In the fantasy anime genre, worldbuilding plays a crucial role in ensuring that the audience stays immersed in the story. Many fantasy series don’t strive to innovate when it comes to developing their worlds, preferring to stick to existing fantasy conventions. And, while such an approach works just fine for numerous titles, these shows aren’t particularly renowned for their worldbuilding.
Fantasy is a genre of endless possibilities, where even the boldest, most extraordinary ideas can be brought to life. Among the countless fantasy universes fans get to explore in anime, the worlds created by these shows are the most awe-inspiring and imaginative, striking the perfect balance between fantastical grandeur and nuanced realism.
One Piece’s Worldbuilding Is Second to None in the Shonen Demographic
One Piece is relentlessly praised for the strengths of its worldbuilding, and the acclaim it gets is fully merited. The Straw Hat Pirates’ voyage stretches across a world wondrously abundant and awe-inspiringly creative, with each island having its own culture, politics, climate, and a place in the grander structure of One Piece’s universe.
Eiichiro Oda is a revered master of long-term storytelling, but also a writer willing to experiment and add new things along the way, which is reflected in how One Piece’s world evolves. The setting he crafts is vibrant and kinetic, with a rich history and plenty of mysteries the story spends long years uncovering. However, no matter how long the One Piece adventure takes to conclude, it never stops being exhilarating.
CBR Exclusive · One Piece Quiz WHICH ONE PIECE LEGEND ARE YOU? Set sail — Quiz sequence initiated ⚓ The Grand Line stretches endlessly before you. Across its treacherous waters, legends are born — forged in Devil Fruit power, unbreakable will, and the fierce loyalty of a crew that would sail into any storm. Twenty questions. One legendary result. Your adventure begins now. 🌊
🍖Luffy
⚔️Zoro
🗺️Nami
📖Robin
🍳Sanji
01
The Going Merry is ready to leave port. What’s your first move? 🚢 How you set sail says everything about who you are at sea.
02
A Marine warship is blocking your route. You: 🏴☠️ Crisis response reveals your true pirate nature.
03
You find a Devil Fruit on the table. What do you hope it is? 🍈 The fruit you crave is the power you were always meant to have.
04
What is your one, unshakeable dream? 🌟 Every great pirate sails for something deeper than treasure.
05
The Thousand Sunny docks at a new island. First stop? 🏝️ What you do first in port reveals your deepest priorities.
06
Your greatest weapon aboard the ship? ✨ Every Straw Hat has one thing that makes them irreplaceable.
07
What’s your natural role when things get tense? 🪝 The pressure moment is where your true function reveals itself.
08
Honest confession — what is actually your biggest flaw? 😬 Even the greatest pirates have one thing they’re still working on.
09
A crewmate is in serious danger. You: 💪 How you protect the people you sail with is who you truly are.
10
Halfway across the Grand Line. What keeps you going? 🌟 Not the crew’s reason. Yours. The private one.
11
You lost the fight. The crew is watching. Now what? 😳 How you rise after falling is what separates legends from passengers.
12
Your bounty poster just went up. What’s on it? 💰 The World Government describes you the way your enemies see you.
13
Free day on a peaceful island. What actually happens? 🌴 How you rest is a window into what drives you when no one’s watching.
14
What does your crew actually say about you behind your back? 📋 The people who sail with you see the version you can’t.
15
Which Haki do you feel most aligned with? 🔮 The Haki you master reflects the deepest truth of who you are.
16
What does it truly mean to you to be a pirate? 🌊 Not Garp’s definition. Not the Marines’. Yours.
17
In a hundred years, what will they say about you? 🎬 The Void Century has room for one more name. What does yours mean?
18
A Warlord of the Sea is blocking the path forward. You: 👀 Warlords don’t intimidate legends. They reveal them.
19
The crew celebrates a big victory. Your contribution? 🎉 How you celebrate says as much as how you fight.
20
You reach Laugh Tale. The One Piece is real. What do you do? 🔥 Twenty questions. One truth. No turning back now.
⚓ The Grand Line has made its judgement ⚓ YOUR ONE PIECE LEGEND
Your scores are revealed below! The character with the highest number is your One Piece counterpart. Read their profile to discover your true pirate destiny. 🌊
🍖 Luffy
⚔️ Zoro
🗺️ Nami
📖 Robin
🍳 Sanji
You don’t understand the word impossible — not because you’re naive, but because you genuinely never accepted that it applied to you. You charge into every situation with the full force of your personality, your body, and your heart, and somehow the universe rearranges itself to accommodate you. You don’t lead through command; you lead through being so completely, recklessly yourself that everyone around you becomes a better version of who they were. You eat too much, feel too loudly, and care too deeply. The world calls it recklessness. Your crew calls it home. 🍖
You have made exactly one promise and you have organised your entire existence around keeping it. Stoic to a fault, terrifying in combat, and somehow always facing the wrong direction — you are the immovable foundation that the whole crew leans against when everything else shakes. You don’t ask for recognition. You don’t need it. The work is its own reward. The sword is the path and the path is the sword. You will lose a thousand times before you reach the top, and you will get back up every single time. That is not stubbornness. That is who you are. ⚔️
You are sharper than anyone in the room and you know it — but you also know exactly when not to show it. Pragmatic, resourceful, and carrying more than you ever show on your face, you are the reason the ship reaches anywhere at all. Every route was planned by you. Every impossible weather reading, every near-catastrophe avoided — that was you. The world tried to take everything from you once, and you built something extraordinary out of the wreckage. You love the people you’ve chosen fiercely, quietly, and without much ceremony. The map isn’t finished. You’ll get there. 🗺️
You spent so long being hunted for what you know that you forgot — briefly, painfully — that you were also worth loving for who you are. You carry the weight of erased history in your memory and the quiet certainty of someone who has survived what should have been unsurvivable. Calm where others panic, perceptive where others miss everything, and in possession of a dark humour that still catches people off guard. You don’t trust easily, and when you do, it is the most complete and devastating loyalty imaginable. You want to know the truth. You deserve to live to read it. 📖
You have principles carved so deep they function like a skeleton — invisible, structural, and the thing holding everything else upright. You cook for people because food is love expressed at its most honest. You fight for the crew because protecting them is the most natural thing in the world. You are elegant, occasionally absurd, capable of extraordinary tenderness and absolutely terrifying combat in the same five-minute span. You came from darkness and chose light so deliberately and so completely that it became your defining act. The sea called and you answered. All Blue is out there. You’ll find it. 🍳
Often referred to as the perfect shonen series, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, of course, doesn’t slack in the worldbuilding department. Despite being a fantasy series, Fullmetal Alchemist is set in a world that feels realistic and consistent, with logic even applying to its alchemy-based magic system.
The story puts a lot of care into developing the culture and history of its world, including its sorrowful and tragic parts, like the Ishval Civil War, which, in the present, still has lingering ramifications. While not as expansive as some other fantasy universes, the country of Amestris feels much more immersive due to its grounded essence and the series’ dedicated focus on exploring relatable sociopolitical themes in a fantasy context.
Vampire Hunter D’s Gloomy Science Fantasy World Is the Most Atmospheric
A closeup of D in the bowels of Lee Castle in 1985 Vampire Hunter D.Image via Toho Animation
One of the most atmospheric and gorgeous exemplars of gothic fantasy in anime, Vampire Hunter D blends a number of peculiar genres in its setting. Its titular protagonist travels through a post-apocalyptic world, a version of futuristic Earth devastated by nuclear warfare, with the remains of advanced technology that functions more akin to magic, giving the series a sci-fi flair.
At the same time, this world is filled to the brim with fantastical terrors, including vampires, demons, mutants, and cosmic horror beings beyond human comprehension. Vampire Hunter D’s setting is gloomy but undeniably unique, managing to merge its various clashing elements into one beautifully ghastly world that, despite being immensely eerie, possesses a one-of-a-kind allure.
The Fate Series Fleshes Out Its World Over Dozens of Entries
Gilgamesh and his Master in Fate/Strange Fake, looking out at the horizon together with confident smirks on their faces.Image via A-1 Pictures
An expansive multi-media franchise, the Fate series, for the most part, centers around the concept of the Holy Grail War – a ritual in which mages summon historical spirits to battle for the titular wish-granting artifact. However, considering how many Fate entries the Nasuverse comprises, the series’ world is obviously not simple or shallow.
The history of magic and the Holy Grail Wars in Fate goes way back and stretches far into the future. Considering the sheer size of the franchise, it, of course, has staggeringly in-depth lore, a nuanced magic system, and a detailed mythology that, despite featuring some contradictions, stays surprisingly consistent across entries. To most casual fans, grasping the Fate lore in its entirety is an impossible challenge; however, its creative fantasy worldbuilding is highly enjoyable even if one sticks to the most popular entries.
The Twelve Kingdoms Is Not Your Typical Isekai Fantasy
Youko Nakajima looking pensive as she looks down from the unicorn she’s sitting on in The Twelve Kingdoms.Image via Studio Pierrot
Despite being a staple of fantasy anime, isekai features surprisingly few truly original worlds, with most shows embracing a generic sword and sorcery framework. Being an older isekai title from before the genre has become so widespread, The Twelve Kingdoms avoids falling into its clichés and surprises fans with a refreshingly unique and immersive fantasy universe.
The world of The Twelve Kingdoms is inspired by Chinese mythology, but also features many unorthodox elements that make the audience (and the protagonist) truly feel transported to a different realm. Each society in The Twelve Kingdoms has its own customs, histories, and cultures, and the series explores the various elements of its setting, from myths to politics to biology, in detail.
Witch Hat Atelier’s World Is Magical But Surprisingly Grounded
In the world of Witch Hat Atelier, magic is exclusively inherent to witches – or, at least, that’s what the witch society tells ordinary folk. In reality, anyone can learn how to draw spells, and this art is purposefully reserved for the select few with the seemingly noble intention of preventing the world from plunging into chaos.
Witch Hat Atelier’s world feels much smaller and more intimate than most grand fantasy epics. What it lacks in scope, however, the series makes up for in nuance. Fans get to learn in-depth how magic in this world works, how the witch society functions, and, most importantly, what ramifications hiding magic from the masses has and what moral dilemmas arise from limiting people’s access to such a vital, life-altering art.
Made in Abyss Features a Terrifying World Fans Still Want to Keep Exploring
Riko and Reg look out over the abyss in Made in Abyss.Image via Kinema Citrus
At the center of Made in Abyss’s world lies the titular pit of seemingly endless depth – the tiered Abyss with peculiar supernatural properties, where one can only explore so much before being unable to return. Riko and Reg’s descent into the Abyss is known to be a one-way journey from the start. Yet, no matter how many horrors they encounter on their adventure, it never stops being exhilarating.
What makes Made in Abyss’s worldbuilding so enticing are its mysteries. The Abyss hides a fascinating blend of fantastical and scientific abominations, but also plenty of wonders, and no one knows what lies in its unexplored depths.Every new layer uncovers something new and exhilarating, and this sense of exploration is what keeps fans coming back to the series.
Lord of Mysteries’ Universe Will Only Continue Getting More Alluring & Dangerous
Klein from Lord of Mysteries is looking at Daly in her spirit form.Image via B.CMay Pictures
Lord of Mysteries might’ve only begun to immerse audiences in its wondrous yet dangerous universe, yet it has already captivated countless fans with its stellar worldbuilding. The world of Beyonders is a ruthless realm where even the slightest misstep can lead those seeking great power to lose their humanity. Yet, stepping onto this perilous path is the only way to learn the secrets hidden in the darkness.
On top of its tiered power system, astounding in its complexity and uniqueness, Lord of Mysteries also excels at making all other parts of its world feel alive, from the histories of the various aristocratic families, nations, and organizations to the mundane aspects of day-to-day living. And, as fans of the adaptation will soon learn, the real story of Lord of Mysteries goes far deeper than they could ever imagine.
Hunter x Hunter’s World Expands Wonderfully Over Time
Gon and Killua training in Hunter x Hunter.Image via Madhouse
Among the big shonen classics, Hunter x Hunter features one of the most fascinating worlds, which grows in complexity and scope along with the series. The protagonists, together with the audience, get to learn about this universe gradually by traveling to its different corners, encountering various powerful factions, getting involved in its politics and power struggles, and discovering that the world is a lot crueler and more multifaceted than it appears at first glance.
Hunter x Hunter features few conventional fantasy elements, being a mix of urban fantasy, magical fiction, and supernatural components unique to the series. Experiencing Hunter x Hunter, one always gets the sense that its world is its own ecosystem where even the protagonists play only a small role in the grand scheme of things.
Berserk Is the Gold Standard for Worldbuilding in Dark Fantasy Anime
Blooded young Guts stands with a sword on his shoulder in Berserk (1997).Image via OLM Team Iguchi
Kentaro Miura’s magnum opus, Berserk, set the standard for the dark fantasy genre not just in anime and manga but across media, with everything from books to video games borrowing elements from this iconic story. Berserk’s world is also one of the grimmest in anime dark fantasy, taking the framework of a classic sword and sorcery setting and adding complexity to it over time.
While the brutality and supernatural horrors of Berserk’s universe aren’t a secret to anyone, the series’ worldbuilding is much more nuanced than a chaotic amalgamation of shock value terrors. Berserk’s world possesses a rich history and an even more turbulent present, both in terms of grounded human conflicts and the frightening merge between realms, with the series masterfully integrating exposition into its high-stakes, engrossing storyline.
