Rats In The House Of The Dead

Why Isekai Is An Excuse For Lazy Writing

A lot more isekai is being released now, with it being somewhat popular with some, but mocked by anime fans. I'm one of those anime fans, and I'm going to go through why I dislike the genre.

What Is Isekai?

It'd be good to explain what isekai is first. An isekai is an anime, manga, video game or lightnovel whose protagonist is originally from one world (usually the human world) but magically gets transported to another world. The most common way for a character to leave their original world is through death, i.e. getting hit by a truck.

They may be reincarnated in the new world, like becoming another species or random object.

Why I dislike the genre

I think that isekai is a way to use lazy writing, and I'll go through why. When you have a character start off in a fantasy world, they already know quite a bit about their surroundings. The writer has to come up with creative ways to explain to the reader/viewer how the world works. In isekai, the character knows nothing about the world they're in, so they can have everything explained to them. Think about it like this: You're suddenly in another world. What do you do? You ask someone where you are of course! So you ask, and if they're nice they'll tell you.

This is telling and not showing. It's easier to write, so less talented writers will use it.

I think isekai is popular for one main reason: escapism. By watching an isekai anime, the viewer can imagine how cool it'd be if they were transported to a fantasy world. It's easier to insert themselves onto a character also from the human world. Isekai plays into this, many isekai anime have protagonists who're otakus and gamers, making them more relatable.

I'm not saying that escapism is a bad thing, everyone does it, but it's apparent that isekai is popular for that one reason, and definitely not for th writing.