Little girls falling down a rabbit hole, or sneaking through a closet…and Wham! Suddenly they are in another world, full of magic and very different from their own. The concept itself is not new, but since gaming in Japan they have turned it into a very, very rich fantasy genre that has given rise to tons of stories for all tastes through novels, manga, anime and even video games.
The gender “isekai” part of that beginning: one or more characters who are transported to a very different world, whether in fantasy, a virtual world, or even in another time or parallel universe. There they must learn to survive, often to use their new powers, and we also discover more of this strange world through the eyes of our protagonists.
Although each story of the genre has its own peculiarities, many times we find a protagonist who is the most ordinary in his world, but who becomes a real ace thanks to normal things like cooking or writing, having the hair of a particular color, or even because he becomes a hero chosen by chance.
Nor is the way in which one arrives in this world the same, since sometimes we can simply see ourselves transported to it or the protagonist dies and wakes up reincarnated in this other dimension. This last situation is happening more and more, and one of the most common ways to die is hit by a truck, so much so that it has already become a meme even within anime.
For whatever reasons, the last few anime seasons have left us an avalanche of isekai, which seem to be more and more fashionable and more and more twist the foundations of the genre. Protagonists that become swords, or vending machines (no kidding), and really anything else we can think of.
If we don’t know where to start with the gender isekai, here are some suggestions for streaming. Unfortunately, some gems are missing like ‘InuYasha’ or ‘The Vision of Escaflowne’so before someone jumps to the neck: we do not forget them, it is that at this moment they are not available on any platform… Now, the ones that you can see, are all of these.
Digimon Adventure
This is a classic, and surely one of the first isekai we saw without even knowing it was. The story begins in a summer camp, where a group of children are transported to the Digital world.
Each of them now has a small device and they discover that they have their own Digimonwho will accompany them during their journey to protect the digital world from the forces that seek to destroy it.
‘The Devil is a Part-Timer!’
‘The Devil is a Part-Timer!’ is one of the funniest series on the list, and also offers us a little twist to the basics. Instead of a protagonist from our world transported to another, we have the demon king Satan, who after losing in a disastrous match ends up directly in Tokyo.
So Satan and his general Alciel end up taking on a human guise and working at a fast food chain part time.
‘Thermae Romae Novae’
Another series that hits you a little return to the genre and that it was one of the best surprises of the last spring season, and that is that ‘Thermae Romae Novae’ has a very peculiar protagonist: an architect of Roman baths.
Without quite knowing how, Marcus is sometimes transported From Ancient Rome to Modern Japanwhere he marvels at the state-of-the-art technology found in Japanese baths, inspiring him to try and improve his own creations.
‘konosuba’
‘Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!’ It’s usually abbreviated to just ‘KonoSuba’, here we’re back into a more textbook isekai anime. Kazuma Satō He is a rather introverted boy who dies saving a girl from being run over. Of course, he wakes up immediately in a parallel world full of MMORPG elementswhere he teams up with a group of adventurers to defeat the demon king.
‘That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime’
Mikami Satoru is a Tokyo office worker with a very simple and monotonous life, who dAfter being stabbed, he wakes up in another world reincarnated as a slime.. Ok, the premise still doesn’t seem very promising, but Satoru discovers that he has an ability that allows him to devour anything and copy its abilities and appearance… so when he devours a very powerful dragon, Satoru gains an ability that is out of the ordinary. the scale.
‘beauty’
‘Belle’ is the most recent proposal from Mamoru Hosoda, which presents us with a twist to the story of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in a digital world. Though suzu does not end up completely absorbed by this other dimension, much of the story takes place in U, where the teenager becomes Belle and amazes everyone with her voice.
When a monstrous being known as “the beast”Suzu and her friend Hiroka try to find out who is hiding behind this avatar.
‘The Rising of the Shield Hero’
This series has become an instant classic within the isekai genre, and one of the best modern examples. Naofumi Iwatani and three other kids are transferred from Japan to another world to become four legendary heroes, each equipped with a very special weapon.
Naofumi receives a shield, and since he does not have much experience or charisma, he ends his adventure with a club foot and many difficulties before he can fully become the Shield Hero.
‘The boy and the beast’
Another gem from Mamoru Hosoda that focuses on Ren, a very lonely boy who lives in Tokyo and who has just lost his mother. Ren wanders the streets of Shibuya and one day he crosses the border with a parallel fantasy realm, where he meets a beast named Kumatetsu and both become fast friends.
‘Restaurant to Another World’
The restaurant It is located in an ordinary corner of Tokyo, with most of the dishes coming out of Japanese cuisine. Athough it does not seems It is a very special place, since on Saturdays the doors of the restaurant connect with another world and it serves very, very peculiar customers.
Beyond showing us exciting adventures and all kinds of monsters, ‘Restaurant to Another World’ is practically a fantasy slice-of-lifewhich shows us the day-to-day life of this unusual restaurant.
‘Nobunaga Concerto’
Walking home from school, a young man named saburo is transported to the 16th century, in the middle of the Japanese Sengoku era. there che meets the legendary Oda Nogunaga, who turns out to be a nail for him.
Nobunaga is in poor health and is a bit tired of his position, so he asks Saburo to replace him, with which Saburo must make sure that all historical events happen as they should in order to return to his own time.
‘Spirited Away’
‘Spirited Away’ could not be left out, which also has many elements of a good isekai anime and which is undoubtedly one of the great classics of Studio Ghibli and one of the best anime films in history.
The plot follows spirited away, who ends up in his spirit world and must work in a bathhouse so he can return to his own world together with his parents. Beyond gaining spectacular powers, Chihiro learns to navigate through this new world and get to know its inhabitants better, though he also heals several old wounds.