36 Best Isekai Manga & Reincarnation Manga

There has been a lot of attention to the isekai manga genre.

It’s pretty much what a lot of otaku dream of, which is being sent to a fantasy world.

The style has been around since the 1990s, but it didn’t become popular until the late 2010s.

At first, it wasn’t a genre, but more of a trope.

But the sudden rise in popularity is linked to a certain set of tropes: swords and magic, high fantasy, and a world that looks like a video game.

I’ve put together a list of some of the best isekai (and reincarnation-themed) manga, all of which you should read.

Updated June 7, 2024, by Shagun Singh: With Spring 2024 coming to a close, it’s safe to say that the isekai anime of this season have gained quite a reputation. Could any of the new series be considered as some of the top choices within the theme?

Here Are Some Of The Best Isekai Manga & Reincarnation Manga Of All Time

36. Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers

In a genre as crowded as Isekai, even the smallest details can have a significant impact.

Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers is, overall, a typical example of the theme.

Banaza, a timid individual, is called upon by a kingdom in dire need of a hero.

However, he is quickly brushed aside and condemned to a certain death, as his perceived lack of strength becomes apparent.

It’s quite impressive how he manages to defeat the formidable Fenrys, showcasing his incredible strength. The two quickly develop a close bond, with Flio (Banaza’s new name) becoming her “master.”

Their relationship is one of equals, and it sets the stage for a blossoming romance. They go so far as to pretend to be a married couple.

Chillin’ in Another World is a truly enjoyable show to watch.

35. Tsuyokute New Saga

Our hero finally killed the demon lord, but it cost him the lives of some of his closest friends.

When he is about to die, he activates a mysterious object that sends him back in time. A chance to do better at everything.

Tsuyokute’s New Saga is different from other manga like it because it has a plot that moves forward.

Instead of going into seclusion to train, our main character builds relationships with powerful people while putting his party back together.

Of course, he also works hard to get stronger and learn more about demons.

34. Jigokuren: Love in Hell

Isekai means being taken to a different world if you look at it by itself.

So Jigokuren: Love in Hell fits in perfectly.

We find out that when our main character died, he went to hell. And he finds a young devil with little experience to lead him.

It’s rare to find an isekai manga that is mostly funny.

But it’s important to remember that the place is hell.

This means that the show has some funny, some scary, and some s*xy scenes.

33. Konjiki no Moji Tsukai: Yuusha Yonin ni Makikomareta Unique Cheat

Our main character walks into the room where four heroes are being called to a new world, and he gets pulled in with them.

In this isekai, the main character (MC) actually uses his brain to think about what’s going on.

He only goes by what he has seen and heard for himself.

Also, the world of the books is slowly but nicely shown to the readers.

So it feels a lot like settling into a deep RPG.

32. Kuro no Shoukanshi

The plot of Kuro no Shoukanshi is pretty typical for an isekai manga.

The main character is too strong, there’s a harem, and the hero saves the world.

The main character is different from the others because he is a real battle junkie.

He loves to fight so much. He even gave up his memory to get twice as tall.

He also doesn’t care much about being a hero.

He just wants to do what he wants and fight when he feels like it.

31. World Customize Creator

Black hair is a bad sign in this world. Since our main character is Japanese, I guess he’s just unlucky.

Worse, he leaves the temple of the God of Calamity, which makes people think he is the God of Calamity.

Even though the main character is called the God of Calamity and can change anything in his world, he is not a bad person.

He helps other people with his skills and knowledge and does what he wants.

The characters in this series are very different from each other. They have different ideas, which affects how they act.

Some people want to be friends with the main character, but others just want to use him. There are, of course, also people who are afraid of him.

30. Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

The main character in this series has been getting rich by playing VRRMOs.

She shuts herself away, which is probably what any sane person would do in her situation.

But after she fills out a survey about an update and relaunches the game, she gets stuck inside the game with a bear outfit that gives her too much power.

The catch is that if she wears it, it gives her too much power. If she doesn’t, she’s like any other person.

And there are bears all over this series. Whether it’s a bear picture, a bear joke, or a bear character.

What’s good? In fact, they are very cute.

29. Sayounara Ryuusei

It’s interesting that the main character of this series doesn’t come from our world.

He is actually an old, powerful dragon who has been reborn as a human in his next life.

He does, of course, remember what he has learned.

Even though the idea is interesting, the way it is put together isn’t very interesting.

The characters don’t have much depth or development, and the story moves at an odd pace.

On the bright side, the art is beautiful.

28. Sekai Oni

Sekai Oni follows the story of a little girl called Shinonome Azuma. With her parents dead or missing, Azuma has been taken into her uncle’s family.

However her new family has been harshly abusing her, to the point she has become so mentally unstable she developed the rare syndrome of Alice in Mirrorland, which makes her see things that shouldn’t be there reflected on mirrors, water, glass, etc.

Everything begins when the things she sees start affecting the real world directly, and the barrier between reality and illusion breaks apart.

Welcome to the world at the other side of the mirror. Welcome to Wonderland.

27. Spirit Migration

Our main character hangs out in a dungeon as a ghost with no memories, but he learns to control creatures anyway.

By doing this, he is able to get out of the prison and start over.

The story cares about the characters and gives them good chances to talk to each other and grow.

The story is also nice and moves along well.

But the show was cancelled too soon, so the ending isn’t good.

26. Tales of Wedding Rings

Satou has been in love with his childhood friend and neighbor, Hime, ever since she and her grandfather appeared out of nowhere 10 years ago.

Now a dazzling, yet mysterious high school beauty, she makes it more and more difficult for him to confess his feelings.

As the anniversary of their first meeting is nearing, will he muster up his courage to transform their friendship into something more? Or will an entirely different fate await this tightly bonded pair?

25. How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord

At the start of this adventure, our main character (MC) is asked to be a familiar for two adventurers who are fighting.

He pretends to be the demon lord, though, and changes the situation so that he ends up with two slaves instead.

It’s a fun book to read because it has some strange turns and twists.

There are definitely some cool fight scenes.

24. The Dungeon Seeker

Enter our main character, who has been picked on in his own world and then taken to a new one.

But his tormentors are also moved along with him. At first, it looks like the kids who picked on him have changed.

That is, until they set him up to be betrayed in the worst way possible.

The only girl in their group, who was originally on the main character’s side, thinks it would be a good idea to trick the main character into becoming a meaningless sacrifice so she can prove she’s better than him.

The story doesn’t try to hide how dark its plot is right from the start.

The fact that the main character (MC) is betrayed just proves that.

On the other hand, it’s nice to see the main character get stronger and closer to getting his revenge.

23. The Devil is a Part-Timer!

Devil King Sadao is only one step away from conquering the world when he is beaten by Hero Emilia and forced to drift to the other world: modern-day Tokyo.

As “conquering the world” are the only skills the Devil King possesses—and are obviously unnecessary in his new situation—he must work as a freeter to pay for his living expenses!

22. The New Gate

“The New Gate,” an online game that had turned into a death game, was now releasing the tens of thousands of players that had been dragged into it, thanks to the efforts of Shin, one of the oldest players.

But after he had defeated the last boss and freed everyone, he was swallowed up by a strange light and found himself inside the game world 500 years in the future.

21. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime

In “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime,” the main character is neither human nor too powerful, which is different from most isekai stories.

As the title says, our main character dies and comes back to life as a slime that can’t even see.

He doesn’t get very strong until he makes a friend who is a dragon.

That’s why this series is so fun to watch.

Even though our main character quickly becomes too strong, he has also been at rock bottom.

He is neither proud nor dumb. He makes decisions that make sense and doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty if he has to.

20. The Saga Of Tanya The Evil

On the front line of the war, there’s a little girl. Blond hair, blue eyes, and porcelain white skin, she commands the army with a lisping voice.

Her name is Tanya Degurechaff. But in reality, she is one of Japan’s most elite salarymen, reborn as a little girl after angering a mysterious being X who calls himself “God.”

And this little girl, who prioritizes over anything else efficiency and her own career, will become the most dangerous being amongst the sorcerers of the imperial army…

19. Fushigi Yûgi Genbu Kaiden

This isekai manga is about Takiko Okuda who is a strong-willed girl living in the Taisho Era.

She needs to be strong. Oosugi, the one man she’s ever loved, is a married man; her mother is terminally ill; and her father, Einosuke, has not been home in over a year.

When at last Einosuke returns, it’s with a notebook full of Chinese scribblings that seem more important to him than the death of his wife.

Furious, Takiko steals away his completed translation — “The Universe of the Four Gods” — with the intention of tearing it to shreds, but the instant she opens it, she’s surrounded by light… And it is said that this is how the legend of the Priestess of Genbu began.

18. Re:ZERO: Starting Life In Another World

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu plays with two tropes:

Isekai and time loops.

This series started out as a light novel, but it has been turned into a manga so that the author can spend more time on the story.

As usual, the main character finds himself in a fantasy world where he thinks he is the main character.

When he dies, though, things take a sharp turn for the worse. Then he realises that he has a skill that no one else has.

He can go back in time to a certain point and still remember it. And, as you might guess, he ends up dying over and over again.

Fun!

17. Overlord 

When a virtual game is about to end, we meet our main character, who wants to see how the game ends.

And he gets stuck in this computer-generated world.

In most isekai, the main character starts with nothing, but the main character in Overlord already has a number of strong henchmen.

He’s also not a very good person. He’s not completely good, but he’s also not completely bad.

He doesn’t mind using people as test subjects and doesn’t even blink when he wipes out whole species.

If you’ve never heard of this series, it’s a hell of a book to read.

16. No Game No Life

Blank is just two shut-in NEET siblings: the manipulative 18-year-old Sora and the 11-year-old detached genius, Shiro. Together, they are an unbeatable duo with zero losses to their name.

One day, the siblings receive an anonymous email challenging them to a chess game.

Upon securing a flawless win, they are immediately summoned into a colorful alternate world.

Furthermore, of the 16 races inhabiting the realm, humanity is ranked the lowest and least powerful, barely scraping by with a kingdom consisting of a single city.

15. My Next Life As A Villainess: All Routes Lead To Doom!

In contrast to other isekai manga, the main character of this series doesn’t know right away that she has been reborn in a different world.

She doesn’t know until she’s already a kid. Then, she tries really hard to remember everything she can about the game.

Because of this, she remembers that no matter what she does, she will always die at the end of the game.

At the very least, this series has a unique plot that shows how the main character comes up with new ways to avoid a bad end.

There are funny parts in the story without any explicit jokes. And the story moves along nicely from the beginning to the end.

If you have the time, you should read it.

14. The Rising Of The Shield Hero

When a world-class problem comes up in this fantasy world, the king or queen has to call for “the heroes.”

Only three of the four heroes, though, are wanted. The main character of the series is the fourth.

When the shield went up Hero shows how people are selfish and love to be in charge.

As the hero who was left behind, our main character (MC) has become an outcast and a bad guy in the eyes of society.

The other three heroes, on the other hand, are getting a lot of attention.

This is used in the manga to show how people throw away anything or anyone they think is useless, even if it means going to great lengths to make them suffer.

13. The Berserker Rises to Greatness

Losing his memories as a compensation for a transfer to another world, the curtains of the story of Kelvin rise.

While steadily getting stronger, he adds new subordinates by mastering his skills in hope to get powerful enough to summon his Angel Follower who he has supposedly fallen in love previous to the memory loss, but by the time he noticed it, he had obtained overwhelming power…

12. A Veterinarian in Another World

Like the main character in most isekai manga, the main character in this series is called because of a need.

He won’t have to fight monsters or demons, though. Instead, he is called to care for animals.

He is good at that because he is a vet.

This manga is kind of a niche thing. But I definitely find it interesting.

I know that not everyone will agree with me, though.

Another bad thing about this is that the series has a lot of text. Even having three text bubbles in one panel is not unusual.

Yes, there is that much text.

11. Wise Man’s Grandchild

In the kingdom of Earlshide, Merlin Walford was once regarded as a national hero, hailed for both his power and achievements.

Preferring a quiet life however, he secludes himself deep in the rural woods, dedicating his time to raising an orphan that he saved.

This orphan is Shin, a normal salaryman in modern-day Japan who was reincarnated into Merlin’s world while still retaining his past memories.

As the years pass, Shin displays unparalleled talent in both magic casting and martial arts, much to Merlin’s constant amazement.

10. Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf

This isekai manga is about Kazuhiro Kitase who is only hobby is sleeping.

Ever since he was young, he would enter a wondrous world within his dreams and go on thrilling adventures.

One day, he goes on an adventure with an elf girl he became friends with in his dream world, but it’s put to an abrupt halt when they both get scorched with a dragon’s breath!

As he wakes up from his dream, he notices a familiar figure sleeping next to him…the elf girl from his dreams?!

09. Knight’s & Magic

This isekai manga is about a mecha otaku is reincarnated into another world as Ernesti Echevalier, also known as Eru.

In this world exists a huge humanoid weapons known as Silhouette Knights.

Dreaming of piloting those robots, Eru, with childhood friends, Archid and Adeltrud Walter, aim to become Knight Runners, pilots of these Silhouette Knights.

08. Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

This isekai manga is about a 29-year-old programmer Suzuki Ichirou finds himself transported into a fantasy RPG.

Within the game, he’s a 15-year-old named Satou.

At first he thinks he’s dreaming, but his experiences seem very real.

Due to his use of a 3-time-use special power (meteor shower), he ends up wiping out an army of lizardmen and becoming very high level.

He hides his level and plans to live peacefully and meet new people, though developments in the game story (like the return of a demon king) might get in his way.

07. The Man Picked Up By The Gods

Ryouma Takebayashi dies in his sleep at the age of 39 after leading a life of misfortune.

Taking pity on him, three deities offer him the chance to reincarnate in a world of magic where he has only one mission: to be himself and enjoy life.

They bestow upon Ryouma powerful physical abilities as well as the affinity to master all elements, and promise to watch over him.

His new life as a young child officially starts when he is teleported into a forest.

Three years go by. Having spent most of his time researching slimes, Ryouma has managed to evolve unique kinds of slimes, training an army of them while developing his magic abilities.

Although the young boy is happy with his hermit existence and comfortable cave home, he somewhat misses the company of humans.

06. The Wrong Way To Use Healing Magic

Just as our main character makes friends with the president and vice president of the student council, they are all called to a new world.

The other two are good at magic, but our main character turns out to be a healer.

It’s almost like a rare kind of magic.

That usually means he’s going to get a lot of fame and stuff, but he’s in the wrong manga this time!

In this world, the leader of the kingdom’s healing team is very strict.

The leader takes advantage of her subordinates by training them too much.

But with healing magic, they can easily get rid of tiredness and heal wounds, sending them into an endless training hell.

05. So I’m A Spider, So What?

Want something a little bit more scary?

Well, the main character of this series is now a monster spider.

In the same way as Re: Monster again, our MC is always changing.

The interesting thing about her evolution is that she can choose what kind of animal she will become.

Even though the main character learns a crazy number of skills, she isn’t overpowered.

There are still a number of battles that she just barely wins.

That means she usually thinks things through and doesn’t just force her way through the story.

04. I Was A Sword When I Reincarnated

It is just another ordinary day for Satoru Mikami. The sun is shining brightly on the streets of Tokyo, and he is in the midst of a discussion with his colleagues when suddenly he gets stabbed by a passing robber.

The average 37-year-old corporate worker is now at death’s door, and he has only one regret—dying a virgin.

Fading out, he is startled by a mysterious AI-like voice reciting commands.

Satoru abruptly wakes up in the middle of a strange cave, but something odd has happened: he is now a goop of slime!

Thanks to his new body, he has acquired the skill to absorb anything and obtain its appearance and abilities.

03. Moon-Led Journey Across Another World

This isekai manga is about a High school student Misumi Makoto is called into a fantasy world by the god Tsukuyomi, in order to be a hero.

However, powerful others in this world aren’t as thrilled to have him there, and they kick him to the edge of the world just as Tsukuyomi declares that he must leave Makoto to find his own way.

Now it’s up to Makoto to find his own way!

02. Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation

After he dies in a car accident at age 34, he comes back to life in a fantasy world.

This time, though, he has to start over from the very beginning. Even though he is an adult in many ways.

The story is pretty good. But doesn’t really have anything that makes it stand out.

The twist is that the main character thinks like an adult who doesn’t work or go to school.

That means a very young child will have to make a lot of bad decisions and some good ones.

01. The Faraway Paladin

William is the lone human in a city of the dead.

Born with vague memories of a past life in contemporary Japan where he failed to do anything useful, he is determined not to make the same mistake again, and that this time, his life will be lived.

But what does that really mean? Raised by a group of the undead, William must discover what circumstances brought him to this city and these people as well as what it means to not just exist, but to live a full life.