One of the best things about anime is its ability to transport the characters to literally anywhere that can be imagined and because of that we have a field of vibrant and amazing worlds, planes, realities, planets, dimensions, time periods, and so on to travel through. So fantasy anime worlds regularly take us to amazing and vibrant places (or standard pseudo-medieval western style kingdoms but we take the generic with the amazing).
I mean, I love fantasy novels but there’s no denying that fantasy movies have always been limited by what they can create on screen. While the modern era is overcoming this issue through computer generated worlds it has always been a challenge to really feel absorbed by a live action fantasy.
When done well, you can be completely absorbed by the world constructed by an anime. I’m only going to explore a few worlds that I’ve encountered through anime, but I’d love to hear about your favourite anime world in the comments.
Which fantasy anime worlds left an impression?
When I started thinking about the worlds anime had taken me to, I realised I remembered the ones that were visually striking, seemed to have a rich history and political world, and seemed more than just a gimmick for the story (meaning that it felt like life was happening there anyway and we just happened to be seeing one story that took place in amongst a whole range of stories that could have been told).
1. Disboard (No Game No Life)
For the moment, let’s ignore the over-the-top and slightly psychedelic colour scheme, and the fact that the name of the world feels like the creators just gave up arguing about what to actually call it. What I like about Disboard is that everything in the world is decided through games and there are clear and known rules that everyone must abide by. Imagining a world where everything follows a very clear logic and all conflict has an established method of being solved opens up all sorts of possibilities.
For a fantasy anime world it is pretty well thought out if not quite as well explored as I would like.
Now our protagonists in No Game No Life, collectively known as Blank, set about ruling the world. Not so much because they really want to rule but more because they like to win and they thought it looked like a great game. But what else could someone do if they were transported into this world? Suddenly that scrabble game has a lot more riding on it than just pride.
I also love that the history of the world feels authentic. This world doesn’t just exist because our protagonists are going to end up there. The people here have been going about their lives, trying their best and succeeding or failing for a long time without them and that history has an impact on the events our protagonists encounter.
There’s also a sense that there’s so much more still to explore in this world when the anime comes to an end.
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2. Everywhere in Tsubasa Chronicles
I’ve been told, by someone who could not stand this series, that this is worth watching just for the travel through multiple dimensions. Every few episodes we’re hitching a ride to a new world with its own rules and logic, but beautiful even while uncovering its host of problems. The biggest problem with the worlds in this series is you never get to stay long enough and you feel like you’ve really only scratched the tip of the iceberg when you are whisked away to another location.
That, and after awhile you have to wonder where are the worlds where things aren’t all coming to an end right when the protagonists show up (very much like the Sliders TV series way back when). Still, if you are after some truly gorgeous fantasy worlds (and some sci-fi ones as well), Tsubasa isn’t going to disappoint.
Admittedly, our characters really only do stay for a short period before they move on to another world, but that just leaves the audience wanting more. One or two of the worlds don’t get enough time to be more than a single town or location, but even then it never feels like that is all that exists. There’s a sense that there is a bigger world that our characters just don’t have time to explore.
On the other hand, the method of transportations and the reason for the dimensional hopping in Tsubasa isn’t great, but what if you could just up and go to another dimension for a short period of time and then return home? Would you?
3. The world of Hitsugi no Chaika
It may be pretty standard fantasy fair when it comes to appearance, a quasi medieval setting overlaid with a bit of magic and steampunk inventions, but the world Chaika travels through is fascinating (even if inconsistent). The magical creatures are varied and dangerous.
An array of magical powers are being used and magic power itself can be drawn from memories and remains, which has a whole extra layer of creepiness when you think about it. The world is recovering from a war but hardly at peace leaving an intriguing political situation to learn about and the landscape has enough variety to certainly keep you from getting bored.
Honestly, I have no idea what this world is called as I don’t recall it being mentioned in the anime (specific locations are named but I don’t know about the world), but of all the similar fantasy worlds out there, this would be my pick in terms of interest. It’s a shame the second season of this anime lost the plot a bit because this one had so much potential and even though the plot kind of fell over, I still think this is a fantasy world worth exploring.
Other anime worlds I’d love to see include Soul Society (Bleach), anywhere in Full Metal Alchemist, the world in Sunday Without God, and as long as I had a lot of protection, the world from The Irregular at Magic High School.
So what about you? What anime worlds have caught your eye?
Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James
Great choices all but my first thought was – ya know that scene in the first arc of SAO where Kirito is lounging under a shade tree and Asuna comes over to berate him and ends up napping, too? Yeah, I wanna live there. Again, if we could take a miss on the “real death” situation, of course. I am all for the traveling to different worlds or dimensions, spending a bit of time, and moving on. I more or less lived my life that way – living in a city for a few years, traveling around, choosing a new city, moving there for a few years… it’s gypsy feet I got. I like to stay long enough to get to know the place, and I’m not agin going back if there’s more to see, but so many interesting beautiful places so little time…
SAO without the whole death thing would be awesome.
Wow, I haven’t seen anybody talk about Chaika in a long time. I was really into that series and its spiritual predecessor Scrapped Princess, so it’s cool seeing it pop up on a list like this.
I kind of wish the second season of Chaika had been better. If it had stayed as well put together as season one it could have been a truly must watch fantasy.
I love escaaflowne’s world and would love to see more of it outside the main story, but Princess Tutu’s world would be fascinating.
There are just so many great worlds out there. You could never see all the ones you loved.
I would probably say the world in the Fate series. Idk why but it’s a pretty cool place and I like it. I also like the London in Pandora Hearts. Though it doesn’t look like much, it’s just beautiful and filled with danger and darkness.
I’d love to see Amestris and Xing from FMA for sure. This is showing my age a bit but, the world of Twelve Kingdoms would be awesome, it’s kind of like a fantasy version of Asia, with mythological creatures and themes everywhere. Twelve Kingdoms was written by the woman who wrote Shiki but its quite a bit older I think. …I’d also like to see Tokyo-3 and the Geofront from Eva. >.>
Tokyo 3 and the Geofront would be cool but I don’t know that I could put up with the continuous life or death situations that living there would entail.
Okay, I’m going to be the really boring person in the room and say I’d love to visit the Earths of either Dragon Ball or anything Shotaro Ishinomori related, simply to figure out how the average civilian deals with all the aliens, monsters, evil organizations and near-apocalypses attendant to those worlds. That and the world of One Piece.
I love Cephiro from Magic Knight Rayearth, it was one of those worlds that pulled me in from the getgo because of how fleshed out it seemed. Agree with Soul Society too, and Last Exile’s world is just so interesting to me, all be it not the most well fleshed out. Kamisama Kiss’ supernatural world is really well done too! And even though Inuyasha suffers from being far too long for it’s content, futile Japan was a really fun place to visit with Kagome and the gang XD
Last Exile’s world was really cool. I would have liked to have learned more about it.
I’ve never watched Magic Knight Rayearth or Inuyasha though.