anime is almost comparable to
You could even call
The definition of Isekai is “different world”, and the anime genre started well before the 2000’s. Though it’s not actually an official anime genre like
How Isekai Anime Started
There aren’t too many anime you can point to, but Magic Knight Rayearth is one of the oldest Isekai out there.
This anime started in the early 1990’s and didn’t get as much coverage as titles like
3
Their mission is to restore the world of Cephiro and help master mage clef who’s in danger.
Nobody cared about
That’s the genre that dominated at the time.
Related: How Anime Has Radically Evolved In The Past 57 Years
anime in the early 2000’s
One anime you won’t know of if you grew up in the 90’s or 2000’s is .Hack//Sign.
Not the best name for an anime (I didn’t know of it myself) but it’s one of the main Isekai of early 2000’s.
Even to this day it’s a respected anime for what it brought to the table in terms of innovating, and delivering something fresh anime had never done before.
While it’s true the relatively small fan base of this anime LOVE it, that wasn’t enough to “shoot” the anime to mainstream success.
I can’t comment on the quality of Hack//Sign compared to modern Isekai, but I put its “failure” down to its timing.
- Death Note.
- Naruto.
- One Piece.
- Bleach.
- Fullmetal Alchemist.
- Eureka Seven.
- Clannad.
Romance,
Timing played an important role here. It’s the #1 reason for
It wasn’t
Related: The Most Popular Genres In The Anime Industry
anime from 2006-2010+
The Familiar Of Zero (2006).
This anime aired from 2006, a harem,
This anime had better success than Hack//Sign. You could even call it “mainstream”, even in 2020.
But it still wasn’t enough to make “Isekai” trendy
As you can see – the trend line for
Nobody cared enough because it didn’t have enough appeal. And anime hadn’t reached “that point” yet as far as acceptance.
But then – “Sword Art Online” happened in 2012
And before the trolls claim SAO isn’t an
Here’s an accurate snippet from Wikipedia:
“The .hack franchise (2002 debut) was one of the first to present the concept of Sword Art Online (also 2002 debut) following in its footsteps.”
Nobody wants to admit it because they love bashing Sword Art Online. But feelings aside – SAO is the reason
Ever since the release of this massive anime, which piracy probably helped succeed, the genre exploded and hasn’t slowed down since.
Google Trends proves it
Source: Google Trends.
When you pay attention to the line and the red arrow – this is the point when Sword Art Online is released.
Not long after this event – you can see the insane growth of the term “Isekai” according to Google.
The steep upward trend ever since is undeniable and it’s all thanks to
How Sword Art Online played an important role
Sword Art Online succeeded where .Hack//Sign failed. Timing played an important role.
The HYPE for this anime (and
The dark atmosphere, the cold concept of “dying” in real life if you die within a game, and the dangers of that… These are the few elements that pushed SAO into the mainstream.
In fact – it’s the reason it went beyond the mainstream and is now synonymous with Isekai.
Since then – we’ve had:
- Season 2.
- SAO Ordinal Scale.
- Alternative Gungale Online.
- Alicization.
Plus video
SAO Ordinal Scale surpassed Your Name for the success it managed to pull off.
Isekai
- Log Horizon.
- The Devil Is A Part Timer.
- Re:Zero.
- Konosuba.
- Tensei Slime.
- Shield Hero.
- No Game No Life.
All 7 of these anime are successful in their own ways. Each with their own loyal fan base.
Re:Zero, Konosuba and No Game No Life are the most popular of all 7 series (in general).
Once
The granddaddy of Isekai
Unsurprisingly – SAO is still the most successful
But as far as where the
The popularity is there, so it’s only a matter of time until we see a “new”
–
Recommended:
Why Sword Art Online Is An Isekai, And How It Became The FATHER Of The Genre
This Is Why Mecha Anime Is HATED So Much (And Why It’s Not A Great Genre)
Very interesting and helpful article for Isekai. Its true a lot hate on SAO. So funny. I think most of us got into anime cause of Dragon Ball Z 🙂
Tell me, is Inuyasha worth a watch?
Inuyasha is well worth it. Underappreciated classic.
I don’t think you actually defined the genre except noted how it differed from aother genre which I am ignorant about (shouen?). You gave plenty of examples and I guess this would add value to those already in the know. .. Just looked up Shonen- its ‘gay but not lewd’ or some such. Ive seen Attack on Titan but don’t remember it particularly well.. I guess I’ll see what duckduckgo says about it. (seems I’m less tolerant of Google’s biases. For instance (since we’re on the topic of “gay stuff” Googling or wikpedia’ing yayoi won’t result in any mention of anime of that theme, but rather the ancient ancestors of the modern Japanese folk with that name in the 1st century, and a mega-popular artist, etc.To a degree this could be explained by a combination of left and right wing interests. The left doesn’t want to associate two already marginalized populations, and the right is scared that by knowing what such a thing is, we might be inclined to actually watch some content with that label. Both groups essentially pushing back against the hypothetical (read: fictitious) gay agenda.)
huh. Duckduck says it means “accidental travel to another world/dimension.” I wonder if The Matrix qualifies as an early non-anime example? Or even HG Wells _The Time Machine_, with its secret underground scary-subhumanoids.
Okay, so… I think I know what happened here.
“Yayoi” is an ethnic group, true.
However, the word you are looking for is “yaoi” Yaoi is actually a combination of words. “YAmanashi Ochinashi Iminashi” means “no climax, no context, no plot.” Once upon a time, the term was used to refer to fan works that depicted popular male characters from mainstream manga in explicit sexual circumstances. Basically, the sex was the only point. Over time, it became a real genre of its own focused on relationships between men.
“Shounen” is not “gay but not lewd.”
I think you may have looked up “shounen” but accidentally read the definition of “shounen ai.”
“Shounen” is a term meaning a young or teen male, and shounen manga is typically meant to attract young male readers.
In Japan, “shounen ai” was once colloquially used to mean “romance between young or teen boys” (the term “shounen” meaning “young male” and the term “ai” meaning “love”). However, people have started to move away from the use of this word, because it has a dark historical connotation: It could refer to a relationship between a prepubescent or pubescent male and an adult male. Pedophilia is gross, y’all.
In the west, we don’t have the same historical context, so we sometimes still use the word and differentiate it from yaoi.by saying that shounen ai is more “innocent” and deals with the romance without any sexually explicit situations, while yaoi deals with more mature themes.
tl;dr
“Yayoi” is an ethnic group and has nothing to do with yaoi.
“Yaoi” is a genre depicting homoerotic relationships between men.
“Shounen” is a word meaning “young male” and is an anime/manga genre targeted at young and teen male audiences. Naruto, One Piece, and Dragonball Z are examples.
“Shounen ai” is an anime/manga genre depicting romantic relationships between young or teen boys, but the term has mostly fallen out of use.
Interesting comment to say the least. And I agree as far as biases when searching certain things relating to anime and manga, and where you search it.
The definition of Isekai is “another world”. Meaning the characters themselves are in a world separate from the original.
Shonen is anything targeted towards a young male audience, but that’s another story.