Everybody criticizes Isekai, and for good reason. They're formulaic, feature really obnoxious characters, all look the same, and can often be misogynist power fantasies. On the other hand, they're very popular so they must be doing something right. Do you have any isekai that you think are really good, in terms of being fun to watch, artistically worthwhile, and not leaving you feeling gross afterward?
A couple ideas:
Inuyasha - this one's older, from when Isekai stories were usually Shoujo instead of Shonen. It's way too long, but has fun characters and cool monsters.
Tanya the Evil - "The Nietzschean Isekai". I won't spoil it, go watch the first five or so episodes for a wild anime ride. Unfortunately, Tanya the Evil never really progresses any further than the insane premise, so the second half really drags. Also, the art looks terrible and makes me feel terrible in my soul.
Re:Zero - Subaru's story has a lot of the Isekai tropes people hate, not least of all the character of Subaru himself. But, it's full of wild characters and bizarre situations. What I like about the plot is how it makes you think about the different perspectives of the characters as you uncover the reasons for their surprising actions.
I think one thing to look out for in isekai is and I hope I'm using the term right cultural imperalism. If the mc enters the world and starts teaching the residents there how to think and do that's a yikes from me.
Re-zero felt cool to me because the world and it's politics was alive so Subaru has to catch up and learn. Return by death is both powerful and weak because he can't just save spam he actually has to learn and overcome his short comings to progress.
One you haven't mention was digimon which I liked because it was a group of kids playing off each other. What I remembered about the third season I liked but that was more reverse.
There are some good fanfics that handle the genre well if you're interested. The first is a naturo fic where the author tries to weld canon with filler and make a breathing world, called Dreaming of sunshine. The other is a one piece one called This bites. They both are fans of the story and have to navigate the politics carefully. There is also effort in exploring the superpower system from an outsiders pov.
Yeah, the most unironic one that comes to mind is GATE (which I believe is still used in JSDF recruitment). It came out before GATE, essentially the same but outbreak company starts off with the protagonist being used as Japanese soft power against the inhabitants of the other world, but then he figures out and feels bad about the fact that he's an imperialist tool.
One that I like even though it follows this concept is that time I reincarnated as a slime. I justify it in my mind with the world is more a video game than anything really. I'm like 5 episodes in but I like it.
I'd posit that all your traditional "slop" anime comes from the same emotional desires. Japanese worklife tends to be shit, and they're looking for escapism. It comes in two flavors: 1. Having the freedom of adolescence again (aka the 50 million high school focused shows) 2. Deus ex machina gaining material control over their lives
"Trash Anime" is capitalist realism.
Re:Zero is the best for subverting the genre in its current state and not being another boring power fantasy.
That, and the episode "From Zero" never fails to make me cry.
Twelve Kingdoms is a good historical fantasy series with a lot of depth in its world/politics.
Here are some that I can think of off the top of my head (not necessarily anime tho)
Ride-on King is an isekai manga about a Putin-lookalike, ruler of fictional Russia who love riding animals transported into a fantasy world full of fantastical beasts that he'd would love to ride on. The art is great, the world building is surprisingly detailed and seeing the native population's reaction to a shirtless, jacked middle-aged man bare-handing monster and people to death is amusing.
Ascendance of a Bookworm is about girl who love to read book, reborn into a lower class family in a densely packed fantasy medieval city. The story focus on the everyday life aspect of a fantasy medieval community and the girl struggle through it. I haven't watched it but heard it's quite decent.
Worth the Candle is a western isekai webnovel, featuring a guy who's been transferred to what look like his unique, self-made tabletop world. The MC is put through nail-biting, tough situations one after another, fighting against different and exciting enemies, with a developed and unique cast of characters. The enemies he faced include thing like a sentient maze-prison, a murderous probability-controlling unicorn, the various masters of that world magic like a Gold Mage who gain power by hoarding gold and can telekinetically murdered people with high-speed projectile, accompanied by a Time Mage who can reverse his death,... The way he and his party get past each opponents is exciting and well thought out using whatever power in their possession, there are no asspulls or power of friendships and such. It does get a bit too hectic sometimes tho, with little times for the characters to rest.
Log Horizon is a good one. The story goes from a survival video game isekai to a story about the economic development of a nation and the effects of colonisation. Its still got some familiar anime tropes but the characters are all enjoyable and the story gets pretty interesting.
Not anime or even manga, but I really enjoy the webcomic Kill Six Billion Demons, which is isekai by the author’s admission. It’s reaching the climax right now, after several years. It’s got really fantastic world-building when you include the text posts below each page, and some pretty great art, especially the mystical/hellish cityscapes and trippy angels and demons and such. Female MC, as far as the misogynistic tropes are concerned.
