Fans had to wait for over four years for Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid to finally get a sequel in the Summer 2021 anime season and every second was worth it. While the manga is an excellent read, fans have been wanting to enjoy more Dragon Maid content on the small screen for quite some time.
While fans can check out the Mini Dragon series, the Valentine's Day OVA on Crunchyroll, or the Japanese Hospitality - Attendance is a Dragon special episode when it drops, they'll eventually want to find more anime that have the same feel as Dragon Maid to watch. Fortunately, many talented studios have brought anime with a blend of fantasy and slice-of-life into the world.
Updated January 8, 2022 by Mark Sammut: Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Season 2 was one of the best comedy anime of 2021, setting a standard that precious few shows in the genre come close to matching. Offering stellar animation, lovable characters, nuanced writing, and painfully funny humor, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid blends fantasy and reality seamlessly, creating a relatable experience that also works splendidly as an escape. For those looking for more fantasy slice of life anime like Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, a couple of other shows have been added to this article.
13 I've Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level
- Japanese title: Slime Taoshite 300-nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level Max ni Nattemashita
Slime 300 was an underrated Spring 2021 release that follows the adventures of Azuza when she's isekai'd to another world after dying of exhaustion. She tries to live a carefree life but eventually becomes one of the most powerful people in the universe by grinding to get experience against low-level slimes for 300 years.
Azuza's growing family of supernatural women from dragons to demons is highly reminiscent of what happens to Kobayashi in Dragon Maid and fans will find the familiar magical setting familiar.
12 How To Keep A Mummy
- Japanese title: Miira no Kaikata
Who has not yearned to have a pet Egyptian mummy? Or a dragon? Or an oni? These turns of events are limited to dreams in reality, but anime is free to bring these fantastical aspirations to life. How to Keep a Mummy follows a group of students who become charges for young supernatural entities, all of which are so adorable they could give Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid's Kanna Kamui a run for her money. This claim is not made lightly.
As the anime's human characters take on parental roles with their monsters, How to Keep a Mummy's tone is more child-friendly than Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. These anime are both wholesome, funny, and charming.
11 Konohana Kitan
Fans that enjoyed Tohru trying to understand and adjust to the human world will enjoy the similar vibes presented in Konohana Kitan. Yuzu is a fox girl who lives in a world where humans are just one of the many species inhabiting the world. She takes her first job ever at a traditional hot spring but finds it's much harder than she initially anticipated and makes many mistakes.
Yuzu's journey from total novice to expert attendant with the help of her friends is incredibly satisfying to watch.
10 Hinamatsuri
One day, Yoshifumi Nitta, a gangster, finds a strange sphere containing a girl from another dimension, Hina, in his living room. After the powerful child politely declines Nitta's request for her to leave, the two strike a unique but endearing bond that produces many laughs, heartwarming moments, and even a few tears.
Although Hina and Nitta's dynamic is quite distinct from Tooru and Kobayashi's relationship, they both explore how their different cultural backgrounds help define their friendships. Hinamatsuri has a fantastic supporting cast consisting of normal humans and dimension-traveling characters, one of who, Anzu, goes through quite a spectacular journey.
9 Hakumei And Mikochi
- Japanese title: Hakumei to Mikochi
There are many kinds of slice-of-life shows but few have characters that are only a few inches tall like Hakumei and Mikochi. The two titular characters live in a tree together and the show explores what their everyday lives look like in a world straight out of a fairy tale.
Seeing how the world works for such tiny inhabitants and how foreign daily life can look like for an entirely different group of people is reminiscent of learning about dragon society from Tohru and the gang.
8 The Devil Is A Part-Timer!
- Japanese title: Hataraku Maou-sama!
The Devil is a Part-Timer! season 2 has been confirmed for Summer 2022, making the anime easier to recommend. Coming out in 2013, the first cour introduced the world to Demon Lord Satan, a powerful entity who becomes stranded on Earth and has to take a job at a fast-food place to make ends meet.
The comedy reverse isekai anime pulls a lot of laughs from its fish out of water premise, and Satan's banter with his demonic companion Alsiel is a constant source of hilarity. The Devil is a Part-Timer! is not a full-blown slice of life anime since the characters are actively working towards a goal so there is a decent amount of plot progression; that said, the show does cover the daily grind of working at a restaurant.
7 Gabriel DropOut
Tohru might not be able to cut it out in her original world but Gabriel can't either and she's literally an angel. Gabriel DropOut follows her story as she tries to come to Earth to learn about humans to become a full-fledged angel only to end up becoming a videogame obsessed hikikomori.
Fans who like Fafnir and Makoto's relationship in Dragon Maid may particularly identify with this show.
6 Cheat Pharmacist's Slow Life: Making A Drugstore In Another World
- Japanese title: Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life: Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore
Fans that followed the weekly releases of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S should check out this anime also premiering in the Summer 2o21 season. Drugstore in Another World follows Reiji's adventures as he tries to run a pharmacy in a fantasy world he is isekai'd into. He has to serve people from elves to dragons and find them the perfect medicines they need.
5 If It's For My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat A Demon Lord
- Japanese title: Uchi no Ko no Tame naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru kamo Shirenai.
Fans who enjoyed watching Kobayashi come into a motherly role with Kanna throughout Dragon Maid will love the similar dynamic in what fans colloquially call UchiMusume. Dale has to balance his career as an adventurer with taking care of Latina — a young devil girl with a broken horn that he saves from the streets and eventually adopts.
The show does have some powerfully emotional moments when it discusses prejudice against demons and Latina trying to feel accepted in a human world so bring along some tissues.
4 Restaurant To Another World
- Japanese title: Isekai Shokudou
Every week on the day of Satur, magical doors appear in another world that opens up to the Western Restaurant Nekoya. Each episode of Restaurant to Another World shows a chef named Tenshu cooking mouthwatering recipes while various fantasy characters interact and tell stories behind discovering their favorite meals and their lives.
The series looked to be dead after its first season in 2017 but a continuation will finally be released in the Fall of 2021. This unique combination of isekai and slice-of-life dynamics is sure to tickle the fancy of any fantasy anime fan.
3 Poco's Udon World
- Japanese title: Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari
Poco's Udon World is an incredibly heartwarming show that follows the story of Souta as he returns home to his family-owned udon shop. He meets a young boy named Poko who turns out to be a tanuki and the two slowly form a bond throughout the series.
Watching Souta slowly coming to terms with the tougher parts of his life's history as he bonds with Poko is marvelous, and its themes on found family are sure to resonate with fans of Dragon Maid.
2 The Saint's Magic Power Is Omnipotent
- Japanese title: Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou Desu
The Saint's Magic Power Is Omnipotent premiered in the Spring 2021 anime season and immediately drew in fans with its lighter romantic fantasy vibes. Sei is transported into another world by accident in an effort for its inhabitants to bring in a "saint" to obliterate the monsters of the world.
As she lacks any way to return and another girl that was summoned alongside her is declared the saint, Sei goes to the Medicinal Flora Research Institute. She makes many friends there and quickly finds she is a magical master with an ability to cast spells that might make Tohru blush.
1 The Helpful Fox Senko-San
- Japanese title: Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san
Kuroto lives by himself and lives a life with far too much hard work and little happiness. Suddenly, he finds himself being taken care of by a fox-spirit named Senko-san who tries to make his life better and ease the weariness of his soul.
The beginning of the story is incredibly similar in ways to Dragon Maid but the two have diverging paths with how the main character grows throughout the series. The show is incredibly fluffy and wholesome and with only twelve episodes it's the perfect show to sit down and binge-watch in a day.