A recent post on a comment forum in Japan has sparked intense debate among anime and video game fans. The hot topic at hand is the overexploitation of genres”isekai” and “virtual worlds”which have flooded the entertainment industry in recent years.
- «We must stop talking about “isekai” and “virtual worlds.” In the past, when you said “it’s an anime like (x)”, it was automatically dismissed as a copy without even watching it, did you know that? That’s why there were so many original video games and stories in the past. I know you’ll probably call me old for saying this, but I think settings and plots are too simple nowadays.».
The author of the post begins by reflecting on how, in the past, mentioning that one anime was similar to another automatically disqualified it as a simple imitation, without even giving it a chance. This attitude, according to the author, led to a greater diversity of video games and original stories in the past.
The post has generated a wide range of responses from forum users, some supporting the author’s opinion and others defending the popularity of the “isekai” and “virtual worlds” genres. The debate over originality and quality in anime and video game narrative continues to be a hot topic in the Japanese fan community.
- «I regularly see topics like isekai and reincarnations abounding out there, but many believe that if you deny something that is popular it is because you are a moron who feels unique».
- «I think this is already a format. As if the protagonist is a footballer, the field is the stage. I rate it based on whether what is developed in it is interesting or not.».
- «A fucking idiot who only wants to believe that his favorite works from his youth were original. He produces an enormous amount of works in a fashionable style, and then geniuses of that genre emerge, and based on that, he becomes fashionable again. There is always something to base a work on, even if it seems original to you.».
- «Garbage is garbage. Another World’s Reincarnation is garbage from the moment the genre is defined, and even then, if there are enough people, there will be a certain number of outliers, but in the end, the genre itself is garbage no matter how you look at it. you look, and it has no significance».
- «I am quite impressed by the originality of the “isekai” approach, yes. From royal adventures to exile reversals, rise to power, managing fiefs/states, slow living, making things, etc., you can do it all you want».
- «That’s like saying to a mystery play: “Stop telling stories where people die and they find out who did it.” It is a game of daring to accept the limits of the genre and where to differentiate».
- «History says that it can be imitated. If it is a bizarre setting, you have no ideas to develop».
- «And the period of mass production of fighting manga after Kinnikuman? Just a trend of the time».
- «I’m seeing things like how much they can twist a similar setting, and how the quality of the author and the comicalization can make a total difference. Although I think there are many cumulative series apart from the isekai».
- «Well, I understand that clients who have been left without a market want to speak out. But I don’t agree that they should be destroyed.».
- «Well, buy and support a dense idealistic work, man. I am seeing many dense works that must have been planned and approved with the best efforts of the industry itself and young people being canceled due to lack of good initial sales. Most only buy by the name of the author or the fashionable genre».
- «Generally, only people who say that “the old days were better” do not realize how limited their knowledge and field of observation used to be. They don’t realize that they have changed».
Fountain: Yaraon!
