The Best Isekai Anime From Every Year of the 2010s
It can be easy to forget that prior to Sword Art Online, the isekai genre wasn’t actually all that popular. Most of the time, urban fantasy dominated the fantasy genre. Even after Sword Art Online, it took some time before the anime industry caught on to isekai anime being one giant cheat code.
With that in mind, it’s fascinating to follow the isekai genre through the 2010s. In 2010, the market had no isekai anime at all, while by 2019 each season had at least two or three new isekai series for fans to keep up with. Still, most years it was still easy to pick out the best shows.
Digimon Xros Wars Revived The Digimon Franchise In 2011
Written by Kamen Rider W writer Riku Sanjo, Digimon Xros Wars represents the sixth series in the Digimon franchise. Unlike series in the past, Xros Wars managed to stay on the air for three seasons, each covering different arcs and main villains. The series follows Taiki, a young kid who gets pulled into the Digital World and builds an army of allies to free the Digital World from Lord Bagramon’s oppression.
Digimon Xros Wars felt like a departure from older Digimon series, embracing the monster collector tropes to make it more similar to Pokémon compared to other series. Even the Digivolutions felt different from older series, with the show’s mascot Shoutmon evolving based on the power of fusion. Sure, it felt like a mecha series, but it was also one of the best Digimon anime series for its first season.
In 2012, Sword Art Online Defined The Modern Isekai
2012 wasn’t a busy year for isekai anime, but it doesn’t matter since only one series was ever going to be worthy of mention that year. Sword Art Online might not be an isekai in the strictest sense, but it’s responsible for the genre’s boom in popularity that lives on even today. The series focuses on Kirito, a young teenager who gets trapped in an online MMO with no way out other than beating the game.
Sword Art Online turned into an instant success, with fans falling in love with its high concept and gorgeous animation. Meanwhile, Kirito turned into one of the most popular anime characters ever, defining the look and attitude of most isekai protagonists for the next decade. Unsurprisingly, Sword Art Online turned into one of the major franchises for the 2010s, garnering multiple sequels as Kirito traveled to different games. These days, it’s considered one of the more overrated anime series, but for its time, it represented the peak of anime popularity.
2013’s Log Horizon Managed To Establish Itself As Different From Sword Art Online
Given that Sword Art Online was such a smash hit, it should come as no surprise that isekai anime continued with the “trapped in a video game” setting for a time. Just like Sword Art Online, the protagonists of Log Horizon are stuck in their own VRMMO. However, Log Horizon becomes more than a cheap rip-off for anyone who bothers to look deeper at the series.
For starters, where Sword Art preferred to get its drama from characters dying, Log Horizon sets its characters in a world where even death doesn’t free them from the game. Instead, they’re forced to cope with potentially being trapped within Elder Tale forever. The result is a more political-style isekai, as they’re forced to build a working society together if they want to live in peace and stand a chance at escaping. The series is also the best at applying MMO mechanics and tactics to its fight scenes, making it feel more like a video game than most other shows.
No Game No Life Showed Not All Isekai Had To Be About Fights In 2014
No Game No Life launched just as the isekai boom was really getting started. The series immediately captured viewers with its unique artstyle, gorgeous color palette, and a setting unlike any other. The series followed Sora and Shiro, a brother-sister duo who’d never lost any game they played, suddenly being transported to Disboard, a world where games decide everything.
While other series relied on heavy action to carry a weaker plot, No Game No Life eschewed any form of action at all. Instead, everything was about strategy and outsmarting a given enemy. No Game No Life was such a beloved series that fans spent the next decade asking for a second season. The best they got was the No Game No Life Zero, an excellent prologue film, but that only made fans even hungrier for a new season. Maybe one day they can actually make it happen.
2015’s Overlord Showed How The Bad Guys Could Be The Protagonists
By 2015, isekai had become a dominant anime genre, with every season having at least one new isekai series. Yet few stood out quite like the adaptation of Kugane Maruyama’s Overlord light novel. The series focuses on Ainz Ooal Gown, a literal evil overlord ruling over the full-dive MMO Yggdrasil after the game shut down.
Overlord was unlike any fantasy or isekai series at the time. This dark fantasy anime quickly became a must-watch, offering a universe where the lead protagonist and all of his allies were villains, with humanity having no hope of fighting back. It provides the ultimate power fantasy, as Ainz is one of the most overpowered isekai protagonists ever, with there rarely ever being a moment where he even looks to be in danger. Unsurprisingly, a series this unique managed to keep going for four seasons, and even now fans hope to get a fifth season to continue the story.
KonoSuba Showed The Isekai Genre Could Laugh At Itself In 2016
By 2016, the isekai market was already stuffed to the brim with series. Periodically, fans got legitimately good series, but most shows were just poorly done clones of existing series. KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World, changed all of that. It wasn’t the first parody of isekai anime, but it was definitely the first one to become as popular as it was.
After years of countless overpowered isekai protagonists, KonoSuba provides an actually relatable hero in Kazuma, a poor sap who gets transported to another world and saddled with one of the most dysfunctional adventuring parties ever. In that way, KonoSuba feels like a silly D&D storyline, right down to Kazuma making it through most situations with luck and a random collection of patchwork skills from the adventures he’s survived. Yet despite being primarily driven by comedy, its clever writing and worldbuilding make it possible for the series to remain fresh and interesting even after three seasons.
In 2017, Knight’s & Magic Showed Mecha Could Work With Isekai
In the ’80s and ’90s, mecha and isekai anime were actually surprisingly closely related. Some of the best anime of the ’90s were isekai with strong mecha elements, like Magic Knight Rayearth and Vision of Escaflowne. Yet it wasn’t until Knight’s & Magic that the two genres came together again for one of the most fun isekai series of the 2010s.
Knight’s & Magic follows Ernesti Echevalier, a former mecha nerd who is born into a world where mechs are used to fight magical monsters. Ernesti is surprisingly charming as a protagonist who basically only cares about piloting giant robots. The series itself feels designed for mecha lovers, as the series is split into arcs where Ernesti develops his mecha before testing them out in the field, continually improving until he goes from a grunt suit into a super robot.
2018’s That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime Was Groundbreaking
2018 was one of isekai anime’s strongest years yet, offering a strong mix of returning series and new projects. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime became the year’s biggest hit, though, as it inspired an entire sub-genre of isekai anime that influences the genre even today. Rimuru’s transformation from human into a super-slime capable of gaining the skills of anything it absorbed led to countless other “reincarnated as” series that followed in the 2020s.
Reincarnated as a Slime itself captivated viewers early on for its strong worldbuilding. Viewers got to know the world as Rimuru did, from the complex relationships between different races to the RPG-like way monsters could be “upgraded”. While it can be argued that the series is running on fumes these days, the first season feels like a must-watch for anyone who wants to experience the best of the 2010s.
2019’s Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Fused Isekai With Shonen
By 2019, isekai anime was more popular than ever, and even beginning to develop in new ways. Popular anime were beginning to inspire an entire sub-genre of isekai, making it easier than ever to run into a lot of generic anime. Fortunately, Welcome to the Demon School was anything but generic, offering the classic isekai storytelling with a shonen twist.
To begin with, Iruma Suzuki was a delightful shift both visually and in character development from the stock isekai leads fans had grown used to. Iruma-kun eschews being a standard power fantasy to offer something more zany, as its fish-out-of-water protagonist tries to hide his humanity in a world of demons that have never really met a human before. Feeling more like a 2000s era anime than the 2010s, it’s no surprise Iruma-kun has managed to remain popular long enough to continue getting sequel seasons even today.
