Rec | ISEKAIS

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❌

my brother and i were ranting yesterday about how it looks like every season, half of the new anime coming out is some sort of isekai (when a person is reborn in another world, usually fantasy driven) and how we’re both tired of the same thing. we picked up on sword art online back in the day and it feels like since that story everyone wants to replicate it in a fashion. but then i thought to myself, why is it such a popular genre?
my first though was, maybe a lack of fantasy stories in japan in general, outside of western IPs like disney and harry potter, and then more eastern specific stories that pull for shinto stories.
then the next thing i thought was, maybe the people watching it really need an escape that was very different to what life is right now. outside of the cliche storylines and scenery, the thing i don’t like about them is that they’re too unrealistic, and that the concept of being reborn to do better just feels like a cop out to me. most of the time it’s someone considered a loser who gets to live a grander life, and while that is something a lot of people can relate to, i also think that you can try your best in the real world to do that on your own (not mentioning cultural and systemic barriers).
escapism is a very common thing to do, and im not hating on people who like isekais. at this point im mad at an industry looking towards all these stories to create when there are other stories out there that are good but don’t portray themselves in a eurocentric high fantasy world.

@chiawase_

Jul 13, 2025

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@grape

I *love* Lodoss and .hack and Rezero and stuff. Love ”western isekai” like Narnia, Alice in wonderland-esque stories, maybe the Golden Compass counts too?? These self insert seasonal power fantasy shows are so depressing and are an unfortunate consequence of the increasing commercialization of the industry. They’re generic and easily draw in viewers. You have to consider the fact that every one of these seasonal may be a person’s first anime (tragedy). To react like “woahh this is awesome” and then be greeted with tons of similar series is a marketer’s wet dream I think. What I love so much about the fantasy and sci fi genres is the scope and grandeur of it all. Living, breathing worlds in which the author has created of every detail not even out of necessity but out of love for the art. There is no need to develop anything with these seasonal type shows. Brown hair plain faced mc and a generic (pink, red, blonde haired) sex object to be obsessed with them. Throw him at some generic orcs and goblins and then the big bad at the end of the cour. Maybe the mc is a spider or a slime or a vending machine or a child, doesn’t matter when the formula is the same every time anyways. It’s why I always find myself working backwards when looking for stuff to watch or read.

Jul 13, 2025

@chiawase_

@GRAPE i share similar thoughts here (i also remember watching .hack Sign as a kid 😂). thank you for the background on the other bs that keeps coming out around the actually good stuff

6d ago

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