After eating raw pig liver, an otaku wakes up in another world in the body of a pig. He discovers that while his pig body was unconscious, a kind servant girl named Jess was taking care of him.
As a special sect of servants called Yethma, Jess is able to read minds, including the boorish mind of an otaku-turned-pig. Realizing he is a man in a pig’s body, she suggests that he accompany her to the Royal Capital to see it the mages will turn him back into a human.
However, as they set off on their journey, Buta the pig learns the darker fate of the Yethma and is determined to keep Jess safe.
Evoking curiosity is a valid way to make your series stand out, and to be fair, Butareba has a much better plot than anyone was expecting. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Butareba -The Story of a Man Who Turned into a Pig, head on down below.
Anime Like Butareba – The Story of a Man Who Turned into a Pig
For Fans of Isekai’d as a Non-Human
Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon
After a vending machine otaku ironically meets his end due to a vending machine, he is thrilled to find out he has reincarnated in a fantasy land as a vending machine. Unfortunately, he was placed in the middle of the country with no one else around.
After discovering he earns points through selling goods that he can use to change stock, get new abilities, and that are used as his power source, he watches them tick down as he waits for customers.
Luckily, he is discovered by a young woman who enjoys his goods, discovers his sentience and limited communication skills, and takes him to a nearby town. Given the name Boxxo, he helps out various adventurers by – like a true vending machine – offering just what they need.
Which do you think is sillier? Reincarnated as a pig or a vending machine? I think vending machine edges it out.
Regardless, this is where we are in isekai now. Humans have been sent to another world on every sort of adventure. Now, at the bottom of the barrel, we isekai them as things – but that doesn’t mean the bottom of the barrel isn’t actually fun as hell to watch!
Like Butareba subverted expectations by setting up a legitimately intriguing plot, Reborn as a Vending Machine puts quite a fair bit of effort into making its ridiculous concept not ridiculous and instead a viable adventure anime with more action than you thought there would be.
Aside from the main character being something non-human and ridiculous, they are also accompanied by a cute blonde girl that helps them navigate the world.
Reincarnated as a Sword
After his death, a man is reincarnated into a new world. However, his body is not that of a human, but rather he is a legendary sword that, after leveling up his skills, becomes stuck firmly in the middle of a dangerous forest.
Begging for a wielder to come to him, he watches a slave caravan attacked by a two-headed bear. A young catgirl named Fran flees and happens across him with the pair teaming up to slay the bear and break her enslavement.
While Butareba and Reincarnated as a Sword share the innate similarity of being isekai anime with a main character who was reincarnated in another world as not a human being, they also share the same dynamic between the characters.
Both series are journey-based anime about a main character that can really only communicate with their female companion through telepathy. However, as Reincarnated as a Sword is, in fact, about a guy that was reincarnated as a sword, the journey has no end destination like it does in Butareba. Instead, they are just looking for the next good fight they can use to grow stronger. As such, Reincarnated as a Sword is much more dedicated to action.
While both series feature a strong bond between the main duo. There is no lewdness in Reincarnated as a Sword. Theirs is a bond more like teacher and student.
So I’m a Spider So What
On one normal day in high school, the lives of many students ended unexpectedly. Some were reincarnated as nobles or strong heroes. Others were reincarnated as wondrous fantasy creatures.
Unfortunately for one girl, she was reincarnated as a lowly cave spider.
No stranger to hardship given her difficult school life, she vows to not give up, and through an RPG system, grows stronger each day.
Both Butareba and So I’m a Spider So What are isekai anime about a main character that is isekai’d to another world as an animal – a weak animal, at that.
While they share that same concept, they do differ in how they explore it. Butareba is very much a journey anime. Buta doesn’t get stronger, he is very much just a pig that can talk to one race of girls. Alternatively, So I’m a Spider So What is a story of power gain. She struggles to kill things, but once she does, she slowly gains power that lets her hunt bigger prey and gains stronger abilities. It’s a story of the grind rather than an actual journey.
For Fans of Transformed into an Animal
My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog
One normal day, our protagonist has turned into a dog and was picked up by his school crush, Inukai.
Always being quite fond of dogs, she dotes on the little puppy.
While he someday hopes to return to being human, this dog is also starting to see the charms of living a dog’s life with a beautiful high school girl.
Given that the main character is a pig, a not subtle symbol for degeneracy, I expect many went into Butareba looking for something more like My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog.
My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog is similar to Butareba in that a boy mysteriously reincarnated into the body of a dog. He then gets taken in by a nice girl. However, My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog is a POV anime, is set in the modern age, the girl doesn’t know that he is a boy inside the body of a dog, and it is an excessively, uncomfortably, ecchi anime.
Dog and Scissors
Bookish high school boy Harumi is a big fan of novelist Natsuno Kirihime. One day, he finds her writing in a cafe, but about to be shot by a robber. He takes the bullet and dies, only to be reincarnated as a dachshund.
As he suffers a bookless life, he happens across a woman with scissors who offers to help him. It turns out to be none other than Natsuno Kirihime herself.
Both Butareba and Dog and Scissors feature a main character that has been turned into an animal and is able to communicate almost exclusively with their new female companion and love interest.
However, Dog and Scissors is set in the modern age and plays out more like a rom-com compared to Butareba and its actual plot. Furthermore, you will notice a stark difference in the interactions between the main characters since Dog and Scissors really leans into the whole “master and pet” angle of their relationship to a sadistic degree.
For Fans of Escorting a Girl on Her Quest
Grimoire of Zero
While witches exist, very little is understood about magic, so their kind is ostracized. Half-beast men like Yohei are also shunned, causing him to make his living as a mercenary and wish he was human.
One day, he meets a witch called Zero who offers to grant the wish to turn him human, but only if he agrees to be her escort.
While you could say that both of the main characters in these series are animals/beast people, the biggest similarity between Butaraba and Grimoire of Zero is actually the core plot.
Both series are about main characters who wonder why they are cursed to be an animal – something that is seemingly very uncommon in Butareba and discriminated against in Grimoire of Zero. However, with nothing they can really do about it, they accompany a cute yet mysterious girl an journey for an even more mysterious reason. Butareba keeps the purpose of the trip vague and intriguing while Grimoire of Zero is more upfront, but filled with plenty of twists.
Chaika – The Coffin Princess
Chaika Trabant is on a quest. Carrying a coffin on her back, with no memory of her past, and highly adept at casting spells, she is hunting down the scattered remains of the Emperor Gaz who once held the world in an iron grip.
One day, she meets Toru Akari in the woods, a warrior who is having trouble finding a job to support himself. Together along with Toru’s sister, they start their journey.
In both Butareba and Chaika the Coffin Princess, the male main character meets a cute yet very mysterious girl who is on or getting ready to go on a trip. They then accompany them as a bodyguard of varying effectiveness.
Since Butareba is about a pig, it has minimal action. Chaika, as it has normal human characters, has a lot more action to it. However, both series really draw you in by keeping the destination and purpose of this girls’ journey very mysterious.
For Fans of Unexpectedly Dark
Cautious Hero – The Hero is Overpowered But Overly Cautious
In the divine realm, Gods and Goddesses are assigned worlds in peril to summon heroes to guide on their quest to save those worlds.
The Goddess of Healing, Ristarte, is assigned a difficult S-class world and told to pick a hero to defeat the Demon King. While her choices are underwhelming, one low level hero with super stats catches her eye!
Seiya Ryuuguuin is indeed a powerful hero, but he also has the problematic quirk of being overly cautious. His desire to stay on the safe side, over-preparing and over-training for all encounters, is a source of frustration for all.
Both Butareba and Cautious Hero are isekai anime that start off as isekai comedies. Cautious Hero is definitely a more energetic comedy isekai anime compared to Butareba that was very much a slice of life isekai with the occasional ecchi gag.
However, what Butareba and Cautious Hero most share is a comedic-starting plot that gets pretty dark by the end. Butareba lets the darkness seep in over the course of the journey whereas Cautious Hero saves it up until right at the end.
Helck
While humanity is celebrating the defeat of the Demon Lord at the hands of a lone human hero, the Demon Realm is preparing for the contest of a lifetime where they will decide the next Demon Lord.
Demons from around the realm show up to test their might, but among them marches one lone human – Helck.
Although Helck shows his indomitable might in the three months of tournament fights, he also shows his compassion to his opponents while proudly proclaiming his hatred for humans, winning over the crowd.
As Helck becomes the favorite to become the next Demon Lord, things don’t sit well with Red Vermilio, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Realm. She believes that Helck has other motives and decides to uncover what he is plotting. However, something sinister is building in the Human Kingdoms…
Although not an isekai like Butareba, Helck and Butareba both start their plots off light. In fact, for the first handful of episodes, Helck is more of a gag comedy anime than anything else.
However, both Helck and Butareba both follow characters on a journey where a series of dark revelations about the truth of the world are continually revealed. By the end of the trip, the dark truths are all laid out and the series looks quite different from its comedic beginnings.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Butareba – The Story of a Man Who Turned into a Pig? Let fans know in the comments section below.
