6 Best Isekai Anime That Use Guns Instead of Swords, Ranked

Isekai anime heroes usually solve their problems with a sword and a lucky power-up. These six shows skip that script and reach for firearms instead. Some drop rifles into a magical war, one hands a modern arsenal to a very practical orphan, and one even sends a virtual swordsman into a shooter.

Each uses guns in its own way, so we ranked them by how fully they swap blades for bullets, and by how fun they are to watch. Scroll down and see where your favorite landed on the list, and which one surprised you.

6 World’s Finest Assassin Trades Daggers for a Deadly Sniper Rifle

The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat | Credits: Silver Link

Lugh Tuatha Dé starts out as the world’s greatest assassin, until his own organization has him killed. A goddess reincarnates him in a world of swords and magic with one nasty job: kill the hero. His main weapon in the anime is a sniper rifle, which director Masafumi Tamura said is based on the CheyTac M200. Silver Link and Studio Palette brought it to screens in fall 2021. It lands last because swords, magic, and stealth fill most of this world, so the gun is only part of the picture.

5 Saving 80,000 Gold Hands a Heavily Armed Orphan a Fresh Start

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement | Credits: Felix Film

Mitsuha Yamano grew up an orphan in one of the greatest isekai anime of all time, so she respects money more than most heroes ever will. After getting pushed off a cliff, she wakes up in a fantasy world, barely survives a wolf pack, and learns she can travel between there and Earth. Her big plan isn’t saving the kingdom. She buys an arsenal of modern weapons and chases 80,000 gold for a life of leisure. It’s funny, a little sneaky, and refreshingly practical. It ranks fifth because guns are her tools, not the main event, and comedy always comes first.

4 SAO II Swaps Sword Skills for Bullets in the Gun Gale Online Arc

Sword Art Online | Credits: A-1 Pictures

Kirito logs into Gun Gale Online and buys a photon sword because old habits die hard, and Sinon talks him into an FN Five-seveN pistol too. He’s hunting Death Gun, a player whose shots seem to kill people in real life. Sinon’s sniper rifle, the Hecate II, steals plenty of scenes, and the Bullet of Bullets tournament delivers. He even deflects incoming bullets with that blade, which is delightfully ridiculous. A-1 Pictures adapted the arc in 2014. Sword Art Online sits fourth because the setting is a game, and Kirito never fully puts the blade down.

3 Arifureta Turns Hajime Into a Revolver-Toting Monster Underground

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest | Credits: White Fox and Asread

Arifureta‘s Hajime Nagumo starts as a 17-year-old otaku with a skill nobody respects. Then a classmate sends him tumbling into the Great Orcus Labyrinth; he loses an arm, and something in him snaps. Using that humble transmutation skill, he builds his own guns, starting with Donner, a revolver railgun. Down there he also meets Yue, a vampire who’s been locked away for 300 years. He goes from underdog to terrifying fast, and the guns do plenty of the talking. It takes third because the guns matter hugely, but the growing party and power-ups pull focus.

2 Tanya the Evil Hands a Child Soldier a Rifle and an Entire War

The Saga of Tanya the Evil | Credits: NUT

The Saga of Tanya the Evil follows Tanya Degurechaff, who used to be a calculating Japanese salaryman, until a being he refuses to call God reincarnated him as an orphan girl in a world at war. Now she’s a mage in the Imperial Army, and she’s terrifyingly good at it. She carries a rifle everywhere, and her 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion follows her into hell. Her cold, logical mind never switches off, which is half the fun. NUT’s 2017 anime keeps war grimy instead of glamorous. It lands second because the rifle-and-magic mix is superb, but GATE leans harder on real firepower.

1 GATE Sends Japan’s Rifles and Vehicles Straight Into a Fantasy War

GATE | Credits: A-1 Pictures

A portal opens in Ginza, knights and monsters pour out, and Japan’s military shuts the invasion down fast. Then the JSDF crosses into the Special Region, and modern guns and vehicles face swords and dragons. The early fights feel gloriously one-sided, and that’s a big part of the appeal. Youji Itami, a 33-year-old otaku officer, leads the Third Recon Team and picks up Lelei, Tuka, and Rory along the way. A-1 Pictures turned it into a 24-episode anime that premiered in 2015. GATE earns the top spot because no other show here swaps swords for modern firepower so completely.

Which one is your favourite? We’d love to know your opinions in the comments below.