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.

  • Gosplan14_the_Third [none/use name]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Fun fact:

    Takashi Katori is a big fan of online games, and so is his American friend Sarah. However, one of their RPGs goes too far, as their virtual world and the Lezarion robot that Takashi created for the game somehow mix with reality. Takashi is caught, but later the Earth Governement discovers that an evil scientist from the Moon (now a sort of abandoned colony with restricted access) is hacking into virtual worlds and security, so they force Takashi to pilot the Lezarion and, with Sarah's help, fight evil and protect the Earth.

    Broadcasting Date (Video Senshi Lezarion): 4th March 1984 to 5th February 1985