5 Great Isekai Anime Where the Main Character is Betrayed

In many ways, Shield Hero is the defining work of the ‘isekai heroes who are betrayed’ sub-genre. Naofumi’s journey, as the title suggests, is the ultimate underdog isekai story.

In The Rising of the Shield Hero, four ordinary people are summoned to be Cardinal Heroes, each bestowed a legendary weapon. Life is sweet for the Spear, Bow and Sword Heroes, but the Shield Hero is seen as powerless and is largely ridiculed.

Naofumi is summoned to take this unfortunate role and to make matters worse, he is quickly betrayed and vilified by the very people who pulled him into their world. With nothing more to lose, Naofumi distances himself from the kingdom and works on his strengths to find a way back home, taking a slave girl as his assistant.

The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 1 was widely praised by isekai fans when it first aired in 2019. Shield Hero Season 2 aired in 2022, while a third season is currently in the works.

Arifureta has a very similar plotline to Shield Hero, although the phrase ‘climbing back to the top’ could be used more literally here.

In Arifureta, a whole high-school class is summoned to a fantasy world and tasked with saving mankind. However, while most of them are given powerful abilities, Hajime is left short-changed.

During an expedition, Hajime is betrayed by one of his classmates and pushed into a deep, dark abyss, where he needs to fight off monsters and rise to the top with the help of unlikely new allies.

The betrayal in The World's Finest Assassin is slightly different to most isekai anime in that it happens before reincarnation!

The story, as the title suggests, follows the world’s finest assassin who, one day, is betrayed by the organisation he served. Dying full of regret, he’s given a chance to put his skills to use in a fantasy world.

Reborn as Lugh Tuatha Dé, the son of a noble family of assassins, he’s given a simple mission – kill the hero to save the world.

The World's Finest Assassin is based on a light novel of the same name by Rui Tsukiyo, who also wrote Redo of Healer.

Tsukimichi remains one of the most-loved isekai anime out there and a much-watch for fans of the genre.

Makoto Misumi thinks he’s struck gold when he is reincarnated into another world to marry a beautiful goddess. However, the goddess deems him so unworthy that she refuses to look at him, casting him to the furthest corner of the world and removing his ability to understand human language.

Awakening to his magical strength and a new ability to understand all languages except humans, Makoto begins building a community for various monsters and demi-humans he comes across on his journey. With new allies, Makoto tries to get himself back to his kind.

Whether what happens in Trapped in a Dating Sim is a true betrayal is up for debate. However, the show is littered with people bending the rules and manipulating events for their own gain.

In Mobseka, a hardcore gamer grinds his way through a terrible dating sim game, only to find himself isekai’d into it after an unfortunate turn. What’s worse, he is playing a mob character in a world weighed heavily in favour of the main character and the handsome princes she tries to win over.

Not willing to accept his lot, Leon uses his knowledge of the game to get himself within touching distance of a happy, wealthy life. However, strange happenings throw the game out of its previously-predictable pattern.

Related: Will There Be a Season 2 of Trapped in a Dating Sim?