New isekai anime coming to Crunchyroll focuses on reverse isekai

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By

Vanessa Piña

Published May 9, 2026, 7:30 PM EDT

Vanessa Piña has been a freelance writer for the ScreenRant anime section since 2024. As a senior writer, she focuses on timely coverage of the latest anime releases and updates on popular franchises.

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With so many new series releasing each season from multiple subgenres, determining the greatest isekai of all time is truly a daunting task. However, narrowing it down only to reverse isekai makes the search much easier, as few anime have been as iconic and impactful as The Devil is a Part-Timer_. Unpredictable and full of hilarious situations that anyone living on minimum wage will relate to, one might think that no other isekai could reach such heights. Luckily, a new anime coming to Crunchyroll is shaping up to be The Devil is a Part-Timer's modern heir.

While most reverse isekai stories are based on characters from other worlds traveling to Earth, _The Devil is a Part-Timer _differed not only for having a demon lord working as a supervisor at a fast-food franchise but also because he indirectly brought his fated enemy with him, the heroine, who was still trying to thwart his plans.

Maou's and Emilia's bickering and their love-hate relationship were a delight to watch for all fans of rom-com anime. This led to the first season of The Devil is a Part-Timer being a huge success, and now, 13 years later, the upcoming anime Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life is bringing that same intensity reinvented in a way that could prove even more satisfying for viewers.

Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life is Already Similar to One of the Best Isekai Anime

_ Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life main visual

Much akin to The Devil is a Part-Timer_, Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life is also a story about enemies who fought each other in another world and end up meeting again under the strangest circumstances. The anime follows a former demon lord trying to live out his days in peace only to have them interrupted by the heroine. While this might sound suspiciously similar to Maou and Emilia's dynamic, which could make it seem like a rip-off, the anime takes a different approach by making Ryusei and Hanamori a teacher and a student, respectively.

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Interactive Quiz

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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

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QUESTION 1 / 8THE GENRE NAME

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?

AHidden World BDifferent World CFloating World DLower World

✓ 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.

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QUESTION 2 / 8RE:ZERO

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.

AReset BRebound CReturn by Death DLoop Trance

✓ 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.

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QUESTION 3 / 8KONOSUBA

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.

AMegumin BAqua CDarkness DWiz

✓ 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.

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QUESTION 4 / 8REINCARNATED AS A SLIME

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?

ALugh Veleno BRimuru Tempest CHajime Nagumo DNaofumi Iwatani

✓ 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.

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QUESTION 5 / 8OVERLORD

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?

AAlbedo Cocytus BAinz Ooal Gown CDemiurge Solomon DTouch Me

✓ 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.

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QUESTION 6 / 8SWORD ART ONLINE

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?

AAincrad BAlfheim CUnderworld DGun Gale

✓ 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.

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QUESTION 7 / 8MUSHOKU TENSEI

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?

ACid Kagenou BRudeus Greyrat CArs Lalatoya DSubaru Natsuki

✓ 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.

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QUESTION 8 / 8THE WEB-NOVEL ENGINE

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.

AComico BPixiv Novels CShōsetsuka ni Narō (Narou) DNiconico Books

✓ 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.

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Status Window · Final Tally Your Isekai Standing

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Demon Lord-tier — or just a Truck-kun victim?

⤴ REINCARNATE

If adding a group of high school girls to the mix, which makes keeping their identities secret extremely difficult, doesn't already prove that viewers should expect the most chaotic events to unfold, the anime also takes full advantage of its fantasy elements, with monsters appearing on Earth that they will have to fight.

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By Vanessa Piña

Even so, it's not these parallels that make the anime a suitable-seeming successor to The Devil is a Part-Timer_, but rather the fact that the story doesn't treat the romance as an afterthought. Instead of viewers having to wait several seasons and switching to the source material for an answer to a frustrating love triangle, _Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life doesn't promise the typical slow-burn romance, thus avoiding one of the most criticized points of T_he Devil is a Part-Timer.

Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life is Coming to Crunchyroll Soon

Although The Devil is a Part-Timer Season 2 premiered just three years ago after a decade-long wait, it was heavily criticized for its poor animation and uneven pacing. This, coupled with the fact that both the novel and manga have already concluded with a negative reception, reduces the chances of a new anime season. Consequently, _Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life _currently stands out as the best option for fans yearning for something similar, especially since it's set to premiere soon.

Other upcoming reverse isekai anime are Sasaki and Peeps Season 2 and GATE 2: Tides of Conflict, which are expected to arrive in late 2026 and 2027, respectively.

Even if the anime doesn’t appear as unique or surprisingly grounded as series like _Hinamatsuri _and Ya Boy Kongming, it already hints at the farcical fish-out-of-water comedy that fans of reverse isekai love, with plenty of misunderstandings and eccentric characters even stranger than if they came from another world. Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life will premiere in July on** Crunchyroll**.

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9.0_/10_

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!

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**

Like

Follow

Followed

TV-14

Comedy

Fantasy

Isekai

Release Date**

2013 - 2023

Directors

Naoto Hosoda

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Cast

See All_

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Ryōta Ōsaka

Sadao Maō

Yoko Hikasa

Emi Yusa

Where to watch _

Close __

WHERE TO WATCH

Streaming**

BUY

Main Genre

Animation

Creator(s)

Satoshi Wagahara

Seasons

2

Number of Episodes

37

Creator

Satoshi Wagahara

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll, Hulu

Studio

White Fox, Studio 3Hz

Japanese Title

Hataraku Maou-sama!

Based On

Light Novel

MyAnimeList Score