Isekai shows feature overpowered protagonists and epic fights, but the best of these shows blend action and comedy seamlessly. Comedy can elevate the genre by poking fun at the tired tropes that many shows use or by creating characters that have such well-written lines and events that the audience is immediately endeared to them.
As there are so many Isekai shows out right now, it is essential that studios learn to distinguish their series from the hundreds of others, and comedy is a great way to entice audiences into a brand new fandom.
10 Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious
Gods and goddesses in this series summon heroes from Earth to save various planets in the universe from destruction. The goddess Ristarte summons Seiya to save the world of Gaeabrande, but Seiya proves to be a bigger challenge than Ristarte expected when he refuses to help, preferring instead to train in Ristarte’s hometown until he reaches an adequate level. Seiya is overly cautious, driving Ristarte crazy as she tries to get him to leave his room and save Gaeabrande.
Seiya’s cautiousness leads to brilliant and unexpected circumstances such as literally scorching the earth to prevent enemies from respawning. Seiya also antagonizes the other gods and goddesses with his cautiousness, forcing them to train him for days on end without a break to level him up faster.
9 I’ve Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years
This chill and relentlessly adorable anime series follows Azusa Aizawa, a powerful witch that was reincarnated into a fantasy world after dying at her mundane office job in modern-day Japan. Azusa’s adventures in the fantasy world were supposed to be laid-back and chill, but the constant interruptions from various creatures make Azusa’s life much more chaotic.
Azusa’s kindness turns characters that are expected to be villains into loveable family members, and the chaotic family life creates some hilarious situations such as Halkara the elf getting possessed by a ghost, who, of course, ends up joining the family, as well.
8 My Next Life As A Villainess
A game-loving girl is suddenly reincarnated as the villainess of her favorite otome game, Catarina Claes. Knowing the villainess’s fate in the game, Catarina realizes that she must do everything in her power to avoid banishment or death later in life. Catarina is nicknamed ‘Bakarina’ by fans due to her airheaded nature, especially in matters of love and romance.
Catarina’s inner monologue is hilarious, with her conscience taking the form of five mini Catarinas who debate issues when they arise. The characters around her are also funny in their reactions to Catarina’s antics as they slowly fall in love with her and try to prevent each other from dating her.
7 The Devil Is A Part-Timer
Not only is this show one of the best supernatural slice-of-life anime series, it is also a reverse-Isekai, featuring fantasy characters traveling to the everyday world and becoming stuck in modern-day Japan. The devil king Satan escapes to Japan after being attacked by the hero Emilia, but, due to his lack of money and magic, is forced to take a job at a MgRonalds to make ends meet. Satan begins to enjoy his job and sets his sights on becoming a manager. That is until Emilia reappears to complicate things.
This show is brilliant thanks to its comedic timing and witty characters, especially Satan’s servant Alciel, who becomes distraught whenever he fails his master. The characters are limited in their ability to do evil things since Satan genuinely wants to rise through the MgRonalds ranks and do a good job at work.
6 So I’m A Spider, So What?
A sudden magic event wipes out a classroom full of students and reincarnates them into a fantasy world full of elves, dragons, and monsters. Shiraori, nicknamed Kumoko by fans, wakes up as a spider in the lower levels of a dungeon and must battle high-level enemies to survive and escape.
The humor in this show comes from Kumoko’s over-the-top reactions and otaku references, as well as the physical comedy that Kumoko displays while fighting and living her best life. The show shares similarities with other popular Isekais such as the main character using humor to cope with their situation.
5 Tsukimichi -Moonlit Fantasy-
Sure to become one of the best new anime of 2021, Tsukimichi follows Makoto as he is rejected by a powerful goddess and sent to live alone in a fantasy world’s wasteland. Makoto is given powers by another god who takes pity on him, but Makoto’s rejection by the goddess causes Makoto to develop a deep hatred for her and whatever she has created.
This series is a fun watch due to Makoto’s companions, a dragon named Tomoe and a giant spider named Mio, who, despite being his servants, act without his permission and introduce all sorts of trouble into his life.
4 Bofuri: I Don’t Want To Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense
Bofuri is an adorable anime that follows Kaede as she logs into a virtual reality RPG called NewWorld Online. Kaede takes the username Maple, and, due to her extreme intolerance for pain, becomes a shield wielder and puts all of her level points into defense.
The humor comes from Maple’s insistence on only putting points into defense, meaning that she walks slowly and has a harder time escaping from enemies. Maple’s character is also funny and cute, crying over enemies that she accidentally kills such as a rabbit that tries repeatedly to attack her despite Maple not feeling any pain.
3 Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
Featuring a wonderful cast of female anime characters, the reverse-Isekai Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid follows Kobayashi as she saves a dragon, Tohru, from death and ends up living her in Tohru’s human form. Over the series, Tohru and Kobayashi make friends with other creatures and dragons that appear on Kobayashi’s doorstep.
Tohru’s love for Kobayashi leads to some hilarious circumstances, such as Tohru becoming Kobayashi’s maid, having parties that end up going out of hand, and trying to feed Kobayashi pieces of her tail while cooking.
2 Princess Connect! Re:Dive
This show follows Yuki and his guild Gourmet Edifice as they explore the land of Landsol and discover new kinds of food. Each of the guild members has a motivation and goal to achieve, but, despite their differences, the guild members grow to be close friends that help each other out.
Princess Connect has a cast of wonderful characters that are all animated beautifully, but the main draw to this show is its humor, mainly coming from Kokkoro’s reactions to Yuki getting hurt and Pecorine blindly trusting potentially dangerous people around her. Pecorine also literally goes with her gut, her hunger often leading to funny situations that the characters have to fight through.
1 KonoSuba
KonoSuba: God’s Blessing On This Wonderful World! follows Kazuma as he is reincarnated into a fantasy world and forms an adventuring party with the unhelpful goddess Aqua. The characters in this show subvert many of the traditional Isekai tropes such as overpowered protagonists and polite female leads that instantly fall for the main character.
There are so many great and hilarious moments in Konosuba, mostly stemming from the protagonists’ abilities such as Megumin’s explosion magic only being useful once and knocking her out as soon as it’s used. Every character has an incredible amount of personality and brings a lot of fun to the show.
About The Author
