this post was submitted on 19 May 2026
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I don't know why isekai ends up with so much slop (no AI relation intended) while the high fantasy genre gets certified bangers like Sousou no Frieren and Dungeon Meshi. I mean, take away the stereotypical protagonist and I don't see what isekai offers that you can't get from straight fantasy.
As I said, I like isekais, so I'm not trying to shit on the genre, but my working theory is that for a lot of authors, this is used as a narrative crutch. A helper setting that allows them to describe the world in contemporary terms. The dragons were "large as a school bus" instead of "one score feet long and as high as a korrexian wabbit can jump". Coming up with a working magic system is hard, but saying it's like video game skills is a lot easier. They might also find writing something that they know easier than tackling something unique for their first steps. And tracing back many animes to the source, it makes sense as well. Many shows start as web novels from hobbyist writers. It's no wonder they take to the isekai setting. It's popular, and it makes writing easier. It's a win-win in that regard.
On the flip side, this also means that many isekais are written by first-time authors writing glorified fan fiction, and it shows in the quality of many shows. So the problem is not the setting but the quality benchmark Kadokawa has for what gets picked up.
I realize my question could be read entirely rhetorical, but I appreciate the actually insightful answer.
A non-isekai fantasy means they have to write a believable in-world reason for the protagonist becoming who they are and why we should care, instead of just yoinking some nobody out of Japan into a fantasy world
Isekai allows amateur writers on Narou (the webnovel site most of these isekai originate from) to completely avoid worldbuilding or any need for original thought. So it ends up being a convenient thing to write, but for whatever reason people watch this slop. They adapted dozens of them into anime last year; hopefully we'll be seeing that scale back in the future.
The world needs another Record of Lodoss War OVA series. Peak animation, peak styling, just pure awesome bundled into a few episodes. Was it accurate to the source material? Yeah, for the source material they had (anime was made before the series finished so they had to invent the ending). But it felt fun. It felt like a genuine adventure. It was captivating.
I haven't had the same feeling from high anime fantasy, and I have watched a lot of it since.
Have you seen Clevatess? It's not quite the same, but it's the closest I've seen recently.