Why Are Isekai Novels So Popular

Don't get me wrong, I like them too, like now I am reading 我夺舍了魔皇 and 全球高武, works about xianxia with twist. The jokes are nice, the lore is... ok, just refrain from shoving 盘古 and 女娲 up my face so many goddamn times. And please do little on the ascend to ascendence and villains coming in standard arrogant families format. CCG is the one that made me hate xianxia cuz it broke the pattern, but now I am not in the mood to continue it though.

 

This is pretty sad. This thread is obviously tongue in cheek
If you think insulting someone makes you or them innocent then I pity all of you.
You remind me of self righteous people who commit murder in the name of righteous.
Instead of attacking problems, people attack people.
That is why this world is such a shitty place.
Thanks anyway.
My ignore list has grown.

Anyway, I deserve a trophy for starting a three-page discourse. I am so awesome!

 

Well, it'd be difficult to completely write off the cultural context. Go too far, and there is risk of rejection by readers. For popular fiction (like isekai) which I believe relies on readers identifying with the characters, there needs to be the comfort of familiarity to ease readers into the story. Wouldn't it be better to simply change some aspects (like MC's status/job/quality of life) instead of a total overhaul? For example, having isekaied work-slaves living "freely" laid back and/or slow lives in other worlds.

 

Wow you clearly misunderstood me.

I am not defending the very people who derailed your previous thread which obviously made you upset in fact. I'm just trying to help out. The people that i was talking about is the people that are not present in the previous thread of yours.

I'm just simply saying If you can no longer handle the people who got off-topic in the thread that you created, you can always ask the moderators for some help what's the use of @Tony assistants if you don't bother asking them?

To begin with this whole debacle started with the derailment of your previous thread.

 

Isekais are just easier to relate. Most of the protagonists are either young boys or average office workers who also face the most pressure in Japanese society. Their schooling system is very hard and too strict, there is intense financial tension. The suicide rates in Japan are very high. With the amount and way of the wish fulfillment, it is an easy escape from all the stress.

 

You're saying anyone from anywhere in the world who reads fiction wants to escape reality because their lives aren't as good? Sure, that makes sense.

 

Because their easy to write, they're formulaic, they pander to otaku wish fufillment, and all the really need to differentiate themselves is an interesting gimmick.

 

Stop putting words in my mouth.
Geez.
You are the one making ridiculously broad generalizations

 

China was actually ahead in the curve compared to the others with their wuxia and xianxia traditions of "other worlds", the only thing that is recent is if the MC comes from "Earth".

 

because we're all sick of living and would love to be isekai'd

 

...actually, it does not seem tongue in cheek. it sounded like someone carrying on a grudge. I only know it is tongue in cheek because of your previous trolling but those that just got to know you would think you are serious. Internet type written words are not suitable to transmitting emotion so when writing, you need to assume that your "emotion" is not going to be carried across so satire and mockery needs to be done in word form or very heavy handed to make it obvious. Just saying since you seem to miss this point.

 

I think the trend of going to another world is just returning. Or the audience for it has returned after a break.

If I recall the whole Isekai genre only budded for a small international community. there were already other stories with cross-world type troupes.

Like Magic Knight Rayearth (1994), The Vision of Escaflowne (1996), Fushigi Yuugi (1995).

I mean people could probably google search the crossing into a different world, parallel world thing and you see that there are blips where its a trending thing and then stops and then comes back again.

With web novels, I know Mushoku Tensei and Tate no Yuusha, they brought back the Isekai community in around the 2013-2014 Era.

It's only 2018 & up that its coming back again.

 

Here's an oldie, Aura Battler Dunbine "Seisenshi Dunbine" (1983).

Spoiler: Synopsis from MyAnimeList

Shou Zama is an ordinary 18-year-old from Tokyo who finds himself summoned to the medieval fantasy world of Byston Well. Upon arrival, he is put into service under the ambitious lord Drake Luft, who seeks to greatly expand his power. Those like Shou who come from "Upper Earth" possess strong aura power and are ordered to pilot "Aura Battlers," insectoid mecha designed by a man named Shot Weapon, who also came from Upper Earth.

I mean, I know the medium of choice is novels lately, but the trope or the genre has been in existence for quite some time.

People like it, some people hate it, you can like it until you get burnt out, or you could never have enough of it. Either way, once people get their fill, then we'll probably pick up another genre.

I mean I can also add, that as of late RPG-style novels/ manga/ manhua/ manhwa are making its rounds.

 

I even added an emoji. It was obvious as night and day.
You simply have people who get offended if you point out any issues in Japan.
They use whataboutism and call people idiots.
It is possible to have critical discussions without calling people idiot or attacking people who disagree with you.
You underestimate the obsession, the grass is always greener on the other side.
There are Kpop fans who go to Korea to get Korean boyfriends

 

It's popular because it is in itself an interesting concept. Starting from childhood when we were read fairy tails most kids at least on some level wanted to go to the fairy tale, or people are interested in what would happen if a modern person time travels back in time, and isekai basically provides the outlet for that interest. Granted, most of them are just game-like power fantasies, which are fine for killing time and turning off your brain. There were some "western isekai" kid novels, where kids were transported to another world, long before the popularity of isekai.

 

Cause if it ain't broke, don't fix it... but that's a boring answer indeed.

What if the Japanese authors just want complete creative freedom that any fantasy world can give but with an MC that would be easy to connect with, and what's an easier to connect MC than one that's an "average JP person", sprinkle references that won't feel out of place since MCs from the "real world" anyway.

 

Oh, wow, this is getting derailed into something else. Nothing is wrong with discussing what is bad about a particular country or culture, but that is not what you are doing. It seems like you've never actually been to Japan and never talked to a real Japanese person, made a bunch of assumptions about the state of mind of Japanese people, and just throwing shit up in the air and looking on whose head it will land. I actually know quite a few Japanese people who live in the US and in Japan. They do not want to escape Japan and Japanese culture, on the contrary, they miss it quite a lot if they move to a different country and many of them go back to Japan. And from personal experience - people who live in a certain society from birth just accept it as "this is how things are" most of the time. Well, and Japan is not a bad country where people get prosecuted and killed. Strict discipline is not really a bad thing, tbh.

Do correct me if I am wrong about your experience with Japan and Japanese people... Perhaps you did go there and couldn't handle living in the country?

 

I won't dignify your drivel with a response.

 

My thread was so effective given how I have been attacked by the as Japan sympathizers. Isekai novels are so great that is why a Japanese award ceremony banned it.
I guess it is so difficult to fathom for some that I actually want to talk about isekai stories
The ignorance on here can be so..
https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/isekai-is-now-banned-in-kadokawa-contest.38148/
https://goboiano.com/kodansha-bans-isekai-and-teen-heroes-in-light-novel-contest/

 

Never been there before, can't speak a word of it and they killed an uncle of mine in WWII. Can't be bothered with them. My point was that you're not really getting your real emotions or intent across, that is not a problem with Japan but with how you're writing.