Let's face it: We've all wished to escape reality for a few hours or so. Most preferably to another entirely different world or place; start a whole new life or just get a well-deserved breather. Well, since we can't do that (not in the snap of a finger or not without money, at least), we'll have to turn to two-dimensional characters on these isekai animes on Netflix who can. In case you don't know what isekai means, it's a fantasy subgenre that revolves around the main character being transported to a new and unfamiliar world-be it a virtual, another planet, or a parallel universe.
Pack your bags and embark on a journey when you watch these 10 anime series on Netflix:
1. The Rising of the Shield Hero
Reading books gives us the escape we need. Stories can take us to another world, though (sadly) only figuratively. For Iwatani Naofumi, that doesn't seem to be the case. While reading a fantasy book, he gets literally sucked into a kingdom called Melromarc along with three others, where they are proclaimed to be its heroes from the "Waves of Catastrophe." However, unlike the others who received weapons, he was given only a shield to protect Melromarc. What gives? Yeah, you'll have to watch to find out.
2. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
After being stabbed then dying, Satoru Mikami goes from a typical worker human being to a blue goop in his next life. Seriously. In an unfamiliar realm, he meets a monster named Veldora who grants him divine protection and a new name: Rimuru Tempest. Follow the slime on its journey to... er... slimehood.
3. Gate
What Youji Itami thought was going to be a normal day—a great day even—for an otaku in a convention, turns into a nightmare when a large gate to another world suddenly opens. Along with the gate opening, comes soldiers and creatures who attack everyone in the way. Fast forward to three months later, Youji comes back with a special team sent out on a mission to explore the unknown world beyond the portal.
4. Sword Art Online
Think Ready Player One, but instead of having to play games to inherit the whole of Oasis as well as its creator's fortune, they have to play for survival. Kazuto Kirigaya, a beta-tester, gets trapped in the virtual world of Aincraid alongside other players of Sword Art Online or SAO. They're kidnapper is none other than its maker, and they're forced to go through its levels to escape. If you die in-game, you die in the real world, too. It's all fun and games—until they're not games anymore.
5. I'm Standing on a Million Lives
This isekai anime is along the veins of SAO, sans the "NerveGear." Yuusuke Yotsuka, along with two others, get transported to an unknown world filled with mythological creatures where he and his party will have to complete a quest given by the Game Master within 14 days.
6. Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest
One minute you and your classmates are chilling in your classroom, waiting for the teacher—when suddenly, you're in another world and receive the powers to save mankind. That became the life of 17-year-old Hajime Nagumo. Follow Hajime's journey to survival and as he aims to become the world's strongest, after he is betrayed by one of his classmates and thrown into an abyss.
7. In Another World With My Smartphone
Feel like you can't go anywhere without a smartphone? Some of us can relate to Touya Mochizuki and how he takes his smartphone everywhere. And when we say everywhere, we meant even in another world. After being struck down by God with a lightning bolt, Touya was offered one wish and a chance to live in a fantasy world as an apology. He accepts, of course, and was reborn into the new world with his phone(!) in this anime series.
8. Uncle From Another World
This isn't your typical isekai. All of the anime here involve the main characters going to another world, but this main character has just gotten out of it! This new comedy series with a twist on Netflix follows the story of Takafumi's uncle, who has just woken from a coma after 17 years. He claims he was in the fantasy world of Granbahamal—find out for yourself if he's telling the truth or not.
9. Re:Zero
Alexa, play "Turn Back Time" by Aqua. After being transported into another world one night while coming home from a trip to the convenience store, Subaru Natsuki finds out that he has the power to turn back time after his death.
10. High-Rise Invasion
High-Rise Invasion shows how high schooler Yuri Honjo's world becomes a nightmare when she is transported into a world full of high-rise buildings with mysterious masked figures a la The Purge (these will creep their way into our nightmares) out to kill her.