Do you find it weird that hardly any Isekai protagonists ever wants to go back home or wonders if their loved ones miss them?
| yup i always find it odd. but i think they've just accepted it. nothing can be done. some people just forget about their old world and move on but sometimes like in rezero's case, subaru realised later the weight of not being able to go back and it really hurt to see it. i really want him to be able to go back, and i have some hopes as he wasn't killed when he was brought back to new world, he just transported. but then it makes me wonder if he really would want to go back, i mean he can't leave his new life just like that, especially after making such close bonds with everyone. it all comes down to choice and i don't like these kind of choices so i would just prefer to not give him an option to go back or have some deux ex machina shit and make it so that subaru lives a full life till like 100 in isekai world and after dying comes back to his old world to the day he disappeared. even this could kinda suck, as it might make subaru wonder if all of that was even real and he might go insane after having lived a fulfilled, great and colorful life. this is fucking hard. we will find out soon enough in 20 years after rezero season 15 is released. |
TsutanaiFuunJul 20, 2023 12:04 AM
 The end of an era. Thank you Wit, Mappa and Isayama. Feeling half happy, half sad. Kawaii waifus and precious best girls <3333 |
| Yes, I think about it almost every time. I find if a little strange. It's like they don't care about their real families anymore. |
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Tiosar said: It's high, compared to G7 countries, but yeah - it's not that high when we look at it from a global scale (including comparing this factor with some other developed countries that are considered as such, but are not specifically members of the elite G7 club). Still, it's surely something worrysome, especially if combined with the problem of aging society and low birth rate. @Adnash Japanese suicide problem is exaggerated. It's only a serious concern because other causes of death (like crime or poverty) are low there. |
TheBlockernator said: That should be obvious from the title, "Spirited Away." Nobody expects to enjoy being kidnapped by fairies.RobertsahDHDA said: To be fair though, Spirited Away's world is nothing short of hell, Chihiro's basically a slave and there's no reason why she'd want to stay.Thats modern isekai for ya. "Back in the good ol' days" that used to be THE main goal of isekais like Spirited Away, Digimon and such. Where the survival of the protag(s) is at question, and if they'll ever reunite with their loved ones. Now its just used as a vehicle for wish fulfilling escapism because otakus took over. And, well, sometimes its used to tell an interesting fantasy story. |
| その目だれの目？ |
| Isekai stories are mainly centered around someone who is miserable in real world and given another chance to lead a good life in second world. Be successful, popular, strong or whatever. So there is no point in going back |
| Naofumi at lest spends some time wishing to go back to his world in Tate no Yuusha no Narigari. There was also Meikyuu Black Company, in which the main character was very pissed to loose all of his wealth by becoming basically a company slave in another world. Most characters in Arifureta wish to go back, but can't remember about the protagonist for sure. |
ryo-san said: Because the police will take him away and the court will sentence to him a couple of life sentences right? Right. Prison wouldn't be ideal for him. |
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| No? They died, it's a pretty safe assumption there's likely no way to ever get back. |
| If you reply back to me and I never respond, I lost interest and don't care. Sorry about that. |
| yeah it would make sense to at least highlight their previous life more or have a protagonist occasionally breakdown me personally I’d be a wreck thinking about my family it’d be interesting to see more stories that grapple with the grief a lot of people would experience if they were isekai’d |
| I mean....A lot of them are dead in their world. I think it'd freak people out if they randomly went back. How would that even work? Would they replace their own dead body, or would their new body and dead body exist simultaniously in their old world? |
FanofActionJul 20, 2023 2:48 PM
| Cause it's usually just a cheap self insert story where the target audience are weebs who hate most aspect about their lives. Re:Zero at least showed some good elements about Subaru's life on S2, though not much. I do think Isekai's could improve if they had a side character with the complete opposite scenario (They loved their previous life and slowly gets depressed realizing they can't go back) actually showing some conflicting ideas. |
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| That's the point of the theme of the show. Your unhappy average joe or loser even, with no jobs/is overworked, no unique skills/has them but unappreciated, family doesn't love them, and basically as depressed as anyone else at bare minimum, and they are tired of it and they want to die and they do. Now they are suddenly reborn into this new world where it's perfectly created for them. Here's how that usually goes: -Previous life with talents but unappreciated --> those talents play a good role into saving the country/helping the guild a lot thus everyone acknowledges them. -Previous life without talents --> they are now reborn with cheat skills which can help them embark on their adventure. Really it's a pat on the back for people who think their lives are oh so rough, when in reality it's 100% almost always their fault for not improving in the first place by giving them a new hope to keep on living in this new world. That's why most isekai characters don't miss their original world. |
"Nobody could laugh at someone who's trying their hardest" -Machio- |
| People want to live in Japan. It's pretty much the opposite for Japanese though. Can't blame them to like escapism that much with that work culture lmao. It goes deeper than the work overload though, I think. The nail that sticks out will be hammered down and all that, an isekai protagonist defies conformity so their inner child is alive in that genre. |
| I think it's stupid. Even if their new lives are better and they want to stay, do they really not think about their old lives even once? Even if they're lives were the worst things ever (which usually isn't the case despite what a lot of the replies in this thread are claiming), to not so much as think about it would mean not a single thing in their entire lives so much as made an impression on them. Yet somehow these people who have never felt a single thing in their entire lives don't have massive attachment issues. The real reason none of these protagonists seem to have a single connection to their lives until the story starts is because protagonists need to be blank slates for the generic power fantasy, and a person dealing with such an extreme loss is hard to write about and too complex to read about. |
| Now I wonder where the fatherlessness in anime has gone. |
Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Helpppppp!  |
| Nature of the Power fantasy that is most Isekai's Premise. You don't wanna go back into that life, that wasn't that great. You want to stay where you can be a hero, picking up girls and starting over. Makes sense, to me. |
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| - Some of them are reincarnated, so there's no legit way back. - Some get drunk on protagonist power. - There are actually people who have returned - the uncle from Isekai Ojistan, the jerk from the last season who got isekaied twice... |
| Let's be fair, most isekai protags don't have any "near ones" that'll miss them. |
Risa92 said: Adnash said: But at the same time, isekai genre became quite... nihilistic. Isekai animes in general seem to try give positive vibes about a male character getting reborn in a fantasy world, and becoming a powerful entity surrounded by many characters of the opposite sex fixated about him. No or almost no regrets, thoughts about the previous life, makes the whole subject of death and being reborn flattened to a ridicilous degree. What's more, many isekais tend to say that "uh-oh the main character had kinda dull life, and now he's a hero", as if tragical death was meant to be some sort of salvation from "pathetic existence". What is that "pathetic existence"? Mostly not being the flashiest kid at school and not having a girlfriend. That's just weird as hell, especially when we are talking about Japan, where suicidal thoughts and depressive moods are more common than uncommon. Some might say that those shows are mostly targeted towards teenagers, not adults, so some elements had to be simplified. Okay, but that's not the issue. It's the general message coming from isekai animated series, and how they promote dangerous side of escapism. That post is interesting, especially the part I highlighted. Also because I realized how passive and whiny lot of isekai protagonists are in the real world and I think self-victimization is much more common today. So apparantly not standing out in middle or high school is very bad in these kids' eyes. But do they something against it, if they are endlessly complain that they don't have friends, aren't catching the interest of the girls, don't feel like they are an interesting person etc...? Well no lol. They are not trying making friends, trying to ask a girl out, picking up a hobby, picking up an interest, trying to do well in school, even if it's just a specific subject they are interested in or anything. Thanks, and yeah. Exactly. Isekais nowadays promote dangerous side of escapism, focused on complaining about everyday life, because of its stability. It's normal that someone might feel their life is dull or boring, especially a teenager. But do they do something to make their life better? Do they think about those who might live better or worse lifes? Nope, we only see a picture of a male teenager feeling down, because of his mundane life, who is "freed" from his "torment" usually by so-called Truck-kun. And by "freed" I mean "isekai'd through dying in an accident", of course. That's why isekais promote dangerous values. Nihilism mixed with discouraging youth from being active in ther lifes. In shows dedicated mostly to teenagers. That's something worrysome, indeed. Especially when teenagers can be easily influenced by works of fiction they are fond of. Risa92 said: Unfortunately, that's how it is like. Nihilism and cheap repeatability of isekai are the elements that I consider as the worst of that genre. The former I explained earlier. As for the latter, well... I get that shows belonging to the same genre will share many similarities. But when you check out few random isekai anime and put them right next to each other, only to see basically the same stuff (the same story pattern; similar designs of main characters and their harem members; urban areas looking basically like two drops of water; and some more), then you might start wondering that perhaps it's not those shows' fault, but the genre's itself, lol.They wait to get isekaied and even then they don't need anything to do since they neither got more interesting as a person nor learned something. They think they are entitled to get power, people's respect and a harem basically for free. For me it's a mirror of the belief that you not need to be an active part of something you want. |
| That was a thing in older isekai anime (e.g 12 kingdoms). The escapist NEET power fantasy that dominates current isekai is well... appealing to the fans. |
on Adnash said: I've been led to believe Japanese society discourages people from seeking ways to better their lives. This would mean the escapist fantasy spawned from existing Japanese values.That's why isekais promote dangerous values. Nihilism mixed with discouraging youth from being active in ther lifes. In shows dedicated mostly to teenagers. That's something worrysome, indeed. Especially when teenagers can be easily influenced by works of fiction they are fond of. |
| その目だれの目？ |
| in most isekais, money is easier to come by than this garbage world. its also almost always older times, so no inflation, no social media, no responsibilites, and you get a better starter kit most times than you have in this life. |
| Yes, it is really weird. But if they show it to us, it would be strange too, as they found themselves in another world and they HAVE TO ADAPT to the new life no matter how and much they miss their family and other important things for them. |
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Spunkert said: Yes, and the isekai you described is called .hack;Sign.It would be nice to see a isekai protagonist that is a loser in our world and get transported to a fantasy world were they get stronger only to return home to our world as a much stronger character. |
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Risa92 said: malinoski554 said: Not life sentences or any legal punishment, because I think he just watched loli hentai, but not real child pornography? I understand him becoming a shut in of the bullying that was really humilitating and awful, and he can watch porn for days or staring at the adult women's breasts for that matter, but that's... that's just vile actively preying on the little girls in the new world, while he still has the mind of a mid 30s man. They definitely wouldn't do that.. So does it matter for u or not ? Risa92 said: malinoski554 said: Not life sentences or any legal punishment, because I think he just watched loli hentai, but not real child pornography? I understand him becoming a shut in of the bullying that was really humilitating and awful, and he can watch porn for days or staring at the adult women's breasts for that matter, but that's... that's just vile actively preying on the little girls in the new world, while he still has the mind of a mid 30s man. They definitely wouldn't do that.. So does it matter for you or not and why ? Btw always remember cogitationis poenam nemo patitur so literally its normal things for him except if ur not human lolll |
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I think a ton of lonely men have no support systems and have no meaningful goals to strive towards, so isekai is appealing because it checks off most of the desired aspects of their fantasy.
To be fair, many of these are comedies, and having a character mourn their prior life would make it difficult for a series to exercise its comedic chops and act as a backdrop of escapism. Even forgoing the fantasy aspect, these characters are also to an extent relatable, depending on how well they are written. As said before, having a job one has no passion for and a weakened support system is all too common, both in the west and in Japan. The relatability makes it able to understand the characters and where they come from. |
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| Reading the replies , I got an idea. What if someone write a story of isekai protagonist mother being summoned to her son world and she tried to bring back him home |
| Хайде, хайде, хайде, това е първата зона, брато, първа зона, първа зона, добре, добре, добре, това става тук горе, отива тук горе, само спокойно, само спокойно... Ха, отдясно е, навсякъде отдясно отдясно къде е дясното ти о да добре добре добре тихо мълчаливо не успях да се съсредоточа върху това ЕХ ТЪПАК КОГАТО СИ БАВНО БАВНО ... ой е путката на моето момиче прасе куче, аз Чувствам се добре, о, мамо, *шамар*, какво е това госпожице татко- |
| It's hard to feel weird about it when majority of Isekai'd protags are usually presented as individuals who were underappreciated/never cared about. For them, it might just be the best thing that could've happen. Also, it doesn't help that usually, at the very beginning of an Isekai's first episode (just about 2-3 minutes in), the protags are immediately all giddy and finicky about discovering the MMORPG setup of the new world they just spawned on. Almost like they've been waiting and preparing for it their whole lives xD |
| -+=<(8)>=+- -+=<(8)>=+- -+=<(8)>=+- -+=<(8)>=+- -+=<(8)>=+- -+=<(8)>=+- -+=<(8)>=+- |
| We've reached the point where the main character of a zombie apocalypse anime is happy that the apocalpse happens because he prefers running away from zombies over going to work. |
Risa92 said: Haha, that's one of reasons I dislike and in general avoid isekai shows. Not only they are repeatable in a very bizarre way, but they also tend to have dull writing with one-dimensional characters (including the protagonist). It can be entertaining for some people, of course. I'm happy for them. But to me, it's rather a waste of time.I can't deal with that sort of stability either, because I'm really not made for it and I'm so bored so easily lol, but then you are responsible yourself to change something about bringing some change into your life. In fiction it's just incredibly boring and leads to an uninspired story to have such a passive protagonist, who just got stuff that's happening to him over the timespan of the whole story, in most cases. Risa92 said: ... and usually it is "savior of the world, loved by everyone or almost everyone, with an impressive power level (aka overpowered abilities)". ;pI also believe that mirrors the belief of some teenagers and young men that life has to cater to them and when they are isekaied, they finally get what they originally deserved to say so. Risa92 said: True. It's also something negative, from the society's perspective. Life ain't easy in general, so "healing" nihilistic mindset of a teenager by turning a fictional character into a demigod-like entity once they tragically die feels... it feels just surreal.Fun thing is, they are suddenly not so nihilistic anymore as soon as life is a full catering service to them lol |
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