Isekai Anime & Manga with Gender-Bending Protagonists

Key Takeaways

• Isekai trends occasionally include gender-swapping stories, adding new perspectives and intrigue.
• Many series have taken their unique spin on gender-bending.
• The webcomic “Magician Girl” offers a fresh take on the characters’ journey in a VRMMO world.

The isekai boom in anime and manga has been going on for the past decade or so. There’s just something captivating about characters from one realm traveling into another, be it through time travel like in Inuyasha, magic like in Magic Knight Rayearth, or through a video game like in Sword Art Online.

Some isekai stories even change the hero in the process, like in Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, and That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime. But others, like these anime series and manga, give their heroes new perspectives by swapping their genders as well as their worlds just to add further intrigue.

Updated December 6, 2024 by David Heath: Transitioning can feel like entering another world in itself, and not necessarily a better one, as the trans community is often unduly harassed, condemned, and mistreated just for being themselves. But they can find themselves part of a supportive group who’ll have their back if things get rough. They might be able to provide some escapism through some fun media, be they books, movies, anime, or manga.

Granted, much of it delves into transition for titillation, much as isekai in general can be a power fantasy for ordinary Joes, Jills, and everyone in between and beyond. There can be fun in that, but there are also some that play with the lines between genders, class, society, sexuality, and more in interesting ways. As such, while there are plenty of isekai manga and anime on this list, it’s now received more stand-out entries that feature gender-bending leads.

1 Magician Girl, Do Your Best To Return To Your World!

MyAnimeList Score: N/A

• Written by Ten Imaki.
• Illustrated by Teresa Wakamiya.
• 3+ Volumes, 18+ Chapters.
• Fan Translations only.

Magician Girl, Do Your Best to Return to Your World, or “Onna Majutsushi-san, Moto no Sekai e Kaeru Tame ni Ganbarimasu” in the ironically more search-engine friendly Japanese, is one of the latest strips to hit the market. It still hasn’t received ratings on MyAnimeList or Anime-Planet, though it offers a neat turn on the Fantasy Knockout premise, as its leads try to find a way home despite their transformations.

Rintaro and Haruto are friends who love playing the VRMMO ‘Eternal Maze Online’, which practically acts as a second life for its players. But things take a turn when Rintaro collects a mysterious item called the Reincarnation Jewel. When he uses it, he teleports himself and Haruto into the game as their playable avatars. Haruto did okay as his male Paladin, but Rintaro becomes his female magician character. Together, they have to survive EMO’s fantasy world in the first person, while Rintaro figures out a way to return to the real world.

2 Knock Yourself Out! The Goddess Beat The Final Boss In The Tutorial, So Now I’m Free To Do Whatever

MyAnimeList Score: N/A

• Written by Supana Onikage.
• Illustrated by Kanmuri.
• 1+ Volume, 3+ Chapters.
• Fan Translations only. Original light novel available in English via J-Novel Club.

Given its long title, it’s no surprise Knock Yourself Out! The Goddess Beat the Final Boss in the Tutorial, So Now I’m Free to Do Whatever is an adaptation of a light novel. Though both its source material and its manga adaptation are early in their runs and haven’t received many reviews yet. That said, it does have an interesting premise as the story’s big villain gets taken out as soon as their first fight gets underway.

In a previous life, Karina was an ordinary salaryman, until the Goddess of Space and Time needed them to take out her deadliest enemy. She sends the man to be reborn into another world as a girl called Karina (just because), then takes control of her body just to show her how the new world’s spatial magic works. It was just supposed to be a tutorial fight, but she ended up taking out the big final boss right from the go. With her goal achieved, the goddess just leaves Karina to her own devices. With powers this strong, the world is her oyster, or so she thinks.

3 When I Reincarnated, I Was The Heroine, And He Was The Hero

MyAnimeList Score: 6.25

• Written and Illustrated by Moto Mizuno.
• 5 Volumes, 45 Chapters.
• Fan Translations only.

Moto Mizuno’s When I Reincarnated, I Was the Heroine, and He Was the Hero is very similar to Life With an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout, which came out a year prior. The difference is that the two leads were originally high school students rather than salarymen, and the manga began as a webcomic via Mizuno’s Twitter account. It made the leap to print via Comic Gardo, where it has yet to receive an official English translation.

In life, Keito Azumi is an ordinary schoolboy, but after he gets killed in an accident, he ends up as a fantasy heroine instead. Even worse, his best friend Taiga ends up as the main hero, slaying foes and other threats with ease when Keito struggles. It hasn’t caught on as well as its more popular rival overall, but its quicker pace and comedy-based shenanigans have earned it a fanbase.

4 Reborn As The Hero’s Daughter! Time To Become The Hero Once More!

MyAnimeList Score: 6.31

• Written by Haruka Kaburagi.
• Illustrated by Amane Kotodera.
• 4 Volumes, 24 Chapters.
• Fan Translations only.

Reborn as the Hero’s Daughter! Time to Become the Hero Once More (Eiyuu no Musume toshite Umarekawatta Eiyuu wa Futatabi Eiyuu wo Mezasu) isn’t strictly an isekai, as the hero doesn’t end up in a new world. But they do tackle it from a new perspective, as the half-human, half-demon hero Reid loses his life in battle. In the afterlife, a shady goddess says this isn’t the end, and that he will live again.

Once he wakes up, Reid discovers he’s now Nicole, the daughter of two of his old colleagues. Becoming a tiny girl seems like a bad deal, but the goddess had a point. Back when he was Reid, his demonic heritage made it hard for him to overcome other demons and dark forces. Now as Nicole, with her new life’s holy heritage and her past life’s combat experience, she has more potential to vanquish evil.

5 She Professed Herself Pupil Of The Wise Man

MyAnimeList Score: 6.33 (Anime) 7.08 (Manga)

• Written by Hirotsugu Ryuusen.
• Illustrated by Dicca Suemitsu.
• Manga: 10+ Volumes, 73+ Chapters. Available in English via Seven Seas Entertainment.
• Anime: 1 Season, 12 Episodes. Available on Crunchyroll.

Anime adaptations of gender-bender isekai have been thinner on the ground compared to their print equivalents, and their adaptations aren’t necessarily the best either. MAL users certainly found the adaptation of She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man less preferable to the manga, which wasn’t as popular as the original light novel. But no matter the medium, they all tell the same story.

Kagami made his name in the VR MMO ‘Arch Earth Online’ as Danblf, one of the game’s Nine Great Sages. But after he falls asleep while customizing his character, he wakes up and finds out that (a) Danblf’s been turned into a young girl called Mira, and (b) he’s become Mira! To prove herself all over again, she proclaims herself to be Danblf’s pupil and goes on a quest to find the 8 other sages.

6 Final Girl

MyAnimeList Score: 6.43

• Written and Illustrated by Yō Kokikuji.
• 1 Chapter.
• Fan Translations only.

The problem with the isekai genre is that it can be predictable. So many stories involve an ordinary person (or even a total outcast) becoming the key to everything in a new world. Sometimes they have to practice being the big hero, but other times they’re already great and just need to convince everyone else. Yō Kokikuji’s one-shot strip Final Girl sticks its hero at a distinct disadvantage instead.

In it, a Japanese man has woken up as one of the characters in the slasher flick “18th Day Sacrifice.” Unfortunately, he’s been brought back as Summer, the sexy, flirty one who, according to horror movie tropes, usually dies first. But if she lasts until dawn, she’ll break convention and become the “final girl” who makes it out alive. Can she overcome the horror movie convention and make it to sunrise? Or will she be forced to stick to the script?

7 Since I Have Been Reincarnated As The Daughter Of A Duke, I, The “Girl Inside,” Will Enjoy Being A Girl As Much As I Can!

MyAnimeList Score: 6.46

• Written by Shachi.
• Illustrated by Chagen.
• 3+ Volumes, 21+ Chapters.
• Fan Translations only.

With that mouthful of a title, it’s no surprise that this is an adaptation of a web novel. Like their light novel counterparts, their titles are almost as long as their synopses. But as it suggests, Since I Have Been Reincarnated as the Daughter of a Duke sees a guy in his twenties get reincarnated as Miranda Mirandiehl, a child in an aristocratic family living in a fantasy world that resembles the 18th century.

For some, going from being a strapping young man to a tiny girl would take a lot of physical and mental adjustment. However, the protagonist was essentially “a girl inside” already, a trans woman who never got to realize it. Now that she’s become Miranda, she can live her new life to the fullest and be as girly as she likes. All she has to adjust to is her old-timey world and its use of magic. How hard could it be?

8 Fake Saint Of The Year: You Wanted The Perfect Saint? Too Bad!

MyAnimeList Score: 6.57

• Written by Kabedondaikou.
• Illustrated by Ekakibit.
• 3+ Volumes, 32+ Chapters.
• Fan Translations only.

There’s been a rich supply of manga about people getting pulled into their otome/dating games, and not always as the lead. Thanks to strips like My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom, they often end up as a baddy, and either have trouble being mean or become a roaring success at it. Fake Saint of the Year sounds like it’s going for the latter, but it’s the former.

Fudo Niito, an unemployed layabout (his name is a pun meaning “idle NEET”), was having fun playing his favorite dating game when he fell asleep one night. When he woke up, he found he had become Elize, the game’s “fake saint” villain. Usually, she’d torment the heroine, Eliza, and try to keep her from being with the hero, Verner. Unwilling to harm a hair on Eliza’s head, Fudo-Elize decides to help her get with Verner instead, while trying to be a genuine saint in the process.

9 This Is Screwed Up, But I Was Reincarnated As A GIRL In Another World!

MyAnimeList Score: 6.58

• Written by Ashi.
• Illustrated by Keyaki Uchiuchi.
• 23+ Volumes, 116+ Chapters.
• Available in English via Seven Seas Entertainment.

All kinds of transition are fair game for this list, but since most isekai involve magic or other phenomena, they tend to use them to shift shapes. Originally starting life as a light novel by Ashi and illustrated by Kaomin, This Is Screwed Up, But I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World was adapted into a manga by Keyaki Uchiuchi.

The story follows Ren, a young girl in a fantasy world who is about to be enslaved by a corrupt merchant when she begins to have visions. She was able to recall living on a world called Earth, where she worked as a research scientist, and was a man. With her old science skills and her new magic knowledge, she breaks free and makes a name for herself in this new world.

10 Maze: The Mega-Burst Space

MyAnime List Score: 6.60 (Anime), N/A (Manga)

• Written by Satoru Akihori.
• Illustrated by Rei Omishi.
• Manga: 6 Volumes, 44 Chapters.
• Manga: Fan Translations only.
• Anime: 1 Season, 25 Episodes. DVD Only.

People might get starry-eyed over the 1990s anime and manga boom. Stuff was much harder to find, which made it feel all the more precious. But for every Dragon Ball Z and Perfect Blue, there was an M.D Geist and Garzey’s Wing. Still, if isekai fans want another example of a pre-boom isekai story that’s as Nineties as it gets, they’ve got it in Maze: The Mega-Burst Space, where the titular character inadvertently saves Princess Mill when her home is whisked into her dimension and lands on troops representing the malevolent Jaina Holy Group.

Unable to recall how she ended up in Mills’ world, Maze flees with the princess, while the JHG continue their pursuit. Things begin to look up when Maze is able to use phantom light magic, which gets them help via the Mills’ family mech. It also turns Maze into a perverted man when the sun goes down, which is less ideal, but he is a better mech pilot than Fem-Maze. Together, they find new companions and try to restore the princess to the throne of Bartonia. Cheesy and ecchi as it is, it’s another show and strip for fans after more FtM content in their lives.

11 ReLive Game of Wandering Reincarnations

MyAnimeList Score: 6.64

• Written by Kenji Saitou.
• Illustrated by Haruto Hino.
• 4 Volumes, 26 Chapters.
• Fan Translations only.

Sometimes, no matter how much good a person does, bad things will still happen to them. It’s just how life is. Manatsu Asai from ReLive Game of Wandering Reincarnations learns this the hard way when his marriage proposal gets rejected. Then, all of a sudden, he’s chased down by a Skull Knight who tries to kill him. A swordswoman tries to save him, but he ends up getting killed while trying to save her. He hopes to be reborn into a better world, and kind of gets his wish granted.

He wakes up in the new world as the swordswoman he just saved. She learns she has some special powers and abilities on her side too, like being able to revive instantly on death. But how did she see her new form in the old world with the Skull Knight? Was that a sign of things to come? And if she can’t die, was her old self’s sacrifice all for nothing? Only the manga has the answer, which gives readers a Dark Souls-like tale with a yuri comedy twist.

12 I Am Alice: Body Swap In Wonderland

MyAnimeList Score: 6.88

• Written & Illustrated by Ayumi Kanō.
• 3 Volumes, 14 Chapters.
• Available in English via Seven Seas Entertainment.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of the oldest and most famous isekai/portal fantasy stories. It sees the titular Alice follow a white rabbit down a hole and into a fantasy land that doesn’t make sense. Grinning, creepy cats, tyrannical card-based royalty, a crazy milliner, and his hare, it’s a mind-bending tale. Alongside its sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, they’ve been a staple of children’s books for over a century.

Makoto picks it out to read to his little sister in I Am Alice: Body Swap in Wonderland. But in a strange process, he ends up being pulled into the book, where he ends up in Alice’s body, and Alice ends up in his body in the real world. The only way Makoto can undo this is by heading to Heart’s Castle and fighting the King of Hearts. Though being Wonderland, the journey there is bound to be indirect and strange.

13 Thank You, Isekai!

MyAnimeList Score: 7.04

• Written by Azuki Arai.
• Illustrated by Zianazu.
• 6+ Volumes, 56+ Chapters.
• Available in English via Comikey.

If readers liked Life With an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout but fancied it with more bromance than romance (or perhaps woman-ce to be more accurate?), they may prefer Thank You, Isekai! Originally appearing in MangaONE, the strip followed two 30-something otaku called Chiba and Sheina, who get on pretty well after meeting at their high school reunion.

It’s the only luck they have, as they end up suffering one misfortune after another which leads to their death. But when fate closes a door, it opens a window, and that window leads to a fantasy world where they’ve both been reincarnated as cute women. The story goes on to follow their new lives through all their ups and downs, which can give readers tonal whiplash as life in a fantasy realm isn’t all sunshine and roses.

14 Did I Seriously Just Get Reincarnated As My Gag Character?!

MyAnimeList Score: 7.05

• Written by Kanade Otonashi.
• Illustrated by Kamuragi Amano.
• 6+ Volumes, 27+ Chapters.
• Available in English via J-Novel Club.

Originally based on Otonashi’s light novel with azutarou, Did I Seriously Just Get Reincarnated as My Gag Character does what it says on the tin. It starts with Tōru, a jaded university student who only feels alive when he plays the VR MMORPG ‘Real World Online’. He’s been playing the game ever since he was young when he made a sexy babe character as a joke before making his main character.

Things take a turn when he gets hit and killed by a bus and reincarnated into the game. But not as his main. He becomes Nacht, the aforementioned babe. She’s a dragon princess who’s anything but optimized for surviving in a fantasy world. However, as she discovers more creative ways to play the game, she might be more capable of getting by than her raw stats let on.

15 From Bureaucrat To Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated!

MyAnimeList Score: 7.12

• Written & Illustrated by Michirō Ueyama.
• 7+ Volumes, 46+ Chapters.
• Fan Translations only.

Nowadays, the distance between an isekai tale and a villainess one is only a short hop. There’s something about a mean girl that just adds that little bit extra to a fantasy world, or so the reasoning goes. It certainly worked for From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated (Akuyaku Reijō Tensei Ojisan in Japanese), as creator Ueyama announced in January that his work would be getting an anime adaptation. It’ll be due out in January 2025, so there’s only a month to go until people can see it in motion.

Until then, fans can catch up with the original manga. It starts simply enough, with 52-year-old civil servant Kenzaburō having his daily routine interfered with by a traffic accident. When he wakes up, he finds himself in the body of Grace Auvergne, the villainess in his daughter’s otome game. He tries to fulfill her mean girl role, but his mild manners and knowledge from his old life make Grace a nicer, more refined figure than the other characters are used to.

16 Only Sense Online

MyAnimeList Score: 7.12

• Written by Zachou Aloha.
• Illustrated by Un Hanikura.
• 20+ Volumes, 118+ Chapters.
• Fan Translations only.

Adapted from Zachou Aloha and Yukisan’s original light novel, Only Sense Online‘s manga is a gender-twisting take on a Sword Art Online-esque premise. The titular video game is a VR MMORPG that’s so realistic that it’s a whole new world unto itself. Once players have created their avatars, and chosen the right skill set or “Senses,” they can play and roam the land to their heart’s content.

Yun gets pressured into playing the game by his big sisters, but he’s a novice with bad luck. He has the worst “Senses” and equipment in the game, and the game misreads his stats and turns his in-world avatar into a girl. However, Yun’s new feminine figure finds her calling as a support class and develops tactics that could change how the game is played entirely. What looks ‘bad’ on paper could make her OP after all.

17 Life With An Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated Into A Total Fantasy Knockout!

MyAnimeList Score: 7.13 (Anime), 7.49 (Manga)

• Written by Yū Tsurusaki.
• Illustrated by Shin Ikezawa.
• Manga: 13+ Volumes, 203+ Chapters. Available in English via Seven Seas Entertainment.
• Anime: 1 Season, 12 Episodes. Available on Crunchyroll.

Still, it’s hard to beat the traditional isekai formula. Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout went from appearing in Cycomics magazines to reaching audiences worldwide via Seven Seas Entertainment before getting animated in 2021 by OLM. It still stands out from the rest by showing what happens to a friendship when the line between genders is crossed. In other words, can a bromance become a romance?

Tachibana is having trouble finding a girlfriend because he’s constantly overshadowed by his cooler, more handsome friend Jingūji. Frustrated, Tachibana wishes he was an irresistible woman. The Goddess of Love grants his wish by taking the two to a fantasy world and turning Tachibana into its prettiest woman. She tasks Jingūji and Tachibana with defeating its demon lord, but the real challenge will be fighting their growing feelings for each other, as they begin to see each other in new lights.

18 When I Reincarnated, I Was A Princess. So I’m Aiming To Become The Ultimate Sorceress

Anime-Planet Score: 3.59/5 Stars

• Written and Illustrated by Akira.
• 4+ Volumes, 22+ Chapters.
• Fan Translations only.

Arguably, the real fantasy of gender-switching stories is being able to live as a woman in worlds with little-to-no sexism. They’re not always in a great situation, but when they want to embark on an adventure, there’s rarely an authority figure coming in to insist they make sandwiches instead. So, when Ikuto dies and comes back as Princess Isabella in When I Reincarnated, I Was a Princess. So I’m Aiming to Become the Ultimate Sorceress, her heroic ambitions are cut short.

Her new world’s customs say sorcery is too dangerous for her, and that she should devote herself to her future man instead. So, she disguises herself as her old male persona to learn magic and become the best sorcerer in the world. Better known by its Japanese title (Tensei Shitara Hime Datta node Dansou Joshi Kiwamete Saikyou Mahoutsukai Mezasu wa), it’s perhaps one of the few manga where the lead swaps genders, then has to swap back to achieve her goals.

19 El Hazard: The Magnificent World

MyAnimeList Score: 7.25

• Directed by Hiroki Hayashi.
• Produced by AIC and Pioneer LDC.
• 7 Episode OVA.
• Available on Crunchyroll.

There are many “portal fantasy” stories, both East and West, that predate the term “isekai”. Yet the El Hazard OVA series may be one of the earliest ones to combine that with some gender twisting. Released in 1995, the series saw high schoolers Makoto, Katsuhiko, Nanami, and their teacher Masamichi get transported to El Hazard, a fantasy world where humans are at war with insectoid-like creatures called the Bugrom.

Makoto and Masamichi come across Rune, princess of Roshtaria, looking for her missing sister Fatora. She’s needed to power a superweapon known as the Eye of God, which might be able to send Makoto and the others back home. The trail on Fatora goes cold, but Makoto does look a lot like her. So, he reluctantly dresses up as Fatora to learn more about tech and El Hazard’s gods. It works out surprisingly well for him too.

20 A Wild Last Boss Appeared!

MyAnimeList Score: 7.41

• Written by Firehead.
• Illustrated by Tsubasa Hazuki.
• 9+ Volumes, 50+ Chapters.
• Available via J-Novel Club.

Most of these stories started as light novels, but that was just the second stage in A Wild Last Boss Appeared’s life. It was originally a web novel by Firehead, which then became a light novel with illustrations by YahaKo. The manga version was drawn by Tsubasa Hazuki, who also illustrated the Sword Art Online spin-offs Fairy Dance and Mother’s Rosario. As such, the manga’s premise is familiar ground for them.

In the video game Exgate Online, Ruphas Maphaal used to rule Midgard with an iron fist until its heroes brought her down once and for all. However, one of Exgate’s players gets reborn inside the game’s world as the revived Ruphas, 200 years after her defeat. To figure out how and why he ended up in her body of all places, the player has to make friends and rebuild Ruphas’ reputation, lest he ends up getting killed off again.