A few days ago, controversy erupted that author of “Gokudou-kun Manyuuki”, Usagi Nakamuramade a few statements in which he mentioned that the isekai anime lacked any originality, to the point that came to say What “I wonder if people are not ashamed to always write the same kind of stories“. And the truth is that I can understand where these comments are coming from, but at the same time, it seems to me that the discussion is enough for much more.
Is isekai anime a problem for the industry today?
And for that reason, I’m going to use my traditional checklist to argue what I mean in this case:
- More than a year and a half ago, I personally came to write an article in which I called isekai anime from the ‘best genre’ we had seen in the last decade of anime. In fact, I still think so, but at the same time I think it’s necessary to perform more than one nuance at this stage.
- I can honestly agree with Usagi Nakamura’s words, harsh as they are. As of today, There aren’t a few occasions where I completely lose interest in an early production when I see it’s another generic fantasy isekai. And I think it has both positive and negative readings.
- That there are so many similar productions means that people love it and keep using it. And honestly, it doesn’t seem bad to me to know that every season isekai will be released because in the end it’s content that always fills a void for you. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with continuing to produce the type of content that you know a lot of people enjoy, and if there is a time when people lose interest, then we will see how there will be a change in the trend in the production of works.
- On another side, If you are like me, you already go through many isekai, in the end you only see those that are rare or that may have something unique. For example, this summer, I’m going to see the uncle’s isekai who reborn as a vending machine of soft drinks Logic? Well no, but I’d rather see another story of ‘This time I reincarnated as a prince’s cousin and learned the greatest skill in the kingdom‘.
With all this, what I mean is that I fully understand Usagi Nakamura’s comments since they seem logical to me. The isekai genre has become a Landlord production that almost everyone seems to be able to replicate, but again, it’s because that’s what consumers want. Obviously here you can get into a moral discussion about why to write/draw, but in the end everyone has bills to pay.