Summary
At the time of writing,Wistoria: Wand and Swordis already at the midpoint of its first season. The characters have already established, their objectives, the settings, the conflict, and everything else in between. And it’s proving to be one of the most fun and exciting action fantasy anime for the Summer 2024 season.
While the story ofWistoria: Wand and Swordis interesting and unique in its own right, it still has quite a few tropes and story elements that can be traced to other recent anime series. So if you likeWistoria: Wand and Sword,you might want to check these ones out.
Similar to Wistoria, DanMachi is also a fantasy story that revolves around a weak boy who gradually gets stronger as he delves deeper into the dangerous dungeons. However, unlike Wistoria which focuses on magic,DanMachi is all about Gods and Goddess from different origins,such as Greek God Apollo, Mesopotamian Goddess Ishtar, and Norse God Loki, just to name a few. If you likeWistoria: Wand and Sword,you’ll surely love Fujino-sensei’s previous work,Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
Wistoria: Wand and Swordis a story about a young man, Will Serfort, who has to find a way to thrive among people who are way more capable and powerful than he is. In order to catch up with everybody else, he has to come up with another means of attack that is suitable only to him. As it happens, this is also the perfect description of Osamu Mikumo, the main character ofWorld Trigger.
InWorld Trigger,the world is regularly attacked by monsters called Neighbors.The one who fights against these dangerous monsters is the soldiers of an organization called the Borders. The source of power for these brave soldiers is biological energy called “Trion” which exists within every living being. The more Trion you have, the more powerful the attacks that you may unleash. Osamu’s Trion is less than the average human in the country. While this severely limits his combat ability, Osamu more than makes up for it with his excellent tactical thinking.
Similar toWorld Trigger, Kaiju No. 8also focuses on a story of mankind vsferocious monsters who devour and destroy everything in sight.Another notable similarity is regarding a protagonist who is weaker than his peers but finds a way to bulldoze through the monsters with his sheer muscle power. What makesKaiju No. 8ranked higher on this list thanWorld Triggeris the character’s motivation.
The reason why Will from Wistoria works as hard as he can despite the many hardships that he has to endure is due to the promise that he made to his childhood crush, to stand by her side at the pinnacle of power. The same thing applies to the protagonist ofKaiju No. 8,Kafka Hibino. He too promised his childhood crush to stand and fight the monster together. Unfortunately for Will and Kafka, the girl that they like turns out to be way more talented than they are. So they spend the majority of the series trying to catch up and fulfill their promise.
In Wistoria, Will is the only human who can’t wield magic. However, in exchange for his inability to cast even the simplest spell, Will is blessed with extraordinary physical prowess. He hones that body of his by diving deeper and deeper into the monster-filled dungeon every day with his trusted sword until he becomes the only warrior in the world of magicians.
In the second season ofJujutsu Kaisen,Toji Fushiguro is somebody who doesn’t have cursed energy flowing through his body. But just like Will, in exchange for the lack of Cursed Energy, Toji is born with astounding physical prowess. His punches can destroy walls, he can jump higher than three-story buildings, and his senses can perfectly perceive even the tiniest changes in his surroundings. Needless to say, he is also extremely proficient in using any kind of melee weapon. Thanks to his fearsome abilities and ruthless personality,Toji ends up becoming an assassinwho specializes in hunting and killing Jujutsu Sorcerer.
Years before Wistoria came along,Black Cloveris the anime that focus on a protagonist who can’t use magic but manages to thrive by using swords instead. Similar to Wistoria, every human onBlack Clovercan wield magic, although their power varies a lot from one individual to the next. Asta, the main character ofBlack Clover,is the only human who was born without an ounce of magical energy in his body.
Asta doesn’t have absurd physical power like Will from Wistoria. What he has instead is an extremely rare power called the Anti-Magic. This power allows him to erase any kind of magic that comes in contact with his anti-Magic energy. Similar to Will, Asta also uses swords as his main weapon. When he cloaks his swords with his anti-magic energy, he can cut through any kind of magic and directly attack the mages. Thanks to this, the boy who was often bullied and underestimated has becomeone of the biggest threats to every magicianin the world.
The two things that immediately jump out since the beginning ofWistoria: Wand and Swordare Magic Fights and Magic Academy. Another anime that also revolves around these two things is none other thanThe Irregular at Magic High School.After all, the main characters of these two series often fight against other mages in the Magic Academy.
The protagonist ofThe Irregular at Magic High School,a young man named Shiba Tatsuya, has below-average magical energy. This means he can barely cast the simplest spell, which makes him the subject of bullying and the target of snarky comments by other students. What the other students don’t know, however, is the fact that Tatsuya is actually highly experienced in combat, just like Will. But if Will’s preferred weapon is a sword, Tatsuya’s trusted weapon is a pair of magical handguns.
Mashle: Magic and Musclesis a story abouta boy who can’t use magic named Mash Burnedeadwho reluctantly joins the most prestigious magic academy in the world. He is the only student who can’t cast a magic spell in the entire academy, which brings tons of unnecessary attention to him, most of which is quite negative. But it never brings Mash down. On the contrary, he barely cares about other people’s opinions at all. Because no matter what they do, no matter what sort of challenges he has to face, he knows his well-trained body and his well-defined muscles will help him pull through.
From the Magic Academy to the protagonist having extraordinary physical power,Mashle: Magic and Musclesis incredibly similar toWistoria: Wand and Sword.Even their title is similar, with a one-word main title followed by a three-word subtitle. The main difference between the two, however, is the subgenre. Both series are action-fantasy anime, but while Wistoria is focused on drama, Mashle is all about comedy. So if you want a funny and lighthearted version of Wistoria, be sure to watchMashle: Magic and Muscles.
Truth be told, the ranking for the top three is actually interchangeable because these three have all the main story elements that become the foundation ofWistoria: Wand and Sword. That being said, each and every single one of them manages to build something unique and interesting on top of that foundation. That’s why if you like Wistoria, don’t hesitate to watch the anime mentioned in this list, especially the top three.
