I'm not a huge fan of the isekai genre, but that doesn't mean I hate it either; its ubiquity is what makes me wonder why people don't just make straight up fantasy anime.
Frieren for example would be terrible if Frieren was actually some random person from earth who got sent into her setting (or, as Frieren's whole thing is outliving her comrades, her purple haired protege was the isekai'd protagonist); I understand how the isekai nature of an anime can also affect the anime, for example a character who has modern world knowledge he applies in the setting, or modern world tech, but if he just becomes a part of it, and NOTHING from his real life has any impact on the setting....then what's the point?
Overlord for example (which I didn't enjoy to be honest; I googled if he ever faces a challenge and nope, entire series and he has zero things that can challenge him) would not have been affected if he was just some lich who woke up a thousand/hundred years later.
Konosuba benefits from the isekai genre in that the isekai elements keep being relevant throughout (Spoilers:
spoiler
for example that guy who chose to reincarnate into the world with a powerful sword that Kazuma stole, or Kazuma dying and Aqua's replacement reviving him repeatedly, or that the demon lords at some point realized all their most annoying hero enemies keep starting in this one town and so decide to attack it, or that ancient scientist who turns out to be have been an isekai'd hero who creates stuff inspired by stuff he was a fan of
Most isekai animes today just seem to be wish fulfillment harem animes, which are a problem on their own as well, but they're paired with being isekais too (if you're wondering why I didn't make a thread on wish fulfillment harem animes, it's cause by and large I avoid them like the plague).
There are some interesting POST isekai stories that I found fascinating, stories where the characters came back from the isekai world and had their powers with them; in one case some of the heroes become devastatingly powerful villains who destroy entire cities, in another case it's a comedy about some guy who comes back and....could have been funnier without the ecchi/SA nonsense happening throughout.
Animes like SAO (which I didn't find interesting beyond the first story) make the other world an entirely false world and never let you forget the characters are real people who can actually die in the real world (sort of an anti-isekai genre).
In general, if they're not going to benefit from being isekai....then just make them normal fantasy. So many good fantasy animes out there that would have been hurt by making the protagonist just an isekai'd character.
I don't care about isekai genre in general, feels like the kind of genre where after you've seen the most popular one or two, then any more and you're basically just watching worse copies of the same thing.
but any good anime recommendations for this subgenre?
A Gatherer's Adventure in Isekai just finished a season and it's not GOOD in the sense that it has a unique or compelling setting or main character BUT:
In 12 episodes they still didn't turn the MCs little dragon buddy into a little girl
He's bffs with a big lizard man AND instead of "I, the MC, must keep SECRET that Ive been isekai'd" the guy asks him why he's so weird and he just straight up tells him
The elf lady who he befriends is canonically trans and it isn't played for laughs aside from the MC going "huh, isn't that weird" and everybody else is like "no it's perfectly normal. duh." And then it isn't really brought up again
when the bar is in hell these things make an isekai stand out