nothing but their own thoughts.

Kazuto Kirigaya is one player among ten-thousand others that logs on to SAO as it launches. He was a beta tester for the game, so he has a leg up over most of the others.

The players soon realize they cannot log out. The game’s creator has trapped them in his new world until they complete all one hundred levels of the game.

The animation and sound work is good. Sword Art Online worth watching, but only if you like this kind of animes.

Sword Art Online is a popular Isekai of the type where the characters are stuck in a Virtual Reality game world. 

It's a good anime that is worth watching.

A cynical Japanese salaryman challenges Being X, a supposed god, to a battle of wits. This resulted in him being reincarnated as Tanya Degurechaff, a little girl in a world of magic and constant warfare.

Hellbent on defiance, Tanya resolves to ascend the ranks of her country's military. She soon becomes infamous for predatorial-like ruthlessness and an uncanny, tactical aptitude, earning her the nickname of the "Devil of the Rhine".

The Saga of Tanya the Evil, (Youjo Senki), is a very good anime, one of the better in the Isekai genre.

It's an unusual anime that stands out from most of the others in its genre.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil is a reborn kind of Isekai anime. The main character is reborn into the opposite gender.

The world is also different than most of the other Isekai animes on this list. It's like a WWII setting with science fiction-like magic.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil is a very good anime.

Naofumi Iwatani is an otaku from Japan. He and three other Japanese people are summoned to another world to become The Four Cardinal Heroes.

The Four Cardinal Heroes are respectively given a sword, spear, bow, and shield. They are each called the Sword Hero, the Spear Hero, the Bow Hero, and lastly the Shield Hero.

Their task is to vanquish Waves of monsters. The Waves are monsters summoned from another plane to attack and destroy everything. They are summoned in regular waves.

Naofumi is cursed with the fate of becoming the Shield Hero. 

Armed with only a measly shield, Naofumi is belittled and ridiculed by his fellow heroes and the kingdom's people due to his weak offensive capabilities. His lackluster personality does also not help his case.

They were summoned by the kingdom of Melromarc. The kingdom provides the heroes with some recourses and comrades to train with to prepare for the Waves. 

The only person willing to help Naofumi, the Shield Hero, is Malty Melromarc, a princess of the kingdom. However, she soon betrays him by stealing his resources and falsy causing him of taking advantage of her.

This causes Naofumi to be discriminated against and hated by the people of Melromarc for something he didn't do.

Full of hurt and mistrust Naofumi begins his journey of strengthening himself. He buys the demi-human Raphtalia, a slave on the verge of death. He wants her to accompany him on his travels.

Raphtaliathe is the sword to Naofumis shield.

The Rising of the Shield Hero is a good anime. It's interesting to watch the main character dealing with having everyone against him and growing stronger.

It has an interesting gamelike progression and a decent story and characters.

This anime is not a masterpiece, it's not among the best. It's only recommended if you like anime or like these kinds of Isekai/LitRPG kind of stories.

The Rising of the Shield Hero is a transported or summoned type of Isekai. The main character is summoned to another world to save them from monsters.

It is not a game world, but it has RPG elements and set in a medieval setting.

The Rising of the Shield Hero is a good anime that is worth watching.

People are thrown into a foreign land with nothing but hazy memories and the knowledge of their name. This group of strangers is given no other choice than to accept the only paying job in this game-like world, the role of a soldier in the Reserve Army. 

The Reserve Army has one goal, to eliminate anything that threatens the people in the world of Grimgar.

All the strong people join together and those remaining have to band together to survive in this world.

One such group of leftovers is lead by the charismatic priest Manato. The other members are the nervous thief Haruhiro, the cheerful hunter Yume, the shy mage Shihoru, the kind warrior Mogxo, the rowdy dark knight Ranta. Together they struggle to survive this harsh world.

Despite its game-like resemblance, this is no game. There are no respawns or do-overs. 

Grimgar is a kill or be killed world.

Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions is a good Isekai anime.

It's more Grim and Dark than most other anime in this genre.

It focuses more on the Mental and Emotional struggles of surviving in an RPG game-like world with no memories and having to kill goblins to survive.

Grimgar is more suited for an older audience than most other anime in this genre.

Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions is a good and slightly different Isekai Anime. We are not sure exactly what kind of Isekai it falls in under. They don't remember their previous lives.

As Subaru Natsuki leaves the convenience store he is transported into a fantasy world. He soon gets attacked by some brutes but he is saved by the mysterious beauty named Satella. She stumbled upon him as she was pursuing a thief that stole her insignia. Subaru offers to help in her search for the thief as thanks for the rescue.

Later that night Subaru finds the thief, but unbeknownst to them, a much darker force stalks the pair from the shadows.

Just minutes after locating the insignia, Subaru and Satella are brutally murdered. However, Subaru immediately reawakens.

Subaru finds himself confronted by the same group of brutes and meeting Satella all over again. The exact same way, but they don't remember him.

Re: Zero is darker than most anime in this genre, and the groundhog day like aspect to it also differs from the norm. Its a good and different anime in its genre.

Re: Zero is a very good anime.

Re: Zero - Starting Life in Another World is one of the better Isekai Animes. Its the Reborn type of Isekai, and it is darker and gorier than most other Isekai stories.

Re: Zero is a must-watch anime.

Satoru Mikami s a typical Thirty-seven-year-old corporate worker. The only thing he misses in his life is a girlfriend, otherwise he is is perfectly content with his monotonous lifestyle in Tokyo.

During a regular encounter on the street with a coworker, Satoru is suddenly stabbed by a random assailant. While he is dying he hears a voice in his mind reciting a bunch of commands that he can make any sense of.

When Satoru awakens he discovers that he has reincarnated as a goop of slime in an unfamiliar world. It's a game-like world with skills and stats and Satoru has gained the power to devour anything and mimic its appearance and abilities.

Satoru meats the sealed Catastrophe-Level monster Storm Dragon Veldora who had been sealed away for the past 300 years. Satoru befriends him and promising to assist in destroying the seal. In return, Veldora gives Satoru the name Rimuru Tempest to grant him divine protection. In this world name has power.

Rimuru starts his journey in the world and as he grows accustomed to his new life his actions ripple throughout the world and gradually alter his fate.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is a good Isakai anime. 

Rimuru becomes somewhat overpowered but he is a fine central character. It a decent story where Rimuru meats interesting friends and build a community.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is one of the better Isekai Animes. It's of the reborn type of Isekai. Its an interesting Isekai story with RPG elements in a fantasy world setting.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is a must-watch anime.

Momonga is a powerful wizard and master of the dark guild Ainz Ooal Gown int the popular virtual reality game Yggdrasil.

The final hour before the game shuts down for god has come and he decides to stay logged in during this event.

To his surprise, despite the clock having struck midnight, and all the servers should have been shut down, Momonga is still fully conscious inside his game character.

What's even more strange is that all the NPCs appear to suddenly have developed personalities of their own.

Surprised by this strange occurrence, Momonga decides to investigate and take control of this new world to figure out the cause and to see if there are others like him.

I recommend this anime, but only if you like this genre. Its one of the better "trapped in RPG game world" animes.

Overlord is a good and popular Isekai Anime where the main character gets stuck in a Virtual Reality World.

The Main Character decided to stay in the game when the servers shut down, and he got stuck. The game world also becomes more alive and it's like the Main Character is transported into a new world exactly like the game.

Two siblings with social problems and gigantic gaming addiction are selected and sent into an alternate universe.

This universe is about gaming. All conflict and problems are solved by games. No murder or violence is possible.

They set out to get enough power and influence by winning games so they can play against the god of this universe, the god of gaming.

The premise of this anime sounds a little silly, but the anime turns out to be really good.

If you like anime and gaming, then this is a must-watch.

No Game No Life is one of the better Isekai Animes. It has strong game-like elements without being a game. It's more about playing games. It's the transported or summoned type of Isekai.

No Game No Life is a must-watch anime.

Urano Motosu loves books and has an endless desire to read. Right before she fulfills her dream of becoming a librarian she dies.

As Urano draws her last breath, she wishes to be able to read more books in her next life.

But Urano reincarnated as Myne, a frail five-year-old girl living in a medieval era. Her first instinct is to find something to read. But she finds nothing, and most people don't even know how to read.

This medieval world is set before the pointing press is invented. Having to write every book by hand makes them very expensive. So expensive that only rich noblemen have the money to buy books. And Myne is far from rich.

But this does not stop Myne. Nothing can break here vill and need to read. If there are no books around she will make them herself. 

So begins Mynes's complicated journey to make books.

Myne is an excellent Isekai anime.

This is an unusual anime for the Isekai genre, it has more slice of life elements in it than most others.

It's interesting to see how Myne struggles to fill her need to read. How she learns to read the new language and how she sets out to create books. 

Ascendance of a Bookworm is a  very good Isekai anime of the Reborn type. 

It differs from most of the other Isekai anime on this list by not being combat and action-focused. It's more of a slice-of-life anime.

Ascendance of a Bookworm is an excellent anime if you want an Isekai story with less focus on combat.

Kazuma Satou is a shut-in high school student, a NEET, and he has just died on his way home from buying a game. Now he finds himself sitting before a beautiful but obnoxious goddess named Aqua.

Aqua makes Kazuma choose between going to heaven or to reincarnate in a real gamelike fantasy world. The gamer in Kazuma makes him choose the fantasy world option.

Aqua tasks Kazumawith defeating a Demon King who is terrorizing the fantasy world. Kazuma is given the option to choose one item of any kind to aid him in his quest. He chooses to take the goddess Aqua herself.

But Kazuma has made one grave mistake. Aqua is completely useless!

As if that is not enough, it turns out that actually living in a fantasy world is far different from how it is in games. Instead of going on a thrilling adventure, they must first work to pay for their living expenses.

Indeed, their misfortunes have only just begun!

KonoSuba is a popular anime with a loyal fanbase.

It's not among the best animes, but it is absolutely worth watching if you like anime.

It has hilarious storylines, lovable characters, and stunning animation.

KonoSuba is a popular reborn type of Isekai anime. The main character dies and gets the option to start over in a new world. He does not start from a child but starts as himself.

KonoSuba is a good anime, but its best suited for people that are used to watch anime.

MMORPG gamers find themself transported into the game they play.

Shiroe and the others in Log Horizon attempt to live their lives out in the new world they find themselves trapped in.

They form governments, deal with NPCs and other players.

Log Horizon is a very good anime. It`s about more than simple fighting.

Log Horizon is a good Isekai of the type where the characters are stuck in a Virtual Reality game world. They can log off the game, and the game world suddenly becomes more real. They have to corporate to survive this new reality.

Log Horizon is a good anime that is worth watching.