The manga and anime world coincides with each other, picking up from one or the other. The isekai genre recently became an instant favorite as it brings the characters to a whole different world to either start over or become the protagonist therein because sometimes, it just feels better to go somewhere else and start anew. A sub-genre that keeps isekai interesting is that of gender-switch which gives a more intriguing touch to the perspectives of a title.
Imagine this, you are going through your usual daily routine and whether you encountered something or fell asleep, when you gain consciousness or wake up, you're in a different world and more surprisingly, in a different body, with a different gender. That is what makes a gender-bent isekai anime and manga story! Now, here are some of the best gender-bending isekai anime shows and manga series!
1 Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout (Manga/ Anime)
"Be careful what you wish for," this is what many people would always. Ever wanted to have a girlfriend so bad that you wished to be a woman when drunk? That is what Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout is all about. It follows Hinata Tachibana who always wanted to have a girlfriend but was always ignored that one drunken night, he wished to be a woman, and woke up into another world as a pretty girl.
Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout has quite a long title and to keep it short, it is abbreviated as Fabiniku. It is from a Japanese manga series written by Yū Tsurusaki and illustrated by Shin Ikezawa which was later adapted into an anime series produced by OLM which aired from January to March 2022.
2 The Saga of Tanya the Evil (Manga/ Anime)
A dying salaryman had little to no faith in life that he was given another chance to live a different one as an orphaned German girl, this is what The Saga of Tanya the Evil is all about. God challenges the dying salaryman to be more spiritual that he reincarnated as Tanya who grew up in the middle of World War I where magic was weaponized. There is, however, a catch: if Tanya dies before her natural time, she would go straight to hell for her sins from the past life. This makes her join the Mage Corps of the Empire and became the ruthless soldier that she is.
The Saga of Tanya the Evil anime series was animated by NUT in 2017 and it was from the light novel of the same name written by Carlo Zen and illustrated by Shinobu Shinotsuki in 2010. A manga series was later made with art by Chika Tōjō which ran from 2016 until now. The anime series is bound for a second season.
3 Final Girl (Manga/ One-Shot Strip)
There is a Hollywood trope known as the "final girl" in slasher films where a woman emerges as the lone survivor after a slasher wreaks havoc. Similar to that and as the title suggests, Final Girl follows a Japanese man who woke up as one of the characters in "18th Day Sacrifice" which is a slasher movie where he was brought back as the sexy and flirty Summer. As per horror movie tropes, it is the sexy and flirty one who dies first, and to break this convention, she does everything to get the coveted title of "the final girl." Final Girl is a one-shot strip written and illustrated by Yō Kokikuji.
4 When I Reincarnated, I Was the Heroine, and He Was the Hero (Manga)
Yet another long title on the list is When I Reincarnated, I Was the Heroine, and He Was the Hero written and illustrated by Moto Mizuno which first started as a web comic on Moto Mizuno's Twitter account and got its print via Comic Gardo. It is a comedic isekai story with a quick pace. It follows Keito Azumi, a high school boy who died in an accident and woke up as a fantasy heroine. In this fantasy world, his best friend Taiga became a huge hero who faces villains so easy while Keito was something sort of a damsel in distress.
5 Yakuza Reincarnation (Manga)
Yakuza Reincarnation is a manga series on Sunday Gene-X of Shogakukan which is available to read in English through the Seven Seas Entertainment. Written by Takeshi Natsuhara and illustrated by Hiroki Miyashita, this seinen isekai series follows a good old yakuza who died while on a job and wakes up in a different world as a young princess. His reincarnation brought him his same tattoo and strength, making her an old man in the body of a young princess sans the regal behavior. She brings the life of the old yakuza to her new world as she rebuilds the territory with the same yakuza chivalry.
6 A Wild Last Boss Appeared! (Manga)
Originally starting as a web novel by Firehead, A Wild Last Boss Appeared was later turned into a web novel by the same author with the illustrations of YahaKo, then into a manga series with the illustrations of Tsubasa Hazuki. A common isekai trope is that of a video game reincarnation and this is what A Wild Last Boss Appeared followed. The story is about Ruphas Maphaal in Exgate Online who was once the ruler of Midgard until the heroes took her down. 200 years after her defeat, an Exgate player gets reborn as Ruphas and to find out how he ended up in her body, they go to a quest to rebuilt Ruphas' reputation.
7 Herscherik: Heroic Tale of the Reincarnated Prince (Manga)
The gender-swapping subgenre in isekai usually follows the trend of a male being reincarnated to a female and the other one is a rare find. What's rarer is one that features both and that is what Herscherik: Heroic Tale of the Reincarnated Prince brings to the table. Written by Nobiru Kusinoki and illustrated by Yuyu Yuzuki, it follows office lady Ryōko Hayakawa who died the day before her birthday, and she was later reborn as Prince Herscherik in a fantasy world. Bringing in her skills from her past life into that of the prince, he tries to make better changes in their kingdom.
8 Only Sense Online (Manga)
Only Sense Online was first released as a light novel by Zachou Aloha and Yukisan which was later turned into a manga series by the same author with the illustrations of Un Hanikura. With a Sword Art Online-esque premise, Only Sense Online follows Yun who was pressured by his older sisters to play the game but being new to it and believing he has bad luck, all he had in the game were the worst "senses" or skill set and tools. He even got his in-world avatar as a girl because the game made a mistake. Falling under the support class, Yun would need to develop new tactics that could forever change the gameplay.
9 Reborn as the Hero’s Daughter! Time to Become the Hero Once More! (Manga)
By Amane Kotodera, Haruka Kaburagi, and Hika Akita, Reborn as the Hero’s Daughter! Time to Become the Hero Once More! is not strictly isekai, per se, as it involves a character which was reborn in the same world. It follows the half-human, half-demon Reid who died and encountered a shady goddess who said the he will get the chance to life again. However, upon waking up, he ends up as the daughter of his two colleagues, Nicole. Before, he had a demonic heritage. Now, she has her saintly blood but her edge is that his combat expertise in the past remained.
10 This Is Screwed Up, But I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! (Manga)
From the light novel by Ashi and illustrated by Kaomin, This Is Screwed Up, But I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World comes the manga series by Keyaki Uchuichi. The manga is currently available to read in the English language through Seven Seas Entertainment. This Is Screwed Up, But I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World follows a young girl named Ron in a fantasy world with a threat to her life: being a slave to a corrupt merchant. She started to have visions where she remembered her past life being a male scientist on Earth. To avoid a grim future as a slave, she uses her scientific knowledge to become someone big in her new world.
11 Tilea no Nayamigoto (Manga)
Tilea no Nayamigoto is written by Shito Rina and illustrated by U35 which revolves around a unique Japanese term, chūnibyō, which means pre-teens with delusions of grandeur or those who feel as if they are special more than the others. Its literal meaning in English, though, is the "middle-second syndrome" or being in 8th grade. Tetsuya had suffered chūnibyō in his life as his family pushed him away then he died alone by 33 with a prayer of having a better one in his next life. Reincarnated as Tilea, she has a loving family but her younger sister started having the same delusions as Tetsuya and knowing that such would be up to no good, she tries to steer her sister's life to something better.
12 When I Reincarnated, I Was a Princess. So I'm Aiming to Become the Ultimate Sorceress (Manga)
There's something in manga that just makes it fine to have such a long title, and When I Reincarnated, I Was a Princess. So I'm Aiming to Become the Ultimate Sorceress is one of those. Written and illustrated by Akira, When I Reincarnated, I Was a Princess. So I'm Aiming to Become the Ultimate Sorceress follows Ikuto who died and reincarnated as Princess Isabella. She has big ambitions but the customs in their culture cut her off of it as she was only supposed to be a significant other of a man in the future. Being a male in the past, she disguises as man to get expertise in magic and later became the best sorcerer but she remains to be a princess and she needs to marry both her worlds.
13 Samayoeru Tenseisha-tachi no Revival Game (Manga)
Ever been so good in life that you thought nothing bad could happen? Well, Manatsu Asai got this all wrong as bad things happened from him proposing but got rejected, to being chased by a Skull Knight, to dying while trying to save a swordswoman. With this, he hoped to be reborn with a better life and this comes true, however, he ends up as the swordswoman he saved. She discovers that she has the ability to be revived instantly upon dying but with the impossibility of death, she ponders upon the sacrifice of her old self and whether it was worth it. Samayoeru Tenseisha-tachi no Revival Game is written by Kenji Saitou and Haruto Hino.
14 El Hazard: The Magnificent World (OVA Series/ Manga)
El Hazard: The Magnificent World brings an isekai anime franchise which started as an OVA series which later got a manga. The story revolves around a history teacher, Masamichi Fujisama, and three high school students, Makoto Mizuhara, Katsuhiko Jinnai, and Nanami Jinnai. One day, they were mysteriously teleported to El-Hazard, a fantasy world where a war between the humans and insectoid tribe called Bugrom is going on. Gender-swapping and isekai in El Hazard was made even before these terms were coined and it remains one of the pioneers in the genre and subgenre!
15 She Professed Herself, Pupil of the Wise Man (Manga/ Anime)
From the light novel series written by Hirotsugu Ryusen and illustrated by Fuzichoco comes the anime She Professed Herself, Pupil of the Wise Man which aired in 2022. It revolves around Sakimori Kagami, a player of the online video game Arch Earth Online who uses the character of a male sorcerer named Danblf. As he was adjusting his character, he was teleported into the game world and to his surprise, while he is inhabiting Danblf, the adjustment he made resulted to his character being a young woman. As a girl, she tries to figure things out on how to get out of the game, she disguises herself as the student of Danblf.
If you ever think of wanting to be the other gender, you might want to reconsider but hey, wouldn't it be cool to be transported into another world?
Which of these gender-swapped isekai anime and manga series do you like best?
