This Isekai Anime Could Be the Next Solo Leveling

Isekai remains the most consistently-seen genre in modern anime, with these reincarnation stories constantly being told in each season of new anime. Many of these are adaptations of preceding light novels, web novels and manga, and there’s more than a little bit of similarity between the miasma of releases. That’s definitely the case with one upcoming anime adaptation, which could certainly sink or swim based on its recognizable elements.

My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, I’m Out for Revenge! is the latest isekai story with a ridiculous name to receive an anime, and its general plot is already told in the title. This plot recalls major elements from one of the biggest anime hits of the past two years, as well as a notable “flop” of an anime adaptation. As a result, it’s still up in the air whether this new work will succeed, especially with how overdone isekai has increasingly become.

The Newest Isekai Anime Isn’t Right Around the Corner

The full title of the next major isekai anime adaptation is Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Trusted Companions Tried to Kill Me, but Thanks to the Gift of an Unlimited Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out for Revenge on My Former Party Members and the World, though it’s more commonly known as My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, I’m Out for Revenge!. It began back in 2020 as a web novel before following the traditional isekai trajectory of being turned into a light novel, a manga and now, an anime.

The writer of the original novels is Shishui Meikyo, with the artist tef handling the visuals. Starting in 2021, there have been 12 volumes of the light novels so far, with the concurrent manga having 17 volumes. 10 of the light novels have been released in English so far, with the next scheduled to coincide shortly after with the release of the anime. At the same time, only 9 of the manga volumes have been localized so far.

Despite being lumped into the isekai genre, My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, I’m Out for Revenge! doesn’t involve reincarnation or some of the usual tropes of the genre. It is, however, flush with copious fantasy ideas and concepts that are constantly seen in isekai. In the fantasy setting, humans are the weakest of the land’s many races, with Light being one such human. He, like some other humans, has a special power, though this ability to summon an infinite amount of “gacha” is seemingly useless.

This lack of a threat sees him betrayed by his colleagues, who try to pass off his inevitable death as due to a monster attack. Strangely enough, the magic present in Light’s new “tomb” (known as the Abyss) allows him to summon a particularly powerful character named Mei, who’s derived from a trading card. This proves that his power wasn’t useless, and he’s now able to tap into it like never before. Developing the Abyss into his own base of operations, he uses this new strength to seek revenge on his former teammates and save humanity from being enslaved by other races.

Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon Feels More Than a Little Like Solo Leveling

In a lot of ways, the plot of My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, I’m Out for Revenge! feels right in line with some of the biggest isekai and isekai-adjacent anime. Easily the most popular of these is the notable anime Solo Leveling, which is based on a South Korean novel and webtoon franchise. Even though Solo Leveling isn’t an isekai, it might as well be, and it’s arguably as much a part of the genre as the similarly “adjacent” My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, I’m Out for Revenge!.

The story involves a Hunter named Sung Jinwoo, who’s seemingly the weakest of these individuals, having little magical power of his own to tap into. After experiencing a Second Awakening, however, he gains unprecedented power, using this to defend the innocent and take down dungeon monsters more easily than ever. While it’s far from the most original story, it’s become incredibly popular in its anime form, and this could rub off on any imitators.

Solo Leveling and Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon have the same basic concept of a weakling gaining immense power after nearly dying in a dungeon, but while the former is more of an urban fantasy anime, the latter is more medieval. The superficial similarities might not go too deep, but the overall success of Solo Leveling makes them worth noting. This could go one of two ways for Backstabbed, especially given the wait for more of the Solo Leveling anime. Some viewers might gravitate to the new anime, making it successful due to how much it resembles one of the industry’s biggest hits.

Even those who see it merely as a Johnny-come-lately version of an anime that itself mostly coasts on “aura” might still tune in, affording it some level of success in its own right. At the same time, there’s also a chance that many viewers will brush it off as “Solo Leveling-lite,” and even the lack of that anime having a third season yet might not be enough to move the needle for the new isekai work. In fact, there’s already one major “failure” that set the stage for these derivative anime to fall completely by the wayside.

Has the Revenge Isekai Bubble Finally Crashed?

Beyond the aforementioned Solo Leveling, Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon also recalls a recent isekai anime adaptation that ironically lived up to its name. Failure Frame began in 2017 as a light novel/web novel franchise, but it didn’t receive an anime until seven years later in 2024. Produced by Seven Arcs, this anime had a mere 12 episodes, and it’s unknown if there will be more on the way. For the most part, many saw it as something of a failure, largely due to the CGI animation and how the story was adapted. This led to rushed pacing and bad character development, with these being just a few of the problems.

Perhaps the biggest of these was the fact that Failure Frame was just another generic isekai anime that had nothing of note to make it stand out from the crowd. It also had a story involving a seemingly weak or useless warrior who’s betrayed and left to die in a dungeon. Of course, he secretly has an incredibly powerful set of abilities, and these allow him to reach new heights and eventually get revenge on those who wronged him.

The lack of attention given to the Failure Frame speaks to a major issue with isekai, which is that the genre has simply become played out. This was a recurring criticism of anime by the beginning of the 2020s, and by this point, many have only grown more tired of these works. Isekai has constantly repeated the same tones, scopes and tropes, and the consistent use of medieval settings has only made things more boring. The genre is known for overpowered “underdog” protagonists, and that’s clearly on display in Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon.

With how rote and blasé things have become for isekai and how the genre is no longer a recipe for instant success, Backstabbed actually has its work cut out for it in terms of making a splash on the market. It doesn’t help that the source material is far from acclaimed, and the fact that it’s receiving an anime speaks more to studios attempting to wrench out every last potential isekai penny more so than the light novels actually being good. As a result, it could easily be a bomb for Q4 2025, evoking Failure Frame in ways that it didn’t want to. At the same time, the remaining vestiges of isekai dominance could still help it out, even if it never reaches half the heights of the Solo Leveling anime.

Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon premieres on October 3, 2025.