Highlights
- Log Horizon immerses viewers in a virtual world mystery as players must adapt to a new reality to find a way out.
- The Rising of the Shield Hero tells a tale of discrimination turned determination as Naofumi fights to protect a kingdom.
- The Eminence In Shadow follows Cid’s journey to eliminate an imaginary cult in a magical world with unexpected discoveries.
The isekai genre has seen more than a few successes in recent times. However, none separates itself as much as The Saga of Tanya The Evil. Centred around the protagonist, Tanya Degurechaff, a young soldier infamous for her brilliant but ruthless aptitude for combat and battle, the series explores reincarnation and war on a magical scale.
Underneath the physical appearance of a little girl lies the soul of a man who has challenged god, also known as Being X. What follows in the series is Tanya’s act of total defiance and the consequences thereof. So, for fans who like the series, here are some of the best isekai series, just like The Saga of Tanya The Evil.
10 Log Horizon
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.1 / 5
Log Horizon is premised on the virtual reality game Elder Tale. The series, however, takes a mysterious turn when thirty thousand Japanese players of Elder Tale are suddenly frisked away from their daily lives and trapped within the game, unable to log out.
Among these players is the story’s protagonist, Shiroe, a socially awkward college student who happens to be a veteran game player. Quickly adapting to his new reality, Shiroe sets out to test the limits of his new world to find a way to escape the reality of Elder Tale. Friends and allies join Shiroe and unfold a tale of adventure, magic, and politics together.
9 The Rising of the Shield Hero
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.3 / 5
The Rising Of The Shield Hero features the tale of a young man who, from a life of the ordinary, is saddled with the responsibility of salvation among three other heroes for a kingdom in another world. The series’ protagonist, Naofumi Iwatani, alongside three others, is suddenly summoned to the Kingdom Of Melromarc to become the Four Cardinal Heroes to protect the kingdom and become its salvation.
Naofumi, however, cursed with the fate of the Shield Hero, is discriminated against, maltreated, incriminated, and ultimately abandoned by the Kingdom to fend for himself.
With only his seething rage and feeling of revenge, Naofumi begins the journey to strengthen himself and prepare for what is to come. Despite his hatred, Naofumi does all he can to ensure the survival of the Kingdom of Melromarc and to avert their fate of destruction.
8 The Eminence in Shadow
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.2 / 5
The Eminence In Shadow is centred on the protagonist, Minoru Kagenou, a seemingly ordinary high school student who, for as long as he can remember, has only ever had one wish: to be as strong as possible. This wish of his led him to undergo several rigorous training; however, Minoru’s life comes to an abrupt end when he gets in a truck accident.
The accident, however, is not the end of Minoru’s life as he reawakens in another world, one where magic is the norm, as the second child of the noble Kagenou family—Reborn as Cid Kagenou, with all the power he so wished for. Cid undertakes the persona of Shadow and establishes Shadow Garden, an organization whose sole existence is for the elimination of the Cult of Diablos. These two organizations, however, are figments of Cid’s imagination, but it turns out they may not be as imaginary as he thinks.
7 Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest
Anime-Planet Rating: 3.8 / 5
Arifureta features the life of an ordinary high schooler, Hajime Nagumo, whose life is turned upside down after he and his classmates are suddenly transported to a magical world. Each student is gifted with functional combat abilities. However, Nagumo is not so lucky as he only gets a lacking transmutation ability without any actual offensive features.
Discriminated by his classmates due to his weakness, Nagumo is finally betrayed and left to die in a labyrinth expedition. Trapped in an almost unending labyrinth, Nagumo is desperate to survive and luckily encounters an imprisoned vampire called Yue. Together, the duo find ways to escape the maze while Nagumo grows stronger through their adversities.
6 Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.2 / 5
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is premised on the life of once a middle-aged man who, throughout his life, is bullied, scorned, and discriminated against. In an attempt to try something heroic to save the life of another, he ultimately loses his life in a tragic accident. However, he is reborn into a magical world as Rudeus Greyrat in a twist of fate.
Rudeus quickly familiarises himself with his new world, even as a child, as he can preserve the memories and knowledge of his past life. In a bid to make the most of his second chance at life, Rudeus is determined to overcome the trauma of his previous life while doing all that seemed impossible in it.
5 GATE
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.1 / 5
GATE reverses the Isekai premise in its story, as the series’ central character, the off-duty Japan Self-Defense Officer and otaku, Youji Itami, comes upon a mysterious portal in the shape of a gate on his way to a doujin convention. Through the gate emerges supernatural creatures and warriors in medieval attires who tear through the city and destroy everything in their path.
Youji quickly swings into action and saves as many people as possible while his unit tries to stop the sudden invasion. After quelling the attack, Youji leads a special task force into the portal to explore everything within. Hanging on the shoulders of this task force is the probability of either peaceful coexistence or a grueling and devastating war, and Youji is determined to make sure their exploration leads to the former.
4 That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.4 / 5
That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime follows the ordinary life of middle-aged corporate worker Satoru Mikami, who is more than happy to continue living his monotonous lifestyle until his ordinary ends abruptly after he is robbed and stabbed, ultimately leading to his death. However, death is not the end of Satoru as he reawakens in a strange world with an unfamiliar appearance. He realizes that he has reincarnated as a goop of slime.
Satoru’s appearance is not the only thing about him that changes as he discovers new abilities, mainly the ability to devour anything. In familiarising himself with his new world, he meets the Storm Dragon, Veldora, who bestows upon him the name Rimuru Tempest, and what follows is a new life of adventure that would ultimately alter Rimuru’s fate.
3 Knights and Magic
Anime-Planet Rating: 3.9 / 5
- Where To Watch: Crunchyroll, Prime Video
- Release Years: 2017
- Genre: Action, Fantasy
Knights and Magic revolves around the life of otaku Tsubasa Kurata, who is reborn to a noble house named Ernesti Echevarria in the medieval Kingdom of Fremmevilla. Bestowed with magical abilities, Ernesti is enrolled in the Royal Laihaila Academy, where he is trained like other students on how to pilot the Silhouette Knights.
The knights are powerful mech robots used to fight against the demonic beasts that threaten the existence of Fremmevilla. Driven by the goal of one day building his own Silhouette Knight, Ernesti teams up with colleagues from the Academy to defeat the demonic beasts and protect the kingdom.
2 Drifters
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.1 / 5
The Drifters series brings a touch of history—one with blood, gore, and war. The story is centred on the charismatic Shimazu Toyohisa, a commander at the battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Critically wounded and at death’s door in a bid to stall for time for his already retreating army. Toyohisa suddenly finds himself in a white hallway, being stared down by the stoic-faced man named Murasaki. Before understanding his situation, Toyohisa is pulled through the nearest door to the Land of the Ends.
Toyohisa quickly learns of the continent’s grim situation through the infamous Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga and ancient archer Yoichi Suketaka Nasu in a land filled with different fantastical creatures and warriors from various eras. Through them, he further learns of their purpose of summoning: to destroy the Ends: The Orte empire threatening to destroy the drifters. Together with his historically famous colleagues, Toyohis must protect the natives from the empire while simultaneously saving his skin.
1 OverLord
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.2 / 5
Overlord is premised on the virtual reality game Yggdrasil. The world-renowned VR game is seeing its last hours as the game is about to come to a close. However, the master of the dark guild, Ainz Ooal Gown, Momonga, deems it fit to spend the last moments of the game within it before the servers begin to shut down. However, what should have been a moment of relief and clarity becomes confusing as the clock strikes midnight, and Momonga is still fully conscious of his in-game character.
Unable to log out, Momonga soon realizes that the non-player characters in the game have seemingly developed conscious personalities of their own, and he may never be able to leave Yggdrasil. Still confused, Momonga commands his subordinates to seize control of this new world and help him investigate, hoping to figure out why he cannot log out of the game.
Leave a Reply