Why is isekai so popular when it's so terrible?

Fantasy has been popular even since Tolkien.
The mc being teleported from "real" world seems like a gimmick to skip coming up with an origin story before the plot gets going.

>>154145987
it's not really fantasy.
it is always some guy from the current time warped into a literal video game world.
and the worlds are always so bad.

Think about it. Like when you read or watch fantasy its pretty common to imagine how you would have handled it. So this is just the next step.

>>154146048
It is fantasy with excuses to not have deeply thought out anything.
>oh its a video game world lol, it doesnt need to have history or politics or factions besides baddies vs goodies
>oh the mc is from real world he doesnt need a set up for being the hero, he has magic powers because he has them as hes the mc.
>the world doesnt need races with their unique cultures and identities, they're just video game npcs :^), also sex doesnt exist in the world.

>>154145987
>The mc being teleported from "real" world seems like a gimmick to skip coming up with an origin story before the plot gets going.
More like it's a cheap way to turn self-inserting and wish-fulfillment up to eleven. Japanese loser getting transported to another world and effortlessly obtaining power, fame and women is a much better escapism material than some local villager becoming a hero.

Considering that most isekai use a stock vidya world with stock vidya mechanics and make MC op as fuck within chapter or two, pretty much throwing the staple of fantasy - worldbuilding and journey out of the window, it's quite obvious the genre is 100% focused on mass-producing the "feel good" material.

>>154145943
Chaika is Isekai though.
>Girl travel to another continent and can't understand their language and proceeds to speak like a retard.

>>154146159
Are people really desperate enough to watch the stream of bad isekai shows with the same clichéd characters over and over again?

It could be pretty fun.
But it did become popular, so they're throwing shit at wall to see what sticks. So, no quality standards at all.

>>154146048
No it's not expand what you read a little

>>154146365
it's almost like, different people have different opinions or something, hm weird

>>154146438
Different opinions are fine unless your opinion is objectively shit.

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>>154146365
Once your power level gets to like 300, you have seen pretty much everything anyway. All that's left are small differences in execution and a foolish hope that maybe this time author will do something creative.

>>154145943
Wish fulfillment

>>154146445
>opinions
>objective
what did he mean by this?

>>154146450
how many shows do you have to watch for your level to increase by 1?

It's not shit because Grimgar and Faraway Paladin exist

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>>154145943
>when it's so terrible?
That's the mentality I had so I never pick up isekai anime.
But then I end up watching them and enjoy them.
Isekai is so fun.

>>154145943
It's probably pretty easy to understand why people who enjoy some kind of fiction will often also like parody and deconstruction applied to it, right? Seeing tropes they're familiar with turned around or highlighted or whatever can let the audience feel sort of like they're smart for getting it, and comforted for being pandered to at the same time, basically. Well, isekai is just deconstruction applied to reality itself. It's appealing in the same ways, only to an even wider audience.

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>tripfag
>shit opinions
what a surprise!

You have to explain new world to audience so you take MC that is not from that world so you have reason to explain everything.

Also wish fulfillment and audience can better relate to MC

>>154146159
This, it's all escapism for the overworked japs, they gotta repress those suicidal thoughts somehow when they get home.

>>154145943
>tfw I try to write an Isekai but have no idea how to do it
How do the nips do it anyway?

>>154146820
I mean, grimgar was watchable but I wouldn't say that it was great or anything, the other one I haven't even heard of. Kumo desu ga is pretty fun though.

>>154147135
Kumo was great until it changed genres

>>154145987
>Fantasy has been popular even since Tolkien.
At least Tolkien went to the trouble to construct an actual world.
What's the point of a genre about "another world" if you are not going to bother to create a world to be the subject of your story, but rather just copy and paste a generic JRPG setting?

>>154147401
>making up things that don't happen
Even the shittiest Isekai invent different countries

>>154147401
re zero isn't an rpg world, not that I particularly liked re zero but there's plenty of isekai with constructed worlds

>>154145943
The majority is dumb.

>>154147114
well, first you start off with a truck.....

>making this thread when Youjo Senki is airing this season

>>154147429
Different countries which are just copied and pasted from generic JRPG settings again.

>This is European kingdom #1
>This is European kingdom #2
>This is the token Empire
>This is the token Republic
>This is the country of the demons
>This is the country of the kemono friends
>This is the country where the rice and soy sauce comes from so MC can cry nostalgically

>>154147483
i don't follow...

>>154147506
It's good

>>154147501
Don't you think you're a tryhard, now?

>>154147501
so like lord of the rings

>>154147483
No isekaifaggots are watching it. It's too /pol/ for them.

>>154147501
Japanese isekai has harem common isekai has not. So it's unique.

>>154145943
It can't be terrible if it's popular.

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>>154147501
>>This is the country of the kemono friends

>>154147564
So Naruto is a masterpiece among masterpieces?

>>154147564
That assumes that people that like it aren't terrible.

>>154146365
Considering how shitty life is for the average Japanese wage slave, yeah. If I had to work 10-12 hours everyday without overtime I'd want some shitty power fantasy to escape my awful life.

>>154147564
>>154147585
popularity / number of lowest common denominators = quality

Will we ever get isekai similar to Now and Then, Here and There? It's not a bad concept at all, but video game mechanics and OP MCs are a deal breaker for me.

>>154147564
>Attention/popularity = Quality
HAHAHAHA

I wouldn't really care about any Isekai if it has alot of adventure in it. I'm a sucker for those things.

Konosuba is the funniest anime i've seen the last 2 years. I don't necessarily like it because it's isekai, but because the characters are hilarious and Aqua is my waifu, and the MC isn't an annoying whiny fag

>>154147585
I'm not him but please use your brain when translating other people posting. You're implying it wrong.

>>154147672
Could your repeat that, ESL? I didn't quite get that.

>>154147666
you must be over 18 to post here

>>154147687
Do you even have graduated from elementary school. I'm certain you cannot even read alphabet.

>>154147741
I no understand you. Speak better please.

>>154147691
Haha jokes on you i'm twenty f.... .. i think i'm getting too old to talk about waifus

>>154147564
on \a\ its terrible cause its popular

It's funny when 99% of the problems /a/ complains the isekai genre have don't even show up in isekai anime because they're quarantined to shitty light novels and web novels that nobody wants to adapt.

The only complaint that might actually apply is "le video game world XD".

>>154147917
>don't even show up in isekai anime
Death March is coming. It will come.

>le video game world XD
Well, that one actually is a problem.

>>154147965
I actually prefer arifureta than death march because DM just too sol at later chapter.

>>154147965
>Death March
Dear god this is formulaic as it gets, it practically ticks all the boxes. Right off the bat the setting gets infodumped on you (partially via a video game interface no less) and you get your typical DRAGONS and BEASTKIN (who are enslaved and discriminated against) and ELVES and DEMON RACE (who are chaotic evil) and the DEMON KING who is destined to be defeated by the HERO.

>>154148048
You forgot about max level since chapter one.

All of isekai reads like the cringy fanfic of a nerd who got bullied too much at school.

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>(I've Already Saved This World and Taken Its Wealth and Power and I Live Happily in a Castle with a Female Knight and Demon Queen, So) To All Other Heroes Stay Out of This Fantasy World.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2017-03-02/.112853

>>154148179

Wow, this guy has read all isekai LNs out there, even though he hates it!

>>154148179
I want to hear your reasoning don't care how stupid it is.

I blame LH for these wave of game mechanic Isekai.

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>I was a 30 year old virgin neetrat hiki loser who smells bad and who everyone hates but then I got run over by a truck and now I live in a fantasy world where I'm a lvl 99 superknight wizard demigod and I have a huge harem of women irrationally lusting after my dick while I save the world and am loved by all!

>>154145943
Because a/ is made of neckbeards. It reflects their IQ.

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>>154148294
perfect summary

>isekaishit
>RPG mechanics

please stop

>>154148294
So you're implying isekai is all religion that promise paradise after dead?

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>>154148226
>it'll be the most talked about anime on /a/ when it airs

>>154148294
>.gif
>doesn't move

>>154148294
Its always a generic highschooler whos a good looking virgin who wants to maintain nonsexual relationship with his harem so nothing changes

>>154148294
at least isekai requirement is a gamble of luck. Religion just need ti be a member to have those.

>>154148445
>62kb for more than one frame

>>154148294
pretty much mormonism in a nutshell

>>154145943
Escaflowne
Terrible

Magic Knight Rayearth
Terrible

Muv-Luv
Terrible

Go fucking kill yourself.

>>154148495
Please your brain next time before posting because i'm certain you're missing the point.

>>154148537
Why don't you follow your own advice, autist?

>>154148542
>use your brain

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>>154148294
Name one (1) anime that did this.

>>154148537
All the titles you listed hold up on their own merits instead of existing solely to be cheap otaku escapism bullshit like your average isekaishit, which is why none of them count as isekaishit.

>>154148656
>No true Scottsman

>>154146111
>Like when you read or watch fantasy its pretty common to imagine how you would have handled it

I don't.

>>154147501
>This is the country where the rice and soy sauce comes from so MC can cry nostalgically
Hey man Samurai Jack is a good anime

>>154145943
Isekai is not inherently bad, even the wishfulfillment kind. But most of the time it's handled poorly. In a "MY GOD IT WOULD BE SO MUCH BETTER IF EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER WOULD SHUT UP FOR THE REST OF THE SERIES" way

>>154147759
>is over 20
>still thinks konosuba is funny
That is just sad...

>>154146365
I bet you watch the same western TV shit every time too.

>>154148818
Samurai Jack IS isekai, isn't it?

>>154150020
It's time travel.

>>154150123
How is it truly different

>>154150762
Because it's still the same world just at a distant future.

>>154145943
>Why is naruto so popular when it's so terrible?
>Why is bleach so popular when it's so terrible?
>Why is transformers so popular when it's so terrible?
>Why is call of duty so popular when it's so terrible?
>Why is reddit so popular when it's so terrible?
>Why is /a/ so popular when it's so terrible?

>Why is fantasy so popular?

>>154150799

So you can make isekai forgivable by adding a disclaimer, "this takes place ten thousand years in earth's past/future"

>>154146159
I don't get where this idea of "I need the MC to be just like me with the same origins and lifestyle" for self-insert/wish-fulfillment/escapism to work. Especially considering most people on /a/ who like this genre aren't Japanese and cannot relate to many aspects of Japanese lifestyle.

The whole point is to pretend you are somebody else. Being similar to you is not a prerequisite for that state of mind. Making the main character a hikkiNEET loser doesn't make escapism easier. I self insert into girls all the time. This meme is dumb.

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Isekai is the ultimate format to write;
development, characters, plot, world building.
It writes itself if you just start writing, it's a godsend for beginners and experienced writers to let loose, this is the golden age of jap writers.
It has just begun.

>>154150982
They're told to "write what they know"

Hence LN authors filling an entire chapter with a description of how the main character made a hamburger

>>154151052
No, I mean using "it's wish fulfillment because it has a normal guy going to fantasy world" as an argument. Every anime is wish fulfillment. CGDCT doesn't have males and is wish fulfillment and escapism. if not moreso. Look at a /yys/ thread. The protagonists origin story and character doesn't play into how much I insert myself into the world. If there's no male character, I'm looking at the girls. If there is a male MC I'm still looking at the girls. It doesn't make a difference.

>>154145943
escaping this world and existing somewhere the normal rules don't apply has always been popular for a long time for example about The chronicles of Narnia or the major religions.

>>154152387
But Narnia is actually good and well written unlike all of this japanese shovelware

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>>154152577
>Narnia is actually good and well written

>>154152801
t. weebfaggot that thinks nippon can do no wrong

>>154152853
Narnia was trash

>>154152801
>>154153227
Look at those convincing arguments

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>>154152853
t. westerfag

Why are you so upset when japs beat you?

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>>154152577
>Narnia was good

Did you guys read the Narnia books or are you talking about the shit movie(s)?

>>154148226
how is that not literally rance

>>154153735
>reading fiction books other than anime with lots of big tiddies
are you 10 years old?

>>154153858
is this some reddo joke i don't get?

>>154153899
I'm serious.

>>154145943
Why is SoLshit so popular when it's so terrible?

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>>154150972
No, iskeai means in another world
Take helck for example
>medival setting
>diffrent demi-human and non-human creatures
>magic
It use to be like our world but things got wiped out, evolved differently and started over

>>154152853
>t.

I want you to crawl back to whatever mongoloid hellhole it was that spawned you and take this forced meme with you

>>154154659
Just because it's "Earth" by the strictest of definitions doesn't mean it is not fundamentally isekai. When the world is unrecognizable, it's not the same world.
Futureshifted stories are pretty much the exact same concept as isekai.

>>154145943
Why is school setting to popular, when it's so terrible?

>>154155382
>Just because it's "Earth" by the strictest of definitions doesn't mean it is not fundamentally isekai. When the world is unrecognizable, it's not the same world.

It is the "same" world exept for you. Lets say that you returnd to some place that you have not been for years and now is complitly diffrent. That doesn't mean its a different world, it is infaxt the same world because the world is ever changing.
For it to be isekai it would require to be send to alternative reality, not timeline although you could argue that thoes two are not so diffrent. But the timeline one is something thats happening to your reality

>>154156163
If the worlds are so different that the only reason one can conceivably consider the same is because they are told so, they're not the same at all. It's the spirit of the matter, damn it.

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>>154153584

>>154156200
So now time travel is also isekai
Whatever floats your boat

>>154156492
By your logic "teleported into a game" isn't Isekai either since the game is inside the real world

>>154156619
wait so now SAO is an isekai? i mean its already shit so that fits in the isekai genre

>>154156862
yes you fucking retard

>>154156945
chill, anon. they are just chinese drawings. and books.

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>>154157009
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>>154156862
Nope, since video game world is not a real world no matter how you cut it. Isekai=Transported to a different world not a video game. That world having maybe 'video game mechanics' doesn't matter since its still a real wrold with real people not NPCs

>>154151049

shame Re:Monster is completely shit though. Even Arifureta manages to be less masturbatory.

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>>154157033
>being this mad over 2d and 1d
>>154157108
>re:monster being more masturbatory than arifureta
don't get me wrong, re:monster is retardedly self masturbation material for escapist nips. but arifureta is so absurdly bad, theres not even a semblance of sense in the shit the guy pulls sometimes.

>>154156408
It's hilarious when you think about it, the absolute failure of pearl harbor and then Americans show Japan how a surprise attack is done right and literally do exactly what Japan was trying to do at Pearl but without failure.

>>154156619
Theres a difference between "game like" and "game" and even if the alternative reality is super similar theres a bunch of factors
>do people in our world can see you
>can they interact with you through their avatars
>are you inside a simulation

Lets say you were "isekaied" into your favorite mmo. Can you interact with players from our world? If yes then its not really an iseekai but if it has no connection to our world besides story and geographical locations its possible to be in alternative univers since there's an infinite number of AU. A lot of isekai storys change details like a destroyed cities or different rebalance of magic that are not ingame features so its not really (insert mmo title here).

Simulations are like SAO. Although its a "different world" they still have physical connection to our world therefore not isekai.

>>154157213

The difference for me is when Arifureta is self aware. Re:Monster just endlessly jerks itself off and any moment it looks like Rou could be inconvenienced it's immediately powered through. In one moment he loses a arm against a rare monster, the next he finds a artifact to replace the arm.

Arifureta is a poorly written power fantasy with a little bit of revenge porn thrown in. I rank it slightly higher because at least it revels in what it is and makes fun of itself. The author is having fun I guess. It's still jerking itself off, but it's absurd enough to feel like it's mocking itself while Re:Monster is just pure jerking off in your face 100% of the time.

>>154156619
By your gogic "going outside my attic" is isekai

>>154157946
Logic*

>>154157946
by his logic, going to japan is isekai.

>>154158021
By this logic "going anywhere on this planet" is isekai

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>>154145943
Isekai in particular is an incredibly popular genre and that is perfectly understandable if you think about it.

Also, where does the misconception come from that isekai is about fantasy?

>>154158021
The MC of Nirvana got transported to another world while traveling overseas. Is it a double isekai going by this logic?

>>154159991
A lot of fantasy stuff plus it's the easiest world to create.