Most Japanese characters end up being sent to the other world at a dead end point in their life. They basically have nothing to return to and the Isekai is a complete improvement for them. It kind of reflects how the state of Japan where a lot of men are isolated.
The Familiar of Zero is a subversion of both tropes. Saito has a perfect opportunity to get back to Japan in the first arc, but he forgoes that opportunity to protect Louise in a battle that was taking place at the same time. Saito has another opportunity to return to Japan at the end of the story and this time, he brings back Louise with him to introduce to his family as his girlfriend. He intends to get back to the real world the whole time, but that motivation doesn't override his love for Louise.
@@pn2294 Digimon and MÄR are more old school from before the shift to the current version of isekai and I believe before the term was coined. When the genres became over-saturated a common trait was that the MC had nobody worth going back to.
Western Portal fantasies - Main character usually goes home after their adventure because they have a life and love ones. Japanese Isekai - Main character stays there permanently because they have no one.
Trying to remember the ones who stayed. Dorothy eventually went back and stayed, I think she brought her family with her. Rainbow Brite. Some of the kids from the Narnia books. Current ones like centaur world, and... I know there are more but I can't recall.
@@LadyBern One with Dorthey and her family staying in Oz is kind of sad when you know that the author was bankrupt at the time and had to sell all the rights to his books away.
Before "isekai", Western writers used to call this genre "portal fantasy", which is much older than when it became popular with Japanese writers. The more you know!
Yeah, we always said they'd been "Narnia-ed". But stories of "normal people" getting sucked into the realm of the Fairy go waaay back. You can even look back to the Greek myth of Psyche suddenly finding herself married to a mysterious being she only discovers later is one of the gods.
@@Thandi123I'm not too sure about that. That falls more into the afterlife territory. Everyone eventually ends up there, it's basically part of the life cycle.
@@ferno056 that definition can really change, since there are many different stories. Tales like OG Red Riding Hood and Cinderella, and the stories of the Wild Hunt and Krampus seem to take place in our own world. And anything involving the Fey geys a little weird
@@missrebel634 It feels like it's bringing in negative stereotypes...Americans are portrayed as strong independent women, who don't take crap from evil society, while Japanese are freaking scrawny incels who treat and idealize women as being only toys or playthings instead.
A lot of media aimed at women and especially girls tends to lean into escapism more than it leans into power fantasy. There's a theory that this is the case because children raised as girls are expected to be more mature and responsible from a younger age and to take on more social and emotional labor as adults compared to their male counterparts, making the idea of having MORE responsibility (as seen in many power fantasies) far less appealing than a temporary escape from all that
and weirdly it has a very historical precedence. In a lot of old fairy tales there would be a girl who would wander into the woods, of fall into a well, or otherwise end up in some fairy world and she would go on an adventure, befriending various creatures and living objects and gathering items that would help her escape or provide her with a boon later on. This also shows up in the form in those tales of "beauty and the beast" trope, including stories such as Psyche and Eros or the White Bear (which some suspect was a slavic reimagining of Psyche and Eros with some other stories mixed together), where the girl ends up in a strange place and has to make the best of it or go through trials...a possible symbolism for so many betrothals the girls would have no choice in, a kind of escapism for these situations. Travel to a new and unfamiliar place outside your control, with a hint of take control of your own life snuck into the narrative of these old stories that made them so appealing.
honestly, relatability somehow seems to translate to " being a loser ", I think it's a terrible standard to set for the " audience ", and it's overwhelmingly at the expense of males.
That's sadly the case from what I've seen. When it comes to male protags, it's like there was a attempt yet it's either a hit or miss to where it is deemed as "loser bait" while the female protags have something that makes a character.
@@mjtannertwins , I used to like Kirito as a character because I wasn't a fan of One Piece until fairly recently, so my most favorite fantasy character nowadays is Zoro.
Random thing: if you think about it, the movie "Enchanted" can be seen as a reverse isekai, since it's about a character from a fantasy world coming into our's
It's still Isekai. Th main character being transported to an unfamiliar world. Reverse Isekai would be something like the story already having someone from a different world being transported back to their own world. Which, now that I think of it, sounds interesting and kinda original. A guy who got used to interact with monsters and deal with magic and stuff like that, suddenly going back to his regular life, where none of that exists, where civilization makes it very hard to get killed by a wild creature, and where technology accomodates to our desires. Like, imagine the dude feels he's a loser on the fantasy world, since he's not that strong and can't use magic at all or something, then he gets thrown back here, where he excels at his studies, gets a very well-paid job, meets a girl, who he ends upmarrying, and becomes a successful man in this world, despite feeling he was not made for the fantasy world at all. You'd be throwing all the self-insert Isekai animes through the window with something like that.
@Burn_Angel oh I always thought that isekai specifically meant someone from our world traveling to a fictional one, since that's how it usually happens
Western Isekai seem to actually make the "other world" feel more imagination put into them then q lot of Anime Isekai that seem to rely on repeating medieval Fantasy cliches, with some minor twists that they abandon half way through the plot.
You know…when I think of a magical western isekai, like Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, like Dorothy and her dog literally got isekai’ed by an freaking tornado and Alice literally isekai’ed by straight-up crawled into a rabbit-hole to wonderland.
And the Pevensie children had a wardrobe, portals come in all shapes and sizes. Meanwhile Japan is over there driving trucks in the most irresponsible manner possible.
@@frankficcle7081I mean, technically they are in the same world. Just in another part of it. From the characters' perspectives, it's just exploring another part of the world, like many explorers before them
@@zanir2387 I don't know where that is from. But since it is the moon, it technically isn't another world like in isekai. You are just going into space. And stuff like Star Trek or Doctor Who does not count as isekai
The idea of going to another world will never get old. The Heroes' journey is based on the exploration of the unknown. Though with so many Isekai getting pumped out I wonder if we'll get a full on parody. Like a kid getting hunted down by a truck like its the terminator. Ending up in a fantasy world where he gets immediately jumped by the demon king named the demon king.
It's kinda hard to parody a genre when most of its entries already didn't take themselves too seriously, protagonists constantly speaking modern lingo in a fantasy setting, befuddling the natives of the fantasy world, narratives constantly winking and nudging at the audiences going "Yeah, we know". What do we make fun of when THAT's considered playing it straight in the genre?
forget about characters getting isekai'd I wanna see an anime thriller series/movie where the Truck is basically a force of nature that makes people go missing and have the MC have an anxiety-inducing slice-of-life moment where they have to avoid crossing paths with the Truck while trying to survive their everyday life
How about the Book of Enoch. It is about a human from pre-historic times who meets an angel who takes him up to heaven and is given a tour of the heavenly realm. He then returns after a few days and becomes the village story teller. The stories were written down around 300BC.
Until Tolkien most British fantasy writers from the Victorian period onward mostly wrote “isekai”. The point was to take an Englishman or woman (often from the upper or middle class) and transport them to worlds where strict Victorian social practices did not apply (I.e Alice in Wonderland) and the idea behind most of these stories was to just have this Victorian era person react to these weird worlds where scientific logic and social standards either did not exist or existed in ways that were considered backwards to the average Victorian Englishman. Tolkien really was one of the first writers to take the idea of world building seriously in that he wanted to create a world that operated on rules of logic and history that functioned very similar to our own (since his goal was to literally write an Anglo-Saxon myth that was relevant to modern Englishmen) but was distinct enough that the “isekai” plot device was not needed to tell his story.
Yup, and the hobbits feed into this, being the most similar to modern victorian english people. The hobbit plays very similar to all those stories of a victorian person having to navigate a world without victorian sensibilities, and LOTR goes from the most similar to victorian(or early 20th century??) england to the most medieval by the end.
@@toonrex2806 almost what you want, but not quite, would be Jurrasic Park, Primal, and any T.Rex based spec evo video on UA-cam. Though I would pay good money for what you're suggesting.
Western isekai mostly follows the Hero's Journey - you're an inexperienced kid going to an unknown world, face a lot of challenges, you grow as a person and travel home again. I think Ghibli movies are some of the few Japanese productions that follows Hero's Journey as well. Normally Japanese isekai goes - you die and get a new life in a fantasy world (+haram 😅).
My grandma (who's WESTERN, my FAMILY'S WESTERN) Says that harems are disgusting and NOBODY should know what a Harem is. Also...how could I make a HAREM isekai stop without being canceled????
@@shirleymaemattthews4862 make a good story, have the love interests be into each other as well, proper communication, giving each character a personality that meshes well with each other, emotional intelligence, try to avoid power imbalance, include multiple men or nonbinary people, not have the love aspect be the main plot unless you are specifically after a romance story, include plenty of non-horny love moments where the polycule falls in love with of each other's personalities, don't be afraid to be asexual, include conflicts that aren't just misunderstandings such as one member not being emotionally literate and needing to learn emotional literacy, have the family of the polycule members play a role in the story- wait, are you asking for writing advice or how to end a show?
Pretty sure Portal fantasy is the name of the western cultures. As an example, Welsh and irish myth is full of fairys snatching people away to the other world, or heros wandering in and getting up to nonsense. Pryderi meeting Arawn, or Oisin riding a horse over the sea to Tir na Nog. The west loves it
Isekai is huge in Russia. It has many genres and subgenres. Just to give you an idea, there's a story about a modern-day soldier who got reincarnated as a bee during ww2 😄
@Koriurmind Guess you can never go wrong with Wrong Time for Dragons (sometimes translated as No time for dragons) by Lukyanenko and Perumov as well as The Stranger by Max Frei. But overall it's pretty hard to recommend anything because 1. Most book are not translated into English 2. I wasn't joking when I said that isekai is huge in Russia. You need to specify whether you need female or male subgenre and where do you want the mc to end up (fantasy, sci-fi, video game, historical time, Earth?), should the book be dark, ironic or neutral; serious or something to take your mind off of things. There's a lot to consider
@@L.V.K.-Studio It's called Пчела-Попаданец by Oleg Rybachenko. No idea how to translate the title Bee-popadanets? (Popadanets is a Russian term for a character who was transported into another world). I'm pretty sure the book wasn't translated but I'd say that's for the better. While the concept is pretty fun, the author is not particularly good. It's just the book became a meme that's why I mentioned it 😄
Isekai hasn't overstayed its welcome. Only a certain telling of the other world tales have overstayed themselves. Old school fantasy adventure just needs to return. Not just harem power fantasies, with template fantasy worlds which Japan keeps pumping out.
Then again, the most unique take on the genre in recent years has been Forspoken. Somebody thought making the protagonist a black girl who was just convicted of attempted grand larceny by the State of New York was a positive breath of fresh air to the harem power fantasies. Be careful of innovation. You might just get it.
@@jasondphoenix No, you see, the whole idea of Frey being a victim of the American judicial system in the real world by itself is a contradiction to her character motivation in Athia later. That premise is part of the execution. She constantly has this attitude of not giving a damn about the world of Athia and she's just doing what's necessary to get back to New York City. What the... did she like her life back in New York City??? Did she not recognize how the people of Athia have warmed up to her??? Why does she miss her life in New York?
1st American Isekai is probably Mark Twain's a Yankee in King Arthur's Court, considering the legends of King Arthur are pretty much a fantasy story we tell ourselves. But definitely agree the Oz books also qualify.
A Fish Out of Water story is a classic story tactic. It gives the characters reasons to explain what they know to the newcomer who has nonexperience with that world and its laws-usually about magic.
@jordanandrew2786 Not entirely. Stranger in a Strange Land juxtaposition has always been a thing. There is a need to show some and tell some. It can save time to tell instead of show. Too much world building can reduce the story's pace to a halt that loses the reader's interest.
@@slicerneons3300Agreed. Not to mention, show-not-tell isn't always the best go-to solutions for all mediums. It makes perfect sense for television because it's a visual medium but with books, it's easier to just tell certain things. Having all aspects be described can be overwhelming, confusing, and honestly, unnecessary. It's more important to know what to pick and choose
I really like isekai shows if done right. What gets me really interested in these kinds of genres is the world and how the characters interact with it.
I have been reading a lot of manhwa. Soooo many of them are isekai. They don’t always utilize it well. And that’s the problem with many isekai’s. They don’t use the knowledge of their other world at all.
There's this novel and Manhua called Release that Witch where the MC uses his engineering knowledge to advance this town he was put in charge of when he reincarnated. It has a more unique world and story compared to most isekai. The only thing is that it has some harem stuff. There's also a manhwa called Greatest Real Estate Developer which is hilarious and I love the art. There the MC is actually affected by their past life instead of it just being ignored and he's also an engineer who uses his skills to build more advanced infrastructure.
Going by Yoshi's Island/Partners In Time, Mario & Luigi were born in the Mushroom Kingdom, then moved to New York at some point (or New Donk/Big-City/Big Ape City depending on what game you're looking at), then back to the Mushroom kingdom. So kind of like a reverse isekai. Though now that I think about it, Mario Golf GBC/Advance Tour and Mario Tennis GBC/Power Tour could be considered pseudo-Isekai. Your character is trying to become the best to head to Mario World and challenge the plumber to Golf/Tennis.
@@Ergeniz True. It's all very loose, with a few exceptions here and there. (Such as the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series, or the aforementioned Mario Golf GBC/Advance Tour and Mario Tennis GBC/Power Tour games)
These kinds of stories are some of my favourites. There's something so interesting about a character being pulled out of the world they know and forced to adapt to an unfamiliar one. Digimon was one of my favourite shows as a kid and still retains a strong place in my heart because of this, and because through exploring this new world, the kids grew and matured from randoms into true heroes. I think that's what is best about the genre: yes the wish fulfilment angle is fun, but it's seeing how the characters overcome these new challenges and develop into better people. They end up not being the hero because of prophecy (though sometimes prophecies play into the writing), but rather because they worked hard, learned what they needed to learn, and grew into true heroes. in a way, they make the prophecy come true. That is such a cool way to show the human spirit in action.
You what would be a funny idea for an isekai? One where the main character is a stoner and he thinks all the things he encounters on his adventures are hallucinations.
My biggest gripe is just that Anime Isekai always has the same sort of setting. There's a reason why folks make jokes about the cities of Isekai shows. Anime Isekai never truly takes advantage of the fact that it's a fantasy setting. Never really coming up with things like Creatures who don't behave like humens despite having an ego.
6:05 actually 2010s My Little Pony did a reverse-isekai where the main character ends up travelling to the human world and turning into a human (hence the Equestria Girls spinoff). Equestria Girls started out as a cash-grab but it became clear that the writers cared about EG enough to make it its own thing (even adding a whole new MC independent of the main series MC) + the storyline ended up being very different from a typical isekai (despite having other anime influences like magical girls and laser blast fights lol)
MFW I realize the Isekai was invented by the western creators FAR before it became popular in Japan. Think about it: Dungeons and Dragons (the animated show); the Pagemaster; the Narnia series... it should probably have been named something other than "isekai".
I'm pretty sure Western creators are not the sole inventors of the "sent to another world" trope, though. It's a tale as old as time in fiction around the globe.
I personally feel there are two types of isekai. PreSAO and PostSAO PreSAO: usually involves people getting transferred to a fantasy world and getting a single special ability (examples: El Hazard, Escaflowne, Maze) PostSAO: usually involves people getting transffered to an RPG fantasy world with RPG mechanics (nearly every isekai since SAO aired)
I think the main reason Isekai became very popular is that it allows to introduce the new world in a very organic way. If the main character was an inhabitant of that new (for the audience) world all the exposition would feel more forced. The problem is (as with most narrative tricks) is the more popular some idea becomes the more sub-par writers are involved and as a result, you have a lot of bad writing.
It doesn't just need to be an unfamiliar world, the "MMO" subgenre of isekai often is constructed such that the characters are established players of the game and so are rather familiar with the setting and it's more how them being placed in a living, breathing version of the world that they need to acclimate to. But yes it also is largely just a way of less skilled writers to integrate their fantastical elements easily. Heck, the same web novel site where isekai boomed in popularity is seeing the rise of "low fantasy" works which is basically letting writers make isekai except this time they don't even need to make the world different.
I really dislike the Japanese modern isekai genre. They have their gimmick title and premise to draw you in, but after some chapters the story becomes boring, aimless, and drawn out. Disney did do a Return to Oz movie that is quite creepy for younger audiences. Also for MLP, they did do an isekai where Twilight gets isekaied to an alternate universe human world of the same characters, starting the Equestria girls franchise.
I totally agree but lest not forget about her apprentice Starlight Glimmer who also gotten Isekaied to the same exact world as Twilight did in the first few movie specials, but in a special and the interesting part in a recent Equestria Girls special that ALOTTT of the human versions of the ponies isekaied to Equestria and got turned into ponies.
Like this is more like mine but also beeing into a personal fanfic of MLP with a group of humans (soldiers) who hot into Equestria from the EQG world. there i have like stuff there is far more with the the connection between Equestria and Earth, like mainly picking up at the early 20th century. The protags are more near the modern era, they also make a fuzz of that some things they bring up may be akin to opening pandora's box, with them being in a world they aren't meant to. Discord and to a lesser extent, Pinkie and even the sister princesses are somewhat aware of how much of an anomaly their mere presence is. Also my protag is on the fence of coming back to their world, they would if they could, but they consider it isn't going to be smooth (caputred by the govt. And interrogated non-stop) Lots of stuff, but I'll stop rambling.
Why is Japanese isekai so sexist sometimes? And how they got away with airing them without being canceled? Are there Japanese people who WANT to cancel Isekai like that?
@@shirleymaemattthews4862anime has a big misogyny problem but not many people want to acknowledge this unfortunately :/ I don’t know why this is? Maybe because males are the target audience?? Idk sexist tropes just make it quite hard to me to watch lots of anime sadly
@@illumanarti Bro..some cartoons over here are intended for men, and some treat females nice! My best geuss will b that Japan has a GROSS history with treating women as "PrOsTiTuTeS" or whatever on the Edo period????
I think the main problem is isekai in Japan are just OP harem wish fulfillment’s for men most of the time, so they don’t have broad appeal and are mostly the same with a few exceptions. While in the west they are all so different. The characters, lessons, worlds no two are the same in the west.
A lot of those are based on light novels or webnovels, which are generally just a shade more prestigious than fan fiction. When it comes to those specific male fantasy-centric isekai stories, I tend to think of them as more-or-less the male equivalent of a particularly trashy romance novel.
Honestly, what's always rubbed me the wrong way is that Luz actually has access to the Boiling Isles, her perfect world, instead of permanently returning to Earth, with all its flaws. Not everything was perfect for the Calamity trio on Earth, too, but they still returned.
@@valentinkambushev4968 why does that run you the wrong way? I thought it was a nice difference where the mc could enjoy both worlds and see the people they care about from both
Oh this is crazy, I dislike Isekai because of the anime tropes but like portal fantasy and you just made me realise they're basically the same genre...
John Carter from the Martian series first appeared in 1912, he is a Virginia man who is transported to mars after a "near death" experience. DC's Adam Strange has a similar story. Tarl cabbot is one day transported to -rape planet- i mean planet Gor on the homonymous book series
Makes me think of Tokusatsu. A term used for Japanese fiction that heavily utilizes people in monster suits for the special effects. Examples like Godzilla and super Sentai (AKA: Power Rangers). Some people may find it’s a genre found only in Japan, but if you think about it movies and tv shows from the west like Star Wars and Doctor who are also tokusatsu as they use a lot people in suits for monsters and aliens.
I have actually been working on my own book series that tackles the Isekai concept for almost 5 years now. I’ve written enough content for five whole novels already, but lately I’ve been working on revisions for the first one or two. I’m very close to getting the first volume published.
@@40kanon sorry for taking so long to respond; actually meant to a while ago. In answer to your question, it does involve an entire class from Japan being transported to a medieval types society, much like most conventional Japanese isekai. But I diverge from that in that the world they come to utilizes absolutely no magic, instead adopting a science fiction approach As the students and their chaperones interact with the local population, they gradually become aware of a third-party the strings behind the scenes The title for my series is “The Otherworlders.”
ABC’s _Lost_ is an Isekai when you think about it. The difference is that the main characters have forgotten their lives in the real world were empty and they keep trying to get back home.
Isekais have always been around and like every genere it's not for everyone, but in my opinion on western Isekais; Older western Isekais had a lot of charm and soul. There for the adventure and the growth of the characters. Modern ones just feel like bargain bin anime, trying to capitalize on it with cheap power ups to beat the big bad. Shout out for anyone that remembers King Arthur and the Knights of Justice and the D&D cartoon.
Growing up in the 1960's - 1970's, there were more than a few American Saturday Morning Cartoons and Live Action shows that used this "fish-out-of-water" theme; though we didn't call them, "Isekai" back then. What immediately comes to mind is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon about two American kids who found a Djinn called, "Shazzan," who took them on many adventures in an Arabian Knights setting. DePatie-Freleng offered a trippy Fairytale cartoon called, "Here Comes the Grump." Sid and Marty Krofft came out with live action shows like, "HR Pufnstuf," "Lidsville," and "Land of the Lost." The 1980's brought us animated shows like "Wildfire," "Kidd Video," and of course, "Dungeons and Dragons." There are too many more to list, so Western culture has no shortage of its own Isekai. One interesting commentary I read about the "Dungeons and Dragons" cartoon is that it wasn't as popular as it could have been, (despite having excellent writers and character backstory development,) because the show recreated the very 'dynamic' that kids interested in this kind of "escapism" were looking to 'escape' from. "The Magician" character - a nerdy boy named "Presto" - was not the main character; those were the "jocks," Hank the Ranger and Diana the Acrobat. Sheila the Thief and Eric the Cavalier were socially 'higher up' than Presto in the group, and Presto only 'outranked' Sheila's brother Bobby the Barbarian due to his age. But Presto was supposed to be the character that fans of the game (and fantasy in general) were intended to 'identify with.' More recently, the TV show "Once Upon A Time" reversed the basic "Isekai" formula; and it was characters from our own Fairytales and Legends who came to "Our World," and had their own "fish-out-of-water" adventures. Thanks for posting this thought-provoking video essay! My Like is in the 1.1Ks
I'm glad you mentioned Kidd Video. That's my personal favourite Western "Isekai" series. I haven't seen Wildfire yet but I intend to. Another good example of a reverse formula Isekai is the Super Sentai Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger. In that series, four "Zyumen" (Beast-people) get stuck in the human world and have to look for an item needed to get home.
Amphibia has one of my favorite twists on the genre, because in the third season they make it back to earth, and now the frog family are the ones who’ve been isekaied. It’s really fun and I think more shows should do that
Alice in Wonderland and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court technically came out before The Wizard of Oz, but that just showcases how the West pioneered the genre. Another early one was the John Carter of Mars novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which started the Planetary Romance sub-genre. You also saw this a lot in animation. The Hana-Barbera series Shazzan was about a brother and sister who get taken to an Arabian Nights style fantasy world. The Dungeons and Dragons cartoon had a bunch of modern kids transported to The Realm. Blackstar was about an astronaut being sent to a sword and sorcery world. Its a remarkably versatile genre. As far as anime goes, my favorite isekai are probably Vision of Escaflowne and El Hazard. Escaflowne introduced me to the concept of fantasy mecha before I heard about Aura Battler Dubine, and to this day the original El Hazard OVA has one of my favorite endings of all time.
No, Isekai isn't a genre, fantasy is a genre, isekai is a lazy form of story that 90% of the time always follow the same tropes and cliches and sometimes is so similar that If you read enough of them they start merging together to the point you can't tell anymore which one is which, calling Isekai a genre is like saying "Evil Superman" is a genre, It is really not is just the same unoriginal idea being regurgitated and repeated again and again.
@@Gabe600I don’t entirely disagree with ya. Isekai, in anime at least, definitely has earned a reputation of being extremely lazy and poorly executed. But the concept itself is definitely a major sub-genre of fantasy, and sci-fi in some instances. It does enough unique stuff to be separate from a typical fantasy story imo, as there’s a lot you can do with sending characters to an entirely different world or even universe. Having said that, Isekai, the typical harem/power fantasy kind at least, has definitely overstayed its welcome by at least a decade tbh. But, stuff like Amphibia and arguably Tensura Slime divergen enough from it that clumping it all together as a “bad and lazy form of writing” is simply doing it a disservice.
@Gabe600 WRONG! Pile of BS you wrote there. Isekai/Poartal Fantasy IS IT'S OWN GENRE! Just because it suffers from bring cliché doesn't make it not a genre. But let's be ignorant and claim just like you did that all the other genres you mentioned are also cheap, cliché garbage with the same plots over and over again with the biases and fantasies of the writers. Because almost nothing is not inspired from someting else.
- 3:05 Yes, they did make a sequel to _Wizard of Oz_ (1939): _Return to Oz_ (1985), which was extremely creepy and traumatizing to an entire generation of kids. 😬 - A few other old examples: _Flight of Dragons_ (1982), a He-man Christmas special, _Neverending Story_ was at the end,
It would be a cool base to highlight how modern technology isn't too far off from real magic (the only example I can think of is MLP Equestria Girls; for some reason it totally blew 9 years old me's mind when I saw references to UA-cam, SMS and email in it)
Amphybia is actually a really fitting and funny idea for an isekai because the word "amphibian" comes from the Greek words "amphi" which means "double" and "bios" which means "life"
Amphibia is probably my favorite Western Isekai. Such a great show. I had no idea how similar Japanese Isekai protagonists look. Almost did a spit take. Guess this shows how little of the genre I've seen. The ones at the top of my head that I've seen a good chunk of was In Another World With My Smart Phone. I'm more familiar with reverse Isekai's like The Devil is A Part Timer and Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, since it's a magical being being transported into the real world.
Yep. That's one of the reasons anime isekai get so much backlash. They have protagonists that look almost exactly the same as each other. I think they're mostly cash grabs so they don't put a lot of effort into them. XD Amphibia is really cool. It's funny how it has anime influences like the ending battle but it's honestly better than a lot of it's anime counterparts. No offense to anime. It's just that they oversaturated the market with the same old medieval fantasy bland protagonist shows.
Hahaha yeah that frame with those characters from different shows surprisingly shows there isn't much difference in character designs as well adding copy paste that J was talking about. There's also jokes how the central town most isekai characters live or visit looks the same.
Also yeah I'm also familiar with reverse isekai such as those and a show called the great Jahy will not be defeated. Its interesting seeing fantasy characters in the human world.
@@mjtannertwinsJAPANESE anime tha is being bashed on for it's characters ALL LOOKING THE SAME...........They're just asking for stereotypes at this point.
Isekai in Japan is in an interesting state, and I don't think they're going away any time soon, or even bad for the industry. They're usually based off of light novels, so rather than a team of hollywood writers, etc, you just have joe schmo writing books and gaining an audience over time. Small studios wanting to gain a name for themselves buy these stories for relatively cheap without the strong oversite of a manga publisher, and don't need a writer to make a whole script before they can get started. So they can hit the ground running on a long running series that has a pre-built fanbase. (They can also often use generic pre-created generic fantasy art now and then instead of needing to make every single background themselves.) Plus, even outside of the initial fanbase, its an easy barrier to entry for new audiences, because so much remains the same, there is little to no 'emotional barrier' to throwing it on. Its like how there were tons of sitcoms all at the same time, and tons of murder shows like CSI, Cold Case, etc. Same formula, minor differences in characters and subject matter i.e. special victims unit focusing on SA cases and Criminal Minds having its own gimmick and flow. Plus, the isekai genre is flexible and appeals to a wide variety of demographics. There are a LOT of romance and comedy isekai that women eat up, its not all black haired boy power fantasy with easy merchandise in the form of cute harem girls. (I don't even particularly care for Isekai, but my anime group watches a lot of it, so i've been exposed to a lot and been pleasently surprised many times.) Plus, the quick consumption and short 'life' of Japanese TV means there is more room for more projects and studios. (I know this used to be the case, but need confirmation if its still true) Japanese TV doesn't just run re-runs of shows over and over forever, shows will be shown omce and thats it - its why recap episodes were so important to remind audiences of what was going on after months between seasons.) The big companies get their huge passion projects with huge budgets, experimental stories and art styles, the small ones get Isekai and can grow with a hungry audience, who are willing to wait and remember your show even if it goes on a multi-year hiatus. Its a growing industry because its not a restrictive monopoly, and easy entry stuff like this I think are good. And totally biased ignorant opinions I hold: Regarding Western Isekai, I think it was always only seen as childrens stories and fairy tales. While the individual projects may seem more memerable and unique visually, it may also just be a culteral thing. They are strictly anti-drug, where some our 70's 80's imagery was inspired from, (even those not partaking were still influenced by the art of those who did) and Japanese Isekai speaks to the depressed nature of their lifestyle. Low birthrates/numbers of relationships, a lack of individuality or being able to speak your mind- I think the Japanese population is in trouble (i think we all are) but the comfort these shows bring speak a lot to what they need as a people, and I think its why its growing in the US as well.
As someone who knows a little bit about Japanese and has watched a lot of obscure anime and some isakai I agree with a lot of the points that you make I honestly like the fact that most anime/isakai were made by Joe smo just some guy or girl making something they like using familiar frame work I will admit that they're is a lot of isakai I don't believe gnerake would be the right word I do think they could be more open with the concept and explore it in more or deeper ways but I do think that the genre is good it has made many good video games tvs anime and light novels some of which have seminted themselves in time and peoples hearts because I think look for a escape or a unknown fantastic world will always speak to people I just feel like some have gotten tired of the tropes and forgot the promises such fantasy and or its characters and world can bring
I got a couple examples of other western "isekai." Back to the Future has Marty McFly travel 30 years into the past, where he encounters his father and mother. And he's got to figure out how to get back to the future without causing irreparable damage to his present. Then there's Secret of Evermore, the only game made by Squaresoft USA. It's about a boy and his dog getting pulled into another world. One created by 4 people. And each region is that person's ideal world. Naturally, the boy has to visit them all on his way back to the real world.
I never really gave it much thought until now, but your "Back to the Future" example DOES fit the idea of "Isekai," since "the past" (and "the future," for that matter,) really ARE "other worlds," for all intent and purpose. I'd include Michael Creighton's "Timeline" as another example. Growing up, I watched TV shows like, "The Time Tunnel," and "It's About Time," that had characters interacting with people from past and future times. In the case of the latter, the first season was about two astronauts who time traveled to Neolithic Times, and the second was about the Neolithic family they met coming with them back to the 20th Century, and much of the humor was derived from the culture shock element.
John Carter from the Princess of Mars/Barsoom series is sorta a isekai, its arguable that he is originally from Mars or is immortal or something but it is about a guy getting photocopies and faxxed to Mars to cause problems
Russian (Soviet even) isekais are also very interesting and unique. Most commonly they are about a regular kid being transported to a world of Russian fairytales or to some kind of very specific dimension such as inside of a music box or a land where all of their homework mistakes are true. They can also be about an adult being transported to the past and messing with major historical events (sometimes by introducing modern weaponry). I really recommend looking into this, my personal favorites are “In the land of unlearned lessons”, “Ivashka from pioneers palace” and “Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession”.
This is the reason why my *absolute* favorite isekai anime is Saga of Tanya the Evil. Short yet simple reasons? • *ABSOLUTELY ZERO* fanservice • The MC is not a shy and thirsty boy, but a cold and calculated man • Interesting lore/world (alternate history, specifically WW1 era, setting) • Interesting side characters (they have their own consciousness, personalities, stories)
I always think of Samurai Jack for some reason. A samurai warrior was about to search for someone strong, only to encounter Aku, some evil shapeshifter who sends him to a post-apocalyptic future of some kind, and that samurai must face his challenges in such time period and place until he is fast and strong enough to fight Aku again. I don't know if time-travel really counts, but if the time and place feels way too different from the previous one, then I think it counts. Don't you agree?
Time Bandits could be another example. It's about a little boy who finds a bunch of dwarves who have a map that tells them how to find portals between different time periods. The places they go keep getting more and more outlandish until they end up in a very dark fantasy world. Also John Carter, story about a guy being transported to Mars.
its all about idea and execution. There was a movie called tall tales which was a Disney movie, where a kid goes on a journey and meets a bunch of American folk heros. Like Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan to save his home from getting destroyed so they could build a railroad. Generic, but fun. So it's better to just look at the media as its own thing. Hate it love it, not every idea is going to be original and it's going to follow a troupe.
Yeah that's what I think too. There needs to be more challenges and an interesting setting. There should also be more characterization and development. Ones that stand out to in story is saga of Tanya the evil, Magic knight rayearth, and re zero.
Coraline was a story of a girl with a boring life with her boring parents who gets transported to a world where her parents are cool and attentive to her, but later turned to a horror story and the mc learned to be appreciative of her old life at the end of the story.
1:38 Honestly, I thought John Carter of Mars/Princess of Mars was first western isekai. The actual books I referring too, not underrated Disney movie. 3:16 Marvel got *Weirdworld* DC got Swords and sorcery aka *Princess Amethyst and Gemworld* yes, there are comics that not superhero genre. 3:28 Tron is great. It would be Awesome if Tron and game series Dot Hack has crossover. Oh, what your opinion on *Captain N: the Game Master?* Over the Garden Wall is one. Infinity Train is another one. Isekais is not problem. If protagonist is overpower from chapter 1 without any explanation or just a little mistake . That is the issue. Look the Manga *Mär*, Ginta. Ginta is a in fact a loser when went to portal to Mär he has better eyesight and super strength but those power boost is not enough for him to fight enemies he still need Ärms(weapons) and training.
Märchen.Awakens.Romance Not only a really good Isekai, I rate it one of the best Shonen animes for it's time period. I'll always be salty that they never broadcasted it to my country though, I was the perfect age to watch it back when it aired on other channels...but I had to watch it as an adult instead.
I think Brian just hanging around, and being (mostly) useless, would be kinda novel and cool to see in an Isekai. Perhaps give him a chance to shine every now and then - not in the way of unearned power, but more in having a unique perspective on the world.
I actually like the genre, I'm just sick of the Other World in question being a painfully unimaginative Fantasy World that runs on RPG video game mechanics.
I like medieval RPG fantasy, but I want something that actually looks like an 80's JRPG. Most of these isekai go for generic "Kirito style" characters dressed in essentially modern clothing. How cool would it be to have a fantasy world that looks like Akira Toryama's Dragon Quest or a Frank Frazetta painting. We need less jackets and trousers and more tunics, tights and loincloths!
I like the idea of iseaki. Just the fact that it’s sort of bittersweet. “I’ve ended up in a whole new world, made new friends, and discovered amazing things. But I am stuck here and can’t go back to my original home with my family and friends.”
I recently finished the owl house and it quickly became one of my favourite shows, it also answers many of my complains with the genre, seeing how the boiling isles aren't just another fantasy world, not to mention that explores it's magic system, it's lore, the races, and it also responds to the questions of how a normal human can learn abilities that aren't normal for her, but are for the people of the world
Personally, I like to differentiate between Isekai and Portal Fantasy. Portal Fantasy is just the overall getting transported into another world (e.g. Narnia, Owl House, Land of Stories) but Isekai has so many tropes attached to it that they’ve practically become synonymous with the genre (cheat skills, harems, RPG mechanics, the blank slate and/or loser MC, etc.). At this point, it’s probably better to consider isekai a sub genre of overall portal fantasy.
Honestly, I always thought it be cool as hell to have a modern day guy armed with modern weapons fight fantasy creatures. Army of Darkness is awesome. The upcoming game Kingmakers seems to be similar in concept.
There's an anime like that... though I hesitate to mention this one -- Those Who Hunt Elves. Several folks from the modern era are pulled into a fantasy world. One of the girls who got pulled into another world has brought a tank with her.
Now that I think about it, Terminator is a reverse isekai. The destination world is the modern world, and the Terminators are the OP players albeit antagonists who already are OP against the better prepared future Resistance.
My absolute favorite version of this is Reverse Isekai, where a character from a cool fantasy realm ends up in the normal world! Like ‘the devil is a part timer’ or the first mlp Equestria Girls movie
"It's not like they made any sequels" See, I don't know if this is a joke about how nobody remembers Return to Oz or if you genuinely don't know that movie exists.
I've scrolled through all the 1,2k+ comments here and somehow nobody has mentioned Stephen King's the Dark Tower series. I think it's a very honorable example of western "isekai", especially with the "portal" between the worlds being of a very big importance for the protagonist Another mention I'd like to make is volume 9 of RWBY, though it didn't last that long
A pretty famous western isekai story is John Carter from Princess of Mars. It was also part of a subgenre called "planetary romance", and retroactively "sword and planet" (named after the "sword and sandal" genre).
I’m writing a novel about a mercenary team of fantasy warriors and a human male protagonist on a mission to stop a fantasy warlord from conquering the world using Earth technology. The fantasy characters show remarkable awe in our own world and present that our own world can just be as wonderful and fantastical too.
Even Though I love Anime and Isekai is one of my favourite genre, The West as it's original does it way better or rather the best of all, It explores The Another World and it's Characters a lot more perfectly in just a short time while anime with a lot of seasons drag it on. The MC becomes very powerful and in the end starts to love the another world and settles there while In The West MC learns to appreciate her/his own given world more with values learned. A lot of people have watched West Another World Or Isekai and despite loving it they don't realise it becomes each story Of West's Another Story Like Jumanji or Alice In Wonderland, The Matrix, Space Jam, Coraline each of these movies feels different and it's own thing even though it's the same genre while in Anime or Even In Manwa all the stories and even MC feels the Same with different circumstances and powers.
It's a funny thing as much as the character might be considered unnecessary in the Rainbow Brite series, he doesn't sound like a "Gary Sue" in the sense he tries but doesn't always succeed and thus he becomes relatable, which is something some series don't bother with.
Love how they ignore that 99% of the female protagonist isekay are basically "normal girl reborn/transported to new world as a princess/noble" Its ALWAYS a princess or noble. Of 20+ I've seen, just one escaped this troupe
I've seen two that break this mold and interestingly they have a similar premise. The first one involved a young girl who was a golden child. She was intelligent, successful, got good grades and basically hated it because she had high expectations placed on her so when she dies, she requests becoming the most average in that new world. Unfortunately, because she wasn't specific, her averageness is compared to powerful beings within it like dragons and stuff so to them she's average and not special.. but to humans she's op as hell and that's the last thing she wants. For the other one, it involves a woman who worked herself to death so she just wants a relaxing life in the next world. She is made immortal (can't age) and becomes a witch in this world, making a comfortable cabin away from the village where she relaxes and enjoys life and occasionally helps the village out and fights the occasional generic slime monster. Unfortunately, over the years of defeating slimes, those battles added up and she eventually became op without even realizing it since all she wants to do is relax and chill out. Find it funny that from my perspective, Isekai guys are like "Yeah! Epic adventure!" While Isekai girls are like "Yeah! Fantasy vacation time where no one bothers me!" Ironically, Tanya fits this mold despite originally being a guy, just wants a calm life but can't escape the war.
@@MysteriousTomJenkins i disagree with the 'vacation' bit because, like i said, 99% of them are about 'normal girl now become princess/noble' and of these 80% are them becoming girlbosses. Edit: so... Both your stories the female protagonist are super inteligent, super beautiful and super everything and op and better than everyone. So... Mary sues of the worst category. They dont really escape the mold here.
Digimon: my favorite Eastern isekai. Narnia was the first thing that came to mind when I thought of a Western isekai. Peter Pan also counts. EDIT: I just remembered TMNT 2003 did this too! And more than once, lol.
The difference is that most western "isekai" characters actually want to go back home to their friends and family.
That's a really good point all the books I read when I was younger one of the big character arcs is slowly learning to love their new home.
Most Japanese characters end up being sent to the other world at a dead end point in their life. They basically have nothing to return to and the Isekai is a complete improvement for them.
It kind of reflects how the state of Japan where a lot of men are isolated.
The Familiar of Zero is a subversion of both tropes. Saito has a perfect opportunity to get back to Japan in the first arc, but he forgoes that opportunity to protect Louise in a battle that was taking place at the same time. Saito has another opportunity to return to Japan at the end of the story and this time, he brings back Louise with him to introduce to his family as his girlfriend. He intends to get back to the real world the whole time, but that motivation doesn't override his love for Louise.
Digimon and MÄR Heaven disagree with you
@@pn2294 Digimon and MÄR are more old school from before the shift to the current version of isekai and I believe before the term was coined. When the genres became over-saturated a common trait was that the MC had nobody worth going back to.
Western Portal fantasies - Main character usually goes home after their adventure because they have a life and love ones.
Japanese Isekai - Main character stays there permanently because they have no one.
Trying to remember the ones who stayed. Dorothy eventually went back and stayed, I think she brought her family with her. Rainbow Brite. Some of the kids from the Narnia books.
Current ones like centaur world, and... I know there are more but I can't recall.
I mean, the truck made sure they can't go back even if they want to.
@@LadyBern One with Dorthey and her family staying in Oz is kind of sad when you know that the author was bankrupt at the time and had to sell all the rights to his books away.
whimsical adventure vs existential crisis
@@CoquetteCygnet what does 'the time machine' count as?
Before "isekai", Western writers used to call this genre "portal fantasy", which is much older than when it became popular with Japanese writers. The more you know!
That is literally the English term for it.
The Japanese call it isekai, the Anglophones call it portal-quest fantasy or portal fantasy.
Yeah, we always said they'd been "Narnia-ed". But stories of "normal people" getting sucked into the realm of the Fairy go waaay back. You can even look back to the Greek myth of Psyche suddenly finding herself married to a mysterious being she only discovers later is one of the gods.
@@liljenborg2517OMG SAME! We called it getting Narnia’d as well in my house!!! 😂😂😂
GREAT MJTANNER VIDEO.
"Portal Fantasy" I like the term, though I have not heard of it before. I recall "Another World" or "Different World" being used as terms though.
Actully Alice in Wonderland is the oldest western Isekai first published at the first january 1865.
Orpheus and Eurydice. The underworld counts.
@@Thandi123I'm not too sure about that. That falls more into the afterlife territory. Everyone eventually ends up there, it's basically part of the life cycle.
Aren't you forgetting about fairytales? Especially from Germany and Ireland.
@@ferno056 that definition can really change, since there are many different stories. Tales like OG Red Riding Hood and Cinderella, and the stories of the Wild Hunt and Krampus seem to take place in our own world.
And anything involving the Fey geys a little weird
A true story of Lucian of Samosata...
lol I just realized that a lot of Western Isekai have female protagonists.
some not all, but thats what i just realized, some tend to be a female mc
The opposite of japanese Isekai who have the generic black haired young man.
@@missrebel634 It feels like it's bringing in negative stereotypes...Americans are portrayed as strong independent women, who don't take crap from evil society, while Japanese are freaking scrawny incels who treat and idealize women as being only toys or playthings instead.
A lot of media aimed at women and especially girls tends to lean into escapism more than it leans into power fantasy. There's a theory that this is the case because children raised as girls are expected to be more mature and responsible from a younger age and to take on more social and emotional labor as adults compared to their male counterparts, making the idea of having MORE responsibility (as seen in many power fantasies) far less appealing than a temporary escape from all that
and weirdly it has a very historical precedence. In a lot of old fairy tales there would be a girl who would wander into the woods, of fall into a well, or otherwise end up in some fairy world and she would go on an adventure, befriending various creatures and living objects and gathering items that would help her escape or provide her with a boon later on. This also shows up in the form in those tales of "beauty and the beast" trope, including stories such as Psyche and Eros or the White Bear (which some suspect was a slavic reimagining of Psyche and Eros with some other stories mixed together), where the girl ends up in a strange place and has to make the best of it or go through trials...a possible symbolism for so many betrothals the girls would have no choice in, a kind of escapism for these situations. Travel to a new and unfamiliar place outside your control, with a hint of take control of your own life snuck into the narrative of these old stories that made them so appealing.
honestly, relatability somehow seems to translate to " being a loser ", I think it's a terrible standard to set for the " audience ", and it's overwhelmingly at the expense of males.
You're not wrong.
It is kinda sad how that's the norm even though its usually about going to a better more fun world
That's sadly the case from what I've seen. When it comes to male protags, it's like there was a attempt yet it's either a hit or miss to where it is deemed as "loser bait" while the female protags have something that makes a character.
@@mjtannertwins , I used to like Kirito as a character because I wasn't a fan of One Piece until fairly recently, so my most favorite fantasy character nowadays is Zoro.
its stale and overuse all the time
Fun fact about the slippers. They were red to make them pop in technicolor and because silver wouldn’t stand out against the yellow brick road.
Random thing: if you think about it, the movie "Enchanted" can be seen as a reverse isekai, since it's about a character from a fantasy world coming into our's
Its kinda of like isekai bc they probably think the real world is a fantasy world lol
I'd also say the same for the Sonic movies and many other James Marsden movies where he isn't Cyclops
@@rivaraptor4277 Hairsray?
It's still Isekai. Th main character being transported to an unfamiliar world.
Reverse Isekai would be something like the story already having someone from a different world being transported back to their own world. Which, now that I think of it, sounds interesting and kinda original.
A guy who got used to interact with monsters and deal with magic and stuff like that, suddenly going back to his regular life, where none of that exists, where civilization makes it very hard to get killed by a wild creature, and where technology accomodates to our desires.
Like, imagine the dude feels he's a loser on the fantasy world, since he's not that strong and can't use magic at all or something, then he gets thrown back here, where he excels at his studies, gets a very well-paid job, meets a girl, who he ends upmarrying, and becomes a successful man in this world, despite feeling he was not made for the fantasy world at all. You'd be throwing all the self-insert Isekai animes through the window with something like that.
@Burn_Angel oh I always thought that isekai specifically meant someone from our world traveling to a fictional one, since that's how it usually happens
Western Isekai seem to actually make the "other world" feel more imagination put into them then q lot of Anime Isekai that seem to rely on repeating medieval Fantasy cliches, with some minor twists that they abandon half way through the plot.
Not just medieval fantasy, VIDEO GAME medieval fantasy, they make it literal instead of convenient
@@justnoob8141 oh, yeah...the non stop video game stuff...like inventory, stats, skills and the rest...
Yeah, you would never see Amphibia in Japanese Isekai
@@CesarTheKingVA YNBAW.
@@swarthybullxxxRent free
Those "entering a magically world" stories have a very old history and they will never go away.
Epitomy of escapism.
Twelve Kingdoms was a really good one.
It is a concept as old as time
You know…when I think of a magical western isekai, like Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, like Dorothy and her dog literally got isekai’ed by an freaking tornado and Alice literally isekai’ed by straight-up crawled into a rabbit-hole to wonderland.
And the Pevensie children had a wardrobe, portals come in all shapes and sizes. Meanwhile Japan is over there driving trucks in the most irresponsible manner possible.
I wonder if 'Journey to the center of the Earth' (1864) counts?
@@frankficcle7081I mean, technically they are in the same world. Just in another part of it.
From the characters' perspectives, it's just exploring another part of the world, like many explorers before them
Lucian ended up in the moon thanks to a tornado....
@@zanir2387 I don't know where that is from.
But since it is the moon, it technically isn't another world like in isekai. You are just going into space. And stuff like Star Trek or Doctor Who does not count as isekai
The idea of going to another world will never get old. The Heroes' journey is based on the exploration of the unknown. Though with so many Isekai getting pumped out I wonder if we'll get a full on parody. Like a kid getting hunted down by a truck like its the terminator. Ending up in a fantasy world where he gets immediately jumped by the demon king named the demon king.
I think there is one where the princess does the hunting, among other things.
It's kinda hard to parody a genre when most of its entries already didn't take themselves too seriously, protagonists constantly speaking modern lingo in a fantasy setting, befuddling the natives of the fantasy world, narratives constantly winking and nudging at the audiences going "Yeah, we know". What do we make fun of when THAT's considered playing it straight in the genre?
forget about characters getting isekai'd I wanna see an anime thriller series/movie where the Truck is basically a force of nature that makes people go missing and have the MC have an anxiety-inducing slice-of-life moment where they have to avoid crossing paths with the Truck while trying to survive their everyday life
@@petthepirate3115 Now that's something I'd watch!
@@WolfBoy-om6dw yeah! someone gets it!
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain.
Basically anyone who went to fairyland back in the days of yore fits
How about the Book of Enoch. It is about a human from pre-historic times who meets an angel who takes him up to heaven and is given a tour of the heavenly realm. He then returns after a few days and becomes the village story teller. The stories were written down around 300BC.
How about the epic of gilgamesh, which was written ways before the book of enoch.
@@Novusod
@@zanir2387 Gilgamesh is older but it is not an Isekai story.
If you guys want another American Isekai novel series The Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson is a great choice.
Until Tolkien most British fantasy writers from the Victorian period onward mostly wrote “isekai”. The point was to take an Englishman or woman (often from the upper or middle class) and transport them to worlds where strict Victorian social practices did not apply (I.e Alice in Wonderland) and the idea behind most of these stories was to just have this Victorian era person react to these weird worlds where scientific logic and social standards either did not exist or existed in ways that were considered backwards to the average Victorian Englishman. Tolkien really was one of the first writers to take the idea of world building seriously in that he wanted to create a world that operated on rules of logic and history that functioned very similar to our own (since his goal was to literally write an Anglo-Saxon myth that was relevant to modern Englishmen) but was distinct enough that the “isekai” plot device was not needed to tell his story.
Lord Dunsany, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith and others did this before Tolkien.
p.s. I like Tolkien.
@@MultiRedskull Poul ANderson did it the same year as Tolkien with The Broken Sword
@@MultiRedskull
True, but did they do it to the same levels of autistic detail as him?
Yup, and the hobbits feed into this, being the most similar to modern victorian english people. The hobbit plays very similar to all those stories of a victorian person having to navigate a world without victorian sensibilities, and LOTR goes from the most similar to victorian(or early 20th century??) england to the most medieval by the end.
British singer Sting also wrote an Isekai song about an englishman in New York
...wait a minute
I would like to see an isekai where the main character is a T.rex transported to a fantasy world of dragons.
I’d love to see that.
What about also a pterodactyl?
Let’s write it!
I’m pretty sure I saw a webcomic about this the other day lol
@@toonrex2806 almost what you want, but not quite, would be Jurrasic Park, Primal, and any T.Rex based spec evo video on UA-cam. Though I would pay good money for what you're suggesting.
Western isekai mostly follows the Hero's Journey - you're an inexperienced kid going to an unknown world, face a lot of challenges, you grow as a person and travel home again. I think Ghibli movies are some of the few Japanese productions that follows Hero's Journey as well.
Normally Japanese isekai goes - you die and get a new life in a fantasy world (+haram 😅).
My grandma (who's WESTERN, my FAMILY'S WESTERN) Says that harems are disgusting and NOBODY should know what a Harem is. Also...how could I make a HAREM isekai stop without being canceled????
@@shirleymaemattthews4862🧍♀️
@@shirleymaemattthews4862 make a good story, have the love interests be into each other as well, proper communication, giving each character a personality that meshes well with each other, emotional intelligence, try to avoid power imbalance, include multiple men or nonbinary people, not have the love aspect be the main plot unless you are specifically after a romance story, include plenty of non-horny love moments where the polycule falls in love with of each other's personalities, don't be afraid to be asexual, include conflicts that aren't just misunderstandings such as one member not being emotionally literate and needing to learn emotional literacy, have the family of the polycule members play a role in the story- wait, are you asking for writing advice or how to end a show?
Pretty sure Portal fantasy is the name of the western cultures. As an example, Welsh and irish myth is full of fairys snatching people away to the other world, or heros wandering in and getting up to nonsense. Pryderi meeting Arawn, or Oisin riding a horse over the sea to Tir na Nog. The west loves it
Isekai is huge in Russia. It has many genres and subgenres. Just to give you an idea, there's a story about a modern-day soldier who got reincarnated as a bee during ww2 😄
@KoriurmindI don't know, but there's a comic book called "The Land of Kings" by Fedor "Comix" Nechitaylo and if you want it, read it.
Ok what this story called, cause that just wicked
@Koriurmind Guess you can never go wrong with Wrong Time for Dragons (sometimes translated as No time for dragons) by Lukyanenko and Perumov as well as The Stranger by Max Frei. But overall it's pretty hard to recommend anything because 1. Most book are not translated into English 2. I wasn't joking when I said that isekai is huge in Russia. You need to specify whether you need female or male subgenre and where do you want the mc to end up (fantasy, sci-fi, video game, historical time, Earth?), should the book be dark, ironic or neutral; serious or something to take your mind off of things. There's a lot to consider
@@L.V.K.-Studio It's called Пчела-Попаданец by Oleg Rybachenko. No idea how to translate the title Bee-popadanets? (Popadanets is a Russian term for a character who was transported into another world). I'm pretty sure the book wasn't translated but I'd say that's for the better. While the concept is pretty fun, the author is not particularly good. It's just the book became a meme that's why I mentioned it 😄
AS A BEE?? I need a translation for THESE stories dude
Isekai hasn't overstayed its welcome. Only a certain telling of the other world tales have overstayed themselves. Old school fantasy adventure just needs to return. Not just harem power fantasies, with template fantasy worlds which Japan keeps pumping out.
They discovered a formula that worked and then exploided it until the interrest went down.
The one that over stayed their welcome are the "bland and boring losers is reincarnated as an OP with a harem".
Then again, the most unique take on the genre in recent years has been Forspoken. Somebody thought making the protagonist a black girl who was just convicted of attempted grand larceny by the State of New York was a positive breath of fresh air to the harem power fantasies. Be careful of innovation. You might just get it.
@@aquapendulum well, it was a good idea....on paper.
The execution of it just absolutely sucked...
@@jasondphoenix No, you see, the whole idea of Frey being a victim of the American judicial system in the real world by itself is a contradiction to her character motivation in Athia later. That premise is part of the execution. She constantly has this attitude of not giving a damn about the world of Athia and she's just doing what's necessary to get back to New York City. What the... did she like her life back in New York City??? Did she not recognize how the people of Athia have warmed up to her??? Why does she miss her life in New York?
1st American Isekai is probably Mark Twain's a Yankee in King Arthur's Court, considering the legends of King Arthur are pretty much a fantasy story we tell ourselves.
But definitely agree the Oz books also qualify.
I love that movie!
Or was it “A Kid in King Arthur’s Court”? Either I love those kinds of stories.
@@viruschris3160That was based on Twain’s story, but the original story is called “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”.
A Fish Out of Water story is a classic story tactic. It gives the characters reasons to explain what they know to the newcomer who has nonexperience with that world and its laws-usually about magic.
A cop-out for lesser writers incapable of embodying the virtues of "show-not-tell".
@jordanandrew2786 Not entirely. Stranger in a Strange Land juxtaposition has always been a thing. There is a need to show some and tell some. It can save time to tell instead of show. Too much world building can reduce the story's pace to a halt that loses the reader's interest.
@@slicerneons3300Agreed. Not to mention, show-not-tell isn't always the best go-to solutions for all mediums. It makes perfect sense for television because it's a visual medium but with books, it's easier to just tell certain things. Having all aspects be described can be overwhelming, confusing, and honestly, unnecessary. It's more important to know what to pick and choose
I really like isekai shows if done right. What gets me really interested in these kinds of genres is the world and how the characters interact with it.
Fish out of water stories can be pretty fun.
I have been reading a lot of manhwa. Soooo many of them are isekai. They don’t always utilize it well.
And that’s the problem with many isekai’s. They don’t use the knowledge of their other world at all.
For a lot of them you forget the character isn't even from that world originally...
most manhwa i read is instead of isekai the MC travel to the past to alter his future and enjoy life there are some cliche isekai tropes
Manhwa isekai are fr just video games
There's this novel and Manhua called Release that Witch where the MC uses his engineering knowledge to advance this town he was put in charge of when he reincarnated. It has a more unique world and story compared to most isekai. The only thing is that it has some harem stuff. There's also a manhwa called Greatest Real Estate Developer which is hilarious and I love the art. There the MC is actually affected by their past life instead of it just being ignored and he's also an engineer who uses his skills to build more advanced infrastructure.
You should check out handy man satoru.
Hmm....mario was an isekai story too granted its from japan....about a new yorker Italian.... huh
Going by Yoshi's Island/Partners In Time, Mario & Luigi were born in the Mushroom Kingdom, then moved to New York at some point (or New Donk/Big-City/Big Ape City depending on what game you're looking at), then back to the Mushroom kingdom. So kind of like a reverse isekai.
Though now that I think about it, Mario Golf GBC/Advance Tour and Mario Tennis GBC/Power Tour could be considered pseudo-Isekai. Your character is trying to become the best to head to Mario World and challenge the plumber to Golf/Tennis.
@@TheWispGuy There's no real canon to Mario so its really just whatever game you happen to be referencing.
@@Ergeniz True. It's all very loose, with a few exceptions here and there. (Such as the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series, or the aforementioned Mario Golf GBC/Advance Tour and Mario Tennis GBC/Power Tour games)
only in the movies and cartoons.
It's cannon in the movies! But the games... that's a whole other can of worms, like other commenters above have stated hahah
These kinds of stories are some of my favourites. There's something so interesting about a character being pulled out of the world they know and forced to adapt to an unfamiliar one. Digimon was one of my favourite shows as a kid and still retains a strong place in my heart because of this, and because through exploring this new world, the kids grew and matured from randoms into true heroes. I think that's what is best about the genre: yes the wish fulfilment angle is fun, but it's seeing how the characters overcome these new challenges and develop into better people. They end up not being the hero because of prophecy (though sometimes prophecies play into the writing), but rather because they worked hard, learned what they needed to learn, and grew into true heroes. in a way, they make the prophecy come true. That is such a cool way to show the human spirit in action.
You what would be a funny idea for an isekai? One where the main character is a stoner and he thinks all the things he encounters on his adventures are hallucinations.
A stoner knows he is hallucinating? Idk I never smoked myself
That's donquixote or something
And now we even have a new Isekai show in the indie animation fandom, a tiny project name Amazing Digital Circus
Sees Winx Club in the thumbnail
Clicks instantly
My biggest gripe is just that Anime Isekai always has the same sort of setting.
There's a reason why folks make jokes about the cities of Isekai shows.
Anime Isekai never truly takes advantage of the fact that it's a fantasy setting. Never really coming up with things like Creatures who don't behave like humens despite having an ego.
Yeah. Even the ones people say are good, don't even do that. It's all loser wish fulfillment
@binkiebrew nobody mentions the ones that are actually good and unique 😭 (ie sonny boy)
6:05 actually 2010s My Little Pony did a reverse-isekai where the main character ends up travelling to the human world and turning into a human (hence the Equestria Girls spinoff). Equestria Girls started out as a cash-grab but it became clear that the writers cared about EG enough to make it its own thing (even adding a whole new MC independent of the main series MC) + the storyline ended up being very different from a typical isekai (despite having other anime influences like magical girls and laser blast fights lol)
Second movie onward they started COOKING in the writing room cuz why was Rainbow Rocks so fricking GOOD!
MFW I realize the Isekai was invented by the western creators FAR before it became popular in Japan. Think about it: Dungeons and Dragons (the animated show); the Pagemaster; the Narnia series... it should probably have been named something other than "isekai".
They are called portal-quest fantasy or portal fantasy.
Isekai is just the Japanese local name for portal fantasy or a subgenre of it.
EXCELLENT WORK. MJTANNER ISEKAI ENTERTAINMENT
Portal Fantasy or Magical Otherworld
I'm pretty sure Western creators are not the sole inventors of the "sent to another world" trope, though. It's a tale as old as time in fiction around the globe.
I like Digimon best
I personally feel there are two types of isekai.
PreSAO and PostSAO
PreSAO: usually involves people getting transferred to a fantasy world and getting a single special ability (examples: El Hazard, Escaflowne, Maze)
PostSAO: usually involves people getting transffered to an RPG fantasy world with RPG mechanics (nearly every isekai since SAO aired)
Sword Art Online and its consequences have been a disaster for the Isekai genere.
Nux’s Law: any isekai that does not have “isekai” “another world” ect. In the title will probably be a hundred times better than one that does
I’m guessing this law applies to the run-on sentence titles as well
I think the main reason Isekai became very popular is that it allows to introduce the new world in a very organic way. If the main character was an inhabitant of that new (for the audience) world all the exposition would feel more forced. The problem is (as with most narrative tricks) is the more popular some idea becomes the more sub-par writers are involved and as a result, you have a lot of bad writing.
It doesn't just need to be an unfamiliar world, the "MMO" subgenre of isekai often is constructed such that the characters are established players of the game and so are rather familiar with the setting and it's more how them being placed in a living, breathing version of the world that they need to acclimate to.
But yes it also is largely just a way of less skilled writers to integrate their fantastical elements easily. Heck, the same web novel site where isekai boomed in popularity is seeing the rise of "low fantasy" works which is basically letting writers make isekai except this time they don't even need to make the world different.
Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court could technically fit this genre
That's island on a sea of time which is very related but distinct
I really dislike the Japanese modern isekai genre. They have their gimmick title and premise to draw you in, but after some chapters the story becomes boring, aimless, and drawn out.
Disney did do a Return to Oz movie that is quite creepy for younger audiences.
Also for MLP, they did do an isekai where Twilight gets isekaied to an alternate universe human world of the same characters, starting the Equestria girls franchise.
I totally agree but lest not forget about her apprentice Starlight Glimmer who also gotten Isekaied to the same exact world as Twilight did in the first few movie specials, but in a special and the interesting part in a recent Equestria Girls special that ALOTTT of the human versions of the ponies isekaied to Equestria and got turned into ponies.
Like this is more like mine but also beeing into a personal fanfic of MLP with a group of humans (soldiers) who hot into Equestria from the EQG world.
there i have like stuff there is far more with the the connection between Equestria and Earth, like mainly picking up at the early 20th century.
The protags are more near the modern era, they also make a fuzz of that some things they bring up may be akin to opening pandora's box, with them being in a world they aren't meant to.
Discord and to a lesser extent, Pinkie and even the sister princesses are somewhat aware of how much of an anomaly their mere presence is.
Also my protag is on the fence of coming back to their world, they would if they could, but they consider it isn't going to be smooth (caputred by the govt. And interrogated non-stop)
Lots of stuff, but I'll stop rambling.
Why is Japanese isekai so sexist sometimes? And how they got away with airing them without being canceled? Are there Japanese people who WANT to cancel Isekai like that?
@@shirleymaemattthews4862anime has a big misogyny problem but not many people want to acknowledge this unfortunately :/
I don’t know why this is? Maybe because males are the target audience?? Idk sexist tropes just make it quite hard to me to watch lots of anime sadly
@@illumanarti Bro..some cartoons over here are intended for men, and some treat females nice! My best geuss will b that Japan has a GROSS history with treating women as "PrOsTiTuTeS" or whatever on the Edo period????
I think the main problem is isekai in Japan are just OP harem wish fulfillment’s for men most of the time, so they don’t have broad appeal and are mostly the same with a few exceptions. While in the west they are all so different. The characters, lessons, worlds no two are the same in the west.
A lot of those are based on light novels or webnovels, which are generally just a shade more prestigious than fan fiction. When it comes to those specific male fantasy-centric isekai stories, I tend to think of them as more-or-less the male equivalent of a particularly trashy romance novel.
I personally think that amphibia did isekai better than TOH In terms of rules that usually follow isekai stories
What makes you say that
@@audreyharris7643I guess at most the main Calamity Trio are stuck in Amphibia? but that’s all really
Honestly, what's always rubbed me the wrong way is that Luz actually has access to the Boiling Isles, her perfect world, instead of permanently returning to Earth, with all its flaws. Not everything was perfect for the Calamity trio on Earth, too, but they still returned.
@@valentinkambushev4968 why does that run you the wrong way?
I thought it was a nice difference where the mc could enjoy both worlds and see the people they care about from both
@@valentinkambushev4968
I really like it that they did that, not every story needs to end with the MC's life returning to normal.
Oh this is crazy, I dislike Isekai because of the anime tropes but like portal fantasy and you just made me realise they're basically the same genre...
The difference is portal fantasies are actually good
@@PhnxKap exactly lol
John Carter from the Martian series first appeared in 1912, he is a Virginia man who is transported to mars after a "near death" experience.
DC's Adam Strange has a similar story.
Tarl cabbot is one day transported to -rape planet- i mean planet Gor on the homonymous book series
Makes me think of Tokusatsu. A term used for Japanese fiction that heavily utilizes people in monster suits for the special effects. Examples like Godzilla and super Sentai (AKA: Power Rangers). Some people may find it’s a genre found only in Japan, but if you think about it movies and tv shows from the west like Star Wars and Doctor who are also tokusatsu as they use a lot people in suits for monsters and aliens.
USAkai shows have been some of my favorites, especially Amphibia. Thank you for this!
I always enjoy isekais that allow the reader to learn about the world alongside the protagonist
I have actually been working on my own book series that tackles the Isekai concept for almost 5 years now. I’ve written enough content for five whole novels already, but lately I’ve been working on revisions for the first one or two. I’m very close to getting the first volume published.
Awesome! I wish you luck!
What's it about?
@@40kanon sorry for taking so long to respond; actually meant to a while ago.
In answer to your question, it does involve an entire class from Japan being transported to a medieval types society, much like most conventional Japanese isekai. But I diverge from that in that the world they come to utilizes absolutely no magic, instead adopting a science fiction approach
As the students and their chaperones interact with the local population, they gradually become aware of a third-party the strings behind the scenes
The title for my series is “The Otherworlders.”
ABC’s _Lost_ is an Isekai when you think about it. The difference is that the main characters have forgotten their lives in the real world were empty and they keep trying to get back home.
Isekais have always been around and like every genere it's not for everyone, but in my opinion on western Isekais;
Older western Isekais had a lot of charm and soul. There for the adventure and the growth of the characters.
Modern ones just feel like bargain bin anime, trying to capitalize on it with cheap power ups to beat the big bad.
Shout out for anyone that remembers King Arthur and the Knights of Justice and the D&D cartoon.
Also, Wizard of Oz syncs up with Dark Side of the Moon.
It does
How about a Space Jam not the 2021 as I speak the 1996 film for me.
Wasn't that a myth or something
No it doesn't. The two aren't even the same length.
Army of Darkness will forever be the best American isekai.
"Hail to the king, baby!"
lol, classic
Growing up in the 1960's - 1970's, there were more than a few American Saturday Morning Cartoons and Live Action shows that used this "fish-out-of-water" theme; though we didn't call them, "Isekai" back then. What immediately comes to mind is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon about two American kids who found a Djinn called, "Shazzan," who took them on many adventures in an Arabian Knights setting. DePatie-Freleng offered a trippy Fairytale cartoon called, "Here Comes the Grump." Sid and Marty Krofft came out with live action shows like, "HR Pufnstuf," "Lidsville," and "Land of the Lost."
The 1980's brought us animated shows like "Wildfire," "Kidd Video," and of course, "Dungeons and Dragons." There are too many more to list, so Western culture has no shortage of its own Isekai.
One interesting commentary I read about the "Dungeons and Dragons" cartoon is that it wasn't as popular as it could have been, (despite having excellent writers and character backstory development,) because the show recreated the very 'dynamic' that kids interested in this kind of "escapism" were looking to 'escape' from. "The Magician" character - a nerdy boy named "Presto" - was not the main character; those were the "jocks," Hank the Ranger and Diana the Acrobat. Sheila the Thief and Eric the Cavalier were socially 'higher up' than Presto in the group, and Presto only 'outranked' Sheila's brother Bobby the Barbarian due to his age. But Presto was supposed to be the character that fans of the game (and fantasy in general) were intended to 'identify with.'
More recently, the TV show "Once Upon A Time" reversed the basic "Isekai" formula; and it was characters from our own Fairytales and Legends who came to "Our World," and had their own "fish-out-of-water" adventures.
Thanks for posting this thought-provoking video essay!
My Like is in the 1.1Ks
I'm glad you mentioned Kidd Video. That's my personal favourite Western "Isekai" series. I haven't seen Wildfire yet but I intend to.
Another good example of a reverse formula Isekai is the Super Sentai Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger. In that series, four "Zyumen" (Beast-people) get stuck in the human world and have to look for an item needed to get home.
Amphibia has one of my favorite twists on the genre, because in the third season they make it back to earth, and now the frog family are the ones who’ve been isekaied. It’s really fun and I think more shows should do that
Alice in Wonderland and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court technically came out before The Wizard of Oz, but that just showcases how the West pioneered the genre. Another early one was the John Carter of Mars novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which started the Planetary Romance sub-genre. You also saw this a lot in animation. The Hana-Barbera series Shazzan was about a brother and sister who get taken to an Arabian Nights style fantasy world. The Dungeons and Dragons cartoon had a bunch of modern kids transported to The Realm. Blackstar was about an astronaut being sent to a sword and sorcery world. Its a remarkably versatile genre.
As far as anime goes, my favorite isekai are probably Vision of Escaflowne and El Hazard. Escaflowne introduced me to the concept of fantasy mecha before I heard about Aura Battler Dubine, and to this day the original El Hazard OVA has one of my favorite endings of all time.
It’s a genre, like any other. That’s like asking if there’s too much horror or rom-com or comic adaptations. The answer will always be yes and no.
No, Isekai isn't a genre, fantasy is a genre, isekai is a lazy form of story that 90% of the time always follow the same tropes and cliches and sometimes is so similar that If you read enough of them they start merging together to the point you can't tell anymore which one is which, calling Isekai a genre is like saying "Evil Superman" is a genre, It is really not is just the same unoriginal idea being regurgitated and repeated again and again.
@@Gabe600I don’t entirely disagree with ya. Isekai, in anime at least, definitely has earned a reputation of being extremely lazy and poorly executed. But the concept itself is definitely a major sub-genre of fantasy, and sci-fi in some instances. It does enough unique stuff to be separate from a typical fantasy story imo, as there’s a lot you can do with sending characters to an entirely different world or even universe.
Having said that, Isekai, the typical harem/power fantasy kind at least, has definitely overstayed its welcome by at least a decade tbh. But, stuff like Amphibia and arguably Tensura Slime divergen enough from it that clumping it all together as a “bad and lazy form of writing” is simply doing it a disservice.
"Yes and no. But mostly yes."
-George Beard, 2017
@Gabe600 WRONG! Pile of BS you wrote there. Isekai/Poartal Fantasy IS IT'S OWN GENRE!
Just because it suffers from bring cliché doesn't make it not a genre.
But let's be ignorant and claim just like you did that all the other genres you mentioned are also cheap, cliché garbage with the same plots over and over again with the biases and fantasies of the writers. Because almost nothing is not inspired from someting else.
You know there WAS a adaptation sequel of the Wizard of Oz exclusively to Disney called Return to Oz
glad someone mentioned that, even if it wasn't a pure sequel or follow up it was still basically a sequel
- 3:05 Yes, they did make a sequel to _Wizard of Oz_ (1939): _Return to Oz_ (1985), which was extremely creepy and traumatizing to an entire generation of kids. 😬
- A few other old examples: _Flight of Dragons_ (1982), a He-man Christmas special, _Neverending Story_ was at the end,
Sad that there aren’t many reverse-isekai where a fantasy creature comes to the real world
It would be a cool base to highlight how modern technology isn't too far off from real magic (the only example I can think of is MLP Equestria Girls; for some reason it totally blew 9 years old me's mind when I saw references to UA-cam, SMS and email in it)
@Koriurmind I loved Mako Mermaids omg 😭
Tenth Kingdom has modern day New Yorkers go to a fantasy world while a trio of trolls go to New York
The only western example I can think of is Lexx, but that was more sci-fi than fantasy.
Amphybia is actually a really fitting and funny idea for an isekai because the word "amphibian" comes from the Greek words "amphi" which means "double" and "bios" which means "life"
Amphibia is probably my favorite Western Isekai. Such a great show.
I had no idea how similar Japanese Isekai protagonists look. Almost did a spit take. Guess this shows how little of the genre I've seen. The ones at the top of my head that I've seen a good chunk of was In Another World With My Smart Phone.
I'm more familiar with reverse Isekai's like The Devil is A Part Timer and Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, since it's a magical being being transported into the real world.
Yep. That's one of the reasons anime isekai get so much backlash. They have protagonists that look almost exactly the same as each other. I think they're mostly cash grabs so they don't put a lot of effort into them. XD
Amphibia is really cool. It's funny how it has anime influences like the ending battle but it's honestly better than a lot of it's anime counterparts. No offense to anime. It's just that they oversaturated the market with the same old medieval fantasy bland protagonist shows.
Hahaha yeah that frame with those characters from different shows surprisingly shows there isn't much difference in character designs as well adding copy paste that J was talking about.
There's also jokes how the central town most isekai characters live or visit looks the same.
Also yeah I'm also familiar with reverse isekai such as those and a show called the great Jahy will not be defeated. Its interesting seeing fantasy characters in the human world.
@@mjtannertwinsJAPANESE anime tha is being bashed on for it's characters ALL LOOKING THE SAME...........They're just asking for stereotypes at this point.
@@mjtannertwins Same with the Owl House. I love that show, but the emphasis on romance is a bit too much.
Isekai in Japan is in an interesting state, and I don't think they're going away any time soon, or even bad for the industry.
They're usually based off of light novels, so rather than a team of hollywood writers, etc, you just have joe schmo writing books and gaining an audience over time.
Small studios wanting to gain a name for themselves buy these stories for relatively cheap without the strong oversite of a manga publisher, and don't need a writer to make a whole script before they can get started. So they can hit the ground running on a long running series that has a pre-built fanbase. (They can also often use generic pre-created generic fantasy art now and then instead of needing to make every single background themselves.)
Plus, even outside of the initial fanbase, its an easy barrier to entry for new audiences, because so much remains the same, there is little to no 'emotional barrier' to throwing it on. Its like how there were tons of sitcoms all at the same time, and tons of murder shows like CSI, Cold Case, etc. Same formula, minor differences in characters and subject matter i.e. special victims unit focusing on SA cases and Criminal Minds having its own gimmick and flow.
Plus, the isekai genre is flexible and appeals to a wide variety of demographics. There are a LOT of romance and comedy isekai that women eat up, its not all black haired boy power fantasy with easy merchandise in the form of cute harem girls. (I don't even particularly care for Isekai, but my anime group watches a lot of it, so i've been exposed to a lot and been pleasently surprised many times.)
Plus, the quick consumption and short 'life' of Japanese TV means there is more room for more projects and studios. (I know this used to be the case, but need confirmation if its still true) Japanese TV doesn't just run re-runs of shows over and over forever, shows will be shown omce and thats it - its why recap episodes were so important to remind audiences of what was going on after months between seasons.)
The big companies get their huge passion projects with huge budgets, experimental stories and art styles, the small ones get Isekai and can grow with a hungry audience, who are willing to wait and remember your show even if it goes on a multi-year hiatus. Its a growing industry because its not a restrictive monopoly, and easy entry stuff like this I think are good.
And totally biased ignorant opinions I hold:
Regarding Western Isekai, I think it was always only seen as childrens stories and fairy tales. While the individual projects may seem more memerable and unique visually, it may also just be a culteral thing. They are strictly anti-drug, where some our 70's 80's imagery was inspired from, (even those not partaking were still influenced by the art of those who did) and Japanese Isekai speaks to the depressed nature of their lifestyle. Low birthrates/numbers of relationships, a lack of individuality or being able to speak your mind- I think the Japanese population is in trouble (i think we all are) but the comfort these shows bring speak a lot to what they need as a people, and I think its why its growing in the US as well.
As someone who knows a little bit about Japanese and has watched a lot of obscure anime and some isakai I agree with a lot of the points that you make I honestly like the fact that most anime/isakai were made by Joe smo just some guy or girl making something they like using familiar frame work I will admit that they're is a lot of isakai I don't believe gnerake would be the right word I do think they could be more open with the concept and explore it in more or deeper ways but I do think that the genre is good it has made many good video games tvs anime and light novels some of which have seminted themselves in time and peoples hearts because I think look for a escape or a unknown fantastic world will always speak to people I just feel like some have gotten tired of the tropes and forgot the promises such fantasy and or its characters and world can bring
I wish this wasn't buried in the sea of likes.
I got a couple examples of other western "isekai."
Back to the Future has Marty McFly travel 30 years into the past, where he encounters his father and mother. And he's got to figure out how to get back to the future without causing irreparable damage to his present.
Then there's Secret of Evermore, the only game made by Squaresoft USA. It's about a boy and his dog getting pulled into another world. One created by 4 people. And each region is that person's ideal world. Naturally, the boy has to visit them all on his way back to the real world.
I never really gave it much thought until now, but your "Back to the Future" example DOES fit the idea of "Isekai," since "the past" (and "the future," for that matter,) really ARE "other worlds," for all intent and purpose. I'd include Michael Creighton's "Timeline" as another example.
Growing up, I watched TV shows like, "The Time Tunnel," and "It's About Time," that had characters interacting with people from past and future times. In the case of the latter, the first season was about two astronauts who time traveled to Neolithic Times, and the second was about the Neolithic family they met coming with them back to the 20th Century, and much of the humor was derived from the culture shock element.
Back to the Future is a time travel story. Terminator, Loop, would count in the genre if you stretch it this far.
John Carter from the Princess of Mars/Barsoom series is sorta a isekai, its arguable that he is originally from Mars or is immortal or something but it is about a guy getting photocopies and faxxed to Mars to cause problems
異世界 (いせかい ) = isekai. 異 (i) = Uncommon, different, strangeness, wonderful, curious, unusual; 世界 (sekai) = World; society; the universe
The true OG Isekai works would likely include Jack and the Beanstalk and Gulliver's Travels
No they wouldn't. They're not in another world, they're travelouges or parodies.
Russian (Soviet even) isekais are also very interesting and unique. Most commonly they are about a regular kid being transported to a world of Russian fairytales or to some kind of very specific dimension such as inside of a music box or a land where all of their homework mistakes are true. They can also be about an adult being transported to the past and messing with major historical events (sometimes by introducing modern weaponry). I really recommend looking into this, my personal favorites are “In the land of unlearned lessons”, “Ivashka from pioneers palace” and “Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession”.
This is the reason why my *absolute* favorite isekai anime is Saga of Tanya the Evil. Short yet simple reasons?
• *ABSOLUTELY ZERO* fanservice
• The MC is not a shy and thirsty boy, but a cold and calculated man
• Interesting lore/world (alternate history, specifically WW1 era, setting)
• Interesting side characters (they have their own consciousness, personalities, stories)
I always think of Samurai Jack for some reason. A samurai warrior was about to search for someone strong, only to encounter Aku, some evil shapeshifter who sends him to a post-apocalyptic future of some kind, and that samurai must face his challenges in such time period and place until he is fast and strong enough to fight Aku again. I don't know if time-travel really counts, but if the time and place feels way too different from the previous one, then I think it counts. Don't you agree?
Time Bandits could be another example. It's about a little boy who finds a bunch of dwarves who have a map that tells them how to find portals between different time periods. The places they go keep getting more and more outlandish until they end up in a very dark fantasy world.
Also John Carter, story about a guy being transported to Mars.
its all about idea and execution. There was a movie called tall tales which was a Disney movie, where a kid goes on a journey and meets a bunch of American folk heros. Like Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan to save his home from getting destroyed so they could build a railroad. Generic, but fun. So it's better to just look at the media as its own thing. Hate it love it, not every idea is going to be original and it's going to follow a troupe.
Yeah that's what I think too. There needs to be more challenges and an interesting setting.
There should also be more characterization and development.
Ones that stand out to in story is saga of Tanya the evil, Magic knight rayearth, and re zero.
Coraline was a story of a girl with a boring life with her boring parents who gets transported to a world where her parents are cool and attentive to her, but later turned to a horror story and the mc learned to be appreciative of her old life at the end of the story.
1:38 Honestly, I thought John Carter of Mars/Princess of Mars was first western isekai. The actual books I referring too, not underrated Disney movie.
3:16 Marvel got *Weirdworld* DC got Swords and sorcery aka *Princess Amethyst and Gemworld* yes, there are comics that not superhero genre.
3:28 Tron is great. It would be Awesome if Tron and game series Dot Hack has crossover.
Oh, what your opinion on *Captain N: the Game Master?*
Over the Garden Wall is one.
Infinity Train is another one.
Isekais is not problem. If protagonist is overpower from chapter 1 without any explanation or just a little mistake . That is the issue.
Look the Manga *Mär*, Ginta. Ginta is a in fact a loser when went to portal to Mär he has better eyesight and super strength but those power boost is not enough for him to fight enemies he still need Ärms(weapons) and training.
Märchen.Awakens.Romance
Not only a really good Isekai, I rate it one of the best Shonen animes for it's time period.
I'll always be salty that they never broadcasted it to my country though, I was the perfect age to watch it back when it aired on other channels...but I had to watch it as an adult instead.
I think Brian just hanging around, and being (mostly) useless, would be kinda novel and cool to see in an Isekai. Perhaps give him a chance to shine every now and then - not in the way of unearned power, but more in having a unique perspective on the world.
Never Ending Story, The Last Star Fighter, and Labyrinth from the 80s.
Does Army of Darkness count 😅
@@nicklundy9965 Dang!!! Of course! 👍
I actually like the genre, I'm just sick of the Other World in question being a painfully unimaginative Fantasy World that runs on RPG video game mechanics.
I like medieval RPG fantasy, but I want something that actually looks like an 80's JRPG. Most of these isekai go for generic "Kirito style" characters dressed in essentially modern clothing. How cool would it be to have a fantasy world that looks like Akira Toryama's Dragon Quest or a Frank Frazetta painting. We need less jackets and trousers and more tunics, tights and loincloths!
lmao love that rant about rainbow brite
I like the idea of iseaki. Just the fact that it’s sort of bittersweet. “I’ve ended up in a whole new world, made new friends, and discovered amazing things. But I am stuck here and can’t go back to my original home with my family and friends.”
Isekai shows up in some weird places.
or
Freaking Bryan.
XD
Ah yes, Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness. My favorite Isekai. Otherwise known as "That Time I Got Isekai'd with a Chainsaw and a Boomstick."
I recently finished the owl house and it quickly became one of my favourite shows, it also answers many of my complains with the genre, seeing how the boiling isles aren't just another fantasy world, not to mention that explores it's magic system, it's lore, the races, and it also responds to the questions of how a normal human can learn abilities that aren't normal for her, but are for the people of the world
Personally, I like to differentiate between Isekai and Portal Fantasy. Portal Fantasy is just the overall getting transported into another world (e.g. Narnia, Owl House, Land of Stories) but Isekai has so many tropes attached to it that they’ve practically become synonymous with the genre (cheat skills, harems, RPG mechanics, the blank slate and/or loser MC, etc.).
At this point, it’s probably better to consider isekai a sub genre of overall portal fantasy.
Honestly, I always thought it be cool as hell to have a modern day guy armed with modern weapons fight fantasy creatures.
Army of Darkness is awesome. The upcoming game Kingmakers seems to be similar in concept.
Isn't there that one anime with an edgy protagonist who uses guns?
@@jasondphoenixArifureta.
Another isekai about military doods in isekai is GATE. Both those titles got two seasons. arifureta is getting s3 iirc.
I really enjoyed GATE. Antagonist thinks they are unbeatable and then the protagonist brings in the heavy ordnance.
There's an anime like that... though I hesitate to mention this one -- Those Who Hunt Elves. Several folks from the modern era are pulled into a fantasy world. One of the girls who got pulled into another world has brought a tank with her.
@@gilian2587 modern otakus/casuals probs gonna go ballistic if they discover that one.
Magi-nation is another Isekai many have forgotten.
I want to see japanese isekai where its a handsome colourful(no black hair) haired guy trying to survive the horror in another world. NO HAREM
This sounds like the rarest thing in anime ever 😭
just make them a woman
@@ophist8399 ooor yeah that
Rainbowbrite sounds like Star vs Forces of Evil now that I think of it.
connecticut yankee in king arthur's court predates wizard of oz
Now that I think about it, Terminator is a reverse isekai. The destination world is the modern world, and the Terminators are the OP players albeit antagonists who already are OP against the better prepared future Resistance.
Most Celtic folklore is basically an isekai.🍀
Oldest example of the genre I know of is a book called "A Yankee in King Arthurs Court" published in 1889.
My absolute favorite version of this is Reverse Isekai, where a character from a cool fantasy realm ends up in the normal world! Like ‘the devil is a part timer’ or the first mlp Equestria Girls movie
Narnia was the bes western isekaii watched in my childhood, and Inuyasha was my favorite japanese isekai at that time...
"It's not like they made any sequels"
See, I don't know if this is a joke about how nobody remembers Return to Oz or if you genuinely don't know that movie exists.
I've scrolled through all the 1,2k+ comments here and somehow nobody has mentioned Stephen King's the Dark Tower series. I think it's a very honorable example of western "isekai", especially with the "portal" between the worlds being of a very big importance for the protagonist
Another mention I'd like to make is volume 9 of RWBY, though it didn't last that long
A pretty famous western isekai story is John Carter from Princess of Mars. It was also part of a subgenre called "planetary romance", and retroactively "sword and planet" (named after the "sword and sandal" genre).
I’m writing a novel about a mercenary team of fantasy warriors and a human male protagonist on a mission to stop a fantasy warlord from conquering the world using Earth technology. The fantasy characters show remarkable awe in our own world and present that our own world can just be as wonderful and fantastical too.
technically the original isekai story was also fanfic-tier wish-fulfilment wank, it's the Divine Comedy
okay I’m ngl I forgot about the existence of rainbow brite until just now
Even Though I love Anime and Isekai is one of my favourite genre, The West as it's original does it way better or rather the best of all, It explores The Another World and it's Characters a lot more perfectly in just a short time while anime with a lot of seasons drag it on. The MC becomes very powerful and in the end starts to love the another world and settles there while In The West MC learns to appreciate her/his own given world more with values learned. A lot of people have watched West Another World Or Isekai and despite loving it they don't realise it becomes each story Of West's Another Story Like Jumanji or Alice In Wonderland, The Matrix, Space Jam, Coraline each of these movies feels different and it's own thing even though it's the same genre while in Anime or Even In Manwa all the stories and even MC feels the Same with different circumstances and powers.
Every Mario show and movie is an Isekai
It's a funny thing as much as the character might be considered unnecessary in the Rainbow Brite series, he doesn't sound like a "Gary Sue" in the sense he tries but doesn't always succeed and thus he becomes relatable, which is something some series don't bother with.
Space Jam is my favourite Isekai
W COMMENT
Love how they ignore that 99% of the female protagonist isekay are basically "normal girl reborn/transported to new world as a princess/noble" Its ALWAYS a princess or noble. Of 20+ I've seen, just one escaped this troupe
Ascendance of a bookworm?
I've seen two that break this mold and interestingly they have a similar premise. The first one involved a young girl who was a golden child. She was intelligent, successful, got good grades and basically hated it because she had high expectations placed on her so when she dies, she requests becoming the most average in that new world. Unfortunately, because she wasn't specific, her averageness is compared to powerful beings within it like dragons and stuff so to them she's average and not special.. but to humans she's op as hell and that's the last thing she wants.
For the other one, it involves a woman who worked herself to death so she just wants a relaxing life in the next world. She is made immortal (can't age) and becomes a witch in this world, making a comfortable cabin away from the village where she relaxes and enjoys life and occasionally helps the village out and fights the occasional generic slime monster. Unfortunately, over the years of defeating slimes, those battles added up and she eventually became op without even realizing it since all she wants to do is relax and chill out.
Find it funny that from my perspective, Isekai guys are like "Yeah! Epic adventure!" While Isekai girls are like "Yeah! Fantasy vacation time where no one bothers me!" Ironically, Tanya fits this mold despite originally being a guy, just wants a calm life but can't escape the war.
@@PhnxKap W take
@@MysteriousTomJenkins i disagree with the 'vacation' bit because, like i said, 99% of them are about 'normal girl now become princess/noble' and of these 80% are them becoming girlbosses.
Edit: so... Both your stories the female protagonist are super inteligent, super beautiful and super everything and op and better than everyone. So... Mary sues of the worst category. They dont really escape the mold here.
@@PhnxKap no, but im so looking into that one now
Digimon: my favorite Eastern isekai. Narnia was the first thing that came to mind when I thought of a Western isekai. Peter Pan also counts.
EDIT: I just remembered TMNT 2003 did this too! And more than once, lol.