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Isekai anime opinions?


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#DevilDuck



Joined: 07 Jul 2023
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 4:16 am Reply with quote
What do you think about Isekai anime genre?

When you can imagine that you will suddenly appear in another world with something? it's so amazing Laughing. I really want to it happen with me Very Happy.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23832
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 9:50 am Reply with quote
I admit I'm starting to get tired of the isekai genre. There's just too many of them and not enough are showing any kind of freshness, although there are exceptions like the recent Handyman Saito. Also, in recent years there's been two trends I am not enjoying: 1) many isekai now treat their protag as if he or she is trapped in a game with status pages, etc, etc. I prefer the old school isekai premise where somebody ended up getting transferred to another world but it wasn't treated as if they were in a game. Escaflowne is a classic example. 2) I really dislike the OverPowered protag trend. This kind of goes hand in hand with the "game" thing I mentioned above because often the OP protag just runs up his or her stats to amazing levels as he or she easily defeats any obstacle. Blech. Having said that, I do faithfully at least check out virtually all isekai titles but I do sense my tolerance for the truly mediocre ones to be waning.
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HoneyAlice



Joined: 07 Jul 2023
Posts: 23
PostPosted: Tue Jul 11, 2023 2:14 am Reply with quote
It's a very interesting genre. Ordinary life can get boring and then involuntarily begin to dream that you are in a new place with its own rules, where you will have some superpowers, the world will be magic, unusual animals. I guess we don't have enough magic in the world. Where the individuality of each character is felt more clearly. Ohhh. maybe I'd like to go to a different world, but definitely not a random one ahahhh. Rolling Eyes
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Spawn29



Joined: 14 Jan 2008
Posts: 551
PostPosted: Wed Jul 12, 2023 8:58 pm Reply with quote
I'm surprise it's still popular considering the whole boom started with SAO in 2012.
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Beltane70



Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 3896
PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 12:05 am Reply with quote
Spawn29 wrote:
I'm surprise it's still popular considering the whole boom started with SAO in 2012.


Don’t underestimate just how long an anime genre can stay popular. Mecha anime was a pretty major genre from the 60s to the 90s, but started to wind down in the early 00s and is now at the point where there’s maybe one or two a year.
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9858
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 7:18 am Reply with quote
My take on the isekai genre is the same as that on any overused genre. Don't damn the genre, only the bad examples. Being first to a new genre does not make you best. It is not the story you tell, it is the way that you tell it. The devil is in the details. This is not a defense of anything currently out. I'm just saying that to pigeon hole a show in a genre and then refuse to look at is shortsighted.

It was only a few years back that everyone was upset at the prevalence of Cute Girls doing Cute Things. That genre was going to be the downfall of all anime. Yet now we have Laid Back Camp, very late to the table but excellent.

There is still potential for the isekai genre, but we are likely to have to kiss a lot of frogs to find the prince.
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getchman
He started it



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 9121
Location: Bedford, NH
PostPosted: Fri Jul 14, 2023 11:15 am Reply with quote
some are good, some aren't
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar


Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 16939
PostPosted: Fri Jul 14, 2023 8:43 pm Reply with quote
In a vacuum they're alright. It's a way to mix in some modern elements with a traditional fantasy setting. My problem is they have become so ridiculous and oversaturated in the anime landscape I can't stand most new ones. I inevitably sigh and think "jeeze, another damn Isekai?" It may not be fair, but when you have (just using random numbers) 12 new titles in a season and half are Isekai....yea that's too much. This reminds me of the old moe craze back in the early 00's going into the 2010's. Except even worse and it's lasted longer than that over used fad did.
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Beltane70



Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 3896
PostPosted: Sat Jul 15, 2023 11:54 pm Reply with quote
Not all isekai are adaptations of existing works. 1983’s Aura Battler Dunbine was created as an original series with no preexisting story to adapt.
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asoka



Joined: 16 Jul 2023
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Sun Jul 16, 2023 11:16 am Reply with quote
So I have been watching anime for a long time with varying levels of interest based primarily on which genre was popular at a given time. The low point for me anyway was the Mecha/Space opera era that seemed to last forever. The were some very good series but at the end of the day a robot no matter what you do to it is still a robot.

After somehow surviving that I was then nearly trampled by a small horde of Moe/magical girls doing well… Moe magical girl things. Again there were some very good series sprinkled in with what is a common Isekai complaint a bunch of very formulaic cookie cutter shows.

There last 10 yrs or so have seen a rise in the variety of anime genres overall. For me in what is probably a minority opinion I’m sure, the Isekai genre is by far my favorite. I attribute this primarily to the 100’s of hours spent playing open world RPG’s. It is easy to identify with Isekai when comparing the shows to the game play of RPG’s like Skyrim or the Witcher.

I also have a fairly low acceptability bar with Isekai enjoyment. Basically if the world is believable & at least several of the side characters are interesting then I will probably see the show through to the end. After lurking here for a number of years and reading the various comments about production values or breaking the laws of anime physics (neither of which I really understand) I just watch what I like with out being overly concerned about site reviews or overall popularity in the anime community.

And lastly if you harbor secret hopes of being reincarnated in an Isekai, recent studies by physicists in the last 6 or 7 years using Bayes’s theorem show that there’s a slightly better than 50% chance that we are living in a simulation. No guarantees that you will get to keep your memories or that you will be OP in your new world.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23832
PostPosted: Sun Jul 16, 2023 11:46 am Reply with quote
asoka wrote:
...recent studies by physicists in the last 6 or 7 years using Bayes’s theorem show that there’s a slightly better than 50% chance that we are living in a simulation.


Man... if true, that would explain A LOT.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4594
PostPosted: Sun Jul 16, 2023 2:05 pm Reply with quote
asoka wrote:
So I have been watching anime for a long time with varying levels of interest based primarily on which genre was popular at a given time. The low point for me anyway was the Mecha/Space opera era that seemed to last forever. The were some very good series but at the end of the day a robot no matter what you do to it is still a robot.

Funny, because I would do just about anything to return to that era and consign the isekai trope back to the dark pit from whence it came. Laughing
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asoka



Joined: 16 Jul 2023
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Sun Jul 16, 2023 4:11 pm Reply with quote
Really no argument with what your saying, I worked for a Japanese company for 3 years in the late 80’s. Probably the absolute height of the Robot craze. For me that era was perfectly characterized by the song Mr. Roboto that came out on the Kilroy Was Here album released by the band Styx in the early 80’s.

It was such a huge hit that the band successfully toured Japan for years afterwards. I can unfortunately still hear it in my head all these years later “Domo arigato Mr. Roboto Domo” yikes of all the lyrics to have stuck in my head.... trust me I have no illusions of the Isekai genre’s overall popularity.

Mecha/ Space opera are certainly more popular even today I’m sure. Luckily for me anyway the Mecha craze never jumped across the ocean to America, the Transformers are probably the closest thing to main stream outside of Japan.
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Beltane70



Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 3896
PostPosted: Sun Jul 16, 2023 6:38 pm Reply with quote
asoka wrote:

Mecha/ Space opera are certainly more popular even today I’m sure. Luckily for me anyway the Mecha craze never jumped across the ocean to America, the Transformers are probably the closest thing to main stream outside of Japan.


They really aren't. There's way, way less Mecha/Space Opera anime these days than there was several decades ago. Sure, they still make the occasional Mecha/Space Opera these days, but I'm not seeing the volume of works being made that I did when I first got seriously into anime back in the mid-80s.
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asoka



Joined: 16 Jul 2023
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2023 7:06 am Reply with quote
Beltane,

I guess I was thinking about the overall volume of material produced for the Mecha genre over the years. If we are considering the last 5-10 yrs or so then you are certainly right.

I'm not cheer leading for Isekai, just from the people I know all of whom I consider to be casual anime fans watching less than 10 hours a week nearly all of them watch at least 1 Isekai anime.

I'm not saying anything that the members of this forum don't already know but with the rise of streaming the Cunchyroll/HIDive/Netflix/Amazons of the world know exactly who & how many are watching what down to minute.

Streaming as can be seen by the current Hollywood strike is proving to be very disruptive to the entire media business. Streaming has very narrow profit margins and as Anime continues to grow world wide there is likely to be heightened focus on producing genres that people watch.

The West, anime's traditional or perhaps historical market outside of Japan is only 15% of the worlds population. With the rapidly growing middle class world wide it remains to be seen what their tastes in Anime will be.

So until media platforms see a change in viewership, Isekai love it or hate it along with several other dominate genres will likely to continue to be the "flavor" of the moment for awhile.
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