While isekai series are plentiful nowadays, typically the protagonist is a lot less important than in other genres. While a good protagonist can make a isekai much better (or worse), typically people are sucked into different series due to their worldbuilding, action scenes, or even romance.

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Because so many isekai main characters share the same traits, a lot of them end up being pretty forgettable. But, for every forgettable isekai MC, there's also an incredibly memorable one. So, with that in mind, let's go over some of the most memorable isekai protagonists out there across the manga, manhwa, and even webtoon formats.

9 Walm

Record of Highserk War

• Author: Torutonen
• Illustrator: Saitou Yanomi

Starting things off with a rather dark first entry, it's a manga called Record of Highserk War. In it, instead of being summoned into another world as some 'grand hero' with overpowered abilities from the start, Walm was instead reborn as a random farmer's son and had to join the Highserk military just to survive. His modern day knowledge can't be of much help in a world where he has no power, no prestige, and is forced to fight for his life every day.

Record of Highserk War is one of the rare isekai where it really is a modern person struggling to survive in a fantasy world rather than being in a new world with tons of advantages and having everything handed to them.

8 Llyod Frontera

The Greatest Estate Developer

• Author: BK_Moon
• Illustrator: Manggi

This next series is by far the funniest entry on the list and it's called The Greatest Estate Developer. As far as isekai storylines and general plot goes, The Greatest Estate Developer is relatively unique but still falls into a lot of tropes, but in every other category it knocks it out of the park. The comedy especially only seems to get better and better over time simply because Lloyd Frontera and Javier Asrahan get closer and their banter gets funnier.

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If this series was ever adapted into an anime, however, the voice actor for Lloyd would need to be almost perfect, the art style of the manhwa would need to be mostly kept, and they would have to absolutely nail the ridiculous expressions of the characters. Drop the ball in any of those categories and an adaptation probably wouldn't be worth it.

7 Kim Gonja

SSS-Class Suicide Hunter

• Author: Shin Noah
• Illustrator: Mintaka Kim

SSS-Class Suicide Hunter, despite having a pretty rough title, has some of the most dedicated fans of any light novel or manhwa series out there. Some might argue that this isn't an isekai considering the 'tower' all these Hunters are going to is on Earth. However, as soon as they're in the tower, Hunters are brought to all kinds of different worlds depending on the floor, and Kim Gonja especially travels to different worlds whenever he dies and has to experience his killer's trauma.

In any case, this series absolutely deserves an adaptation for many reasons, but one of the most unique reasons has to be how much of the conflicts are solved with words. The characters in SSS-Class Suicide Hunter truly do talk things out whenever possible and express all their concerns and issues to reach the most amicable solution, and that's incredibly rare for any series, let alone a manga, manhwa, or anime.

6 Marnac

5

The Priest of Corruption

• Author: Sadadeum
• Illustrator: Yu

The Priest of Corruption is a newer series compared to a lot of the others on this list, but even with only around 50 chapters (at the time of writing this) this one is something special. This series goes into the concept of clerics or priests being in contracts with different gods at such an in-depth level that this alone makes it an interesting read. But, on top of this, the main character is interesting, the supporting cast is interesting, the fight scenes are great, and the story is pretty unpredictable as well.

It's not a perfect series by any means, PoC still falls into a couple oversaturated tropes and some bits of plot feel a bit contrived, but overall The Priest of Corruption would be an incredibly unique and enjoyable series to get an anime adaptation.

4 Lee Sungmin

Returning With Absolutely Nothing

• Author: Mogma
• Illustrator: Puppy Master

For the next series, this is one that probably doesn't have quite the cult followings as many of the other manga, manhwa, or webtoons on here, and it's a series called Returning With Absolutely Nothing. This isn't the 'standard' isekai setup, as it sort of mixs two common tropes into one as not only are people pulled into this world from all sorts of parallel worlds, but the main character also regresses after dying to when he was first transported to this world.

Lee Sungmin is the main character of this series, and nobody is harder on himself that Sungmin is. Despite striving for the entirety of his first life and working just as hard (if not harder) in his second life that has more advantages, Sungmin still commonly describes himself as a larvae crawling on the ground. Returning With Absolutely Nothing is a series with a lot of unique new additions to the isekai formula, some very well-written friendships, and is surprisingly deeply introspective as well.

3 Iris Lana Armelia

Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter

• Author: Reia
• Illustrator: Suki Umemiya

There are quite a few series at this point where the main character dies and is reincarnated into the romance game she was currently playing, but as the villainess. While that sounds like a hyper-specific setup, quite a few series fit this description. Accomplistments of a Duke's Daughter is one of those series, but one where the protagonist is incredibly competent. While someone like My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom's Catarina Claes is a great protagonist, she doesn't actually do a lot of buracratical stuff for a noble, and she usually just spends her time however she wants.

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Iris Lana Armelia is a bit different however, as she's immediately saddled with taking care of her fief as soon as she 'wakes up' in her new body. But, given that her memories have mixed with Iris', she immediately feels a deep love for her land and goes to work using all of her previous experience in a tax office to improve her family's fief as much as humanely possible. For those who love to read series about people running a government incredibly well (which is surprisingly a lot of people), the Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter is a fantastic pick.

2 Bjorn, Son Of Yandel

Surviving The Game as a Barbarian

• Author: Jung Yoon-Kang
• Illustrator: Midnight Studio

Surviving the Game as a Barbarian might just be one of the most inventive isekai series of all time. While it is another 'game addict gets transferred to the game he was playing' type of setup, StGaaB does everything so differently. Leveling is different in this setting, magic is different in this settings, gaining skills is different in this setting, even people being brought into the game world is done differently in this setting.

Essentially, the game or 'world' of this story, called Dungeon and Stone, is so absurdly difficult that even someone who spent 9 whole years trying to beat it still has to crawl on his hands and knees to survive on the first floor when he's brought into this world. It's a story absolutely worth an adaptation, or at the very least it needs more eyes on it.

1 Jude Bayer & Cordelia Chase

Ending Maker

• Author: Chwiryong
• Illustrator: Does

And last up is Ending Maker, an absolutely adorable romance series where two absolute game addicts (literally the number 1 and 2 top ranked players) are brought into their favorite game as prominent characters. Not only that, but the characters they've been 'reincarnated' as are engaged to each other. So now, two people who used to be rivals fighting for the top of the leaderboards suddenly have to get to know each other on a personal level, and it's honestly very cute.

On top of all this, the art and action scenes of Ending Maker is also very high quality. The only real downside of this series is that the manhwa doesn't have a ton of chapters out at the moment, so people just starting it will catch up quickly and if it's ever adapted it's likely to only be for a season at most.

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