After an accident, a man is killed and the Goddess of Reincarnation is tasked with reincarnating him. In this afterlife, he charms the goddess, gaining the rare class as summoner, and the ability to contract her as a summon in exchange for memories of his past life. Now thrust into a fantasy world as Kelvin, he hides his ultra-rare class to maintain his freedom in order to go on grand adventures and form pacts with powerful foes.
Despite that jarring CGI transition in the battles, this one had some interesting battles, but like so many others, it became more about the waifus. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Black Summoner, then head on down below.
Anime Like Black Summoner
For Fans of Monster Taming
My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World
Yuuji Sano was once an office worker, but one day while finishing up his work he was summoned to another world. There he discovers that his class in this other world is a Monster Tamer, something not really good for adventuring as a profession. However, after an encounter with some slimes, he gains a second class – Sage – which allows him to also wield incredible magic.
Both series are isekai series about a main character whose primary ability is taming or summoning monsters. They have a whole crew that they can pull out as needed. However, while Black Summoner spent a whole three episodes making him an overpowered summoner, My Isekai Life started in medias res where he was already super powerful.
By the Grace of the Gods
After leading a miserable life, Ryouma Takebayashi passes away at age 39. Three deities, taking pity on him, reincarnate him into a fantasy world with an aptitude for magic, telling him to enjoy life and that they will always watch out for him. With his newfound existence, he spends it studying slimes, amassing a slime army, and learning some magic, but he misses humanity. Being persuaded to join a group of travelers, Ryouma’s new world opens up for him.
While Black Summoner is a straight action series, By the Grace of the Gods is more a wholesome relaxing sort of isekai where there is some action, but mostly it is a slice of life show. Regardless, both series focus on people whose primary talent is taming monsters. Their first also being slimes.
Kemono Michi
Shibata Genzo is both a professional wrestler and an animal lover. One day, he is summoned to another world by a princess. She makes the mistake of asking him to rid her kingdom of these evil beasts. Instead of doing that, Genzo suplexes her and heads off to start a monster pet shop.
Where Black Summoner is an action isekai, Kemono Michi is a comedy isekai. However, they are both about people who essentially tame monsters. It is just that Kemono Michi isn’t about using them for battle. They are just pets that he enjoys.
For Fans of Evolving Minions
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
After a run in with a robber, the 37-year-old Satoru is suddenly killed. He is reincarnated into a fantasy land, but not as a man. In fact, he is no longer even human! He is reincarnated as a lowly slime. After wandering, he comes across a dragon who he befriends and who gives him the new name of Rimuru. Absorbing this dragon into his slime body, promising to eventually break the seal that has bound him, gives Rimuru great magical ability. He then continues to inadvertently befriend beleaguered fantasy creatures in the forest who are constantly threatened by humanity. Eventually, he decides to found a nation uniting these creatures in order to help them protect themselves.
Both series are action-oriented isekai where the main character does indeed grow in power, but while he is facing these challenges, his loyal companions also get stronger too. However, Black Summoner has a rather compact group of summons whereas That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime has a pretty substantial group of loyal subjects that are all consistently growing in strength.
The Rising of the Shield Hero
The stories tell of four heroes summoned from another world – the sword, spear, bow, and shield heroes who will prevent calamity. With darkness bearing down on them, the Kingdom of Melromarc summons these heroes from modern day Japan. For otaku Naofumi Iwatani, unfortunately he is labeled the shield hero, the weakest of the group. Worse yet, betrayal sees him labeled as a criminal and outcasted. With hatred and vengeance consuming him, he sets forth to grow strong.
Kelvin in Black Summoner is fairly adept at battle himself as things go on. However, let’s face it, both of these series are about main character who, while strong in some respects, need their battle partners. In The Rising of the Shield Hero, his first companion is essentially his only offensive ability. Kelvin is a bit more self sufficient in some ways, but his summons are the bulk of his power.
The Fruit of Evolution – Before I Knew It, My Life Had Made It
Seiichi Hiragi is a fat loser who has been outcasted and bullied at school. However, one day it was announced by a being claiming to be god that they would all be transported to another world, but had to wait for the summoning to be completed. The school formed up into groups, but Seiichi was shunned. This caused him to be transported elsewhere when they went to a new world. Hungry, he ate a fruit that turned out to be the fruit of evolution, spiraling his life to new heights.
While The Fruit of Evolution isn’t about collecting summons, it is, in a way similar to Black Summoner, a series about collecting loyal battle girlfriends. Whereas Kelvin makes his summons stronger through use and arming them, The Fruit of Evolution has the main character make his minions stronger through eating the fruit that evolves them from animals to sexy girls like a weird version of Pokemon.
For Fans of Battle Harems
Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World
After being perpetually bullied in school, Michio Kaga is browsing a suicide website when an ad catches his eye. This ad takes him to a site that seems to allow him to create a character for an MMO. He messes around on the site with its roll-based luck element until he gets top-tier stats before clicking accept. However, this website suddenly transports him to a game-like fantasy land.
While not completely useless, both Black Summoner and Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World have main characters that use companions to do the bulk of the fighting. These companions are also almost always female and always in love with them. Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World is notably much more ecchi.
Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody
Suzuki Ichirou is a programmer for a game company, and in order to keep up with demands, he frequently sets his work pace to “death march” in which he works for days straight with little sleep and without going home. During one of these death marches, he falls asleep and when he wakes up, he is somehow transported inside of one of his games.
Unlike Kelvin, Ichirou attracts his harem of battle beauties by being endlessly powerful, thus charming them into his party. As both shows end up with the main characters surrounded by ladies, of course they are also talented warriors as well.
Arifureta – From Commonplace to World’s Strongest
Otaku Hajime Nagumo and several of his classmates are summoned to a fantasy world and tasked with saving mankind. However, while his classmates are gifted with great abilities, Hajime only has transmutation skills that have no real offensive use. He is soon betrayed by a classmate and sent into an abyss filled with monsters. Resolving to not die to the darkness, he struggles to survive and teams up with an imprisoned vampire to return to the world above.
Kelvin has a fair bit of edge to his character, but if you wish for a more brooding, edgier main character in your isekai harem show, Arifureta is for you. Both series have a pretty strong main character who ends up surrounded by ladies due to his battle prowess. However, unlike Kelvin, Hajime is often indifferent to their affection for him. Too busy being brooding about being betrayed, you know how it is.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Black Summoner? Let fans know in the comments section below.
