Interesting. I see your point about the pandemic and other stresses fueling reality escapism. To me, still seems like this type of isekai is still getting churned out en masse, but we’ll see what happens.
Master of Lists (Senior Otaku) | Posted 08/01/22 | Reply
I'm of the opinion that it's just a trend and trends usually have varied degrees of quality control depending on who started the trend, older isekai examples like Digimon, Fushigi Yuugi, Inuyasha and Rayearth were often tagged onto different trends, for Digimon it was the monster genre, for the other examples, high fantasy that dominated the 90s.
Isekai became more inflated by the pandemic and other world issues as Japan built its shows around escaping reality.
It's starting to die out now as there is very little left to explore, the current trend seems to be the waifu genre, shows centered around an extremely popular female character for better or for worse.
Actually this gives me an idea for a top ten list of anime trends.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, TDE! Boy, I wasn't even really thinking about the shock value angle that some of these shows were playing, and that's a good point too. The comparison to "junk food" is definitely fitting with these types of series.
When I was talking about boycotting isekai, I was indirectly referring to articles like this one which reports that the genre is actually being banned by writing contest committees. Definitely a bit extreme. Like you said, "Demand better". Challenge people to write good fantasy stories instead of just saying, "Enough" and writing isekai off completely. Totally agreed.
Of course, the response isn't to boycott the isekai genre. That's a bit mad.
My suggestion is "demand better."
The reason so many of these shows exist is because shock factor, appealing to particular demographics, or reusing certain tropes are just profitable. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but then the stereotypes about tropes in anime/manga then become even more valid, which leads to more resentment--which leads to more profit--and the circle spins once again.
I think MothersBasement said it best when he characterized these types of shows as "junk food." They're full of sugar and calories that make you feel good and appeal to you in the moment, but could ultimately leave you worse off for enjoying it after a while.
I felt like you were talking about me specifically, but what you said is a fair assessment.
Notably since about the premier of SAO, people have noticed the "oversaturation" of really crude and controversial shows that fall under the isekai genre.
Some of the more renown controversial and gimmick-heavy shows of the past decade have followed the isekai formula of "MC goes to fantasy/video-game/RPG world" and insert some horrible scenes and ideas for shock factor to get visceral responses. I'm not going to call any out by name and get flak for it, but you could see where I'm going.
It's certainly a far cry from isekai shows like Digimon or other fantasy shows since it only takes a handful of tropes. The only one I've really enjoyed was "Konosuba" since it was a parody of all of these things and the characters were so damn good that it stood out for that quality as opposed to subjects that would be perceived as lazy writing for the sake of responses.
kita mikichi
Chibi Artist Girl (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 08/02/22 | Reply
@Dranzerstorm:
Funny, I was actually going to cite that and The Wizard of Oz, but those both wound up being dreams; so, I didn’t count them. XD
Dranzerstorm
Master of Lists (Senior Otaku) | Posted 08/02/22 | Reply
@kita mikichi:
I've had a few delays but should be out this week. One interesting thing that came out of my research, the oldest known isekai is Alice in Wonderland.
kita mikichi
Chibi Artist Girl (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 08/01/22 | Reply
@Dranzerstorm:
Interesting. I see your point about the pandemic and other stresses fueling reality escapism. To me, still seems like this type of isekai is still getting churned out en masse, but we’ll see what happens.
Curious to see your list! ^^
Dranzerstorm
Master of Lists (Senior Otaku) | Posted 08/01/22 | Reply
I'm of the opinion that it's just a trend and trends usually have varied degrees of quality control depending on who started the trend, older isekai examples like Digimon, Fushigi Yuugi, Inuyasha and Rayearth were often tagged onto different trends, for Digimon it was the monster genre, for the other examples, high fantasy that dominated the 90s.
Isekai became more inflated by the pandemic and other world issues as Japan built its shows around escaping reality.
It's starting to die out now as there is very little left to explore, the current trend seems to be the waifu genre, shows centered around an extremely popular female character for better or for worse.
Actually this gives me an idea for a top ten list of anime trends.
kita mikichi
Chibi Artist Girl (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 07/31/22 | Reply
@Kazamas-Keyblade:
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, TDE! Boy, I wasn't even really thinking about the shock value angle that some of these shows were playing, and that's a good point too. The comparison to "junk food" is definitely fitting with these types of series.
When I was talking about boycotting isekai, I was indirectly referring to articles like this one which reports that the genre is actually being banned by writing contest committees. Definitely a bit extreme. Like you said, "Demand better". Challenge people to write good fantasy stories instead of just saying, "Enough" and writing isekai off completely. Totally agreed.
Kazamas-Keyblade
Otaku Legend | Posted 07/31/22 | Reply
Of course, the response isn't to boycott the isekai genre. That's a bit mad.
My suggestion is "demand better."
The reason so many of these shows exist is because shock factor, appealing to particular demographics, or reusing certain tropes are just profitable. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but then the stereotypes about tropes in anime/manga then become even more valid, which leads to more resentment--which leads to more profit--and the circle spins once again.
I think MothersBasement said it best when he characterized these types of shows as "junk food." They're full of sugar and calories that make you feel good and appeal to you in the moment, but could ultimately leave you worse off for enjoying it after a while.
Kazamas-Keyblade
Otaku Legend | Posted 07/31/22 | Reply
I felt like you were talking about me specifically, but what you said is a fair assessment.
Notably since about the premier of SAO, people have noticed the "oversaturation" of really crude and controversial shows that fall under the isekai genre.
Some of the more renown controversial and gimmick-heavy shows of the past decade have followed the isekai formula of "MC goes to fantasy/video-game/RPG world" and insert some horrible scenes and ideas for shock factor to get visceral responses. I'm not going to call any out by name and get flak for it, but you could see where I'm going.
It's certainly a far cry from isekai shows like Digimon or other fantasy shows since it only takes a handful of tropes. The only one I've really enjoyed was "Konosuba" since it was a parody of all of these things and the characters were so damn good that it stood out for that quality as opposed to subjects that would be perceived as lazy writing for the sake of responses.