Isekai is an expansive genre these days. Being big enough to even be called a “genre” rather than languishing as another fantasy sub-genre is an achievement in and of itself. However, this is because isekai can be a lot of things.
Isekai is escapism for the main character AND the audience.
This means the main characters can do everything from feel-good slice of life shenanigans to slaying gods to save the world. As it runs such a wide gamut of plots, this means you can’t go into every isekai anime and expect an action focus and flashy, epic battles. However, if that is what you are looking for – I got you.
If you want your action isekai to focus on, well, action – give these anime recommendations a try.
Action Isekai Anime
1. Eminence in Shadow
The Eminence in Shadow anime doesn’t show its quality as an action anime right away. In fact, it actually takes a fair bit of time to build up to the real action-oriented moments. However, when you get to it, you get delightfully crafted action scenes that send a little shiver down your spine when they pop off – which makes the wait worth it.
The series follows a main character isekai’d into a fantasy world who has a a touch of Chuunibyou Syndrome, which comes out in him pretending that he is fighting a shadow organization. He uses minions that he magically created to aid him in his endeavors, and he thinks they are just playing along with the ruse when they inform him on their actions. However, it turns out that he is actually pitted against an organization that was plotting in the shadows, and his minions have really been fighting in his name.
2. Reincarnated as a Sword
In Reincarnated as a Sword, the main character is – as the title helpfully said – in fact reincarnated as a sword. As such, obviously it is a cozy slice of life series – Just kidding, it is, of course, an action anime.
Well, as the main character is a sword, he eventually gets wielded by a small cat girl that wants to become a strong warrior.
The series is rather plotless beyond the battles. The only thing they do is wander and get into fights with stronger opponents. As such, this is one isekai that you can say is almost all action-focused.
3. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
If what captivates you about isekai is a wide array of interesting fantasy characters, then That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is going to be the only series that you will need.
As its title states, it follows a salaryman who is reincarnated in a fantasy world as a lowly slime. However, after absorbing a large amount of power from a new dragon friend he made, he ends up using it to empower and befriend a series of beast people. This compounds into him eventually founding a whole beast nation in order to defend fantasy creatures from the menace that is humanity.
The series is constantly introducing new – and wildly powerful – characters, often through fights. By hosting a huge cast of diverse characters with even more diverse combat styles, it allows That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime to have a lot of action that never feels like you are watching the same fight twice.
4. Jobless Reincarnation
Although Jobless Reincarnation gets the most attention for the questionable nature of its relationships, everyone can agree that its fights are exciting and well-animated.
Jobless Reincarnation puts tons of effort forth into its action scenes, which makes even small skirmishes feel exciting or even grand. The main character, raised in his new isekai life by a gifted warrior father and talented mage mother, fuses magic and martial arts in battles that create stunning moments of action.
5. Re:Zero
Sure, an action isekai can be just about reincarnation into a fantasy land where the main character has action-packed adventures – or it can throw in a healthy dose of time looping and an unhealthy dose of mental trauma.
Re:Zero features your standard otaku isekai’d into a fantasy land where things immediately go awry and he gets brutally killed. However, he does discover that he possesses the ability to go back in time after his death and redo the events that led to it. This can mean a wide variety of “what-if” scenarios can play out, but frequently experiencing the pain of death does take its toll.
6. Overlord
Similar to That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Overlord is a series about more than just a singular overpowered main character. Instead, it is an anime with a vast cast of overpowered characters that serve as faithful minions to the actual main character.
Overlord features a man who is isekai’d into his MMO avatar into the MMO’s world after the servers shut down. Now, the NPCs his guild created have come to life and they seem to believe that he should conquer the world.
The charm in Overlord is that you get a lot of diverse action from his NPC minions following his orders. However, this makes the moments when the main character has to step in feel even more epic since his is truly the most overpowered of his overpowered guild.
7. The Rising of the Shield Hero
While an isekai where the main characters’ only weapon is a shield doesn’t sound like it would be particularly action-dense, The Rising of the Shield Hero finds a way.
After a brutal betrayal dashed his happy potential isekai life of adventure and heroism, bitterness leads the titular Shield Hero to train up his abilities. His shield unlocks new abilities by absorbing pieces of enemies that he defeats, but the trouble is defeating them with a weapon that only excels in defense.
With a tidy harem of recruited companions to serve as offensive fighters, the Shield Hero shows the world that he is truly the best of the chosen heroes.
8. Gate – Thus The JSDF Fought There
Have you ever wanted to see thousands of medieval cavalry stopped by one machine gun nest? Or how about a single helicopter turning the tide of a medieval siege? Or find out who wins in the old “dragon vis-à-vis bazooka” scenario?
If any of the above facetiousness is something that you find intriguing, then Gate is the anime for you. It offers you all the isekai adventures of an otaku employed in the military exploring a medieval fantasy world with all the “modern military versus medieval fantasy” action that you didn’t know you wanted.
9. Tsukimichi – Moonlit Fantasy
While Tsukimichi is unambiguously a comedy isekai anime, it definitely is no slouch when it comes to action. Instead of using a weak and useless main character for comedy, it just makes him wildly powerful and comedy comes from his other god-despised flaws.
Tsukimichi follows the child of people who traveled from a fantasy world to live in our world. However, part of their payment was giving up the thing the loved most, which turns out to be their son. Unfortunately, the goddess of the fantasy world he is being sent to finds him repulsively ugly and flings him as far from humans as possible in that world.
Although he got magnificent blessings from the God of Earth, he now has to hide both his ugly face and absurd power level from other humans. He does, however, use his massive power to befriend beast people (by fighting them, usually) and inadvertently founds a nation for beast people.
Tsukimichi is a great choice for fans that do like a good action isekai, but don’t mind a few jokes in between, and maybe during, the fights.
10. So I’m a Spider So What?
So I’m a Spider So What is another series that seems to be taking advantage of the growing trend of having an isekai protagonist be something other than human. However, it works that premise for the best possible effect.
So I’m a Spider So What features a girl isekai’d into a new world as a lowly cave spider. Even large insects in the ecosystem of that singular cave pose a threat to her life. However, she possesses the ability to level up and gain new abilities from the enemies she defeats. As such, she needs to fight and level to live.
If you enjoy the struggle of watching a protagonist go from weakest of the weak to OP god, So I’m a Spider So What is the best incremental view of that with its intense action focus.
11. Saga of Tanya The Evil
Most isekai lives in the realm of swords and sorcery when it comes to its worlds and action. However, Saga of Tanya the Evil goes for a bleaker, World War II setting, but not without some magic thrown in.
In an attempt to be humbled by god, a salaryman is reincarnated into a world in the middle of a world war as a small girl with great magical aptitude. Of course, because of her aptitude, she is drafted immediately and sent to the front lines.
The series follows a man that just wants to get promoted so he can get a safe job on the back lines, but that means a lot of front-line action in combat that combines the aerial prowess provided by magic and the murder prowess provided by an M1A rifle.
12. Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest
Similar to The Rising of the Shield Hero, Arifureta tells an isekai story of a man that was too trusting and becomes bitter after betrayal.
Arifureta follows an entire class that was isekai’d. While the main character had weak powers, he was still taken on a dangerous mission, and in an uncertain situation, a classmate left him for dead. Deciding to live, he struggled to kill the dangerous enemies at the bottom of an abyss and leveled up.
After teaming up with a vampire in the abyss to survive, he carves through everything that gets in his way.
As is typical with these sort of series, the anime has a strong focus on fighting stronger monsters, but eventually starts to manifest a harem element as the main character also stops to help people despite being incredibly cold to the idea of friendship after the betrayal.
13. The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World
The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World melds Japan’s own spiritual lore with isekai and fantasy. This series follows an exorcist who uses onmyouji techniques from Japanese history with a healthy dose anime fantasy that makes them actually real. However, after a betrayal, he is reincarnated into your standard isekai fantasy land.
Instead of being able to use their version of magic, he only has his onmyouji techniques, which he disguises to look like their abilities in order to not stand out too much. While the series features him trying to work on his cunning so as to not be betrayed again, he still manages to stumble into a hidden plot against the future hero of the world which requires him to frequently put his true tremendous might on display.
14. Skeleton Knight in Another World
While the twist of Skeleton Knight in Another World is most obviously that he has the appearance of a skeleton that he hides under heavy armor, perhaps a better twist to this action-focused isekai is that he is an OP main character, but doesn’t realize it.
As the titular skeleton knight often avoids other adventurers to not risk them discovering his appearance, he has no way to measure his skills against the power scaling of the world. One of the more unique treats in Skeleton Knight in Another World is watching him absolutely decimate monsters, leaving, and having people find his kills later where they marvel at the sheer might on display.
15. The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat
As its long and on-the-nose title says, The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat follows a master assassin who, after being burnt by his employers in our world, reincarnates into a noble family in a fantasy land – that also happens to serve as assassins for the kingdom. Retaining his memories and skills from his former life, he is considered an immediate prodigy.
This allows the series to dedicate itself to action – as well as harem-building – immediately as he collects a series of diversely talented women who help him eliminate his targets.
While assassins in a fantasy land is a fairly unique idea, The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat is also one of the rare isekai anime that feature a main character using a gun as a weapon.
16. Black Summoner
Black Summoner is an isekai that wastes no time getting to the action. The main character traded his memories of his previous life for overpowered abilities and an rare, S-rank summoner class that allows him to make pacts with enemy creatures.
However, unlike the standard OP protagonist that is willing to help everyone, Black Summoner follows a main character actively trying to hide his abilities from others in order to retain his freedom and not be tied down as some sort of hero or defender. This allows him to pursue his true passion – fighting increasingly more powerful enemies that he hopes to turn into powerful summons after beating them.
17. The Faraway Paladin
If it weren’t for one little mention in the beginning, you wouldn’t even know The Faraway Paladin was an isekai. However, with all the time it saves not following traditional isekai story lines, it puts to work building out the lore of the world.
While The Faraway Paladin starts sluggishly in terms of action, focusing on the main character first learning how to fight, it eventually develops into an true adventure tale. You learn of the world as the main character learns about it – with plenty of dangers along the way.
18. I’m Standing on a Million Lives
If you are looking for action anime with an OP main character, I’m Standing on a Million Lives might not be fore you. The only thing “overpowered” on this main character is his brain since his isekai adventure starts him off as a farmer – which is definitely not the combat class of his dreams.
However, his mind for strategy and companions of more traditional combat classes means that he plays this round-based isekai like a game of chess. While I’m Standing on a Million Lives only temporarily isekai’s the characters to another world, it is one of fantasy and danger. In order to go back home, they have to win a series of increasingly dangerous battles.
19. The Executioner and Her Way of Life
While most people talk about The Executioner and Her Way of Life for its shoujo ai main pairing, I feel like people forget the strong action that dominates the rest of the show.
The series takes place in a world where wildly OP isekai protagonists have become such a common problem that the church set up a sect of powerful female warriors to execute them as they are sent over. With both sword and magic, The Executioner and Her Way of Life really breaks out the animation budget when it is time for the executioners to throw down, be it against isekai protagonists or amongst themselves.
20. My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World
My Isekai Life is another action isekai that fully explains itself in its long extended title. This time, the main character is a monster tamer, which is considered incredibly weak. However, he is special and unlocked a second class, a magic-wielding sage, that makes him a powerhouse.
The series frequently has him as an OP magic user while being able to field a small army of tamed creatures. It is a good thing the action is so imaginative in this series, because it would be quite bland without it.
Do you have more action isekai anime that you enjoy? Let fans know in the comments section below.
