There was an old thread "How did Isekai become so big" That was where I posted from https://forum.novelupdates.com/posts/4946822/ ------------- On another note "The Vision of Escaflowne" novels came out in 1996, "Fushigi Yugi" novels began in 1998. Zero no Tsukaima "Familiar of Zero" novels came out in 2004. I'm speaking in turns of being released in native country
These are few old jp isekai that I remember. No idea on oldest tho. Urashima Tarō(1899) Aura Battler Dunbine El Hazard Fushigi Yugi
Thank you! I’ll take a look at it but didn’t now escaflowne had a source material just thought gbhile pulled that out of its ass
that's only because the author died before he could finish it, I think around the same time the dude the wrote The Wheel of Time series passed too, and I agree I've seen folks stick that tag on almost anything the last year
If you really want iskei done right, go read or watch The 12 Kingdoms. First book out in 1992 IIRC. So as the responses have shown, Mushoku Tensei isn't even in the running for first or anywhere even close. It's just famous because kids forget that the world existed before they were born. lol.
The Eastern idea of "Land under the sea" isn't as secular as the Western idea of Atlantis. To them, it was another mystical realm. Something like "the land in the mirror" and the kingdom of the Sea Dragon God. It's shown in the end when he opens the box he was told not to and all of a sudden, old age caught up with him (different time flow).
I came across some translated zero no tsukaima chapters somewhere between 2005 and 2008. I didn't know what it was until later, (at the time I thought the translator [some guy who had also translated it into Arabic] had written it, along with the other story on that website, about some alien princess crashing through some dude's roof and living there [if that sounds familiar to anyone, please give me the title, I'd be interested to see if it's the same as I remember it]) but it was there, online, and had a different order of events than the anime or the excerpts I've seen of the light novel, so it was probably a web novel version. The point is, 2010 is definitely too late.
Mushoku Tensei started a phenomenon. That's it. Star Wars wasn't the first Space opera either Harry Potter wasn't the first wizard Arts novel either but they are genre defining
Old isekai that I know is The Vision Of Escaflowne, I also recall a reverse isekai/reincarnation where the aliens of a base in earth's moon reincarnated in modern (well not too modern since it was old 1986 ) and they have to figure out what kill them before the moon base is discovered by humanity as they fear it might also unleash whatever killed their species will cause extinction hence the name implied.