Hyouken no Majutsushi ga Sekai wo Suberu

This stack contains non-isekai fantasy anime that you could easily mistake for being an isekai.


Isekai means "different world" and is a Japanese genre of portal fantasy and science fiction. It is a bit hard to define, but generally revolves around a person (or multiple people) who are transported or reincarnated into another world.
Since this definition is fairly broad, you'll find some shows like "Sonny Boy" or "Bakemono no Ko" that are technically isekai, but may not seem like it, as they do not share the most common tropes that you'll see in other isekai anime like “Death March”, “Kenja no Mago”, “Isekai smartphone” or “Mushoku Tensei”. While these shows are not completely identical, they do share a number of tropes, like having a male protagonist enter a medieval fantasy world filled with monsters and magic where they either start with powerful abilities or slowly gain them, similarly to progressing in a fantasy RPG. It is also common for similar isekai shows to include game mechanics like ability stats, skill names, UI screens or even an infinite inventory. Another common trope is for the protagonist to be a chosen or summoned hero who goes on a quest to save the world, ending up with great powers, great riches and a harem of love interests.


This is a list of shows that could be mistaken as isekai since they share a lot of the most common tropes, but missing the element of being transported to another world.


A great example is “Danmachi” where the protagonist already exists in a fantasy world, has a unique and powerful ability and explores a dungeon full of monsters, gaining new stats and skills as though he was the protagonist of a fantasy RPG. Other examples include powerful protagonists being reborn within the same world or shows mostly taking place within a VRMMO.

Feel free to send me a message if I’ve included an actual isekai by mistake, or if you have any suggestions!

https://i.redd.it/de6evauft3l21.jpg

No doubt all will be familiar with the archetypal Isekai setting. Everything runs on video game logic (if there isn't outright a magical HUD), the main city is a nondescript walled circle with a river through it, and the worldbuilding only goes as far as "there is a good kingdom with an adventurer's guild or magic academy, there's a demon king and that's about it." While these particular wounds constitute Isekai arguably as much as the whole being-brought-to-another-world part, the latter is considered the defining characteristic, leaving a host of shows that are, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same thing high and dry.

This collection endeavours to catalogue such television - anime that unmistakably feel like Isekai, with most or all of the same tropes, written with the same basic structure and setting, but that strictly speaking aren't actually Isekai. Common examples would include cases where the protagonist is instead actively playing a video game rather than being reborn in one, or is a character who reincarnated but originates from the same world. A male protagonist initially framed as weak but with some unique ability is also a common theme, as is their being out of familiar surroundings and with an almost exclusively female secondary cast.

It must be mentioned that this list is somewhat dynamic, since more Isekai and Isekai-like shows are announced on a practically weekly basis, and, sadly, will be for the foreseeable future. Attempts are made to keep this collection consistent, but occasionally shows that aren't really that Isekai-y may be phased out to make way for something far more egregious.

A disclaimer, there may indeed be one or two bona fide Isekai hidden down below, but this is only working from if it isn't already categorised as one, an operation which may yet be incomplete or debated over. Ultimately this is first and foremost just a collection of "Generic Fantasy usually adapted from Light Novels," so such an error will hardly be the end of the world. Sequels are omitted due to size constraints, but - predictably - many of the shows listed have continuations.

Shousetsuka ni Narou, “Let’s become a novelist!”, is Japan's novel publishing website where anyone can publish and read novels free of charge. These animes are the anime of Shousetsuka ni Narou origin.

Part 1 is here -> https://myanimelist.net/stacks/5026
Part 2 is here -> https://myanimelist.net/stacks/5031

This list is dedicated to such a specific sub-genre of LN as "action magic schools". Most of these stories are about how a talented and experienced OP MC ends up in a magic school where they train martial magic skills. Initially, most of the students treat him with contempt and disrespect, as the MC is erroneously defined as a weak loser. But thanks to his experience, intelligence and skills, he proves who is the big boss here. This LN is about OP characters, so almost every work is also an action harem.

Warning: Being one of the popular escapism genres, many works overuse very similar clichés and often take themselves too seriously. Also, most of the list includes large doses of ecchi, up to a separate sub-genre of "magic schools with erotic magic".
Warning 2: The list does not include the usual anime about magical schools like Blue Exorcist, since such works are representatives of the action shonen genre and are almost always published in manga form.

Being transfer students, the characters in these anime series have hidden powers that make them rather OP.

There are many anime stories with a transfer student character. The average anime title is about a transfer student who has to adapt to a new school. But it's not that simple, sometimes the transfer student character is also portrayed as an overpowered figure who was initially underestimated.

Doesn't include any BIG BRAIN GRANDMASTER CHESS PLAYER MC.

For the simple minded people who still enjoy the fine art of watching bland main characters whoop everyone's asses and mostly always accumulate a harem of fine bitches.

Only "Combat" OP where MC is at least like "top 3 strongest in their universe"

No sequels, look up your self

This stack will include some of the BEST story in anime of all time that I've found, but a re underrated.

Most of these are underrated due to the bead quality of the anime( animations/music/scripts), but their story are GOOD ENOUGH to make me pulled through the bad qualities of them.

Some also are underrated due to many reasons like: franchise reputation, bad streaming service, bad advertising, and more.

NOTE: Like all of my stacks, these will only include the first installation of the series and not the whole thing.

This stack is created for people who like to watch Isekai/Fantasy anime with an OP MC or some elements of it. I'm personally watching these or I've watched all of these, so the list might be missing some titles. This stack won't include the sequels, to save room for more series. You can send me your recommendations which I could/should add if I'm missing something you think should be on this list, also you're welcome to send me messages to roast my bad descriptions of the said titles.

people need to give these a try or even know these exist