Sometimes anime, like other mediums, can be used as a HEALTHY form of escapism.
That includes:
- Having anime characters who are healthy forms of escapism.
- And having anime shows as a whole that are healthy escapism.
But sometimes regardless of healthy or not, escapist anime characters are unrealistic as opposed to being realistic and true to life.
Let’s talk about those types of characters.
You’ll notice a pattern as you get through the article.
Here’s a list.
1. Issei (High School DxD)
Issei is the main protagonist of the anime High School DxD. It’s an ecchi/harem fantasy series filled with HOT demon girls and women.
The notion of demons being ugly isn’t anime’s style, and they are all gorgeous and designed to please the eyes.
Issei, the main male MC of the series ends up being surrounded by these women who all find him attractive in some way, shape, or form. Forming a type of harem despite the MC lacking anything worthwhile in the grand scheme of things.
We can see Issei is a clear example of an escapism anime character who offers very little and can’t be considered “a great MC” in itself. He’s simply there to serve a purpose.
That purpose being a form of wish fulfilment.
2. Shido Itsuka (Date A Live)
Shido Itsukia is the main male character of the Date A Live series, a franchise that recently ended abruptly. Fans hope it will come back but only time will tell.
In this anime you have spirits. Those spirits are of course women, conveniently you could say.
Shido finds himself in the middle of these spirits, or at least caught up in their drama. The magical power of his “Kiss” is able to tame these spirits and stop them from going rogue essentially.
This is how the harem aspect falls into this anime, despite again, Shido being nothing remarkable or even great as far as character writing goes.
He’s another perfect example of a character who fulfils the escapism narrative, without having any major qualities as to why that is (in the grand scheme of things).
3. Rito Yuuki (To Love Ru)
Rito Yuuki is from the famous To Love Ru franchise, a franchise with many anime series, content, and of course, video games to a degree.
It was released way back in the 2000s.
As a male character, Rito is about as “virgin” as it gets if you wanna use that term. He’s a normal teenager who of course fancies girls, but is shy, introverted, and struggles with the opposite sex.
That changes overnight once characters like Lala Satalin come from outer space and finds herself at his doorstep. Which later leads to more of her alien kind (sisters, etc) becoming interested in Rito.
Fanservice, ecchi moments, and almost completely naked snapshots take this place in this unapologetically ecchi series. And Rito becomes the perfect “wish fulfilment” character there could be.
4. Rudeus Greyrat (Mushoku Tensei)
Rudeus Greyrat is the male MC that everyone hyped up before the release of the Mushoku Tensei series some years back.
Everyone swore that the anime was the greatest Isekai of all time and the so called Granddaddy of the genre.
Well, partially it’s true the anime is better than your average Isekai series, but Rudeus Greyrat as a character isn’t as relatable or great as an MC as people say.
He starts off as a guy who is severely bullied, then he finds himself in this 30s reading child p*rn and becoming the epitome of a creep to the nastiest degree possible.
He of course dies and is reborn in the new world, still feeling embarrassed and ashamed of his actions, and vows to make changes. But those changes happen so slowly that it’s hard to appreciate.
He’s a degenerate in the most disgusting way possible, and his new “father” in this Isekai world isn’t much different, though much better than Rudeus’s former self.
Rudeus is more of an escapism type of character (one who is more unrealistic) if compared to someone like SUBARU NATSUKI.
That’s because of the life Rudeus lives, on top of his old habits being present, and his unwillingness to change (only when he’s an adult in the Isekai sense).
Plus his behaviour is tolerated and he still lives the high life in spite of it.
Only a portion of people can truly relate to a character like Rudeus given his ethics and excuses.
5. Keyaruga (Redo Of Healer)
Keyaruga as he goes on to call himself, is originally Keyaru in the Redo Of Healer series. He is abused, r*ped, tortured, drugged, and is victimised in the most sickening ways possible by a woman who is a princess.
After finding a way to rewind time to get revenge, that’s what he does and the revenge is savage, to say the least.
Keyaru then erases the princess’s memories after torturing her and she is now a clean slate and is a companion of Keyaru unknowingly.
Keuaru’s harem grows as he saves more women and enlightens others while seeking revenge against all the people who traumatized him in ways that can’t be forgiven.
The reason fans love Keyaru is simple. He gets the revenge he wants against people who are vile, and everyone loves a story like this. But as a character, Keyaru is escapism material to the highest level, especially as far as being unrealistic.
That’s why he’s loved so much though.
Related: 20+ Of The Most Traumatic Anime Shows That Go Deep
6. Diablo (How Not To Summon A Demon Lord)
Diablo is the demon king in a video game, which the main character plays until he finds himself transported into that same game. And of course, he is the demon king Diablo when he arrives in the game.
Realizing this, he takes advantage of the situation but not in ways that are scummy. He’s actually a likeable character who is just enjoying his new life so to speak.
That being said, Diablo is clearly an escapism character in an Isekai setting who has it far too good for no good reason other than entertainment.
7. Mochizuki Touya (In Another World With My Smartphone)
Touya dresses slick, has a fashion sense, and is laid back. This makes him appealing for a lot of reasons as a character which translates over to the new world he finds himself in.
How does he die? God Himself kills Touya by accident with a strike of lightning, and as forgiveness, he gives Touya his personal phone number and grants him new powers in the new world he finds himself in.
Most of that power comes from his smartphone, which acts like a magical item of sorts.
The story is hilarious, not so much the writing. But more importantly, Touya is clearly escapist material to an unrealistic degree.
8. Rimuru Tempest (Tensei Slime)
Rimuru Tempest dies protecting someone in the streets and is stabbed as a result. His friends promise to delete all of his hard drives as a commitment to their friendship before saying their goodbyes.
In the new world, Rimuru is a slime, but quickly evolves into a human like form and gains immense powers by eating many creatures and items as a slime.
That also includes eating a dragon.
Then he decides to build his own empire, helps to quell drama between nations, focuses on giving rights to oppressed people, and goes on to become a respected person in the new world.
That also leads to attracting the best women who will do whatever he says.
9. Takashi Komuro (High School Of The Dead)
Takashi Komuro is the main character we see in the first episode of the anime series. Being a horror and action series, you’d think the anime would focus on violence, the zombie apologise, and trauma.
In reality, it becomes a horror series with fan service, ecchi moments, skirt shots, panty shots, and some of the most ridiculous content a horror series could ever have.
Takashi ends up with his own harem and some women are almost too eager to get naked for him in the zombie infested world they find themselves in.
Of course, he is the only “attractive guy” since the other male character is “fat”, which exasperates this you could say, but either way, he is still an escapist character who is also unrealistic.
10. Katsuragi Keima (The World God Only Knows)
Katsuragi is a likeable protagonist, but it doesn’t change the fact he is unrealistic and a form of escapism.
He is a guy who plays nothing but games. Handheld games to be precise. He’s always distracted by this.
A demon girl shows up at his doorstep one day, claiming he needs to help her “fix” the world, which means kissing girls to get rid of the bad spirits inside of them.
Or something to that effect in essence.
He reluctantly agrees, and this is ht premise of the anime.
Still, he is oddly entertaining as a character and so is the anime.
11. Sora (No Game No Life)
Sora from No Game No Life is like the early version of an escapist character from an Isekai series. He is smart, OP, knows how to talk shit, and is good with words.
In the new world he finds himself in with his sister, his life is perfect and he is about as OP as it gets.
There are stronger examples out there in the Isekai world, but Sora is definitely one of the escapist characters who are less realistic compared to others.
12. Kirito (Sword Art Online)
And there is Kazuto Kirigaya, also known as Kirito. It’s true, Kirito despite having some elements to his character that are relatable (like the episodes with the girl with black hair, and when she dies, etc).
That said, Kirito being so overpowered in the world of SAO (first season) and being a woman magnet can’t be ignored.
He’s one of the best examples of escapism characters regardless of how unrealistic vs realistic he may be in certain facets.
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How Kirito From Sword Art Online Influenced Modern Day Isekai Characters (Including Regular)
