Basically, isekai is the result of manga culture consuming itself. Mangaka like to write based on their life experiences. Some pull from their daily experiences growing up, their hobbies, and other things. In the past, this meant experiences were quite varied. However, now that most newer mangaka grew up with manga and video games as their primary cultural consumption, we have arrived at a cultural ouroboros where the isekai genre is consuming itself. The premises and titles will become increasingly elaborate until the genre implodes.

Cross-posted from "What's up with the isekai genre? Are there any good isekais out there?" by @[email protected] in [email protected]

It seems like every manga or anime adaption nowadays are isekais with absurdly long titles. As someone who hasn't read that much manga for the past few years but just started again, it's kinda crazy to see all these pop up. Are there actually any good ones out there? Or are most of them just "guilty pleasures"? The only one I've been reading is Ascendance of a Bookworm which is kinda interesting.

These are mostly the big hits of isekai. (Note #5 has a lot of little sister sexualization, ran from that asap)

I think Overlord is one of the most unique anime I've seen.

I would also recommend The Eminence in Shadow. Also a very unique show, and pretty light hearted and fairly mid on "anime bullshit"

Tsukimichi is also fairly solid, though higher on tge anime bullshit list (stab a giant metal rod in a dragons ass to make her cum...)

Skeleton Knight is also decent with a likable main character and low stakes fun.

My personal favorite is The Faraway Paladin. Such a great wholesome story with amazing characters.

I think parodies and deconstructions of the isekai genre are fun:

• Villainess Level 99
• The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious
• My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered

If you liked the Eminence in Shadow anime I highly recommend giving the manga a look. It does several things differently, and I personally found it even funnier.

• One is a stereotypical suburban liberal / Bernie Sanders supporter (surprised me)
• Another is Indian
• One is a soccer mom, super conservative.

Just 3 I can think of that'd be against something like Konosuba.

Cross-posted from "What's up with the isekai genre? Are there any good isekais out there?" by @[email protected] in [email protected]

It seems like every manga or anime adaption nowadays are isekais with absurdly long titles. As someone who hasn't read that much manga for the past few years but just started again, it's kinda crazy to see all these pop up. Are there actually any good ones out there? Or are most of them just "guilty pleasures"? The only one I've been reading is Ascendance of a Bookworm which is kinda interesting.

Cross-posted from "What's up with the isekai genre? Are there any good isekais out there?" by @[email protected] in [email protected]

It seems like every manga or anime adaption nowadays are isekais with absurdly long titles. As someone who hasn't read that much manga for the past few years but just started again, it's kinda crazy to see all these pop up. Are there actually any good ones out there? Or are most of them just "guilty pleasures"? The only one I've been reading is Ascendance of a Bookworm which is kinda interesting.

Cross-posted from "What's up with the isekai genre? Are there any good isekais out there?" by @[email protected] in [email protected]

It seems like every manga or anime adaption nowadays are isekais with absurdly long titles. As someone who hasn't read that much manga for the past few years but just started again, it's kinda crazy to see all these pop up. Are there actually any good ones out there? Or are most of them just "guilty pleasures"? The only one I've been reading is Ascendance of a Bookworm which is kinda interesting.

Sword Art Online taught publishers that people really want bland wish-fulfillment stuff where the hero just steamrolls any problems that shows up and then gets all the girls. Of course SAO had other things going for it, like good animation and a great soundtrack, but that isn't what they can easily copy.

Shield Hero taught publishers that people want that but also with the main character owning slaves for some reason.

Anyways, due to these two things isekai has been almost universally weird af lately. That said, it's not all bad. I liked The Eminence in Shadow, but I recommend the manga adaptation over the anime. The mangaka just has a really good sense of comedic timing. There are also a few good isekai if you look at the pre-SAO era. Vision of Escaflowne was really good, as long as you come in with the expectation that this is a shoujo mech isekai so it'll have a somewhat different feel to it.

Of course, that's if you're stuck on wanting to watch/read isekai. There's been tons of great stuff coming out every year that has nothing to do with isekai. My favorites from the last 5 years have been:

• 2020 - Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! - A team of high school girls form a club and set out to make whatever anime they can with their limited resources
• 2021 - Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song- - The first AI-powered humanoid robot tries to prevent the robot apocalypse
• 2022 - Chainsaw Man - A sad boy has a wild (and bad) time. Honorable mentions go to Spy x Family and Bocchi the Rock. It was a strong year.
• 2023 - Skip and Loafer - A book-smart girl from the country moves to Tokyo for a better high school and adapts to city life
• 2024 - LOOK BACK - A story about 2 artists. Honestly this year was stacked too, so honorable mentions go to Bang Brave Bang Bravern! (big gay robots), DAN DA DAN (romance, yokai, and aliens), and Delicious in Dungeon/Dungeon Meshi (traditional fantasy, but really well executed).