Plenty of areas all over the globe were experiencing either some kind of profound political and social upheavals along with floods, famines, and other natural disasters. This isn’t a list of anime set in a world with a medieval aesthetic, but those that actually take place in the 15th century. An alternative reality with some fictional settings and fantasy elements would still count.
6 Dororo (2019)
Dororo is a fantasy horror anime that takes place in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, which lasted from the late 1400s into the early 1600s, or 17th century. The plot isn’t for the faint of heart and includes severed limbs, human sacrifices, and sentient sharks.
This anime has a long and interesting past. It was developed from a manga series that was created by Osamu Tezuka, which ran from 1967 to 1972, and was originally made into an anime in 1969. The 2019 series is essentially a remake and had to meet some high expectations for those fans that understood the historic context of both the show itself and it’s subject matter.
5 Castlevania (2017-2021)
Castlevania is based on the popular video game franchise of the same name that dates back to the genesis of home console gaming, and being an RPG there’s an element of fantasy involved. This is a version of reality where magic, demons, and of course vampires, are real.
The setting of Wallachia, where most of the action in season one takes place, is a fictional location, but it’s intended to be an obscure part of Eastern Europe in the year 1455. The portrayal of the Church as the dominant political and social force, along with the peasant class as being helpless victims to both the local Bishop and marauding armies, fits the profile of the worst parts of the European Middle Ages.
4 Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc And The Alchemist Knight (2018)
This series is classified as historical fantasy and was adapted from both light novels and a manga that were released in the same year. It’s the story of Montmorency, an aspiring young alchemist who’s studying in northern France, and hot on the trail of the Philosopher’s Stone, when his quest is interrupted by the Hundred Year War.
This mix of civil war and external threats from other European nations lasted from 1337 to 1453, and the series uses real events as the backdrop to the story. Part of the plot concerns the loss of Montmorency’s secret crush at the Battle of Azincourt, which took place in 1415 and was disastrous for the French side. Montmorency hopes to find the Philosopher’s Stone in order to become Ulysses, a powerful entity with unlimited power, and use his abilities to end the war.
3 Asura (2012)
A bleak, ruined landscape rent by famine and cruelty makes a mark on the next generation. Asura tells a story of a desperate time in the 1400s when Kyoto was all but a ruin, destroyed by famine, drought, and flooding. Asura is abandoned by his starving mother as a baby and raised in the wasteland as a mute and brooding cannibal, and his only other contact with human beings is from the shattered village in which a small group of survivors barely clings to life.
Asura uses the “raised by wolves” trope in a more visceral and honest way than other movies and shows, which tend to idealize the concept. This story doesn’t have any lessons to teach, except one of human hardship and survival, and the ending might not be happy, but somehow it is satisfying.
2 Requiem Of The Rose King (2022)
As the title suggests, this is a dramatized history of Richard III, a British aristocrat that lived during the War of the Roses. This was a civil war that took place in England from May 1455 to 16 June 1487 and wiped out most of the two ruling families, the House of Lancaster and the House of York.
The history of how this war unfolded and how it concluded is a historic fact, and this drama focuses on a single character. Richard III was a real person, and the twist is that this character is intersex, an issue that the family has to grapple with internally. Richard is joined by others from the same period, such as Henry VI, Richard Plantagenet, Edward Lancaster, and Joan of Arc.
1 Maria The Virgin Witch (2008-2013)
Set in an alternate reality in which witches are a real thing, Maria the Virgin Witch is another anime that takes place in France during the Hundred Years’ War. Maria, the titular character, is the most powerful witch of her time, and in the usual fashion of these stories, she’s loved by the common people and despised by authorities.
Instead of the realistic backdrop of human drama or military strategies, this series leans harder on the fantasy angle and involves the ministers of the Church, who of course are antagonists in the story. The Biblical hierarchy of archangels also gets involved, including Ezekial and Michael.
More: Best Anime Set in the 16th Century
