Medieval anime 1

45 Medieval Anime Full of Swords and Struggle

A medieval setting in anime has always been pretty popular, but medieval anime has never been more popular. Our modern world has its own interesting stories, but I think so many anime fans are more intrigued with a world that they do not already know.

And a medieval anime world is certainly that.

Medieval worlds are places where most people live simple and small lives. It’s a place where walking to the next village can be an adventure that most people might never take. It’s a place where you take a blade – or in some cases, magic – for protection rather than a gun.

The reason medieval settings in anime are primarily so popular today is due to the increase in isekai anime where a protagonist is sent to another world, and that world is often – but not always – a medieval fantasy one. However, while medieval worlds are common in isekai anime, they don’t always do in an interesting way. As such, you may not find all of them here.

If you enjoy medieval anime and want some solid anime recommendations, give these great 45 medieval anime series a try.

Note – This list is medieval anime, but rather specifically leaves out Feudal Japanese anime. When people use the term “medieval,” they think of it in a European sort of setting. And honestly? This list would be of an obscene length if I included all the good Feudal Japanese anime too.

If you are looking more for anime depicting Japan’s medieval period instead, you will want to check out our samurai anime recommendations or our overall historical anime recommendations.

Best Medieval Anime

attack on titan anime

Attack on Titan

As far as medieval anime go, Attack on Titan sits in a unique place. The people live in rather medieval styled villages and cities, but they also have some touches of a more modern world – like cannons or their maneuvering gear.

While that may seem disqualifying, Attack on Titan actually gives a solid reason for the state of the initial world as the series goes on – and it’s a good reason too.

There is a reason that this anime about defending their walled nation from giant flesh-eating humanoid abominations is so popular, and it is not just because of how brutal it can be. It’s also because it has some of the best plot twists in anime too.

gate anime

Gate – Thus The JSDF Fought

Would you like to see how a cavalry charge stands up to a machine gun nest? Or who wins in dragon versus a bazooka? Or if a medieval fortress withstands an attack helicopter?

Yes?

Well, that’s the charm of Gate.

This series follows a JSDF soldier and otaku who is part of the Japan’s mission to enter a gate that opened up one day in Ginza to a parallel world, a world where technology is still in medieval stages with magic and fantasy races.

dark schnieder from bastard anime

Bastard!!

Bastard, recently remade OVA from the 80’s, is a quintessentially medieval anime, but kind of an outrageous one sometimes.

It tells a story about a nation threatened by evil waking up an evil sorcerer that the chief priest sealed in a child previously. As you would expect, he is kind of mad about that, but the chief’s daughter is able to keep him in line – mostly.

It takes place in a standard swords and sorcery world where most everyone is easily classifiable as good or evil – but the evil is chronically horny.

Bastard has the bad habit of frequently molesting its always boobilious female characters, and it can detract from any plot.

romeo x juliet anime

Romeo x Juliet

Technically, this fantasy re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic play about star-crossed lovers is more Elizabethan than medieval. But in a very “close enough” way, I’m counting it.

This series is unique in that there are clear medieval things in the world, but it clearly has things not found in history – like that that whole thing takes place in a floating city.

So while the society could be more advanced, they still hold on to medieval combat and customs that makes it an interesting new take on a classic.

kemono no souja erin anime

Kemono no Souja Erin

This is one of those excellent anime series where you get to watch the world evolve as the character grows up.

It starts off following a little girl growing up in a rural village that is known for raising war lizards and expands into war between the two nations.

It is all about politics and the ravages of war as seen by a pure soul as she grows up. As she gets older, her view of the world becomes wildly more complicated.

seven deadly sins anime

Seven Deadly Sins

If you like more shounen-style action in your medieval setting then Seven Deadly Sins is probably the anime for you.

It has main characters that are way over-the-top in terms of power who are fighting powerful foes in arc-style storytelling like your usual shounen anime.

Throughout the series, you get to see a world that maintains a rather simple setting despite magic that many people very clearly possess.

the sacred blacksmith anime

The Sacred Blacksmith

This series takes place in a world in the later stages of recovering from a devastating war. It primarily follows a knight that desires to protect the people, and she ends up pestering a magical blacksmith that can make devastating blades through blacksmithing magic.

While The Sacred Blacksmith is most interesting in its exploration of blacksmithing magics in a medieval fantasy world, it kinds of fumbles that. The thing that makes this series underwhelming is how it inappropriately inserts ecchi into an otherwise serious fantasy story.

That is certainly a selling point for some, but it absolutely interrupts the pacing and undermines the tone.

ascendance of a bookworm anime

Ascendance of a Bookworm

This isekai anime was part of a new wave of isekai where people weren’t reincarnated as heroes, but just live normal lives in their new existence. In Ascendance of a Bookworm, a book nerd gets reincarnated as the young daughter of a solider. As a bookworm, she goes looking for books, which are a luxury afforded to nobility.

The daughter of a solider is a decent life, but not afforded “have access to books” sort of privilege. As such, she sets up to not only make her own books, but to make them more widely available to the common people, which is a fascinating journey in an of itself even if it is not one of the more traditional medieval anime plots.

snow white with the red hair anime

Snow White With The Red Hair

For as many romance anime series as there are, there are profoundly few that take advantage of a medieval settings to evoke that quintessential fairy tale romance feel. Snow White With The Red Hair does exactly that.

This series features the main character forced to leave her small apothecary shop in one country and start over new in the neighboring country. On the way to which, she has a star-crossed encounter with the prince and ends up setting her sights on becoming a court herbalist.

Where this series really excels is it explores the main character’s desire to become a court herbalist rather than just purely focusing on her growing relationship with the prince. It is always nice to see a romance anime where the female main character has aspirations outside of falling in love, like a real person would.

The Goblin Slayer team pick up a job

Goblin Slayer

I can always appreciate when an anime is exactly what the title says. In Goblin Slayer, it is about a guy who slays goblins and only goblins.

In this medieval fantasy world there are other menacing creatures to slay, but he has a specific vendetta against these low-level, but craftily dangerous creatures in particular. As such, you should expect any action to be directed at goblins, yet it does well to make even that feel unique in each outing.

Goblin Slayer, when it is committed to the goblin-slaying task, is a pretty interesting watch. The series can be bloody, but aside from being briefly infamous for that brutal rape in episode one, it is actually on the tame side in every other episode.

The main cast of Parallel World Pharmacy anime working in their shop

Parallel World Pharmacy

The thing most often left unaddressed in medieval anime is that there wasn’t just a prevailing fear of warfare or famine, but disease was actually a very real issue. When you live in an age where a broken bone can be a death sentence, every injury is very serious.

Parallel World Pharmacy, as an isekai anime, is a bit more light-hearted about the issue, but at least it is a medicine-driven medieval anime that at least addresses it.

Now, at first glance it seems more like your slice of life harem of wish fulfillment-type isekai, but this series has no harem and is fully dedicated to its plot.

The main character was medical researcher who died young and reincarnated into a new world. In this world, he now possesses remarkable medical magic. As such, he uses it to help the ailing people whose medical knowledge is leaps and bounds behind his own from the modern age.

The Hero looking on as the Demon Queen bows from the Maoyu anime

Maoyu – Archenemy and Hero

Instead of being about the journey there, Maoyu starts off with the hero rushing to fight the demon king and save his nation from an endless war with the demon realm. However, he discovers that the demon “king” is actually a demon queen who wants to form an alliance – and a romantic relationship – with him.

She details how the ongoing war is helping keep both the demon realm and the kingdoms of humanity from failing. As such, they need to address different economic issues before the war can officially come to an end.

This series is partly romantic comedy, albeit low on actual romance, but mostly it is all about medieval economics. The pair address things like new agricultural reform and using trade to spread goods and knowledge. It is not always as wholesome as it starts out, but it is never not interesting.

faraway paladin anime

The Faraway Paladin

Although good in the other respects too, the best thing The Faraway Paladin does is create intrigue in its medieval world.

It starts with a lone baby being found by three undead guardians of a dead city that serves as a seal for a powerful ancient evil. They raise the baby, and as they are doing so, they teach him about the world. The thing is, they were human once, but they have been undead bound to that lcoation since that being was sealed. So they know very little outside of that city.

This allows for us, the audience, to learn about the rest of the world as the main character does once he sets out. Everything is a new experience for the both of us, and it evokes that very well. Furthermore, The Faraway Paladin also has a pretty detailed pantheon of deities.

This fantasy medieval anime is wildly overlooked, but a great experience if you love detailed world-building.

Record of Lodoss War dragon

Record of Lodoss War

Although very old and that aged animation immediately pushes some people away, there is no more quintessential medieval fantasy anime than Record of Lodoss War.

This swords and sorcery anime has a very familiar plot about a group of D&D-like adventurers that must go defeat a newly awakened ancient evil to maintain the tense balance of peace between previously warring kingdoms.

As medieval fantasy has been done so many different ways since it premiered, Record of Lodoss War will be nothing new, but it is a great classic.

Richard from the Requiem of the Rose King anime pressing a purple rose to his face

Requiem of the Rose King

Requiem of the Rose King follows the intrigues of Richard III in England’s War of the Roses, a war of succession between House York and House Lancaster. However, seeing as this is anime, it doesn’t detail how things play out in a historically accurate way.

In fact, Requiem of the Rose King is, like a Shakespearean play, entertainingly dramatic, sometimes overly so.

If you want to see the lives of small folk in your medieval anime, this is not for you. If you are more into the tangled web of intrigue between every noble from Edinburgh to Versailles, this is for you. Requiem of the Rose King occasionally drifts into weird places, but it is an experience if you like medieval drama.

Alibaba, Morgiana, and Aladdin relaxing by the water in the Magi anime

Magi

While Magi is a shounen type of anime, it does take place in a rather unique setting – the medieval ages of the Middle East. Of course, as it surrounds a young magi meeting a boy with connections to royalty and adventuring together, it is distinctly more fantasy in nature.

What Magi often does better than other shounen anime is showing off the world. What’s more, they also build out the lore of the world so it feels like a medieval world that lasted long before the scope of the show.

Altair A Record of Battles anime

Altair – A Record of Battles

Like Magi, Altair takes place in a medieval world inspired by Middle Eastern history. Unlike Magi, it doesn’t drift its story into more shounen style action and stays pretty grounded in its historical era.

Altair follows a pasha, or high-ranking officer, serving the governing Divan of the Türkiye Stratocracy named Mahmut. After the country is threatened by a larger empire, the Divan is split into warmongers and pacifists. As for Mahmut, he is trying to keep the peace at all costs.

What this series does, and should be recognized more for, is intricate politics. Certainly medieval anime about warfare is more interesting, but it isn’t everyday you get to explore the ancient politics of this era.

anime series like rage of bahamut

Rage of Bahamut – Genesis

As there are quite a few fantasy medieval worlds in anime, it is hard to make them feel unique, but Rage of Bahamut pulls it off better than most.

This series is set in a world where gods, demons, and humans all coexist, and coexist unhappily. However, after everyone’s existence was threatened by an apocalyptic dragon, they allied themselves to seal it away.

The story takes place long after the dragon’s defeat where the three factions have an uneasy peace and follows an event that threatens to unseal aforementioned apocalyptic dragon.

A large part of the charm in Rage of Bahamut is honestly the main characters who have a sort of lovable sharp wit to them. However, the world itself is particularity detailed as far as medieval anime go.

maria the virgin witch anime

Maria the Virgin Witch

Despite its title, Maria the Virgin Witch isn’t an ecchi show. Instead it is set in the Hundred Years’ War and follows a witch who is determined to use her magic in order to stop the suffering of the people and prevent further conflict.

However, her constant intervention has attracted attention from the heavens who request she stop using her powers and declare that if she loses her virginity, her powers will disappear too.

While that definitely sounds like a set up for a girl to immediately fall in love, the series isn’t as predictable as you might think. Instead it balances showing the suffering that war brings to the common people as well as the difficulties being labeled a heretic during this time brings.

Ulysses from the Ulysses anime holding out his hand

Ulysses – Jeanne d’Arc and the Alchemist Knight

Speaking of anime set in the Hundred Years’ War with magic thrown in, here’s another one!

Ulysses isn’t quite as focused on virginity like Maria the Virgin Witch can occasionally be, but it isn’t so much focused on history either. Instead, this historically-set anime ends up being a lot more like a medieval fantasy anime with its inclusion of alchemy and magic.

It follows the son of a noble who is studying magic and alchemy at a school for knights. However, after the defeat of France at Agincourt, the school is dissolved and a series of events sees the main character a wanted criminal on the run. It is his flee for freedom into the country that leads him to meet a mysterious girl named Jeanne who has the future of France in her hands.

Toyohisa Shimazu from Drifters getting impaled on spears

Drifters

What would happen if you took characters from throughout history at the moment of their death and tossed them into a boilerplate medieval fantasy world?

That is the exact premise of Drifters, and because the main characters were all warriors from Japan’s history, they decide they need to conquer that world. However, the conquering isn’t the highlight of Drifters.

The biggest draw to this series is seeing how historical characters from around the world meet and interact with each other, all the better by the drop of psychopathy that the author, who also made Hellsing, adds to all his characters in every series.

tears to tiara anime

Tears to Tiara

This series starts out with a girl being kidnapped as a sacrificed to please a demon lord by an empire. Her brother, a powerful knight, tries ardently to save her, but in a twist, the demon lord actually ends up saving her.

Afterwards, the girl, her brother, the demon lord, as well as several other adventurers set out on a journey to bring down the empire that is conquering neighboring countries and oppressing the people. Of course, during their journey all sorts of dark secrets about the empire start spilling out.

It is a pretty standard medieval anime world, and for pretty good reason – it was originally a tactical RPG game. However, game adaptation anime need not be bad. Take this as an example, since it is – in fact – pretty good!

the rising of the shield hero anime

The Rising of The Shield Hero

In The Rising of the Shield Hero, four heroes were summoned from parallel versions of modern Japan to be heroes to fight against the impending invasion of dark creatures that threaten the world. However, what sets it apart is that due to bias against his hero class, the main character – the Shield Hero, Naofumi – is betrayed by the kingdom that summoned him and the three other heroes turn on him.

Throughout the beginning of the series, you often watch him grow stronger out of pure spite. This involves him traveling his new medieval world, and most of the time, he is the one cleaning up messes made by the “heroic” deeds of the other heroes. Like cleaning up the corpse of a decaying dragon slayed by another hero, the poison from which was making local villagers sick.

As it involves a lot of travel, this means you also get to see a lot of the medieval world. The series even spreads into other kingdoms as it goes on.

Rudy from Jobless Reincarnation casting magic

Jobless Reincarnation

Unlike other isekai anime that use medieval fantasy worlds as a sort of boilerplate, Jobless Reincarnation excels in burying the main character in the developing issues that happen in the world.

Alongside being particularly detailed in its magic system, you get a great sense that this medieval anime world is alive and that things are often happening outside from what the main character is doing.

The setting and the plot of Jobless Reincarnation is often great, but it is unfortunately necessary to give a warning that this anime can be weirdly, uncomfortably sexual, and not in the traditional ecchi anime way. It kind of really distracts from all the good aspects in this anime, and may be something to keep in mind if you are looking for serious medieval anime and not revelry for degenerates.

Bojji running around the castle in the Ranking of Kings anime

Ranking of Kings

This series certainly looks like one aimed at young children, and while it has a ton of heart, it also can be surprisingly very brutal in its action.

Ranking of Kings is meant to evoke the feeling you got from old fairy tale story books, but tells a story that speaks to all ages. It follows a young prince who is weak and mute, but never gives up. As the world ranks kings based on their power, when his very powerful father and literal giant passes away, he is passed over for succession by his brother.

Never deterred, this little prince goes on a journey to gain strength and eventually becomes embroiled in intrigue targeting his home kingdom.

Ranking of Kings is a unique experience in both medieval anime as well as just anime in general, but the most unexpectedly good anime you will ever watch.

that time i got reincarnated as a slime anime

That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime

Back when it premiered, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime set itself apart from its peers by reincarnating a human as a creature rather than a human. That’s not as unique these days, but it presented an interesting new hook.

However, the most interesting part of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is that the main character allies themselves with the fantasy creatures of the forest that are targeted and beleaguered by human adventurers. He starts to build a strong nation with his magic, which sets up a unique array of new character additions to the group.

Instead of exploring the medieval fantasy world of humans, this series follows the adventures of the creatures in it.

arte anime

Arte

Arte is right on the end edge of counting as a medieval. Arte takes place in the 16th century, which would be the Renaissance, a period following the Middle Ages, or what we traditional view as medieval.

However, it is really the only Renaissance anime out there, so I thought I might include it to shine a little more light on it.

Arte follows a young women from nobility who has a passion for art. However, after her father’s death, she is pressured to marry and abandon her love of art. Instead, she continues the pursuit of art. As you might imagine for the time period, being an artist was difficult, but being a female artist was filled with considerably more hurdles.

Although it takes place in solely in Florence, it remains a very grounded and historical look at the era.

anime series like is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

Dungeon crawling fantasy anime is almost always a pretty safe bet for a good medieval anime as well. After all, you don’t see a ton of dungeons in any other setting, do you?

Dungeon exploration is the primary premise of Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon, and despite the potentially saucy name, it isn’t particularly ecchi either.

This series features your standard main character who is weak, but through perseverance, eventually conquers levels of the endlessly deep dungeon that the main city was build upon, gaining power and companions along the way.

Unlike some fantasy series that see the world they are set in as an unimportant afterthought, Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon is particularly diligent with its world-building, creating an interesting medieval world with unique magic.

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt a Kingdom

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt a Kingdom is one of my favorite isekai series because it isn’t about helping people by killing some beasts or even defeating some evil demon king, as is usually the case.

It is about helping people by rehabilitating a floundering kingdom. In medieval worlds, when a kingdom thrives, the people thrive with it. When a kingdom suffers, the people suffer. So shrewd economics and realm administration is pretty heroic too.

The cast of the Legend of Legendary Heroes anime

The Legend of the Legendary Heroes

The Legend of Legendary Heroes takes place in a fantasy world where magic exists, but it is a rarity. As such, the main character, a man whose eyes can analyze as well as copy any magic, is fear-inducingly rare. This is why he keeps his status as the bearer this power to himself.

While medieval anime can run the gamut of bloodless to graphic slaughter, The Legend of Legendary Heroes seems like a fantasy anime that would be on the tamer side. However, that is not quite true, this series can be particularly brutal with its action, whether it is magic at work or just the standard swordcraft.

Elianna and Chris embracing from the Bibliophile Princess anime

Bibliophile Princess

As Bibliophile Princess follows the romance between a bookish noble girl and a charmingly perfect prince, it gives you a lovely taste of fairy tale romance, but less of a good taste of medieval life.

The series does have the characters venturing out and meeting some of the common folk, but mostly Bibliophile Princess follows the various problems of nobles and the regions they are charged with.

What this anime highlights is how abundant knowledge of the world, its people, and especially its history can be used to help solve present problems. A well-read noble can be an essential asset.

Somali and the golem in the Somali and the forest guardian anime

Somali and the Forest Guardian

Somali and the Forest Guardian is more fantasy anime than anything else specifically because it takes place a world where humans, because we are troublesome to coexist with, have been driven almost extinct by other fantasy races.

This makes it rather surprising for a forest golem near the end of his lifespan when he discovers a small human child in his forest.

The series follows him trying to at least return her to some other humans before he stops moving forever. Of course, they bond as a found family and that ticking clock becomes increasingly more emotional.

As a medieval anime about travel, you get to see a large chunk of this world as they move around, meeting many fantasy races and experiencing a number of different cultures.

Thorfinn from the Vinland Saga anime holding a knife in his mouth

Vinland Saga

For as popular as vikings are, it is surprising that Vinland Saga is the only viking-focused anime. However, be happy that the one we have is pretty great, I guess.

In Vinland Saga is follows a young boy who sneaks onto his father’s boat in Iceland to join the massive viking army in England. However, on the way, his father is killed by a pirate and mercenary. In a thirst for vengeance, this young boy follows this mercenary as he grows up, inadvertently joining his mercenary band and constantly challenging him to duels in hopes to kill him one day.

While the main character’s motivations are simple and he is easy to manipulate, the star of at least the first season of Vinland Saga is really more the aforementioned mercenary, Askeladd. He isn’t some meathead, but rather cleverly manipulates whatever situation to fulfill his goal.

The series does well to balance the famous battle lust that vikings had while also showing the clever political intrigue that goes on within their army.

the world is still beautiful anime

The World is Still Beautiful

The World is Still Beautiful follows a noble from a kingdom who can call the rain being married off to the Sun King of a kingdom where it never rains.

Now, originally the hope was that the series would highlight how essential rain is for a medieval society to live, but honestly the Sun Kingdom seems to be doing just fine without it for some reason.

Instead, what you get here is a romance anime where a earnest hard-working shoujo protagonist rehabilitates a boy king who, after constant betrayal, has a hard time trusting and loving.

While doing that, however, is does display the interesting and different cultures of both the Sun Kingdom and the Principality of Rain.

Lord Marksman and Vanadis anime

Lord Marksman and Vanadis

This is easily one of the more overlooked medieval anime, and it is definitely worth a look despite the large battle harem focus it develops.

In this anime, war is brewing between two countries in medieval fantasy Europe, which is a story as old as time. However, while there are familiar-sounding locations, this is a Europe with dragon-carved weapons and War Maidens.

While the action scenes are over-the-top, the political intrigue is spot on, and, well, intriguing. If you love dark secrets, corruption, and conspiracy interspersed with bouts of warfare combat, then this is a lovely medieval anime.

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash anime

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

As it only briefly hints at being an isekai, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash kind of missed getting caught up in the isekai wave of popularity. However, despite its status as eternally underrated, it is actually one of the more unique medieval isekai anime.

What makes Grimgar unique is it takes the novel concept that people in new world would not be immediately overpowered in combat. They train to initially get combat classes, and even when they have them, they aren’t necessarily very good. Honestly, if you gave me a sword and said kill a goblin, I’d be pretty shit at it too – and this series really makes you realize that about yourself.

Grimgar follows the struggles of the main characters who are not good at battle and struggle to complete simple mission that give them just barely enough gold to buy food. However, while they struggle and also grow, they don’t grow without some hard-hitting sacrifices either.

The Twelve Kingdoms anime

The Twelve Kingdoms

In the Twelve Kingdoms, the main character is a school girl who is suddenly told by a stranger that she is heir to a kingdom and he is her servant. Of course, being in modern Japan, she finds this odd. After a sudden attack, she and some classmates are transported to another world where they must deal with creature attacks as well as political intrigue.

Now I’ve said it before on this site a dozen times, but The Twelve Kingdoms, despite its age, is really top-tier in world-building. When it says “twelve” kingdoms, it explores twelve kingdoms, each of them unique in culture, government, and other aspects.

This medieval anime is a treat for people that like to explore worlds with characters in anime rather than just being told about the world in exposition.

guin saga anime

Guin Saga

Guin Saga captures that swords and sorcery setting that people are really craving when they want medieval anime.

It features a prince and princess that flee their kingdom after their parents are killed in a coup. They end up meeting an amnesiac with a leopard head who acts as their guardian as he works to solve the mystery of why he has such a face.

You watch them travel, you watch them struggle, and you watch them learn how the rest of the people in their kingdom live. It is a lovely coming-of-age story for the royalty, and mystery story as Guin tries to figure out who he is.

scrapped princess anime

Scrapped Princess

In this medieval anime, the titular “Scrapped Princess” is a girl that will supposedly be responsible for a great calamity on her 16th birthday.

In order to not be killed by zealots that wish to concretely prevent this, she is forced to leave her village with her adoptive siblings, one skilled in magic, one skilled in swordsmanship.

Following these three, you explore a dismal world and unravel the mystery behind this girl that attracts devastation.

the heroic legend of arslan anime

The Heroic Legend of Arslan

In The Heroic Legend of Arslan, you follow the titular young prince on the eve of his first battle. Instead of proving himself and earning glory, it seems that his kingdom was betrayed and he watches a ton of his soldiers die terribly. Furthermore, they use this battle as a distraction in order to sack the capital of his kingdom and overthrow his parents.

What this anime highlights well is how much of a novice Arslan is. It may be his “heroic” legend, but no one starts off heroic. He is a weak idealistic young prince and is often shown as believably less skilled than veteran soldiers in combat, which is refreshingly new in any anime.

This series with Middle Eastern inspirations follows Arslan as he tries to build political alliances and regain his kingdom. In doing so, you get to see a fair amount of the world as he travels.

claymore anime

Claymore

Do you like you medieval anime world to be absolutely miserable for everyone living in it? Because that’s Claymore.

This series takes place in a medieval world where humanity is under constant threat of attack by horrific flesh-eating demons called Yoma. To combat this, young women called Claymores are infused with Yoma blood and travel to slay the demons.

No only do the common folk live in constant fear of horrific slaughter, but the Claymores are hardly upbeat saviors either.

Because they are infused with demon blood, everyone fears them, forcing them to lead solitary lives doing a thankless job. As the ultimate fate of a Claymore is to turn into a demon and be slain by their comrades, they often avoid inter-organizational bonding too.

Like I said before, Claymore is miserable, bleak, and bloody.

moribito anime

Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit

In Moribito, a water spirit that must be slain to prevent a drought manifests itself in the Emperor’s son. Willing to kill his son for the good of the empire, he gives the order to slay him.

However, the boy’s mother smuggles him away with a spear-wielding female mercenary. Together, they spend life living low-key in the country where the royal boy learns how his would-be subjects live.

In this series, not only do you get a taste for politics in a culturally unique world, but a look at how the average people of a feudal society live.

yona of the dawn anime

Yona of the Dawn

Yona of the Dawn follows a naive young princess who, after a coup led by her crush kills her father, is smuggled out of the palace by her bodyguard. To take back her kingdom, she indulges in a legend about the founding of her kingdom where a red dragon gathers the other dragon warriors to take the throne.

This series follows her journey to gather these dragon warriors who, for being legends, are easier to find than you would think.

The big highlight of this series is that you see Yona learning that her nice father was actually kind of a terrible ruler as she experiences the state of her kingdom outside of the palace.

spice and wolf anime

Spice and Wolf

Spice and Wolf is probably the most intricate in building a medieval anime world without using any warfare.

This series follows a traveling merchant who, after visiting a town, finds the wolf goddess that used to protect that town hitching a ride in his wagon. The town moved away from worshiping her, so she is going home, essentially.

On their travels, you enjoy watching the pair bond and often get into interesting shenanigans in every new place they visit. However, during those long cart rides you also learn more than you ever wanted to know about medieval economics.

Berserk Anime

Berserk

Berserk is probably the most popular medieval anime, and that is for good reason.

This series follows a lone mercenary that ends up being strong-armed into joining a band of mercenaries by its charismatic leader. However, in his time there, this previously abused young man learns the joys of camaraderie, but also develops a desire to find a place in the world.

Unfortunately, the charismatic leader of this band know no bounds when it comes to ambition and its has devastating effects for everyone.

After a certain point, Berserk has a shift from typical medieval world where there is more swords and very little of anything fantasy to being completely steeped in bloody fantasy like an apocalypse. It is always bloody, but after that point, it becomes downright brutal in the most addicting way.

Did we miss any of your favorite medieval anime? Let fans know in the comments section below.

3 thoughts on “45 Medieval Anime Full of Swords and Struggle”

    1. This article is already copied from other websites so you cant expect anything special, besides it is an very old article from 2016 and hasn’t been updated since.

      1. How I missed this comment for so long, I don’t know. Since people saying I copied articles from other websites is the most infuriating thing one can say to me.

        First, you were right about it not being updated. Right up until right now, when I have updated it to include many newer series! Hooray!

        Second, if you ever come back here, do link where I “copied” my article from, as I’d like to have a word – and a DMCA complaint – with said website.

        Of course since I updated many of the entries on this list from the subpar writing I did in 2016, that is probably not as applicable. But when a site steals one article, they often steal many more.

        So, in conclusion, if you ever accuse a website of copying an article, at least provide your proof to call that site out, or if nothing else, point a hard-working writer in the direction of content theft.

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