Summary
Anime had a great 2023. Each season delivered at least a couple of brilliant shows across a range of categories. If someone craved romance, they had multiple good-to-great series they could consume. Prefer comedy, action, or sci-fi? While some were more giving than others, each genre produced gold in some form or another. Naturally, this extended toisekai anime, which were anever-present fixture throughout the year.
Isekai is not going anywhere anytime soon, and this overexposure has caused the concept’s criticisms to be amplified. For all its flaws, the theme has more than a few success stories to its name, and thebest 2023 isekai animeserve as prime examples of its potential for greatness.
Updated July 22, 2025:As Spring 2024 is essentially done and Summer 2024 has only started to roll out, this could be a good time for people to check out some 2023 isekai anime they might have missed.
Despite not attracting that much attention compared to some other isekai sequels,The Faraway Paladin: The Lord of the Rust Mountainswas nevertheless a welcome return and a solid continuation of the 2021 season. Although not lacking action, this series moves at a fairly slow pace by the standards of the genre, and the story primarily focuses on the protagonist’s growth and personal struggles.
William is fairly unusual for an isekai lead, as he is generally very aware of his shortcomings and constantly struggles to live up to his expectations. He can be quite frustrating at times, but he improves as the story moves along, and season 2 is a more compelling watch than its predecessor.
One of the betterslow-life isekai anime,The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent’s second season can be a slightly frustrating watch in multiple ways. The Fall 2023 sequel is almost entirely driven by Sei and Albert’s pending romance, with the two tiptoeing around each other as they slowly move toward a resolution. Now, on the one hand, these characters are fantastic together, with their banter being a constant highlight; however, their romance can feel artificially delayed, making for a somewhat unsatisfying watch at times.
Still,The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotentseason 2 gets by with charming characters, a relaxed tone, and decent world-building. The season does a good job of highlighting Sei’s tricky situation as she tries to keep her status as a Saint hidden, which is easier said than done when her actions speak for themselves.
Occasionally, isekai decides to drop the action and focus on telling a slow-life story, andFarming Life in Another Worldwas one of 2023’s most enjoyable attempts at this subgenre. After dying in his previous life, Hiraku is allowed to decide how he wants to live in a new world, and he opts to become a farmer. Now,farming life is hardly the definition of “easy,“but Hiraku has access to a few tools that lessen the profession’s demand. Reincarnating in a dangerous forest, the human makes the best of the situation, and he quickly starts to form a community filled with people who might not have anywhere to go. Unsurprisingly, they are mostly women.
Although quite cliché-ridden,Farming Life in Another Worldis nevertheless cute and relaxing. The story barely produces anything resembling a tense moment, all the while still shining a light on its world’s wider mechanics and how they interact with Hiraku’s small paradise. While the female characters can threaten to blend together at times, they are generally likable.
A refreshing take on theisekai concept,Handyman Saitou in Another Worldlives up to its billing by actually featuring a very normal protagonist. Except for a few other minor skills, Saitou’s usefulness comes down almost entirely to his handyman knowledge from his previous life, and he uses this information to help his party while they explore dungeons. Generally serving as the group’s straight man, Saitou’s ordinariness juxtapositions well with an eclectic cast of class archetypes, including a knight, wizard, and fairy.
Handyman Saitou in Another Worldis a somewhat weird show as it starts as a sketch-based parody before gradually transitioning into a more traditional comedy-adventure story. It handles both aspects quite well, but the switch is not 100% seamless and results in some tonal issues. Nevertheless, this was one of2023’s best isekai anime.
A viewer’s mileage withI’m in Love with the Villainesswill likely come down to their tolerance for the protagonist’s behavior. Overworked to death, Rei reincarnates as the main character, Rae Taylor, of her favorite dating sim. While she has no interest in the male leads, she is enamored by the game’s villainess, Claire Francois. Consequently, Rae decides to constantly declare her love for her classmate, all in the hope of guiding Claire away from her bad ending.
At times, the protagonist’s antics cross the line into straight-up harassment, and the show, at one point, even criticizes Claire for being put off by Rae’s unwanted advances. This moment can be seen as a significant misstep in what is otherwise a pretty charming isekai anime. Issues aside, Rae has plenty of genuinely funny sequences, and she does gradually ease off her worst habits. Claire is comfortably the best character in the series, and she is a highlight of the entirevillainess subgenre.
KamiKatsuleaves a bad first impression. The animation is periodically awful, the characters are obnoxious, and the story is defined by tonal whiplash. However, after a few episodes, it becomes obvious that most of these elements are not only intentional but also, in some cases, inventive ways to get around a potentially low budget.Viewed as an irreverent comedy,KamiKatsuis an absolute delight that delivers some of the year’s biggest laughs.
Beyond its humor, the anime is an intriguing mess. Teleported to a reality where fearing death is basically outlawed, religion is nonexistent, and public suicides are a part of normal life, the shocked Yukito prays to a deity for help when he is about to be executed. To his surprise, Mitama shows up and quickly eradicates the protagonist’s captors.KamiKatsutakes this intriguing premise to plenty of unexpected places, and the story is carried by an entertainingly manipulative protagonist and a goddess who jumps back and forth between all-mighty and pathetic. Strange as it all sounds, the anime kind of works.
On the brink of death, the Corpse God activates a reincarnation spell that causes him to awaken in the body of a recently murdered boy named Polka in modern Japan. Before long, the protagonist finds himself teaming up with a super hacker, the assassin responsible for killing his host, and Polka’s soul trapped in a toy shark. Yes,Dead Mount Death Playcan be weird at times.
Airing its first cour in Spring 2023 and following it up with another 12-episode run in Fall 2023,Dead Mount Death Playis more than the sum of its parts. Although the story can be chaotic and muddled, it is packed to the brim with memorable characters, be it the necromancer protagonist himself, the zombie yandere Misaki, or the hilarious Phantom Solitaire.
Based on a fairly popular web novel,Why Raeliana Ended Up At The Duke’s Mansionis a mixed bag, but the positives outweigh the negatives. Reincarnated as a side character who dies to get a novel’s main plot going, Raeliana realizes she will need to make noteworthy connections to change her fate. Consequently, she incentivizes Noah, an enigmatic Duke, to play the part of her fiancé in exchange for her preserving his secrets. While they are technically working together, these two characters are also stuck in a battle of wits; in the meantime, romance might also bloom.
The show’s opening half is fantastic, serving up a great female lead alongside an equally interesting male deuteragonist who is simultaneously a love interest and also somewhat antagonistic. However, the story loses a bit of steam in its second half when Raeliana begins to genuinely fall for Noah, causing her behavior to become far less captivating and more conventional for this type of story. Nevertheless, the central mystery around Raeliana’s murder is engaging, as is the looming shadow of the novel’s absent protagonist.
2023 produced quite a few relaxingisekai anime that venture into slow-life territory, and while most of them were watchable, they were also generally forgettable.Campfire Cookingis pure comfort food in the most endearing way possible. Tsuyoshi is summoned to a fantasy world to serve as its hero, but he is relieved from his duties when his summoners learn that his unique ability involves ordering items from an Amazon-style site. Left to wander an unfamiliar world on his own, Tsuyoshi’s weak nature makes him vulnerable, although that changes when he acquires two familiars who are enamored by his cooking.
Sui, a slime, and Fel, a fenrir, steal the show, and they have a great rapport with Tsuyoshi. The former is just cuteness personified, while the latter has a refreshingly complex personality that reflects his status as one of this world’s most powerful entities. A lot of the series revolves around cooking, and the protagonist’s creations are as appetizing as any other dishes shown off in 2023. More importantly, the anime emphasizes the budding relationships between the three leads, and by the end of season 1, their friendships are 100% believable.
Its title aside,The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Ladyreveals its isekai element through an almost throwaway line, and the anime starts long after Princess Anis' reincarnation in a new world. In a world defined by magic, Anis' lack of skill in this area puts her at a disadvantage, so she turns to science (and dreams of her old life) to make up for lost ground. She also hopes to use her experiments to make magic accessible to everyone, a goal that goes against the wishes of most of the noble class.
Proactive, funny, and intelligent, Anis is awesome and comfortably among the best isekai protagonists of 2023. However, she is not the show’s only great character, as she shares the stage with Euphyllia, a highly capable magic user who has well-defined insecurities that are challenged throughout the series. Even the antagonist, Prince Algard, gets a fair amount of development, culminating in a spectacular final clash with his sister, Anis.
