The battle against the demon lord is finally at hand and the hero’s party pulls out their big guns betting everything on a powerful magic spell. The hero of Naral Island has the demon lord cornered, the magical chant is done, the magic is fired off and something goes a little wrong. We suddenly find the hero and her party back at their first day of adventurer school with no memory of the post-school battle with the demon lord. Oh, one more thing, the demon lord time traveled with them, looks like a cute 10-year-old and has complete recollection of the hero’s quest and has become their instructor. The novice adventurers, Yusha the Hero, Seira the Priest, Mei the Mage and Fai Fai the warrior join their other classmates as they learn the ropes to monster and treasure hunting.

The absolute biggest similarity between the two shows is they both bring the cute. You won’t find a cuter group of adventurers mixing it up with the monsters of their respective worlds. The art direction in both shows supplies exaggerated expressions for each of the characters that help break the fourth wall with excellent comedic effect. The nuts and bolts of both programs are similar too, except Endoro~! is not an isekai story. Mile and Yusha are both stronger than the average hero and also tend to be a little airheaded, each lacking in common sense at times. The adventurers’ parties are also both composed of cute girls who buckle down and battle it out when needed. But they can also giggle and have a slumber party by the end of the episode. We know if you love Adele and her adventures, you’ll absolutely love the adorableness and adventures of Endoro~!

You take the plot of Harry Potter, apply rule six (every fictional character has an opposite-gender counterpart) and make the gifted prodigy wizard into a completely untalented klutz and you have Little Witch Academia. Akko Kagari has dreamed of becoming a witch since childhood, despite the profession being seen as an anachronism of the past. The plucky protagonist gets into her dream school, Luna Nova Magical Academy, and begins a magical education despite having no natural ability to cast spells. Little Witch Academia is the anime for a comical Hogwartian adventure and is packed with all the ingredients that spell a good time: stern headmasters in pointy hats, beautiful tsunderes, yuri subplots, mind-altering drugs, and people turned into shrubs. The signature pliable people proportions lets you know its Studio Trigger.

Akko has no talent and Adele (Mile) has loads of talent but despite the difference in their skill levels, they are both walking disaster areas. Akko with her impulsive nature and ineptitude at practicing magic tends to create problems for her and others. Adele often doesn’t know her own strength or creates massive misunderstandings due to her knowledge gained from 18 years in the modern world. The two anime both involve a tight-knit group of female cast members who create tight bonds and stand out in their specialized schools. Adele and her classmates are exceptional adventurers and passed their tests with flying colors. Akko and her friends also stand out at school, but because they are known for creating problems and school-wide catastrophes. The hijinks of Akko and her friends come with a lot of heart. If you are looking for an anime that is a bit silly and has a message about believing in one’s self you should check out Little Witch Academia.

Yuuko’s family suffers from a great curse: poverty. The misfortune they suffer isn’t simply due to the stagnating economy of Japan, either. The Yoshida family is literally suffering from a curse placed on them by the Light Clan. The curse was passed down to Yuuko and her modern family from past generations, forcing them to live in poverty as punishment for being part of the Dark Clan, aka Demons. Ancient curses aside, Yuuko lives the relatively normal life of a high school girl. Her average life, poverty withstanding, takes a devilish turn when she wakes up one morning with horns on her head. She was been chosen by her ancestor Lilith to take on the demon mantle, avenge her clan and release them from the curse by killing a magical girl. The challenge is a bit staggering considering that fellow student Momo is not only the magical girl in question, but is also super powerful and keeps wanting to protect her recently cornicle-ed classmate. We watch this unlikely pair as they form a friendship in a very cute supernatural slice of life.

There are a few really good similarities between Adele’s adventures in another world and Yuuko’s otherworldly adventures in our own. The heroines in both anime are relatively normal girls, if not a bit dorky, thrust into very odd situations and react to them with an amazing amount of sanity. Despite suddenly waking up one day in the body of a ten-year-old girl from a noble family, Adele still retained her friendly and nerdy nature. Yuuko has an equally weird experience in that she wakes up with horns corkscrewed on the sides of her head like Princess Leia’s buns and doesn’t freak out -- nor do her friends for that matter. She simply accepts her fate and decides to be the best demon she can be if only to lift the curse of poverty. The shows also air in a slice-of-life format. Adele’s exploits also tend to be filled with many small adventures with tidy conclusions after 22 minutes. Yuuko’s exploits are also a slice of life as she tries, with the help of the magical girl that should be her enemy, to grow as a demon. You will tune in for the cute and stay for the quirkiness of both of these weird heroines.

Illyasviel von Einzbern lives a normal life. She goes to school, hangs out with her friends, watches anime, and loves her family. Illya’s life is boring in general, that is until a runaway magic wand named Ruby enters her life. The sentient and mischievous wand had dumped its previous owner, Rin, after becoming fed up with her constant bickering with, Luvia, the holder of Ruby’s sister wand Sapphire. Ruby gives Illya the hard sell on becoming a magical girl and when Illya wisely refuses, Ruby then tricks the schoolgirl into a contract making the average student a frilly outfit wearing overpowered preteen magical girl. It doesn’t take long for Rin to track down her eloping wand and then draft Illya into completing the mission originally tasked to her, retrieving the mysterious class cards scattered all around her hometown. The long and the short of Illya’s story as a magical girl contains all the excitement of the Fate Universe but is filled with comedy, fun, and love for a traditional magical girl series.

“I want to be normal,” is the statement is echoed by the heroines in both series. Misato Kurihara/Adele/Mile not only had that request of the god that reincarnated her but she also often tries to hide the fact that she is exceptional because she simply wants to be just like every other girl. Illya struggles with balancing the idea of being a magical girl and fighting life-and-death battles and living her normal life with her family and friends. The heroines of both series are also dorks. Illya is at times naïve to a comical extent while Adele is often the dumbest smart person in the room leaving her companions to sigh in exasperation. We like both of these anime because they don’t take their genres too seriously. You’re likely to have many laugh out loud moments as you enjoy the antics of Adele and Illya.

Some guys have all the luck. The statement has never been so true as it is with the story of Shin Walford. A big portion of Shin’s good fortune came at his birth; despite being orphaned in the woods, he was discovered and adopted by Merlin Walford, the greatest mage of his day. The young Shin quickly learned magic and it isn't just because he had a skilled teacher, his memories from his past life gave him a unique ability to visualize and use magic. He does have one real flaw that becomes evident when he becomes a teenager, the great sage that raised him didn’t teach him a lick of common sense. Merlin attempts to correct the gap in his education by sending him from his remote home in the woods to a private school for mages in the capital. There the real fun begins as Shin mingles with royalty, fights bad guys, gains loads of friends, and even finds the girl of his dreams.

Shin is the embodiment of the overpowered main character in an isekai anime and so is Adele for that matter. Adele understands that she is overpowered and makes a concerted effort to rein in her powers. Shin, on the other hand, has no clue he is overpowered; when he finally starts meeting other students at the school, he causes problems to great comedic effect. Adele and Shin also use the knowledge they gained in their previous lives to get a leg up on the current society they live in. Adele’s story is absolutely isekai, you constantly hear references to her old life in Japan, she even has Japanese Folktale Time with her friends. Shin, however, rarely references life in Japan and could very well be an overpowered native of the world in which he lives, making the story just simply a magic school fantasy story and not isekai. We think regardless that the fun reactions of his friends, the general likability of the cast, and the story being self-aware of its tropes make it a fun watch.

We know life can come at you fast and even more so your end of life can arrive sooner than you expect. Satoru Makami came to understand that all too well as he lay on the sidewalk bleeding out after being stabbed by a random criminal. He lamented all of the things he wanted to do in his near 40 years and never got to do. As Satoru’s body grew cold a strange voice filled his head asking him various questions until his consciousness faded. The average office worker that was once known as Satoru Makami then awakes to the strangest feeling of not being able to see but simply sensing the world around him. He discovers to his surprise he has been reincarnated as a slime. The journey of this unconventional hero is the story of how a nice guy can finish first. Satoru, who goes by the name Rimuru in is new life, may be overpowered but seems to win more battles with his pleasant personality and his earnest belief that all people and monsters can get along.

A big similarity between Adele and Rimuru is they both have unique ways of looking at things rooted in their distinctly Japanese mindset. The hero and heroine both believe in the idea of the common good and how a community is better when it works together and shares sacrifice, beliefs that are in stark contrast to the new worlds they both inhabit that are filled with more Darwinian thinking. Adele and Rimuru both have winning personalities that just make you like them, especially with their cute antics.