Yeah it was fun in the beginning, after all who never thought about being transported to another world where you ate a big hero with swords and magic?
But what the hell, I’m pretty sure there’s more isekai now than other genres/settings. It’s gotten to a point that if I see the tag I just move on.
The thing I don’t like is how much of it is RPG themed but written by people who have never played any.
Or just boring ones they think will make sense to the broadest audience.
Where’s my Isekai where they have to guard break and air juggle enemies to do damage??!???
I’m more sick of the harem trope than the isekai trope, between that and fan service beach days I don’t even feel like trying new shows sometimes
I stopped watching isekai BECAUSE it always ended up being creepy harem stuff with underage characters, I feel like the two are permanently fused
Why are all isekai protagonists white-adjacent guys who end up defending straight-up slavery and have sus relations with minors
I know what you mean, it’s weird to me too that often the protags are white or European coded, the whole thing is a weird mess and full of ick
You can also literally tell from the cover what kind of show it’s going to be 😭
I still like the idea but I’m tired of the power fantasy aspect. “Oh no! I’ve been killed/summoned/found a portal and now I’m in a fantasy world! At least I’m incredibly overpowered and/or my modern knowledge gives me god like status!”
The ones where the character still struggles to get by tend to be good still because they have to have some kind of story involved other than “average person conquers another world by being OP”
Edit: also characters whose only connection to their old life is a token scene in the first episode/issue where it shoes them get isakai’d and it’s never a bearing on the story again. It’s just shoehorned into a bad story because isekai is popular.
Reminds me of Shield Hero. Started off with an interesting concept of a hero with a tarnished reputation having to navigate an unknown world. Immediately turns into a Harem.
Absolutely. First few episodes, especially the first one, were actually really fun but I dropped it somewhere at the beginning of season 2 because it was just boring. It kinda felt like it just kept getting worse episode by episode.
Season 3 is an improvement but still not great. It didn’t really do anything other than set up the plot for the next season
Part of the reason why I was soooo disappointed that So I’m a Spider, So What? Got such a poor adaptation. She starts out very low level and has to grind, so all of the power she gets feels earned.
Minor spoiler
The whole class gets reincarnated into other roles and there is tension between those who adapted to their new roles and society and those that don’t. I really enjoyed their interactions because it’s a constant plot point and their past lives drive a lot of their choices.
dude I fucking love spider, read the light novels and everything, but man I fucking hate how it ended. ruined it for me
This is why I liked the first part of Arifureta, dude got the shit beat out of him going through the first dungeon. Now the MC is just overpowered AF outside of a handful of fights.
- Reincarnated: Living Life in Another World
- Reincarnated as a Slime
- Re:Zero (IIRC)
Yeah, I agree the genre has come down to a basic recipe.
There are some exceptions:
- Sword Art Online, technically an issekai, but only because they are trapped in the other world.
- The Devil is a Part-Timer, reverse issekai where something foreign and god-like comes to the real world and becomes mortal
I think the biggest reason I like Reincarnated as a Slime is he’s using his powers for everyone at a nation level. Any others with god-tier powers just feels like it’s only to benefit them or a small haram.
Overlord does that too, except the MC is remorseless and all his followers are evil. it’s not the best anime out there but it’s closest to my heart
No
No, you’re not the only one. The last one I watched was probably Gate S1.
Maybe we are, but someone has to be watching this trash right? Like why do they enjoy having so much of it?
The anime doesn’t have to be good, it just has to make you interested in the lightnovel, which is where the profits are. With that in mind, the cheaper the anime can be produced the better. This is probably why there are so many shitty isekai and they keep coming.
Probably not, but after something like 2 decade of zombie shit everywhere i will take ANYTHING over it. Also there are good isekai, bad isekai and chinese isekai where the only thing coming of it is the protagonist using modern Earth idioms and perfectly assimilating otherwise.
Harry Potter is isekai. The Wings of Merlin by TA Baron is an isekai. Percy Jackson is an isekai.
The problem isn’t the genre. The problem is that the metric became a target for cheapasses with no imagination who want that trend money.
This is the same shit that happens in every form of media when production becomes more accessible. Idiots pick up the fire and run with it.
Alice in Wonderland is an isekai.
The word you’re thinking of is “fantasy”
Nope. I said what I mean.
And it’s wrong lol
It’s not.
Hard disagree on Harry Potter as Isekai.
You have made a statement that says to me the same thing as squares are rectangles so rectangles are squares
More explanation needed if you care to convince me you are right. I dont expect you to care about my opinion. Just taking a stance on your opinion.
Ide still buy you a beer to have a conversation about it though, could be fun
I don’t really care to convince you.
Glad you can admit that you are wrong lol (I’m joking if that isn’t obvious)
My participation is irrelevant.
Also wrong, you are more valuable than you are giving yourself credit for! You have lots of people you can choose to mentor by having a conversation with them or at least in front of them. Thats incredibly relevant to understanding your opinion that HP is Isekai.
You totally got this, if you want this, my guy!
You have a fun attitude.
Thank you so much. I try! Sometimes i even succeed.
Much love guv!
Isekai is just Fish Out of Water on steroids which itself is just a variant on the Hero’s Journey monomyth.
Isekai are popular because people like to explore what if scenarios just in general. The Isekai setup is just a convenient plot device, that’s all.
Which is why the absolute worst form of Isekai is the one where they both know how the world works and it’s just generic fantasy stuff on top.
Why even do it then?
Just so the protagonist can make pop culture references?
I think that has been a pretty common opinion for the past 4 years lol
My problem isn’t isekai as a concept, it’s the fact that all of them are pretty much the exact same. I enjoyed Sasaki and Peeps last season precisely because it deviated from most isekai
The only good isekai is Minna Atsumare! Falcom Gakuen.
Joking (mostly) aside, i’m just sick of generic videogame style fantasy settings in anime. It’s always the generic four member party with similar character designs and videogame mechanics.
Delicious in Dungeon is an example of one I sort of like for its shtick. The problem is, that seems to be all it has going for it. The dungeon design is terrible. It looks like it’s cut straight from an old school first person dungeon crawler, which was the intention. Still looks like shit.
Generic fantasy videogame setting is just lazy shit. I do understand that there is other anime out there, but it’s pretty much buried under piles of trash.
There’s lots of good isekai. But like horror or many other genres really depends on what you like about the Isekai genre.
Delicious in Dungeon is okay but its also bad in its own way(I’m suddenly watching and enjoying it on Netflix about 8 episodes in)
It could be better.
Ascendence of a bookworm is worth it if someone wants an isekai that feels different.
I’m sick of TRASH Isekai, not all Isekai. There’s still a good and original Isekai every now and then, but those are rare. Most of them are just fan service, harem bullshit.
There are decades worth of good anime out there. If new stuff isn’t doin it for you, pick up a show from spring 2006 or something. A lot of trash comes out every season (and always has) but nobody is forcing you to watch it.
Isekai’s are overdone. I want to see “the worst thing that can happen to your people is for them to fall into the hands of a hero” stories.
When I watched Frieren the best thing was that it was no fucking isekai. It’s still competence porn, but at least she is not a middle aged man who died lonely in his bedroom. Just a classic fantasy world. Loved it
I’m not sure if the competence porn is justified in this case. She’s clearly meant to be an RPG character at the end of their adventure (and consequently apex of their power), it makes sense to me she’s overpowered. There’s a reason most TTRPGs stop at a a certain level and sometimes even have rules and instructions for retiring.
I think it’s justified, but I don’t necessarily mean it in a negative way. Her competence is certainly an important part of exploring what the series is actually about, namely loss, regret, and what’s really important in life, etc. Which you can have even if you are very powerful.
Now that I think about it. Maybe that’s exactly the reason why it is not competence porn. Maybe her competence is analogous to a sex scene which enhances the actual topic and not the goal itself like how sex is in porn.
On the other hand I certainly watch it for the competency lol
Lots of lonely female dying isekai in the manga world too
Could you give some examples? Just curious. I want to see how they differ from male isekai in terms of escapsim. And I don’t mean multiple people like in Sao or Alice in wonderland. I just watched this “project Elise doctor” and what in the world was that? A double isekai? Or a isekaiception? But it definitely was different from when boys/men die.
Loads of villainness stuff is where a woman gets isekaied. For example:
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
- I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss
- Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord
Aside from villainness stuff, there’s also:
- I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level
- Ascendance of a Bookworm (really recommended)
- The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady
- The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent
You very much are not. However, that’s how things always work out, a new theme appears and fascinates people, then everybody and their mom start using it for many years until it gets strip mined. Another comment mentioned zombies as an example, you can hardly see new zombie apocalypse stories these days because it’s been overused already, before that i believe it was vampires, and other prominent themes have preceded those and passed. Isekai as a trope is still extremely popular to the point that stories that don’t even need it get it tacked in as a prop to help it get popular. It’s the way these things happen, and will continue until the next fun thing appears. Then it becomes just another trope to be used at the right time.
It too will pass.
