What Is Isekai?

The term iIsekai literally means “another world”. What is most commonly thought of as an Isekai is an anime where the main character comes from one world into another.

There is some debate about one element of Isekai. That element is if the main character, or the character(s) who have been brought to another world can return. An example of this would be Sword Art Online. While the participants in the death game are trapped there, it is more of a virtual setting. So while considered by some to be an Isekai it is debated. For my list, it is eligible.

On the flip side, BOFURI is not going to be eligible for a list. While it takes place mainly in a game, the main character is able to logout. So it does not qualify.

My Top 10 Isekai

10. The Water Magician

This one the first season is actually still ongoing but I am really like The Water Magician. This is not one where there is much reference or connection to the original world. But that is great. The character comes in, gets dropped in a nice quiet safe area and has water powers. Eventually, because there isn’t anything in the area, he has to head out and find the real world. Turns out that he’s extremely overpowered. But he doesn’t let it go to his head. This one is just a feel good/relaxed Isekai.

9. The New Gate

Trapped in a death game, does that premise sound familiar? Well, in this case the main character just beat the death game. And everyone else logged out, but he saw a door that kept him in the world. But now it is several hundred years into the future and those NPC’s whom he knew, some of them are gone. And the world itself is massive changed. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t work for the hero to do in the world. If you want big adventures arcs, The New Gate is good for that.

8. My Instant Death Ability is Overpowered

A whole school bus is taken to another world in My Instant Death Ability is Overpowered. But when they get their powers, those who can’t are left behind. Including a kid who is actually very powerful. His ability is that he can just kill anyone or anything. The crux of the show though is how do you use that power. If you kill everything is that good or does that make you the villain? And how do you keep from becoming the villain?

7. Mushoku Tensei: Jobless reincarnation

Another common anime trope is that some middle-aged person gets a chance in a new world. And they are not dropped in as the hero, but they are reborn into the world. That is how the Isekai plot of Mushoku Tensei works. And it is a fun story with a lot of epic moments in it. It is also cringy at times as the main character is young and grows up. But the main character is also a middle-aged man. You can guess how that is weird anime at that point.

6. Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything with Low-Level Spells

This is the second time that this trope for Isekai shows up on the list. It is the being passed over as part of a group. First it was with an instant death ability. Now it is just some low level spells. But what happens when you level up your ability to paralyze and poison everything? That is a very deadly and powerful combination. What I like about this and the other one is that these aren’t just revenge tours, there are plenty of Isekai like that, but these are decent characters and more developed than just revenge fantasy though it calls itself that.

5. Eminence in Shadow

It is not common for characters to go looking for another world. That is the case of Eminence in Shadow. When the main character maxes out his ability as a human, he needs to find a new world to embark into and gain even more power. It works. I like how this character wants to pull strings but pull them from the shadows. He is not the leader out in front sort. The other thing I like is that he creates his “harem” of assassins with a story. But it turns out that what he says about this story he makes up, turns out a lot of it is actually true.

4. Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill

Now we go from big adventure anime to another laid back one. What if you were dropped into a fantasy world, but the power you asked for was the ability to buy things online. It means that you can bring Japanese cuisine into another world. This anime is more of that laid back feel, like I mentioned, with a main character who just wants to live a normal chill life. But turns out everyone is a fan of his food.

3. Lord of Mysteries

Another new one on the list that is still coming out. Lord of Mysteries feels different than your normal Isekai. Some of that is because it comes out of China versus Japan for the story and animation I believe. But it is a mystery in a world where magic exists, but it’s not your normal fantasy setting. Think of this as a setting that is more parallel to our own past. And it is all about the mystery of beyonders, powers, and secret organizations.

2. Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs

From a mystery we go to something that is very goofy. After beating a dating sim for his spoiled sister our protagonists dies and finds himself in that dating sim. But he is not one of the main characters. He is just a background character, a mob. But in his attempt to keep himself in the background and to keep the story progressing as it should, he all of a sudden finds that he has a more important role, much to his chagrin. It is weird, the main character is annoying but in a way that he is supposed to be, so it works well.

1. Sword Art Online

Finally is Sword Art Online. I think that this is my favorite anime of all time at this point. And while not all of it is amazing, for the most part I just love it. And it is one of those where it borders on that Isekai, like I talk about above. But I think the story is great, and it is interesting to tackle a death world and make it all about the people in the world. It is less about clearing the game, in the first season, and more about how people interact and grow and grow desensitized to what is happening.

Final Thoughts

Just to mention a few just off the list. Tsukimichi, The Devil is a Part-Timer, and The Fruit of Evolution are all ones that I like quite well. And while I love the genre, it is one that you need to think about what you watch. There are a lot of not so great ones out there. And now that the genre is so popular and common there are even more common place ones out there.

You also likely see that I don’t have a few bigger names on my list. Mainly KonoSuba, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, The Rising of the Shield Hero, Re:Zero, and Overlord being some of the biggest I can think of. And they are some that I have watched. I thought Overlord was fine. And KonoSuba, That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime, and The Rising of the Shield Hero have good arcs but aren’t always consistent. I dislike Re:Zero, I don’t find the main character interesting or the plot consistently interesting. But I know a lot of people do.

What are your favorite Isekai?

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Top 50 Anime – 40 through 31

40. Gurran Lagann

This is definitely one of them that falls into the odd category. Gurran Lagann is about mechs and trust, and rebuilding a whole ne world and spirals. A lot of spirals. Why spirals, it doesn’t make complete sense, but it’s from an age where anime like this needed to “mean” something deep without actually being that. But it’s a blast in what it does and the action is cool and fun for it being an older anime. It’s also nice because it’s not too long in what it does.

39. Saiki K

Another one that is very light and fun. This one is all about the slice of life vignettes of a psychic high schooler, and telekinetic, and basically the most overpowered character. But it’s not about him using his powers, really, it’s about how he wants to be normal and how, well, life can’t ever be normal for him. It’s good for a lot of laughs and some of the characters that he meets up with an interacts with are as crazy as he is. Not as powerful, but mainly just crazy and it’s a fun time for that.

Saiki K is one of those anime that is fun to throw on and just enjoy a few little slices of it and then come back for more in a day or two. You won’t lose the plot really, because it is slice of life and while there are a few stories that might show up again, none of them show up that often.

38. Edens Zero

Yup, keeping with the theme of light and goofy, this is a sci-fi anime from the creator of Fairy Tail. And this one I think is more fun for me. Edens Zero basically has some of the same characters in it, but the setting works better. And there’s less filler and less of a commitment to it. So I like that it feels a bit more focused.

It’s all about a boy, man, who is raised by robots. When they eventually stop working he needs to find out about the real world and go searching for a powerful being. It’s definitely got fan service, so does Fairy Tail, and it feels similar in the searching for someone plot line. But like I said, I like it better because it just seems more focused, in a crazy sort of way.

37. Rising of the Shield Hero

A year ago this one wouldn’t have been on my list. I hadn’t made it past the first episode. The first episode tries to be super serious and you don’t really like the main character or any of the other characters. But for me, once I pushed beyond that, it’s a fun isekai. It doesn’t for me stand out as one of my favorites, but there is a lot to enjoy about it.

The main character bounces back from being an edge lord well in it. And the other characters, as you start to meet characters from the world, they are all more interesting. It has a lot of tropes that you’d expect, but not in a bad way. It’s overall a solid and fun watch.

36. Food Wars

Let’s get it out of the way, this is a completely goofy and bonkers anime with the most fan service of any anime on my list. That said, it’s all done around how amazingly amazing or horrifingly horrifying the food tastes in it. And I like it because of the food theme.

The main character is only so likeable in it. But also he’s supposed to be. This is a school where everyone wants to be the best and they battle in food wars. Also he was raised by his father only who is not a remotely good role model for him. I haven’t watched the last season or so because it loses some of the actual food focus for it, but overall, it’s a completely absurd blast.

35. I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World

Not an isekai. I know the title makes this one sound like an isekai, but it’s only dabbling in that. The main character is a nobody. He’s out of shape, he’s not go much going for him. And he’s not really got any family around.

When he thinks he’s about down at the end of it when his Grandfather passes away, he discovers a portal to another world in his Grandfather’s house. There he becomes a new powerful character and person, and that translates into the real world as well. They bounce back and forth between real and fantasy world, and I enjoy it for that. I like an underdog becoming a hero, though, does his look fully need to change, probably not.

34. Toradora

I know my wife has this one rated much higher. It’s a high school anime where two unlikely characters fall in love and it’s really fun, quite funny, and quite heartfelt of a story. I really enjoy the dynamics of the main characters and the surrounding ones as well. Does it feel like something reasonable in real life, probably not, but it’s a well crafted romance. I think the biggest thing is that the main characters are really enjoyable for as absurd as they are. Which, thinking about it, kind of hits on a lot of anime in this genre that I love.

33. After School Dice Club

In all fairness to this anime, I doubt that After School Dice Club would be as high for most people. Why, because it’s about board games, and the story is just fine. The main characters are likable but they don’t always stand out. What I love about this one so much is it’s attention to detail for board games. It isn’t creating some random dumb game, it’s using real games, explaining them, and crafting stories around them. It’s amazing that way as a fan of board games.

32. The Devil is a Part-Timer

This is technically an isekai, fantasy, slice of life, romance, and probably a handful more different genres. It’s about the devil, from this weird realm, coming through to Earth. He loses out of his magic and needs to recharge to return to the war that is raging on in his realm. But how does he live in the real world, he gets a part-time job at McRonalds. Yes, it’s legally different, but you can guess what fast food restaurant this one parodies.

I like the action in it, I like the humor in it, and while not all the episodes are amazing, the show as a whole is a lot of fun. And for being a lot of slice of life, it handles weird random arcs that last several episodes really well. It’s a classic one for me at this point that I need to catch up on the latest season.

31. Don’t Toy with Me Miss Nagatoro

Another one that I really need to watch more of. I love the manga for this one as well. The main character is just a quiet artist in high school. Unfortunately for him Miss Nagatoro, one of his school mates who is younger than him has decided that she likes him and that he is her senpai. Except how she shows it is just messing with him as much as possible. It’s completely absurd, she is at times pushing it too far, but as she realizes that she likes him, the anime and mange shift in a fun way. This one is completely a romantic comedy and one that I enjoy as that background filler type of anime.

Final Thoughts

Which one of these do you like best or do you want to see? Let me know and let me know if there’s anything not on the list yet, that you think I need to watch. This section definitely is a whole lot lighter. But like I said, a lot of that comes from how much I’d want to watch it again. And there are a lot of them that would just be fun to watch again. I do promise there are a few heavier or more serious ones on the list. But it’s not that many.

So maybe that’s a question, what are some more serious anime that I should checkout. I’ve watched the 1997 Berserk, very serious, and that one didn’t make the list. But what else would be a good serious anime to watch?

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Top 5 Most Anticipated Anime of 2023

5. The Devil is a Part-Timer Season 2 Sequel

I really enjoy The Devil is a Part-Timer and while it’s not always the most consistent show, the characters are a lot of fun. I’m curious to see how the story is going to build. The current storyline is just fine in my opinion and I hope that they can wrap it up in a good way. But I’ll still watch it gladly for the fun characters in there.

4. Eden Zero Season 2

This one I consider just to be a fun anime, it’s not the best, but there is just something fun about it. The main character and side characters are likeable. There is a good amount, meaning a lot, of fan service. But the whole show is just absurd and a lot of fun. It’s from the same manga creator who did Fairy Tale and you can tell. But there’s just something fun about what has been created. And I want to see where this story goes because it should be going somewhere weird again.

3. Mashle

This is one that I just picked up the first manga for. But it sounds entertaining to me. Mash is a magic-less guy who lives in a world of magic. That sucks for him, so he makes up for it just with strength. But of course magic is everything in the world, and that just sounds like it’s going to lead to some good action and some good comedy. It reminds of Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town. Mash is most likely going to be way more powerful than he expects.

2. Bofuri Season 2

This is just a fun premise for an anime with fun characters. The main character is new to video games, but she joins an MMORPG. She just doesn’t want to get hurt in it. So she grinds away until she maxes out her defensive stats. And now she’s exceedingly over powered in this world with a build that no one would think of. Plus she’s still herself who is someone who doesn’t always want to try crazy things or new things. A second season sounds like a good time.

1. Solo Leveling

This one I am so excited for. I picked up the five books that are out and it’s a ton of fun. Or is it five books and four out in English. A Korean story originally, it is getting an anime adaptation which I want to see what they do.

The world is basically being connected to another realm or something. Dungeons that open up, and Jinwoo he’s a weak hunter who goes into dungeons for the money to help his family. But when things go sideways, he, instead of getting killed in the dungeon, is given a new lease of life, though one that seems a lot like a video game. The story is fun, and while Jinwoo is a bit of an edge lord at times, it isn’t nearly as bad as something like say Overlord. So I am very excited for this one.

Honorable Mentions

It’s harder for me to do honorable mentions. For stuff like movies or TV shows, it’s one’s that I know a bit about that I just won’t seek out immediately. With anime, a lot of the time it’s whatever comes up or whatever sounds interesting to me. So Jujutsu Kaisen which I’m reading now will be one that I need to checkout season one and then watch season two. There are other ones that I just need to catch up as well. Spy x Family, Beast Tamer, and more make sense to put in the honorable mention even if they don’t have a new season this year.

What anime are you looking forward to in 2023?

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Top 15 Anime

HM: Fruits Basket, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K, Restaurant to Another World, After School Dice Club

These were all close. Fruits Basket is so heartfelt. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K is really funny. And Restaurant to Another World is a lot of fun with great food. After School Dice Club is about board games, and it’s good but not as great as it could have been so just misses as well. All of these, probably, could have made it only my list.

15. Ghost Hunt

Oddly enough, this is the only horror one on my list. Ghost Hunt is about a kid who can deal with ghosts who has his own agency. But he’s not the main character, the main character is a girl who gets roped into being his assistant and might be better at the job than he is. He knows how all the things work but is too cold and calculating. It’s a nice balance of everything for an older anime.

14. BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense

There are some premises for anime that just get me. BOFURI is one of them. A girl joins an MMORPG and she’s worried about it. What will it be like to die, will it hurt, and she really doesn’t want to die. So instead of leveling up by going out on epic adventures, she levels up by grinding and focusing only on her defensive stats. It’s a fun play on the genre with a character getting really over powered, but in such an odd way.

13. Gamers!

This follows another trope that I really enjoy. A main character who maybe is a bit out there, they have their own nerdy hobby or odd thing that they do that makes them not quite fit in. Gamers! follows that character who loves video games, into finding out that there are more people like them in the world directly around them. It’s cute and heartfelt and just works well.

12. Dagashi Kashi

Dagashi Kashi is all about yummy snacks, their history and eating them. Mixed in with all of that is a slice of life show that is a lot of fun. You might notice there are a few shows on the list about food. Anime tells a lot of really enjoyable stories about food and Dagashi Kashi gives more of a unique flare to it than some. While not the highest on my list, it is very realistic and focused on tradition of these snacks and shops.

11. Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? does some of my favorite anime tropes. Mainly the clueless main character so focused on one goal he doesn’t notice the group forming around them. This isn’t the best I’ve seen of that, but Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? works well and especially for the first season gives a fun romp. I don’t like season two nearly as much, but it is an anime that I keep on coming back to. There is just something wholesome about the main character that makes this fantasy, and fairly standard fantasy, but with good twists, fun to watch.

10. The Devil is a Part-Timer

This Isekai really handles the genre differently. Most Isekai a character gets pulled out the real world and into a crazy world. In this case, the Devil is pulled out or leaves their own world and ends up on Earth without enough power to go back. So now he needs a part time job. This is another one that I need to watch again, I started the 1st season because a 2nd season just came out. But it’s fun and well done.

9. Cowboy Bebop

Used to be higher on my list. And in terms of technical, this is probably the best anime on the list. An anime that tells interesting stories and all set to different types of music, it’s just fascinating. But it also falls into that category of an anime that I’ve watched, and I’d watch again, but I’m less likely to pick it myself. Still, the music in it is so good and just the story that it weaves, it’s done so well.

8. Space Dandy

Space Dandy is another anime set in space and this one is easier to watch again, mainly because it’s such a comedy. The main character, Space Dandy, is not a competent character at all. But through dumb luck he somehow survives. He doesn’t do so well, but with a cat and a robot he somehow makes it work. Just well done comedy throughout this series.

7. Food Wars!

Food Wars is odd to me that it’s so high. Mainly because it can be a bit inconsistent. There are some arcs in the show that are amazing. It is also one of the highest on the list that has this amount of fan service. But it’s generally fan service overall and played for a very specific reason. But the whole concept of the show is about being the best chef that you can be, and the enjoyment that can come from food.

6. Assassination Classroom

Assassination Classroom might push Food Wars! for the weirdest anime on the list. Part of the moon is destroyed and an alien decides to become a teacher of students who are poor students so that they can try and assassinate the alien. That sounds so crazy, but what worked for me with it is that it tells a good story of the characters coming together. Yes, it is an completely absurd situation and setup, but somehow it manages to work.

5. My Senpai Is Annoying

Now we hit a few that fall more into that slice of life category. My Senpai Is Annoying is about an office worker who has an annoying senpai that she is under. Well, maybe he’s not quite as annoying as she thought. It’s really a romantic comedy of characters liking each other but not knowing how the other character likes them back. Plus a whole lot of fun and crazy situations to get into revolving around work. I think the whole work setting is a lot of fun and works really well for this type of story to make it feel different than high school.

4. Komi Can’t Communicate

But speaking of high school and romance we have Komi Can’t Communicate. It’s about Komi who is the prettiest girl in the class and seems aloof. But really she just has crippling anxiety when talking to people and can’t for the most part and it is a lot of effort for her when she does. Tadano, new to the class ends up making friends with her through writing and agrees to help her with her goal of making 100 friends. This is a sweet show with a lot of weird characters.

3. Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki

And then another high school series. This one again about a nerdy character who loves the game TakFam, think Smash Bros sort of game. To him, it’s the best game ever, much better than life. When he finds out that the #2 player of the game in Japan is in his town too, he’s #1, they decide to meet up. It turns out to be a classmate, but not one who is a bottom-tier character like him, someone who doesn’t think that life is a lousy game. Can she convince him and level him up so that he’s not a Bottom-Tier character anymore?

2. Steins;Gate

Constantly a high one on my favorites list. And it’s also one that I probably would watch again, but man, would it be hard to watch again. There is so much depth in this time travel story with tragedy and distress. But the story is told and woven together so well that it just stands out. While Cowboy Bebop can be heavy and gorgeous, Stiens;Gate for heavier anime on my list, just tells such a good complete story. And it handles time travel in such a good way.

1. Sword Art Online

Finally, and I know this one bounces around a lot for me, we have Sword Art Online (SAO). SAO is just comfort food of an anime for me. It gives me big adventure, romance, comedy, all wrapped up in one. But it is mainly about that adventure and how the characters are navigating different worlds, of computer games, as they go. And the craziness that can end up following from these games into the real world or the other way around. Plus, there is just so much story and so much work done on developing the characters, you care for them as you go through it.

Final Thoughts

It’s tough to do a Top 10, it’s even tough to do a Top 15. I’ve really found myself gravitating towards watching anime a lot. It used to be and it does happen in certain time periods, of throwing on a cooking show or some house remodeling show. But there is just so much anime out there that I need to checkout still and want to checkout. I actually went through recently and created a massive list, I just don’t know when I’ll have time.

And I am guessing that I’ll think about it and come up with a show that I missed that I really enjoyed. And for as many good or great anime as I watch, there are a lot that are just fine. Pretty rarely do I end up sticking with and watching one that is bad. But if it’s short enough I might power through it. I can think of one example which just went from being okay starting out to so bad at the end.

What are your top anime?

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The Plot – The New Gate

The story actually starts out a whole lot like SAO (Sword Art Online), there is a death game and all the players are trapped in it. But instead of starting at level one, we follow the player in the midst of the final battle against the boss. Shin, the hero, defeats the final boss and the log out button is enabled for the players. He watches as the world empties out and then sees a portal open.

He goes through that and wakes up in a new world, but not really a new world, just the video game world, 500 years later. Things are different, and while some of the world rules are the same, much has also changed. What has happened, how will he cope in The New Gate and maybe, eventually, get back to the real world, if that is even possible.

General Thoughts

Let’s just start out with some general thoughts on this, this won’t be my final opinion. But I think it’s worth chatting about because this might seem like a pretty standard Isekai manga, and well, it is. Now, I say that but also it’s a trope that is used a lot because it isn’t always a bad trope. And in this case, I would say it is a trope that works. This is not a manga that promises deep surprises and decisions. It is one where it’s meant to be fun action adventure reading and it is that.

Also, because it is for action and adventure and generally written for a male audience, it does have some fan service. It’s less of a put someone in a compromising position or someone walking in on them. It just is going to be images drawn where cleavage is very prominent, things like that. It is over the top at times and could be done less without affecting the story at all. But compared to some it is not that egregious either. It’s just more of the trope than anything.

What Doesn’t Work?

The writing or story is a bit like a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. And for me this is not a major complaint to it. Generally you get one session or one arc in one of the manga collections, so about five chapters. Some chapters do more to set-up future chapters. And other collections generally stand on their own. But the cohesive story that is being told isn’t that cohesive. It’s more vignettes that make some sense, but often times don’t as much. It might all come together, but I’m not caught up yet.

I also will say that while I don’t mind the tropes and that The New Gate is what I’d qualify as summer reading, it is not deep. This ties in some with that Dungeons and Dragons campaign feel, I wish I could see more of the story developing. I think I know some ways it might go, I’d just like to know more of them or to see some more plot lines being weaved through everything.

What Works?

The main character is likeable and the side characters work. Some of the side characters are even more interesting than the main character. I think that the writing, as a whole, is solid, and I don’t really have a complaint about it. Which, I think is a mark for this manga. It could lean into some levels of absurdity that it doesn’t. It could spend more time on the male gaze than it does easily, but instead it creates nice characters that you enjoy reading about.

I also think it matches up it’s tone well. I just talked about how it isn’t that deep, but I picked it up not because I wanted something deep. You know what you are getting into with this manga. So while I do have it as a negative that I’d like the through storyline to be a bit more visible or even for there to be one, I don’t mind that it isn’t trying to deal with weighty topics. The manga is what it sets out to be and is what it advertised itself as which is why I picked it up.

Who Is It For?

I don’t think that I’d recommend it as an Isekai that someone starts out with, but it could be one that you grab shortly there after. I have no reason to say that except that I think it leans so heavily on the tropes and knowledge of them, that it might need that tiny bit of explaining. But if you like Isekai, you’ll likely enjoy this one, knowing that it takes a genre of manga that is already fairly popcorn and makes it more so.

Final Thoughts – The New Gate

This is a fun series. I own nine books now and I know I will get more. Sometimes I read a manga and I enjoy it, I enjoy most that I read, but I don’t care enough to continue. In fact, I am almost caught up, book 10 of The New Gate came out in June of this year, so as far as I can tell it’ll be continuing.

This is what I wanted to read when I got the book. And that is really the main thing about it. It is not the best Isekai that I’ve came across. I prefer Sword Art Online to it, though that is more an story with Isekai elements. Or The Devil is a Part-Timer is better as well. But I wanted to read a story that is just a fun adventure romp. That is what I got, and that is why I will continue reading it.

Have you read The New Gate?

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10 – My Roommate is a Cat

This is just a really fun anime, slice of life story about a writer who has a cat adopt him. The writers life is hard, his parents have passed away and he’s living in the house he grew up in. But with the help of the cat, he’s able to start to reach back out into the world, though not always because he wanted to. The story does a great job with it being focused on what the human is doing, but then the second part of each episode gives you the cats perspective on everything that happened and what the cat is worried about with the human. It’s very adorable and just one of those anime that is relaxing to watch.

9 – Space Dandy

He’s a dandy guy in space. This anime is just a completely silly romp as you follow around crew of the Aloha Oe as they travel space looking for exotic and new monsters to bring back to the central processing agency in order to get a reward. Now, it would work better if he was even remotely competent at his job, but he’s not and his crew is even less competent than he is, possibly? All the while, well doing this, they are being chased by Dr. Gel who is out to get them. The whole thing is just absurd but such a good time.

8 – Dagashi Kashi

Another sillier and lighter anime, this one delves into the world of dagashi, cheap candy and snacks. The main character works at his families dagashi shop, Shikada Dagashi but doesn’t want to take it over. When someone from the Shidare corporation comes to try and get Shikada Dagashi to join them, the owner agrees but only if they can convince his son, the main character to take over the shop. The story is just little vignettes for the most part and stories about how certain dagashi came to be. It’s a lot of fun and has more energy than the previous two, but is still very relaxing to watch.

7 – The Devil is a Part-Timer

Another slice of life anime, I do like them quite well and they tend to run less into fan service, though, this one has it’s fair share, The Devil is a Part-Timer focuses on what happens to the devil when he ends up on Earth with no way to get back to his realm. That means that he has to take on a part time job and a lot of weird adventures ensue has he starts to figure out how to deal with the mortal world and maybe, it turns out, the Devil isn’t such a bad guy after all. Very much a slice of life, but has more of a full through storyline running along in the background than some others.

6 – The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

Saiki K has special powers. He can teleport objects, read minds, and do many amazing crazy things. But for the most part, he just wants to be left alone. Of course, he can’t be, and it’s even a bigger issue because he doesn’t notice the pretty girl who everyone notices, so she wants him to notice her, he can’t read the mind of an idiot so he can sneak up on him and wants to be Saiki’s friend, and of course, there are the evil forces of Dark Reunion, a completely made up organization. It’s completely absurd and just little vignettes into Saiki’s life but very much worth checking out.

5 – Sword Art Online

SAO, one of those classic anime that really isn’t that old but has gotten a huge following and even a spin off show, which I didn’t like. Sword Art Online is the story of what happens when full dive MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing games) go wrong and everyone becomes stuck on it. The only way to get out of the game is to clear the game and if you die in the game you die in real life. This could have been a massive hack and slash adventure type of game, but instead we get an interesting look into the minds of those trapped in there, those who want to survive, and those who have something to fight for, and those who let them game twist them.

4 – Assassination Classroom

An alien has landed on earth after destroying half the moon, and what he really wants is to die. But he won’t go easily and he won’t let just anyone kill him, because most normal methods of death, he can avoid. Instead, he wants to teach a class, and those students, through training, will be the ones who will be creative enough how to kill them, plus, they just might learn something along the way. A completely absurd premise, but they do a really good job with the anime and with the students. It’s less about assassination and more about how he ends up helping all the students in some way. Also, he’s a human size yellow tentacle monster, so there’s that weirdness going on as well.

3 – Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon

It’s a long title and one that seems like it should just be a dumb fantasy anime, and in some ways it is, but it is really entertaining. There’s some fan service in it and falls into the trope known as a harem anime, but it feels different, probably because the main character never puts together that hes the person the harem is forming around, he is too innocent and pure. All he cares about is becoming strong enough to be worthy of the girl, Aiz Wallenstein who saved him from a Minotaur in the dungeon. It’s a lot of fun, and it takes something that you see a lot in anime, leveling up, and codifies it into the story so that while it is silly that it’s in the world, it makes a lot of sense. A light hearted fantasy anime that’s definitely worth checking out.

2 – Cowboy Bebop

Now if we’re talking revered anime, Cowboy Bebop has to be up there. This space opera follows a group of bounty hunters as they travel around to different planets, meet different people and tell their story. However, what really makes this anime work is the music. The music is just amazing and it’s a new for each episode. And each episode has it’s one distinct style and feel to it because of the music, the story was woven into the music, not the music put around the story. It’s just so well done and while it might not tell some massively epic tale throughout everything, it creates a mood that just works so well and you care about the characters.

1 – Steins;Gate

I don’t thin there will be many surprises with my #1, I’m pretty sure every time I do a top five, it’s my number one as well. But Steins;Gate is just so good. It’s a time travel story, which generally I’m a sucker for, and it tells it really well. The characters are so sympathetic and what seems like just a silly quirk early on ends up revealing way more about the character than you’d think later in the show. The time travel aspect is well done and while there are some completely implausible things, overall, I think it works really well. There’s just a sense of the conspiracy around it and the story just speaks so much into the characters and the world. Clearly I highly recommend this one, it can be intense and times, but so very good.

There are a few that just missed the list that I wanted to mention as well. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, I need to finish watching it, but I did enjoy it. Ghost Story, just a really enjoyable anime and something different in how it told it’s stories. After School Dice Club which is about board game. There’s so much out there that’s good that I probably could have done a top twenty, also a lot that is pretty crappy, so hopefully this’ll give you some new shows to checkout.

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5 – Sword Art Online
#5 was actually the hardest spot to fill, because I have a number of anime that I want to put here after a definite few that are some of my top ones. But Sword Art Online (SAO) is just a solid anime that has had multiple stories through it, regular SAO, Gun Gale Online, Ordinal Scale, and they are all solid. It tells an interesting story in the first season as well, where you have the main character (and a lot more people) who are going into a full immersion video game, like they’ve done before, but the creator of the game is making his masterpiece and legacy and traps them all in the game. And, if you die in the game, you die in real life, but if you can beat the final boss of the game, you can escape the game and free everyone from it. But that means clearing a lot of levels. SAO isn’t a show about clearing levels, though, it’s about how people adjust to living in this digital world and the problems that arise from it. Then the other seasons deal with more virtual reality or augmented reality, but not in the same way as the first season. There’s definitely fan service in this show, but not a ton, and the story can be simplistic at times, but the premise was interesting to me.

4 – Assassination Classroom
A silly anime, it actually ended up having more heart to it than I expected, which I enjoyed. Assassination Classroom is an insane premise, which most anime area, and from the sounds of it should be about a classroom full of assassins, instead, it’s about a class of middle school (maybe junior high) age kids who have been tasked by the government to kill their teacher, a weird yellow tentacle monster. That is an insane premise, but what you get is a classroom of misfits who eventually have to start working together and growing after getting in trouble previously, all of this being led by their weird yellow tentacle monster teacher. I don’t think this anime is for everyone, but I think it did a good job of doing what it was trying to do and tell a compelling story of the growth of the kids.

3 – Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
Long title, good fantasy anime. This is one of the things that really got me checking out LitRPG on Audible, for better or worse (fairly often they were worse), but in Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeons (IIWTPUGIAD (not catchy)), it does a good job of creating an interesting world and an interesting story. And it does a trope that I enjoy, the clueless hero, he’s very earnest, and he wants to do the best possible after being rescued from this magical resetting dungeon by Aiz Wallenstein, this extremely talent female dungeon delver. Then there are a bunch of other characters who may or may not be interested in the main character. It has some of the harem anime feel to it, which isn’t a genre that I care about, but the main character is so earnest and caring that it doesn’t feel as gazy as some of them, but it does still have fan service in it. I also like how it ties in real world pantheons in an interesting way, so it’s not just a generic fantasy setting.

2 – Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop is a very immersive space opera that pulls you in not just through the story telling, which is well done, but so much through the music. The music of each episode helps inform the story that is being told and draws you further into what you are watching. It also is really well done and the variety of music throughout the show, because each episode has it’s own feel, is really impressive. This is an anime that has good character depth as well, even with being thrown into the middle of their story, you start to get an idea of who the characters are, and what they have gone through in their lives.

1 – Steins;Gate
This has been #1 for me for a while, this time travel anime is just well put together with a good cast of characters. I really feel like they do a good job of developing those characters as well. And while there are definitely characters that can fall into various anime tropes, they do a really good job of keeping most characters out of them and even the tropy characters end up having more depth than it seems. The time travel is also really well done. Time travel is one of those things that I generally like in concept, but too many shows and movies end up having time travel become so convoluted that it doesn’t work, or too simple that you can poke holes in how they are doing things. Steins;Gate does a good job of making something simple enough that you can generally understand the concept of it, but complicated enough that it doesn’t feel like time travel can be easily solved.

As always there are some honorable mentions that I need to add in as well.

Honorable Mention:
Ghost Story
Fruits Basket
The Devil is a Part-Timer
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K
My Hero Academia
My Roommate is a Cat
Dagashi Kashi

There are a lot of anime out there that I want to watch more of that I either can’t easily find on Funimation or just haven’t had the time for yet. But Ancient Magus Bride, Fairie Gone, and Afterschool Dice Club are all that I’ve watched a chunk of and want to watch more that could make it to my list eventually.

What are some of your favorite anime? Do any of the ones I’ve listed here sound interesting to you?

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1 Steins;Gate
I love this anime. It’s smart with well written and developing characters throughout the story. It’s also one of the few stories that gets time travel right. Too often you just end up with a convoluted mess, but Steins;Gate turns that mess into artwork. We’ve talked about it before, so go check out those articles if you are curious about it.

2 Cowboy Bebop
This anime is close to being number one with as much as I love Steins;Gate. Cowboy Bebop just has this lyrical beauty to it from the animation of the world and characters to the actual music which really drives the show. I feel like I’m about ready to go back and watch it again because of how well put together it is. It came out the same year as Firefly and in some ways I feel like there are a few similarities with them. But the show is just amazing and the music is the best use of music in any media that I can think of.

3 My Hero Academia
I believe that this one is a new one to the list, but I really dig it. It’s a world where a lot of people have super powers, some use them for good and some use them for evil. The main character, however, has no powers and he wants powers more than anything, so he can be like his hero All Might. He has a chance meeting with All Might which leads to some major changes in his life. The story has emotion and a bit too much crying at times, but they delve into characters and create something that has those super hero moments but also has so much heart.

4 Space Dandy
He’s a Dandy guy, in space. Another anime that uses music well, Space Dandy is just an absurd romp with an incompetent creature hunter. This anime is completely over the top and quite pulp like in how it’s created. The characters are bumbling and arrogant, but generally end up having their heart in the right place. Each episode stands pretty much by itself, so what happens in one episode doesn’t matter for the next. This is by far the goofiest of all the animes on the list, but it is so great.

5 Assassination Classroom
This was really tough for the last one, and I think last year this was my #2 anime or #3. Assassination Classroom is not that accurate a title, because it makes you think of lots of violence, and this is a goofy junior high school anime about  a bunch of misfit students coming together. With their teacher being a crazy yellow tentacle monster who is going to blow up the earth unless they can kill him. They take the time and look at each character and you get to see how the teacher helps them grow into better people.

There are so many options for honorable mentions as well, and animes that I need to finish watching that might end up cracking the top 5, but who knows. Soon I’m going to have to do top 10’s just so that I don’t have 20 honorable mentions.

Honorable Mention:
Sword Art Online
Ancient Magus Bride
Blood Blockade Battlefront
The Devil is a Part-Timer
Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon

What are some of your favorite animes? Are there any that you think I should watch?

Since my to-be-watched list of anime series is still really long, there’s a chance that at least some of the spots on my top 5 list will change as time goes on — but for now, here are my five favorite series!

5. Kamisama Kiss

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This series is one I’ve gotten into more recently — I’ve been watching through it casually when I have some spare time and am in the mood for something lighthearted. It’s a romantic comedy about a girl named Nanami who, through a bizarre chain of events, ends up becoming the Earth deity of a nearby shrine, taking over the post from the former deity, who has gotten tired of the job. A fox demon named Tomoe, a resident of the shrine, becomes her familiar, and is bound to her by — you guessed it — a kiss. Nanami’s feelings for Tomoe quickly grow into something more than gratitude and respect, but can a romance between a human and a fox demon ever work? Well…I’m still waiting to find out!

As I’ve said before when describing this series to friends, it’s like someone took all the best parts of Inuyasha and Fruits Basket and fused them together into a fun new anime that’s reminiscent of both of these, but that is still very much its own story. This series is an absolute delight for so many reasons — it reminds me of the series I loved when I first started watching anime, it has lovable characters whose interactions with each other are by turns hilarious and heartwarming, and it has just enough conflict to keep things interesting while still having plenty of fun, fluffy scenes to enjoy. I can’t wait to see the rest!

4. The Devil is a Part-Timer

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This is another recent watch for me, and one of two on my list that overlaps with Peder’s choices. We watched this one during the depths of last winter, when I was craving something goofy and fun to get me out of my annual February funk. It did the trick perfectly, let me tell you. I won’t go into the summary much, as Peder has already done the honors, but suffice it to say that as this series starts off, it behaves as though it’s going to be a high-stakes, high-concept fantasy piece, and then does a total heel-turn, becoming a silly slice-of-life story about an incarnation of the devil who’s stuck in our dimension and has to make a living as a part-time manager of a burger joint. Bizarre and hilarious doesn’t even begin to cover it, my friends.

My favorite parts of this show are when Sado (the devil) and his right-hand-man-turned-roommate are trying to figure out the ins and outs of everyday life in our dimension. They may look like normal humans, but just knowing that you’re watching two beings from a fantastical world try to set a budget for their meager income and deal with their overly eccentric landlady takes the absurd hilarity to new heights. It’s one of my favorite fish-out-of-water stories, and was exactly the kind of lighthearted fun I needed at the time I watched it.

3. Ouran High School Host Club

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This was one of the first anime to become a favorite of mine. It follows the story of Haruhi, a scholarship student at the elite Ouran High School. Early on in the story, she’s mistaken for a boy due to her androgynous appearance and clothing — not wanting to deal with the hassle of setting the record straight, she decides to just go with it. The members of the Ouran High School Host Club (a sort of flirty high society club that primarily caters to young women) take Haruhi under their wing, and before long, she’s the most sought-after member of the host club.

The premise of this show is pretty farfetched, and it takes at least a base knowledge of some aspects of Japanese culture to really get what’s going on in the story, but once you’re on board, you’re bound to have a great time watching this series. In my opinion, it’s shojo (anime aimed at teenage girl viewers) at its finest and most delightfully over-the-top, and watching it feels like reading a really fun yet really weird contemporary young adult novel. It’s a series I enjoy from start to finish, and one I’ll most likely end up returning to again and again.

2. Inuyasha

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When I was a fledgling anime fan, this is one of the first few series I really got into, and was also one of the first I watched all the way through (not too shabby, seeing as there’s over 160 episodes!). The story focuses on Kagome, a teenage girl who falls down the well in the shrine her family tends, only to be transported through time to feudal-era Japan. There, she meets a rough-and-tumble young dog demon named Inuyasha. He leads her through all sorts of adventures and scrapes as they fight off the other demons who are trying to get their hands on the shards of the Shikon no Tama, a sacred jewel that’s rumored to give great power to any demon who wields it.

This is one of those series with a premise that’s really hard to explain when talking about it, but which is really easy to get into when watching it. There are a lot of different opinions about this series — some (like me) find it really enjoyable and rewarding to watch, while others see it as too mainstream and formulaic. While it does fall into the monster-of-the-week rut fairly often, I love it anyway, and I can’t get enough of the great characters it’s filled with, or the unique settings and plot lines that set it apart from other anime I’ve seen. Regardless of others’ thoughts on this series, it’ll always have a special place in my heart.

1. Steins;Gate

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Soon after I started watching this series, I knew it was going to end up ranked among the very best anime I’ve ever seen. By the time we reached the end of it, it was my new favorite. As with my #4 choice, I won’t go into great detail with this one, since we’ve already talked about Steins;Gate quite a bit on this blog, but I can’t close out this list without talking about just how truly great this anime is. As we’ve noted before, the story of Steins;Gate focuses on the concept of time travel, testing the limits and possibilities therein, and finding out just how far-reaching and dire the consequences of messing around with it can be.

As we’ve mentioned before, Steins;Gate seems to almost transcend its own medium — more than being a great anime, it’s just a great story, period. The characters are masterfully rendered and feel so believably human, the themes the series focuses on are weighty and important, and the plot is (for the most part) tightly woven and emotionally satisfying. I can’t say I’ll rewatch this one often, as it’s pretty heavy (despite some humorous elements), but I know I’ll revisit it again someday. And regardless of how many times I do or don’t rewatch it, it’s a story I know is going to stick with me, no matter what.

To close–some honorable mentions: Bleach (so good, but so fraught), Soul Eater (just a good, solid anime with a great premise), Naruto (I loved it for a while, but it caused even more mixed feelings for me than Bleach did), Cowboy Bebop (space opera at its best), The Daily Lives of High School Boys (I’ve only watched a few episodes, but have absolutely loved what I’ve seen so far), Haibane Renmei (the definition of short and sweet anime), Little Witch Academia (just adorable and delightful in every way), and Fairy Tail (another I haven’t gotten far with, but am really looking forward to watching more of).

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I do have some honorable mentions, as well. I mentioned Berserk and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Berserk is a dark, very serious anime, and Neon Genesis Evangelion is your classic mech anime. I enjoyed both, but they are both in very different realms. Kristen and I have also watched Fairy Tale, which I’ve enjoyed quite well, as it’s a blend of fantasy and silliness; however, there is some terrible filler in it. And speaking of filler, I have watched the first couple main arcs of a show that is almost 50% filler with Bleach. Bleach is a lot of fun, but the amount of filler and the fact that I haven’t watched much of the series has kept it off my list. And finally, Dragon Ball Z: Abridged, a fan parody of Dragon Ball Z, is just hilarious.

There are so many more anime that I want to watch and just need to make time for. What are some of your favorite anime? Seeing what I’ve liked, what would you recommend I check out next?

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