Isekai and medieval fantasy worlds in anime are usually synonymous with each other since it's by far the most convenient way to create a power fantasy for the protagonist. A dash of magic and the viewers can suspend their disbelief as much as they like. There are those, however, that boldly break the mold and choose the more risky path.
Isekai that pick their setting in a contemporary, sci-fi, or some odd extra-dimensional environment stand out from the sea of medieval fantasies in the genre. It also just so happens that they are fewer in number since they can be more difficult to pull off. Isekai, after all, is all about pure escapism. These anime spiced up that formula a bit and took some risks.
Updated April 18th, 2022, by Sid Natividad: The isekai genre remains popular as ever thanks to its primary contributor, Truck-kun. Truck-kun mostly sends his roadkill victims to medieval fantasy worlds, resulting in a rather bloated amount of medieval fantasy isekai. From time to time, however, some protagonists find themselves in non-medieval fantasy.
Sometimes it's in a post-apocalyptic world or maybe even in a far-flung corner of the future. Others are reverse-isekai'd where medieval fantasy characters end up in a non-medieval fantasy world— usually the modern one. In any case, isekai fans looking for a refreshing break from the fantasy world monotony would do well to check out some of these additions.
13 Re:Creators
- Release year: 2017
All things considered, reverse isekai is still isekai and Re:Creators is one of those. The plot is set off when an aspiring artist named Souta looks to anime for some inspiration for his manga. To his surprise, he's briefly transported to the anime world he's watching but manages to return to the real world, thankfully.
The hiccup is that he brought home a plus one— one of the anime's protagonists. Now, he has to adjust to his new life while looking after her and the worst part is more of the medieval fantasy world characters came pouring into the modern world and turned a contemporary city into a battle royale playground.
12 Cop Craft
- Release year: 2019
Cop Craft isn't unlike Re:Creators when it comes to the reverse isekai trope. The premise here is that medieval fantasy characters and creatures are being reintegrated into a contemporary world similar to the film Bright. It's all thanks to a hyperspace gate which spewed out tons of fairies and other creatures into the modern world.
Now, fairies are rampant and some of them are being trafficked like slaves by underworld crime organizations. From there, a jaded cop named Kei has to deal with the turbulence in his life after getting yanked back into action by a police fairy. It's essentially a buddy cop anime.
11 Hinamatsuri
- Release year: 2018
But enough about medieval fantasy characters getting reverse-isekai'd. It's time for a young sci-fi egg girl to unceremoniously forces her way into a middle-aged man's life. Sound like comedy doesn't it? Well, that's the kind of reverse isekai offered by Hinamatsuri.
The egg-girl, Hina, suddenly drops on Yoshifumi's head. He's a brash Yakuza member whose life is a mess. Now, he has to look after Hina since she'll only explode and level the whole city if she doesn't use her immense powers (telekinesis, etc.) frequently. Thankfully, Hina's powers have proven quite useful for a Yakuza organization.
10 Gargantia On The Verdurous Planet
- Release year: 2013
It's sci-fi through and through, but there's a certain element of time travel or some kind of meddling with the space-time continuum that propelled the plot for Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet. A futuristic mech pilot named Ledo gets knocked unconscious in his mission gets flung by a wormhole into a waterlogged Earth.
The problem is, Earth was more or less stuck in its primitive phase, far detached from the privileges and technology which Ledo is used to. Now, he has to adjust to his new life while still trying to link up with his comrades and head back to a war where he's needed.
9 Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure
- Release year: 1999
Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure is a simpler premise as far as sci-fi isekai goes. It's about a high school nerd named Kazuki who always daydreams about robots fighting one another, and he even dedicates his own website to catalogue and record these dreams and visions.
Turns out they weren't mere ideas— they exist in a parallel world and Kazuki gets a ticket to that sci-fi setting. For better or worse, he gets signed up to participate in their long-standing mech war where he sides with a company to fight against the RaRa who yearn to conquer Kazuki's world.
8 The Super Dimension Century Orguss
- Release year: 1983
It's rare to see a sci-fi Isekai despite it being a ripe setting for exploration. The Super Dimension Century Orguss called dibs on that notion back in 1983, during the height of the space race. The creators probably overestimated the speed of human development back then since this anime supposedly takes place in 2062.
In that version of the future, a large intergalactic war ensues and a pilot named Kei Katsuragi is tasked with detonating a space/time disrupting bomb in a desperate attempt to win the war. Only, that bomb unleashed multiple dimensions, so Kei now has to work on fixing the problem he caused.
7 Show By Rock!!
- Release year: 2015
Not many expect a mashup of music and Isekai into one anime but Show by Rock!! pulls it off with flying colors. It begins when an aspiring music nerd and musician named Cyan gets a little too absorbed into her rhythm music game—literally. She gets sucked into the game world where music reigns supreme, and the best musicians have the most power.
Thus, she started her journey of becoming one of the top musicians within her favorite rhythm music video game. As always with any Isekai protagonist, Cyan has the potential but lacks the confidence to take a leap of faith. That's nothing a few newfound friends can't fix.
6 Flip Flappers
- Release year: 2016
If one can get past the silly title (which is saying something for an anime), then Flip Flappers won't disappoint. In fact, it will likely awe and inspire anyone who goes to see it in a blind binge. Think of it as a mix between Sailor Moon and Alice in Wonderland, except with robot exoskeletons.
Cocona is one of the main heroines here and initially, she was merely a normal high school student. All that changed when she meets a lively girl named Papika who invites her into the odd organization named Flip Flap. After that, she gets dragged into a surreal sci-fi world called Pure Illusion where nearly anything goes and she now has superpowers.
5 Now And Then, Here And There
- Release year: 1999
One of the reasons why it's a bit difficult for a battle and action Isekai anime to be set in a setting other than medieval fantasy is that other themes and settings are a little too pessimistic. Now and Then, Here and There is a good example of this. The story follows the struggles of a boy named Shuuzou who inadvertently gets kidnapped to another world after he tries to save a weird-looking girl.
Sadly, for Shuuzou, his new world is a dystopian society where water is the most precious resource of all. That says a lot about the desert world. Shuuzou then had to endure the horrors of torture, war, and starvation as he keeps to his myopic goal of saving the same girl who got him in trouble.
4 The Saga Of Tanya The Evil
- Release year: 2017
The Saga of Tanya the Evil is also an anime epic about war— World War 1 to be more specific. However, it's a little less depressing than Now and Then, Here and There which is pretty much an anime equivalent of Grave of the Fireflies. Saga of Tanya the Evil sees a dead Japanese salaryman reincarnated as a nine-year-old war freak girl who gets conscripted to fight in World War 1.
Such a case was only possible thanks to Being X, a god who playfully reincarnated the salaryman into a little girl in the said time period. The salaryman, now Tanya, doesn't relent and in an act of defiance, rose to the military ranks to prove to Being X that he/she won't lose a second time.
3 The Devil Is A Part-Timer!
- Release year: 2013
For something a little more lighthearted compared to the previous two entries, The Devil is a Part-Time! should provide a breather. This one's a comedic reverse-Isekai where Satan himself landed on the modern human world after his plans for an invasion were foiled.
Moreover, he became powerless in the human world. So what does he do to resume his devilish plans? He signs up at a local fast-food chain called MgRonald's. His plans eventually change from invading heaven to conquering all of Earth one burger patty at a time until he rises up the corporate ladder.
2 Spirited Away
- Release year: 2001
Arguably Hayao Miyazaki's finest work, Spirited Away is a classic marvel of an anime film with several layers of cleverly hidden subtexts and metaphors about child labor, prostitution, and workplace toxicity. The movie presents all of that in a beautiful and often therapeutic 2D Isekai wonderland.
After her parents fall under a gluttony trap, Chihiro was forced to pay off their debt by working in Yubaba's extradimensional spirit world bathhouse. It's definitely not a fun experience for her as she's worked to the bone and had to endure the bathhouse's eccentric and difficult customers.
1 Digimon Adventure
- Release year: 1999
Turns out a big part of everyone's childhood has always indoctrinated anime fans into the exciting world of Isekai. Digimon Adventure chronicles the summer camp trip of seven children as each of them was given a device that transports them to another world.
That other world is filled with cute and friendly monsters along with unknown evils. Each of the seven children must then pick their monsters and battle out the cartoonish villains that preside over their new world.