For those that understand Japanese, does "isekai" translating as "another world" include series where characters are teleported into game worlds (SAO, comes to mind)? Also, is the definition of "another world" loose enough to include a series about the following: astronauts landing on another planet to colonize it? For example, would colonizing Mars count as isekai in the "another world" sense? In this thread about isekai anime, when I asked that question, a guy named Adam claims it does: facebook.com/groups/englishdubbedanime/permalink/2559277474195684/?comment_id=2559279277528837.
I would say isekai has three definitions. First, in the literal sense, it would be (another world) and (an unfamiliar world). In a sense, Mars is definitely an isekai. The literal definition and the common usage are, as usual, different. Generally speaking, an isekai refers to a world separated from the Earth in a more fundamental manner than Mars would qualify for. With that said, obviously, Isekai Maou is an isekai. Assuming it's a real world, regardless of whether it was originally a game, it's an isekai. Sword Art Online does create a certain vagary in definitions. With that said, the third definition would be something like a genre, or an experience. In this case it isn't so much whether the events are physically on Earth, but whether the characters are experiencing a different version of life. Saying that, Kayaba Akihito actually explicitly made SAO as he did so that it would be a "real" world, and as a result, the players therein experienced in such a manner. You could go on to say that much of SAO's plot revolves around the meaning of "reality" and "world", and thus, the manners in which SAO is an isekai, and the manners in which it isn't, is fundamental to the overall arc of the story.
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No, because you are still in the same dimension or universe. It only applies in a literal sense when you're in another "world"; and in this context it means universe. The meta-verse (virtual world) can be a loose application as in the context of respective stories, the characters' souls or minds are transported to another "world". But most acknowledge literal dimension traversing as another world fantasies compared to Sword Art Online or VR trapped in a game scenario, unless said VR story is actually another physical "world".
異世界 This is the Japanese Kanji for isekai. There's 3 characters, "i" (ee), "se" (seh), and "kai" (like "buy", but with a K). Much like in English, words (although in this case, "characters) take on different meanings depending on how you use them. Ex: "Floor" (Noun) 1) A word referring to the ground inside a building 2) Referring to the different levels/stories in a building "Floor" (Verb) Ex: "Floor it!" Which is usually used in car chase scenes and is telling the driver to go at full speed. "Floor" (Adjective) 1) something which goes on the floor (Ex: A floor lamp) 2) something which is related to, or about, the floor (ex: Floor plans, Flooring details, etc) "i" - Strange, different, uncommon, unusual, wonderful, curious, etc. The meaning is along those lines. "se" - generation, world, society, public "kai" - kingdom, erathem, partition of land, world of (some category); (when used as "Sakai") boundary, area, region, spot, space, environment, psychological State, mental state Theoretically speaking, depending on context, "isekai", can also be used to describe the different worlds that each generation experiences. The world that the Holocaust generation faced is vastly different than the world of 2020. That being said, if you use the rmeanings "i" for "different" and "sekai" for "world", then generally speaking Mars would not be considered an "isekai" because the "sekai" here refers to a conceptual usage of "world", such as "the world of politics" or "the world of medicine" or "the world of 1980" and not actual, physical usages of the word "world" meaning "planets" such as Mars, Venus or Jupiter. SAO, the fictional video game, can be considered as an "isekai" as people actually lived and experienced things in that place (according to the story), but is not part of the physical reality of that universe (i.e. In the manga, it's not a planet you could go to from Earth with a rocket)
Sekai is more general as opposed to planetary. Also, unless I am missing something SAO still took place in the same world they just played a game.
In fact, there are some isekais based on the same dimension/universe, just different planets. One example would be Combatants Will Be Dispatched (transition between both worlds is difficult due to sheer distance, but could be made by non-teleportation means with enough time). As long as they are not flagged sci-fi (on which things become a bit fuzzier, since some may be and some may not), a different planet is still an isekai.
I don't really consider Combatants as an isekai, because in this context, it's a world as in planet rather than universe.
It's not what "you don't really consider", that would be your personal interpretation. In regards to genre it is classified as such. Take into account that the word "isekai" is nonspecific about the kind of "different", so it may be a different dimension, a different planet, a different universe or a different "anything" that can be addressed as a "world". In fact, some of the traditional "isekai" (before the genre started to boom around the change of century) have the "different world" being part of the very same planet and dimension, just with a change of rules (physics laws and common sense).
It seems my interpretation of what is an isekai aligns with the Internet's definition of an isekai. There being two types, "transition" and "reincarnation", and Combatants does not belong to either types. Log Horizon and Overlord are considered isekais, since the virtual world is an actual physical world in a different universe (dimension). Sword Art Online is an isekai, because though the story mostly takes place in a virtual world, it's still a different dimension. Combatants take place in the same universe is what you stated. Meaning it's just planetary or galactic travel.
Another thing to consider is that this might be a case of generic or vagueness on the Japanese end vs. specific on the non-Japanese. Generic or vague would be "isekai" translates as "another/different world". Specific would be something like how many non-Japanese people might interpret that to mean a literal physical alternate world and not a game world (SAO and Accel World come to mind).