| Thought of this because I just finished this autumn season's Management of a Novice Alchemist a few days ago and had encountered this phenomenon several times throughout its run. Also, I remember almost exactly a year ago at this time in 2021, another fantasy Slice of Life series, Banished from the Hero's Party I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, was just concluding, and it was commonplace for people to do it with that one as well. Also, apparently some folks believe Goblin Slayer is an isekai for some reason? Why is it a thing and are people just using the terms "fantasy" and "isekai" or "isekai fantasy" interchangeably now? |
| Pretty much every recent fantasy series has been called an isekai at some point. Might be because there are people whose first exposure to fantasy was an isekai anime or because fantasy settings in anime are all generic and unispired. I lean towards the latter. |
| MEA·MENTVLA·INGENS·EST |
| because they don't know isekai means different world. things were easier when they thought getting hit by a truck=isekai dying=isekai video game hud=isekai then the influencers came and spoke "native isekai" fantasy anime=isekai <--you are here next: anime=isekai |
| 馬鹿げた倫理 全部ガラクタで |
| The fantasy settings of anime are weak, they are mostly the same and are largely influenced by games so that is why many people use isekai for some fantasy anime. I haven't seen anyone mentioning Ancient Magus Bride as isekai because it's very different, Goblin slayers have quests, and party members like RPG. |
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| I avoided Tensai Ouji no Akaji Kokka Saisei Jutsu until recently because I thought it was yet another average isekai, when it doesn't even have fantasy elements. It's easy to make this kind of mistake when you see a long ass title + generic character designs + a dozen of girls in the cover image. |
| The thing with modern isekai is that it's so generic and badly written that the fact that the MC came from another world barely matters, it's just a fantasy show, that way some people might confuse the genres (not sure if isekai is a genre). I've seen some people calling Dungeon ni Deai as an isekai. |
| If you're a fanboy, please don't waste my time. Watch more movies, please. Perhaps, this is hell. |
NekoZamurai said: Well, also, Mahoutsukai no Yome takes place in our world. It's a mostly rural, sometimes urban, low fantasy setting in the English countryside near London. There are several instances where it has identifiable landmarks or other traces of our Earth and modernity. I feel like it tends to be more common with the high fantasy setting ones.The fantasy settings of anime are weak, they are mostly the same and are largely influenced by games so that is why many people use isekai for some fantasy anime. I haven't seen anyone mentioning Ancient Magus Bride as isekai because it's very different, Goblin slayers have quests, and party members like RPG. Now I'm wondering if someone out there thinks that something like Berserk is an isekai. |
| Inuyasha - it's not isekai but time travel Dr. Stone - I don't even understand what sort of retard calls this "isekai" but I've seen quite some people mention it. |
Maou_heika said: That's because they are -- both of these -- isekais. Having a post-apocalyptic future is a literary device that functions exactly as a different world. Being pedantic in considering it "our" world and therefore not isekai, despite there literally being an unexplained transport mechanism to restart in a different setting, all the elements of a standard isekai, is actually "retarded".Inuyasha - it's not isekai but time travel Dr. Stone - I don't even understand what sort of retard calls this "isekai" but I've seen quite some people mention it. |
| My subjective reviews: katsureview.wordpress.com THE CHAT CLUB. |
katsucats said: Isekai means "another world", Kagome just travels back in time to the feaudal era, you even have the Tree of Ages which has been a constant throughout time, there is no other "world" there. Same with Dr. Stone, they are still in the same world which by definition is not "isekai", how dumb do you need to be to not understand that!?Maou_heika said: That's because they are -- both of these -- isekais. Having a post-apocalyptic future is a literary device that functions exactly as a different world. Being pedantic in considering it "our" world and therefore not isekai, despite there literally being an unexplained transport mechanism to restart in a different setting, all the elements of a standard isekai, is actually "retarded".Inuyasha - it's not isekai but time travel Dr. Stone - I don't even understand what sort of retard calls this "isekai" but I've seen quite some people mention it. |
| The mmorpg anime are often called isekai when they are not necessary. Isekai anime often use an mmorpg setting which lead to that confusion, however, characters playing an rpg and not being reincarnated inside it is not an isekai. Bofuri is sometimes called an Isekai although it is an mmorpg. And it is even possible to debate that SAO is not an isekai but just an mmorpg. |
| these days when people see a fantasy show they immediately think it's isekai or something, like Danmachi but about mmorpg anime, I'm ok if it's called isekai. I mean if you want to exclude SAO from isekai then you should also exclude Overlord, Log Horizon, Re:CREATORS, Death March Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku, etc... |
Maou_heika said: In Dr. Stone, the characters literally travel to another world as a literary device. It has everything that are the hallmarks of an isekai:katsucats said: Isekai means "another world", Kagome just travels back in time to the feaudal era, you even have the Tree of Ages which has been a constant throughout time, there is no other "world" there. Same with Dr. Stone, they are still in the same world which by definition is not "isekai", how dumb do you need to be to not understand that!?That's because they are -- both of these -- isekais. Having a post-apocalyptic future is a literary device that functions exactly as a different world. Being pedantic in considering it "our" world and therefore not isekai, despite there literally being an unexplained transport mechanism to restart in a different setting, all the elements of a standard isekai, is actually "retarded".
Of course, I don't expect an angry pedant to be able to rationally analyze literary constructs and realize that isekai is a genre before a setting. "Different" world does not literally mean it has to be geographically different than our world. If there was a plot twist at the end of Shield Hero that said the fantasy world actually existed in the past or future of our world, that would still not change the fact that it's an isekai because it has all the literary elements that make the genre. If you want to get mad about stupid shit, then feel free to entertain yourself. You're like an archetypal Dunning-Kruger poster child, missing the forest for the trees. |
| My subjective reviews: katsureview.wordpress.com THE CHAT CLUB. |
WatchTillTandava said: Which series do people mistakenly think of and refer to as isekai, but actually aren't? The Answer to this question is any and every modern fantasy Anime Users simply do not actually watch and/or even take the time to read up on even it's synopsis. Most Users on MAL will simply judge an Anime based on it's cover art like one would judge a book by it's cover. Given this is MAL, Users will simply give their own explanations as to why something is or not regardless who is right or wrong. As an example, trying to convenience some random User on this platform that "Goblin Slayer" isn't an Isekai is pointless if they already posted several essay replies back trying to argue with you that it is an Isekai. You might as well just let it be and let them believe what they want to. It's just sometimes not worth the headache. |
ColourWheelDec 27, 2022 6:37 AM
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| What difference does it make? I don't like seeing users call people 'stupid' just because of how they categorize an anime. It's not important. The genre is so poorly imagined & executed most of the time anyway- the whole truck-kun trope is now just a meme; most of them barely bother with even this minimal level of set-up; and most of the "other world" they portray is exactly the same pithy, generic, bad-cgi-model Just Add Water cartoonish-European-Style-fantasy world in the same exact color palette with zero imagination put into it.... and then there are so many that transport their MCs into a different realm whether it be through time travel or planets or THAT SAME GENERIC FANTASY WORLD again that it hardly matters what words anyone uses to describe them. And I blame the industry because it even tries to ride the whole "Isekai" wave with shows like "Reincarnated As a Sword" (which I liked a lot, btw) but which is not in any way an actual isekai.... it's a cute catgirl with a talking sword, full stop. They just wanted to market the story as isekai since the genre is popular, and putting "reincarnated" into the title is literally THE ONLY THING they bothered to do to pass it off as an isekai. So therefore, just have fun & watch the anime. Call it what you want. No complaints from me. |
nyugvo6 said: The last one might actually become the reality of this medium someday lolbecause they don't know isekai means different world. things were easier when they thought getting hit by a truck=isekai dying=isekai video game hud=isekai then the influencers came and spoke "native isekai" fantasy anime=isekai <--you are here next: anime=isekai |
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| I think there is no such thing as real or unreal isekai, it's all just a question of definition and interpretation. When does an anime count as action? How many fights need to happen? When does an anime count as comedy? How many jokes need to be told? When does an anime count as romance? How many kisses need to be exchanged? Yes there are some examples where 99% of people would agree that something belongs to a specific genre but in the end it's just something that some people agree on and not something that has a clear definition. In the same sense there is also no clear definition of "another world" and people have very different definitions for it. Do video games count as another world? Does time travel count as anther world? Does traveling to an unknown place where you don't even know if it's the same or another world count as another world? Does the main character need to travel to the other world or do side characters also count? Do they need to travel to the other world in the current timeline or does a flashback count? How long do they need to stay in the other world so the whole anime counts as an isekai? None of this has a clear definition and everyone got a different opinion. tldr: there is no such thing as anime mistakenly being called isekai (or any other genre/theme) |
ateksDec 27, 2022 7:00 AM
| any generic fantasy anime, and SAO or something with reincarnation but still isn't an isekai, like https://myanimelist.net/anime/40496/Maou_Gakuin_no_Futekigousha__Shijou_Saikyou_no_Maou_no_Shiso_Tensei_shite_Shison-tachi_no_Gakkou_e_Kayou |
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| Because anime fans have this obsession with isekai, like they think evey new light novel adaptation out there is this "generic isekai" When in reality the light novel industry right now is dominated by romantic comedies. |
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| most of the magical fantasy anime are mistaken for isekai, plz stop |
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| The of the one's I've seen people mistake as isekai are: Bofuri (she's playing an actual game people, she's not isekai-ed into it) InuYasha (it's time travel not isekai) Dr. Stone (basically like time travel except people go into a sort of sleep while stone statues and many, many, many years pass and the world regresses to something that is basically the Stone Age of mankind. Not isekai) |
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| I don't think SAO is technically an isekai. I understand why other people view it as one, but there's never really a moment when Kirito is actually transported to the world of the game he's playing, he's just unable to take the headset off due to the psychotic developer of the Sword Art Online game. In future arcs, he is able to take off the headset and leave his games whenever he wants, making it even more clear that he's not in another world, he's just playing VR games. For examples of REAL isekai based on the premise of the protagonist being transported to the world of their games, there's Log Horizon and to some extent, Overlord (he's transported into the avatar he used in his game, but is in a completely new world) |
| I see people call Spirited Away an isekai because it takes place in a magic Japanese town. The Ancient Magus Bride would be an isekai going by this very same logic. |
LucifrostDec 27, 2022 10:49 PM
| その目だれの目？ |
WatchTillTandava said: On several occasions I've actually forgotten that a series was an isekai at all. For many of these series it is such an unimportant detail past the first couple episodes. I think people are just making the same mistake in reverse. The fantasy genre of anime is very saturated right now with series that have significant overlap and similarities with each other. Whether the first episode introduces it as an isekai or not, by the end of the first season, most of these shows end up in the exact same place.Why is it a thing and are people just using the terms "fantasy" and "isekai" or "isekai fantasy" interchangeably now? It doesn't make it right to call all fantasy an isekai, but it is an understandable mistake to make. |
| Yes, they do. Why?. Lack of experience or lack of interest to differentiate, I guess. Sometimes what is referred to as Isekai tropes are actually fantasy tropes. Since you asked for examples, here goes: I'm Quitting Heroing, Ya Boy Kongming, Danmachi, Fate, Btooom. |
| You're a louse, Roger Smith. - R. Dorothy Wayneright This is my fight! No Senpai, this is our fight! - Kojou Akatsuki & Yukina Himeragi  |
NABIdes said: I understand your basic thinking on mmorpg's, which is mostly correct. these days when people see a fantasy show they immediately think it's isekai or something, like Danmachi but about mmorpg anime, I'm ok if it's called isekai. I mean if you want to exclude SAO from isekai then you should also exclude Overlord, Log Horizon, Re:CREATORS, Death March Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku, etc... Being in a mmorpg doesn't automatically make it isekai. Nobody was summoned or reincarnated to the game world, the 2 main methods of being isekai. They entered a game (however realistic it is to them), and if they can log out, not isekai. <-- Bofuri is here If logout is still possible but discovered to be blocked, not isekai. <-- SAO is here Now we get to the grey areas.. How they got to this world is unclear, but: Many similarities to the game they were playing (ie various game mechanics like menus and inventory storage) and can't log out, with no indication that someone is just blocking it for whatever reason. Reasonable to consider isekai <-- Death March is here and NPCs are now real/operating outside/beyond their original programming. Reasonable to consider as isekai. <-- Overlord is here The really grey area.. Can't log out because real world body has died, or suffers an incurable condition leaving the body unusable. Reasonable to consider isekai <-- Leedale is here So long as the story indicates there is no possible way to return, then I'd say this can be considered isekai, but if a return path to the real world is revealed, I'd say it's no longer isekai. |
 You're never too old to watch anime. If I ever stop watching anime, check my pulse I'm likely dead. I wake up with coffee & anime, I go to sleep with coffee & anime. Sorry if my sarcasm is bad, it's not my first language. |
Older_than_dirt said: IMHO, being able to logout is not a good factor to determine if it's isekai or not. What if the guy in Death March finally logs out, it's suddenly not isekai anymore? NABIdes said: I understand your basic thinking on mmorpg's, which is mostly correct. these days when people see a fantasy show they immediately think it's isekai or something, like Danmachi but about mmorpg anime, I'm ok if it's called isekai. I mean if you want to exclude SAO from isekai then you should also exclude Overlord, Log Horizon, Re:CREATORS, Death March Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku, etc... Being in a mmorpg doesn't automatically make it isekai. Nobody was summoned or reincarnated to the game world, the 2 main methods of being isekai. They entered a game (however realistic it is to them), and if they can log out, not isekai. <-- Bofuri is here If logout is still possible but discovered to be blocked, not isekai. <-- SAO is here Now we get to the grey areas.. How they got to this world is unclear, but: Many similarities to the game they were playing (ie various game mechanics like menus and inventory storage) and can't log out, with no indication that someone is just blocking it for whatever reason. Reasonable to consider isekai <-- Death March is here and NPCs are now real/operating outside/beyond their original programming. Reasonable to consider as isekai. <-- Overlord is here The really grey area.. Can't log out because real world body has died, or suffers an incurable condition leaving the body unusable. Reasonable to consider isekai <-- Leedale is here So long as the story indicates there is no possible way to return, then I'd say this can be considered isekai, but if a return path to the real world is revealed, I'd say it's no longer isekai. Or Ixion Saga DT NPCs were identical to humans, hmmm... The word itself is simple, Isekai, Another world. To me, if the "world" has enough reason to be called a world, then it is one. In SAO, you can argue about the pre-Alicization arcs, but, I'm in favor of calling Alicization an Isekai, even though it was made by humans, and they can log out (which is still not a good factor imo). I can personally agree with BUFURI. BUT it depends on what you consider a "world that is different from the previous world". Because for many people, the game world can be qualified as isekai, I don't completely agree with them but I cas see where they're coming from. After all, the purpose of the "genre" was to help their MC to escape their previous life/world, experience new life/world that is different from what they used to experience or remove their past mistakes, or typical fantasy/isekai tropes etc... I think the purpose of being a mmorpg anime should be considered. This is why for me, it's very hard to consider "The Vertical World" an Isekai which still should be an isekai in a scientific way but has zero isekai/fantasy tropes. In the end, it depends on how you view the "world". A scientific term or philosophical term. Yes, it's a very gray area, you can't easily make a definitive rule about straight up isekai and those mmorpgs where the MC uses to escape from his original life and well, philosophically has its own "world". |
NECOdesDec 28, 2022 6:37 AM
| god im so bad at writing argumentative texts (~_~) |
| based on some people's attitudes I've seen it seems like they think "isekai are trash so anything fantasy that I don't like must be an isekai." I think part of it is laziness. it's easier to just use the same term for everything slightly similar instead of specifying if something is isekai (transported or reincarnated to another world), non-isekai tensei (reincarnated in their own world), time travel, just playing a VRMMO, etc. even without that though people are always going to have different opinions on what makes something an isekai. Lucifrost said: I see people call Spirited Away an isekai because it takes place in a magic Japanese town. The Ancient Magus Bride would be an isekai going by this very same logic. I saw someone claim that because isekai means "another world," that any story that doesn't take place on Earth is isekai. fantasy, sci-fi on other planets, even stuff that take place on Earth but the Earth in the story is different enough for whatever magical or other reasons. so One Punch Man is an isekai, apparently. ridiculous. |
NABIdes said: IMHO, being able to logout is not a good factor to determine if it's isekai or not. What if the guy in Death March finally logs out, it's suddenly not isekai anymore? Yes. If it turns out he was actually just dreaming it, not isekai. Now if he actually was in another world, isekai. NABIdes said: The word itself is simple, Isekai, Another world. To me, if the "world" has enough reason to be called a world, then it is one. In SAO, you can argue about the pre-Alicization arcs, but, I'm in favor of calling Alicization an Isekai, even though it was made by humans, and they can log out (which is still not a good factor imo). I can personally agree with BUFURI. BUT it depends on what you consider a "world that is different from the previous world". Because for many people, the game world can be qualified as isekai, I don't completely agree with them but I cas see where they're coming from. After all, the purpose of the "genre" was to help their MC to escape their previous life/world, experience new life/world that is different from what they used to experience or remove their past mistakes, etc... I think the purpose of being a mmorpg anime should be considered. This is why for me, it's very hard to consider "The Vertical World" an Isekai which still should be an isekai in a scientific way. In the end, it depends on how you view the "world". A scientific term or philosophical term. Yes, it's a very gray area, you can't easily make a definitive rule about straight up isekai and those mmorpgs where the MC uses to escape from his original life and well, philosophically has its own "world". Here's a thought to ponder... The "real" world created a game world. Technically, that game world is a part of the real world. So in that sense, it's not "another world" since it's still a part of the real world. Once it has been hinted, identified or otherwise shown to be not actually be that game world (everything could be nearly identical to that world, but it isn't that world), then isekai could apply. If one is no longer sure what will happen to them if they die in this mmorpg "world" they found themselves in, it can fall under isekai. The purpose of a mmorpg, at least how they are commonly depicted in anime, is to be an alternate setting. Killing monsters, wielding magic, adventuring with others, being in a different era of time.. just alternate settings to their current surroundings, but still a part of their real world. (See above) As long as you can return from that "world" to the real world you knew, (as far as mmorpg worlds go), I say not isekai, you were just playing that game even if you don't understand/remember how you got there. We can't apply that same logic when one is summoned to another world. That's still a known different world (isekai) even if they can return to their own. Reincarnated into another world, automatic isekai. |
| You're never too old to watch anime. If I ever stop watching anime, check my pulse I'm likely dead. I wake up with coffee & anime, I go to sleep with coffee & anime. Sorry if my sarcasm is bad, it's not my first language. |
| Dr. Stone -- is an isekai. A time completely removed from ours millions of years in the future is functionally a different world. SAO -- is an isekai if we only consider the first arc, where the premise was that the "transmigration" couldn't be reversed. Redo of Healer and Goblin Slayer -- just medieval fantasies, not isekai Spirited Away -- has a different world, but not isekai since it doesn't have any of the other structural qualities of an isekai If people think all it takes for an isekai is the existence of a separate world, then they'd have to think: Super Mario Bros. -- isekai Alice in Wonderland -- isekai All of those shows where there exists parallel dimensions or a "demon world" (e.g. Devil is a Part Timer, Persona, High School Dxd) -- isekai And you must also think that if we tweak one little irrelevant plot detail and call the "alternate" worlds an extension of our own world, then it suddenly becomes not isekai, making the word completely useless. For example, What if the pipe world actually exists as part of our world? -- SMB -- not isekai What if wonderland is just an LSD laden dream? -- not isekai Shield Hero got teleported into a game!!! -- it can't be an isekai now There's obviously a god-like authority in Konosuba that's able to connect all the worlds in a continuous physical dimension -- so Konosuba can't be isekai I mean if anyone thinks there is a clear cut definition for "alternate" in the first place, then they seriously lack some imagination. If it's a man-made video game then it can't be isekai? Well, Shield Hero remarked that he played parts of that game in real life, and are the gods and angels in Konosuba included in the "man" definition? I think anyone who want to gatekeep isekais on such pedantic, unsubstantial details are kind of ridiculous. |
| My subjective reviews: katsureview.wordpress.com THE CHAT CLUB. |
Older_than_dirt said: I can probably agree on other ones, but this one just makes the existence of categorization useless. I mean, there are harem shows that end up with MC choosing one person in the end, you can't just change the theme and say it's not a harem anymore. It was a harem anime for 50 episodes, one episode doesn't change it. This won't hold if it really applies to isekai anime.NABIdes said: IMHO, being able to logout is not a good factor to determine if it's isekai or not. What if the guy in Death March finally logs out, it's suddenly not isekai anymore? Yes. If it turns out he was actually just dreaming it, not isekai. Now if he actually was in another world, isekai. |
| I guess uhh, Fushigi Yuugi isn't technically an isekai because it takes place inside the story of a book that the main character enters. I don't quite know if a book would technically be "another world", since technically the main character is still in the same world but just inside the book. Or like maybe the main character isn't actually inside the book, but the book is just telling what is happening to the main character. So I guess I don't really know. |
KumiveneellaDec 28, 2022 3:50 PM
NABIdes said: Older_than_dirt said: I can probably agree on other ones, but this one just makes the existence of categorization useless. I mean, there are harem shows that end up with MC choosing one person in the end, you can't just change the theme and say it's not a harem anymore. It was a harem anime for 50 episodes, one episode doesn't change it. This won't hold if it really applies to isekai anime.Yes. If it turns out he was actually just dreaming it, not isekai. Now if he actually was in another world, isekai. I get what you're saying, and can agree, if it were a show longer than 1 cour and the big reveal happened in the last episode, ok. After all that time and however many seasons, and every indication said they were stuck there without return, sure, I can agree it should still be tagged/considered an isekai. If it's just 12/13 episodes... I would still argue against it. Fortunately I don't think people writing mmorpg isekai stories have a major twist like that planned for the end, and this part of the discussion could be considered moot. Should we ever get to a 1-cour plot twist like that though, I would hope that there would at least be some thought involved about the possibility of removing the isekai tag. Should a twist like that become the new style of isekai, then maybe a new tag should be invented. As long as we don't get a LN with a title like 'I thought I Got Isekai'd, But Instead It Was Just A Dream' that becomes super popular, I think we'll be safe. |
| You're never too old to watch anime. If I ever stop watching anime, check my pulse I'm likely dead. I wake up with coffee & anime, I go to sleep with coffee & anime. Sorry if my sarcasm is bad, it's not my first language. |
| basically any fantasy that looks like jrpg can now be mistaken as isekai because some people dont understand the difference between fantasy and isekai, they think isekai is fantasy and not a specific genre dedicated to story about people reincarnated into a another world. |
| Fate/: I've seen a few people call it isekai, but I dont think it counts when parallel worlds and lostbelts are alternate presents and futures. Moreso when the fantastical realms inhabited by magical creatures like Olympus or Avalon are all located on Earth, humans just cant normally cross their border is all. The Ancient Magus Bride: The series of course takes place in the real world with the fantasy aspects bieng pagan gods and other celtic beliefs .Hack//Sign: Even if you stretch the meaning of isekai, it still doesnt count. Doesnt stop people from calling it one tho lots of other fantasy series |
| "people mistakenly think of and refer to as isekai" Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka comes to mind. "Why is it a thing and are people just using the terms "fantasy" and "isekai" or "isekai fantasy" interchangeably now?" I think nowadays isekai is associated with lazy woldbuilding which uses the most generic tropes, magic systems, character classes, character archetypes, action mechanics and technology trees from JRPG. This why when you stumble upon a regular fantasy which uses those same shortcuts you automatically think about isekai. It's a synonym of hack job. |
| Inuyasha... The kagomi get sent back in time to the fudal Era not into another new world.. It's the same world different times.. Evidence is the well and the 5 thousand years old tree |
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WatchTillTandava said: Why is it a thing and are people just using the terms "fantasy" and "isekai" or "isekai fantasy" interchangeably now? Because the definition of isekai is simply not clear enough. The general consensus on isekai is "Person gets moved to another world, which has a fantasy setting", think of stuff like Shield Hero, Overlord, Mushoku Tensei, Re Zero etc. But since most shows that are considered isekai are also in the fantasy genre, shows like Danmachi, Misfit of DK Academy also fall in the mix, despite having no sort of transportation to another world. This is mainly because usually in isekai, the fact that the MC is in another world is nothing more than a marketing gimmick and has no real effect in the story like Shield Hero, Isekai Cheat Magician, Overlord and more. Because of this, the fact that the show is an isekai is completely irrelevant to the plot itself. The plot in these shows is not much different to that of a typical fantasy. Exceptions to this, from what I've seen, are Re:Zero, SAO and Mushoku. Meanwhile the word "isekai" literally means "another world", so that could include stuff like Dr. Stone, Digimon etc. But they're not the first thing that come to your mind upon hearing isekai due to the reasons above. |
| Gintoki and Sugita's birthdays are 1 day apart. |
NABIdes said: I can probably agree on other ones, but this one just makes the existence of categorization useless. I mean, there are harem shows that end up with MC choosing one person in the end, you can't just change the theme and say it's not a harem anymore. It was a harem anime for 50 episodes, one episode doesn't change it. This won't hold if it really applies to isekai anime. the problem with that is the term harem is often not actually used correctly. a harem isn't a bunch of people fighting over one character, a harem is a bunch of people agreeing to share the object of their affection as a group. if a story doesn't have a harem ending it was probably never a harem to begin with. Isekai Smartphone and Realist Hero are actual harems. the other stuff is just a love triangle/square/hexagon etc. |
Vookd said: @Bloodglas You are confusing the term Harem with the Harem that is a genre, they are not the same thing. To quote from wikipedia; Harem s a genre of LNs, games, manga and anime originating in Japan in the 1970s but exploding late 1980s and 1990s with games and focused on relationships, where a protagonist is surrounded by three or more love interests or sexual partners. that's my point. they took a term that already had a specific meaning and used it to describe a genre that was a completely different thing. |
| My idea of what qualifies as isekai might not agree with yours, and that's okay. As long as it involves characters from one setting having to adapt to a very different setting, I'm willing to call it isekai. If it's time travel, how far and how different? I consider InuYasha to be an isekai, but I wouldn't call Erased an isekai. Virtual worlds (usually video games and the like), I'm usually willing to call isekai, though it may depend on other factors such as how much of the story takes place in the virtual world, how easy/difficult it is to leave the world and return to the real world, and whether it's one game or several different ones. In some cases it's questionable whether the other world is sufficiently detached from the real world where it's set. Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is one in this grey area. One situation that definitely is NOT isekai is when it takes place in a fantasy setting such as is often seen in isekai works, but there's no element of anyone being transported to another world. More than once I've seen Danmachi (Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?) misidentified as an isekai - it has a D&D type fantasy setting complete with an RPG type leveling system, common in game/virtual world isekais, but in this case no one was isekaid into that world; that's simply the setting everyone was born into. |
A møøse once bit my sister... |
| I've seen people calling InuYasha as an isekai which is totally wrong since it's time travel. |
| Ima Soko in Iru Boku is time travel but everyone I know calls it isekai. Idk maybe I'm the one who's mistaken. |
 |
nazsa said: I don't remember there being any time travel in that show.Ima Soko in Iru Boku is time travel but everyone I know calls it isekai. Idk maybe I'm the one who's mistaken. |
| その目だれの目？ |
ryo-san said: Inuyasha... The kagomi get sent back in time to the fudal Era not into another new world.. It's the same world different times.. Evidence is the well and the 5 thousand years old tree Also the fact that real-life historical figures from our world and the history of Japan, such as Oda Nobunaga, lived in that era somewhere in the vicinity of the show's setting date-wise, and are explicitly referenced and talked about by characters from the time period the series is set in. And that there are ancestors of characters from modern times also living in that era who the main characters meet and whose lineage is traced with a family tree. Amoh25 said: I agree with the notion that in the cases of many series, actually having them be an isekai at all is unnecessary and not needed as it seems like, as you said, more of a marketing gimmick designed to pander to and fall in line with prevailing trends in the anime industry as a way to have a hook for a guarantee of at least some percentage of a built-in audience which otherwise wouldn't be interested or even give it a shot if it was a "conventional" fantasy. I admit that I was shocked when watching some isekai series from the past few years like By the Grace of the Gods and Saihate no Paladin and seeing how extremely inconsequential the isekai component was beyond the first few minutes of the first episode and a few quick passing references.Because the definition of isekai is simply not clear enough. The general consensus on isekai is "Person gets moved to another world, which has a fantasy setting", think of stuff like Shield Hero, Overlord, Mushoku Tensei, Re Zero etc. But since most shows that are considered isekai are also in the fantasy genre, shows like Danmachi, Misfit of DK Academy also fall in the mix, despite having no sort of transportation to another world. This is mainly because usually in isekai, the fact that the MC is in another world is nothing more than a marketing gimmick and has no real effect in the story like Shield Hero, Isekai Cheat Magician, Overlord and more. Because of this, the fact that the show is an isekai is completely irrelevant to the plot itself. The plot in these shows is not much different to that of a typical fantasy. Exceptions to this, from what I've seen, are Re:Zero, SAO and Mushoku. Meanwhile the word "isekai" literally means "another world", so that could include stuff like Dr. Stone, Digimon etc. But they're not the first thing that come to your mind upon hearing isekai due to the reasons above. How could the term "another world" apply to Dr. Stone though? It's literally the same world, our Earth and universe, just set 3,700 years in the future. Ergo Proxy is set further into the future than that and I have never once heard a person call it an isekai. If someone says that this is because no character in the latter starts in a different time period setting than the one where the majority of the rest of the series takes place, well, yes - that is what time travel is. Or suspended animation that is time travel in practice to the subject. I don't see how that is possible unless one is going purely for a philosophical abstraction of what constitutes another world. Operating on this basis, someone could call a series about a college graduate starting a new job as a corporate accountant an "isekai" since the office and the world of work are all a new world or "another world" to them. |
WatchTillTandavaDec 29, 2022 9:21 PM
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