Let’s talk about: Isekai

Let’s be honest now, we cannot deny we are in an Isekai boom when it comes to Visual Novels,
Light Novels, Manga, Anime, etc. But how old is the Isekai gerne? Are there enough Isekai series?
Or overloaded by Isekai series? What makes a good Isekai? And what does makes a bad Isekai?
What are rules to Isekai? Now let’s dive into the world of Isekai, shall we.

- How old is Isekai gerne?

When we think about an old Isekai story/series, which one will pop in your mind? Sword Art
Online? Zero no Tsukaima? Spirit Away? Or maybe Digimon? To get a clear answer we need first
understand what is an Isekai story/series.

If we look it up on Wikipedia it would say the following: “Isekai (Japanese: 異世界, transl.
"different world" or "otherworld") is a genre of light novels, manga, anime and video games that
revolve around a normal human person from Earth being displaced, transported to, reborn or
otherwise trapped in a parallel universe, fantasy world, or virtual world, where they must adapt
and/or assimilate into this new world, along with its new rules, cultures and philosophies”. This
summaries’ as following; just a random person(s) taken from his/her/their normal environment
/world send to another one and try to adapt/survive.

If we take this in mind the stories like; InuYasha (debuted in 1996) , El-Hazard (debuted in 1995),
Magic Knight Rayearth (debuted in 1993) or The Twelve Kingdoms (debuted in 1992) does qualify
as old Isekai story/series. But we can go further back, think about Urashima Tarō, Alice in
Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz or Peter Pan. Last three maybe original English Novels,
but still fits basic rule of Isekai. “A random person(s) taken from his/her/their normal
environment /world send to another one and try to adapt/survive”.

So, to answer the question “How old is the Isekai gerne” we can save to say more than 200 years.
But back then it was not called Isekai, or better said there was no real name/label for this kind of
stories/series.

- What does make a good or bad Isekai stories/series?

This will be trickier to answer, but we can at least try study more the common trends of an Isekai
stories/series. First lets divided the Isekai gerne in two sub-gernes. “Isekai ten’I” and “Isekai
tensei”.

Isekai ten’I, transported or summoned into another world in current form. So, the main
character(s) has the same look and may take something from his old world. Like a mobile phone
(Trust me, they did that multiple times already (“The Ambition of Oda Nobuna”, Kanzen Kaihi
Healer No Kiseki” and “In Another World With My Smartphone” as examples)). Or they get
transported with only their clothes they got on (“No Game, No Life”, “Genjitsushugisha No
Oukokukaizouki” and “The Rising Of The Shield Hero” as examples).

Isekai tensei, reborn or inhabit/ swap place with the body of a person already existing in the other
world. So, the main character(s) will have a totally different look/gender/form. But keeps a part of
their knowledge/memories and character of their old world. This sub gerne has gain more
popularity the last few years, so these are allot easier to find; “Saga of Tanya the Evil”, “How Not
to Summon a Demon Lord”, “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime”, “My Next Life as a
Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!” and “Overlord” to name a few.

But even in these two sub-gernes of Isekai there are some similarities:

- There is an Evil super lord or destiny that the main hero(es) need to overcome
- They are trying to use their knowledge from their old world to give themselves an easier
life in the new world
- There is a destined love-partner(s) involved that never met before in the old world
- Most of the times the main character is clueless about potential crushes on the main
character him/herself

So, to answer the question “What does make a good or bad Isekai stories/series” we can say it
depends if the character(s) are not boring for you, or that the new world where the character(s)
landed is something you find interesting. So they are no really good or bad ones, there are only
personal taste of the one enjoying it.

- Are there enough or are we overloaded with Isekai stories/series?

This maybe mine personal opinion, but the answer would be yes, we are overloaded with Isekai
stories/series. And I’m not the only one. Let’s go through some facts. For the last 5 years there
were about 46 Isekai anime series, with the highest being aired in 2019. In that year only there
was 16 Isekai anime series within 12 months. That means for each month you could watch one
Isekai anime series and still not be done by the end of the year. Now I haven’t even counted the
many mangas or light novels during that 5 years.

Speaking of novels, in 2016 during a Japanese Short Story contest (organized by Bungaku Free
Market and Shōsetsuka ni Narō) has banned any entries about Isekai stories. And they are not the
only one, as in 2017 is was also banned in the novel contest (this time organized by Kadokawa).

So, to answer the question “Are there enough or are we overloaded with Isekai stories/series” I
can say (as mine personal opinion), there are to much. But enough for the picky choosers that
wants to find that one that one he or she can enjoy.
 - What are rules to Isekai?

We kind already cover a bit of it already, but let’s summaries what we have already covered in this
review.

- Main character(s) are transported to another world that is not original his/her/theirs

- There is an Evil super lord or destiny that the main hero(es) need to overcome

- They are trying to use their knowledge from their old world to give themselves an easier
life in the new world

- They will gain new ability/power they didn’t had first in his/her/their original world

- They will form strong bonds with people from other world or with people who were
strangers in his/her/their original world

- There is a destined love-partner(s) involved that never met before in the original world

- Most of the times the main character is clueless about potential crushes on the main
character him/herself

- In case of Isekai tensei, the main character dies either by heart failure, stab to death or hit
by truck-kun.

So, most of all the Isekai stories/series follows these rules.

But then, you have Konosuba. An Isekai series, original light novel and made into an anime and
manga later, that makes parody of the Isekai gerne itself. You got main character Kazuma Sato, not
your ideal main character that dies shock because he was about to be hit by a slow-moving
tractor. Party members like Megumi, an archwizard that only knows one spell and only uses one
spell and is totally useless after using it once a day that said spell. Another party member
Darkness, a crusader that has high defense and offense powers, but totally lacks accuracy and
loves to be dominated by her enemy. Even that enemy is her own party member. And let’s not
forget they might have forgotten that they need to beat a dangerous Overlord in Kazuma new
world. O yeah, there is also Aqua, but she is useless goddess, so we don’t need to talk about her.

So those are the basic rules of Isekai and one Isekai story that break most of those rules. Or they
may bend it a bit, who knows.

Final words: it was fun to put this on paper. I’ve used sources like Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isekai) and AniDB (https://tinyurl.com/IsekaiList) . This was written
pure out of mine own opinion, but I’m curious about yours.
So please do share your opinion about Isekai gerne or about this article. Which are you favorite
Isekai stories/series that were not mentioned? Or the ones that you know that other may not
know about it at all.

This is Etienne (Discord: Kur0Inu), until next review “Let’s talk about”