The most popular trope coming from a single place is usually indicative of the biggest problem there. Japan with isekais (deaths & escaping reality), Korea with returns (social pressure & regrets), and China with Cultivation (breaking free from/overthrowing the upper control). Those common tropes are what the people wished they had in real life
@@xellosamagojyuuroku9030 Seems like a very specific trope compared to isekai (literally just travelling to another world) but I guess the American super hero genre and the Chinese cultivation genre are also quite specific.
I'm so tired of these isekai stories where the MC gets ditched by his "friends" because his skill is "weak," only for them to realize after he has left that actually his skill was some bizarre SUPER version of the skill or otherwise just OP, and he was ACTUALLY CARRYING THEM ALL ALONG Like ffs, that just tells me the MC is a moron for thinking these blatantly awful people considered him to be a friend
Actually most of those are not Isekai but actual general fantasy anime, like Beast Tamer for example (there only a small amount of them that are actually Isekai)
@@ConnerTravis1998 some of them are yeah, but a lot of them are isekai that just completely skip the early part of isekai and go "yeah i was transported here and have been an adventurer for x amount of months"
@@ApexGale granted at least all of those will at least state in the actual show that it’s a Isekai but I have seen a lot of people miss labelling a lot of anime that have “MC first looks weak with their skills and “friends” betray them but after finding out the MC’s skills are either a rarer version which is way more powerful than the common version or if they use their skills in a certain way that for some reason no one else has tried to do then they become OP” (I wouldn’t count characters that deliberately hide their strength and make themselves look weak as this type of character, they would need to believe they were weak at the beginning to be count as this type of character bye the way) as a Isekai which are not they are generally Fantasy anime. Like I have seen people call the series “Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon” a Isekai when it isn’t it’s a Fantasy. Heck since the start of the Isekai boom most of the Fantasy that has came out since has gotten people miss labelling as a Isekai for just adding the RPG elements to it. Even Goblin Slayer got people slapping the Isekai tag on it, and one thing they all have in common is that they have a MC that looks weak, might’ve been betrayed at some point, but then get found out they are actually OP because the use of their skills that people thought made them weak. While on the other hand most of the actual Isekai end up making their MC OP from the start and they make all of the other characters know it pretty fast as soon they see them in action, even the ones that have the MC look like your average weak person on the physical looks but when you look at their personality and skills the rest of the cast will be in shock how strong that character is
Gentlemen, this is the facts right here... I found not just in anime also manga of this troupe where the weak MC but.... The best part is i know where this is going to but the downfall is the same. Since I knew how it goes, it's became boring especially you adding: heroine who just knew the MC or getting damsel need helps from the mc troupe's (this is exception for the one who voice by Tomita san isekai where he was banished from demon lord army). This is how banished hero(i had no idea why they get season 2 despite the writing is awful) and beast tamer works, i felt like watching smartphone again🤢
One of the things I liked about World Trigger was that the MC wasn't weak, but with a hidden power that's actually busted. No, he was just weak, and he was fighting for his life every time the bad guys showed up. Not only was that refreshing, but it was also really tense.
Japan will get over isekais when they finally have a real economic upswing and their declining birth rate is resolved, creating true optimism for the future and no longer necessitating endless escapism in a fantasy world. So basically, Japan will never get over isekais.
The birth rate will self-correct on a generational timescale, barring exceptional circumstances like population replacement in the name of economy like in the West.
The birth rate is actually pretty standard for most highly developed nations. It's just that countries like America and Germany offset the low birth rate with immigration.
@@pixelpause3693 Too late how? The Japanese won't cease to exist or anything as an ethnicity or culture, unlike certain countries that use immigration as a band-aid while deluding themselves that 10% or more of the population being foreign isn't going to permanently alter their demographics.
@@BigAl2-u7e it’s not standard for 40% of a nation to be pushing retirement age. And if it was a non issue the jp government wouldn’t be constantly clamoring for ways to get people to have sex.
I'm pretty sure the main reason to make an isekai instead of regular fantasy is to have a Watson. Which is a character that exists so audience could hear an explanation. Before isekai, the most common method was to have an amnesiac hero.
Yeah when I started seeing them pop up, I was like- oh, so you’re using this character to explain away your world and power system. But then after the 18th RPG slime monster level-grinding world I knew it was getting out of hand 🙄
@@angelaramirez5382 They took "don't fix it if it ain't broken" a bit too close to heart, I guess. Wait until someone comes up with a new alternative like it happened with amnesiacs and it'll replace isekai as a new fad.
Just grab your average npc and have him go an hero journey to be the very best like no one ever was and learn about different culture in his world in his travel. Dont give him a power buff on episode 3.
The problem with the isekai genre isn't that there are too many isekai shows. It's that they all explore the isekai concept in the exact same way. They're all either: Loser from our world gets reincarnated into a fantasy world where they're a gigachad with a massive harem, Or Parody of that idea (so either Konosuba, or Konosuba but worse), Or The handful of shows that are "girl becomes the protagonist in an otome game", which is basically the shoujo equivalent of the same thing. When you think about it, there are SO many ways you could explore the concept "person gets reincarnated in a different world" that the anime/manga industry hasn't even begun to touch on yet.
Can I add? That one mc from your first example but not op just want to get Harem... MC who vigilantism the world but still caring MC is from a company's and got kicked out. And the heroine change his life or he has goal
It's really kind of sad you can kind of count the number of isekai that do an interesting spin on the concept on one hand. And a lot of the time when they DO use it in an interesting way other isekai jump to copy the concept to death and more shallowly to the point even the fun new concept is boring and overdone.
That's why TsukiMichi is unique, because it's neither. Not to mention the older Isekai series like Magic Knight Rayearth, Digimon, and tbh, I think Accel World is an Isekai too.
When the socioeconomic situation of Japan changes if you ask me. When the idea of leaving Japan with nothing except the hopes and dreams you had when you were younger is no longer an attractive prospect.
Not just Japan, but for the world. There are huge audiences in the west and other countries with access to Japanese manga/anime who like the genre because it offers escapism from their lives, where they self-insert into the protagonist of an isekai series who has everything that they wish they had. And as it is human nature to always desire something better, I don't think the genre will die soon.
Remember the time when the first thing 90's isekai protagonists (12 Kingdoms, Fushiki Yuuki, El hazard, Three Kingdoms Romance Chronicle, etc.) asks when they arrived in the new world is " Can I get back to Japan please? " Yeah that doesn't exist anymore
@@HungryWolf1971 Yeah, the main goal of isekai’d people was to get home, whether by defeating the demon lord or finding the seven crystals or something. Now, it’s usually where the Joe Average worked himself to death in a “black company”, or a hikikomori dying while playing an MMO. In many cases it’s seen as a new start in life. The only things they’d miss are the Japanese food and baths.
@@Mousse9 And 9 times out of 10 it literally serves no purpose for the story other than to get people to read it as a form of escapism. The guy gets isekai'd, has his memories and that's pretty much it, if you were to skip to like 10 chapters in without reading the first chapter you would think it was just a normal fantasy story instead of an isekai.
My biggest problem with isekais is most of the MC's never misses their previous life, like they're never homesick. This is one of the reasons why I love my next life as a villainess all routes lead to doom cause in the end they show us she yearns for her family and friend and may never see them again
Then you should like TsukiMichi, since the protag is basically kidnapped to another world, being abandoned by said world, and having severe homesickness of wanting to return to his previous life.
@@Lasikisal Mushoku Tensei's MC never missed his old life he was regretful and ashamed of himself for not being a better son and for being a failure but if you asked him if he would like to go back he would say "hell naw"
Re: zero Arifureta Mushoku tensei The rising of the shield hero Tsukimichi Moonlit Fantasy There are shows that show that the MC isekai themself on purpose. And there are shows that show that the MC have nth to lose from dying(so missing friends and family is irrelevant).
Am I the only one who finds the fact that so many isekai start with death is kind of unsettling? Like I think it’s unhealthy to have so many stories built on the premise of “what if dying is the best thing that can happen to you?”
Japanese (mostly work) culture for you. Also Tend to notice that when protag is a young adult, it's usually "death/reincarnation", and when it's a highschool years, it's a "summoning(mostly with "no return policy"). Wonder why(/s)
@@Georgeorat I think that’s why I find it so dangerous. Japan has such a high suicide rate and people are being advertised the message that things would get better if they died. It just feels extremely irresponsible to me.
@@amethystimagination3332 hmm, to be fair, such media can be a trigger for such people, but just that - /a/ trigger. Plus death as a trope (usually) guarantees that we don't have to think about first world(be it Earth or otherwise) so... eh. Whatev
@@Georgeorat I mean I’m not saying the trope can’t be done well. I just find the sheer amount of them that don’t handle it well is a little alarming and again irresponsible to me.
I find it funny that being transported to another world is actually one of the oldest story setups we have and has infinite possibilities for the kinds of worlds that can visited and stories that can be told while allowing them to be viewed through the eyes of a more relatable character then if the story was a pure fantasy... Yet so often modern isekai just doesn't even try.
Most isekais are some kind of cynic responses to one of the most classic tropes in mangas and animes : nekketsu. Nekketsu is a "shonen" trope that work well when you're younger, when you think efforts will take you anywhere you want. Isekais work mostly as a power fantasy, to speak to audiences disillusioned by the nekketsu spirit, adolescents or young adults that don't believe life will reward them enough to justify their work, so most isekais simply start with the MC dying in the real world because the message is "the real world is sh*t", and then are reincarnated in another world that simply give them everything they want. The fantasy setting is there not really as a fantasy LotR setting, but mostly as an excuse to justify all the gifts the MC receive. Magic give them any kind of power with no effort involved, fantasy setting give them an excuse to have a harem, and only beautiful girls of course, because most of MC are otakus they know every aspect of a fantasy world and they suddenly become an all knowing expert in this world instead of a social reject. It may be only my interpretation, but I think isekais work so well because they call to this basic instinct of wanting a "no risk only rewards" story, speaking to an audience simply not interested anymore by the classic "high risks high rewards" setting that we see in so many shonens, or even the most morally regarded "high risks low rewards" stories that follow a character doing dangerous things to protect something righteous, like loved ones, family, a system, saving the world or whatever doesn't reward them directly.
The thing Isekai does well as a trope and part of why it's so popular is introduce the world to both the MC and reader simultaneously. It doesn't make sense for a character who lived in this world to ask basic questions, but you need that to happen so the audience can learn about the world. Or at least, it's a very convenient framing device to make that happen.
That's very true! Same thing with the chosen-one-hidden-out-in the-middle-of-nowhere trope, since it'll have the MC be somewhat part of the world but just overly-sheltered, so they'll be most likely to have questions, despite not needing to be reincarnated nor travel interdimensionally.
True,but thats kinda just a cop out if the authors are too lazy to put effort into it.For example,in a new hope,they don't really explain anything,they kinda just expect the audience isn't dumb enough to not put it together.
Scott Pilgrim "it would be cool if they did an anime" They did, it's originally based off a graphic novel so i wouldn't be surprised if the anime is based or just that, plus there's a 2 minute animation of it from years ago, was based of a few pages if i recall
I like the comments here. For a bit now I’ve thought Isekai is an iteration on a common psychological fantasy: the do-over. As a guy in my 30’s who isn’t happy with where I am in life I somewhat understand the appeal-you get to start over in a place and using advanced knowledge and new opportunities you get to forge a new path, all while retaining one’s youthful energy. Indulging in a power fantasy like this brings some comfort-you can pretend that if you just got a do-over then maybe you could get it right this time. Japan has their Hikikomori, America has its incels, and I imagine this phenomena happens wherever people feel useless, disenfranchised, and alienated from culture-regardless of the name applied. I think this is why so many Isekai start with a shut in or disenfranchised individual dying, sometimes in a heroic manner. Maybe the hero still lies within, I just haven’t had the opportunity to call it forth. I was thinking about this today and how what we need from creatives, in my humble opinion, is the anti-Isekai. Isekai protagonists often (but not always) have wasted much of their youth. Their vision of their future is dim at best. If you look up from endless manga, anime, video games and porn long enough to look at getting your life in order, a multitude of undone tasks and unaddressed trauma crashes down-the weight of consequences is heavy. Hence, Isekai is a retreat-you get a clean slate, or perhaps the hundreds/thousands of hours spent on a video game suddenly pay off as the video game becomes real. The fantasy comforts people but that’s all it does. Hence, we need anti-Isekai. We need stories about the disenfranchised, awkward, and problem ridden shut-ins who find a way to confront their challenges and grow into something more. We need stories well told with characters that feel real, stories that neither minimize the confrontation of the mountain of mundane tasks but also don’t give people excuses to retreat into the unconscious. Instead of starting over via a literal death and resurrection perhaps we can follow a character who has to let parts of their personality die in order to be reborn-but all within the context of daily life. If there is such an anti-Isekai, I’d love to read it. If I didn’t feel like I was at the beginning of such a journey, I might even venture to write it
When you first said "anti-Isekai" I thought you were going to describe, like, a dude that actually DID have their life together getting tragically isekai'd into an objectively worse life where nothing goes their way, and they are constantly out of their depth (because they never played video games or whatever haha). What you actually meant is way more wholesome.
When they make a Gundam Isekai that somehow incorporates a high school with cat girls and a tournament arc they'll be like, "Olay that's enough, pull the plug."
Good question gigguk it took 50 years for Japan to get tired of mechas ( with the exception of witch of mercury) it'll probably be another 50 years before they get tired of Isekais. However Isekais are basically Japan's way of crying out for help of their overworked life styles
This the exact point. Mecha was a genre that old generation wanted to go ahead of technology but Isekai is basically Japan's a way to run from their tiring work environment. It would be interesting if they suddenly introduce a modern harem genre about fighting their diminishing population.
Do you think ISEKAI is the only popular thing in Japan from a Western point of view? If you look at the ranking of popular manga and anime in Japan, ISEKAI is not that popular.
@@joestark_saysI mean we have slife of life , high school stuff and even modern harem(where human population is in a brink of collapse). Same principle as to why many Chinese Manhua talks about overthrowing an evil organization or ruler(their way of crying out for their bad government) but most of these manhuas eventually get banned by their gov
This is why Isekai’s that focuses on world building like Overlord are great! Since the main characters aren’t the only one getting attentions, but also the residents of the new world as well. Honestly, if Isekai’s focused more on world building they would probably be more well received.
The isekai who is lockpicking chest is also good too. I watch it and suddenly they just switched to many other party beside MC one which made the world more interest than just MC doing those stupid troupe
@@jennys-j5264 idk, I haven't been into anime as much as before ever since I started reading manga's. Only a few exceptions though like overlord, though it still isn't as detailed as with the light novel it was still well done. My main gripe is withe the drawn character styles in anime compared to the manga version. *Edit* also with how most isekai anime's skip a lot of stuff compared to the manga or light novel just to get to the action immediately. I think that's one thing that plagues most isekai.
This is the reason I want an Isekai that rely heavily on how MC relationship with their own home world, to the isekai world and the feeling of being out of place with the art of the MC vastly different from the world.
@@luciebarathlone730 The first half is certainly Re Zero but the thing I especially want is the last half with the MC being vastly differ from the world with on how he act, normal common sense and of course the whole art style of the MC.
The thing about why isekais being so popular is you have to look at what is going on in society as a whole as well as the rest of the world. The plague happened and we are currently very much still dealing with the economic fall out of it right now. Isekais are one of the truest forms of escapism. Probably the majority of people are some point or another in their life have imagined being able to go somewhere and have a fresh start and things working out for the better for them. I believe that isekais are going to be around for the next foreseeable future
My first contact with isekai is from Chinese novels like 10+ years ago when the genre started blooming and authors was birthing them out everywhere, every genres with slight adjustions. Because they birthed so many, some of them are really good. Now I see some of them (or similar tropes) getting adapted to manga (manhwa...) or anime and worshiped and I just think so many of their ideologies are goddamn outdated.
@Sydney Smith I’m right there with ya bud sometimes I don’t need an over dramatic Anime going over the same thing I’ve seen like a million times I sometimes enjoy stuff that’s clearly not meant to be taken seriously
@@USSAnimeNCC-Old Isekais are much different like those in 80s. You know the Bible stuff anime ? Superbook? which is made by Japan itself is essentially Isekai but it's purpose is different. It ain't escapism
Honestly, many isekais just barely touch upon the isekai, especially those that 'die & reincarnate', as they ain't trying to 'get back'. So I don't particularly mind that the trope gets used a lot either, even if some shows could've just been a straight-up fantasy show. Just look at Rimuru, the isekai aspect of slime reincarnation played a part in basically episode 1. Other than that, it might as well not be there anymore. Could've just been 'unusual slime is born, meets a dragon, sets out into the world' w/o the guy reincarnating. The rest of the show wouldn't change at all. But you wouldn't have the isekai draw on the public. Basically, often times the isekai element is basically just used as a framing device, but doesn't have much impact at all on the rest of the story. As long as the isekai label is a crowd pleaser & reader draw, it's not going away any time soon. Even if the isekai elements were to only play a part in the story for literally only the 1st chapter.
Just to you see how strong the concept of redoing life is strong in slime, in the end rimuru is so strong he gains the ability to time travel and reality manipulation so he goes to the past saves himself from dying, gives him a massive pat in the back then leaves to his isekai world again, at that point he had a skill that negates time travel shenanigans so everything ends well and later he tells everyone who he really is
Precisely. To me the appeal of isekai is the idea of how different world interact whether it’s a single person in another world or entire countries or beyond even that. Most isekai just use the idea to justify the protagonist spontaneously getting powers and a harem without having to world build.
grimgar of fantasy and ash was a well done show that incorporated the isekai story to only amplify the story further. one of the best and slept on shows I highly recommend it.
If you haven’t seen any of the old spaghetti westerns you gotta watch the old Sergio Leone movies they’re so good! The Once Upon a Time and Dollars trilogies are some of the best films of all time and you can see their influence in pretty much everything since.
There's a pretty good manga written by ONE called versus where its basically a bunch of worlds humanity and natural enemies of them getting isekai'd into one world
Tbh my problem with Isekai isn't even that there's another guy/girl who got transported/reincarnated into another fantasy world. It's that almost every fantasy world is a fcking JRPG. Like at least make it a real world instead of a game-based world. Or just not a JRPG.
There is a manga where the mc gets reincarnated into a sci-fi space setting. you can probably just guess what it's called and find it because I never commit this shit to memory. You are right, though. Out of all the things to reincarnate into (or from, in the case of reverse isekai), why is it exclusively fantasy JRPGS? Take a cue from SAO and move on to FPSs for a while or something!
@@SomeRandomJackAss I believe you are talking about "Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship!," Where instead of generic fantasy JRPG, the MC (who IIRC didn't actually die as far as the reader knows, despite the title) is now in an Elite Dangerous clone. ...Where it is apparently customary for the captain of a ship they own to have crewmates of their preferred gender become a part of their harem. Also, it has space elves. Because. There is also "I'm the Evil Overlord of a Galactic Empire," done by the same guy who wrote Trapped in a Dating Sim (which is one of the better isekais that actually leans on the fact it's an isekai for plot reasons, especially the what-if Side Story that only be found in fan translations) that's a Space Fantasy setting, though despite the name, the MC isn't the Overlord of the Galactic Empire, nor is he really that evil... Though for the most part, that's because he is a firm believer of Pragmatic Villainy (can't get filthy rich on high taxes if the people have no money, so let's invest in some economic development projects) and also his definition of "evil" comes from our world (specifically Japanese) norms of morality and exuberance, when the setting's position on both are somewhere between Dune and Warhammer 40k.
Just a small addition to what Garnt said about SP; They are not basing it on the movie. They are straight up animating the whole comic series properly (from who the movie comes from), since sadly the movie released prior to the last novel's chapter.
1:16 Idk why the boys are "curious" about Michael Cera's voice acting. The original promo for Scott Pilgrim on Adult Swim was animated with Cera voicing Scott.
Spaghetti and American Westerns are two different things Spaghetti Westerns tended to be more grimy, morally grey, and thematic. American Westerns romanticised everything with clear heroes and villains
Isekai always comes off as fanfic like when a teenager puts them selves in the twilight universe no idea why it’s so popular “you can relate because they are like us” “its wish fulfillment” yeah that’s fanfic
Imma be honest when the first 3 episodes of the new "I got a cheat skill in another world and became unparalleled in the real world" I constantly thought that he was going to wake up or something along the lines of being in coma even for an Isekai everything was going way too well. - goes from fat guy to Supermodel good lucks (Check) - Everyone around you wants to be you (Check) - Evil siblings and bullies get karma (Check) - Randomly enroll into the most prestigious school which for some reason holds your morals above your academic accomplishments (Check) - Every single girl he meets is in love with him before the episode ends (Check) - His starting gear and zone is actually an end game area (Check) - Probably the son of the great hero (Check)
I used to be Isekai maniac but i graduated from that faze and this anime that you mentioned really sucks . Cuz i think unlike other Isekai mc this mfkr don't deserve it and it's so cringe. I was about to comment same thing but you did it before me . Thanks 🙏
I dont get why its so highly rated. I watched it and it was so bad it was baffling. Like the plotline where some gang members shoot up his school is so weird.
I'm waiting for anime where mc would be a truck driver, who is forced to hunt down and hit protagonists for transferring them to an another worlds in order to save worlds or these protagonists. Main character would always have this dilemma about what he is doing "is it worth it? is it for greater good? Is he a horrible person?". He would be wanted by police and only explanation he would have is that the higher power or voices in his head told him to do so. Come on Japan, make it happen.
This is a really good segment in my opinion its nice to see them just debating things where it goes back and forth, I like it more than when its one person talking about their own topic for a while
8:36: That's pretty much the definition of a Mary Sue right there. Or a Marty Stu in this case. A story that revolves around one character and seems designed to make them look good at every turn, regardless of what they do. Come to think of it, does this mean that every power fantasy anime is basically a Mary Sue anime?
Connor's prediction at the 6-minute mark about people dying and getting isekai'ed into other anime has already happened in manga form. Look up "Dragon Ball: That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha", which is about a guy who dies and gets isekai'ed as Yamcha from "Dragon Ball Z", and proceeds to try to make his life suck much less.
I mean, the solution to that would be to just get a regular job and live a normal life, since the other Z Warriors will either resolve the problems themselves or the problems are too big for a slightly stronger human to affect, even with encyclopedic knowledge of DB lore.
I think Japan will get over isekai when working conditions and societal pressure stop being as harsh as they are for the average Japanese citizen. I mean it is escapism fantasy at the end of the day so if the reality stops being so crushingly terrible maybe we'll get less of it.
Its interesting south korea has all these deep cut series movies/shows about social inequality and malaise (squid games, parasite, burning etc) and Japan has isekai to deal with it
"We finally get other movies" oh yeah no other movies have come out the past several years. Just marvel. What's that? A new john wick movie? Renfield? Violent night? Surely you speak madness!
Everything Everywhere All At Once? Knives Out/Glass Onion? Invisible Man? Nope/Us/Get Out? It? Parasite? Why, no one's ever heard of those! (BTW, I can do this all day.)
To be precise, spaghetti westerns are westerns made in Europe between the 60s and 70s, mostly in Italy or Spain, with international casts and generally with an Italian director behind the camera (hence the term Spaghetti), the most iconic ones being the "Dollar trilogy" of Sergio Leone, with Clint Eastwood. They were not very well regarded back in the day, being considered exploitative and trashy (in contrast with classic American westerns), but over time developed a cult status and became film classics.
There are other food related terms for westerns made in other countries (curry western for India, ramen western for Japan...), but are way less popular than spaghetti westerns.
The Warrior Returns Manwha needs to be made into an anime. The Warrior Returns gets rejected by everyone and so just wrecks shit. During the wrecking of shit this dude dies after seeing his family die, gets isikaid into the spear warrior. Spends his whole time powerleveling just to kill the sword warrior. He revives the BBEG on repeat so he can get stronger. It's insane and badass. Gotta admit I do love isikai.
It's the sad truth that isekais reflect the mentality of most consumers in Japan, that is escaping the real world. Granted, there are a lot of isekais that don't use that as a template for their main character (i.e. generic ass overworked salaryman getting truck-kun'd) as some of them do in fact have very good character writing (even though I like very few of them). One recent trend I've found is not getting isekai'd to a fantasy world, but rather games or manga that the MC has read or played, and all of them have had pretty good character writing to some degree. The original inhabitants of that world which were originally supposed to be 1-dimensional characters serving the purpose of the game's/manga's plot evolve into much more engaging and entertaining characters than before. Also when the MC is reincarnated as the antagonist of that world, it can get pretty interesting depending on how it's written, or it falls down the typical villain/villainess route.
I want you guys to think calmly. If anime and manga reflect the social situation in Japan, what about America? Are comics that run away from that reality popular because of the daily shootings in the gun society? I don't think so. Japan's social problems have nothing to do with isekai's popularity.
I mean I am not against isekais as long as there are some great anime especially in terms of story and character development. Anime is widely popular and number of anime getting released are significantly higher than 15 or 20 years ago. That is why there will be more mediocre stuff objectively. Same with the movies. Every year so many movies are released but we watch only few of them(average person). Specific genres of movies are also popular. So I do not mind isekais or romance anime, just give me more anime with more great stories!
im the same as garnt i love isekai never finished any if it but i just love to read isekai for the the first part and then move on to the next because i love the premise.
Honestly one of thr biggest issues with issekai is how selfcestuous it is, its writing has devloped the same issues Miyazaki has with most of the industries animators. A few fantasy Japanese properties like fairy tail, SAO, dragons quest, knowingly pulled a lot from tolkenism as their inspiration. But now most issekai seem to be pulling from things that were inspired by other issekai that were inspired by Japanese properties that were inspired by tolkenism, to the point that theres certainly at least a few people working in these genres thinking that issekai is the source of this type of fantasy setting and have no idea the influence of tolkenism.
Tolkien - on the other hand - also just pulled from small number of mytholgies and folklores for giving his languages a world. Which only with time became a backdrop for the fading village idealism... he was indeed a late bloom romantic.
@@williamgardner545 You are probably referring to OP, unless my comment was misunderstood. For as I stated he pulled from fairy tales... even orcs and goblins have their root in alpine germano-celtic fairy tales (rest is more obvious with how populat norse stuff is).
@@williamgardner545 honestly not too sure where in particular it was applied. but the author of fairy tail has mentioned in interviews that lord of the rings specifically was his inspiration for creating the manga.
Honestly, I'm currently getting into Isekai stories where the MC goes into a world of their favorite manga or storybook and they try to fix things to avoid an ill fate either because they are the character that gets it, or because they love the character that gets it. It's every weeb's dream to fix stories that they're invested to.
Someone getting isekai'ed into Berserk... I would watch that Also yeah, Studio Orange is goin crazy. Studio Orange, CyberConnect 2 and Arc System Works completely mastered the 3D anime vibe
Rick & Morty does have a proper japanese dub. It's surprisingly great. Yohei Tadano and Keisuki Chiba play Rick and Morty respectively, and they both do great impressions with spot on verbal tics like Rick's slurred speech and belches and Morty's stuttering and voice cracks. The script also works great because Rick uses very abrasive words while Morty uses very timid words, and some of the humor was made up on the spot just like the original.
The best is Isekai in the last few years was made by Disney only for them to cancel it when it was at its peak. The Owl House was such a great show. I loved the ride while it lasted.
6:21 you know it's pretty funny that Connor mentions an isekai where characters get isekaied into an existing IP, because there is already a parody isekai manga where a character gets isekaied into the Dragon Ball Z world as YAMACHA😂😂😂
Honestly most Isekai stories that are being animated started serialization during the early and mid 2010’s because of the trend. Isekai smartphone got a 2nd season and I’m pretty sure it’s because the studio has nothing else cool to animate. It’ll reach a point where there’s nothing left to animate and give a 2nd season to old anime’s(Outbreak Company I’m still waiting) or actually pick up series that can last like Arifureta; horrible anime but at least that studio was competent enough to actually follow through and animate most of the light novels
6:11 A interesting manga I came across was, a guy Isekai's into being Yamcha from DBZ and has to then turn Yamcha into the hero with what he knows about how DBZ is going to play out. So who knows, if that gets greenlit his prediction will come true.
Whoever told you that about spaghetti westerns lied or was misinformed. The term comes from the 60s. Early westerns came from America. In the 60s, a bunch of Italian directors started making westerns in Italy using mostly Italian casts with some American actors like Clint Eastwood, and that's where the term came from.
Funny enough, in russian fiction and fantasy "isekai" became popular long ago before in Japan. And I've read a lot of it before starting to read manga/manhwa on the same topic. And in a lot of "isekais" it was pretty obvious that the aspect of it was added only with one purpose: to explain the modern knowledge/references/habits of the main character when author just can't control himself and prevent himself from pasting these things in the text. I think, the same problem is with Japanese isekais as well.
Another thing is that at least speaking from webtoon isekai. The first one you read is good the concept strikes you as novel and interesting. And then you realize 90% of them are the same. And then disappointment sets in.
I think what most isekais suffer from is how the world doesn't feel alive or lived in w/o the POV of the mc (i cant seem to word it out properly but it's just a feeling, though i might mean something else)
Much in the same vein as Garnt brings up here the way I've personally made Isekai a little more bearable is I've managed to stop myself of thinking of Isekai as the genre and more of the setting. Like going into the new one "Isekai Cheat Skill" or how ever you wanna call it, I went into it with the Fantasy aspect of skills from one world causing real world effects and I've been really enjoying it under that premise.
Unfortunately it was made at the very beginning of all the Isekai Spam, so it fell under everyone’s radars. Not to mention, all the children watchers at the time said it was “Too slow, and not enough action”. At the time of release, all series banked on Blu-Ray sales, and obviously since it was under radar, it didnt sell enough. Such a shame
I liked the novels for Black Bullet and it's a interesting yet dark world once you get into it. Though Cdawgva doesn't remember anything as there's no cat girl. Pros for Joey, formerly known as the Anime Man, for remembering the show.
Bad superhero movies have been around for a long time, but the current superhero renaissance is largely due to the success of the earlier MCU movies, such as the first Iron Man and Avengers. Disney had a team of people who genuinely loved the original comics, wanted to bring them to life, and do them justice. This is why a completely random IP like Guardians of the Galaxy ended up being so good. Unfortunately, over time, quantity became more important than quality, and now movies seem to come off a conveyor belt with that signature Disney Marvel humor that people have grown tired of. On top of this, there are plenty of failed superhero TV shows from other networks that tried to capitalize off the hype surrounding the genre. With that being said, there are still plenty of gems like The Boys and Daredevil. I don't think Isekais necessarily followed the same trajectory. I guess the equivalent of Iron Man would be Sword Art? It was very popular, but regularly clowned on, as well. Maybe Sword Art was huge with the Japanese audience and IDK what I'm talking about. IMO, the modern Isekai genre does come off as a lazy gimmick and is an immediate sign of what not to watch. Garnt hit the nail on the head when describing Shield Hero. Not only do the other characters seem flat, the world feels flat, as well. The villages the MC visits and characters he talks to really come across like they stop existing as soon as the MC steps off the screen. This is the vibe I get from most modern Isekais. Again, compare that to a story like Made in Abyss, in which each setting and even its wildlife is gorgeous and given so much thought. It's like night and day.
To be fair there is this one isekai about an engineer that got reincarnated as a prince and implementing his skills and knowledge in this medieval era semi-fantasy world and it is amazing to see him solve issues my just engineering the fuck out of it
Shield Hero was one of the better Isekais, and I still dropped it. After the queen returned and backed up Naofumi, the entire premise was upended from an underdog who can't fight having to resort to villainous behavior to survive, to an op harem protag who has to clean up after everyone else's bs
@@sdbzfan1 If you're still able to enjoy it, I'm happy for you. I can't see it past a trope-filled power fantasy anymore. I read and enjoyed the Spear Hero's spin-off, and I'll consider it the finalé in my headcanon.
@@commonviewer2488 I can't view it as a power fantasy simply because cleaning up after others isn't the fun time sweep I normally expect from power fantasies, especially when Naofumi's best skills are defense based, all his attack skills have debuffs and actively harm him and others, any real damage he deals comes from figuring out enemy weaknesses and ingenuity
Japan and the world as a collective will drop the isekai genre when the world becomes a utopia-which to say is never. It's the same reason people play videogames, and play roleplaying games, and get inebriated, and many other vices: to escape the real world. I think another appeal of isekai is that the protagonist is actually able to do something about the world and their situation, which for many people is itself a fantastical dream. At least that's my view on the situation, maybe I'm wrong.
As if to say Japan back then was a utopia, knowing the fact that they experienced some economic crisis in the 90s and still recovering in the early 2000s. Yet they barely have any isekai genre within the anime scene other than .Hack or other similar anime. Anime in itself can be a form of escapism without the need to inject isekai into it, harem anime before 2018 - 2019 are some of the examples. So no, isekai is not a byproduct of society becoming less of a utopia, more that people are either following a trend that would secure them more success than going on a more riskier yet original route, or people just ran out of ideas.
@@gutentag587 It's funny that before the Japanese economic bubble exploded, great part of the animations where about dystopic Cyberpunk settings, it was basically a reverse isekai, people where producing a lot of animes where the "world is harder" Oh how the tables turn
They should at least put some thought into making it. Harry Potter is an isekai basically, but the main character doesn't reincarnate in another world. Although it's still heavily influenced by european folklore of magic, with wands and brooms, just like isekai is heavily influenced by videogames.
The thing in isekais thet trigger me to hell and back its the fucking: "here's my magic that show my status like a video game". WTF is that? is the world a video game? The gods who created this world new of video games and just copied it? Why would that exist in a fantasy world? who made the design and chose colors and placement of stats? And theres also the fact that 99.9999% of isekais the iseakaing doesnt fucking matter at all. The world could juts have being a fantasy world from the beginning without any changes to the plot. What was the point of the isekai? There are good isekai shows out there period, but come on
Also don't forget that the world has RPG experience system in it. TBH I wonder how strong butcher in that world would be. If I'm a king in that world I would behead all of prisoners of war myself, and I'm also gonna hold a ritual where all hunters need to tribute the monster they hunt alive for me as a tax so that I will kill the monsters for massive exp. 🤣
@@mardshima2070 YES! Hahahaha. it takes me right out of the media. Why is there and established xp system, who made it? In comedy shows its fine, konosuba comes to mind, but konosuba was made to make fun of those tropes. But on serious shows? Its just stupid
And also, if nobles know that there is an xp system why is there not an super soldier program? I don't know, pay a bunch of goons to 90% slay some beats and just let some of them get the final blow every time. Super soldiers in no time.
@@ViniciusSilvestre0 Kumo Desu Ga? (Isekai Spider) has this system as well as explanation why the system exist and its for pretty cruel reason. It also a good isekai story, highly recommended.
Im a rick and morty fan and absolutely want an rick and morty anime. They made several anime shorts and they were awesome and i would love to see it translated to a full anime. I think it can absolutely work
As long as videos with titles like this continue to be released and receive a decent number of views and comments, it seems that the trend of isekai stories will continue. People aren't tired of this phenomenon yet. If nobody talks about it and nobody pays attention to it, the genre will naturally be phased out. In other words, as long as this channel continues to touch on this topic, the isekai genre won't stop😂
Im TIRED of isekais. They are the embodiement of all that is wrong with the anime industry: no personality MC's, non sensical power fantasy, sexualized female characters whose only purpose is to please the MC, degenerate loli trash, same medieval europe based world, same big bad evil guy villain with no more thought put behind.
I knew about isekai anime before it existed because in my fanfiction rippoff of dragonball z: the ancient heroes who defeated the millennium beast are given the ability to REMEMBER THEIR PAST LIVES by god so they can fight it again in 1000 years which makes them the golden souls. including the "hero" who fails, and is reborn and goes back in time to the moment he died and wins, and lives the life of the "him" who died (which creates emotional tension with his son whose not his current body's son) Also the millennium beast is squid-dragon with 1000 arms that branch off into new arms like a tree, that grow back doubled like a hydra, And its covered in venomous quills (like a pine tree) The millennium beast is basically a tree as a hydra/pheonix
I want to see more isekai with monster MCs and I don’t just mean goblins, orcs, vampires, etc, but actually monstrous looking creatures. I also really think more isekai MCs should experience massive culture shock
there is one where the MC is a werewolf... but he acts very human... of course, we all know there is already a slime demon king... and there is the undead spell caster... there are one none Isekai where the MC died and become a undead demon king... not sure if you count undead as monster or just human revived as undead...
@@anthonybernard8819 bare skeleton like overlord, but different since the MC was the in the champion team and his party was murder by his own people after defeating the demon king. he layed in a pit filled with other wrongfully killed for years and decades until he was revived as undead skeleton of himself.
Their talking about how isekai worlds are built around the MC makes me appreciate shows like realist hero where they genuinely make it seem like just a regular guy who got warped into medieval technology era.
I think people are being WAY too dramatic about isekai. I'll admit I'm no expert on the subject, but from what I know about Japan, when they find something that works (Makes them money) they will NEVER stop doing it. The studios saw that isekai shows make bank, so they turned around and started pumping out isekai after isekai to cash in on the trend. I see so many people in the comments S O C I E T Y posting, saying that the genre is so popular because the world is a terrible place, le escapism, ETC, ignoring the fact that people don't actually like these shows in the first place. Anime fans burn themselves out watching every single episode of every single show that airs every single season, then get angry because they can't figure out why the studios aren't taking a chance making something new. It's like Pokemon fans who still don't understand why every Pokemon game is bad. TLDR: Isekai isn't going anywhere because it makes money. I honestly believe it's that simple.
But does it actually make money? It's not like the anime industry wasn't making money before. I would argue that it's actually worse money-wise to focus so heavily on isekai, for a couple of reasons. The first is that, if you're pandering so much to a specific fanbase, you turn off people who want something different. I think a lot more people would watch a lot more anime if a lot more of it was, if not original, then at least not so obviously chasing trends. And more people watching more anime means more money. The second is that there comes a point where even people who like isekai get bored of it. You can't keep giving the same shows with the same concepts and the same cookie-cutter waifu harems and expect everyone to keep coming back. Sure, some people will, but a lot will get bored of it. I know I sure am, and it's a problem if, of the 3 hosts of one of the most popular anime podcasts say they're basically done with the genre. I think it's a situation where you can't see all the money you might have made doing something different, so people assume this is the best way, when it might not be.
@@Ash_Wen-li "Never" was an exaggeration, but my point was they (From what I've seen) have a tendency to cling to what has been proven to work, instead of taking chances on new ideas.
@@meko98743 I pretty much agree with everything you said, I just forgot to mention that part in my comment. For the sake of risk aversion, they will cling to a trend that has, at one point, been proven to work, even if it has long since stopped working. They're so afraid of trying something new and risking failure that they end up stubbornly clinging to the past and stagnating instead.
Dragonball already has that isekai concept as a spinoff manga. A DB fan gets isekai’d as Yamcha at the very end of DB, just before the time skip to DBZ and he uses his knowledge to get ahead despite being Yamcha
I love isekai so I'm cool with the never ending stream Tho I wish they would work on the Quality At this point its a 50/50 change for a good one or a piece of trash
The most popular trope coming from a single place is usually indicative of the biggest problem there. Japan with isekais (deaths & escaping reality), Korea with returns (social pressure & regrets), and China with Cultivation (breaking free from/overthrowing the upper control). Those common tropes are what the people wished they had in real life
You’re so right actually, the insane amount of manwha reincarnation stories is so telling
Yes
I'm uninformed about common tropes in Korean media. Would you mind telling me what do you mean by "returns"? Is it like redoing life or something?
@Francisco Flamenco yeah returning to the past with future knowledge
@@xellosamagojyuuroku9030 Seems like a very specific trope compared to isekai (literally just travelling to another world) but I guess the American super hero genre and the Chinese cultivation genre are also quite specific.
I'm so tired of these isekai stories where the MC gets ditched by his "friends" because his skill is "weak," only for them to realize after he has left that actually his skill was some bizarre SUPER version of the skill or otherwise just OP, and he was ACTUALLY CARRYING THEM ALL ALONG
Like ffs, that just tells me the MC is a moron for thinking these blatantly awful people considered him to be a friend
Actually most of those are not Isekai but actual general fantasy anime, like Beast Tamer for example (there only a small amount of them that are actually Isekai)
@@ConnerTravis1998 some of them are yeah, but a lot of them are isekai that just completely skip the early part of isekai and go "yeah i was transported here and have been an adventurer for x amount of months"
@@ApexGale granted at least all of those will at least state in the actual show that it’s a Isekai but I have seen a lot of people miss labelling a lot of anime that have “MC first looks weak with their skills and “friends” betray them but after finding out the MC’s skills are either a rarer version which is way more powerful than the common version or if they use their skills in a certain way that for some reason no one else has tried to do then they become OP” (I wouldn’t count characters that deliberately hide their strength and make themselves look weak as this type of character, they would need to believe they were weak at the beginning to be count as this type of character bye the way) as a Isekai which are not they are generally Fantasy anime.
Like I have seen people call the series “Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon” a Isekai when it isn’t it’s a Fantasy. Heck since the start of the Isekai boom most of the Fantasy that has came out since has gotten people miss labelling as a Isekai for just adding the RPG elements to it. Even Goblin Slayer got people slapping the Isekai tag on it, and one thing they all have in common is that they have a MC that looks weak, might’ve been betrayed at some point, but then get found out they are actually OP because the use of their skills that people thought made them weak.
While on the other hand most of the actual Isekai end up making their MC OP from the start and they make all of the other characters know it pretty fast as soon they see them in action, even the ones that have the MC look like your average weak person on the physical looks but when you look at their personality and skills the rest of the cast will be in shock how strong that character is
Gentlemen, this is the facts right here...
I found not just in anime also manga of this troupe where the weak MC but....
The best part is i know where this is going to but the downfall is the same. Since I knew how it goes, it's became boring especially you adding: heroine who just knew the MC or getting damsel need helps from the mc troupe's (this is exception for the one who voice by Tomita san isekai where he was banished from demon lord army).
This is how banished hero(i had no idea why they get season 2 despite the writing is awful) and beast tamer works, i felt like watching smartphone again🤢
One of the things I liked about World Trigger was that the MC wasn't weak, but with a hidden power that's actually busted. No, he was just weak, and he was fighting for his life every time the bad guys showed up. Not only was that refreshing, but it was also really tense.
Japan will get over isekais when they finally have a real economic upswing and their declining birth rate is resolved, creating true optimism for the future and no longer necessitating endless escapism in a fantasy world.
So basically, Japan will never get over isekais.
The birth rate will self-correct on a generational timescale, barring exceptional circumstances like population replacement in the name of economy like in the West.
@@MoreEvilThanYahweheven if it self-corrects, by then it will be too late.
The birth rate is actually pretty standard for most highly developed nations. It's just that countries like America and Germany offset the low birth rate with immigration.
@@pixelpause3693 Too late how? The Japanese won't cease to exist or anything as an ethnicity or culture, unlike certain countries that use immigration as a band-aid while deluding themselves that 10% or more of the population being foreign isn't going to permanently alter their demographics.
@@BigAl2-u7e it’s not standard for 40% of a nation to be pushing retirement age. And if it was a non issue the jp government wouldn’t be constantly clamoring for ways to get people to have sex.
I'm pretty sure the main reason to make an isekai instead of regular fantasy is to have a Watson. Which is a character that exists so audience could hear an explanation. Before isekai, the most common method was to have an amnesiac hero.
Yeah when I started seeing them pop up, I was like- oh, so you’re using this character to explain away your world and power system.
But then after the 18th RPG slime monster level-grinding world I knew it was getting out of hand 🙄
@@angelaramirez5382 They took "don't fix it if it ain't broken" a bit too close to heart, I guess. Wait until someone comes up with a new alternative like it happened with amnesiacs and it'll replace isekai as a new fad.
@@akumuryuu praying for that time to come soon 🙏😩
@@angelaramirez5382 if that time ever comes I don't know what I'll do. Probably try to gut you
Just grab your average npc and have him go an hero journey to be the very best like no one ever was and learn about different culture in his world in his travel. Dont give him a power buff on episode 3.
The rick and morty anime shorts were really well received, so an actual anime makes sense.
Yep yep yeppers they are simply not informed
I was about to say, they already did an anime Rick and Morty in short form and it absolutely worked.
@@patwick7351 Gigguk left a comment on the anime shorts 2 years ago, so maybe he just forgot about them
A short and a long form anime aren't really the same though
Plus it buys time for Dan to figure out the Justin Roiland situation
The problem with the isekai genre isn't that there are too many isekai shows. It's that they all explore the isekai concept in the exact same way.
They're all either:
Loser from our world gets reincarnated into a fantasy world where they're a gigachad with a massive harem,
Or
Parody of that idea (so either Konosuba, or Konosuba but worse),
Or
The handful of shows that are "girl becomes the protagonist in an otome game", which is basically the shoujo equivalent of the same thing.
When you think about it, there are SO many ways you could explore the concept "person gets reincarnated in a different world" that the anime/manga industry hasn't even begun to touch on yet.
Can I add?
That one mc from your first example but not op just want to get Harem...
MC who vigilantism the world but still caring
MC is from a company's and got kicked out. And the heroine change his life or he has goal
It's really kind of sad you can kind of count the number of isekai that do an interesting spin on the concept on one hand. And a lot of the time when they DO use it in an interesting way other isekai jump to copy the concept to death and more shallowly to the point even the fun new concept is boring and overdone.
That's why TsukiMichi is unique, because it's neither. Not to mention the older Isekai series like Magic Knight Rayearth, Digimon, and tbh, I think Accel World is an Isekai too.
True, we never get like a cyberpunk isekai or something
@@krol9507 hell yeah that sounds dope, mc gets isekaied to a world with higher technology level for once
When the socioeconomic situation of Japan changes if you ask me. When the idea of leaving Japan with nothing except the hopes and dreams you had when you were younger is no longer an attractive prospect.
Not just Japan, but for the world. There are huge audiences in the west and other countries with access to Japanese manga/anime who like the genre because it offers escapism from their lives, where they self-insert into the protagonist of an isekai series who has everything that they wish they had. And as it is human nature to always desire something better, I don't think the genre will die soon.
Well better than sleeping American dreams 😉
Remember the time when the first thing 90's isekai protagonists (12 Kingdoms, Fushiki Yuuki, El hazard, Three Kingdoms Romance Chronicle, etc.) asks when they arrived in the new world is " Can I get back to Japan please? "
Yeah that doesn't exist anymore
@@HungryWolf1971 Yeah, the main goal of isekai’d people was to get home, whether by defeating the demon lord or finding the seven crystals or something.
Now, it’s usually where the Joe Average worked himself to death in a “black company”, or a hikikomori dying while playing an MMO.
In many cases it’s seen as a new start in life.
The only things they’d miss are the Japanese food and baths.
@@Mousse9 And 9 times out of 10 it literally serves no purpose for the story other than to get people to read it as a form of escapism.
The guy gets isekai'd, has his memories and that's pretty much it, if you were to skip to like 10 chapters in without reading the first chapter you would think it was just a normal fantasy story instead of an isekai.
My biggest problem with isekais is most of the MC's never misses their previous life, like they're never homesick. This is one of the reasons why I love my next life as a villainess all routes lead to doom cause in the end they show us she yearns for her family and friend and may never see them again
Oh my Goooddd I'm also currently watching it. It's such a fun show
Re Zero
Mushoku Tensei
Then you should like TsukiMichi, since the protag is basically kidnapped to another world, being abandoned by said world, and having severe homesickness of wanting to return to his previous life.
@@Lasikisal Mushoku Tensei's MC never missed his old life he was regretful and ashamed of himself for not being a better son and for being a failure but if you asked him if he would like to go back he would say "hell naw"
Re: zero
Arifureta
Mushoku tensei
The rising of the shield hero
Tsukimichi Moonlit Fantasy
There are shows that show that the MC isekai themself on purpose.
And there are shows that show that the MC have nth to lose from dying(so missing friends and family is irrelevant).
Am I the only one who finds the fact that so many isekai start with death is kind of unsettling? Like I think it’s unhealthy to have so many stories built on the premise of “what if dying is the best thing that can happen to you?”
Japanese (mostly work) culture for you.
Also Tend to notice that when protag is a young adult, it's usually "death/reincarnation", and when it's a highschool years, it's a "summoning(mostly with "no return policy"). Wonder why(/s)
@@Georgeorat I think that’s why I find it so dangerous. Japan has such a high suicide rate and people are being advertised the message that things would get better if they died. It just feels extremely irresponsible to me.
@@amethystimagination3332 hmm, to be fair, such media can be a trigger for such people, but just that - /a/ trigger. Plus death as a trope (usually) guarantees that we don't have to think about first world(be it Earth or otherwise) so... eh. Whatev
@@Georgeorat I mean I’m not saying the trope can’t be done well. I just find the sheer amount of them that don’t handle it well is a little alarming and again irresponsible to me.
Reaaaall
I find it funny that being transported to another world is actually one of the oldest story setups we have and has infinite possibilities for the kinds of worlds that can visited and stories that can be told while allowing them to be viewed through the eyes of a more relatable character then if the story was a pure fantasy... Yet so often modern isekai just doesn't even try.
Most isekais are some kind of cynic responses to one of the most classic tropes in mangas and animes : nekketsu. Nekketsu is a "shonen" trope that work well when you're younger, when you think efforts will take you anywhere you want. Isekais work mostly as a power fantasy, to speak to audiences disillusioned by the nekketsu spirit, adolescents or young adults that don't believe life will reward them enough to justify their work, so most isekais simply start with the MC dying in the real world because the message is "the real world is sh*t", and then are reincarnated in another world that simply give them everything they want. The fantasy setting is there not really as a fantasy LotR setting, but mostly as an excuse to justify all the gifts the MC receive. Magic give them any kind of power with no effort involved, fantasy setting give them an excuse to have a harem, and only beautiful girls of course, because most of MC are otakus they know every aspect of a fantasy world and they suddenly become an all knowing expert in this world instead of a social reject.
It may be only my interpretation, but I think isekais work so well because they call to this basic instinct of wanting a "no risk only rewards" story, speaking to an audience simply not interested anymore by the classic "high risks high rewards" setting that we see in so many shonens, or even the most morally regarded "high risks low rewards" stories that follow a character doing dangerous things to protect something righteous, like loved ones, family, a system, saving the world or whatever doesn't reward them directly.
I genuinely enjoyed this interpretation of socio-economic observation.
The thing Isekai does well as a trope and part of why it's so popular is introduce the world to both the MC and reader simultaneously. It doesn't make sense for a character who lived in this world to ask basic questions, but you need that to happen so the audience can learn about the world. Or at least, it's a very convenient framing device to make that happen.
That's very true! Same thing with the chosen-one-hidden-out-in the-middle-of-nowhere trope, since it'll have the MC be somewhat part of the world but just overly-sheltered, so they'll be most likely to have questions, despite not needing to be reincarnated nor travel interdimensionally.
That’s a very good point.
True,but thats kinda just a cop out if the authors are too lazy to put effort into it.For example,in a new hope,they don't really explain anything,they kinda just expect the audience isn't dumb enough to not put it together.
People like you are why shoes have instructions
A narrator could do the explaining
Scott Pilgrim "it would be cool if they did an anime"
They did, it's originally based off a graphic novel so i wouldn't be surprised if the anime is based or just that, plus there's a 2 minute animation of it from years ago, was based of a few pages if i recall
I like the comments here. For a bit now I’ve thought Isekai is an iteration on a common psychological fantasy: the do-over. As a guy in my 30’s who isn’t happy with where I am in life I somewhat understand the appeal-you get to start over in a place and using advanced knowledge and new opportunities you get to forge a new path, all while retaining one’s youthful energy.
Indulging in a power fantasy like this brings some comfort-you can pretend that if you just got a do-over then maybe you could get it right this time. Japan has their Hikikomori, America has its incels, and I imagine this phenomena happens wherever people feel useless, disenfranchised, and alienated from culture-regardless of the name applied. I think this is why so many Isekai start with a shut in or disenfranchised individual dying, sometimes in a heroic manner. Maybe the hero still lies within, I just haven’t had the opportunity to call it forth.
I was thinking about this today and how what we need from creatives, in my humble opinion, is the anti-Isekai.
Isekai protagonists often (but not always) have wasted much of their youth. Their vision of their future is dim at best. If you look up from endless manga, anime, video games and porn long enough to look at getting your life in order, a multitude of undone tasks and unaddressed trauma crashes down-the weight of consequences is heavy.
Hence, Isekai is a retreat-you get a clean slate, or perhaps the hundreds/thousands of hours spent on a video game suddenly pay off as the video game becomes real. The fantasy comforts people but that’s all it does.
Hence, we need anti-Isekai. We need stories about the disenfranchised, awkward, and problem ridden shut-ins who find a way to confront their challenges and grow into something more. We need stories well told with characters that feel real, stories that neither minimize the confrontation of the mountain of mundane tasks but also don’t give people excuses to retreat into the unconscious. Instead of starting over via a literal death and resurrection perhaps we can follow a character who has to let parts of their personality die in order to be reborn-but all within the context of daily life.
If there is such an anti-Isekai, I’d love to read it. If I didn’t feel like I was at the beginning of such a journey, I might even venture to write it
✊
When you first said "anti-Isekai" I thought you were going to describe, like, a dude that actually DID have their life together getting tragically isekai'd into an objectively worse life where nothing goes their way, and they are constantly out of their depth (because they never played video games or whatever haha).
What you actually meant is way more wholesome.
I think a well made Isekai can still be really motivating to be a better person and change your life.
When they make a Gundam Isekai that somehow incorporates a high school with cat girls and a tournament arc they'll be like, "Olay that's enough, pull the plug."
As if Build Divers didn't already exist. They even got the plenty of furries in the online sphere down to pat! 😂
And also the main character is invincible and his sister wants to have sex with him but it's somehow okay because she's just a step sister.
Good question gigguk it took 50 years for Japan to get tired of mechas ( with the exception of witch of mercury) it'll probably be another 50 years before they get tired of Isekais. However Isekais are basically Japan's way of crying out for help of their overworked life styles
This the exact point. Mecha was a genre that old generation wanted to go ahead of technology but Isekai is basically Japan's a way to run from their tiring work environment. It would be interesting if they suddenly introduce a modern harem genre about fighting their diminishing population.
@@joestark_says even after death, his Will still lives on
Do you think ISEKAI is the only popular thing in Japan from a Western point of view?
If you look at the ranking of popular manga and anime in Japan, ISEKAI is not that popular.
@@joestark_saysI mean we have slife of life , high school stuff and even modern harem(where human population is in a brink of collapse). Same principle as to why many Chinese Manhua talks about overthrowing an evil organization or ruler(their way of crying out for their bad government) but most of these manhuas eventually get banned by their gov
I wish mecha would come back
This is why Isekai’s that focuses on world building like Overlord are great! Since the main characters aren’t the only one getting attentions, but also the residents of the new world as well.
Honestly, if Isekai’s focused more on world building they would probably be more well received.
The isekai who is lockpicking chest is also good too. I watch it and suddenly they just switched to many other party beside MC one which made the world more interest than just MC doing those stupid troupe
@@abrahamwijaya6631 is it the handyman isekai? Haven't seen the anime yet but I've read the manga and it's very entertaining as well.
@@yukikme5041 yeah that one...
@@yukikme5041 If you watch Handyman Saitou in Another World, give it a few episodes. The first couple episodes are not stellar but it gets good.
@@jennys-j5264 idk, I haven't been into anime as much as before ever since I started reading manga's. Only a few exceptions though like overlord, though it still isn't as detailed as with the light novel it was still well done.
My main gripe is withe the drawn character styles in anime compared to the manga version.
*Edit* also with how most isekai anime's skip a lot of stuff compared to the manga or light novel just to get to the action immediately. I think that's one thing that plagues most isekai.
This is the reason I want an Isekai that rely heavily on how MC relationship with their own home world, to the isekai world and the feeling of being out of place with the art of the MC vastly different from the world.
Isn't that Re Zero ?
@@luciebarathlone730 The first half is certainly Re Zero but the thing I especially want is the last half with the MC being vastly differ from the world with on how he act, normal common sense and of course the whole art style of the MC.
Gives me devil is a part time besides SAO (hehe I am
Not scared to say) or maybe even other stuff like
feels like Amphibia and The Owl House.... they're American cartoons, though
There are actually plenty you know
The thing about why isekais being so popular is you have to look at what is going on in society as a whole as well as the rest of the world. The plague happened and we are currently very much still dealing with the economic fall out of it right now. Isekais are one of the truest forms of escapism. Probably the majority of people are some point or another in their life have imagined being able to go somewhere and have a fresh start and things working out for the better for them. I believe that isekais are going to be around for the next foreseeable future
Funny is your facts not wrong but we take a look at history where most Japan is Buddhism btw who believe in reincarnation... (You see pattern here).
My first contact with isekai is from Chinese novels like 10+ years ago when the genre started blooming and authors was birthing them out everywhere, every genres with slight adjustions. Because they birthed so many, some of them are really good.
Now I see some of them (or similar tropes) getting adapted to manga (manhwa...) or anime and worshiped and I just think so many of their ideologies are goddamn outdated.
@Sydney Smith I’m right there with ya bud sometimes I don’t need an over dramatic Anime going over the same thing I’ve seen like a million times I sometimes enjoy stuff that’s clearly not meant to be taken seriously
Tho do they have to make almost every protag be the same or almost every isekai be the same they all the same to me
@@USSAnimeNCC-Old Isekais are much different like those in 80s. You know the Bible stuff anime ? Superbook? which is made by Japan itself is essentially Isekai but it's purpose is different. It ain't escapism
Honestly, many isekais just barely touch upon the isekai, especially those that 'die & reincarnate', as they ain't trying to 'get back'. So I don't particularly mind that the trope gets used a lot either, even if some shows could've just been a straight-up fantasy show.
Just look at Rimuru, the isekai aspect of slime reincarnation played a part in basically episode 1. Other than that, it might as well not be there anymore.
Could've just been 'unusual slime is born, meets a dragon, sets out into the world' w/o the guy reincarnating. The rest of the show wouldn't change at all. But you wouldn't have the isekai draw on the public.
Basically, often times the isekai element is basically just used as a framing device, but doesn't have much impact at all on the rest of the story.
As long as the isekai label is a crowd pleaser & reader draw, it's not going away any time soon. Even if the isekai elements were to only play a part in the story for literally only the 1st chapter.
Just to you see how strong the concept of redoing life is strong in slime, in the end rimuru is so strong he gains the ability to time travel and reality manipulation so he goes to the past saves himself from dying, gives him a massive pat in the back then leaves to his isekai world again, at that point he had a skill that negates time travel shenanigans so everything ends well and later he tells everyone who he really is
Precisely. To me the appeal of isekai is the idea of how different world interact whether it’s a single person in another world or entire countries or beyond even that. Most isekai just use the idea to justify the protagonist spontaneously getting powers and a harem without having to world build.
grimgar of fantasy and ash was a well done show that incorporated the isekai story to only amplify the story further. one of the best and slept on shows I highly recommend it.
If you haven’t seen any of the old spaghetti westerns you gotta watch the old Sergio Leone movies they’re so good! The Once Upon a Time and Dollars trilogies are some of the best films of all time and you can see their influence in pretty much everything since.
There are already light novels that contains reincarnation into anime/ manga series
Terror Infinity just puts characters into horror movies and movies that are hard to survive in, including Jojo.
This. Hahaha.
The Yamcha one
There's a pretty good manga written by ONE called versus where its basically a bunch of worlds humanity and natural enemies of them getting isekai'd into one world
As a Date A Live fan, I'm just happy someone finally acknowledged our existence.
Back in the hole with ye
@@JumbaJumby I visited your channel and the first thing I saw was a furry anime girl
Some Kurumi fans: "What is Date A Live? Is it a dating app?"
@@mardshima2070 kurumi is best girl and there's nothing you can do to change my mind
I would unironically rather watch Date A Live than yet another mediocre isekai show.
Tbh my problem with Isekai isn't even that there's another guy/girl who got transported/reincarnated into another fantasy world. It's that almost every fantasy world is a fcking JRPG. Like at least make it a real world instead of a game-based world. Or just not a JRPG.
There is a manga where the mc gets reincarnated into a sci-fi space setting. you can probably just guess what it's called and find it because I never commit this shit to memory.
You are right, though. Out of all the things to reincarnate into (or from, in the case of reverse isekai), why is it exclusively fantasy JRPGS? Take a cue from SAO and move on to FPSs for a while or something!
@@SomeRandomJackAss I believe you are talking about "Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship!," Where instead of generic fantasy JRPG, the MC (who IIRC didn't actually die as far as the reader knows, despite the title) is now in an Elite Dangerous clone.
...Where it is apparently customary for the captain of a ship they own to have crewmates of their preferred gender become a part of their harem. Also, it has space elves. Because.
There is also "I'm the Evil Overlord of a Galactic Empire," done by the same guy who wrote Trapped in a Dating Sim (which is one of the better isekais that actually leans on the fact it's an isekai for plot reasons, especially the what-if Side Story that only be found in fan translations) that's a Space Fantasy setting, though despite the name, the MC isn't the Overlord of the Galactic Empire, nor is he really that evil... Though for the most part, that's because he is a firm believer of Pragmatic Villainy (can't get filthy rich on high taxes if the people have no money, so let's invest in some economic development projects) and also his definition of "evil" comes from our world (specifically Japanese) norms of morality and exuberance, when the setting's position on both are somewhere between Dune and Warhammer 40k.
Just a small addition to what Garnt said about SP;
They are not basing it on the movie. They are straight up animating the whole comic series properly (from who the movie comes from), since sadly the movie released prior to the last novel's chapter.
1:16
Idk why the boys are "curious" about Michael Cera's voice acting. The original promo for Scott Pilgrim on Adult Swim was animated with Cera voicing Scott.
Spaghetti and American Westerns are two different things
Spaghetti Westerns tended to be more grimy, morally grey, and thematic. American Westerns romanticised everything with clear heroes and villains
Isekai always comes off as fanfic like when a teenager puts them selves in the twilight universe no idea why it’s so popular “you can relate because they are like us” “its wish fulfillment” yeah that’s fanfic
Imma be honest when the first 3 episodes of the new "I got a cheat skill in another world and became unparalleled in the real world" I constantly thought that he was going to wake up or something along the lines of being in coma even for an Isekai everything was going way too well.
- goes from fat guy to Supermodel good lucks (Check)
- Everyone around you wants to be you (Check)
- Evil siblings and bullies get karma (Check)
- Randomly enroll into the most prestigious school which for some reason holds your morals above your academic accomplishments (Check)
- Every single girl he meets is in love with him before the episode ends (Check)
- His starting gear and zone is actually an end game area (Check)
- Probably the son of the great hero (Check)
I used to be Isekai maniac but i graduated from that faze and this anime that you mentioned really sucks . Cuz i think unlike other Isekai mc this mfkr don't deserve it and it's so cringe. I was about to comment same thing but you did it before me . Thanks 🙏
I dont get why its so highly rated. I watched it and it was so bad it was baffling. Like the plotline where some gang members shoot up his school is so weird.
I'm waiting for anime where mc would be a truck driver, who is forced to hunt down and hit protagonists for transferring them to an another worlds in order to save worlds or these protagonists. Main character would always have this dilemma about what he is doing "is it worth it? is it for greater good? Is he a horrible person?". He would be wanted by police and only explanation he would have is that the higher power or voices in his head told him to do so. Come on Japan, make it happen.
There's a manga called "isekai transporter" that is basically that
Truck-kun the anime
Thailand already ahead of the game with that one.
6:24 Conner's explanation here is litterally what happened with "Dragon Quest Your Story"
And here I'm still hoping for an adaptation of Sasameke.
Yeah I know it'll never happen, but I can imagine because that manga is HILARIOUS.
This is a really good segment in my opinion its nice to see them just debating things where it goes back and forth, I like it more than when its one person talking about their own topic for a while
8:36: That's pretty much the definition of a Mary Sue right there. Or a Marty Stu in this case. A story that revolves around one character and seems designed to make them look good at every turn, regardless of what they do.
Come to think of it, does this mean that every power fantasy anime is basically a Mary Sue anime?
Yep
Connor's prediction at the 6-minute mark about people dying and getting isekai'ed into other anime has already happened in manga form. Look up "Dragon Ball: That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha", which is about a guy who dies and gets isekai'ed as Yamcha from "Dragon Ball Z", and proceeds to try to make his life suck much less.
I mean, the solution to that would be to just get a regular job and live a normal life, since the other Z Warriors will either resolve the problems themselves or the problems are too big for a slightly stronger human to affect, even with encyclopedic knowledge of DB lore.
I think Japan will get over isekai when working conditions and societal pressure stop being as harsh as they are for the average Japanese citizen. I mean it is escapism fantasy at the end of the day so if the reality stops being so crushingly terrible maybe we'll get less of it.
Isekai is a bit drawn out now but it'll never go away just like how high school kids with superpowers will never go away.
Joey: "studio orange does not miss". meanwhile st. Orange are one of 2 studios behind black bullet
Well, it clearly hit its half of the show, the failings are on the other studio, surely.
Its interesting south korea has all these deep cut series movies/shows about social inequality and malaise (squid games, parasite, burning etc) and Japan has isekai to deal with it
"We finally get other movies" oh yeah no other movies have come out the past several years. Just marvel. What's that? A new john wick movie? Renfield? Violent night? Surely you speak madness!
i know right, its just that not many movies aren't advertised or drive conversation like marvel does for better or worse
Everything Everywhere All At Once? Knives Out/Glass Onion? Invisible Man? Nope/Us/Get Out? It? Parasite? Why, no one's ever heard of those!
(BTW, I can do this all day.)
There's already a very well made Rick and Morty anime short that surprisingly reminds me a great deal of FLCL
Rick and Morty already has an anime.. It's called Space Dandy.
To be precise, spaghetti westerns are westerns made in Europe between the 60s and 70s, mostly in Italy or Spain, with international casts and generally with an Italian director behind the camera (hence the term Spaghetti), the most iconic ones being the "Dollar trilogy" of Sergio Leone, with Clint Eastwood. They were not very well regarded back in the day, being considered exploitative and trashy (in contrast with classic American westerns), but over time developed a cult status and became film classics.
There are other food related terms for westerns made in other countries (curry western for India, ramen western for Japan...), but are way less popular than spaghetti westerns.
The Warrior Returns Manwha needs to be made into an anime.
The Warrior Returns gets rejected by everyone and so just wrecks shit.
During the wrecking of shit this dude dies after seeing his family die, gets isikaid into the spear warrior.
Spends his whole time powerleveling just to kill the sword warrior.
He revives the BBEG on repeat so he can get stronger.
It's insane and badass.
Gotta admit I do love isikai.
It's the sad truth that isekais reflect the mentality of most consumers in Japan, that is escaping the real world. Granted, there are a lot of isekais that don't use that as a template for their main character (i.e. generic ass overworked salaryman getting truck-kun'd) as some of them do in fact have very good character writing (even though I like very few of them). One recent trend I've found is not getting isekai'd to a fantasy world, but rather games or manga that the MC has read or played, and all of them have had pretty good character writing to some degree. The original inhabitants of that world which were originally supposed to be 1-dimensional characters serving the purpose of the game's/manga's plot evolve into much more engaging and entertaining characters than before. Also when the MC is reincarnated as the antagonist of that world, it can get pretty interesting depending on how it's written, or it falls down the typical villain/villainess route.
I want you guys to think calmly. If anime and manga reflect the social situation in Japan, what about America?
Are comics that run away from that reality popular because of the daily shootings in the gun society? I don't think so.
Japan's social problems have nothing to do with isekai's popularity.
@@gamenorman1961 Or we're just looking at different cultures that deal with how they perceive reality in different ways. Shocker, I know.
I mean I am not against isekais as long as there are some great anime especially in terms of story and character development. Anime is widely popular and number of anime getting released are significantly higher than 15 or 20 years ago. That is why there will be more mediocre stuff objectively. Same with the movies. Every year so many movies are released but we watch only few of them(average person). Specific genres of movies are also popular. So I do not mind isekais or romance anime, just give me more anime with more great stories!
im the same as garnt i love isekai never finished any if it but i just love to read isekai for the the first part and then move on to the next because i love the premise.
Honestly one of thr biggest issues with issekai is how selfcestuous it is, its writing has devloped the same issues Miyazaki has with most of the industries animators. A few fantasy Japanese properties like fairy tail, SAO, dragons quest, knowingly pulled a lot from tolkenism as their inspiration.
But now most issekai seem to be pulling from things that were inspired by other issekai that were inspired by Japanese properties that were inspired by tolkenism, to the point that theres certainly at least a few people working in these genres thinking that issekai is the source of this type of fantasy setting and have no idea the influence of tolkenism.
Tolkien - on the other hand - also just pulled from small number of mytholgies and folklores for giving his languages a world. Which only with time became a backdrop for the fading village idealism... he was indeed a late bloom romantic.
What part of fairy tail pulled from Tolkien or do you consider all western fantasy Tolkienism?
@@williamgardner545 You are probably referring to OP, unless my comment was misunderstood. For as I stated he pulled from fairy tales... even orcs and goblins have their root in alpine germano-celtic fairy tales (rest is more obvious with how populat norse stuff is).
@@klapsovski8545 No I was referring to OP. I just can't think of anything from Fairy tail (anime/manga) that's based on Tolkien.
@@williamgardner545 honestly not too sure where in particular it was applied. but the author of fairy tail has mentioned in interviews that lord of the rings specifically was his inspiration for creating the manga.
It is a trope rich in potential, but that potential is often squandered.
Honestly, I'm currently getting into Isekai stories where the MC goes into a world of their favorite manga or storybook and they try to fix things to avoid an ill fate either because they are the character that gets it, or because they love the character that gets it. It's every weeb's dream to fix stories that they're invested to.
Isn't that just fanfic idea. But it is interesting concept.
so basically self insert fanfics. I've dabbled into those before I got into isekai 😊
I mean, it's not with shows/books we know, but the "reincarnate into game/novel" genre has been going strong in Korea for a long while now.
The Rick and Morty anime Short was certainly a big contributor to this sudden announcement
Someone getting isekai'ed into Berserk... I would watch that
Also yeah, Studio Orange is goin crazy. Studio Orange, CyberConnect 2 and Arc System Works completely mastered the 3D anime vibe
Rick & Morty does have a proper japanese dub. It's surprisingly great. Yohei Tadano and Keisuki Chiba play Rick and Morty respectively, and they both do great impressions with spot on verbal tics like Rick's slurred speech and belches and Morty's stuttering and voice cracks. The script also works great because Rick uses very abrasive words while Morty uses very timid words, and some of the humor was made up on the spot just like the original.
The best is Isekai in the last few years was made by Disney only for them to cancel it when it was at its peak. The Owl House was such a great show. I loved the ride while it lasted.
They did at least get a series finale. Not sure how great it could've been if the series wasn't cut short but at least it finished.
6:21 you know it's pretty funny that Connor mentions an isekai where characters get isekaied into an existing IP, because there is already a parody isekai manga where a character gets isekaied into the Dragon Ball Z world as YAMACHA😂😂😂
Isnt that just fanfiction?
@@ipacklunchesno it actually exists and written by the same mangaka of dragon ball
there is also a manga of a girl getting isekaid into City Hunter 😂
Honestly most Isekai stories that are being animated started serialization during the early and mid 2010’s because of the trend. Isekai smartphone got a 2nd season and I’m pretty sure it’s because the studio has nothing else cool to animate. It’ll reach a point where there’s nothing left to animate and give a 2nd season to old anime’s(Outbreak Company I’m still waiting) or actually pick up series that can last like Arifureta; horrible anime but at least that studio was competent enough to actually follow through and animate most of the light novels
I’m with you on outbreak company would love to see a second season
6:11 A interesting manga I came across was, a guy Isekai's into being Yamcha from DBZ and has to then turn Yamcha into the hero with what he knows about how DBZ is going to play out. So who knows, if that gets greenlit his prediction will come true.
Whoever told you that about spaghetti westerns lied or was misinformed. The term comes from the 60s. Early westerns came from America. In the 60s, a bunch of Italian directors started making westerns in Italy using mostly Italian casts with some American actors like Clint Eastwood, and that's where the term came from.
Isn't that what he literally said? Lmao
@@marocainforlife no. He said some of the early western directors were Italian. Westerns have been a thing since the 1910s and 20s.
Funny enough, in russian fiction and fantasy "isekai" became popular long ago before in Japan. And I've read a lot of it before starting to read manga/manhwa on the same topic. And in a lot of "isekais" it was pretty obvious that the aspect of it was added only with one purpose: to explain the modern knowledge/references/habits of the main character when author just can't control himself and prevent himself from pasting these things in the text.
I think, the same problem is with Japanese isekais as well.
Another thing is that at least speaking from webtoon isekai. The first one you read is good the concept strikes you as novel and interesting. And then you realize 90% of them are the same. And then disappointment sets in.
Solo levelling. That shit was fire (I have a problem with the ending though) then I found out there's a hundred "game HUD in the real world" manhwa.
11:38 is happening to me. From going full sponge mode to watch 1 episode only every week.
Says “That guy who hates all Isekai is me”, yet Connor’s waifu is from an incredible isekai, smh
Rem? Yeah Connor just ate his spit😅
I didn't knew connor was balding until he moved his head at 00:57
As long as gigguk keeps watching isekai then they will not stop producing isekai.
10:22 Black Bullet is so underrated. I love the vibe of that anime
A damn shame the light novel gets worse after the anime I think the creator dropped making it
I love the singer opening
I think what most isekais suffer from is how the world doesn't feel alive or lived in w/o the POV of the mc (i cant seem to word it out properly but it's just a feeling, though i might mean something else)
It kinda feels like the entire world revolves around the MC , it's like the world only exists to cater to the MC and isn't it's own proper entity
6:03 I’m pretty sure he just described how fan fictions will become anime sooner or later.
Much in the same vein as Garnt brings up here the way I've personally made Isekai a little more bearable is I've managed to stop myself of thinking of Isekai as the genre and more of the setting. Like going into the new one "Isekai Cheat Skill" or how ever you wanna call it, I went into it with the Fantasy aspect of skills from one world causing real world effects and I've been really enjoying it under that premise.
It's impossible to put that genie back in the bottle.
eminence in shadow is truly the best isekai parody i can think of.
Ep 20 was amazing
konosuba?
that show was so fun
6:05 - Yeah! One of what he's describing already exists. It's called "That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha".
As long as there's an audience, it will never die
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is a great isekai that really should have gotten sequels.
Unfortunately it was made at the very beginning of all the Isekai Spam, so it fell under everyone’s radars.
Not to mention, all the children watchers at the time said it was “Too slow, and not enough action”.
At the time of release, all series banked on Blu-Ray sales, and obviously since it was under radar, it didnt sell enough. Such a shame
I liked the novels for Black Bullet and it's a interesting yet dark world once you get into it. Though Cdawgva doesn't remember anything as there's no cat girl. Pros for Joey, formerly known as the Anime Man, for remembering the show.
Bad superhero movies have been around for a long time, but the current superhero renaissance is largely due to the success of the earlier MCU movies, such as the first Iron Man and Avengers. Disney had a team of people who genuinely loved the original comics, wanted to bring them to life, and do them justice. This is why a completely random IP like Guardians of the Galaxy ended up being so good. Unfortunately, over time, quantity became more important than quality, and now movies seem to come off a conveyor belt with that signature Disney Marvel humor that people have grown tired of. On top of this, there are plenty of failed superhero TV shows from other networks that tried to capitalize off the hype surrounding the genre. With that being said, there are still plenty of gems like The Boys and Daredevil.
I don't think Isekais necessarily followed the same trajectory. I guess the equivalent of Iron Man would be Sword Art? It was very popular, but regularly clowned on, as well. Maybe Sword Art was huge with the Japanese audience and IDK what I'm talking about. IMO, the modern Isekai genre does come off as a lazy gimmick and is an immediate sign of what not to watch. Garnt hit the nail on the head when describing Shield Hero. Not only do the other characters seem flat, the world feels flat, as well. The villages the MC visits and characters he talks to really come across like they stop existing as soon as the MC steps off the screen. This is the vibe I get from most modern Isekais. Again, compare that to a story like Made in Abyss, in which each setting and even its wildlife is gorgeous and given so much thought. It's like night and day.
Jokes on you, the Simpsons in Spanish dub is hilarious
To be fair there is this one isekai about an engineer that got reincarnated as a prince and implementing his skills and knowledge in this medieval era semi-fantasy world and it is amazing to see him solve issues my just engineering the fuck out of it
Shield Hero was one of the better Isekais, and I still dropped it. After the queen returned and backed up Naofumi, the entire premise was upended from an underdog who can't fight having to resort to villainous behavior to survive, to an op harem protag who has to clean up after everyone else's bs
the next arc is gonna flesh out the the 3 heroes and make them less annoying starting with the least bad, Ren
@@sdbzfan1 If you're still able to enjoy it, I'm happy for you. I can't see it past a trope-filled power fantasy anymore. I read and enjoyed the Spear Hero's spin-off, and I'll consider it the finalé in my headcanon.
@@commonviewer2488 I can't view it as a power fantasy simply because cleaning up after others isn't the fun time sweep I normally expect from power fantasies, especially when Naofumi's best skills are defense based, all his attack skills have debuffs and actively harm him and others, any real damage he deals comes from figuring out enemy weaknesses and ingenuity
I was so tired of the second season which was cliche heroic story. What made Shield Hero special was gone.
The Scott Pilgrim anime is technically Scott Pilgrim: Brotherhood, because the movie deviates from the comic
Japan and the world as a collective will drop the isekai genre when the world becomes a utopia-which to say is never. It's the same reason people play videogames, and play roleplaying games, and get inebriated, and many other vices: to escape the real world. I think another appeal of isekai is that the protagonist is actually able to do something about the world and their situation, which for many people is itself a fantastical dream. At least that's my view on the situation, maybe I'm wrong.
Most media can be / is escapist without having to be an isekai is basically the tl;dr of this clip.
As if to say Japan back then was a utopia, knowing the fact that they experienced some economic crisis in the 90s and still recovering in the early 2000s. Yet they barely have any isekai genre within the anime scene other than .Hack or other similar anime. Anime in itself can be a form of escapism without the need to inject isekai into it, harem anime before 2018 - 2019 are some of the examples. So no, isekai is not a byproduct of society becoming less of a utopia, more that people are either following a trend that would secure them more success than going on a more riskier yet original route, or people just ran out of ideas.
@@gutentag587 It's funny that before the Japanese economic bubble exploded, great part of the animations where about dystopic Cyberpunk settings, it was basically a reverse isekai, people where producing a lot of animes where the "world is harder"
Oh how the tables turn
They should at least put some thought into making it. Harry Potter is an isekai basically, but the main character doesn't reincarnate in another world.
Although it's still heavily influenced by european folklore of magic, with wands and brooms, just like isekai is heavily influenced by videogames.
Coincidentally the first isekai manga was released 10 days after the Japanese bubble burst.
11:30 the moment I saw the cgi behemoth in arifureta. I legit stopped watching anime for like 1 year after that
The thing in isekais thet trigger me to hell and back its the fucking: "here's my magic that show my status like a video game". WTF is that? is the world a video game? The gods who created this world new of video games and just copied it? Why would that exist in a fantasy world? who made the design and chose colors and placement of stats?
And theres also the fact that 99.9999% of isekais the iseakaing doesnt fucking matter at all. The world could juts have being a fantasy world from the beginning without any changes to the plot. What was the point of the isekai?
There are good isekai shows out there period, but come on
Also don't forget that the world has RPG experience system in it. TBH I wonder how strong butcher in that world would be. If I'm a king in that world I would behead all of prisoners of war myself, and I'm also gonna hold a ritual where all hunters need to tribute the monster they hunt alive for me as a tax so that I will kill the monsters for massive exp. 🤣
@@mardshima2070 YES! Hahahaha. it takes me right out of the media. Why is there and established xp system, who made it?
In comedy shows its fine, konosuba comes to mind, but konosuba was made to make fun of those tropes. But on serious shows? Its just stupid
And also, if nobles know that there is an xp system why is there not an super soldier program? I don't know, pay a bunch of goons to 90% slay some beats and just let some of them get the final blow every time. Super soldiers in no time.
@@ViniciusSilvestre0 Kumo Desu Ga? (Isekai Spider) has this system as well as explanation why the system exist and its for pretty cruel reason. It also a good isekai story, highly recommended.
@@mardshima2070 haven't watched it, will check it out
Im a rick and morty fan and absolutely want an rick and morty anime. They made several anime shorts and they were awesome and i would love to see it translated to a full anime. I think it can absolutely work
As long as videos with titles like this continue to be released and receive a decent number of views and comments, it seems that the trend of isekai stories will continue. People aren't tired of this phenomenon yet. If nobody talks about it and nobody pays attention to it, the genre will naturally be phased out. In other words, as long as this channel continues to touch on this topic, the isekai genre won't stop😂
It will eventually reduced tho, just like dystopian battle anime from 80-90~, and school power fantasy from 2000-mid 2010~.
Im TIRED of isekais. They are the embodiement of all that is wrong with the anime industry: no personality MC's, non sensical power fantasy, sexualized female characters whose only purpose is to please the MC, degenerate loli trash, same medieval europe based world, same big bad evil guy villain with no more thought put behind.
@@mardshima2070 isekai became fantasy with training wheel or training wheel on general, because of that I dont see it reduced as much
@@mardshima2070 So we need to wait until the next decade
6:18 those are called self-inserts and already exist in fanfic format
The fact that Joker is the exception to the rule of comic book movies should tell you EVERYTHING about garnt XD
what do you mean
@venes joker is not a very good movie XD
@@johndavidtibbetts7320 It's a second rate Taxi Driver.
This nigga didn't even say captain America winter soldier but joker bloody hell 😩
I knew about isekai anime before it existed because in my fanfiction rippoff of dragonball z: the ancient heroes who defeated the millennium beast are given the ability to REMEMBER THEIR PAST LIVES by god so they can fight it again in 1000 years which makes them the golden souls. including the "hero" who fails, and is reborn and goes back in time to the moment he died and wins, and lives the life of the "him" who died (which creates emotional tension with his son whose not his current body's son)
Also the millennium beast is squid-dragon with 1000 arms that branch off into new arms like a tree, that grow back doubled like a hydra,
And its covered in venomous quills (like a pine tree)
The millennium beast is basically a tree as a hydra/pheonix
I want to see more isekai with monster MCs and I don’t just mean goblins, orcs, vampires, etc, but actually monstrous looking creatures. I also really think more isekai MCs should experience massive culture shock
Re monster is your manga brother 😂
there is one where the MC is a werewolf... but he acts very human...
of course, we all know there is already a slime demon king...
and there is the undead spell caster...
there are one none Isekai where the MC died and become a undead demon king...
not sure if you count undead as monster or just human revived as undead...
@@porcorosso4330 it depends on how some undead are portrayed. I will never consider twilight esc vampires, and the like, to be monsters
@@anthonybernard8819
bare skeleton like overlord, but different since the MC was the in the champion team and his party was murder by his own people after defeating the demon king.
he layed in a pit filled with other wrongfully killed for years and decades until he was revived as undead skeleton of himself.
@@porcorosso4330 oh read that before, last time is elf slavery for safety but the mc is kind skeleton eventhough he is void
Conor did't heard about the fan manga where a dragon ball fan kid got reincarnated as yamcha 🤣
half of mcu haters are just grifters screeching about some conspiracies
nah. they suck more than they used to. kinda hard to deny
scam artists complaining about theories?
Their talking about how isekai worlds are built around the MC makes me appreciate shows like realist hero where they genuinely make it seem like just a regular guy who got warped into medieval technology era.
The Eminence in Shadow is by fay my favourite anime of 2022/2023
"it's the end of the honeymoon period" Here i am having 647 completed on my list without slowing down.
I think people are being WAY too dramatic about isekai. I'll admit I'm no expert on the subject, but from what I know about Japan, when they find something that works (Makes them money) they will NEVER stop doing it. The studios saw that isekai shows make bank, so they turned around and started pumping out isekai after isekai to cash in on the trend. I see so many people in the comments S O C I E T Y posting, saying that the genre is so popular because the world is a terrible place, le escapism, ETC, ignoring the fact that people don't actually like these shows in the first place. Anime fans burn themselves out watching every single episode of every single show that airs every single season, then get angry because they can't figure out why the studios aren't taking a chance making something new. It's like Pokemon fans who still don't understand why every Pokemon game is bad.
TLDR: Isekai isn't going anywhere because it makes money. I honestly believe it's that simple.
Sometimes trends die. Mecha for example
Also history of Japan being Buddhism
But does it actually make money?
It's not like the anime industry wasn't making money before. I would argue that it's actually worse money-wise to focus so heavily on isekai, for a couple of reasons.
The first is that, if you're pandering so much to a specific fanbase, you turn off people who want something different. I think a lot more people would watch a lot more anime if a lot more of it was, if not original, then at least not so obviously chasing trends. And more people watching more anime means more money.
The second is that there comes a point where even people who like isekai get bored of it. You can't keep giving the same shows with the same concepts and the same cookie-cutter waifu harems and expect everyone to keep coming back. Sure, some people will, but a lot will get bored of it. I know I sure am, and it's a problem if, of the 3 hosts of one of the most popular anime podcasts say they're basically done with the genre.
I think it's a situation where you can't see all the money you might have made doing something different, so people assume this is the best way, when it might not be.
@@Ash_Wen-li "Never" was an exaggeration, but my point was they (From what I've seen) have a tendency to cling to what has been proven to work, instead of taking chances on new ideas.
@@meko98743 I pretty much agree with everything you said, I just forgot to mention that part in my comment. For the sake of risk aversion, they will cling to a trend that has, at one point, been proven to work, even if it has long since stopped working.
They're so afraid of trying something new and risking failure that they end up stubbornly clinging to the past and stagnating instead.
Dragonball already has that isekai concept as a spinoff manga. A DB fan gets isekai’d as Yamcha at the very end of DB, just before the time skip to DBZ and he uses his knowledge to get ahead despite being Yamcha
Hopefully never ~Isekei degenerate #18239
I love isekai so I'm cool with the never ending stream
Tho I wish they would work on the Quality
At this point its a 50/50 change for a good one or a piece of trash
6:17
there is already one. (manga)
someone isekai as yamucha in dbz
Isekai is great keep making more
6:43 bro resumed 99% of self insert fanfics