Kicking off our list today is an incredibly popular Korean manhwa that’s making the leap to physical pages thanks to Yen Press.

After a party of six heroes struggles and fails to save the world from the apocalyptic Shadow World, the party’s magician gets a second chance at life. Desir Herman awakens thirteen years in the past and must rouse a new party to stop the greatest catastrophe in the human world.

Unfortunately for Desir, returning from the apocalypse hasn’t given him any special abilities beyond his knowledge of the future…but that knowledge won’t help when nobody is willing to listen to him. Can he really stop what’s coming? Or is the destruction of humanity an unavoidable fate?

As with other physical manhwa releases, readers can expect glossy full-color artwork when A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special is released in early July 2022.

Following a recent publication trend, Jingai Hime-sama, Hajimemashita - Free Life Fantasy Online (Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess) will come to readers in both manga and light novel formats this year.

“Full Dive” virtual reality — as popularized in series like Sword Art Online — takes center stage in this new light-hearted fantasy romp. Inexperienced gamer Tsukishiro Kotone dives into the world of ‘Free Life Fantasy Online’ and immediately chooses the hardest race to play without even realizing it! Now she’s stuck as a Zombie race designed for hardcore gamers… Can she possibly enjoy her second life when she’s not even alive to start with?!

Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess’s light novel will arrive in July, while manga readers will need to wait until September.

Okay, we’re cheating just a little — this title was announced after our original list was published. With a release date of June, we’re giving it a second chance with this updated list!

Adapted from the light novels of the same name, everything you need to know about Yoku Wakaranai Keredo Isekai ni Tensei Shiteita You Desu (This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World!) is there in the title. An enslaved orphan girl Ren awakens to her memories as a grown man from the planet Earth, and gains magical powers in the process.

Originally a research scientist, Ren must now use her magic — and her knowledge of chemistry and physics from her previous life — to create new tools and devices, break free of her slavery, and help the people of this new world!

This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! is due to hit bookshelves in June 2022.

After 15 light novels (and counting), Zettai ni Hatarakitakunai Dungeon Master ga Damin wo Musaboru made (Lazy Dungeon Master) is finally making the leap to manga this year!

The series follows Masuda Keima, a lazy boy who’ll do almost anything to avoid doing real work. Summoned to a fantasy world by a sentient dungeon core, Keima takes over the role of Dungeon Master and sets about creating the perfect self-functioning dungeon.

Along the way, Keima meets gorgeous adventurer girls and more dungeon cores, all in the name of creating the perfect dungeon that will never require him to work a day in his life!

Perfect for fans of KonoSuba, we recommend you check out this isekai manga when it releases in September 2022.

Our most highly anticipated isekai of 2022 is almost here! Magical Explorer - Eroge no Yuujin Kyara ni Tensei Shita Kedo, Game Chishiki Tsukatte Jiyuu ni Ikiru (Magical Explorer) is receiving a manga adaptation of its light novels.

Our main character finds himself reincarnated into an erotic fantasy game called “Magical★Explorer” – but he’s not the hero; instead, he’s stuck playing the unlucky side character to the lady-killer protagonist. In the original game, the protagonist can collect a harem of 24 beautiful heroines with cheat powers that also let him solo the game’s Demon King. His friend…not so much.

Unsatisfied with his lot in life, our main character decides to abandon his cheat of a friend, level up, gain power, and get the girls! After all, he’s surrounded by 24 of the hottest eroge girls in videogame history — and he’s discovered something nobody else has…magic! With newfound power, can our main character actually defeat the Demon King and get his own harem?!

This ecchi isekai will be reincarnating at your local bookstore in July 2022!

Let’s start our list with something a little different from the average reincarnation story. Ryu is an aging yakuza gangster determined to follow the honorable code of his gang despite his fragile body. When he’s ambushed by young thugs and meets his demise, he awakens in a fantasy world… and in the body of this world’s princess!

Out of place in more ways than one, this yakuza has a new lease on life, and he’s determined to teach this new world the meaning of honor. Ninkyou Tensei: Isekai no Yakuzahime (Yakuza Reincarnation) is a gender-bent twist with an interesting main character and a great setup. We’re excited to see how an aging gangster can bring his old creed to this new world, and tackle an ancient prophecy foretelling his arrival…!

Keep an eye out for Yakuza Reincarnation in March 2022.

Reincarnation is usually a one-way trip. Lose your life in the real world, awaken in another world with magical powers… but what if you could travel freely between the two dimensions?! That idea becomes reality for Yuuya Tenjou of Isekai de Cheat Skill o Te ni Shita Ore wa, Genjitsu Sekai o mo Musou Suru - Level Up wa Jinsei o Kaeta (I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too).

Yuuya has been bullied his whole life, but when he finds a doorway to another world, he gains access to cheat skills that give him unrivaled abilities! And not only that; the doorway lets him back into the ordinary world, too… Armed with newfound powers that make him powerful no matter which world he’s in, Yuuya now has a chance to turn his life around!

Cheat Skill in Another World has an interesting premise and breaks the unspoken rule that you can’t return from being isekai’d – so we’re really interested to see what else it’ll shake up when it releases in May this year!

There are plenty of office workers who’d love nothing more than to be spirited away from their desk and into a world without paperwork and computers… but for workaholic Yuji, accidentally being summoned to a fantasy world is a recipe for disaster. After all, who’s going to do that paperwork now?!

Tensei Kenja no Isekai Life - Daini no Shokugyou o Ete, Sekai Saikyou ni Narimashita is being released as My Isekai Life in English, but you might also know it by the title Life as a Reincarnated Sage in Another World - Gaining a Second Profession and Becoming the Strongest in the World. Just like the title suggests, Yuji quickly becomes one of the strongest ‘classes’ in the world – a Sage – along with his original class ability to befriend and control slime monsters!

The first volume of the manga is already out, and readers can look forward to the anime adaptation later this year, courtesy of studio Revoroot!

We’ll be honest – this is a brilliantly timed take on the current state of the world, and any author brave enough to tackle a virus-related story right now deserves your attention. The main character of Virus Tensei kara Isekai Kansen Monogatari (It’s That Reincarnated-as-a-Virus Story) meets his end at the hands of the infamous isekai truck, and reincarnates via a roulette wheel… rebirthing him as a virus, currently infecting a rat.

With every new body that our character infects, he rapidly gets new abilities – and before long he’s meeting new people and using his viral powers to defeat slavers, kill bad guys, and build an adventuring party to take on the evil infecting this world… pun intended?!

If you want to read about a sentient virus trying to do something good in a fantasy world, then you’re in luck, because It’s That Reincarnated-as-a-Virus Story already has its first volume out on shelves now!

Usually, the main character of an isekai is an ordinary Earth-born person without any skills. A regular, boring person, given a new chance to prove themselves and start all over again. That idea is turned on its head in Ookami wa Nemuranai (The Wolf Never Sleeps), which stars a seasoned fantasy adventurer named Lecan. Already a powerful and strong fighter, Lecan is questing for even grander conquests – and purposefully falls into another world to seek new strength.

This one-eyed wolf studies magic and medicine under a new teacher before beginning his dungeon exploration in this new world. The Wolf Never Sleeps sets itself apart in the isekai genre by starring a competent adventurer who must face newer and greater challenges than ever! The first volume of this manga adaptation will be released in April 2022.