The story about a character transported into a fantasy world, also known as an Isekai story, has been around for years. While various takes and gimmicks have emerged within the genre, it was the game-focused isekai, such as the first season of Sword Art Online, that truly brought it into the mainstream.
Speaking of game-focused isekai, one of the most interesting aspects of this particular brand of isekai is the existence of the Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and their interaction with the transported characters. With that in mind, here are some anime and manga that are set in a world with NPCs, ranked based on their MyAnimeList score. By the way, this list focuses on manga that hasn’t received an anime adaptation yet.
7 Quality Assurance in Another World
Fixing Bugs, Glitches, and NPCs
- Japanese Title: Kono Sekai wa Fukanzen Sugiru
- MyAnimeList Score: 6.54
- Release Date: Jul 6, 2024
- Type: Anime
Quality Assurance in Another World is a story of a veteran game debugger named Haga who finds himself stuck in a game that he is currently debugging. But rather than panic and be scared, Haga decides to simply continue doing his job. After all, there are still so many bugs and glitches in this game. But everything becomes even more complicated when an NPC who is supposed to perish early in the game—a curious young girl named Nikola—insists on joining him for his weird adventure.
As a debugger, Haga’s main duty is to make sure the game world, the game mechanics, and the NPCs work as intended. He can interact with NPCs like a regular person, but their response is limited, and they have to the story that has been written for them. That’s why Nikola’s existence is such an anomaly. In fact, she may even be a bug that Haga needs to fix one day.
6 Finding Avalon
Reincarnated as a Minor Antagonist
- Japanese Title: Saiaku no Avalon
- MyAnimeList Score: 6.75
- Release Date: Mar 14, 2023
- Type: Manga
The main character of this series used to be one of the top players of a highly popular VRMMO game called Dunex. However, just when he is about to try the latest update of the game, he is transported into the world of Dunex. Not as himself or the hero, but as one of the minor antagonists in the story.
This is the beginning of his difficult quest, where he tries to stay away from the NPCs as much as possible in order to keep the story intact while using his knowledge of the game to be as powerful as possible at the same time.
5 Sword Art Online
Interacting with the NPCs in the Aincrad Tower
Sword Art Online (SAO) is the story of Kirito and a thousand other players of a new fantasy VRMMO game called Sword Art Online who find themselves stuck in the game. What’s more, death in the game means death in the real world. The only way to log off the game is to conquer the 100 levels of the Aincrad tower, the main setting of the Sword Art Online.
Aside from hunting monsters and defeating the boss of every floor, the best thing about the first and arguably the best arc in the series, the Aincrad arc, is the world inside the game itself, particularly the NPCs. From owning stores and taverns to offering helpful quests to the players, the NPCs are an integral part of the Sword Art Online experience.
4 Speedrunner Cannot Return from the Game World
Defeating the Demon King in a Record-Breaking Time
- Japanese Title: RTA Sousha wa Game Sekai kara Kaerenai
- MyAnimeList Score: 7.47
- Release Date: Jan 31, 2023
- Type: Manga
A speedrunner is someone who exploits all kinds of tricks and glitches in order to complete a game as fast as possible. So what would happen if one of the best speedrunners in the world got stuck in a game that he has been practicing for months? Absurdity, chaos, and hilarity. That’s what happens.
In this series, the hero is summoned into the game world, the queen welcomes the hero and give him the holy sword, he ignores the queen and the sword, get out of the castle, uses various bugs and glitches to run past time-wasting NPCs, goes straight to the Demon King’s lair, and uses a known exploit to kill the Demon King. All of these happen in the first chapter of the manga. Unfortunately, beating the Demon King is not enough. Our speedy hero needs to vanquish every root of evil in order to return to his original world. That means he has no choice but to the story of the game and interact with every important NPC and tackle every quest.
3 The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess
Summoned as the Assistant of the Main Antagonist
- Japanese Title: Genkai OL-san wa Akuyaku Reijou-sama ni Tsukaetai
- MyAnimeList Score: 7.71
- Release Date: Aug 23, 2022
- Type: Manga
Natori Midori is on the train home after being fired from her office job when she’s suddenly engulfed by a blinding light. When she opens her eyes, Midori finds herself in a world of her favorite visual novel game. However, she is not summoned as the hero of this new yet familiar world, but rather as the assistant to one of the major antagonists in the story.
Quality Assurance, Finding Avalon, and the Fed-Up Office Lady may have different settings, and even different subgenres, for that matter, but the way the main characters treat the NPCs is quite the same. They all know how the story is supposed to go, and they try their best to stay away and keep the story intact while also doing their own thing at the same time.
2 Overlord
Powerful NPCs for the Newly Transported Dark Guild
- Japanese Title: Overlord
- MyAnimeList Score: 7.90
- Release Date: Jul 7, 2015
- Type: Anime
Overlord is different than the other titles on this list because it technically combines two types of isekai. Suzuki Satoru is a regular Japanese man who finds himself stuck as his main character in his favorite game, Yggdrasil. But then Satoru, who goes under the name of Momonga in the game, is transported to a fantasy world along with his entire guild building, the Great Tomb of Nazarick, and the many NPCs that he and his guildmates created.
As the guild leader and the only member transported to the fantasy world, Momonga becomes the undisputed ruler, commanding an army of powerful NPCs. For the most part, these NPCs have free will and can do whatever they want. However, they are still bound by their original programming, such as absolute loyalty to Nazarick and Momonga or their duty to defend Nazarick from invaders.
1 Log Horizon
A New Society Filled with Adventurers and NPCs
- Japanese Title: Log Horizon
- MyAnimeList Score: 7.90
- Release Date: Oct 5, 2013
- Type: Anime
Log Horizon is similar to Sword Art Online in the fact that they both are stories about gamers who are stuck in their favorite VRMMO game. Both series involved a lot of players who had to accept the reality of living in the new fantasy/RPG world that they were transported into. Furthermore, they also have to interact with the NPCs, who can be considered the native people of their new world.
The main difference between the two is the fact that Log Horizon focuses more on cooperation, rather than individual action, like in Sword Art Online. That’s why we see an amazing swordsman like Kirito slashing through monsters in Sword Art Online, while Log Horizon offers the mind-blowing sight of hundreds of players working together in a massive raid against powerful monsters.
Due to the social-centered nature of the story, Log Horizon also has more NPC interaction compared to other similar series. From buying tools and groceries from NPC vendors to arrogant adventurers harassing them out of a superiority complex, NPCs play an integral role in Log Horizon.
