Isekai Anime & Manga With Unique Monsters

Key Takeaways

• Isekai series feature unique and odd monsters defining fantasy worlds with CGI criticism.
• The Rising of the Shield Hero showcases various monsters, including therianthropes.
• Reborn As A Vending Machine introduces whacky creatures interacting with the satirical plot.

Isekai anime and manga often depict high fantasy worlds (or dark fantasy ones) with a great deal of mystical beings, monsters, and other unique creatures. And even though it is not hard to understand how a fantasy ecosystem works, some of the creatures that appear in this genre might escape common sense.

So, here are a few handpicked series with unique creatures that are a little bit odd, and maybe a little bit weird, but all of them have something in common: they define the identity of those fantasy worlds, and how the main characters survive the day by day on them.

7 Failure Frame

Golden Eye Monsters Are Unique To This World And Bound To The Main Antagonist

When the Goddess Visys (Or Vicious) summoned a bunch of random Japanese students to her world, everyone thought they were so special – the chosen ones destined to save everyone from danger. But the harsh reality is that Visys is nothing but a brutal and psychopathic evil deity. Behind her shallow smile and her sparkly golden eyes, there lies a demon in disguise.

The worst part is that the world seems to have been invaded by powerful monsters with golden eyes, which roam the wilderness in search of prey, and devour every living being they come across. Fans might already have figured out the link between the evil goddess who sent Tōka Mimori to die in a special dungeon she created, which is filled with many of those aberrations. Though in the manga and light novels, the designs are quite unique, in the series the producers decided to use (and abuse) CGI to make them, which ended up earning criticism from the audience.

6 Rising Of The Shield Hero

Has A Myriad Of Unique Beings In Its Lore

From Giant Turtles to talking Birds that can take human shape, the world of Rising of the Shield Hero has unique monsters to spare. But Naofumi doesn’t discriminate, be it that it flies, crawls, runs, or swims, he will kill every one of them to level up and protect those he loves from the destruction of the Wave Phenomenon.

Many of the fans of the show are also fascinated by the therianthropes (half beast/half humans) which were already quite popular before this show came to be, but they seem to have been taken to a whole new level in the worldbuilding of the series.

5 Another World Munchkin

Mixes Up D&D Lore With Unique Monsters

• Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Harem, Shounen, Isekai
• Authors: Makoto Aogiri, Yuu Shimizu
• Nº Volumes: 11

A regular Japanese student named Yukito Kirihara, who is also a hardcore fan of D&D (though not openly mentioned in the series) lives with his sister Sana a harsh life. Until one day, he dies protecting her from a mysterious monster and is transported by an unknown Goddess to the Limbo between worlds. Here, she offers him to be her agent and gives him a Playbook (similar to a D&D manual) and a blessing.

Thanks to the book which has all the truth of the world written inside, Yukito discovers she is an Evil Goddess. So, he decides to send her to pick up flowers and is cursed in return, reducing his HP to 1, forever. This, which might sound like a death sentence in a world of hardcore fantasy, turns into his greatest weapon, thanks to his impeccable battle tactics, and the help from a lovely Paladin (who he quickly over-optimizes using the player Master Handbook of the Goddess). The series has deep roots in the TTRPG culture, and as such, many monsters are associated with these games. But also has a lot of unique species that are particular to this world, with incredibly detailed designs.

4 Reborn As A Vending Machine, I Now Wander The Dungeon

Has Some Of The Whackiest Creatures Ever Seen In An Isekai

• Author: Hirukuwa
• Artist: Ituma Kato, Kunieda, Hagure Yuuki
• Genres: Isekai, Fantasy, Adventure, Reincarnation, Satire, Comedy

Reborn As A Vending Machine is a peak comedy, with its main character turning into an actual Japanese vending machine, with all and its trouble to spit out the food you pay for. From there, things only get weirder, with the strongest girl alive carrying this strange living contraption all across the dungeon, and the weirdest of monsters popping up around.

Every situation in this huge satire of an isekai is an opportunity for strange creatures to surprise the readers. Even those who are sentient enough to establish a rapport with any of the characters are quirky and might make the readers laugh a lot. Needless to say, not every creature is friendly in this world, and a poor abandoned vending machine had it rough at the beginning, being assaulted by a gang of human-sized frogs.

3 Nito’s Lazy Foreign World Syndrome

Some Dangerous Walking Calamities Are Unique To This World

• Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Isekai
• Author: Fujimi Shoubou
• Nº Volumes: 6

From giant fire bears named Grizzleeds to dangerous dragon-like creatures named Noot Kelaines, who devour everything they set eyes upon, Nito’s Lazy Foreign World Syndrome is a series with quite an assortment of strange creatures.

Since the story diverts a lot from the typical uni-personal Isekai with its MC taking over the spotlight all the time, we get to meet plenty of characters in a colorful (but dangerous) world. It’s a series with a lot of lore, and the author placed special emphasis on developing its worldbuilding to create some unique designs for its monsters.

2 Arifureta: From Commonplace To Strongest

A Decent Amount Of Monsters And Races Unique To This World

Arifureta is about to finish its third season in what seems a record run for an Isekai anime, and fans couldn’t be happier about this. But this story is not all about an edgelord collecting different monster-girls as if it were playing a Pokemon game, though, it has a lot of unique monsters to be fair.

The designs in the anime might not be as impressive as they are in the light novels and manga, but this Isekai does have his share of strange beasts that give Hajime and his crew quite a lot of trouble. And some of them even travel with the crew.

1 Meikyuu Metro

MC Is Sent To A Dystopian Earth, Filled Dominated By Fungus Monsters

• Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Isekai, Drama, Seinen
• Author: Last Sasaki, Takase Wakaya
• Nº Volumes:4

Though hard to believe, every monster in Meikyuu Metro is unique, though many of them resemble some mythical creatures from Earth’s traditional folklore, there are a bunch with particular designs as well.

But the thing that is more distinctive about this manga’s monsters is that they are all fungus-like creatures. Plants, animals, and even humans are infected by fungi (not the cordyceps, but something alike) that has made them mutate, alongside the whole ecosystem. The protagonist of this story has fungus-based abilities, and feeds on the “cores” of creatures to acquire more, which is honestly disgusting, but hey! Who are we to judge?