What is you favorite Isekai?

Isekai for better or worse is an important genre in anime now so what is everyone's favorite Isekai, I think mine might be Konasuba I like comedy I think Konasuba funny it is as simple at that. I think Shield Bro is a close second mainly for the well-writen relationships between Raphtalia Filo and Naofumi.....also maybe recency bias

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is my modern favorite. It's got its issues (the ovas are bad) but I really love Rimuru. I'm excited for the second season!

If you like comedy isekai, I recommend Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life. It's super cute and I was a bit worried about it being TOO selfaware, but I think it finds a good balance.

Konosuba probably, since it does a great job parodying isekai tropes, but I have a soft spot for .hack//SIGN, one of the earliest isekai's. At least as we know it today.

It's divisive for its slow pace and limited action, but I always found it very fascinating. It was probably the most distilled version of my favorite parts of that series, the philosophical undertones and the general mystery of "The World".

Among those that play the trope straight, probably Log Horizon. It takes its time to flesh out the world and the character relationships pretty well. .hack//SIGN ranks up there for me too.

Came here to rep Log Horizon. Looking forward to S3 at long last?

I just finished Konosuba S1 and I'm looking forward to trying S2 of that as well as Bofuri which is currently airing and generating a lot of hype. It seems very silly.

@bollard: Yeah incredibly excited for it, especially since I figured it would never happen. It's been so long I'm probably going to have to re-watch or re-read at least some of the last arc to remember where we're at.

Kemono Michi has a pro wrestler trying to be a pet store owner for monsters in another world, so thats definitively the best Isekai.

Oddly enough I'd say Tensei shitara Ken deshita (Reincarnated as a Sword). The isekai'd dude just straight up turns into a sword, gains magic/abilities (like telekinesis to fly himself), then wallows in an mp draining swamp until he's picked up by a slave girl who he frees / empowers. I have a lot of fun reading it.

Anime wise I loved Overly Cautious Hero. The first two episodes set a bad example, make it seem like a one note joke, but it picks up pretty quickly and... jesus christ goes from 0 to 100 at the end. It helps that the voice actress for Ristarte, Aki Toyosaki, is greatly talented.

For a half-joke answer I'd say Dr. Stone because it is but it isn't but it kind of is but not really. There are some pretty absurd characters to the point that even though it's suppose to take place on a realistic earth setting it might as well be another world given all the goofy life hacks in play.

If I had to give an answer, I don't know maybe Drifters? It's not like I'm in love with it but on top of liking Hirano's visual styyyyle I like that the premise leans less in the direction of "wish fulfillment for neeeeerrds" these shows are known for. More just about seemingly bored gods conscripting celebrity war criminals/heroes from our world into basically being hero units for their armies. I like that it's a much more traditional high fantasy setting and some of the ways these historical figures react to this setting and each other can be interesting and amusing.

I do like Konosuba but run hot and cold on it due to some of the weird swings in tone. The slime anime is mostly enjoyable but if anything the isekai stuff ruins it just by virtue of the slime ultimately being some salaryman jerkoff who's fallen ass backward into essentially godhood. Only thing I liked about Log Horizon were the game mechanics, it probably does those better than everything else in this "genre"ugh.

Man, there are a lot of these, and I find a lot of them to be pretty good. It’s a hard call between Konosuba and Log Horizon. It's hard to explain in detail why I liked these shows since it's been so long. I’ve actually been wanting to watch them again for a while now, especially Log Horizon since the 3rd season got announced (HYPE).

I could only describe Konosuba as being stupid fun to watch, with wacky characters that had me burst out laughing a lot of the time and Log Horizon as being super in-depth about its world and how the rules of that world affect the characters in them.

One honorable mention is Shield Hero, at least the early part of it felt like it had something to say about how its world wasn’t just a game and what are thought to be harmless heroic quests that you pick up and never hear from again, turn out to be reckless acts that have consequences on the world, and many are often left worse. The Shield Hero becomes sort of the clean-up crew of these other “hero” characters, who pretty much would be main characters of your typical Iskeai (I mean one of them is literally Kirito and voiced by Kirito). It doesn’t go super into detail about it and it isn’t the main plot point, but I like that sort of thing and I wished the anime went deeper into that. I know a lot of Iskeai have tried to deviate itself by the way of parody, but never in this way. At least that I’ve found.

Escaflowne. Because I'm old, and I like old things, preferably from the 90's and 2000's.

I think straight Isekai might just be one of those genres I have very little tolerance for, which is probably why my two immediate answers are Konosuba and Re:Zero. The former is extremely funny and has a delightful cast of imbeciles, and the latter is just watching an otaku loser who thinks he's in a power fantasy get reminded that is very much not the case over and over again. That said, next season there's going to be a series where the main character gets reincarnated as the "Villain" of an otome dating sim and I think I'm going to check that out because I'm very into that premise.

Actually, this is probably my real answer if we're talking a series that isn't a parody or a subversion. I watched Escaflowne for the first time two years ago and it's just a really good-ass fantasy adventure series. Falls apart a little at the end, but it's got knight gundams and a fantastic Yoko Kanno soundtrack.

Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense is probably my current favorite. It's so ridiculous and earnest every episode.

And because I watch too many of these Overly Cautious Hero is also great. Ridiculous but also manages to have a surprisingly engaging end of season arc.

Pretty excited for Re:Zero season 2. While I don't love all the characters, the premise of a loser getting Groundhog Day or All You Need is Kill powers feels fresh since he's constantly not powerful or smart.

Ascendance of a Bookworm is up there.

Slime was silly fun. Re:Zero was fun. I'm not super critical on isekai (though the ones that are heavy on fanservice are a no go) so quite a few of them are at least fun to watch, even if you know what you are getting yourself into. I thoroughly enjoyed Log Horizon S1, didn't really care for S2.

My favourite Isekai anime is Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-

Konosuba is without a doubt my favorite. Specifically because it rips on all the Isekai Harem animes.

Twelve Kingdoms, even though it'll never be finished.

The United States circa 2016

KO NO SU BA

I don't know if I have a favorite but I recently saw the El Hazard OVA and enjoyed it a great deal. One of the "anime that got me into anime" was Escaflowne but I haven't seen it since I first saw it on VHS back when I was a kid. I also really enjoyed Twelve Kingdoms but I have yet to finished it. I should rectify that now that the series is on Crunchyroll.

In terms of more modern stuff, I did enjoy me some Konosuba (even if a lot of the jokes didn't work for me).

I read more manga than anime(which might invalidate these responses), but Mushoku Tensei is an upcoming anime that I quite enjoyed in book form. Also Rise of the Spear Hero is maybe the best injoke spinoff manga I've ever read(off of shield hero) though I'm a bit averse to spin offs. For a more clear anime probably konosuba(Super excited for the blu-ray movie release later this month).

As for others, I feel like a lot of popular ones have mixed quality(Log horizon's excellent s1 from Satelight vs. s2 from studio deen). Or classics that don't hold up as well compared to newer releases(mixed pacing and quality of SAO). But Slime Tensei is still solid(Current manga also great) and Re:Zero is fascinatingly subversive of tropes and standard episode design, even if it's awkward. Isekai in general is trope filled, self aware comfort food; but so much of anime is already that in less condensed form. In the end like a performance of a play, it's just about if the artists and writers can bring out the best qualities of the format and make it something special.

tl;dr go watch konosuba, even if you don't generally like anime.

I've already answered but I want to namedrop at least one more of my all time favorites before the topic fizzles.

Not my favorite genre so I lean towards the more parody side of things. Lately I enjoy reading Isekai Ojisan.

Also I encourage everyone to read at least just the chapter 1 of Isekai Transporter.

It probably doesn't follow the same genre specifics but Isekai Izakaya or Resteraunt to another world is a very light and easy going Isekai cooking show where a Japanese Izakaya (bar and grill) has a doorway that leads to a high fantasy kingdom. The staff cook simple but quality food that inspire the people of the medieval kingdom while solving a crime or two.

The other half of the show is live action featuring visiting real world Izakaya or having a chef cook dishes from the show. All in all it's low stakes show that makes for relaxing viewing.