In a fantasy world, a legendary hero has set himself to finally slaying the Corpse God, an evil necromancer. When the dust settles from their battle, the hero is victorious, but even he senses something unusual about his victory.
Meanwhile, the Corpse God wakes up in an alley in modern Tokyo, possessing the body of Polka Shinomiya, the second son of a wealthy family who just had his throat slit by an assassin.
After having a face-off with the assassin, this new Polka ends up allying with her to try and find out who tried to kill previous Polka as well as to explore this strange new magic-less world.
Reverse isekai isn’t a new concept, but a reverse isekai that isn’t a comedy is pretty new. Although, you could argue that this series is trying to do too many things. If you are looking for more anime like Dead Mount Death Play, head on down below.
Anime Like Dead Mount Death Play
For Fans of Evil Beings Being Good Guys
The Devil is a Part-Timer
Just as he was on the cusp of conquering his world, Satan is thrown through a portal to Tokyo. Although he cannot use magic in this world, he is still motivated to conquer it, but first, he must get a job and pay his rent on time.
Both Dead Mount Death Play and The Devil is a Part-Timer are reverse isekai anime where an evil being is sent to our world, and doesn’t really do anything particularly evil. Instead, they make a few friends, find ways to make money, and even fight against evil people who deserve it.
The biggest difference is that, like most other reverse isekai anime, The Devil is a Part-Timer is primarily a comedy anime. Dead Mount Death Play has some comedic moments, but it is actually the rare beast among reverse isekai anime in that it has a serious plot.
Overlord
As the final hour approaches in the life cycle of the MMO Yggdrasil, Momonga, a powerful wizard and leader of the dark guild Ainz Ooal Gown, is there to see it off.
However, to his surprise, the servers don’t go down and even stranger is that all the NPC characters have come alive with their own unique personalities.
Unlike Dead Mount Death Play that is a reverse isekai about an evil being that was sent to our world, Overlord is actually just a standard isekai about a gamer transported and trapped in his MMO character. However, both main characters are/were undead liches, but contrary to how most people perceive them, they are actually pretty nice people.
The thing about Overlord is that, as it goes on, you can see the main character start to fall into some of the callousness that comes with being an undead and he starts to do some morally dubious things.
For Fans of All Killers Are Eccentric Weirdos
Juuni Taisen
In a world where warfare is constant – and great for business – there are twelve individuals that thrive on the battlefield. These individuals each bear traits that coincide to one animal from the Chinese Zodiac.
Those who are born into the right zodiac families or chosen to be the successor to that line are all invited to a competition that takes place every twelve years. In this competition, they will fight to the death. The last one standing will have their any wish granted.
You know how everyone, or at least the assassins, in Dead Mount Death Play are all really eccentric, and have their own special powers they use in combat? Well, Juuni Taisen only has characters like that, but instead just has its plot be a battle royale where they all try to kill each other.
Dead Mount Death Play puts more thought into crafting a plot, but if you just want to watch eccentric killers do what they do best and don’t actually need there to be a plot aside from character backstories, then this is for you.
Angels of Death
Rachel awakens to find herself trapped in the basement of an abandoned building.
After wandering around – lost, dizzy, and without her memories – she happens across a man in full bandages named Zack. While at first he tries to kill her, eventually they come to an agreement.
Together, they try to find a way to escape from their bizarre circumstance. In return for his help, Rachel offers up her own life to him.
Dead Mount Death Play has a wider scope by taking place across a city, but it is also built on unraveling a series of mysteries primarily featuring killers as main characters. Angels of Death is smaller in scope, featuring just a few characters shut in a building, but all of the characters in Angels of Death are also killers.
In both series, you are drawn in by the eccentric, often crazed killers that are presented to you, but you stay to ultimately unravel the mysteries. Of course, Angels of Death follows more serial killers than assassins, but the difference is kind of apples and oranges between the two.
Future Diary
Yukiteru Amano likes to imagine himself as an observer. He spends his days keeping a diary on his cell phone, but not about himself, about everything that goes on around him.
At home, he spends his time conversing with his two imaginary friends, Deus Ex Machina, the God of space and time, and Murmur, his assistant.
However, one day he discovers his friends are not so imaginary when they imbue him with the power of a diary that tells the future and force him into a bloody survival game with godhood on the line.
Unlike Dead Mount Death Play and its various initially unclear intrigues, Future Diary is a lot easier to quantify as a good old fashioned battle royale-style survival game. Like in Dead Mount Death Play, not every character is a deranged assassin, but every character is some kind of eccentric. This makes even the not professional killers feel interesting.
What both series do well is meld supernatural elements into the series while still mostly focusing on normal, non-supernatural characters. If you enjoyed Dead Mount Death Play for the unique characters, this is sure to satisfy. However, Future Diary doesn’t quite have the same level of intrigue that Dead Mount Death Play has. Mostly it is just killing other players and anyone else unfortunate enough to get involved with them.
Gleipnir
One morning, Shuichi Kagaya woke up as a monster.
Complete with brute strength, a strong sense of smell, and big fluffy paws, he struggles to hold onto his humanity.
Soon he meets a sadistic girl named Claire Aoki by saving her life. She holds his secret over her head and forces him to help her look for her sister that has also turned into a monster.
While Dead Mount Death Play is a reverse isekai, both Dead Mount Death Play and Gleipnir are essentially about main characters waking up in strange new bodies that are not their own.
Gleipnir is more focused on why exactly he is now a big furry mascot that his female companion can climb inside like a giant fleshy mech, but it is the mysteries presented in both series that lead to the main character interacting with a series of odd and violent individuals who may or may not be plotting something against them.
The series are also similar in that the main character has a mentally unstable female companion. However, in Gleipnir, she is more of the dominant personality since the main character is rather meek.
For Fans of Cities Full of Intrigue
Durarara
Tokyo’s downtown district of Ikebukuro is awash in strange rumors, everything from colorless color gangs to a headless rider roaming town populate the rumors.
For Mikado Ryuugamine who just moved there from the countryside, he is but one witness to the district’s slew of strange events.
Because they are the characters that both series focus on, both Durarara and Dead Mount Death Play seem to inadvertently suggest that Tokyo is just awash with criminals.
Regardless, both Dead Mount Death Play and Durarara focus on a small group of characters involved with an ever-unraveling supernatural-laced plot. Like Dead Mount Death Play splits focus between the main character and the police officers, Durarara gives multiple individual character different stories that all tie together eventually.
Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens
The city of Fukuoka seems pretty normal, but it is awash in dangerous individuals. In the mix is Banba, a detective investigating hitman companies in the area, and Lin, a hitman that is fed up with his lack of jobs.
After being refused pay for a target that killed themselves, Lin is tasked with killing Banba, but instead asks him to team up.
The biggest thing that Dead Mount Death Play and Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens have in common is that the way they are presented makes you think that practically the whole city is like 70 percent assassins.
While Dead Mount Death Play focuses more on the supernatural being isekai’d to our world, like Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens, there is also some focus on the cops trying to take down certain criminal organizations and sometimes working with other assassins to do so.
The biggest different between these two is that Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens doesn’t dabble in the supernatural, it keeps things very realistic as it explores its city-spanning mystery.
Blood Blockade Battlefront
Vampires, fishmen, supersonic monkeys – They are all normal residents living alongside humans in Hellsalem’s Lot, formerly known as New York City.
When a gate between Earth and the Beyond popped up there three years ago, old NYC became dominated by monsters, and now Libra, a secret organization, is tasked with keeping it in order.
After hobbyist photographer Leonardo Watch obtains the All-Seeing Eyes of the Gods, he finds himself recruited into Libra.
While Dead Mount Death Play has some supernatural at play in the city, Blood Blockade Battlefront goes big with it. The entire city is populated by creatures and unique individuals who all, mostly, just live their lives. When they don’t, that’s where the main character’s organization comes in to solve the problem – usually with force.
While Dead Mount Death Play and Blood Blockade Battlefront have very different plots, both series focus on exploring the building intrigue that is going on in the city. The main character plays a bit of a central element, but there are other things going on outside of their story too.
K
In this world, there are those referred to as Kings. They were individuals bestowed with great supernatural power and they use it to recruit others to their clan. To protect those members is a King’s great duty.
However, after a murder of a Red clan member, a student is accused of homicide. During the man hunt, the city devolves into full-on war among the Kings.
Both K and Dead Mount Death Play take place in a city where a murder kicks off a series of events that begins to sweep the whole city.
K covers a few different stories from different perspectives more so than Dead Mount Death Play does, but both series create compelling mysteries and introduce you to a series of unique characters. They are really both great shows for those that like urban fantasy, but though the “fantasy” part of that is more pronounced in Dead Mount Death Play.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Dead Mount Death Play? Let fans know in the comments section below.
