Drifters

At the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Toyohisa Shimazu is the rearguard for his retreating troops, and is critically wounded when he suddenly finds himself in a modern, gleaming white hallway. Faced with only a stoic man named Murasaki and hundreds of doors on both sides, Toyohisa is pulled into the nearest door and into a world completely unlike his own.

The strange land is populated by all manner of fantastical creatures, as well as warriors from different eras of Toyohisa's world who were thought to be dead. Quickly befriending the infamous warlord Nobunaga Oda and the ancient archer Yoichi Suketaka Nasu, Toyohisa learns of the political unrest tearing through the continent. Furthermore, they have been summoned as "Drifters" to fight against the "Ends," people who are responsible for the creation of the Orte Empire and are trying to annihilate the Drifters. As the Ends grow more powerful, so does the Empire's persecution of elves and other demihumans. It is up to Toyohisa and his group of unconventional heroes to battle in a brand-new world war to help the Empire's subjects, while challenging the Ends protecting the land to claim it for themselves.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shimazu, Toyohisa Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Oda, Nobunaga Main

Uchida, Naoya Japanese

Nasu, Yoichi Suketaka Main

Saiga, Mitsuki Japanese

Barca, Hannibal Supporting

Aoyama, Yutaka Japanese

Kanno, Naoshi Supporting

Suzuki, Tatsuhisa Japanese

Olminu Supporting

Kokido, Shiho Japanese

d'Arc, Jeanne Supporting

Minagawa, Junko Japanese

Easy Supporting

Itou, Kanae Japanese

de Rais, Gilles Supporting

Nomura, Kenji Japanese

Cassidy, Butch Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Ueda, Yasuyuki Producer

Ueda, Shinya Producer

Fudetani, Yoshiyuki Producer

Reviews

Mar 8, 2025

RepsaKK

Recommended

I am not a fan of Isekai and rarely even want to watch something representing this genre but Drifters surprised me positively.

I stumbled upon it by YouTube video with a list of niche anime series and movies, which should get my (as potential viewer) attention – and Drifters certainly got mine.
Concept of historical figures fighting with other historical figures in typical post-Tolkien fantasy world is something I've never seen before (don't take it too seriously as I don't consider myself very familliar with anime, let alone Isekai). However, it's not everything, since as Golden Kamuy enjoyer myself, very similar humour can be found. Expecting ... to be filled with action it's rather dialogue-oriented show and I find it positive considering its length. Still you won't be disappointed, because Drifters is very graphic and don't cuddle with the viewer, so besides infantile and homo-erotic jokes accompanied by similarly childish visuals you can see images straight from Berserk (no, there's no horse as I recall).

As someone who hasn't watched Hellsing yet or anything related to Kōta Hirano I would put Drifters in my top 20 anime without hesitation.

If you don't like Isekai at all I strongly recommend to give it a shot, especially if you like history, bizarreness and good animation but it's a shame it doesn't have proper ending if any at all...

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 30, 2024

a_last_flower

Mixed Feelings

You notice the familiarity with Kouta Hirano's "Hellsing", the style, the gags, the themes.

STORY:
• The plot is relatively straightforward with it being a large-scale war fought by two opposing sides. The Drifters along with the support of the Octobrist organisation are pitted against the Ends led by the notorious Black King. The Black King whose identity is shrouded in mystery, vows to destroy the world completely by erasing all types of civilizations to form his new empire. What makes this experience incredible, is that the characters in it, are real historical figures, otherwise, it would have been one of the usual military, isekai, historical anime.
• ... The conflict between Easy and Murasaki isn't explained, what caused them to start sending people to this unidentified new world?
• the greatest leaders of various eras gathered together in a parallel world. I would say, a little patriotic given that the 3 protagonists are Japanese, even if it's plausible, after all, who wouldn't praise the stories of their compatriots?
• the gags about St. Germain and his gay subordinates surprised me at first and made me laugh every time I heard "finocchio".

ART:
• "pinwheel eyes" 👍 typical Kouta Hirano style.
• ZERO censorship, which makes the experience even more enjoyable.

CHARACTERS:
• You are inclined to google them and get to know their stories because they are so incredible to watch.
• Toyo is a crazed warrior who loves decapitating enemy warriors, as long as they are male. He follows samurai policy, does not like the thought of women engaged in combat, dishonor must be paid with harakiri, and the enemy without his sword should not be killed.
• Nobunaga is a strategist (prefers to leave the leadership to Toyo and manage everything behind the scenes) and brutal (would kill anyone in his path).
• The black king despite being the antagonist follows a righteous ideal by some stretch: giving nonhumans a civilization.

BATTLES:
• the cliffhanger was appalling.

SOUND:
• I found myself singing the OP when I was unaware of it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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May 13, 2024

Blue_Highlighter

Not Recommended

This show has so many interesting building blocks and does absolutely nothing with them.

The show is so clumsy in its handling of historical figures that it strips any interest that the characters had, and spends more time praising ADOLF HITLER than criticising him. These real iconic historical figures become grating, surface-level, and uninteresting action figures.

There are so many attempts at comedy, but almost all of them fall flat. They bring the pacing to a standstill just to make sexist, homophobic, or gross-out jokes. The sexism and homophobia also extend to the character designs and treatment of the female characters in story. (They make ... these jokes at the expense of gay people, and then go out of their way to create fanservice of the only main feminine male character Yoichi?)

The fight choreography and mechanics could be cool, but the fight scenes have _so_ much dialogue and so little creativity that they fall flat. They spend so much time talking about how cool, insane, or skilled the characters are, that they run out of time to actually show them being cool. There were 2 fights that I found interesting, and the rest was just a DPS or who's crazier contest.

Would not recommend, even as a senseless violence mindless action watch

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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