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When it shouldn't be an Isekai
Jan. 17th, 2024 12:45 amI started watching Fluffy Paradise.
It's adorable.
Or it would be, if I could ignore the less than fluffy elephant in the room of our main character not actually being a precocious toddler but a nearly thirty-year-old woman.
It feels weird. It would honestly feel less weird if it was fetish, but, as the show presents it, this is just how Neema acts? It's unsettling to be reminded that this is an adult, at least Mushoku Tensei leans into how unsettling it would be for an adult to be trapped in a toddler's body. Fluffy Paradise glosses over the problem and wants the audience to ignore the plot in favor of ultra kawaii mofu mofu scenes.
So what's the point of it being an isekai? What's the point of our main character being an adult office worker turned toddler?
I mean, I know, it's because the show is based on a web novel and web novels have to appeal to the people who read web novels and the all powerful algorithm of syosetu where those web novels are often posted.
But at that point the cash grab aspect of adding isekai has just made what could be a fun adorable story worse.
I also started watching The Wrong Way to use Healing Magic.
Which is amazing.
Honestly it's probably my favorite original this season, if only for the fact that the popular, talented kids are just nice regular kids. I spent the entire first episode (and part of the second) waiting for the rug-pull where one of these #blessed characters was a total asshole to Usato for no reason other than that they think of themselves as superior. The fact that it doesn't seem like that's going to happen is such a refreshing relief that I felt tension I didn't know I was holding onto seep out of my body.
But I still think this show would've been better if it wasn't an isekai.
Even though this show has purpose behind it's isekai premise, and goals that are set up because it's an isekai, even with that part of the premise being deeply intertwined with the rest of the plot.
It would just work better if it wasn't an isekai.
Why couldn't Usato, Suzune, and Kazuki just be people from this world? I think it would offer more depth to the setting if the characters were coming into it with their own biases and preconceived notions from having been raised in this world. The title implies that someone thinks this is "The wrong way to use healing magic," and I feel like there's a loss when that is just applied to the audience or possible side characters who haven't been properly introduced yet. There's just a lot more meat on those world building bones if Usato comes into this as someone who already understands healing magic from the perspective of a person living in that fantasy world.
And there's a lot more meat on the bones of Suzune and Kazuki's stories if they aren't default heroes but decide to become heroes.
Ascendance of a Bookworm wouldn't work as well if it weren't an isekai. Even if Myne were an unparalleled genius blessed by Mestionora the goddess of wisdom the fact that she's a weirdo who doesn't understand the world she lives in is an important part of how her character interacts with others and the world around her.
Even the currently airing, and fun, but bland, Tsukimichi works well with it's isekai premise. The entire plot hinges on travel between worlds being a thing that exists and gods who can overpower humans interfering when they see fit. It makes use of the premise to set up how the world works and how the characters behave.
If the work isn't doing that then it's probably secretly a better work wearing a bad isekai mask.
I hope that as the bubble bursts not only do more stories have the confidence to step away from the isekai genre, but more writers who want to try their hand at it actually lean into the tropes that make the genre worthwhile.
I just want more enjoyable anime tbh.
It's adorable.
Or it would be, if I could ignore the less than fluffy elephant in the room of our main character not actually being a precocious toddler but a nearly thirty-year-old woman.
It feels weird. It would honestly feel less weird if it was fetish, but, as the show presents it, this is just how Neema acts? It's unsettling to be reminded that this is an adult, at least Mushoku Tensei leans into how unsettling it would be for an adult to be trapped in a toddler's body. Fluffy Paradise glosses over the problem and wants the audience to ignore the plot in favor of ultra kawaii mofu mofu scenes.
So what's the point of it being an isekai? What's the point of our main character being an adult office worker turned toddler?
I mean, I know, it's because the show is based on a web novel and web novels have to appeal to the people who read web novels and the all powerful algorithm of syosetu where those web novels are often posted.
But at that point the cash grab aspect of adding isekai has just made what could be a fun adorable story worse.
I also started watching The Wrong Way to use Healing Magic.
Which is amazing.
Honestly it's probably my favorite original this season, if only for the fact that the popular, talented kids are just nice regular kids. I spent the entire first episode (and part of the second) waiting for the rug-pull where one of these #blessed characters was a total asshole to Usato for no reason other than that they think of themselves as superior. The fact that it doesn't seem like that's going to happen is such a refreshing relief that I felt tension I didn't know I was holding onto seep out of my body.
But I still think this show would've been better if it wasn't an isekai.
Even though this show has purpose behind it's isekai premise, and goals that are set up because it's an isekai, even with that part of the premise being deeply intertwined with the rest of the plot.
It would just work better if it wasn't an isekai.
Why couldn't Usato, Suzune, and Kazuki just be people from this world? I think it would offer more depth to the setting if the characters were coming into it with their own biases and preconceived notions from having been raised in this world. The title implies that someone thinks this is "The wrong way to use healing magic," and I feel like there's a loss when that is just applied to the audience or possible side characters who haven't been properly introduced yet. There's just a lot more meat on those world building bones if Usato comes into this as someone who already understands healing magic from the perspective of a person living in that fantasy world.
And there's a lot more meat on the bones of Suzune and Kazuki's stories if they aren't default heroes but decide to become heroes.
Isekai is becoming a crutch, but I don't actually blame creators for leaning on it. It's clear the industry has decided that anything with isekai or video game world building is going to be a default success, but this ouroboros is dying as it devours itself. The market is saturated and isekai has become a groan inducing term.
I like isekai when the fact that it is an isekai is not only crucial to the plot, characters, and world building, but enhances all those things.Ascendance of a Bookworm wouldn't work as well if it weren't an isekai. Even if Myne were an unparalleled genius blessed by Mestionora the goddess of wisdom the fact that she's a weirdo who doesn't understand the world she lives in is an important part of how her character interacts with others and the world around her.
Even the currently airing, and fun, but bland, Tsukimichi works well with it's isekai premise. The entire plot hinges on travel between worlds being a thing that exists and gods who can overpower humans interfering when they see fit. It makes use of the premise to set up how the world works and how the characters behave.
If the work isn't doing that then it's probably secretly a better work wearing a bad isekai mask.
I hope that as the bubble bursts not only do more stories have the confidence to step away from the isekai genre, but more writers who want to try their hand at it actually lean into the tropes that make the genre worthwhile.
I just want more enjoyable anime tbh.
