From dark to contemporary fantasy, there is much to learn and even more to love about the infinite possibilities that come with such a rich and complex genre, including in the world of Japanese animation. Fantasy is any work of fiction involving the supernatural or the impossible, from fairies and magic to Tolkien-style kingdoms and much more, and the best fantasy anime are always worth a watch, even for casual fantasy fans.
Some high fantasy anime are just filler, such as the endless variety of isekai fantasy anime that don’t really go anywhere, but the genre still has plenty to offer. Anyone looking for a great new fantasy anime to watch can lose themselves in a world of magic and monsters, from dark fantasy to supernatural stories to the best isekai that actually do have something to say in their wonderful fantasy world.
Update on May 16th, 2023 by Louis Kemner: the concept of fantasy is a broad one, and many different fantasy anime works may feel totally different than one another with their characters and themes. What unites them is fantasy’s love of the impossible. Unlike science fiction, which is about the possibilities of science and technology, fantasy is about what can never be, supernatural and fantastical things that exist only in everyone’s imagination. In the best fantasy anime series, the impossible becomes very real, and that’s what makes it so wonderful to watch.
20 Maria The Virgin Witch
Set against the backdrop of the Hundred Years’ War between France and England, Maria the Virgin Witch follows a witch using her magic to try to force both armies to stop fighting. There is a good bit of comedy surrounding Maria’s virginal status, especially as she has an incubus and a succubus serving her as familiars.
The battles are incredible and this anime has some of the most accurate medieval martial combat ever depicted with cutthroat mercenaries and knights in full plate clashing in the din of melee. Maria is a fun character who gives heart to the series, adding magic and joy to a world beset by grim violence and tragedy.
19 Fairy Tail
Fairy Tail never reached the same heights as the original shonen big three, but it’s still a highly entertaining and long-running fantasy anime title that any shonen fan may enjoy. Fairy Tail features an ensemble cast of friendly wizards who belong to the Fairy Tail guild, and plenty of adventure awaits all of them.
Fairy Tail has a bit of everything for fantasy anime fans, from colorful magic battles to massive dragons to picturesque fantasy towns to time travel and immortality. Protagonist Lucy Heartfilia ran away from home to find her destiny as a wizard – and she’s about to find more than that once she signs up with the famed Fairy Tail guild.
18 InuYasha
InuYasha is an older series that easily stands the test of time, and interested fans can also check out the sequel, Yashahime. Set in Sengoku Era Japan, InuYasha follows a time-displaced girl from the present named Kagome Higurashi and the half-demon Inuyasha as they battle many supernatural horrors together.
InuYasha is one of the most beloved and best fantasy anime out there, and it’s also an early example of isekai done right. Kagome is a girl of two worlds, trying to juggle her late 1990s Tokyo life with her deadly adventures of demons and magic in the feudal era.
17 That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, also known simply as TenSura, is a popular fantasy isekai anime starring the famously overpowered slime hero, Rimuru Tempest. The premise sounds like generic isekai, but TenSura makes the most of it and has everything fantasy fans could want.
TenSura is an isekai fantasy series with a highly inspirational central message, not just escapism or wish fulfillment. Rimuru aims to build an all-new kingdom where monsters of all kinds may live in peace and harmony, a constructive and tolerant place where everyone can realize their own potential, from orcs and ogres to goblins and lizard-folk.
16 Death Note
Death Note’s urban fantasy story follows protagonist Light Yagami, a brilliant high school boy who acquires a magical journal known as a Death Note. If he knows a person’s name and what they look like, Light can write that person’s name in the book, which will result in their death.
Light begins to kill criminals with his new powers, using the name Kira as he tries to kill his way to creating a better world. A police task force forms to stop him, headed by a mysterious genius known as L, someone every bit as smart as Light. This story is a game of cat and mouse, filled with dark magic and death gods, all set in modern-day Tokyo.
15 Berserk
Berserk is widely celebrated as one of the greatest manga series ever made. While the most recent 2017 anime series is a bit of a mess, the original ’90s anime is a beautiful adaptation of the “Golden Age” arc of Kentaro Miura’s manga. The three Berserk: Golden Age films are also excellent.
This series follows Guts, a scarred fearsome mercenary captain of the Band of the Hawk. While fighting in the frontlines with his massive sword, Guts and the Hawks encounter unspeakable demons— and human enemies who are every bit as deadly. While the fight scenes are spectacular, Berserk’s truly unforgettable because of its amazing characters and philosophical explorations.
14 Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket is a fantasy-lite anime that also appeals to fans of traditional romance and high school rom-com anime, giving it broad appeal. The deredere protagonist Tohru Honda met the reclusive Sohma family and learned their bizarre secret: that a centuries-old curse has bound them together with the spirits of the Chinese zodiac.
Yuki, Kyo, Hatsuharu, and the other members of the Sohma family transform into animals when hugged, but it’s not all fun and games. These magical bonds usually bring misery to the Sohma family, especially with Akito as the family head, so Tohru soon vows to free the tragic Sohmas from this bond of fate once and for all.
13 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is widely recognized as not just one of the best fantasy anime series, but one of the best anime of any kind. This legendary shonen anime stars the Elric brothers Edward and Alphonse, who once committed the taboo of attempting human transmutation to revive the dead.
Ed and Al hoped to use the Philosopher’s Stone to revive their mangled bodies, but that quest soon got them swept up in a whirlwind of conspiracies, monstrous homunculi, strange alchemy, and shocking secrets about alchemy and even the founding of Amestris itself.
12 Ancient Magus Bride
The Ancient Magus Bride takes place in an alternate version of London, England. A teenage girl named Chise allows herself to be sold as a slave at an auction after growing up an orphan and homeless. An ancient and well-known mage named Elias Ainsworth recognizes her to be a rare sort of mage called a Sleigh Buggy.
This reveal turns the tables for Chise who is now worth more than she would have hoped. Elias offers Chise the opportunity to become his apprentice and grow into her power with the only counterpart that she will one day become his bride, thus the title The Ancient Magus Bride.
11 Little Witch Academia
Atsuko “Akko” Kagari is a teenage girl fascinated by magic and all its wonders. Even if magic seems obsolete in the eyes of society, Akko enrolls in a prestigious magical school for girls called Luna Nova Magical Academy to kickstart Little Witch Academia’s high fantasy story.
No matter how hard she tries, Akko still struggles to fit in as she comes from a non-magical background and has very little magical talent. Luckily, Akko came into possession of an ancient magical relic that once belonged to a powerful witch before she gave up on her dream of becoming a witch herself. Now she can now compete against the other students and work towards her dream.
10 Made In Abyss
The titular Abyss in Made in Abyss is a seemingly bottomless pit in which treasures and mysterious creatures can be found. A city built around it is home to one of the best Divers, Lyza. To everyone’s surprise, her latest mission goes horribly wrong and she disappears within the abyss, leaving behind her a daughter: Riko.
Determined to find her mother, Riko aspires to climb up the ranks of White Whistle and dive into the Abyss herself. During her first mission, she encounters a strange robot boy suffering from amnesia and the two of them venture deep into the Abyss. Despite its colorful and adorable design, Made in Abyss hides a pretty dark fantasy story with the promise of a thrilling and fascinating adventure.
9 Tokyo Ghoul
In a world where ghouls, human flesh-eating creatures, live among humans, a college student named Ken Kaneki miraculously survives an encounter with one of those creatures early in Tokyo Ghoul’s story. Upon waking up at the hospital, Ken learns that the surgery he underwent transformed him into a half-ghoul.
The story follows him as he learns to live with his new condition and come to terms with this new reality. Because Ken is now neither ghoul nor human, he struggles to find a place to fit in, with villainous ghouls and expert CCG investigators hunting him down everywhere he goes.
8 Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is a charming reverse isekai anime that, for comedy fans, definitely ranks among the best fantasy anime out there. The story begins when the office worker Kobayashi meets a dragon named Tohru who can transform into a human form to fit into modern society.
Tohru offers to work as a maid for Kobayashi to repay her for her kindness, however, Tohru’s unorthodox methods often bring more chaos than actual help. Still, Tohru means well as Kobayashi’s devoted maid and is a formidable fighter, which actually comes in handy when rival dragons and monsters make a ruckus.
7 Magi
Hidden around the world are several labyrinths called “Dungeons” that people attempt to find in hopes of uncovering some valuable treasures. Despite being total strangers, Aladdin, a young magician, and Alibaba decide to go in search of one of those Dungeons together in order to pay for the damage they have done to a rich merchant’s supply cart.
To their surprise, what was supposed to be a simple quest for treasures turns out to be life-changing for both of them. The Magi anime tells a fine fantasy story, though it only runs for 25 episodes. Devoted fans may continue the story in the original Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic manga, which runs for 37 volumes.
6 Demon Slayer
Demon Slayer’s anime quickly became one of the biggest names in not just fantasy anime, but in shonen anime and even the entire industry. This popular fantasy action series hit the ground running as a heartfelt and well-animated adventure that had broad appeal among shonen fans and beyond.
Demon Slayer stars the sword-slinging protagonist Tanjiro Kamado, who must fight deadly supernatural demons and find a cure for his sister Nezuko, who recently became a demon herself. Anyone who loves fantasy action titles like InuYasha and Bleach is sure to enjoy Demon Slayer, too.
5 Konosuba
Sometimes, parody and satire anime become one of the best titles of their genre. That’s the case for Konosuba, a popular fantasy isekai anime that pokes fun at isekai and fantasy tropes while being excellent entertainment in its own right.
Konosuba has it all, from Truck-kun and a pleasant fantasy world to magical girls, castles, colorful spells, and terrifying monsters such as the Dullahan and giant frogs. Konosuba also features one of the most dysfunctional but entertaining adventurer parties of all, from the “useless” goddess aqua to the explosion-obsessed Megumin.
4 Yona Of The Dawn
Yona of the Dawn is a fairly popular shojo action anime series and one of the top fantasy series overall. Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender will also enjoy this series, since its heroine, Princess Yona, must unite an Asian-inspired world in peace where the major kingdoms represent the classic elements.
Yona was once cozy as a princess, but when her father was betrayed and killed, Yona went on the run with only her bodyguard, Hak, to support her. Soon, Yona became stronger and wiser as a roaming princess who will avenge the king’s betrayal and bring peace to the land with the aid of special elemental dragons by her side.
3 Jujutsu Kaisen
Jujutsu Kaisen is a modern shonen superstar, a wildly popular fantasy action series that’s a spiritual successor to the famed Bleach from the 2000s. In Jujutsu Kaisen, protagonist Yuji Itadori ate a finger of Ryomen Sukuna, the villainous king of curses, and became a sorcrerer who must defend humanity from monsters.
Yuji’s new life of sorcery and curses is wild and dark, but he won’t dare give up, especially with his new friends Nobara Kugisaki and Megumi Fushiguro backing him up. This fantasy anime may be short, but it’s great, and the next season is right around the corner this summer.
2 Re:Zero
Re:Zero is a fan-favorite fantasy isekai with a dark edge to it to balance out the humor and colorful escapism. Protagonist Subaru Natsuki is a NEET in a tracksuit who ended up in a fantasy realm, and it’s up to him to guide this world’s fate while cheating death time and again.
Subaru can always come back from the dead, and he needs that power to use trial and error to advance this fantasy world’s plot in the direction he desires. There, Subaru will meet many friends and enemies, from deadly assassins to ogre maids and scheming noblemen.
1 Attack On Titan
Attack on Titan ranks among the darkest, most violent, and best fantasy anime series of all. This gaslamp fantasy anime depicts a walled-off city fighting for survival against hordes of giant, flesh-eating Titans, a premise that delivers plenty of action, mystery, and horror along the way.
Protagonist Eren Yeager swore revenge on the Titans after their biggest attack yet on his home, but then he will embrace unexpected fantasy powers and fight the Titans on their own terms. Soon, Eren will learn the truth of the world beyond the walls – and his place in it.
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