Crunchyroll is gearing up for summer 2026 by revealing the new anime series coming to its catalog, and it may have already unveiled what could be the isekai of the year. 2026 has been marked by the return of some long-running isekai series like Re:Zero and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, but so far, no new anime has been able to aspire to the top of the genre. Fortunately, a new isekai has the best combination of the RPG elements that made Solo Leveling a hit, with the challenging world of The Rising of the Shield Hero.
Among the reasons Solo Leveling achieved worldwide success is not only that Sung Jinwoo starts out as the typical underdog anime protagonist aspiring to become stronger but also its stunning animation. On the other hand, although its popularity waned with later seasons, The Rising of the Shield Hero was one of the biggest isekai series that catapulted the genre to fame, drawing viewers in by giving Naofumi a defense-oriented power, uncommon in action anime.
Besides adapting light novels, both series also demonstrated a knack for subverting common anime tropes regarding overpowered characters. Fortunately, viewers looking to relive the feeling of watching a hero grow in Solo Levelling and The Rising of the Shield Hero shouldn't miss Crunchyroll's upcoming series, The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System, which is already showing signs that it could become anime's next big hit.
Crunchyroll’s New Isekai Combines Solo Leveling and Shield Hero With a Gaming Twist
Fans of power fantasy anime where the protagonists prove everyone wrong after being terribly mistreated have a lot to look forward to in The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System. Following Elymas, who recalls that the world he inhabits is based on a video game he played in his past life, on the same day as the ritual in which his class was assigned, the series begins in a very similar way to The Rising of the Shield Hero, with the protagonist being rejected after receiving a power focused on defense considered useless among his peers.
From the Truck-kun to the Tempest Federation · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Isekai Anime? “In another world — with my smartphone.”
🎯AincradDeath-game MMO
⏳Re:ZeroReturn by Death
🔮KonoSubaUseless goddess
🥻Tempest SlimePredator Skill
👻OverlordAinz Ooal Gown
01
The Japanese term “isekai” (異世界) is now the catch-all label for stories about ordinary people transported, summoned or reincarnated into a fantasy realm — from Sword Art Online to Konosuba to Mushoku Tensei. What does the word literally translate to in English?
✓ Correct! “Different world” or “another world.” The word breaks into i (different) + sekai (world). The genre traces back as far as 1990s OVAs (Vision of Escaflowne, Fushigi Yuugi, Inuyasha) but exploded in the 2010s thanks to Sword Art Online (2009 LN, 2012 anime), Re:Zero, KonoSuba, Overlord and the “Narou” web-novel ecosystem of Shōsetsuka ni Narō.
✗ Wrong. The answer is “Different World.” Isekai breaks down literally to “i” (different) + “sekai” (world). It’s now used as a publishing-industry shorthand for the entire genre of transported/reincarnated/summoned-hero stories that boomed across the 2010s.
02
Re:Zero — Starting Life in Another World’s protagonist Subaru Natsuki is a hikikomori who’s pulled into a fantasy kingdom and given a single, brutal supernatural ability: when he dies, time rewinds to a fixed checkpoint and he relives the same stretch of days, retaining his memories. Name this signature ability.
✓ Correct! Return by Death. Subaru’s ability is treated by Tappei Nagatsuki’s novels as a curse rather than a power — the Witch of Envy locks his memory of it (he physically cannot tell anyone he can rewind), and every “reset” means he genuinely dies. Re:Zero is widely credited with redefining the modern isekai psychological lane and remains one of the genre’s most acclaimed entries.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Return by Death. None of the other names are official. Tappei Nagatsuki’s web-novel-turned-LN coined “Return by Death” specifically and made the death-and-rewind a thematic engine: every reset means a real death and accumulating trauma.
03
In KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!, NEET protagonist Kazuma Sato dies and is offered a wish by an obnoxious goddess. He chooses, out of pure spite, to take her with him to the fantasy world. She becomes the party’s perpetually-dunked-on, Drain-Touch-fearing water-and-resurrection priestess. Name her.
✓ Correct! Aqua. The goddess of water, useless and proud of it. Kazuma’s entire character arc is being saddled with three of the most dysfunctional party members in any RPG — Aqua (the goddess), Megumin (the explosion-only Crimson Demon mage) and Darkness (the masochistic crusader who can’t hit anything). Aqua’s mortal terror of Drain Touch and undead is one of the show’s longest-running gags.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Aqua. Megumin is the explosion-magic mage. Darkness is the masochistic crusader. Wiz is the lich shopkeeper. The goddess Kazuma drags into the fantasy world — and the source of about 90% of the party’s problems — is Aqua.
04
In That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Mikami Satoru is stabbed in modern Tokyo and reincarnates in a fantasy world as a low-tier blue slime monster — only to discover his new body has the absurd Predator Skill that lets him absorb anything he eats. He soon names himself after a great storm dragon he befriends in a cave. What name does he take?
✓ Correct! Rimuru Tempest — surname taken from Veldora Tempest, the Storm Dragon Rimuru befriends and absorbs in his first cave. By the time the series gets going, Rimuru is the founder and ruler of the monster nation Tempest, a Demon Lord, and the most powerful single character in his world. Fuse’s web novel started in 2013, Kawakami’s manga adaptation is over 25 volumes deep, and the 8-bit Studio anime is still ongoing.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Rimuru Tempest. Lugh Veleno is the protagonist of The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated. Hajime Nagumo is the lead of Arifureta. Naofumi Iwatani is the Shield Hero. The slime who eats Veldora and names himself Tempest is Rimuru.
05
In Overlord (2015–), the Yggdrasil MMORPG’s servers shut down on the player Momonga, but instead of logging him out, he and his Great Tomb of Nazarick are pulled into a parallel world. He renames himself after his old guild — the same name that gives the show its menacing brand-villain register. What does he rename himself?
✓ Correct! Ainz Ooal Gown. Originally the name of Momonga’s 41-member Yggdrasil guild — the “Nine’s Own Goal” in original Japanese — he reclaims it as his personal alias to honour his absent guildmates. Maruyama’s LNs and Madhouse’s anime treat the protagonist as a slow-burn villain: a skeletal Eldritch Lord trying to figure out what he’s become while his floor guardians worship him as a god.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Ainz Ooal Gown. Albedo and Cocytus are NPC floor guardians of Nazarick. Demiurge is another floor guardian. Touch Me was a famous member of the original guild but isn’t Momonga’s alias. The protagonist takes the guild’s own name, Ainz Ooal Gown.
06
Sword Art Online’s first-arc death game traps Kirito and 10,000 players inside a 100-floor floating-castle MMO — if you die in the game, you die in real life. Each floor is a distinct biome and boss fight, and the only way out is to clear all 100. What is this castle/MMO called?
✓ Correct! Aincrad — the floating fortress designed by lead-developer-villain Akihiko Kayaba. Reki Kawahara’s LN began as a 2002 web novel and was adapted by A-1 Pictures in 2012, kicking off the modern isekai boom. The series moved through other servers/worlds across its sequels (Alfheim Online, Gun Gale Online, Project Alicization’s Underworld) but Aincrad remains the foundational setting and the brand image of the franchise.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Aincrad. Alfheim is the fairy-themed VRMMO of Season 1’s back half. Gun Gale Online is the FPS arc. The Underworld is the simulated world of the Alicization arc. The first-season death game is the floating fortress Aincrad.
07
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (2021–) is widely cited as the foundational modern isekai web novel — published online from 2012, it’s often credited with defining the genre’s template. Its protagonist is a 34-year-old NEET reincarnated as a baby in a fantasy world, retaining his adult mind. What’s his new-life name?
✓ Correct! Rudeus Greyrat — born to swordsman father Paul and maid mother Zenith in the Buena Village in the Asura Kingdom. Rifujin na Magonote’s web novel ran from 2012–15 on Shōsetsuka ni Narō and is widely credited as the prototype for the modern reincarnation-isekai template. Studio Bind’s anime adaptation (2021–) is one of the genre’s most lavishly produced.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Rudeus Greyrat. Cid Kagenou is the lead of The Eminence in Shadow. Ars Lalatoya is Rudeus’s son later in the series, not Rudeus himself. Subaru Natsuki is the protagonist of Re:Zero. Rudeus is the reborn-as-a-baby protagonist of Mushoku Tensei.
08
A huge proportion of modern isekai (Re:Zero, Mushoku Tensei, Overlord, Slime, KonoSuba and many others) started as free amateur web serials hosted on a single Japanese user-generated-novel website — effectively the AO3 of the isekai boom — before being picked up by light-novel publishers. Name the platform.
✓ Correct! Shōsetsuka ni Narō (literally “Let’s Become a Novelist”), commonly abbreviated to “Narou.” Launched in 2004, by the early 2010s it had become the dominant funnel for amateur isekai web novels — with publishers like Kadokawa and Shueisha trawling its leaderboards for hits to acquire. So many isekai LNs originated there that “Narou-kei” (Narou-style) became a publishing-industry shorthand for the genre’s tropes (overpowered protagonist, cheat skill, harem dynamics, RPG status screens).
✗ Wrong. The answer is Shōsetsuka ni Narō (Narou). Comico is a Korean-style webtoons platform. Pixiv Novels is a sister site to the Pixiv illustration platform but isn’t the dominant isekai pipeline. Niconico Books doesn’t exist as a major publishing platform. Narou is where the modern isekai boom was incubated.
Status Window · Final Tally Your Isekai Standing
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Demon Lord-tier — or just a Truck-kun victim?
However, Elymas, unlike Naofumi, has knowledge of the mechanics of his new MMORPG-like world to unlock the full potential of the Heavy Knight class. While necessary for his initial survival as an adventurer after being scorned, Elymas's focus on ranking up quickly is reminiscent of Jinwoo's fighting dangerous creatures, grinding rewards, and entering dungeons, with his memories acting as his own guide system. Additionally, despite not acting alone but forming a group of two, Elymas also enjoys the adrenaline rush that comes from fighting creatures stronger than him.
The series also introduces a sadistic character who is as easy to hate as Malty S. Melromarc in Shield Hero. Even so, although its beginning may sound generic, The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System manages to appeal even to those tired of isekai, as it doesn't focus on clichés like instant cheat skills or harem like most anime. Instead, the series' biggest charm is how it showcases the protagonist's development through effort, featuring exciting strategy-based battles that keep viewers entertained at all times.
A New Video Game Isekai Anime Could Be the Genre’s Next Big Hit
Elma from The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System
Isekai anime set in video game worlds, such as Log Horizon, Overlord, and more recently, A Wild Last Boss Appeared, have won over fans during the last decade. Yet, those that truly use video game mechanics as more than an extra narrative resource are anime that skirt the isekai genre without fully embracing it, like Bofuri or Shangri-La Frontier. Luckily, in The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System, the protagonist thinks in a sort of gameplay style, and the story takes its time developing its lore, making fans feel like they are exploring a vast open-world MMORPG.
Every New Isekai Anime Coming To Streaming In 2026
For those who have difficulty keeping up with all the upcoming releases, here is a complete list of all the new isekai anime confirmed for 2026.
Even so, the only thing that could make The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System stand out as much as Solo Leveling is its animation. Despite being produced by Studio GoHands, known for its maximalist animation style with odd angles and excessive camera movements, The Exiled Heavy Knight already impresses with its incredibly fluid animation and backgrounds with an astonishing level of detail. This hints that, with good direction, the anime could look gorgeous.
The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System Already Looks Epic
The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System Maris
Studio GoHands has a bad reputation due to their direction issues, with its most infamous works being original anime, so The Exiled Heavy Knight could be the ideal project for them because it has a light novel as its source material, and its manga adaptation has stood out for its fantastic art, with monsters featuring epic designs and great dynamism that make the battles very easy to follow.
Furthermore, it seems the production team has high hopes for the anime, as it will have two consecutive cours airing simultaneously, something that isn't common nowadays with new adaptations. Holding a lot of potential that should be overlooked by fans of Solo Leveling and The Rising of the Shield Hero, The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the Systemis scheduled for July 2nd on Crunchyroll, with the manga available on KManga for Western readers who want to take a look at the story before its release.
