The Isekai Problem
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- čas přidán 29. 08. 2024
- Isekai translates to Other World in Japanese, as in, you'd have to be from another world not to be tired of these shows. There are several types of Isekai but we all know the formula I'm talking about - the loser to winner story, where some nobody gets sucked into the magic portal, gains the mcguffin power and gets to be a Mary Sue a season... or 12.
what i hate about the isekai genre is the harem... like can we have a story about the hero's journey without having everyone in that world falling in love with them
It's mostly trash, i read one of them and it's straight up just some dude's DnD session adapted into a manga.
I totally get that 😔
Also the part where the mc just gets op powers but not seeing the thingshe did to deserve it
Yeah I was like isn't there already a genre of Anime, that's all about Harem's, if fans want that there's literally a whole genre for it, so while I don't hate it cause I don't think it's that serious, it just never made sense to me but whatever.
How about dungeon seeker?
what I love in an isekai is the world building and the clash of reality and fantasy. Exploring the world that is yet unknown. That is why nowadays I read less isekai and play more games because in games, the world (usually) don't revolve around me, I am merely a piece.
For example, in hollow knight, the world didn't stop when I died in the end, it merely goes on. I am simply a piece used to deal with the Radiance. I was given a task, a goal and a world to explore whilst doing so. Its the struggle that makes it fun, its the exploration of the unknown that makes it worth it. Anime on the other hand is just a tad too much pampering. You know the world was built to look down on the protagonist which only pads to when the protagonist usurps the "evil" people.
For example is the reincarnated with a smartphone anime. Not only does the plot itself feel copy pasted, all the people there feels like they solely exist to make the MC appear op. Girls that are strong somehow become weak just so that the MC can save them and then after that they become strong again cause the story says so. The plot only moves on when the MC is involved and on the flip side, the plot freezes long enough for the MC to solve everything.
Yeah, its hard to strike the balance between making someone important enough to care about but also not so important that all the other characters are irrelevant. Nice username :D
@@Frdyanso urm, late question. Do you like re zero?
@@Frdyanso like: your editing is very good, you pulled some good emotional points and linked examples together to show what you wanted, Yeah because of you i think I understand isekai better. But you still ignored the other 4 examples, the 4 anime you showed. Most of all you dismissed re:zero's plot and world, and for that i will ignore all of your points and I will try to forget them all now.
petty as shit, I know. But you really could've like, talk about anime more if you want to talk about anime.
@@davidsplooge14 little odd having an argument with yourself down here.
I watched the first season and thought it was pretty good, didn’t keep up with re:zero afterwards. You can keep or throw away any of my points, it’s whatever you want to take away.
If an example is shown on screen, but not explicitly mentioned, generally it’s either to prompt the audience to making a connection between what’s being discussed and the onscreen footage or just filling the visual medium while the big point is in the audio. Which one it is and whether it’s effective is up to you the viewer.
I normally hated Isekais for the largest sin of them all: harems. Actually though I've been watching Overlord recently and it's kind of refreshing to see such a morally gray main character. Plus them being an undead lich is unique, they're not just -generic dark-haired guy-. And although Albedo does fawn over him annoyingly, she IS a succubus and literally written in her character to be in love with him; he simply thought she was cute and did it because all of it was going to oblivion anyway. I also enjoy the aspect where he IS stupidly overlevelled. He spent all that time and money outside the game levelling up, except the power was actually earned because he knows the game inside and out and it's interesting to see what cards he plays (and also being herded by Demiurge into world domination plans lol).
I've haven't seen Overlord yet but I don't understand why a harem was necessary in the Isekai, genre especially considering that there's already an Anime genre section out there for people who want Harem's, I don't hate it as it's not really that serious but I just didn't understand why they were blending genre's here and I'm sure they could've done a harem story without putting it in the Isekai, section because at that point it's not even fitting it's genre, like just have the one girl fawn over him like this Albedo, person from Overlord.
I like to divide isekai in two genres: the isekai and the trash isekai.
let me elaborate:
-the trash isekai is when the anime follows the formula of mc going to another world, mc levelling up and being op and mc getting girls by saving them
-the normal isekai is mc going to another world but then actually have a story like overlord, youjo senki and konosuba.
Not an anime but i do recommend "I grow stronger by eating" best evil mc isekai you can ask for
@@firezone8770 anime about nikocado avocado
Isekai does a good job of starting with something interesting, but it gets obsessed with the power fantasy that it almost always becomes stale before the story is over. Main Character winds up in a generic European magical fantasy world, main character gets an overpowered cheat skill, main character runs circles around the uninteresting antagonists, main character has zero desire to return home because he's such a generic loser, main character gets a harem of waifus who don't so much as have personalities but pastry flavors because they are ultimately not meant to be real people but things for the audience to drool over, etc. I'll get a few chapters or episodes into something like That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime or Rise of the Shield Hero or something else that seems to be different - THIS ONE HERE MIGHT BE DIFFERENT, BOYS! - but the pretense quickly drops and it's back to typical cliches that modern isekai has. I feel like I'm stuck eating Twinkies and all I want is a real, proper meal put in front of me.
Using sped-up footage made the video feel a bit more chaotic than it actually was. Not an issue, though, it's an aesthetic that may be worth exploring.
The gripe I've always had with most Isekai is that they take that malaise and just like...stop there. "NEET Propaganda" really does work for a description, because it sometimes feels like it's trying to say that people are 'entitled' to power/wealth/a harem of anime girls. I'm not about to flip out and claim it'll incentivize bad stuff, but it makes the whole genre feel sort of mindless.
Thank you for doing so much research! I was impressed when I saw actual papers show up onscreen.
Nerded out on this one :x
Ok this is so on point… this video needs more views! I love your in-depth analysis of the modern isekai protagonist and the genre as a whole. It really explains some of the thoughts I have when watching shows like re:zero and konosuba. Looking forward to future videos!
Thank you man, appreciate the support :D
Dude as another guy who puts a lot of effort into editing his content. God damn, this was a top tier in-depth explanation. There is def a lot to be said by how little the view count on this video is.
Haha, its already gotten more views than I expected so all good here :D
@@Frdyan Well I wish you luck my guy! Amazing video!! Will follow for future ones :) I also feel that LOL. Some of my vids have blown up way past what I thought was possible for me
1:06 I'll also add 12 kingdoms, fushigi yuugi, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de etc and along some other mangas at that time that didn't receive any anime adaptation and yet can be considered as "isekai" genre in todays take. remember when "isekai" is a shoujo thing? they are just classified as historical fantasy genre before Isekai genre becomes popular. Heroine suddenly got summon or transported into different world, face hardship and whatnot with the goal of going back to their own world and in the end successfully doing so. one of the reason why they didn't boom at their time were probably because they were a shoujo and most male watcher don't even want to touch a series with that genre. One thing that most people need to consider if they dream of being isekaid is that they will most likely end up the same fate as Asano-kun from 12 kingdoms.
The first ever "Isekai" related things I was exposed to was Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced for the GBA and Digimon World for the PS1.
And at the time, the whole isekai thing was just a trope, it's not the main thing the story revolves around. But since people are now using this trope as THE genre that defines their stories... It will start cultivating its own tropes, and making secondary things from something that used to be secondary in nature, it will wear out pretty fast.
I think this video will blow up, it seems so well put together and you are such a small channel idk why your vid was recommended but it's definitely worth a watch.
Thanks man, I came back from dinner and its like 10x views. I don't know why either, I'm glad you liked it though :D
@@Frdyan I think it hit a CZcams algorithm... trying making similar style content again and see how it does
yeah that sounds about right. i think another facet of the isekai boom is that these shows are incredibly easy to mass-produce (im sure you've all seen that one generic town); they have a lot of the same tropes and archetypes and even world mechanics, it's all so cookie-cutter. if you're a studio dedicated to making that kind of show (because there are people who will watch and buy merch for every single one!), you could probably reuse a lot of work from show-to-show (like background art, for example).
Yeah I think the word is "Audience Capture" for that
Great video! Damn thinking back I miss old isekai movies- spirited away used to be one of my favorites.
To add on your video- Character development and world building has been thrown to the side in recent isekai stories and replaced with constant harems and the same generic fantasy world that is the same in almost every show you watch.
The change from the transferring to another world idea really changed hard and from my opinion not really for the better.
But I won’t lie putting konosuba and rezero (and even SAO to some extent) as the example for generic isekai makes me want to cry- I think one of the bigger problems with isekai is the lack of character development and exploration. Your usual loser that always looks the same gets thrown into another world, gets a harem and overpowered powers and never thinks back on his old life.
I think the formula of isekai isn’t inherently bad, but just has been used to death, always done in the exact same way, and most of the time lacks in things that are needed for good stories (aka good writing).
Shows like Re:Zero and Konosuba are subversions and parodies of isekai, and even tho they take the isekai tropes they subvert them drastically. Konosuba is a comedy and re:Zero is psychologically horror and both explore their characters in unique meaningful ways. They both present something new, which I think is what is missing in that genre.
The loser gets sucked into another world isn’t the problem. The problem is that most isekai don’t add anything new to the table.
(Re:Zero rant ahead slight spoilers)
Re:zero critics it’s main character to death (literally). It explores his point of view and forces him to change. My man comes to the new world and expects the hero isekai treatment and gets hit with the psychological horror genre. Re:zero forces on the idea that no matter in what world you are, you are still going to be alone and have to deal with your problems. It shows loneliness and pain and not being able to talk to your loved ones about your struggle. There is an episode that explores the main characters life in the world he came from. It’s not a tragic story, both of his parents are alive and care for him a lot. He just has personal problems that he struggles to go through like making friends and going to school, and looks for an escape. That “escape” comes for him, and now everything is worse.
It is tragic seeing that he didn’t even get to say goodbye to his parents.
The show is seriously a masterpiece, it knows the genre it is a part of and not only does it put new things on the table it also provides a massive critique to the characters/people who look for an escape from their life in the form of isekai
Whenever I think of Isekai's I always go back to thinking of the games Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. The entire game series is technically an isekai and it does an amazing job of telling the world, the story and the characters. I believe the isekai genre had it's potential with making great stories, but it flops for it to be a modern form of escapism.
Absolutely true, some of those games are a master class in story telling, shame Isekai seems to have gone the quanity rather than quality route over the last decade or so
Often it comes down to the execution being more important than the idea. Sort of like how lots of classic novels have really overdone tropes but still manage to make them interesting
there are so many isekai's now that have the same troupe and more the half the time in the world the isekai mc gets reincarnated in or brought to is tailor made to fit the mc and what they can do, there isnt anything special besides what power the mc got and how many girls surround him when hes saving the planet or whatever
It turns an interesting world into a kind of glorified fireworks show :/
I think what's really interesting is that, despite me being super into escapist literature and having an actual daydreaming disorder from a young age, isekai... really never appealed to me, not as a kid nor as an adult. Maybe because it's just so boring compared to self-tailored adventures? I much prefer to consume a fully fleshed out story with well thought out characters and worldbuilding, and THEN insert myself into it after the fact, rather than trying to fit myself into a world through the protagonist in real time. In fact, usually the protagonist being a separate character than my insert makes it way more interesting. I know that default every-man isn't me, they're just a vessel for the story, and if the vessel for the story is just a bland, boring, annoying character with no good points except magic powers... what's even the point in trying to consume the story in the first place?
3:15 - "Todays isekai are like neet propaganda " - We have no proof that the people who are hikikomori's , not employed in education or training ( neet ) are because of isekai . I feel bad for isekai anime here , It's done nothing wrong but it gets blamed for these issues . In japan hikikomori is a complex issue of classroom bullying , the overwork culture , extremely high pressure and feeling of emptyness . ( oyasumi pun-pun explain the climate much better read it if you want . ) . Re-zero actively gives reality-check to self-entitleness , he gets scammed , dumped , beat up multiple times beacause of his said self-entitlement , shield-hero gives you the harsh reality that the new world might not be as good as the old world and is the world even worth saving ? Should you fulfill the purpose you are brought for when you didn't ask for the purpose ? It even has side character who are these entitled-brats whoa re antagonist not protagonists . The stories of isekai are much more complex than you give them credit for . In short no isekai does not contribute to neet and aren't neet propoganda , if anything else in the recent years they have become anti-neet "propoganda" .
3:28 - "And I don't think it's a coincidence that you see a shift of main-charaters in these stories to the tough out of luck men which portrays to the social condition of males in todays world" - you ignore "My little witch academia" , "Jinrui wo sutaishimasta" , "My life in another world as a Villianese" , "Assendence of the Book-worm", "I killed slime for 100-years and leveled to max" which all have girl leads -you just didn't try to find such isekai or aren't interested to find such anime . Is the social condition bad for men now-a-days = ( the hell do I know maybe ) but again all the isekai and the premises have nothing to do with social condition and are intra-personal character studies . Do author like writing goofy ass stories like monster-girl yeah sure , but they are to be taken as goofy-ass story don't be mistaken . are all stories like that - no ? Have the isekai "shited" from girl to boy ? - no , it was never about being girl focused or boy focused , It all depends on the mentality , a girl may not have the mentality like subaru's , Naofumi likewise subaru may not have the personality of Elina , Elina ( weird same name ) , Main , Shujinkō , Azusa e.t.c e.t.c as it is about the character . Gender does have part to play in your character so yeah some stories choose different gender according to the stories they want to tell . Is that surprising? - no , it's fairly intuitive and helps to make srtting the anime is based on feel real ( now does that work for you or not is another point entirely ) . For e.g: Little girls are shown as cute - adorable rascals like in spirited away then how about the story where a small girl killed her friend in japan , is that portrayed ? I can easily make the case that due to the socio-economic climate anime is just "cute-girl propoganda" and have always catered to the children are innocent camp . But thats nothing but a surface view , from viewing deep within there are plenty of story which if you bother to find have real girl character which are more complex than "uwu I'm cute " or girl have such archetype . In short isekai have different gendered protagonist according to the story requirement ( mentality ) , it not about socio-economic factor of male as there are very much girl protagonist in Isekai too and they have always been there .
4:56 - "Those 'salmon-coloured' boxes represent the share from overseas which is distinctly more than the other ones so we can wax off poetic about isekai being distictly japanese" - Did you just compare the sales number of anime to the story composition ? And those are co-related how ? Sure I can go buy and watch monogatari but do I understand the nuanses in it ? ( I'd like for any westerner who isn't japanse to try that box of chocolate " ) - obviously no . But are the sale of monogatari high in foreign market ? Yes . So then it must have no cultural nuianse or "poetic" . - You're on crack . You undetsand 1/15 of the nuiances in that series than what a japanese person would find . Why is it so popular in abroad then ? - Mnay factors for one the world has 7 billion people , japan has 120 million people which if you do a little bit of math that is significantly lower , It doesn't take rocket science to figure out with all the interest in japanese culture why sales in foreign countries are higher . That doesn't have anything to do with the literature itself . So no you can't wax off isekai being distictly japanese . I.e having japanese nuinaces because they most definately do . Do some have less cultural nuiance than some ? Of course , again it depends on the type of story "isekai" or anything else you want to tell . Re-zero has very little japanese nuiance but even then words like utakata , hatsujoki e.t.c are japanese and are a play on JAPANESE words and have japanese poetic devices . You can't wax that off . You won't understand the dialouge fully if you don't know these japanese nuiances and for a westerner that nuance normally can't be understood without google translate-kun . And in a story like monogatari which is packed like atoms in solid with such nuances if you try to decipher all the nuances , you're going to spend more time with google translate-kun than on the ad-filled anime pirating website .
6:23 - Ïsekai and by extension anime went global in that period of time because it provided what people were looking for " - Maybe that is the case and I agree with this . But like in any time-period people read the things that they are looking for . Does that mean all isekai are pandering to the viewers - Of course not , like in any time-period there are equal amount of authors that produce their own shit and don't care about the standards . Tatsuki Fujimoto is a recent example of this , chainsaw man is fucking wild but does it not have shounen components ? - It does but , it so much more complex than that , it free , fluid , creative and doesn't follow the "hero's journey as you defined like in a action-Adventure RPG with sensei-san " either . Is it bad then ? No it's fucking awesome , slick , swick , must read READ IT . You don't necessarily have to go through the normal "heroes journey" , cater to the audiences , choose some specific gender to write a good story and you never needed to either . After all heroes journey is a general observation not a rule of law and that has been knowledge for 3 decades now . Likewise like in any medium and it's constituent genre's of which one is isekai - There are people who create isekai for the people but there are much more isekai out there too who have a message and author have put some genuine thought into not caring about the putting the troupes necessarily . Are the troupy isekai or anime more popular ? - Yes , it a simple case of supply and demand , publisher , anime studio choose the light novel , manga , web-novel which are popular with the viewer and it is as simple as that . Does that mean anime studio don't adapt the isekai which don't "fit the mold" - not necessarily , every once in a while ( certainly more often then the comic industry in western countries ) , they adapt it at a healthy rate . So go out there and try to find a good isekai story , If you try earnestly , you might find something you like . I guarantee there is something you'll find interesting in one form or another .
* I spend 3 hours on this , thanks anyone who happens to give their thought on this comment I made . Thanks for listening . *
These comments are for discussion like the video .
@@karkiparakram3121 I don't know why, but youtube made me manually approve this comment. Thanks for the input
your production qualaty is awesome! keep it up!
>The Isekai Problem
I agree, we need more isekai.
Watched the video. Expected 50-200k views... Then i saw 70... WTF bro u need more attention
Thank you man. It's fun making em whether they get 50 or 500 views :D
Man I can't believe this has so few watches!
I would love to watch an Isekai were the protagonist is send to a world of kafkaesque, gram-dark, lovecraftin horror, and is desperate to find a way out, but everytime they get close to ending the thier torture, they go back to square one, (think samurai jack, and how he tries to get back to the past)
So Re zero
So Re Zero
underrated video
Wow! I'm so surprised such a well made video ended up on my fyp and you ONLY have less than 200 subscribers??? You video was amazing! Keep up the good work!!!
Thanks man, appreciate the support :d
Damn man, this is smart shit. It's wild to think spirited away is in the same genre as something like re zero or konosuba.
It's not a coincidence that a lot of recent Isekai Manga has "slow life" in the title.. it's the kind of escapism that people living in our frenetic cities would like.
I've never made the connection between urban life and Isekai. I'm not sure how you'd do that study but that'd be an interesting correlation to explore.
@@Frdyan It's just that I noticed that "slow life" bit was in a lot of titles, and thougth that often life in Japan isn't slow at all.. It's kind of the opposite of power fantasy, they get to live a quiet life doing what they like, tending the garden (except Farming Life).
The quality of the content is good, commenting to boost the algorithm! 👍
Thanks fam!
Isekai has really lost that, as you mentioned, "The Hero's Journey" aspect in it all. Now we just have the most generic filled "MC dies from Truck-kun, comes back to life in a generic Fantasy world, is OP, gets a harem, world works just like a game(because why the fuck not, all the MCs that die are apparently NEETs anyways), etc etc". Like, you mentioned the "escaping" or getting back to their original world, but that's no longer an option since they're dead and just reincarnated, but what bothers me the most is...they never use this for the MCs to actually GROW. They die and rebirth in another world, with their memories in tow, but never grow to be a better person, or do anything different as a whole, and develop a perspective in life; they're basically the same person who's gotten their wish fulfillment, whether it be a harem, a power fantasy, incredibly rich because of their coincidental knowledge of modern day technology, etc. It's gotten old, real fast, and I just can't understand how people are STILL enjoying most of this kind of regurgitated crap that doesn't try anything really new.
Also, why must it ALWAYS be a damn Fantasy inspired world? Why can't we have an Isekai that's base still in the Modern World, but this time the MC is born in a different country, or as a insect, animal, etc? Why not Sci-Fi? Like...shit, even Futurama is an Isekai when you think about it, why haven't we had an anime inspired by the likes of Futurama(I'm not counting Dr.Stone since he's gone more in Primal, than Futuristic, in my opinion). I'd love to see an Isekai where it's set in a Sci-Fi setting where the MC is born/sent into the Future and is kind of Mass Effect/Cyberpunk style. Something fresh from the 100th Fantasy, Power Fantasy, Born as a Slime, Spider, Sword, Demon Lord, Game-Inspire-RPG Madness!
I'm fine with Isekai as long as they have well written characters.
My biggest gripe with Isekai nowadays is that they have boring main characters who experience very little growth.
You explained so well what impression i got from comparing old vs current isekai but i could not put my finger on what actually is the difference. And i hadn't noticed, until you mentioned it, that former isekai main characters are girls. (Tho i did think that Digimon (the 1st one) was an isekai too...) I had made a comment from another vid yesterday and even enumerated some titles that i thought were good examples of old isekai (Magic Knight Rayearth is one of my faves, and even tho i dont like Fushigi Yuugi, i believe it's a good example of isekai) i like that in these old titles, the focus is not the viewer. I dont watch anime just to see an idealized version of me projected into the MC but im there for the story, for the development and, admittedly, to draw lessons from. You know those old cringe anime pictures that say something like "i learned to be strong like blabla character, to be resilient like so and so, to stick to my dreams like blablabla" 😅😅 so when i watch the current isekai stories, it just feels like i get to watch my own daydreams instead of actually keeping me off my daydreams. I stopped watching anime for a long time now because the ones that are mostly shown to me seems to be interesting only at the beginning but doesn't really give me a reason to commit watching. It's like one of those candies with a really appealing package but tastes bland/bad - it's attractive but not worth purchasing, unlike a simple looking candy but tastes so good you wanna buy again. 😅
Remember back when isekai anime's had a much more serious story, and that there are consequences for the protagonists action to the world.
and that the stakes are way Higher that failing to save the world that they are sent to means their own world will also be affected if they failed.
or that by doing the right thing would doom the world that they are sent to, if let's say they kill the main villain only to find out that it was the villain who was holding the whole world together and that the so called god/goddess or royal family that had summoned them was the true villain all along.
and the main protagonists has to work to get their power and respect of the people that they are trying to save, instead of being given their Powers on a Silver Platter, and having a Harem is pushed to the side for the actual story.
agree with a bunch of things but
2:31
itd be hard pressed to say re:zero ends its journey at the beginning
if anything, it walks that cycle on the screen several times and its anything but escapism. of all the worlds id want to get isekaied into, this one is the last on this list
What I dislike about most isekai is that most main characters they either are super bland or just have a harem but some are good and I also hate that most cites are just medieval or just a circle wall with houses inside and they also just have short people, people with pointy ears and humans that are just animals when can we get a show with a different set of races/animals and a new environment with cool architecture
Thanks to a lot of the bad developed isekai nowdays, i started doing my own novel... Not in the best of places, yet, doing it for fun and to feel fresh and lash out some creativity of mine... I didn't put any kind of everyman mc, in fact, i put one depressed guy that got abused in his job by his boss and coworkers, had drinking problems because of the stress, can't quit because of fear to not having enough money and not finding another job and the ultimatum for him was when his wife cheat on him, which made him lose all the reasons to live and he kill himself just to be reincarnated (yeah, i isekaid him).
Yet, the story explores about how he struggles for most of the part first to survive in the wild (being a beast, not human), second, to help people even when he can't communicate directly and third, things about his other life and how he developed some kind of ptsd revolving around how people abused, used and betrayed him, and now, his own hipocresy of who he was, is at the cost the friendship of someone who he tried to help... He even tried to flee of the objective of his journey, of course, he is back on his tracks, but he still has a lot of work to do before overcoming the adversities
And his powers are pretty much average... He is not the strongest, he is not the weakest, but he is improving
good video man, keep up the good stuff
Appreciate it!
I think one of th problems also comes from the fact that most Isekai are really just copies of one another. All of them tend to have pretty generic fantasy worlds along with generic characters, to the point that minor differences are extremely praised. Btw what's the song at the ending? It sounds familiar.
This is a great video that is very well researched and presented, but I have a nitpick. You used Re:Zero as the main example and while it does have a male lead who is a generic otaku, it deviates from the general power fantasy formula by literally beating him to death multiple times until he grows as a person. There are many other isekais that are far worse and more indicative of the formula and I think you should have used one of those as examples.
Unrelated to nitpicking your video, I do think the popularity of isekai genre is declining due to oversaturation, but I think this is already improving the quality of the average isekai. Now that isekais cant just get viewers because they are isekais, the studios are greenlighting more creative takes on the genre and now we are getting much better shows than a year or two ago (and far more female protagonists).
Man I just discovered your channel, you're doing great work. Your videos have this very chill aspect to them and interesting, plus the music like the edgerunner ost and MF doom (+1 sub for that lmao)
*DOOM. All caps when you spell the man's name. Thanks for the support :D
dungein of black company (i think that was the name) is one of the only isekai in witch the mc wanted to get home and, that actually ends with the mc getting home (until season 2)
While there are a lot of poor Isakai which falling into the loser goes to another world with super powers and just hangs out category. The better Isakai have a different story arc, so higher quality isakai such as Overlord and Youjo Senkai have a different focus, even if some of the elements are the same. In Overlord its Ainz search for his lost allies, mixed in with paranoia there is someone out their which is going to get him. In Youjo senkai its a battle with god and a search for a peaceful desk job. There are objectives beyond just hanging out enjoying super powers with a harem. Even Arifureta, which certainly start in the classic loser to winner arc, soon moves into something more series where the arc is to defeat the god running things. The same seems to also be occurring with Failure Frame. Quality Assurance in Another World moves towards a more classic hero’s journey. To really put a twist into the whole pot, series such as Ascendance of a Bookworm and Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement focus on a young girl in another world. While in both cases they sort of hang out in the other world, it’s a different angle being explored. Isakai does have some common themes, but even since 2016 the variety is far greater than just the simple loser to winner arc.
Of course Subaru isn't going back. For that he'd need a great party car, or as we say in Poland, a Subaru Impreza. And you've seen the tech level of the world he's in, right?
This man don't miss 😤
2:38 - yeah thinking about it "Majo no tabitabi/ Witches journey" , "World end , what will you be doing when the world ends...." , "Re-zero" , "Konosubarashi sekai no shukufuku wo" , " Tate no Yusha - Sheld Hero " all have their own messages and if you look into it without "This is for weeb or this shit is too low for me mentality" you will find the message too . Whether you political or social or economic or cosmic stance don't align with it is another story and point altogether . The travelling to the new world isn't a setup for going back to the old world as you so strongly are fixating on . Rather its a medium to explore the characters of these character who are thrusted in these new world and to explore these new worlds . The story can be about going back to the "old world" that not the problem . But tell me after 50 stories of "oH I HaVe To Go BaCk To My HoMe I'M LoSt" , would that trope which spirited away has not get old too" ? ; the same critic you are using agasint the "shit" isekai ? I'd definately say yes which also is evident from the recent marvel fatigue we have been facing . If you like marvel thats fine but most people even "MoistCritikal" are fatigued by the constant marvel movie bombardment . That doesn't really mean that they are "bad" though as "Penquinz0" goes to say in his video .
3:02 - "Isekai animation adaption became more about indulging the viewer by projecting a mediocre everyman who saves the world" - Mediocre everyman , spirited away - ( a "mediocre" everyday girl ) , and tons of "mediocre" people in "old" isekai too ? hmm, I wonder how this has changed . This has no substance , japanese animation and manga has always been about the "mediocre man" in a time-period/different situation ( akira late 1950 after the ww-II protraying a "mediocre" bike gang with interpersonal conflict ) , Evangelion - ( The conflict of how a "mediocre" boy would react in psychological way to piloting a death robot and his teenage love conflict ) , Cowboy Bepop - ( A story of a person who has nothing to live for - the feelings portrayed by japanese people after the economic crash ) . It has always been not about fetishizing the "mediocre" everyday man but the change , development that happens to these "everyday/mediocre" man in such situations . In isekai these sitaution is literal - "The new world" , there is no new/unknown situation than being thrusted into a "new" world . In every isekai none of the "heroes" ( its not that simple ) ( tangent [ignore] => which you say are male but then you ignore "My little witch academia" , "Jinrui wo sutaishimasta" , "My life in another world as a Villianese" , "Assendence of the Book-worm", "I killed slime for 100-years and leveled to max" which all have girl leads -you just didn't try to find such isekai or aren't interested to find such anime .) are interested in "saving the world" , in Re-zero he just wants to make the love of his life the Royal candidate - ( [ It's a Romeo-Juilet story what can I say] but with a lot more death . ) , In shield hero he wants to just be left alone and never be betrayed again but then the goal shifts ( as it should in a story about [ "mediocre man" in a time-period/different situation ] , shouldn't it ? ) , In world end ( which is really good ) , Wilhiem just wan't to sabe these girls who he views as his daughter , In Kono-Subarashi sekai no shukufuku wo ( kazuma wan't glamour , fame , ladies , e.t.c e.t.c ) .
Saying mary sue and showing subaru is very confusing.
ayo this is only 7mins i thought it would be 10 hours
I really hate the "listen to me ramble for 40 minutes" meta
I'm still wondering why the F*** youtube didn't recomend me your channel before.
great job.
I appreciate it man, this video has already out preformed all my other Anime stuff lol. Glad you enjoyed it :D
@@Frdyan to be honest, it did recomend it to me yesterday but I accidentaly lost it by refreshing the feed, but it whas recomended again now, and I'm glad for it.
Re zero has nothing to do with isekai or hikkikimoris. It's more akin to Steins gate or Summer time render. Subaru isn't even a self insert since he is extroverted . The show is a mystery not escapist.
Oh you should talk about uncle from another world or iskai ojisan it's really a great show one that flips the Isekai trend norms
I'll check it out
@@Frdyan yep, you should really watch it. It's really the dark horse of this season. And I know you will like it 😉.
Ngl love these especially when they’re trash
I wouldn't really call it propaganda. More like advertising a better reality in many cases. I feel as most men given the chance would you go to a isekai world where maybe your not mc level but your greater than you are now and virtually you get scaled to whatever world you imagine would you take it or not? Which as i said i believe most would even if their life is fairly good here.
Books of warr
Is the only good isakai is a mecha isakai or .hack
"retreated"? its gotten even worse. now they are just mass producing anime with a 20 word title. but I hope it ends soon
It's fanfics Japanese randos wrote that got attention. Most of them are blatant self fulfilling fantasy.
Is. Is the thumbnail on this video an AI generated image?
Yeah I used a micro Dall-e clone to create the image and then used a re-scaler (waifu2x or something like that) to get it to a decent resolution, if you're interested in the process. I think it looks kind of cool
why are you saying that if they are not trying to go back home that they can't follow the hero's journey? i really do not see the connection between the 2 and honestly. re:zero it's way closer to the hero's journey than many others. the whole point of his characters is to slowly change over time and transform from this egotistic shut in who thinks everything is about him, to an actual hero.
i def get what you are saying. because of the blatant cheap rip offs, the genre transformed into yet another blank, op and dark haired protagonist who just does whatever he wants in that new world and doesn't really go through any type of journey. all I'm saying is that re:zero was a really bad example of this. it's one of the few actually good isekais that are actually trying to do something with the genre.
There's a lot in there, on the hero's journey bit- A central leg in The Hero's Journey is the return to the old world as a changed character. Think Odessyus' return to Ithaca. If the character doesn't return, then the journey is never complete. It's just an escape, not a journey. It's also worth noting a show can be entertaining/meaningful etc. without fitting a predefined form~
@@Frdyan wait. i think i'm stupid and confused the term with another one. yeah... for some reason, i was thinking of the "Coming of Age Story" trope which from a certain point of view, could be similar to the Hero's Journey trope
so.. yeah. i guess my actual problem is trying to associate all isekais with the "A Hero's Journey" trope when you shouldn't. i view the term of "isekai" as a term that helps define and categorize the type of world your story is set in. just a "tag" to be used in combination with other "tags"
as an example to sustain my point of view is the simple fact of how many different type of isekais there are. some are classic adventures who follow the "A Hero's Journey" trope, some are purely stories about economy and trade, some about building civilizations, some are mysteries, some are horror, some are about spies, some are not even about a hero but about a villain, some are comedies who don't really follow a pre defined plot (just a bunch of stories put together like an anthology series). so many different types of genres that are being held together by 1 single word. Isekai. remove that word and those stories would still be the same (besides the obvious change of the protagonist from an outworlder to an inworlder) and nothing would change.
just because some old isekai anime were respecting the "A Hero's Journey" trope, it doesn't mean that all of them should.
to end my argument I will say that the isekai problem is not that they are not respecting that trope anymore but the cheap knock off that appeared after Sword Art Online made the genre popular. They either tried to copy SAO and base their worlds around video games, or they went for classic isekai stories like Mushoku Tensei (and others) and copied certain parts of them without understanding fully how they worked and the result were plain and boring worlds with shit stories.
Just like what happened with the mmorpg scene after World of Warcraft became popular. Just because the wow formula worked, a ton of cheap copies appeared with the same play style but without them understanding how that play style and mechanics actually worked. The result was a sea of dead mmorpgs
Ok, so my one issue with this video is that you lump SAO in with anime like Konosuba and No Game No Life. The only thing SAO has in common is a male MC and the escapism trend. None of the stuff you've admonished modern Isekai for doing doesn't really apply to SAO.
Especially the "if a portal opens would they want to go back?" Yes. Kirito WILL go back, if that means his friends and everyone else will get to return as well, ofc
Especially with the new SAO movie, we get to see Kirito in a new light, he's just a kid trying to be edgy and cool and that makes sense, he's 13 after all. And we know that he wouldn't just abandon his friends in the game and escapes back all by himself
@@XxxXoldaccount I mean, a minor correction, he's 14 at the beginning of season 1. Also, being slightly edgy in an MMORPG isn't really a "loser" type deal. Don't get me wrong, there are a few moments where it gets a little weird imo, but it's more of a product of Shounen fan service tropes than from being an Isekai.
@@kirabakaarts3485 ah my bad, couldn't remember if he's 14 or 13, however my point is that they've actually gave him more personality and fleshed him out with the newer renditions/adaptations. It shows that he's more than just edgy and cool, contrary to popular belief. Nothing wrong with being edgy, however it becomes an issue if that's their only thing (borderline Mary Sue-ish)
@@XxxXoldaccount Yeah, I completely agree.
This shis is getting old
Yeah the mc should be a male lead or else it will be boring asf
Yeah ah lecks blow up big time 😂😂