The isekai genre was the most oversaturated genre of the 2010s. Yet, looking back on the decade, isekai is the genre that experienced the biggest explosion in popularity. There’s one for every variation on the idea, it seems – like being transported to another world in the form of slime.
Still, though it’s another entry in a tired genre, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime has been a favorite for many anime fans thanks to the high-quality animation and self-awareness many isekai shows tend to lack, which ruins their popularity. Its lead character Rimuru isn’t just overpowered; he knows he’s overpowered and uses it to his advantage to help those around him. It’s an addicting watch, which is why it’s gone through two seasons, is getting a film, and seems to be getting a third season.
Updated by Sage Ashford on March 31st, 2023: The isekai genre has only gotten more packed since Reincarnated as a Slime was first released in 2018. Surprisingly though, not only have a number of them been good, but they’ve taken after some of the best parts of Reincarnated as a Slime. With that in mind, we’ve updated this list to include even more anime for fans of the series.
15 Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy
Makoto Misumi one day finds himself summoned to a fantasy world by a goddess because of a contract his parents agreed to. Once he arrives, though, he finds the goddess disgusted by his looks, and after giving him the ability to understand everything “except” humans, she casts him out of her sight.
Before meeting the goddess, though, Makoto was blessed with powers from a god on his own world. Landing in the continent of “monsters,” Makoto finds his strength is enough to surpass the most powerful enemies there. Thanks to his power and friendliness, Makoto is able to form a community with monsters and mystical beings, proving they can peacefully exist alongside humanity.
14 Arifueta: From Commonplace To World’s Strongest
Not every overpowered lead guy is going to be a nice guy. Arifureta starts with a decent guy in Hajime Nagumo, one of several kids in his class brought to another world to save it. But he has no powerful attacks and winds up being protected by his classmates…until he gets betrayed.
After the betrayal, he ends up dropped into an even more dangerous part of the dungeon they were exploring…and gets his arm eaten by a giant monster. After that, Hajime resolves to become the strongest and make his way back to his world, no matter who he has to step on to get there.
13 BOFURI: I Don’t Want To Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense
While BOFURI might not be a straight-up isekai, it does have the same relaxed vibes as Reincarnated as a Slime. The story follows a young girl named Kaede, who starts playing a VRMMO known as NewWorld Online because a friend asked her.
When building her character, Kaede places all her stat points into defense to protect her character, which she names Maple, from getting hurt. In doing so, she makes a character that’s nearly impossible to harm, even if she is almost prohibitively slow. As Maple, Kaede finds all kinds of ways to break the game with her high stats, and forms a guild after making many new friends.
12 Log Horizon
Shiroe is a young man who finds himself trapped in the game Elder Tale, just after it released its latest expansion. Winding up there alongside thousands of others on the same server, Shiroe has no way of escaping…and even death only causes him to reincarnate.
Fortunately, he’s just shy of the level cap in the game, and is one of the server’s more established players. Like Rimuru, Shiroe has to use his intelligence to help build a city for those around him, creating a working society for living people trapped in a virtual game world. One of the best isekai anime, Log Horizon‘s focus on character development and managing a town is something Reincarnated as a Slime fans will love.
11 Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon?
Sometimes what makes a character stand out isn’t being overpowered, but rather the ability to become so. That’s what happens with Bell Cranel, a young man who’s the only member of the Hestia Familia, working for his goddess Hestia. Bell gains a strange skill that allows him to power-level, gaining vast experience incredibly quickly as long as he works hard.
Bell goes from a weakling who needs someone to save him in episode one to being able to gather people around him thanks to his strength and gentle nature. This series just got a second season after five years, so people won’t have to feel cheated when they finish the first half.
10 Reincarnated As A Sword
Reincarnated as a Slime seems to have inspired an entire subgenre of isekai: the “reincarnated as a non-human” subgenre. One of the more popular series in this sub-genre is Reincarnated as a Sword, a fantasy anime released in 2022. Also known as TenKen, the series starts with a protagonist who awakens in a new world as a sword. Fortunately, with the power of telekinesis, he can move around, and begins learning new powers and abilities.
He remains alone until he meets a catgirl named Fran on the run from a massive bear. When Fran discovers the sword, she uses it to kill the bear, and the sword decides to teach her and hopefully allow her to evolve fully, something no Black Cat has ever achieved.
9 No Game No Life
The legendary “Blank” is a gamer who’s never lost a game. Blank’s secret? They’re actually two people—a brother-sister duo named Sora and Shiro. The two of them wind up being challenged by Tet, the god of games, and soon being invited to the world of Disboard, where every conflict is solved via games.
Sora and Shiro are both perfectly suited for this world, but they’re also matching up against ancient races that have had centuries to acclimate themselves to this world. They both agree to try and unite all the races under humanity, but humans are actually the lowest-ranked race, making their task arduous.
8 Overlord
Overlord is yet another “trapped in a virtual game” world series with a super-skilled lead character. One would think such a specific concept would get old, but it turns out there are many ways to execute it well, as this series is quite popular. The wizard Momonga is a player in the game Yggdrasil, but after several years the company chooses to shut the game’s server down.
Choosing to stay in the world until it’s shut off, Momonga instead sees the game not only continue, but for the NPCs to suddenly have lives of their own. Rather than leave, Momonga stays and continues to study this strange new version of Yggdrasil.
7 Knight’s & Magic
Tsubasa Kurata is a coder who dies being hit by a car after buying his favorite mecha. He’s reincarnated in another world as Ernesti Echevalier, or “Eru,” a young man born to a family of nobles. Thanks to his skill with engineering in the old world, he becomes skilled not just in the new world’s magic, but in building “Knights,” the giant robots used as a primary form of military might in this new world. Knight’s and Magic gives us a classic overpowered protagonist, as Eru shoots this world from “realistic” robots that are just giant hunks of metal to laser-firing Gundams in a matter of years.
6 Wise Man’s Grandchild
Arguably, no other series on this list is more like Reincarnated as a Slime than Wise Man’s Grandchild. When Rimuru lands in another world, he gradually starts “upgrading” the monsters around him, creating a city for them to live in that goes from medieval to modern rather quickly. This series does something similar, as Shin Wolford already has exceptional talent with magic before being trained by some of the country’s most powerful mages and warriors. But rather than hoard that power to himself, he starts training his best friends, helping them to better their lives and defend their lands. For those who can get past the usual isekai tropes, there’s a decent show underneath this.
5 KonoSuba
KonoSuba follows the story of Kazuma Satou, who dies an early death and is reincarnated in a different world full of all sorts of crazy things like magic and Demon Kings. With the help of Aqua, Kazuma aims to defeat the Demon King, but he isn’t quite cut out for the job.
Kazuma’s party is joined by many others, such as Megumin, a young mage, and Darkness, a crusader. KonoSuba ensures that fans set off on quite a journey that isn’t just interesting but hilarious. For Slime fans, there’s no way anyone won’t enjoy watching Kazuma and his party going through the harsh adventures of a parallel world.
4 Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon follows the story of Kobayashi, a girl who lives her day-to-day life in the most boring way possible until a dragon comes over to her place. The dragon, named Tohru, can also transform into a human form.
They’re soon joined by another Dragon who goes by the name of Kanna, and before you know it, they’re a family going through the day-to-day struggles of ordinary people. Although the anime doesn’t follow the logic of your average Isekai, it does so much more to explore the characters.
3 My Isekai Life: I Gained A Second Character Class And Became The Strongest Sage In The World!
Several slime-related anime have popped up since Reincarnated as a Slime first launched, starting with My Isekai Life. In this series, a salaryman named Yuji Sano is transported to another world, where he’s given the class Monster Tamer. As a Monster Tamer, he begins taming a ton of slimes, who begin helping him to learn a ton of new skills.
Before he realizes it, Yuji has gone from the supposedly “weak” Monster Tamer class to gaining the secondary class Sage, one of the strongest classes in the world. Though Yuji would still prefer to fade into the background, he’s forced to defend his new home against powers that would seek to destroy it. Fortunately, he’s got a ton of adorable slime partners to help him.
2 By The Grace Of The Gods
Ryouma Takebayashi is a young child who spent the last three years living alone in the forest. His only friends? The slimes he’s managed to tame with his monster-taming powers. After being discovered by a royal family, Ryoma is brought into the city and slowly begins to change, making friends and seeking to establish a new life.
By the Grace of the Gods definitely exists for people who think there aren’t enough slimes within Reincarnated as a Slime, but that’s not the only change. Rather than establishing a massive city, Ryoma’s only goal is running a business where his friends can be safe, meaning there’s a decreased focus on politics.
1 The Rising Of The Shield Hero
Shield Hero focuses on the story of Naofumi Iwatani, who is summoned to a new world that needs his help. Along with others, his job is to act and stand in the face of evil and injustice. Due to the hardships he faces regularly, Iwatani starts losing hope and becomes a cynic.
However, that’s certainly not the end of his journey as he continues to press forward, slow as it may be. Though some fans might believe it’s an isekai that wasted its premise, to others, Naofumi Iwatani’s journey is praiseworthy. It’s certainly worth watching for fans of That Time I Was Reincarnated As A Slime.
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