[Question] Origins of Isekai Shoukan & Tensei

[AnimeFan188]

Originally Posted by wuhugm

Isekai was there since long ago (Rayearth, El Hazard)

But the new interest was certainly SAO

It showed that webnovel can thrive

But they can't clone the VR theme so they chose real fantasy, isekai

Theoritically it should be superior to SAO which is "merely" a game

Thus isekai flooded the market

But before any of them could reach prominence, the market is already saturated

In older shows like Rayearth, Digimon & El Hazard, the characters would get sucked into
another dimension, have adventures, but eventually get back home.

Nowadays, the characters *die* and get reincarnated into a new world and never see
their old homes and (grieving?) families again.

Why so grimdark nowadays?

[wuhugm]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

In older shows like Rayearth, Digimon & El Hazard, the characters would get sucked into
another dimension, have adventures, but eventually get back home.

Nowadays, the characters *die* and get reincarnated into a new world and never see
their old homes and (grieving?) families again.

Why so grimdark nowadays?

Not grimdark

Total Escapism

Past isekai is momentary adventures that will stay as amazing memory for the MCs

Now, people just hate their lives so much that they want to escape to isekai and to never return ever again

[Tenzen12]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

In older shows like Rayearth, Digimon & El Hazard, the characters would get sucked into
another dimension, have adventures, but eventually get back home.

Nowadays, the characters *die* and get reincarnated into a new world and never see
their old homes and (grieving?) families again.

Why so grimdark nowadays?

I don't know exact ratio, but there were certainly lot of old school isekais without return. 12 kingdoms, Kiba, ZnT. I believe Escaflowne was one of them too, wasn't it?

[dragon1412]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

In older shows like Rayearth, Digimon & El Hazard, the characters would get sucked into
another dimension, have adventures, but eventually get back home.

Nowadays, the characters *die* and get reincarnated into a new world and never see
their old homes and (grieving?) families again.

Why so grimdark nowadays?

Not really grimdark but the same question over and over, why return ???? The question is posed to both authors and readers alike, from readers POV, most of them, if not all, actually never get the idea why the original world is so enticing, escapism is one thing like Erotora said, but another is that we never get a look at what real world can offer in those novels, most case, even in the old school Isekai, the original world part is taking a few pages at most and cannot give the reader the sense of attachments. Why isekai characters, even NPC bond with MC throughout the course of story, which is why they are far more attached to them.

From the author's view, especially young authors, have rather unflattering opinion of our world, JP society being heavily social based making it worse. Young author might also subjected to the readers view above, basically, they don't even know how the MC's families of old school Isekai even look like, much less attached to them. Another is for escapism, like i said, much less japanese, even Asia in general is heavily under social bias, so if you aren't exactly a social flower, escapism thinking is fairly normal, this came especially bad in JP society, with their terrible ethic in working and social responsibility.

[wuhugm]

^Indeed

There's a problem that usually the MC himself is trying to return for inexplicable reasons

These MCs never mentioned about worrying about their family or anything worth mentioning or cared about Japan for that matter

So why are you trying to return?

It's not a problem if you can go back and forth between worlds, but most of the time it's one-way

If you want to return so much then give us a reason why

[RDNexus]

That reminds me of something I thought from time to time.
How nice it could be if people could cross worlds freely, even if for escapism, even if only spiritually.
But then, there's always the matter of bad people potentially using it for...well...bad reasons...

[AnimeFangirl]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Nowadays, the characters *die* and get reincarnated into a new world and never see their old homes and (grieving?) families again.

Why so grimdark nowadays?

A lot of series like Mushoku Tensei, Konosuba, etc go out of their way to show that there is no grieving family and the MC has no reason to go back. But there are a few with grieving families which is a bit sad sometimes.

[AnimeFan188]

Originally Posted by AnimeFangirl

A lot of series like Mushoku Tensei, Konosuba, etc go out of their way to show that there is no grieving family and the MC has no reason to go back. But there are a few with grieving families which is a bit sad sometimes.

Having a family that doesn't care if you die is also pretty sad in its own way.

[Lex79]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

In older shows like Rayearth, Digimon & El Hazard, the characters would get sucked into
another dimension, have adventures, but eventually get back home.

Nowadays, the characters *die* and get reincarnated into a new world and never see
their old homes and (grieving?) families again.

Why so grimdark nowadays?

Lots of isekai now are harem, if the MC has no world to come back to he won't have to leave all the girls he's going to meet.

[Rinvelt]

To this day I still wonder why all the otaku who are sent to isekai don't think about the fact they will never be able to finish all the series they were reading. Like, it should be the main reason they want to go back.

[wuhugm]

Originally Posted by Rinvelt

To this day I still wonder why all the otaku who are sent to isekai don't think about the fact they will never be able to finish all the series they were reading. Like, it should be the main reason they want to go back.

Yea, is there even any MC thinks like that?

[RDNexus]

Maybe the authors either don't think much of it or aren't prefer to not dwell much on it.
Or even, maybe, they prefer to play it through references to other stories...?

[Tenzen12]

Originally Posted by wuhugm

Yea, is there even any MC thinks like that?

I am pretty sure for Makoto (TsukiBro) main reason why he want home are Edo period movies. Well loving big familiy waiting for him is probably reason too. Maybe.

[dragon1412]

Originally Posted by wuhugm

Yea, is there even any MC thinks like that?

there are actually, but that sentiments is lasting for like, 1 or 2 sentences I remember there is a lot of series that have lines such as, there was that books i'm in middle of reading, it's a shame that i won't be able to know the end, etc,.................... and it was never mentioned again

[Tenzen12]

Half of main characters has access to internet or delivery service, so it simply might not be issue...

[wuhugm]

Most of the time MC = Author

They don't bother establishing MC as his own character but simply a projection of themselves

That's why those otakus don't miss manga etc, coz they are reading them still in Japan!

[RDNexus]

Not a bad "crazy theory", indeed

[AnimeFangirl]

All the isekai series I'm reading except SAO still haven't ended, so we never know whether the MC eventually went home or not. For those series with no death/a surviving family where the MC might want to go back, I mean.

[darkofficer]

What about the isekai series from the tenchi muyo series

[Nivek von Beldo]

Originally Posted by darkofficer

What about the isekai series from the tenchi muyo series

I never knew that one, but as say before the oldest isekai i recall was those who hunt elves and by dates is Battle Aura Turbine of own Kill'em all Tomino