Influential Isekai Anime Worth Watching Just For Their Importance To The Genre

Every season, a slew of isekai series are released, with some being absolute peak fiction while many others turn out to be generic and forgettable.

However, in the history of isekai, there have been some milestone anime that have, in a sense, defined the genre. These shows might have spawned new eras, or tropes that fans are used to today. While not every one of these shows was a masterpiece, they are worth watching as relevant pieces of media that influenced a lot of the isekai people watch today.

10 Aura Battler Dunbine

The First To Ever Do It

While isekai anime are a dime a dozen today, this was not always the case, and by the time Aura Battler Dunbine came out in 1983, it told a story that no one had experienced to that point. It told of Shou, who is transported into another world to serve under Lord Drake and take over the world.

Dunbine was created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, who is famous for being the brains behind the Gundam series. The show is very relevant today, as it is often credited as the first isekai ever animated.

9 Magic Knight Rayearth

Magic Girls Mix Well With Isekai

Magic Knight Rayearth came out in 1994 and was produced by CLAMP, the same group that brought Code Geass to the world. This show also incorporated several genres, including fantasy, the magical girl, and mecha.

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It follows Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu, who are all transported to the world of Cephiro where they are chosen to be magic knights who restore peace to the land. The show was an important milestone for isekai, as it really linked the genre with shojo and romance. It was followed by some other great works, like The 12 Kingdoms.

8 No Game, No Life

No Second Season, No Problem

No Game, No Life is one of the most notorious one-season anime out there. Released in 2014, it told of Sora and Shiro, a brother-sister duo who are the masters of all types of games. They are pulled into another world by the god, Tet.

It might seem like hyperbole to say that No Game, No Life revolutionized isekai, but it is true that it was one of the first shows that introduced a protagonist who got by in the world through smarts rather than any real brawn. Many isekai have since followed this trend.

7 El Hazard

One Of The Earliest Examples Of Classmates In Another World

Shows like Arifureta and Failure Frame, where a whole class of students are transported to another world and gain abilities, have become commonplace. However, before those shows, and before the darker tones they took, there was El Hazard.

This was a show from 1995 which saw several characters from the same school transported to another world where they gained powers. Here, the main character, Makoto, has to figure out the new world he’s in and how he can get back to Earth.

6 KonoSuba: God’s Blessing On This Wonderful World!

A Subversion Of Expectations

By 2016, isekai anime had been done to death, so when KonoSuba came out, it was considered very refreshing. The show completely flipped the script and subverted all the expectations that fans had of the genre.

Rather than some of the darker themes of many of the isekai coming out at the time, KonoSuba is a laugh-out-loud comedy where the characters are mostly incompetent and silly. It mocked the idea of death by truck, the typical mysterious and beautiful goddess was replaced by the hilarious, but useless, Aqua, and the main character is a jerk that knows he’s one. KonoSuba does it all really well, and is definitely worth the watch.

5 Ascendance Of A Bookworm

One Of The Most Grounded Isekai

Isekai has been explored in so many different ways and through various lenses, so when Ascendance Of A Bookworm hit the scene in 2019, it was nice to see that there were still some new ideas to be explored.

It follows the story of Myne, a lady who died before fulfilling her wish to be a librarian. Now reborn in another world as a little girl, she sets off to fulfill her dream of…reading more books. In Ascendance Of A Bookworm, the grounded nature of the story, the realistic goals of the protagonist, and the depiction of rising through the ranks, all make it an essential isekai anime for lovers of the genre.

4 Overlord

The Rise Of The Villain Protagonist

Overlord is an amazing show that is easily considered as one of the best isekai out there. It came out in 2015, and is about a normal man who gets trapped in a game he used to play which has now come to life. However, the man, who is now Ainz Ooal Gown, finds himself at the head of a villainous organization.

Overlord really brought a darker theme to isekai at the time, and even some elements of horror, as fans watched Ainz lay waste to the inhabitants of the new world in his bid to establish his kingdom. Overlord was one of the first series to popularize the villain isekai protagonist, something that has become very mainstream in the years since.

3 Mushoku Tensei Jobless Reincarnation

A Modern Classic

Mushoku Tensei Jobless Reincarnation can be considered a classic even though it is a 2021 anime, which makes it very, very recent. Even with that in mind, it brought a lot to the table, including the fact that it was one of the shows that popularized Truck-kun as the Charon to another world.

Mushoku Tensei does get some flak for its protagonist, Rudeus, but it is certain to go down as one of the most influential isekai out there for how successfully it has brought new viewers to the genre.

2 Fushigi Yuugi

Using Isekai To Treat Fantasy

Fushigi Yuugi is an early work by Yuu Watase, who went on to create Absolute Boyfriend, which has been a hit and has been adapted in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. Fushigi Yuugi, on the other hand, follows Miaka and Yui, who get transported into another world via a book.

The isekai elements were basically used as a prop to tell a fantasy story that revolved around the romance of Miaki and Taamahome. The show took its setting seriously and didn’t rely on character gimmicks. It paved the way for the likes of The 12 Kingdoms, which also followed the fantasy route.

1 Sword Art Online

Isekai’s Big Bang

Sword Art Online is by no means the greatest isekai ever made, but it is undoubtedly the one that really brought the isekai genre into the mainstream. It was also not the first to do the “trapped in an MMORPG” trope either (that was .Hack//Sign), but it sure popularized it.

There are arguments about whether to accept SAO as an isekai, as the character was sucked into an alternate universe that exists in virtual reality. However, considering the fact that those who die in SAO die in real life, and the world was the real home of so many characters, it is definitely an isekai. So much came from SAO, including the OP ‘bland’ main character that lets watchers see themselves in their tole. While SAO might not be the Father of isekai, it is definitely its biggest and most popular promoter.