You might have read this title and thought, “Two ‘isekai’ in the middle,” a symbol that indeed you don’t know what isekai is, why it’s trending, and how to rectify the mistake of never having watched or read one of the most eccentric, peculiar, and entertaining anime genres of the 21st century – a blend of mediums and stories that’s refreshing and nearly pushed to its limits.
Isekai to the water
Imagine one day you’re playing a video game, take a nap, and suddenly find yourself inside the game. Or worse yet, you die and transform into a sword-wielding hero ready to embark on a quest. That, essentially, would make you the protagonist of an isekai. Essentially, the genre usually revolves around ordinary people who somehow end up in a strange world (often resembling a video game), although at times, the trope has been reversed, with characters from that world ending up in the real world.
Typically, the protagonist of an isekai tends to be “the chosen one,” but that’s not always the case. In fact, more recently, it has become common to twist the trope, with the protagonist becoming the villain of the game, despised by everyone, a mere non-playable background character, or even a non-human enemy, as seen in ‘That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.’
The genre, although it might seem like a modern craze, actually began in the early 20th century when, in 1918, children were taught the story of Urashima Taro, a fisherman who was dragged into an underwater world, met a princess, and upon returning to the present, realized he had traveled 300 years into the future. You might even be thinking that ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ or ‘The Wizard of Oz’ are isekai stories… and you’d be absolutely right.
‘Digimon,’ ‘Spirited Away,’ and ‘InuYasha’ are classic titles of the genre, but more recently, there’s been a trend of series with incredibly long names like ‘I Reincarnated as an Aristocrat with an Appraisal Skill to Ascend in Another World’ or ‘The Hero and His Elf Bride Open a Pizza Parlor in Another World.’
Level 1 characters, villains struggling to make ends meet, final bosses forced to establish an institutional framework… Isekai stories are, essentially, a reflection of contemporary society, ironic about its own consumption, unable to take itself seriously but secretly yearning to escape to another world in a quest for happiness.
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