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Normally, an isekai anime would be a power fantasy, where the hero fulfilled the audiences’ wishes by proxy. That isn’t the case for all isekai anime, as some show that life in another world could be worse.
In some cases, the isekai protagonist would just find a new set of difficult problems in their second life. For others, their adventure to a new world is more of a fantastical punishment than a dream come true.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead.
10 The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! — Jahy Went From Demon Queen To Broke Part-Timer In The Human World
Back in the Demon Realm, Jahy was the second-most powerful devil around who even had her own kingdom. That all came crashing down when a magical girl blew up the realm and, by extension, Jahy’s power source. Miraculously, Jahy survived, but this came at the cost of getting reverse-isekai’d to the human world without little to no powers.
Now, Jahy struggles to make ends meet in a strange and unfamiliar world (read: Japan). Worse, she’s perpetually stuck in her childlike form since maintaining her adult form requires magic she doesn’t have. The only reason why Jahy endures this endless humiliation is because she may have found a way to restore her homeland.
9 The Saga Of Tanya The Evil — The Protagonist Was Denied A Peaceful Retirement
The sociopathic human resources employee who would become the unimposing villain protagonist Tanya von Degurechaff had only one goal in life: to earn an early retirement and its associated benefits. Unfortunately for him, he got the exact opposite of that when Being X reincarnated him into a wartorn world as punishment for his snarky comments.
While the salaryman thrived as Tanya since he was able to be as amoral as he always wanted to be, any hopes of relaxing in the countryside were dashed by war’s realities and Being X’s continued interferences. The pros of military commission could never outweigh his dreams of retirement, and his war service delayed these hopes even more.
8 Drifters — Historical Soldiers Died Horribly & Wound Up In A New Battlefield
In brief, Drifters is a battle royale starring history’s greatest military personalities, all of whom were displaced from different points in history. Participating warriors like the legendary samurai Shimazu Toyohisa or the saint Joan of Arc have little in common, save for one thing: they all died horribly before waking up in a fantasy world.
Instead of getting eternal rest upon death or being reincarnated into a more peaceful life, these historical figures were thrust into yet another deadly war with no choice in the matter. While some of these soldiers enjoyed this second chance at life, others were dismayed about being forced into a war they had no stakes in.
7 The Rising Of The Shield Hero — Naofumi Iwatani Started His Isekai Adventure As An Outcast
Like most modern isekai anime, The Rising Of Shield Hero begins with Naofumi entering a gamified fantasy world where he’s said to be one of four prophesized heroes. Naofumi got to enjoy this newfound fame and fortune for a few days at most because, shortly after, he was framed for a heinous offense.
For no other reason than she enjoys making people suffer, Princess Malty S. Melromarc accused Naofumi of assaulting her. Everyone believed her, and Naofumi was stripped of his rank and prestige as punishment. He then spends his time in the new world clawing back his dignity while hating everyone and everything, including his own powers.
6 The Twelve Kingdoms — Youko Nakajima Knows She Was Not Meant To Be A Queen
The Twelve Kingdoms, which predates the post-Sword Art Online isekai boom, opened the same way many fantasy isekai do: a quiet high school girl discovers that she’s the fated ruler and savior of a kingdom beyond her dreams. Rather than excitedly embrace this, though, Youko understandably freaked out when a fantasy warrior told her this before saving her from monstrous demons.
Upon arriving in the world of the Twelve Kingdoms, Youko was forced to bring order to the warring states because that’s what their prophecy said she would do. Instead of going on fun adventures, Youko had to deal with the political world’s worst tendencies, like betrayals and coups, which led to her crippling self-destruction and self-doubt.
5 Now & Then, Here & There — Shu Matsutani Found Himself In A Dying War-Torn World
Now And Then, Here And There seemed to prepare Shu and audiences for a typical heroic isekai adventure, especially when he began the anime by saving the strange girl Lala Ru from some ruffians. After this disarmingly lighthearted set-up, Shu found himself in a dying world where the only semblance of order was the fascistic mobile nation of Hellywood.
Shu’s young idealism and naivety immediately clashed with this harsh world’s realities. Examples include his forced conscription as one of Hellywood’s child soldiers, getting tortured by Hamdo’s men, failing to protect Sara, and more. Shu impressively held on to his ideals, but he went through hell and back before the anime’s end.
4 Fushigi Yuugi — Yui Hongo Was Emotionally Manipulated From The Moment She Arrived
Yui is the deuteragonist of the classic shojo isekai anime Fushigi Yuugi, but, unlike her best friend Miaka Yuuki, Yui’s arrival in the world of the Four Gods was a nightmare. Upon arrival, Yui was assaulted by some men before she was saved at the last second by the impossibly powerful Nakago. Believe it or not, things got worse from there.
Nakago saved Yui before any real harm was done, but he convinced her that she was in fact left to be brutalized by Miaka. By gaslighting her and exacerbating her envy of Miaka, Nakago convinced Yui to side with him and aid him in his selfish quest for godhood. Yui broke free of Nakago’s lies, but it took a lot of struggling to get to that point.
3 .hack//SIGN— An Shoji Couldn’t Run From Her Demons In Another World
The Wavemaster known as Tsuaka is initially indistinguishable from other fantasy isekai heroes, save for one key difference: he’s not enjoying his time in The World, the MMORPG he entered. Tsuaka is merely going through the motions of a typical isekai hero in .hack//SIGN, and his amnesia doesn’t help matters at all.
As the anime went on, Tsuaka remembered that he’s actually An Shoji in the real world. An lost herself to her favorite game to escape her terrible family life, but, even in this escapist world, she’s still forced to face her demons. An literally conquered her demons in the end, but she had to relieve painful trauma and experience new ones before then.
2 Re:Zero — Subaru Natsuki Got Trapped In An Endless Time Loop Of Death & Suffering
Before suddenly finding himself in the Kingdom of Lugnica, Subaru was an unimpressive NEET who spent his days shutting himself from the world by staying in his room. Typically, Subaru becoming an isekai protagonist would be ideal compared to his previous uneventful life. Instead, what he got was the opposite of a power fantasy.
Subaru was blessed with Return By Death, which basically allowed him to respawn after dying. As Re:Zero went on, though, this power slowly became a curse. Subaru wasn’t just forced to endure countless painful deaths, but he was now always at risk of losing everything he built in a loop, especially relationships with people he grew to love.
1 Sonny Boy — The Class Got Stranded In Between Dimensions & Worlds
Sonny Boy stood out in the arguably overcrowded isekai genre by being as straightforward as possible. With no explanation whatsoever, the anime opened with a class of 36 students suddenly finding their now-empty school floating in an endless void. Even weirder, some of the teenagers now have odd superpowers.
The anime revealed its multiversal nature near the first episode’s end, when Nozomi somehow opened the path to an ocean and beach. Besides struggling to survive and fathom their predicament, Nagara and his classmates dealt with infighting among the class’ elite and everyone’s existential crises brought about by their interdimensional situation.
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