Isekai was a thing before the word was popularized and normalized in the west to describe the subgenre of fantasy. I'd argue The Neverending Story is clearly an isekai, for example. And there's been great conventional anime isekais in the past, such as Vision of Escaflowne.
What I'm sick of is the "oh this is like a video game and the NPCs can be manipulated because they're just programs susceptible to cheat codes" gimmick. It's gross and I find it intolerable to follow any "hero" that dehumanizes other characters under any excuse to build a virtual capitalist empire with an infinite harem. It's :epstein: tier :brainworms: to me.
I don't want to automatically reject something I hear about because I hear it's an "isekai" but all too often it means "another video game world with NPCs to exploit!" :capitalist-laugh:
What an empty sort of metagamey victory to fantasize about. How alienating and sad for such "heroes," even if they still deserve :gulag: in general.
I feel like this particular problem is Konosuba's fault. It just got really popular as a video game isekai and any anime that becomes popular defines its genre for the next decade or so.
Nah it was definitely Sword Art Online.
I guess that doesn't count for me because that's a literal video game and not even technically an isekai. Video games should have video game mechanics lol
I miss when Gundam defined the genre for a decade or so. :sicko-wistful:
Just a side note but Konosuba actually helped me understand and explain exactly what I hate about anime :awooga: stuff. I had just watched Kill la Kill before it, and I said to my friend, "Why is the cameraman so fucking horny?" And I realized that's the key difference. Konosuba is a way less horny show but it's also way more gross, because no one is doing anything unusual to be seen in that way. When the camera focuses on somebody's ass in Kill la Kill it's because the character is wearing a ridiculous anime outfit and everyone is looking at their ass. But in Konosuba a character will just be walking down the street and the cameraman is trying to peer up her skirt.
Kill la Kill makes you go "ok writers I'm not 100% sure that sexualization was necessary" whereas Konosuba makes you go "someone please arrest this sex offender cameraman"
Idk its off topic but I just thought you might have thoughts on that
I do have one immediate thought: Fatal Frame had a great premise for an entire series of games, but then it went so :awooga: and :libertarian-alert: in later sequels that it had Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball jiggle physics on the slightest pivot turns and a really, really creepy (and not in a good scary way) "dare ye enter this magical realm" plot contrived reason for child brides and so on. :zizek-fuck:
Also, that Konosuba you mention seems to have the same issue with the Game of Thrones show: it doesn't just "historically accurately" show :awooga: :libertarian-alert: :hypersus: as some excuse it for, but it directly and repetitively emphasizes it over and over with camera and cinematography for hog feeding, I mean, entertainment purposes.
The funny thing is it's actually better than game of thrones imo. The tone is very lighthearted and I don't think there was ever even a hint of sexual violence. And the joke of the main character's party is that they're girls who would be attractive if they weren't completely incompetent and awful people, which is actually a pretty funny premise for making fun of the exact kind of shows which tried to copy konosuba. Because it means the main character is never pursuing or creeping on them because he literally isn't attracted to them
But then they had to ruin it by expecting you, the viewer, to want to creep on them directly
:sicko-wholesome:
:sicko-no:
Without going into it further: there is in the movie.
Yeah, disclaimer: I watched 1 season which I only finished out of a sense of dedication to finish what you start. It was really really bad. I'd say like 70% of jokes were just cringe, 25% were meh, and like the remaining 5% got an actual laugh. It did get me a couple times