Isekai, or an anime or manga "featuring a protagonist who is transported to or reincarnated in a different, strange, or unfamiliar world", are some of the most popular types of series, yet also some of the strangest. They even often contain well-known tropes such as the infamous Truck-kun (the trend of protagonists initiating being isekai'd to another world via being run over by a truck) or bearing ridiculously long titles that may as well be an entire synopsis, or in one case, is comprised of the entire 196-page story itself.
But while there are many an isekai out there with plots that would seem fairly odd, from The Vision of Escaflowne where the villain is literally heavily implied to be Sir Isaac Newton to Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear where the heroine wears an absolutely adorable bear onesie as armor, there are plenty more with plots that are beyond insane. So if you're up to add some of the most bizarre isekai to your watchlist, you've come to the right place!
After a near fatal accident with being hit by a truck, Takafumi Takaoka's uncle, Yousuke Shibazaki, suddenly awakens after being in a coma after seventeen years. Spouting gibberish in an unknown language, Takafumi at first dismisses his uncle asserting that he'd been transported to a magical world called Gran Bahamal. But upon witnessing his uncle effortlessly recite an incantation that makes a cup of water hover in the air, Takafumi immediately inverses his opinion and invites his uncle to live with him. The two then team up and create a YouTube channel to showcase Yousuke's magical abilities. As Takafumi acquaints his uncle with updated society and technology, Yousuke recounts his adventures in the other world to his nephew, who realizes just how many opportunities his uncle had ignorantly squandered in the magical world.
Typically isekais focus on, well, the isekai plot -- introducing going to another world, the trials of learning about a foreign magical system and society, the thrills of being in the midst of battle and not knowing the outcome. Instead, Uncle from Another World focuses on returning to one's original world to regale time spent in another as though it was no big deal.
Uncle from Another World can be streamed on Netflix.
After the entire student body is wiped out by a sudden mysterious catastrophe, some of the students are granted reincarnating into another world as prestigious citizens such as nobles and royalty. Except for one girl who is reincarnated as a weak, unintimidating spider. As such, her situation proves dire and so must endeavor to either learn how to survive or perish. Even as a spider, she learns that this new world works like a video game, allowing her to level-up skills and experience to aid in her survival. And so, as a former-gamer-turned-spider, she may start as a small spider girl, but has potential to evolve into not just a better arthropod, but a better life.
While it's a nice concept to be reborn into an upper-class, magical society as a prodigy or a highly-skilled adventurer, this spider proves just how difficult it can really be to struggle your way from the bottom as a lower-tier monster.
So I'm A Spider, So What? can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
After recalling a vague memory of collapsing in a subway after consuming raw pig liver, the former scientist awakens to find himself face down in a pigpen in a fantastical world. If it weren't for the aid of a telepathic maid, he might have not been discovered at all and been left to be mistaken as a regular pig. With the ability to read his mind as only means of communication, although Jess shows kindness and generosity towards the pig with the mind of a man, she herself faces much discrimination due to her Yesma telepathic servant caste. Although he shows he's a pig in both body and lewd human mind, the pig resolves to repay Jess's kindness along his quest to the royal capital to beg the king to return him to his human form.
While the girl in So I'm A Spider, So What? may feel as though she drew the short end of the stick with her weak reincarnation, this series proves that there's always someone worse off. After all, when being transported to a world full of magic and potential, who'd want to awaken as a pig?
Butareba -The Story of a Man Who Turned into a Pig- can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
These famous racehorses aren't sent to glue factories at the end of their lives -- they're reincarnated into horse girls in a parallel world! Continuing their legacies and passions for racing, they each strive to become the fastest in Japan. One such racehorse is Special Week who moves to Tokyo to attend the Tracen Academy and achieve such a dream. Learning about others' unique running styles like that of sophisticated Silence Suzuka, Special Week finds herself recruited into her team, Spica, and on her way to become the best and race her way to the top.
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, or simply Uma Musume, puts a twist on what is thought of typical isekai formulas by instead isekai-ing racehorses into a parallel world as equine sports idols.
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
Tsuyoshi Mukouda, a run-of-the-mill salaryman, is transported to another world upon being summoned as a hero to the Kingdom of Reijseger. But when its revealed that his only skill is "Online Grocery", he's able to weasel out of the situation since his only skill, a non-combative one, is considered essentially useless. Fortunately for him, striving to live a quiet, simple life in the new land, the skill actually proves incredibly useful, allowing him to cheaply purchase items and food from Japan considered luxuries in this world. When his delicious cooking piques the interest of the legendary wolf Fel, the two create a contract for Fel to become Mukouda's familiar. Traveling the world together, Mukouda and Fel spend their time adventuring, trading, and, of course, cooking.
While many RPG-like isekais may include protagonists who endeavor to gain experience in more classical skillsets such as swordfighting or magic, shopping for groceries online may seem pretty unorthodox and as though it's a useless skill in a world of fantasy, but Mukouda proves otherwise.
Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
With the world plunged into war, there is one soldier more ruthless than any: Tanya Degurechaff. Despite her short stature and young, innocent looks, you can be sure there's reason behind being given the title of "Devil of the Rhine". After having previously lived a life as a typical Japanese salaryman, when a bitter employee murders him by pushing him in front of an oncoming train, the self-proclaimed God he dubs "Being X" confronts his staunch atheism just as his end is about to be met and resolves to reincarnate him as a little girl in world of magical warfare as punishment. With a high magical aptitude and determination to dominate the challenges of this new world, Tanya quickly rose in ranks in the military despite her age and disinterest in war itself.
If a character denying the existence of a higher power after literally coming face to face with an all-powerful entity that reincarnates them into another world isn't an insane plot device to begin with, Saga of Tanya the Evil makes the concept even more ridiculous with many dubbing the former salaryman turned magical girl as a psychotic loli Nazi.
Saga of Tanya the Evil can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
Struggling to think of new, innovative ideas, Lucius Modestus, an ancient Roman architect, becomes despondent in job-hunting. So, his friends try taking him to a bathhouse to cheer him up and relax. Frustrated with the all the bathhouse hubbub, he tries to find solace beneath the surface only to find a tunnel that transports him to a modern-day Japanese bathhouse. Armed with knowledge ahead of his time and inspired by the technologically advanced foreign bathhouse, Lucius tries his hand at recreating what he's witnessed in hopes that his ingenuity will garner attention and regain his reputation.
As if having an ancient Roman architect time-traveling to Japan to be inspired by modern bathroom technology wasn't ridiculous enough, Thermae Romae certainly doesn't miss any opportunity to showcase the bathroom as an entire experience, from discovering the splendor of department store toilets to musing over onsen town trinkets. While not a traditional isekai, the premise of being transported in another place and another time, albeit not another world, is absurd enough to match the vibe of a typical isekai without ever leaving Earth.
Thermae Romae is available for streaming on Prime Video and Crunchyroll.
A sword wakes up after living a previous life as a human and uses telekinesis to move around and fight to gain new skills and abilities. But although it quickly levels-up its skills, a nameless sword without someone to wield it can feel lonely and purposeless. When the sword happens upon a forest full of monsters and a young cat girl trying to flee them and her captors, the sword offers for the girl to wield it, aiding in her survival and freedom. With the two deciding to become partners, the girl receives her old name of Fran and decides to dub the sword as Teacher. Although they already make quite the formidable team, the duo face plenty of challenges standing in their way of becoming adventurers and gaining the ability for Fran to evolve into a stronger beast.
Although most reincarnation stories can range from being reborn into a similar body to their previous one to becoming an entirely other species, this series instead creates a twist of a character being reborn as a weapon themselves. Beyond that, what kind of weeb wouldn't perk their ears at a plot involving a cat girl wielding a giant sentient sword?
Reincarnated as a Sword can be streamed on Netflix, Hulu, or HiDive where available.
As one of the greatest tacticians of the Three Kingdoms period of third-century China, Zhuge Kongming, after a life filled with many grueling battles, falls gravely ill during the Battle of Wuzhang Plains and wishes to be reborn into a more peaceful era. With a younger body and an intact mind, Kongming awakens in modern-day Tokyo. Meandering his way through his new surroundings, he finds his way into a nightclub where he meets Eiko Tsukimi, and aspiring singer whose performance sparks Kongming to take interest in contemporary music. As Eiko helps Kongming better understand the modern world of the music industry, Kongming makes it his mission as her new manager to make the world recognize her talents, even tapping into his skills in strategy he'd previously utilized for war.
Time traveling from being a tactician in ancient China to becoming a modern-day music manager has got to be one of the wildest career changes, but is pretty on-par for an item on a list about strange isekai, or in this case, reverse isekai.
Ya Boy Kongming! can be streamed on Netflix, Hulu, or HiDive where available.
A man with a passion for vending machines awakens to find he's become one! As a modern machine in a fantasy world, he is unable to move or speak and requires money in order to keep functioning. When a girl named Lammis stumbles upon him and is wowed by the products he sells, she decides to use her own "Blessing of Might" ability in order to carry him back to her village, Clearflow Lake. Naming him Boxxo, he easily becomes a favorite among the community, eventually gaining new abilities and products and helping his friend Lammis in elevating her own skills as a hunter.
Although Reincarnated as a Sword also includes someone reincarnating into an object, at least a sword makes sense for combative purposes, but a vending machine? Now that's definitely stretching the notion of "no bad ideas". Even so, it is interesting to see how Boxxo adapts to his varying situations in a fantastical world by selling items apt for the circumstances.
Reborn As A Vending Machine, I Now Wander The Dungeon can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
What isekai plot do you think is the most bizarre you've bore witness to? Let us know in the comments if there's any more insane isekai we should know about!