20 Best Anime series like The Twelve Kingdoms (2002)

Arslan is the heir apparent of Pars, a strong nation that sits at the hear of the trade route connecting the East and the West. When the pagan nation of Lusitania begins an invasion of Pars, the timid Arslan is confronted with battle for the first time. His worst anxieties are realized the Parsian army falls for a Lusitanian stratagem and are routed. He barely escapes with his life, thanks to the loyal and indomitable warrior Daryun. Together they will stand against the invasion and the cruelties of fate that are about to blow down on Pars.

One day, a city suddenly disappears. Takuya, a professional by-the-contract courier and lone wolf, meets Yuki, the only survivor from the city's extinction. The two rely on a message from Yuki's father, who was heard to be missing, and head toward the disappeared city, Lost. However, unexpected obstacles strike before the pair, with the reality especially shocking for Yuki. Before them are the feelings of those left behind, a mysterious group manipulating in the shadows, and unveiling the hidden conspiracy. Takuya and Yuki, who both were initially strangers, would deepen their bond during the journey and unravel the mystery of the Lost city.

Gayus and the beautiful but cruel sword-wielder Gigina are "special equationists," individuals that manipulate the equations that govern world's laws thus allowing fantastic and deadly results. These two bounty hunters are caught up in a battle with dragons in the city of Eridana and in the intrigue of great nations.

The Vision of Escaflowne is a 26-episode Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise Studios and directed by Kazuki Akane. It premiered in Japan on April 2, 1996 on TV Tokyo, with the final episode airing on September 24, 1996. Sony's anime satellite channel, Animax also aired the series, both in Japan and on its various worldwide networks, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. The series is licensed for Region 1 release by Bandai Entertainment.The series follows a teenage high school girl named Hitomi, who finds herself pulled from Earth to the planet Gaea when a boy named Van appears on the high school track while battling a dragon. In Gaea, she is caught in the middle of a war as the Zaibach Empire attempts to take over Gaea. Van, with aid from Allen, commands his mystical mech Escaflowne in the struggle to stop the Zaibach Empire. Hitomi's fortune telling powers blossom in Gaea as she becomes the key to awakening Escaflowne and to stopping Zaibach's plans.While the anime series was in production, two very different manga retellings were also developed and released: a shōnen version of the story entitled The Vision of Escaflowne and a shōjo retelling titled Hitomi—The Vision of Escaflowne. In addition, a second shōjo adaptation called Escaflowne—Energist's Memories was released as a single volume in 1997. The story was novelized in a series of six light novels by Yumiko Tsukamoto, Hajime Yatate, and Shoji Kawamori. A movie adaptation, Escaflowne: The Movie was released on June 24, 2000, but bears only a basic resemblance to the original series. Four CD soundtracks and a drama CD have also been released in relation to the series.

Claymore is a dark fantasy manga series written and illustrated by Norihiro Yagi. The series initially premiered in the now defunct Monthly Shōnen Jump in the May 2001 issue. When the magazine was canceled in June 2007, the series was temporarily moved to Weekly Shōnen Jump where it was still published monthly. When Jump Square was introduced in November 2007, the series was moved to it. The individual chapters are published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with 23 volumes released as of December 2012. Madhouse adapted the first eleven volumes of the series into a twenty-six episode anime series. Directed by Hiroyuki Tanaka the series premiered in Japan on NTV on April 3, 2007 and ran until September 25, 2007. A CD soundtrack for the anime series, and a CD of character songs using the anime voice actresses were released on July 25, 2007 and September 27, 2007, respectively. The Claymore manga is licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media. It released the first volume of the series on April 4, 2006 and has released 21 volumes as of November 6, 2012. The anime adaptation is licensed for release in North America by Funimation Entertainment, which has released the first DVD for the series in Fall 2008 and released the entire series on Blu-ray in Spring 2010. Madman Entertainment has licensed the anime for release in Australia and New Zealand and the anime is sub-licenced by Manga Entertainment for UK distribution.

The theft of the Greater Grail from Fuyuki City leads to a splintered timeline in which the Great Holy Grail War is waged on an unprecedented scale.

Iwatani Naofumi was summoned into a parallel world along with 3 other people to become the world's Heroes. Each of the heroes respectively equipped with their own legendary equipment when summoned, Naofumi received the Legendary Shield as his weapon. Due to Naofumi's lack of charisma and experience he's labeled as the weakest, only to end up betrayed, falsely accused, and robbed by on the third day of adventure. Shunned by everyone from the king to peasants, Naofumi's thoughts were filled with nothing but vengeance and hatred. Thus, his destiny in a parallel World begins...

Pacifica Casull is the most feared and hated person by the followers of the God Mauser. Known as the Scrapped Princess, she is the poison that will destroy the world. To avoid being killed by the zealots of Mauser, Pacifica and her adoptive brother and sister leave the village of Manhurin. Her brother, Shannon, is an expert with the sword while Racquel is proficient with magic. At every step of the way, however, someone is constantly trying to kill Pacifica, hoping to somehow avert the catastrophe that is supposed to befall the world on her 16th birthday.

Friendless college girl Sorawo finds a door to another world one day — a strangely post-apocalyptic-feeling Otherside with serene emptiness, which becomes her new “special place.” There, she meets one other human, the beautiful and independent Toriko, and they explore the abandoned Otherside together.

In regards to the MMORPG Cross Reverie, Sakamoto Takuma boasted an overwhelming strength that was enough for him to be called the Demon King by the other players. One day, he gets summoned to another world with his appearance in the game. There, there are two people that insist "I am the real summon master." Takuma gets slave-turning magic used for summoned beasts cast on him by the girls―However, the peculiar ability "Magic Reflection" is invoked! The ones that were turned to slaves were the girls!Takuma was bewildered. He's the strongest magician but, he doesn't have any social skills. Panicking, the first words that came out were the ones that he used inside the game role-playing the Demon King?! "I'm amazing you say? Of course I am. I am Diablo... The one feared as the Demon King!"This is the story the Demon King (acting) that would soon inspire the world and his other world adventure that he plunges through with his absolute strength, raise the curtain!

In some distant future, it's common knowledge that all wolves have been extinct for 200 years. However, it seems this is false as wolves have not disappeared but rather have taken human form. Kiba, a lone wolf, wanders into a city, trying to sniff out the Lunar Flowers that are supposed to lead whoever follows the scent to paradise. The source of the smell is Cheza, a girl who sleeps in what appears to be suspended animation in a lab. She and the wolves are drawn to each other, and Kiba hopes to find paradise once he finds the source of the scent of Lunar Flowers. However, once Kiba finds Cheza, she is kidnapped by a mysterious person called Darcia, and his search begins anew. Before he leaves the city, he meets 3 other wolves, Tsume, Hige and Toboe. All four wolves have very different personalities and ideas, and their friendliness towards each other is a little rough around the edges. However, they soon band together to continue to search for paradise.

Seventeen-year-old Hajime Nagumo is your average, everyday otaku. However, his simple life of pulling all-nighters and sleeping in school is suddenly turned upside down when he, along with the rest of his class, is summoned to a fantasy world! They're treated like heroes and tasked with the duty of saving the human race from utter extinction. But what should have been any otaku's wet dream quickly turns into Hajime's nightmare. While the rest of his class are blessed with godlike powers, Hajime's job, Synergist, only has a single transmutation skill. Ridiculed and bullied by his classmates for being weak, he soon finds himself in despair. Will he be able to survive in this dangerous world of monsters and demons with only a glorified blacksmith's level of strength?

I, the protagonist, was just an ordinary high school girl, but suddenly I was reincarnated as a spider monster in a fantasy world. Not only that, but I awakened in a dungeon filled with vicious monsters. Armed with only my human knowledge and my overwhelming positivity, I'm forced to use spiderwebs and traps to defeat far stronger monsters just to stay alive... So begins the labyrinth survival story of a girl with incredible mental strength living as one of the lowest-ranked beasts!

34-year-old virgin loser is kicked out of his home by his family and realized that his life is completely over. As he regrets wasting his life, a truck runs him over and he died. When he wakes up... He’s in a world of sword and sorcery! Reborn as a baby named Rudeus, he decides that this time, he’ll live a life he won’t regret!

This is a world of the skies, where many islands drift in the sky. A boy named Gran and a talking winged lizard named Vyrn lived in Zinkenstill, an island which yields mysteries. One day, they come across a girl named Lyria. Lyria had escaped from the Erste Empire, a military government that is trying to rule over this world using powerful military prowess. In order to escape from the Empire, Gran and Lyria head out into the vast skies, holding the letter Gran's father left behind - which said, "I will be waiting at Estalucia, Island of Stars".

Alka is an assassin for the Clan of the Sword. She's on a journey to find the woman Jin Valel, who killed her master Hon. Jin is demon-like woman who controls the Energy of Chaos and kills without feeling - not unlike how Alka has learned to kill in her work as an assassin. On her journey, Alka encounters three strange women, each great warriors in their own right, and grapples with her slain master's wish that she leave the life of an assassin behind.

Seth is a boy who seeks to become a great magician, and a group of witches who seek to travel to the Radiant. Radiant is a mythical land that spawns monsters called "Néméses" which fall to the world from the sky. While traveling, they are also hunted by The Inquisition.

Professional wrestler and animal lover Shibata Genzo is suddenly summoned to another world. Greeted by a princess, she requests to get rid of the evil beasts roaming in this world. Outraged that he was asked to kill monsters, Genzo German suplexes the princess. Unable back to get back to Earth, he decides to live a peaceful life and manage a "monster" pet shop.

Ergo Proxy is a science fiction suspense anime television series, produced by Manglobe, which premiered across Japan on 25 February 2006 on the WOWOW satellite network. It is directed by Shukō Murase, with screenplay by Dai Satō et al.. Ergo Proxy has been described as a dark sciencefiction mystery with philosophical underpinnings. It features a combination of 2D digital cel animation, 3D computer modeling, and digital special effects.

Dragons, the rulers of the sky. To many people on the surface, they are a dire threat, but at the same time, a valuable source of medicine, oil, and food. There are those who hunt the dragons. They travel the skies in dragon-hunting airships. This is the story of one of those ships, the “Quin Zaza,” and its crew.

After hitting her head particularly hard one day, Duke Claes' daughter, Katarina, suddenly recalls all the memories of her past life: that of a teenage Japanese girl. Just before her untimely death, this girl recalls playing an otome game... that is exactly like the world she's living in now! She is now Katarina Claes, the antagonist of the otome game, who nastily hounded the protagonist until the end. Knowing all the possible outcomes of the game, she realizes that every single possible route ends with Katarina being murdered or exiled! In order to avoid these Catastrophic Bad Ends, she has to use her knowledge of the game and her own wiles, starting with breaking off this engagement with the prince... Will Katarina survive while making her way through this world, where bad flags trip at every turn? Find out in this reverse-harem rom-com, led by everybody's favorite villainess!

In the mysterious future, crystalline organisms called Gems inhabit a world that has been destroyed by six meteors. Each Gem is assigned a role in order to fight against the Lunarians, a species who attacks them in order to shatter their bodies and use them as decorations.Phosphophyllite, also known as Phos, is a young and fragile Gem who dreams of helping their friends in the war effort. Instead, they are told to compile an encyclopedia because of their delicate condition. After begrudgingly embarking on this task, Phos meets Cinnabar, an intelligent gem who has been relegated to patrolling the isolated island at night because of the corrosive poison their body creates. After seeing how unhappy Cinnabar is, Phos decides to find a role that both of the rejected Gems can enjoy. Can Phos's seemingly mundane assignment lead both Phos and Cinnabar to the fulfillment they desire?

In order to uncover the "end of the sky," as spoken of in ancient mythology, Kal-el Albus is sent to Isla, an island in the sky. There he attends Cadoques High's Aerial Division, where he enjoys a carefree life with his schoolmates. That is...until a surprise attack by the air tribe drags Isla into a bloody war.

In the beautiful land of Astraea where a gentle breeze blows, a young man named Yuuki awakens with no memory of his past. There he encounters a guide who has sworn to care for him—Kokkoro, a lovely swordswoman who's always feeling peckish—Pecorine, and a cat-eared sorceress with a prickly attitude—Karyl. Led by fate, these four come together to form the "Gourmet Guild." And so their adventure begins...

Takeshi Nanase is an ordinary high school boy who has a somewhat dark past. One day, he comes across a girl named Mui Aiba, in a uniform he has never seen before, collapsed on the school campus. This encounter changes his destiny completely. She tells Takeshi that she is a magician, and she apologizes, for she turned Takeshi into a magician, too. What Takeshi once knew as one world is actually two — the world where magicians live and the world where humans live.

There is a tower that summons chosen people called "Regulars" with the promise of granting their deepest desires. Whether it be wealth, fame, authority, or something that surpasses them all—everything awaits those who reach the top.Twenty-Fifth Bam is a boy who had only known a dark cave, a dirty cloth, and an unreachable light his entire life. So when a girl named Rachel came to him through the light, his entire world changed. Becoming close friends with Rachel, he learned various things about the outside world from her. But when Rachel says she must leave him to climb the Tower, his world shatters around him. Vowing to follow after her no matter what it takes, he sets his sight on the tower, and a miracle occurs.Thus begins the journey of Bam, a young boy who was not chosen by the Tower but opened its gates by himself. They call his kind "Irregulars"—beings that have shaken the very foundation of the Tower each time they set foot inside it.

Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful; nurture made him a cold ruthless killer. A runaway brought up as the adopted heir and sex toy of "Papa" Dino Golzine, Ash, now at the rebellious age of seventeen, forsakes the kingdom held out by the devil who raised him. But the hideous secret that drove Ash's older brother mad in Vietnam has suddenly fallen into Papa's insatiably ambitious hands—and it's exactly the wrong time for Eiji Okamura, a pure-hearted young photographer from Japan, to make Ash Lynx's acquaintance...(Source: Viz)

Ninth grader Yotsuya Yuusuke is practical, friendless, and not active in any clubs. Then one day, he and two female classmates are suddenly sent to another world where they must work together to battle for their lives. Yotsuya is a lone wolf and has always lived his life according to his wants, but how will that work out now that he’s supposed to be a hero?!

Wizards and humans live side-by-side in Tokyo. While police continue to protect the rest of society, wizards are tried according to magical laws in special courts defended by wizard barristers. Cecile Sudo has just become the youngest wizard barrister at age 17, and begins work at the Butterfly Law Offices. However, unbeknownst to her, she has tremendous magical potential…

After losing their mother to a demon, two brothers grow up fighting supernatural beings.

Once upon a time, there was a witch named Elaina. Inspired by her favorite book, Elaina ventures out to see the world she's read so much about. Like a leaf on the wind, she travels from one country to another, looking to sate her inquisitiveness and searching for new experiences. Exploration and curiosity drive her journey. She's confronted by humanity in all its forms, whether strange, bizarre, or emotional and with each meeting, Elaina would become a small part of their story, and her own world would get a little bit bigger.

In the year 2043, Infinite Dendrogram, the world's first successful full-dive VRMMO was released. In addition to its ability to perfectly simulate the five senses, along with its many other amazing features, the game promised to offer players a world full of infinite possibilities. Nearly two years later, soon-to-be college freshman, Reiji Mukudori, is finally able to buy a copy of the game and start playing. With some help from his experienced older brother, Shuu, and his partner Embryo, Reiji embarks on an adventure into the world of Infinite Dendrogram.

Fifteen-year-old Yuna prefers staying home and obsessively playing her favorite VRMMO to doing anything else, including going to school. When a strange new update gives her a one-of-a-kind bear outfit that comes with overpowered abilities, Yuna is torn: the outfit is unbearably cute, but too embarrassing to wear in-game. But then she suddenly finds herself transported into the world of the game, facing down monsters and magic for real, and the bear suit becomes the best weapon she has!