Isekai is old as heck

[RepresentingEnvy]

Sanest take


If you equate isekai to portal fantasy, there's no point in using the word "isekai", and yet people still do

Also, you should worry first about what your fellows refer by "isekai" when they make their statement. Language, words, and categories have no real basis except fulfilling sortal function for convenience of communication.

You interpret "Isekai is a fad" as "portal fantasy is a fad", but what they could mean is "stories like mushoku tensei, re:zero, slime tensei, konosuba are a fad". As you can see, these two statements are radically different.

You could rename dogs as "cat" on the basis that they both have four paws, a tail, and a cute mug, and no one would care. This would only hurt yourself and your interaction with society by creating misunderstanding. Like someone would say "cat are easy to take care of" and you would retort "cats (dogs) need a lot of attention and care!".

There's no real authority when it comes to communication. Even dictionnaries or encyclopedia can only attempt to vaguely point out characteristics, but there will always be a tricky bastard who enjoy finding loophole in definition to shove something absurd into it.

If you offer a soup to your friend and it turns out to be a bowl of cereal, their reaction won't be "haha, that's right, cereals in milk fits the definition of soup". No, it will be "this bastard is a sociopath, and I really should reconsider our friendship". In such a case, definitions should be improved to describe the usage of the word soup more accurately in society, instead of necessarily just accepting cereal bowl as a soup.

Sorting reality comes first and definition comes after. Corty refers to @Corty. You can have fun defining Corty as a person who post AI-generated cute girls and no one would care. Then according to that logic defined, you could call @RepresentingEnvy Corty and you'll be internally consistent. The only issue is that other people will look at you strangely like you're an autistic retard because everyone else agree in another usage of Corty. In this context, the genre "isekai" might poses a similar problem that if you reduce it to a single characteristic and shove all kind of absurd titles in that category, everyone will look at you funny.

Even the word sandwich can be up to debate:

In conclusion, yeah portal fantasy isn't a fad alright, but maybe you're pushing the "isekai" genre way beyond its common usage from readers.

If you tell me that Dante's Inferno is an isekai and there's no filler chapter praising the japanese cuisine and the nostalgia of rice and soy sauce, you'd leave me with no choice but to question your trustworthiness.

Yea, Corty (me) is a dumb girl.

I want to frame this.

And it's also my alt! Muhahahaha

 

[Corty]

Yea, Corty (me) is a dumb girl.

And it's also my alt! Muhahahaha

I'm your intrusive thoughts.

Adding to the topic:

Isekai = Japanese story where MC gets transported to another world.

Thread closed. Anybody thinking about anything else is wrong because if you mention isekai nobody who heard that word before is thinking about Dorothy and her red leather dickstomper.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

I'm your intrusive thoughts.

Adding to the topic:

Isekai = Japanese story where MC gets transported to another world.

Thread closed. Anybody thinking about anything else is wrong because if you mention isekai nobody who heard that word before is thinking about Dorothy and her red leather dickstomper.

Well, yes, but actually no. (Me, an American Vampire, writing Isekai on SH.)

 

[Corty]

Well, yes, but actually no. (Me, an American Vampire, writing Isekai on SH.)

Exceptions are not the rule my Queen.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Exceptions are not the rule my Queen.

Blast!

 

[owotrucked]

I'm your intrusive thoughts.

Adding to the topic:

Isekai = Japanese story where MC gets transported to another world.

Thread closed. Anybody thinking about anything else is wrong because if you mention isekai nobody who heard that word before is thinking about Dorothy and her red leather dickstomper.

But what about adaptation

 

[Corty]

But what about adaptation
View attachment 23721

I call them fanfics.

 

[owotrucked]

The strange thing is that, for some reason, the west has adopted the Japanese word for otherworld and we've stopped using our own perfectly servicable native word for it.

If you're willing to entertain the idea that all english speaking weebs aren't using the term "isekai" just as a cooler replacement to "portal fantasy", here's an overview of what's going on:

So now, you can sort things however you want, A+B+C+D? Portal fantasy, alright! For B+C? What about isekai? Who tf cares that japanese speaker use it for A+B+C+D, we're english speakers.

Now you can understand why Hans gave a tentative characteristics of wish-fulfillment plot that could be common trait in the B subset, or why Envy says she writes an isekai as the C subset that walks in the footstep of B.

People use "isekai" very differently from each others.
For OP, it's A+B+C+D (which makes the term isekai useless because you can say portal fantasy)
For Hans and Enby, it's B+C
Proud Nippons and Corty use it as A+B,
Western Otaku Purists may say only B

Agreeing on the sortal result of "isekai genre" for every english speakers is pointless and should be done case by case with the discussion partner. In the first place, you don't sort things for the sake of sorting. You sort things to point out commonalities or characteristics. And in OP's case, the set A+B+C+D is likely not a fad, but B+C might be

 

[SailusGebel]

If you're willing to entertain the idea that all english speaking weebs aren't using the term "isekai" just as a cooler replacement to "portal fantasy", here's an overview of what's going on:
View attachment 23723

So now, you can sort things however you want, A+B+C+D? Portal fantasy, alright! For B+C? What about isekai? Who tf cares that japanese speaker use it for A+B+C+D, we're english speakers.

Now you can understand why Hans gave a tentative characteristics of wish-fulfillment plot that could be common trait in the B subset, or why Envy says she writes an isekai as the C subset that walks in the footstep of B.

People use "isekai" very differently from each others.
For OP, it's A+B+C+D (which makes the term isekai useless because you can say portal fantasy)
For Hans and Enby, it's B+C
Proud Nippons and Corty use it as A+B,
Western Otaku Purists may say only B

Agreeing on the sortal result of "isekai genre" for every english speakers is pointless and should be done case by case with the discussion partner. In the first place, you don't sort things for the sake of sorting. You sort things to point out commonalities or characteristics. And in OP's case, the set A+B+C+D is likely not a fad, but B+C might be

 

[Corty]

If you're willing to entertain the idea that all english speaking weebs aren't using the term "isekai" just as a cooler replacement to "portal fantasy", here's an overview of what's going on:
View attachment 23723

So now, you can sort things however you want, A+B+C+D? Portal fantasy, alright! For B+C? What about isekai? Who tf cares that japanese speaker use it for A+B+C+D, we're english speakers.

Now you can understand why Hans gave a tentative characteristics of wish-fulfillment plot that could be common trait in the B subset, or why Envy says she writes an isekai as the C subset that walks in the footstep of B.

People use "isekai" very differently from each others.
For OP, it's A+B+C+D (which makes the term isekai useless because you can say portal fantasy)
For Hans and Enby, it's B+C
Proud Nippons and Corty use it as A+B,
Western Otaku Purists may say only B

Agreeing on the sortal result of "isekai genre" for every english speakers is pointless and should be done case by case with the discussion partner. In the first place, you don't sort things for the sake of sorting. You sort things to point out commonalities or characteristics. And in OP's case, the set A+B+C+D is likely not a fad, but B+C might be

I shouldn't have expected less from Truck-kun himself.

 

[SternenklarenRitter]

Thank you @owotrucked, you've explained the difference beautifully.

 

[Lodur]

As an isekai writer myself, I think what sets the genre apart is the trope that the main character uses his/her knowledge and conveniences of the contemporary modern world (at most cases, Earth Knowledge and tech) to solve the problems he/she encounters.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain, 1889. Lest Darkness Fall by Lion Sprague de Camp, 1941. In both MC does what you described. It's only those I was lucky to read and they popped in my mind in first two second of recollecting.

 

[Sola-sama]

If you're willing to entertain the idea that all english speaking weebs aren't using the term "isekai" just as a cooler replacement to "portal fantasy", here's an overview of what's going on:
View attachment 23723

So now, you can sort things however you want, A+B+C+D? Portal fantasy, alright! For B+C? What about isekai? Who tf cares that japanese speaker use it for A+B+C+D, we're english speakers.

Now you can understand why Hans gave a tentative characteristics of wish-fulfillment plot that could be common trait in the B subset, or why Envy says she writes an isekai as the C subset that walks in the footstep of B.

People use "isekai" very differently from each others.
For OP, it's A+B+C+D (which makes the term isekai useless because you can say portal fantasy)
For Hans and Enby, it's B+C
Proud Nippons and Corty use it as A+B,
Western Otaku Purists may say only B

Agreeing on the sortal result of "isekai genre" for every english speakers is pointless and should be done case by case with the discussion partner. In the first place, you don't sort things for the sake of sorting. You sort things to point out commonalities or characteristics. And in OP's case, the set A+B+C+D is likely not a fad, but B+C might be

Harvard wants to know your locations.

Unless of course, you're already a professional NASA artist who illustrate aliens for those rocket scientists.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

If you're willing to entertain the idea that all english speaking weebs aren't using the term "isekai" just as a cooler replacement to "portal fantasy", here's an overview of what's going on:
View attachment 23723

So now, you can sort things however you want, A+B+C+D? Portal fantasy, alright! For B+C? What about isekai? Who tf cares that japanese speaker use it for A+B+C+D, we're english speakers.

Now you can understand why Hans gave a tentative characteristics of wish-fulfillment plot that could be common trait in the B subset, or why Envy says she writes an isekai as the C subset that walks in the footstep of B.

People use "isekai" very differently from each others.
For OP, it's A+B+C+D (which makes the term isekai useless because you can say portal fantasy)
For Hans and Enby, it's B+C
Proud Nippons and Corty use it as A+B,
Western Otaku Purists may say only B

Agreeing on the sortal result of "isekai genre" for every english speakers is pointless and should be done case by case with the discussion partner. In the first place, you don't sort things for the sake of sorting. You sort things to point out commonalities or characteristics. And in OP's case, the set A+B+C+D is likely not a fad, but B+C might be

Harvard wants to know your locations.

Unless of course, you're already a professional NASA artist who illustrate aliens for those rocket scientists.

Me who is trying to figure out what C means.

The strange thing is that, for some reason, the west has adopted the Japanese word for otherworld and we've stopped using our own perfectly servicable native word for it.

You can also accept that language is constantly updating, and English has been known to steal words from other languages all of the time. Isekai is like a dish of original Japanese ingredients that we bastardized, so in the same way isekai is also sushi.

 

[SailusGebel]

You can also accept that language is constantly updating, and English has been known to steal words from other languages all of the time. Isekai is like a dish of original Japanese ingredients that we bastardized, so in the same way isekai is also sushi.

based

 

[owotrucked]

Me who is trying to figure out what C means.

You can also accept that language is constantly updating, and English has been known to steal words from other languages all of the time. Isekai is like a dish of original Japanese ingredients that we bastardized, so in the same way isekai is also sushi.

Tbh it's the fault of those who borrow the words wrongly for making shit confusing so he has a point

It should be called a 'truck-kun isekai' instead of just isekai

 

[CarburetorThompson]