Anime Like Noblesse: 7 Shows for Rai and Frankenstein Fans

Of all the anime like Noblesse, start with The Misfit of Demon King Academy. On Noblesse's AniList page, users recommend it 30 times; the next show, Black Butler, has 3. The reason is plain once you read the two premises side by side. Rai wakes up after 820 years and enrolls in a high school. Anos, the Demon King of Tyranny, wakes up after two thousand years and enrolls in Demon King Academy. Both are far older than everyone around them, and both have to learn how the world works now.

Three anime posters side by side: Rai with red eyes and a white cravat under a full moon, the Misfit of Demon King Academy cast in red and white uniforms, and Sebastian in black holding Ciel in a white ruffled shirt

If what you liked was Frankenstein looking after Rai, go to Black Butler. If you want another Korean webtoon adaptation from the same year, The God of High School and Tower of God both aired in 2020. If you want to stay with the comics, our manhwa like Noblesse list covers those.

What Noblesse fans want from anime like Noblesse

AniList's synopsis of the 2020 TV series sums up the setup: Rai "had slumbered" for 820 years, finds "a loyal servant of his, Frankenstein, who is currently the principal of a South Korean High School," and "enrolls" to learn about "the modern world." AniList tags it Urban Fantasy (86%), War (79%), Super Power (78%) and Vampire (71%). That's four separate draws: an ancient noble out of his time, his butler-like servant, school life, and supernatural fights in a modern city.

Fans mostly ask for the first one. A September 2026 r/Animesuggest post put it this way: "I just love this anime the MC has so much aura and he not often engage in fight but when he do he is on another level."

We watched Episode 1 on Muse Asia's YouTube upload, the playlist AniList links as a streaming source, to see which of those the show leads with. It opens on a night jungle firefight: "We were attacked by the enemy," a soldier reports, and the attacker "is believed to be Union." After the opening credits, it cuts to a sunny street and a student saying, "This is the first time in my life I've ever wanted to go to school this much."

The school half runs on small jokes about Rai and phones. A classmate walks him through his ("Look, you can use stuff like emojis or face stamps"), and a few scenes later Frankenstein, at the laptop in his office, opens a message from "Master" that ends in a peace-sign emoticon: "But the mail... sure is different..." He's the one who wonders, "Master... could he be having fun right now?" The other half is Union. In a dim room, a newcomer explains, "We belong to an organization called Union," then holds up a clawed hand: "Their creation, so to speak." On a rooftop at sunset, Rai hears, "The time you spent in your slumber was not short." So the first episode is half secret war, half school day, and the picks below cover one half or the other.

One warning about the episode: it starts in the middle. Characters talk about Union and a lost friend, "I couldn't save M-24," as if you already know them. If that's confusing, AniList lists a one-episode 2016 ONA, Noblesse: Awakening, also on Crunchyroll, whose synopsis covers Rai starting "a new life as a high school student."

Crunchyroll's trailer gives a fair idea of the tone:

Video: Crunchyroll's official Noblesse trailer 3.

Anime like Noblesse at a glance

The last column counts AniList user recommendations on the Noblesse TV anime's page. Tower of God sits at 0 there and The God of High School isn't listed; Tower of God's comic is recommended 30 times on the Noblesse comic's page.

Anime	What it shares with Noblesse	First season (AniList)	AniList score	Noblesse fans recommending it
The Misfit of Demon King Academy	Ancient ruler wakes up and goes to school	13 episodes, summer 2020	72	30
Black Butler	A master and a servant who handles everything	24 episodes, fall 2008	72	3
The God of High School	Korean webtoon, high school fights, 2020	13 episodes, summer 2020	69	none
Tower of God	Korean webtoon adaptation from the same year	13 episodes, spring 2020	74	0 (comic: 30)
The Devil is a Part-Timer!	Old ruler stuck in modern life	13 episodes, spring 2013	75	1
Vampire Knight	Vampire elites inside a school	13 episodes, spring 2008	62	1
MARS RED	Vampires and a secret unit hunting them	13 episodes, spring 2021	63	1

1. The Misfit of Demon King Academy

The Misfit of Demon King Academy (key visual via AniList).

The closest premise, and the pick Noblesse fans make most. AniList's synopsis has Anos, "the Demon King of Tyranny," reincarnate to escape the fighting. "When he wakes two thousand years later," the world "has become too peaceful," and "he enrolls in Demon King Academy, where he finds that his magical power is off the charts."

Like Rai, he's an ancient power sitting in a classroom of students. AniList tags it Demons (96%), Magic (96%), Reincarnation (91%) and School (84%). Viewers lump the two together too: a 2022 r/Animesuggest post asked for shows "like noblesse or misfit of demon king acadamy," calling it "a very specific type of mc and its my favorite kind."

AniList: TV, 13 episodes, summer 2020, SILVER LINK., average score 72. Streams on Crunchyroll, Netflix and Hulu. If the reincarnation angle is what you like, our anime like The Beginning After the End list has more.

2. Black Butler

Black Butler key visual: Sebastian in a black tailcoat stands behind Ciel, who wears a white ruffled shirt and an eyepatch, with a chain wrapped around his wrist and black feathers falling Black Butler (key visual via AniList).

The pick for Frankenstein fans. Ciel Phantomhive makes a deal with a demon "his soul, in exchange for revenge," and the demon becomes his butler, Sebastian, "whose powers as a butler is only surpassed by his strength as a demon," as AniList puts it. A small master, a servant far stronger than he lets on, and a household that runs on that loyalty: that's the Rai and Frankenstein dynamic in Victorian England.

AniList tags it Butler (96%), Crime (96%) and Demons (93%). It's darker than Noblesse: Revenge and Tragedy are both tagged 93% or higher. Three AniList users recommend it on Noblesse's anime page, and a 2022 r/Animesuggest request named "Kuroshitsuji, Noblesse, Hellsing, Moriarty the Patriot" in one breath, asking for a "Master-Servant type of relationship."

AniList: TV, 24 episodes, fall 2008, A-1 Pictures, average score 72. Streams on Netflix, Hulu and Crunchyroll.

3. The God of High School

The God of High School key visual: a dark-haired boy in a white shirt leaps through bursts of fire and blue energy while other fighters attack around him on a cracked battlefield The God of High School (key visual via AniList).

The pick for the fights. Like Noblesse, it's a Korean WEBTOON series that got a TV anime in 2020. AniList's synopsis, taken from WEBTOON, has a tournament "to seek out for the best fighter among all high school students in Korea," and Taekwondo student Mori Jin "soon learns that there is something much greater beneath the stage."

AniList tags it Martial Arts (96%), Urban Fantasy (91%) and Gods (89%). No AniList users have recommended it on Noblesse's page yet; it's our pick because it's the same modern-Korea, school-age, superpowered mix.

AniList: TV, 13 episodes, summer 2020, MAPPA, average score 69. Streams on Crunchyroll.

4. Tower of God

Tower of God anime key visual: Bam stands at the center with Khun, a blonde girl, a black-haired girl and the spear-carrying crocodile Rak around him Tower of God (key visual via AniList).

Another 2020 Korean webtoon anime, and the comic Noblesse readers pair with it second most: Tower of God has 30 recommendations on the Noblesse comic's AniList page. On the Noblesse anime page, the Tower of God anime sits at 0.

AniList's synopsis describes a tower that summons "Regulars" with the promise of "granting their deepest desires." Bam, a boy who "had only known a dark cave," meets a girl named Rachel, and "his entire world changed." Like Noblesse, it's built around a group of friends with powers; AniList tags it Super Power (90%) and Ensemble Cast (80%).

AniList: TV, 13 episodes, spring 2020, Telecom Animation Film, average score 74. Streams on Crunchyroll and Netflix.

5. The Devil is a Part-Timer!

The Devil is a Part-Timer! key visual: Maou in a red cap points forward over the cast, including a red-haired swordswoman and a girl in a school uniform The Devil is a Part-Timer! (key visual via AniList).

The comedy version of Rai's problem. AniList's synopsis has Devil King Sadao "only one step away from conquering the world" before he's beaten and sent to "modern-day Tokyo," where "conquering the world" is useless and "he must work as a freeter to pay for his living expenses."

AniList's Noblesse synopsis calls Rai "technologically inept." This show is a full season of that joke, with a fast food job instead of a school. AniList tags it Reverse Isekai (100%) and Work (89%).

AniList: TV, 13 episodes, spring 2013, WHITE FOX, average score 75. Streams on Netflix, Hulu and Crunchyroll.

6. Vampire Knight

Vampire Knight key visual: the cast of vampire students in black and white uniforms surround a girl lying on red fabric, one holding a gun above them Vampire Knight (key visual via AniList).

The pick for vampire nobles at school. AniList's synopsis describes Cross Academy, a boarding school split into a Day Class and a Night Class, where the Night Class is "full of utterly gorgeous elites" who "are actually vampires."

It's a shoujo romance first (AniList tags Shoujo at 98% and Love Triangle at 73%), with a female lead, so it plays very differently from Noblesse. But a school quietly sheltering a powerful noble class is the same idea.

AniList: TV, 13 episodes, spring 2008, Studio DEEN, average score 62. Streams on Hulu and Crunchyroll.

7. MARS RED

MARS RED key visual: a group of men in dark military uniforms, and one in a white coat, stand in front of a large brick building at dusk MARS RED (key visual via AniList).

The pick for Union-style secret operations. Set in 1923, it follows "Code Zero," a Japanese army unit created to fight a growing vampire problem. As AniList's synopsis puts it: "what better way to track vampires than by using vampires?"

It's an adult cast (AniList tags Primarily Adult Cast at 79%) and has none of Noblesse's school comedy. What it shares is supernatural beings put to work by a hidden organization, which is what Union is in Noblesse's first episode: "Their creation, so to speak."

AniList: TV, 13 episodes, spring 2021, Signal.MD, average score 63. Streams on Crunchyroll.

Coming next: Eleceed

Eleceed anime key visual: a young man in a suit stands beside a large fluffy orange cat, with other characters in panels behind them and the ELECEED logo below Eleceed (key visual via AniList).

Eleceed is the comic Noblesse readers recommend most on AniList: 53 recommendations on the Noblesse comic's page, ahead of Tower of God at 30. Its anime isn't out yet. AniList lists the TV series as not yet released, with 2027 as the start year and Dandelion Animation Studio as the studio. Our Eleceed anime release date tracker follows the schedule, and the Eleceed review covers the comic in the meantime.

Our take: which anime like Noblesse to start with

Start with The Misfit of Demon King Academy. Of the seven, it's the one where the whole premise lines up: an ancient ruler, a long sleep, a school full of people who don't know what he is. If Frankenstein was your favorite part, we'd start with Black Butler instead, knowing it's darker and runs 24 episodes. By need:

Same premise: The Misfit of Demon King Academy.
Rai and Frankenstein: Black Butler.
More 2020 Korean webtoon anime: The God of High School, then Tower of God.
Rai and modern life, played for laughs: The Devil is a Part-Timer!
Vampires: Vampire Knight for the school, MARS RED for the secret unit.

Frequently Asked Questions

What anime is most like Noblesse?

The Misfit of Demon King Academy. AniList users recommend it on Noblesse's anime page 30 times, ten times more than the next show. Its hero is an ancient demon king who wakes up 2,000 years later and enrolls in a school, much like Rai.

Is there an anime like Noblesse with vampires?

Vampire Knight and MARS RED. Vampire Knight puts a class of vampire elites in a boarding school's Night Class; MARS RED follows a 1923 army unit that uses vampires to hunt vampires. Both are on Crunchyroll.

Is the Noblesse anime finished?

Yes. AniList lists the TV series as finished: 13 episodes in fall 2020, made by Production I.G. There is also a one-episode 2016 ONA, Noblesse: Awakening.

What Korean webtoon anime are like Noblesse?

Tower of God and The God of High School. Both are Korean webtoon adaptations that aired in 2020, the same year as Noblesse, and both stream on Crunchyroll. Eleceed, the comic AniList users pair with Noblesse most, has a TV anime listed for 2027.

Manhwa Like Noblesse: the comic version of this list.
Noblesse Review: how the original webtoon holds up.
Anime Like Lookism: another Korean webtoon fan's watch list.

How we checked this

We watched Episode 1 of the Noblesse TV anime on Muse Asia's YouTube upload (the playlist AniList links) on October 26, 2026; the quotes from it are from the English subtitles. Formats, episode counts, seasons, studios, scores, tags, synopses and streaming services come from each show's AniList record, and the recommendation counts from the user recommendations on the Noblesse anime and comic pages, all pulled on October 26, 2026. Reddit posts were read through the Arctic Shift archive the same day. Scores and counts move as users vote. Each fact has a row with a quoted line in our sources table.

Last reviewed: October 26, 2026