Summary
In a typical isekai, the protagonist adjusts to their new world fairly quickly and then starts their journey to make a life for themselves. In some stories, however, getting isekai’d is the worst thing to ever happen, and the main character is desperate to find a way back home. Their life may be in danger or the world itself could be hostile. Either way, they hate the fantasy world they end up in.
Characters who hate being isekai’d directly oppose the common archetype that protagonists normally embody. They aren’t loners nor are they disenfranchised from everyday life, which enforces their desire to return. Their isekai adventures feel more harrowing because they are dealing with psychological stress on top of everything else.
1Please, Let Me Return Home
Running Away From Her Killer Fiancé
Being isekai’d into a romance novel is a dream come true for many, but for the protagonist, it happens at the worst time. When meeting her crush after school, the main character falls into a mirror and becomes Beatrice Ayinphilos, the leading lady of the story who is killed by her fiancé. Now she’s caught up in a murder case where she must prove her innocence.
Unlike other isekai that involveweb comics or books, this story features a protagonist who knows absolutely nothing. The main character is unique in the sense that she has no idea what story she’s in or how it ends. There’s only so much she can do to avoid death flags when she doesn’t know what’s going on. It’s a fun and fresh strategy to make the story more unpredictable and exciting.
2Is This Hero For Real?
Born To Be Normal, Forced To Be A Hero
Being forcefully volunteered to do something can feel pretty bad, especially when it’s something like saving an entire world. When his entire class is summoned by a goddess to become heroes, Hansoo Kang is the only one to opt-out. However, instead of being sent back to Earth, he’s stranded in adark forest and cursed. Fortunately, a mysterious god is willing to help him get back home.
This is one of the few manhwa where the protagonist truly doesn’t want to go to another world, which colors the story much differently. Rather than a magical experience, Hansoo is forced to fight for his life as he’s made to be a villain by the goddess. Every step of the way, his only goal is to go home.
3Escape From Another World
Getting Isekai’d And Become A Convicted Felon
Being summoned to another world would usually be exciting, especially when given special abilities, but in this manhwa, Kim Seojoon is immediately framed for killing a princess and sent to a maximum security prison. Despite his innocence, he gets embroiled in a fight between multiple factions, and he quickly learns he can only trust himself. He needs to navigate the ensuing conflict while also searching for a way home.
Escape From Another Worldisa thrilling adventurethat portrays the darker side of isekai. Instead of a fun fantasy adventure, Seojoon has endured torture, imprisonment, and fights to the death to survive. His only motivation is his family, who were left behind when he was isekai’d, but to see them again, he’ll have to change completely as he faces the challenges ahead.
4FFF-Class Trash Hero
The Most Evil Hero To Ever Exist
Being chosen as a herois common in isekai, and most people would jump at the chance. Hansoo Kang was the same until he experienced it firsthand. After being summoned to Fantasia, he spends ten years on a quest to defeat the Demon Lord, which he does. However, despite his victory, Hansoo isn’t transported home; he’s sent to the beginning of his adventure for failing to be a proper hero.
FFF-Class Trash Herois a parody of typical hero stories that focuses on a character who hates being isekai’d. Many common isekai elements are used to show Hansoo’s dissatisfaction with the world, which motivates him to do more evil than good. It’s just an entertaining manhwa that has fun with its characters and over-the-top situations.
5Returning With Absolutely Nothing
The Time Travel Story Without Any Power-Ups
Time travel in manhwa often comes with second chances, allowing the main character to become better and stronger than ever. While that is the same in this manhwa, it comes with a healthy dose of pessimism. Sungmin is transported to the world of Aeria, a dangerous place that connects dimensions and ruthlessly weeds out the weak. He spends many years suffering as a classless until his untimely death when a special item takes him back to his first day in Aeria.
Returning With Absolutely Nothingis interesting because it’s true to its title. Sungmin is first isekai’d to Aeria with no class, resulting in a life full of strife and danger that no one would want to live. Now living his second life, he only has his memory to rely on tobecome more powerful. The reason he doesn’t give up then and there is because he wants to beat the system and live a better life.
6Kill The Villainess
The Girl Who Hates Being Isekai’d
Most isekai protagonists are happy, or at least excited, to be transferred to a fantasy world, but that’s not the case inKill the Villainess. Having become the minor villainess Eris Miserian, the protagonist hates that she’s been iseka’d from day one and has been looking for ways to return home ever since, resulting in multiple attempts to end her own life. Unfortunately, she can only play her part to completion.
This manhwa does a great job of highlighting the difficulty of suddenly becoming someone else, focusing on Eris’s apathy toward the fantasy world and her mistrust of the other characters. Very few isekai stories portray the dissonance of identity that comes with becoming another person outside a few lines in the beginning. It makesher nihilistic perspectiveeasier to understand and justifies her actions in the plot.
7Villains Are Destined To Die
Living As The Villain In A Game World
Otome games aren’t known for being dangerous, but for a villainess, they might as well be an actual death game. When a college student is transported into a popular otome game, she becomes the story’s antagonist, Penelope, thehated daughterof the Eckhart family. Rather than a fantasy romance, she’s living in a nightmare as a single mistake will result in her death.
Although the fantasy world is part of a game, in many ways, the protagonist is playing through her real life as the two are nearly the same. She’s just using a different name. Her hatred of the isekai world isn’t explicitly stated, but it’s implied as she connects Penelope’s struggles with her own. Her desperation to leave becomes greater when things become more dangerous.
