General Isekai Thread

I agree with Red right there regarding Isekai mixed with pretty rare genre. My idea would be the likes of Isekai with Cyberpunkish like genre or it would be nice if a reincarnated person joined a circus and then learns something more about the mythology of the world

"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."

Although, I will second AnotherDuck's recommendation of My Next Life As A Villainess All Routes Lead To Doom. I'm reading it right now and it's so much fun.

It's been fun.

Btw, another Isekai that I want to recommend you guys: Alice in Borderland

Sure, you could argue that it is a fantasy manga judging by the title. But no, it's about three guys who got trapped in another world and both of them are forced to play deadly games in said world. The fantasy elements are relatively low although there's a bit of a reference of Alice in Wonderland. Manga is pretty good except for the ending parts which they didn't unsolved many mysteries surrounding the manga.

Edited by ElfenLiedFan90 on Jan 12th 2019 at 2:25:04 AM

"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."

Also the other world in Alice in Borderland looks like a post apocalyptical city, not the usual medieval setting.

Or maybe the hero/heroine gets sucked up into a world similar to Halloween Town where monsters live.

Oh man, now I want to start a thread for OtoHame, because it's really good.

It's been fun.

What is that?

My Next Life As A Villainess All Routes Lead To Doom This one. The manga adaptation is... available, and there's been an anime confirmed in production.

It's been fun.

Yeah, i read it recently and it was so refreshing since it's different from other Isekai. At least to me.

At the risk of making this thread less general, yes. Katarina is impressively dim, though.

It's been fun.

The LN gets a bit stale eventually.

The anime won't reach that point though, so it should be loads of fun. Bakarina is a fun character.

I'll admit I have enjoyed a lot of Isekai anime.

But it really is a shame when I'm enjoying it in spite of central parts of the premise.

Like the whole, the protagonist is overpowered but it can't solve their problems setup.

It's a bad trend when it's highly notable when the main character isn't overpowered.

Even in Re:Zero, it almost feels too genre aware of the fact Subaru is not the most powerful person in the room.

"But if that happened, Melia might actually be happy. We can't have that." - Handsome Rob

The whole "protagonists are overpowered" thing isn't really a detriment to an isekai in itself really. Tons of the most popular and well regarded works have similarly overpowered protagonists after all, yet most isekai rarely tend to emulate them, or at least emulate them well. One could say that they're afraid giving the hero a challenge would ruin the power fantasy element, but almost all the works listed have their main characters challenged at one point or another while still keeping their power fantasy elements, and it's not like the authors didn't grow up with some of these older works and wouldn't know what's up.

Edited by Rynnec on Jan 12th 2019 at 5:57:53 AM

@Rynnec Pretty interesting point you got there mate!

"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."

Stories like those are more about reincarnation than straight isekai. And reincarnation is quite often done within the same world, or in rare cases from a different fantasy world. I find that if the MC is reincarnated like that, the story tends to focus a lot more on the protagonist and his (usually) extraordinary growth. While isekai can certainly do that as well, they're often more focused on the world as a whole. Or on the harem, if available

I find that while Japanese stories tend to be more about the generic medieval European setting (with a lot of Japanese themes), Korean and Chinese isekai stories are often more focused on their own fantasy cultures.

FIFY.

Edited by AnotherDuck on Jan 12th 2019 at 2:54:37 PM

Check out my fanfiction!

@Another Duck

I haven't read about anything concerning Chinese and Korean Isekai. But that is an interesting tidbit.

So I've been hearing this term a lot lately but it just sounds like, I dunno, Fushigi Yuugi orInuyasha or Kyo Kara Maoh. Normal person transported to another world is pretty common and has been for decades? Why is this term or subgenre so talked about now?

Although I guess IY is time travel so maybe it doesn't count?

Edited by Nikkolas on Jan 12th 2019 at 10:49:47 AM

^ Because it's the current trend in Japanese Web Novels, which are notorious◊ for their Strictly Formula Power Fantasy plots, and are also being adapted into light novels, anime and manga more nowadays than ever before. When someone says "isekai" they're usually talking about the whole formula.

This formula is so common, and lets the writer take so many shortcuts, that at least one Japanese writing contest explicitly bans it.

(Before isekai the popular formula was Urban Fantasy + Extranormal Institute + Battle Harem, with a protagonist who sounds weak on paper but is actually overpowered; there's a thread somewhere on the forum that gives the typical story progression)

Edited by Prime32 on Jan 12th 2019 at 7:12:12 PM

I agree a lot of modern isekai are painfully formulaic, due to how unimaginative they can be. In my opinion, one way to make something better is to think outside the box. Like I said before, have the world be something different than the standard one.

The Faraway Paladin tries to emulate the style of Western fantasy novels rather than typical isekai tropes. It's another reincarnation-based series.

The trope page needs more work, but it does sound intriguing than the usual examples.

You know it would be fun if there was an Isekai in a Mad Max style type of world as well.

Edited by firewriter on Jan 12th 2019 at 2:06:49 AM

Re:Zero is a rejection of the tropes that make up Narou isekai trend, due to the author hating the fact that those tropes make up most of the LN isekai market

Bumbleby is best ship. busy spending time on r/RWBY and r/anime. Unapologetic Socialist

You know a good idea to put some new ideas into the Isekai genre is to have it maybe be a buddy comedy story, instead of a guy wandering around getting a harem. Or maybe a girl wanders gets trapped in a world meets some girl pals, and it turns into one fantasy girl posse. Like said before, isekai genres these days tend to focus on a guy forming harems. It would be something if there was focus on platonic friendships.

This video says those shows you mentioned, along with some others, are the precursors to the modern Isekai genre, and that much older works like Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz' are the grandmothers of them all.

Older works adhered more closely to traditional Western and Japanese/Chinese fantasy worlds rather than the JRPG game-ish ones of today. And the protagonists were almost always girls, surprisingly.

Works of the 00's introduced the video game and harem aspects, as well as drawing from light novels. Then SAO came onto the scene with all it's associated tropes and its popularity exploded and the rest is history.

Edited by Parable on Jan 12th 2019 at 6:24:47 AM

Honestl, when I hear about wanting an isekai that isn’t Strictly Formula, I just keep wanting a remake of Magic Knight Rayearth. Netflix would fund it.

Faraway Paladin actually has a joke where the protagonist shows up with an all-male party and someone tells him he's "doing it wrong".