As isekai is peak escapism for anime fans, they tend have characters start their lives in a new world as “their best selves.” This means youthful bodies where suddenly that lower back doesn’t hurt from twisting the wrong way or that bad knee you need to baby is suddenly filled with cartilage again. However, that also means not having to poop into a diaper and have some strange lady change it – usually. There is a reason human minds are designed to forget the trauma of birth and infancy, after all.
That said, there are plenty of isekai anime that acknowledge that if you are going to make the most of a new life, you mind as well start as early as you can!
Isekai anime where the main character is a child allows the, usually still sentient, main characters to create a strong foundation for their new life. They were adults already and know that life is short. As such, they don’t mess around and start to hone the skills they want early on.
If your particular perfect blend of isekai starts with a main character that goes from the tomb to the womb to begin their new life in a new world as a child, then give these anime recommendations a try.
Isekai Where The MC is a Child
Jobless Reincarnation
Jobless Reincarnation has easily become the most popular isekai anime where the main character is reborn as a child, though whether that is due to high quality storytelling or the amount of controversy it attracts remains to be seen.
This series follow a shut-in who is chased out of his NEET nest and hit by a car. He is reborn in another world as the son of a knight and a mage, both of whom were previously powerful adventurers. As he grows up, he is taught sword skill by his father and gains a skilled magic tutor who nourishes his innate magical talent.
While much of the plot of this series is the intrigues and world events that the main character finds himself drawn into as he grows up, Jobless Reincarnation is often defined by its waifus and the very intimate feelings that the main character has for them. While not an ecchi isekai anime, Jobless reincarnation does attract a lot of diverse opinions on its representation of a fully grown man in a child’s body perving on young girls.
Wise Man’s Grandchild
Wise Man’s Grandchild takes a popular trope of isekai an turns into into the joke.
It follows a man reborn into a fantasy world as a baby who is found by a reclusive sage in the forest and raised as his own. While this man taught the boy his magnificent magic, living in the middle of the woods did not afford the boy – who lacks memories of his previous life – the opportunity to hone his social skills.
As such, this series about a wildly powerful boy going to magic school is defined by the duality of the main character. A main character who is wildly powerful, but who has the social intelligence of a goldfish.
By The Grace of The Gods
What better reward for being a good guy that is overworked by a soulless company than to be reborn as a child with no responsibilities other than to do what you want?
That is By The Grace of The Gods where the world’s nicest guy is worked to death and reborn as child that is showered with blessings by the gods. In his new life, he decides to peacefully live in the woods, honing his skills as a slime tamer until he ends up making new friends and traveling to the city.
Unlike other isekai anime that are rife with adventure, the only thing By The Grace of The Gods is rife with is good vibes. It is the sort of low-action isekai where stories are unfolding, but in a slow and pleasant way. The main character works on his magic, starts a business, and helps friends all around town without anything dire looming over the world or forcing him into adventure.
Saga of Tanya the Evil
From rewarded by the gods with youth to punished by the gods with it, Saga of Tanya the Evil does not portray being reborn as a child as a good thing. Not because children can’t do all that fun adult stuff like buying booze and smokes, but because being a child in a World War is an exercise in suffering.
Saga the Tanya the Evil is an isekai built around smite and spite. A psychopathic, but effective salaryman picked a fight with god when he was murdered by a wronged employee, and god decided to humble him by reincarnating him in a world wrapped up in a World War as a little girl with magic skills that made her the perfect target for military recruitment.
However, the titular Tanya isn’t about to roll over, die, and let god have their way. Instead, she is determined to be such a good soldier that she can manipulate themselves into a cushy, safe position on the back lines. Unfortunately, being a good soldier AND surviving means being good at combat, and those good at combat rarely get to the back lines.
The Faraway Paladin
If it weren’t for a few very small moments, you wouldn’t even know The Faraway Paladin is an isekai anime for as little as it acknowledged it.
In The Faraway Paladin, the main character is reborn into a new world without any memories of his previous life. As an abandoned baby, he was found by the three undead guardians of a long-dead city. The trio raise him as their own son, educating him in sword skill, magic, and faith while also giving him what little knowledge they know of the outside world that may or may not still be thriving outside the city they are bound to.
However, while “growing up” could easily be a plot of an isekai with a child main character, The Faraway Paladin eventually moves past it as this now-grown man sets out to explore an unknown world on his own. What is most charming about The Faraway Paladin is that the main character knows as little of the world as the audience does, and it really emphasizes discovering it throughout the adventure.
Ascendance of a Bookworm
Usually having a child main character in an isekai is meant to give them a long life of adventure ahead, but Ascendance of a Bookworm isn’t about adventure – it’s about making books.
Ascendance of a Bookworm follows an aforementioned bookworm who was crushed to death by her own book collection. Reincarnating into a new world as the daughter of a foot soldier, she discovers that books are difficult to make and therefore so expensive that only nobility can afford them in this world.
Essentially, Ascendance of a Bookworm is about her taking medieval-level book-making technology and implementing advancements from out own world history to make books easier to produce and affordable for everyone. While that may not be the most interesting premise, Ascendance of a Bookworm carries it out in a way that makes it hard to look away.
Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!
There is a not small amount of isekai anime on this list where the child main character doesn’t go on adventures and just kind of has the slow, fun life that they never got in their previous life. That’s what the main character in Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life wanted, and totally did not get.
In Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life, the main character was a high-achiever which alienated her from ever making friends and having a normal life. However, when she died, she asked to be the most normal person that ever lived in normalcy, even knowing she was being reincarnated into a fantasy world.
Unfortunately, she was both born into a wealthy family and had magnificent magical aptitude. Frustrated, she ran away from home to a rural adventurer’s school where she tries to hide her OP powers and live a normal life.
It goes comically awry.
Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World – The Apostle of the Gods Who Know No Self-Restraint
As is tradition, the overly long, overly descriptive title of Chronicles of an Aristocrat helpfully sums up the premise of the show. It follows a boy who is reborn as the third son of a Margrave. While he has a fairly normal childhood, during his baptism at age five where he can commune with the gods, he finds out that they all really love him. They shower him with such powerful gifts that, even when hiding his true abilities, he tops out the power scale of the world.
Unfortunately, that twist is really the only “unique thing” that this isekai has. The rest of it is pretty standard-issue isekai adventures and harem charming.
The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World
At a glance, The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World seems like a very standard isekai story, but it has a pretty unique twist for those that like action isekai.
The series follows the most powerful onmyouji in ancient Japan who is finally brought down by the cunning schemes of others. In his new world, he can’t use the magic system, but he still has all his powerful onmyouji magic from his previous life intact, so he mimics the magic and – already OP in his abilities – decides to work on his cunning instead.
So, instead of watching an overpowered protagonist see how vast his power is, you watch a main character already confident in his power hide it from others and slowly unravel the intrigue that is beginning to unfold in the world.
The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash
Similar to The Faraway Paladin, The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash is an isekai that only sparingly acknowledges that it is actually an isekai.
The Weakest Tamer follows a girl born into a loving family. She enjoys happy family life until she reaches the age when children have their specialties read and have those specialties assigned a star rating. However, while she possesses skill for monster taming, she has no stars for it. With starless people considered an abomination in that world, she is swiftly, cruelly chucked out of her loving family by her parents to scrape by living in the forest until even then she is chased off by the town.
The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash is an isekai in that the main character has a little voice in the back of her head that tells her things. Being a child, she doesn’t know what this is until someone tells her that it may be her past self still just barely existing in her consciousness. The fact that they make references to video games and modern technology cements this otherwise very fantasy series as an isekai.
Regardless, The Weakest Tamer is about the main character’s journey to find her place in a world where she was called an abomination. She hides her starlessness and tames monsters, but mostly, this is a story of her eeking out a life while traveling the world.
The Eminence in Shadow
While The Eminence in Shadow will be remembered for a lot of things, like the little shivers that run up your spine during any one of those atomic moments, it should be remembered for having the most dramatic “pre-isekai” first episode.
The Eminence in Shadow follows a boy who, in his previous life in our world, wanted to be the strongest. However, in our world of atomic bombs and no actual magic, there was no way that was achievable. However, in his new isekai life with actual magic, he and his magnificent OP abilities have a shot.
That said, his desires for his previous life don’t have much effect on his new isekai life. As he grows up, he manifests a bit of chunibyou syndrome, but as a man with actual overpowered abilities, he doesn’t realize that the shadow war he pretends to be waging with his autonomous minions is an actual thing that is happening as he “accidentally” foils the machinations of a sinister organization.
Knight’s and Magic
Knight’s and Magic combines the currently popular genre of isekai with the once popular genre of mecha by following a mecha otaku office worker who is killed and reincarnated as a child. However, his excitement over his new life reaches peak when he discovers that battle in this medieval fantasy land is done using huge magical mechs.
Instead of being predictable and focusing on his dream to become a mech warrior, Knight’s and Magic pivots greatly by focusing on the main characters’ passionate desire to design mechs and play out all his Gunpla fantasies in physical form.
Villainess Level 99 – I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord
Villainess Level 99 follows a girl reborn into her favorite otome game as a character that will someday be the “secret boss” villain.
While it happens so quick she mind as well have been born overpowered, she goes to a dungeon to level up so that she can not be killed as a villain. While she tries her best to avoid doing anything that would make her an enemy, the real charm of Villainess Level 99 is the main characters’ legendary level of density.
She is very strong, but oblivious to most social cues. It makes for a cute romance as a side element as well as causes most of the action in the show when people misunderstand her kind actions as malice.
Am I Actually the Strongest?
Imagine being forced into an isekai adventure when all you just want to do is lounge. That’s what happened in Am I Actually The Strongest.
This series follows a shut-in who is reborn as the firstborn of the king. However, his power is so massive that the power scale can’t even read it. Not wanting to have a weak child, the king and queen abandon him where he is eventually scooped up by the king’s brother to raise.
Despite the dark beginnings of child abandonment, Am I Actually the Strongest has a pretty upbeat portrayal of a lot of its darker themes. This is because the main character usually has the sole goal of getting back to his room and being a shut-in. It is just that things keep coming up that require his magnificent power in order to keep the status quo, like slaughtering invaders or protecting his half-sister from the machinations of others.
Sweet Reincarnation
Extremely similar to Ascendance of a Bookworm, Sweet Reincarnation follows a passionate pastry chef who is crushed to death by his own sweet creation. He is reborn as the son of a country noble, but he intends to continue his passion for dessert-making in a new world.
Unfortunately, while a noble, his father is low ranking and his domain is still being built up. This means that the main character doesn’t have access to luxury items like the sugar that he needs to make sweet treats, but he aims to fix that.
While Sweet Reincarnation is very much a “food anime,” it also doesn’t forget that it is also an isekai. This means that the series dedicates as much time to fighting off bandits and playing medieval politics as it does creating desserts.
As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World
For as many aristocrats as there are on this very list, very few are good at the singular skill that most aristocrats should master in order to have a thriving domain – delegation.
However, As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World is all about recruitment and delegation as the only special skill that this young main character has in his new isekai life is to be able to see the “potential” in people.
Certainly, “nurture” plays a huge role in a person’s skills, but everyone has an innate potential for certain abilities. The main character can spot the powerful potential, often in people squandering skills they don’t know they have, and recruits them to help his kingdom prosper in the future.
While it may not have the the most action-heavy or talented main character, it is actually a delight to see people realizing their true potential and suddenly start thriving with his help.
Fluffy Paradise
Fluffy Paradise is the type of isekai where the main character dies – from overwork, of course – and is given a chance to pick a unique perk for her new life in a fantasy world. However, being a woman of little ambition and from a lifetime of stress, she has the most relatable of desires for her new life – she just wants to pet fluffy animals.
So, Fluffy Paradise is about a main character that is born as the third child of a noble who has the ability to be liked by animals. While much of the show is often about her meeting an intimidating, dangerous animal and charming it into submission with headpats, not as much of Fluffy Paradise is about just petting animals as you might hope.
It gets a bit bogged down in the politics of the world as it goes on, sadly. It also becomes darker than you would expect given the premise and art.
Do you have more isekai anime recommendations where the main character is reborn as a child? Let fans know in the comments section below.
