One of the most common tropes in anime is the one where characters, especially the protagonist, never seem to get married. This is even more evident in isekai, where characters either end up in a harem or are too busy becoming overpowered. This is especially true of more modern shows that have more or less shifted to target male audiences, and the fan service present in a lot of these shows is testament to this fact.
But, there are some shows where the topic of marriage is given a bit more room to breathe, where the protagonist doesn’t simply make googly eyes at his love interest but actively does something about it and ends up married. These shows aren’t common, but when they’re done well, they are memorable pieces of media that deserve all the attention.
6 Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation
MAL Rating: 8.37 (First Season)
Mushoku Tensei tells the story of a jobless otaku who, after the death of his parents, also meets his end while trying to save some children. He awakes in another world as a baby and starts his new life. Rudeus is overpowered, but in the context of the show, it makes sense that he has such incredible power, and it feels earned.
Rudeus did something unique — he actually married the harem. Rudeus has three wives in the story — Sylphy, Roxy, and, eventually, Eris. In the anime, he marries Sylphy after attending a university and meets Sylphy — who he doesn’t know is Sylphy — due to their long time apart and the change in her appearance. The two eventually get married and even have children.
5 Sword Art Online
MAL Rating: 7.21 (First Season)
Kirito, otherwise known as the Black Swordsman, is the protagonist of Sword Art Online, perhaps one of the most popular isekai ever made, and the show many will point to as the beginning of the proliferation of isekai around the world.
One of the major points of SAO is the relationship between Kirito and Asuna. They are a really fun couple, and they get married in-game. Asuna is slightly older than Kirito, and their ability to get married in the real world is slightly challenged. It is believed they will end up together in the real world just as they are in the virtual world.
4 The Ideal Sponger Life
MAL Rating: 7.24
- Release Date: Feb 3, 2017
- Status: Ongoing
- Volumes: 16
- Genres: Isekai, Politics, Romance
Yamai Zenjirou is an average salary man who winds up in another world where he is given the most mind-blowing proposition — get married to the beautiful queen of the isekai world and do nothing. The Ideal Sponger Life might look like the run-of-the-mill male fantasy isekai at first glance, but it features a rich story full of political intrigue and heartwarming romance.
The marriage between Yamai and Aura develops slowly and beautifully as they learn to love and trust each other while dealing with political intrigue. Yamai is not some braniac who has a stunning solution to every issue, but a regular guy whose victories sometimes consist of compromise — or even looking silly to the opposing party. It also resists the urge to follow some of the common isekai tropes like building a harem or a protagonist who is worshiped by all.
3 Let’s Buy The Land And Cultivate It In A Different World
MAL Rating: 6.80
- Release Date: Dec 28, 2018
- Status: Ongoing
- Volumes: 8
- Genres: Isekai, Slice of Life, Comedy
Itonami Norio finds himself in another world with a unique skill that lets him use any tool he gets to its utmost potential. When he fishes up a mermaid, she decides she wants him as her groom.
Let’s Buy The Land is a lot of brainless fun, which is typically what a lot of isekai turn out to be. The reader will meet with most of the general tropes and madness that take place in these sorts of stories, but it does have fun characters that readers can get interested in.
2 Chillin’ In Another World With Level 2 Super Cheat Powers
MAL Rating: 7.05
On the surface, Chillin’ In Another World With Level 2 Super Cheat Powers is just another generic isekai with an overpowered protagonist that everyone seems to fall in love with. The first episode even seems like something from the controversial Shield Hero.
However, Flio, the protagonist, turns out to be a pretty decent guy. He also marries a demon early on, and the two slowly build a relationship. Flio is a fun character who is OP but seems to avoid most of the generic fights one would expect from an isekai featuring such a powerful protagonist and instead focuses on, as the title suggests, chilling. The show has harem elements, but Flio seems only interested in one character as the object of his affection, and this is not a common theme in isekai, which normally has a character who has feelings for multiple female characters.
1 The Familiar Of Zero
MAL Rating: 7.22
The Familiar Of Zero is for isekai fans who love every single trope available in modern isekai anime. A harem? Check. Insane powers? Check. Uninspiring villain? Check. But if the viewer loves all these things, then Familiar Of Zero is a perfect watch.
The protagonist, Saitou, gets isekaid to a world as the familiar of a girl called Louise, who till then has had difficulties performing magic. The rest of the show follows their weird on-again-off-again relationship. Unlike a lot of shows that leave it there, the feelings between the two characters grow over time, and it ends with a marriage between the two at the very end of the series.