There's Never Been a Better Time to Be an Isekai Anime Fan

Three great isekai entered the fray, and one came out as the winner

Isekai anime fans must feel vindicated right now. As of Aug. 12, the three biggest series in the genre are all streaming or being broadcast at the same time. It's a bit like being back in the golden years of 2004-2012, when Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece were all airing on TV Tokyo and Fuji TV.

In 2026, the three isekai in question are That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, and Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World. Re:Zero is the latest to join the party, as the second cour of its fourth season just started streaming on Crunchyroll on Aug. 12.

The first cour of the season ended, as expected, on a cliffhanger. Subaru is still dealing with his memory loss as he explores the Pleiades Watchtower with Emilia, Betty, Ram, Echidna, Julius, and Meili, searching for a cure for the curse that has affected Rem and Julius. In episode 11, after a string of traumatic deaths unlike anything we've seen since season 1, Subaru finally overcame his trauma and found the resolution he needed to start solving the mysteries of the tower.

Re:Zero is going back to a familiar formula, but the setup took too long

Episode 12 begins with Subaru awakening once again after his Return by Death ability triggers. The premise of season 4 is that, after his memory loss, Subaru again went through the traumatic process of accepting his ability and realizing how he can use it to save himself and his friends. With that out of the way, Subaru tackles the first mystery, discovering that Meili was the one who pushed him off the staircase. The girl wanted to avenge her mentor, Elsa, who was killed by Garfiel in the attack on the Roswaal mansion. After a lecture and some mandatory hugs and tears, Meili is forgiven, and the team can now focus fully on clearing the trials of the Watchtower, which should also restore Subaru’s memories.

It’s a familiar playbook for Re:Zero fans. The show uses the first half of each season to set up trials and tribulations for the hero. Through a gruesome sequence of death and rebirth, Subaru accrues enough information and willpower to then solve the crisis and the mysteries teased in the first half. Season 3 moved partially away from this formula, spreading its focus across an ensemble cast of characters and not relying too much on Return by Death, but season 4 used the memory-loss trope to go back to basics.

For fans of Re:Zero, the show is giving them more of what they like, and that’s not an issue. However, while the setting of the Pleiades Watchtower is intriguing, the setup phase feels too familiar: The first 11 episodes were, at times, painfully slow to watch, and even episode 12 doesn’t do much to further the action.

Mushoku Tensei season 3 feels like a slog

Another of the three big isekai shares the same issue. After two great opening episodes, the rest of Mushoku Tensei season 3 has been a slog. The show catches up with Rudeus, who is living a comfortable life in the city of Sharia. He was able to build a large, happy family that includes his two wives, his daughter, his sister and half-sister, his maid, and his mother, who is slowly recovering from her catatonic state. Action is non-existent in episodes 3-7; this would be a great fantasy slice-of-life anime, but that’s not what I was hoping for as a Mushoku Tensei fan.

I can imagine that, pretty soon, Rudeus’ happiness will be put in jeopardy by some sudden danger. Honestly, I don’t know what could be more dangerous than Eris’ return once she learns that Rudeus has two wives, but the anime just released a trailer for the upcoming Chaos Breaker arc, which teases that at least some action is coming soon.

Mushoku Tensei isn’t a simple action series. The show is at its best when it focuses on the characters and their relationships, but still, seven episodes without major events or developments are a lot. That’s two months of season 3 gone: episodes 3-7 could have been condensed into a much shorter runtime to make better use of a limited episode count. There are still so many mysteries to unravel and so many plot threads left hanging that I can’t help but feel the show is wasting time.

Reincarnated as a Slime is the king of isekai in 2026

Reincarnated as a Slime doesn't have to worry about episode counts. The show decided to take over the 2026 and 2027 anime schedule by splitting its massive season 4 into 5 cours, meaning it will stay on air for about 15 months (with breaks). However, while this isekai series has a much more relaxed tone than the other two, season 4 hasn’t had any pacing issues until now. It adapted the full tenth light novel in its first 11 episodes and, at the time of writing, has gone through most of the eleventh in just six more episodes.

Not having read the light novels, I can’t say if season 4 of Reincarnated as a Slime feels rushed. As a fan of the anime, however, I found this season to have the same balance of relaxing slice-of-life, political intrigue, and fantasy action that made it so popular.

Reincarnated as a Slime, Re:Zero, and Mushoku Tensei are very different, so perhaps it’s unfair to compare their pacing. However, if I had to pick just one of the three isekai shows to watch this season, it would surely be Slime. The series scratches the itch for quiet escapism I usually look for in an isekai anime, while also providing enough intrigue and action to keep me interested. Slime eschews the extreme emotional charge that Re:Zero and Mushoku Tensei thrive on in favor of a wider point of view. Rather than worrying about Rimuru or empathizing with his suffering (which is almost completely absent), fans are drawn in by the intricacies of politics and the challenges that come from building a monster kingdom and maintaining a delicate balance with its neighbors and the other powers in the world.

It’s a blessing for anime fans to have three great series on air at the same time, regardless of the genre. Hopefully, Re:Zero and Mushoku Tensei will pick up the pace soon, but for now the big isekai triple threat has one clear winner: Rimuru Tempest.