The Best Isekai Anime Of 2025, Ranked

It feels like every year brings a flood of “isekai” anime – shows where characters are transported to another world. And 2025 was no exception! The genre was everywhere, with countless stories of ordinary people finding themselves in fantasy realms or video games. We saw everything from a down-on-his-luck guy becoming an emperor to a middle-aged man quickly gaining a group of admirers, a hero jumping into a fantasy world, and even a vending machine getting a second season – all before a highly anticipated continuation of a popular series.

Last year brought us lots of sequels, a huge wave of isekai anime, and a few completely original series. We enjoyed some amazing continuations, guilty pleasures, and were disappointed when a great webtoon received a poor anime adaptation. While most isekai anime from 2025 will likely be forgotten, the truly good ones should remain popular. Even if you’re tired of stories about other worlds, these are still worth checking out.

Some criteria:

If the anime aired in 2025, it qualifies.
No borderline cases like Solo Leveling or To Your Eternity. If you need to ask if an anime qualifies as isekai, then it probably does not.
Some shows are not Japanese. If they aired on Crunchyroll, they will be included.
Fall 2025 is still ongoing, so some of its shows might get better (or worse) in their last few episodes. However, as they have released most of their episodes, we are going to include them. Their rankings are unlikely to change.
Only series, not movies.
That said, an honorary mention to Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood, a delightful short film bursting with emotion. Maybe it is because I have spent most of my adult life living in a different country from my family, but this movie hit home.

Honorable Mentions

On another day, the following 2025 isekai anime would have easily made the top 10.

I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!
Isekai Quartet 3
Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon Season 2
The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 4
The Water Magician

10. My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s

2025’s Best “Trash” Isekai Anime

Whether you’ll enjoy My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s depends on how much you like familiar fantasy tropes. It’s another story featuring an overpowered main character, a beautiful elf companion, and a strong demon servant. Akira, along with his classmates, is transported to a fantasy world by a king who tasks them with defeating a demon lord. However, Akira soon suspects something isn’t right, and discovers his assassin class grants him exceptional abilities. He’s quickly framed for a crime, exiled, and sets out to get revenge on the king, all while exploring this new world and its inhabitants.

Okay, I’ll admit it – I totally have a weakness for those over-the-top, wish-fulfillment stories where the main character is incredibly powerful. And My Status as an Assassin? It hits that spot perfectly! It does a little something different with the usual ‘overpowered main character’ trope, enough to make it stand out a tiny bit, though it’s not a huge change, honestly.

Akira isn’t immediately skilled with his powers; he grows into them while facing tough opponents. He’s not a complex character, but he’s easy to root for, mainly because he desperately wants to return to his family. Amelia sometimes feels like a typical supporting character, but she has a compelling backstory and a special ability that makes her important. Surprisingly, even some of Akira’s classmates are well-developed. But the real standout is Night, Akira’s familiar – he’s easily the best character in the show, and a fantastic cat!

9. Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!

2025’s Best Reverse Isekai Anime

There weren’t as many reverse isekai anime in 2025 compared to previous years, which is disappointing because this genre often focuses on lighthearted comedy and everyday life. A good example is Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!, a series centered around showcasing Japan’s scenery, traditions, and cuisine. While these shows can sometimes feel like tourism commercials, they’re still often entertaining.

Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! is a unique series that alternates between everyday life and a fantasy world, with human Kazuhiro and elf Maria switching roles as each other’s guides. While the fantasy world scenes aren’t very engaging, the parts set on Earth are truly charming, mainly because of Maria’s enthusiastic and cheerful personality. If you’re looking for a gentle, feel-good story, this is definitely worth watching.

8. A Wild Last Boss Appeared!

2025’s Best Traditional OP MC Isekai Anime

If you’ve watched shows in the ‘isekai’ genre, you’ll likely recognize many of the story elements in A Wild Last Boss Appeared, especially if you’re a fan of Overlord. In fact, this series is very similar to Overlord, but with a female main character. The story follows a man who wakes up in a new world as Lufas, his powerful female video game avatar. This world is based on the original game, but takes place centuries later. Now, Lufas is on a quest to rebuild her kingdom and find her old allies, often defeating enemies in overwhelmingly one-sided battles.

A Wild Last Boss Appeared is a story that confidently embraces its own strengths. The main character, Lufas, is incredibly resilient and her battles, while often one-sided, are visually impressive. The story also features intriguing world-building, gradually revealing how the kingdoms have changed during the character’s time away, and the supporting characters interact well with Lufas.

7. From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated!

2025’s Best Villainess Isekai Anime

The isekai genre has become increasingly popular, spawning many subgenres that consistently get new anime adaptations. While it took a while for the ‘isekai villainess’ subgenre to appear in anime, it’s now everywhere and shows no signs of fading. It’s become so mainstream that we’re even starting to see parodies of it, and From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated! is a perfect example – it both embodies and playfully twists the tropes of the genre.

This funny series starts with a father unexpectedly reborn as the villainess in a school-set dating sim game. He relies on his life experience and plenty of dad jokes to navigate the challenges and survive. The show delivers on its comedic potential, largely thanks to the charming lead character who wins everyone over with his fatherly instincts – and accidentally attracts a group of admirers. While the events within the game are entertaining, the story truly shines with what happens outside of it. As the father becomes an amazing mom figure, his wife and daughter play the game, trying to support him from the real world.

6. Ishura Season 2

2025’s Most Improved Isekai Anime Sequel

I really enjoyed the 2024 anime Ishura, but the first half was disorganized, preventing it from being among the best isekai shows of last year. I’m thrilled season 2 was made and that it’s significantly better than the first. Essentially, the series throws incredibly powerful characters – some from other worlds – into conflict with each other. While each season focuses on a main character, the story jumps around so much that many different characters get their moment to shine – and feel like they could be eliminated at any time.

Though the world and backstory of Ishura are well-developed, the show truly shines with its action-packed fight scenes. This season jumps right into the battles, unlike the first, and doesn’t waste time with setup. You’ll see incredible fights – a talking robot versus a zombie-like creature, a powerful destructive force drawing near, a vampire causing chaos, and a sniper battling a skeleton. Almost every episode features characters with overwhelming powers, and the constant threat is that anyone could die at any moment.

5. Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill Season 2

2025’s Best Comfort Food Isekai Anime

Sometimes you crave epic stories of heroes battling impossible challenges. Other times, you just want something cozy and relaxing – like watching someone cook amazing food for their unusual pets. Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill is the perfect anime for that! It’s a charming and laid-back escape that’s always enjoyable, even if it’s not full of action.

Season 2 continues the enjoyable formula established in the first season, focusing on what made it successful. Tsuyoshi now has a cute new companion, Dora, and cooks up even more unique monster meals – including a dragon that’s a major focus early on. The season features visits to a dungeon and several different towns, creating a consistently fun and relaxing experience.

4. The Fated Magical Princess: Who Made Me a Princess

2025’s Gorgeous Story-Book Isekai Anime

Looking back at 2025, I think the biggest isekai surprise for me was The Fated Magical Princess: Who Made Me a Princess. I honestly hadn’t heard a thing about it before it just appeared, and then blew everyone away with some truly beautiful animation. But it’s more than just pretty visuals. The story is a classic fairy tale about a princess trying to build a relationship with her emotionally unavailable father, and she’s motivated by a pretty urgent problem: she knows how the story ends, and it’s not good! She discovers she’s actually in a novel, and her character is headed for a really bleak future.

The Fated Magical Princess charts the main character’s journey from childhood to her teenage years, focusing on her growth and the development of her magical powers. The story centers around her relationship with her father, which is a key emotional element, though it takes a while for their connection to become positive. Luckily, Athanasia is such a charming character that she keeps the story engaging throughout.

3. Zenshu

2025’s Best Original Isekai Anime

Truly original anime is rare, so when it appears, it’s something special. Zenshu could be the best isekai anime ever made, and it was one of the most complete and satisfying stories of 2025. The story follows Natsuko, an animator who’s lost her passion, who accidentally finds herself transported into the world of the anime she loves – a world known for its bleak ending where everyone dies. Luckily, she has a magical pen that can bring her drawings to life (though it’s not without limits). Natsuko decides to rewrite the story and save her favorite characters, a quest that turns her into a hero and also helps her overcome her own emotional barriers.

Though it has a slightly weaker middle, Zenshu is a standout anime thanks to its incredible start and finish – the first and last episodes are among the best of the year. The main character, Natsuko, is a wonderfully flawed and relatable person who consistently faces new challenges, making her truly compelling. And she’s not the only well-developed character in the show!

2. Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 3 (Episodes 9–16)

2025’s Best Isekai Anime (Kind Of)

Despite being considered one of the greatest isekai anime ever, Re:Zero faced some criticism for a recent set of episodes – though this was more due to the show’s incredibly high standards than a real decline in quality. After dedicating half a season to building up a major conflict between Subaru’s group and the Sin Archbishops, the second half delivered a thrilling payoff, essentially acting as Re:Zero‘s action-packed battle arc.

Season 3 of Re:Zero delivered exciting, though sometimes predictable, fights that gave important screen time to both established and newer characters like Priscilla. Despite sticking to familiar territory, the show remains excellent thanks to its stunning animation, strong writing, and truly detestable villains.

1. Lord of Mysteries

2025’s Best Isekai Anime (Sort Of)

I’ve been keeping up with isekai series, and if you only count anime from Japan, I’d say Re:Zero was the best of 2025. But if we broaden the definition to include Chinese animation, or Donghua, then Lord of Mysteries really stood out. It’s based on a web novel and tells the story of a guy named Zhou who suddenly finds himself in a Victorian-era world, inhabiting the body of someone named Klein. He’s trying to find a way back home, but a ritual lands him in this strange, unsettling place filled with powerful, almost god-like beings. He ends up having to play the role of their organizer! As the story goes on, Klein develops powers based on the Tarot, becoming something called a Beyonder, and starts investigating cases that involve these incredibly frightening creatures who can bend reality to their will.

When I first started watching Lord of Mysteries, I felt a bit lost! The first episode throws a lot at you, using terms and ideas that don’t quite click right away. But honestly, it quickly gets so much better. Once the story started focusing on the cases Klein was working on, everything began to make sense. Those episodes felt like a ‘monster of the week’ type of format, but they were also a really helpful way to understand all the complicated stuff introduced at the beginning. It’s a dense series, but in a good way – it really pulls you in. I ended up wanting to go back and find the original source material after finishing it! And the animation? Easily some of the best I’ve seen all year for this type of show, and the Victorian setting is just fantastic.

2025-12-09 01:39