History Main / SekaikeiGenre

* in ''[[VideoGame/OneShot OneShot]]'' [[TheChosenOne The only one who can save the world]] is a [[CatFolk young cat girl]] named Niko. [[AmbiguousGender He/she]] has been transported to this world and can only return home once she returns the sun (a giant lightbulb) to the top of a tower. [[spoiler: At the end of the game it is revealed that the only way for Niko to return home is to smash the lighbulb - which would destroy the world. The player- whom [[BreakingTheFourthWall Niko has been talking with directly throughout the game]] [[SadisticChoice has to choose between saving the world and letting Niko return home]]. The [[TrueEnding true ending]] lets you do both, but this was released after the original game and requires getting one of the other endings first.]]

* in ''VideoGame/OneShot'' [[TheChosenOne The only one who can save the world]] is a [[CatFolk young cat girl]] named Niko. [[AmbiguousGender He/she]] has been transported to this world and can only return home once she returns the sun (a giant lightbulb) to the top of a tower. [[spoiler: At the end of the game it is revealed that the only way for Niko to return home is to smash the lighbulb - which would destroy the world. The player- whom [[BreakingTheFourthWall Niko has been talking with directly throughout the game]] [[SadisticChoice has to choose between saving the world and letting Niko return home]]. The [[TrueEnding true ending]] lets you do both, but this was released after the original game and requires getting one of the other endings first.]]

-->-- '''The Doctor''', ''Series/DoctorWho'', "Flesh and Stone"

%%* ''Manga/{{Saikano}}'' deconstructs the living hell out of this setup. Chise is an ultimate weapon in a war and how she decides to fight (if at all) depends on her boyfriend, Shuuji.

%%* ''Manga/{{Clover}}'': Similarly, Suu has an ambiguous ability which could reshape the world in multiple ways, and it soon becomes clear that she doesn't need to be escorted by a highly-trained and augmented ex-soldier because she's a target (although she is) but because of a long-ago connection between them. The plot isn't really about getting her to her destination, but about how the journey will affect what happens when she reaches it.

* ''Manga/EurekaSeven'''s plot all centers around the relationship between Renton and Eureka. The story focuses heavily on their romance and how they both grow and mature as people. Their relationship ends up being a central part of the plot, as their relationship has to prove to the world that humans and Coralians can co-exist in some capacity.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' has magic dependent on EmotionalPowers, so by the time of [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion The Movie]]'s conclusion, [[spoiler: the powerful relationship between Madoka and Homura ends up being the cause of numerous reality rewrites.]]

Of note is the fact that the concept is notoriously difficult to turn into trope terms, as it is fairly controversial amongst anime fans and quite frankly ill defined. Even the term itself is a little bit nuts: they have to write the word in different systems in the middle of the phrase. "Sekai" is written with katakana while "Kei" is written with a Chinese character. Some say this kind of spelling in itself metafictionally represents how everything else, including literary theory, is actually revolving around the couple at the heart of the plot.

One thing often notably absent from the sekaikei setup is the society/community as a buffering force between the individuals on the micro-level and the uncaring world on the macro-level. The origins of such authorial neglect has been [[https://open.library.ubc.ca/handle/bitstream/111039/ubc_2011_spring_tanaka_motoko.pdf traced]] to the catastrophes of 1995 (the year most often cited as the origin of the genre) in Japan, namely, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake Great Hanshin earthquake]] and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack Tokyo subway sarin attack]], which are said to have shattered the pop-cultural belief (which has never been that strong after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, anyway) in the ability of the Japanese society to shield the individual from destructive outside forces.

* ''Manga/{{Saikano}}'' deconstructs the living hell out of this setup. Chise is an ultimate weapon in a war and how she decides to fight (if at all) depends on her boyfriend, Shuuji.

* ''Manga/{{Clover}}'': Similarly, Suu has an ambiguous ability which could reshape the world in multiple ways, and it soon becomes clear that she doesn't need to be escorted by a highly-trained and augmented ex-soldier because she's a target (although she is) but because of a long-ago connection between them. The plot isn't really about getting her to her destination, but about how the journey will affect what happens when she reaches it.

* In ''Manga/SailorMoon'', the forbidden love between Usagi and Mamoru was the reason their old world collapsed. In their reincarnation, their love becomes the sustaining force that helps her save the present world.

* ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'': Chi has an ambiguous ability that has untold horrible effects and it hinges on Hideki deciding on whether or not he wants to romantically be with her.

* ''Manga/KannazukiNoMiko'', with the twist that the relationship is between [[GirlsLove two such girls]].

%* ''Anime/ThisUglyYetBeautifulWorld''

%* ''Anime/VoicesOfADistantStar''

%* ''Anime/EarthMaidenArjuna''
%* ''Manga/{{Change 123}}''
%* ''Manhwa/ImmortalRegis''
%* ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''
%* The ''Manga/GaRei'' manga toss the role of "boy" and "girl" like volleyballs, but eventually it's between Kagura and Yomi.
%* ''Manga/BlueDrop'', a human girl and [[DiscountLesbians an alien girl]].

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' has the titular character as [[spoiler:a RealityWarper who unknowingly controls the world]] and so everybody else around her has to keep her happy. Most of this falls upon the narrator, Kyon.

* ''Anime/ThisUglyYetBeautifulWorld''

* ''Anime/VoicesOfADistantStar''

* ''Anime/EarthMaidenArjuna''
* ''Manga/{{Change 123}}''
* ''Manhwa/ImmortalRegis''
* ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''
* The ''Manga/GaRei'' manga toss the role of "boy" and "girl" like volleyballs, but eventually it's between Kagura and Yomi.
* ''Manga/BlueDrop'', a human girl and [[DiscountLesbians an alien girl]].

* ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' is a quintessential example, in which the blossoming love between a 14-year-old boy and a blue-haired HumanAlien literally saves the entire universe.

* In ''Sailor Moon'', the forbidden love between Usagi and Mamoru was the reason their old world collapsed. In their reincarnation, their love becomes the sustaining force that helps her save the present world.
* A Western example is the Bad Wolf arc in ''Doctor Who''. On a smaller scale, the Impossible Girl arc is, too.
* ''LightNovel/IriyaNoSoraUFONoNatsu''

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' is probably the MostTriumphantExample of the trope in gaming. Bonus points for having not only the current conflict, but also much of the world's history resting on the shoulders of the lead couple's ReincarnationRomance.

* ''KannazukiNoMiko'', with the twist that the relationship is between [[GirlsLove two such girls]].

* The second ''{{Drakengard}}'' game.

* In Sailor Moon, the forbidden love between Usagi and Mamoru was the reason their old world collapsed. In their reincarnation, their love becomes the sustaining force that helps her save the present world.
* A Western example is the Bad Wolf arc in ''Doctor Who'' is this trope. On a smaller scale, the Impossible Girl arc is, too.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' has magic dependent on EmotionalPowers, so by the time of [[PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion The Movie]]'s conclusion, [[spoiler: the powerful relationship between Madoka and Homura ends up being the cause of numerous reality rewrites.]]

* ''ShakuganNoShana''

* ''BlueDrop'', a human girl and [[DiscountLesbians an alien girl]].
* ''PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' has magic dependent on EmotionalPowers, so by the time of [[PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion The Movie]]'s conclusion, [[spoiler: the powerful relationship between Madoka and Homura ends up being the cause of numerous reality rewrites.]]

* ''{{Voices of a Distant Star}}''