Incase you didn't see me talk about Isekai enough: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n71np8mCnrrJe6M.html Would like to a make a correction: I don't think Iruma-kun or Acendence of a bookworm is shit (even though their posters were included when I talked about bad shows coming out.) they are great shows infact. Unfortunately my editor is not an Isekai junkie like me so he unknowingly put in a bunch of shows, but it is my fault that I missed that during the editing pass through. Watch them, they are great!

5:07 Ironically enough, "I Got Addicted to VTubers and Regret Everything" already sounds like the perfect light novel title that'd get an anime adaptation.

"We Need An Isekai That Has An Ending" Man I Felt That.

"I've seen so many heroes journeying to take on the Demon Lord and not a single one ever reaches his doorstep" this made me laugh

11:21 I'd watch an isekai about a demon lord waiting for adventurers to arrive at their doorstep. (but they're all busy with side quests)

It's concept of an Isekai has so much potential i'd love to see everyone deviate from the norm and really go crazy with it rather than stick to what's safe

Gigguk, the madlad who's singlehandedly keeping the isekai genre alive. All those views, money and reviews? It's gigguk with his multiple accounts.

"Isekai will never die, it'll just get reincarnated..." Got me lmao

11:19 Cautious Hero actually did reach the Demon Lord and had nice ending.

lmao. saying your favorite anime genre is hentai is more acceptable than admitting you watch isekai in anime circles

"We need an isekai that has an ending". This is how I feel about the anime industry as a whole, not just isekai.

Jobless reincarnation, standing on a million lives,slime, re zero are some of the few isekais where they know the concept is overused but characters actually experience real growth in which, and challenges which make it enjoyable to watch

The only problem with Mushoku Tensei, from what I understand, is the ending is more of a personal and isolated ending. The actual world still has a lot of story threads left open, so it's getting a sequel series. It kind of reminds me of the current state of a Song of Ice and Fire. There are too many loose threads for it to be finished even remotely soon. However, it has done a good job setting up a potential for multiple series set in it's world. It's just doubtful that we'll ever see it all animated.

Iruma Kun is actually pretty great. So much wholesomeness

My favorite isekai is "So I'm a Spider, So What" (especially the light novels). The one thing it does the best above most other isekai is have an explanation for almost everything that happens in the story. For example, the one thing that always bugs me is the main character's purpose for reincarnation. Often, it just happens for the sake of it, but in Spider, its a mystery that the story reveals the answer to over time. Another nice thing is the hard magic system. In Spider, you are introduced to almost every single magic spell and know exactly what each of them do. The combat with this system is written superbly and emphasizes strategy, and I find this so much more gratifying than some Deus Ex Machina ability or something that a lot more generic isekai resort to.

As a huge Overlord fan, I definitely can understand the feeling that the anime may never get a conclusion. The fact that Madhouse of all studios did the impossible and are making a fourth season is insane enough, but the idea of the whole series getting adapted sounds like a distant dream.

We better get to see an ending to re zero, I'm way too invested in the story and characters now!

just when i had forgot about that rezero noise

Kumo Desu recently ended and it… sure was an ending. Sure did end, huh. I feel the reason isekai feels neverending (the good ones at least) is because the genre just really doesn’t lend itself to short (or at least not-so-long) formats. Through isekai we get a glimpse into interesting worlds, and stopping the scope at just what the protag-kun sees and does tends to be an indicator of a bad story; the genre translates to “another world”, not “another city”.

Has anyone ever made a show that's like "someone was isekai'd and now they're back and have to live in their original world again?" I feel like there's a ton of unexplored possibilities there.

I know Iruma is technically an Isekai, but it is seriously good and it sure as hell doesn't feel like one!

Uses No Game No Life music so we can feel the dread of never getting a season 2.

Tensura is definitely my favorite series up to present. The anime is well adapted and the magic animation (especially season 2 part 2) is sexy. The LN has some of the best world building I’ve come across and provides good detail without drowning you in it. But there is just something about Rimuru, Ciel/Great Sage/Raphael (depending on where you’re at in the series), and Veldora that I absolutely love. Those three are just special to me and it makes me love the series all the more. Thanks for the great content again my guy 💙

Cautious hero had an AMAZING ending. That’s all I can think of

As a reader of both Rezero's Web novel & Mushoku Tensei Light Novel, I can 100% guarantee that both of these shows will blow up the standard of good isekai show. Depending how each show got adapted, Rezero's webnovel isn't even finished yet, still on Arc 7, in which season 2 is in Arc 4, the upcoming season for Rezero will be one of the most important part of the show. Mushoku Tensei will also have its best moment in the next few season if they follow the source as accurately as possible. I can't wait for both of these show to get adapted and animated. Edit : I've heard that the people in chaosflame are strong, but are they stronger than the people from my shinobi village?

Funnily enough, out of all the anime that Joey (The Anime Man) doesn't watch he will give Isekai a chance. This is just Garnts way to get him back into anime again.

Agreed, mushoku tensei actually had me eager to read ahead cause i know there's an end point where as the others feel like they're stuck in limbo, even shield hero which is progressing nicely in the light novels has that same feeling to it although i feel like there is an end coming

I can't wait for the villainess genre and more female leads!! I personally love more strategy social fighting than physical fighting stories and I'm obsessed with these villainesses uniquely solve and grow their reputation

If anyone happens to see this, "The hero is overpowered, but overly cautious" does have what I would consider to be a genuine ending. It's not an entirely traditional Isekai, but is quite good in my opinion.

i've consumed so much isekai that i've become numb to so many tropes. when i see our MC get decimated by the female lead for an "accident" that wasnt his fault the reaction that comes out of me is "bruh" or "god dammnit". so when i watch an isekai with actual depth in the world and characters (overlord, slime, re zero, shield hero, etc) i get excited to watch another episode rather than "yup another 30 minutes to fill, wonder what trope they'll hit next"

I was just watching Escaflowne and realized why modern Isekai is so different from early Isekai. The peak of human civilization was 20 years ago, society today is bad enough to want to escape from this world. It's amazing how quickly times change.

I’m standing on a million lives isn’t even bad, the show honesty takes a re:zero like approach with character psychology and has an underlying plot that basically forces me to watch to understand it.

Konosuba is one of the few mainstream isekai’s where the source material has come to a conclusion. And yet despite how popular it is, they still haven’t been focused on rolling out more seasons. It’s not just an issue with series not having an ending, it’s an issue with only a select few series being considered safe to continuously pump out season after season.

Out of everyone in Trash Taste, I like Gigguk the most because he actually talks about anime.

to sum up: isekai is a tool to create interesting situations. if it's constrained by being a genre, then it gets uninteresting. also, these situations usually have an end goal, but it's never reached.

What you were saying about Isekais being disposable and us forgetting about them and moving on, that holds true - in my experience - with Konasuba and Mondaiji. I remember the characters but I don't remember the plots or what happened during their adventures. They become lost in the shuffle until a more memorable show comes around and that's why i watch fewer isekais and just focus on shows that are more unique in nature

To be fair, writers do finish their isekais in WN quite often (Mushoku, Slime, Spider etc). Its the Anime/Manga adaptations that never gets to see the ending of it.

The one thing I've noticed about some isekai is that they never needed to be isekai, they could have been more traditional fantasy and worked just as well if not better.

Would love to see you talk about/watch Sabikui Bisco. I haven’t had this much pure enjoyment from watching an anime in a WHILE!

I loved hearing the Sunleth BGM when you started talking about the big issue with Isekai. Felt wonderfully appropriate.

The "Never gets finished" part of the video hit me like an isekai truck. Man I want Log Horizon to get the ending it deserves.

The concept of Isekai is wonderful, contrasting a character's real life experience and personality with the ideology of an unfamiliar world, but to me, it's annoying when it feels like there's only one specific template a lot of them follow with half-hearted settings, ignorance of the real world, and the variation mostly being a gimmick. While they aren't anime, Amphibia and The Owl House are really great shows and worth seeing if you like the idea and potential of ending up in another world, but dislike what most anime have done with it.

LMAO, recently started watching you, came for 2022 winter anime review, stayed for the HILARIOUS edits and jokes. Great job man, +1sub

I have been waiting for this video man, Isekai is nothing more then a vessel to tell other stories and I am rather happy that it can be, it fills the background of the novel and the story so and ends up becoming an avenue for stories to be told that feel like they are given more capability to be expressive and symbolic. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is so much more then just a story of a person who got shifted to another world, and its so much more then just character building based around idea's like idea of rimuru essentially being "the kind of boss that Fuze would want to work for" and its low key kinda cool to see it forming out like this man. edit: on most sites it isn't really fair to call it clickbait when it usually started because the websites had no tag system or had no "title line" for the uploads so the titles would be written with tags

I’ve never noticed how a lot of them don’t actually end. That honestly makes all the “isekai is all the same” talking points have a lot more weight to it. It’s not just that they tend to be all the same, they rarely are. It’s just that it feels like we’re watching the same show because we only get to see the start of the story, every season, for every new show. The exceptions are the most popular shows, but that leaves THE REST to just be the same story of “guy/gal gets reincarnated and they end up on a fantasy land” and that’s where it ends. The fact most of them don’t actually finish the journey really does make it seem like they’re all the same: because most of them are just the start of the journey and ONLY the start. This reminds me a lot of why I stopped reading superhero comic books for a few years; they rely WAY too much on constantly rebooting or renumbering stuff, but it was all the same. Always a new start, but never an actual satisfying ending. Just restart over and over again. I hope this trend ends. I’d like to see more shows that actually end.

I think ultimately I just want more isekai writers to actually ask themselves "does anything about this story actually change by being an isekai" because so many of them suddenly lose their "isekai" identity so damn quickly once it's been established that the character is used to the world they're in (often done in the first 2 episodes). There's so many shows I wish I could just enjoy as simply fantasy because it turns out their "isekai" element has no ultimate change on the outcome at all.

Nice video overall! Summarises everything pretty well. I do wanna make one comment about your point at 10:31, which is that some series do have a proper ending, but are very long. One example of this is Ascendance of a Bookworm (my personal favorite light novel series of all time). The LN has 31 volumes. 3 seasons of the anime have gone through 7 of them. For AoB specifically, the web novel was close to done by the time the LN started, and the LN was pretty far in by the time the anime rolled around. Other series, however, might purposefully drag on just to make more money, but it's possible they have something similar; just wanted to mention it.

Gigguk, I have to disagree with you regarding the "start" of Isekai was SAO, not only as a genre but popularity. The concept of Isekai has origins in ancient Japanese literature, particularly the story of a fisherman Urashima Tarō, who saves a turtle and is brought to a wondrous undersea kingdom. After spending what he believed to be four to five days there, Urashima returns to his home village only to find himself 300 years in the future. The folk tale was adapted into one of the earliest anime films, Seitaro Kitayama's Urashima Tarō, in 1918. Other precursors to isekai include portal fantasy stories from English literature, notably the novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), Peter Pan (1904) and The Chronicles of Narnia (1950). The earliest modern Japanese isekai stories include Haruka Takachiho's novel Warrior from Another World (1976) and Yoshiyuki Tomino's anime Aura Battler Dunbine (1983). Other early anime and manga titles that could be classified as isekai include Mashin Hero Wataru (1988 debut), NG Knight Ramune & 40 (1990 debut), Fushigi Yûgi (1992 debut), El-Hazard (1995 debut), and The Vision of Escaflowne (1996 debut), in which the protagonists stayed similar to their original appearance upon entering a different world. Other 1990s titles identified as isekai include the novel and anime series The Twelve Kingdoms (1992 debut), the manga/anime/game franchise Magic Knight Rayearth (1993 debut), the visual novel adventure game YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World (1996), the manga and anime series InuYasha (1996 debut), and the anime series Now and Then, Here and There and Digimon Adventure (both 1999 debut). Spirited Away (2001) was one of the first isekai anime films known worldwide, although the term "isekai" was not commonly used at the time. The role-playing adventure game Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (1997), and the Digimon Adventure (1999 debut) and .hack (2002 debut) franchises, were some of the first works to present the concept of isekai as a virtual world, with Sword Art Online (2002 web novel debut) following in their footsteps. Another isekai anime series from the 2000s is Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (2002). Gigguk, I know you're pretty young, but if you were a bit older, you would know that my Queen of Tsundere had done Isekai anime long before SAO anime. A popular isekai light novel and anime series in the 2000s was The Familiar of Zero (2004 debut), where the male lead Saito is from modern Japan and is summoned to a fantasy world by the female lead Louise. The Familiar of Zero popularized the isekai genre in web novel and light novel media, along with the website Shōsetsuka ni Narō ("Let's Become Novelists"), known as Narō for short. The Familiar of Zero fan fiction became popular on Narō during the late 2000s, eventually spawning a genre of isekai novels on the site, which became known as Narō novels. The Familiar of Zero fan fiction writers eventually began writing original isekai novels, such as Tappei Nagatsuki who went on to create Re:Zero (2012 debut). Now, back to my Queen - Animes that she was in besides The Familiar of Zero (2006-12), there was Inuyasha (2000), G-on Riders (2002) & Guardian Hearts (2004-05) & Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan series (2005-07) [okay, so those three are more reverse-Isekai], Märchen Awakens Romance ("MÄR", 2005), Shakugan no Shana series (both Isekai & reverse-Isekai, 2005-11), Bokurano (2007), and Astarotte no Omocha series (2011) - all BEFORE SAO came out. Of course, there was also Nyaruko: Crawling with Love series (2012-15, primarily reverse-Isekai, but has parts of Isekai, too). And this is just focusing on my Queen (the Seiyū I love). [Okay, so I have Kugimiya Syndrome, multiple type, mainly L, S, N, T] You can also go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_isekai_works to see more from others.

I've been an isekai degenerate for 9 years and I can confidently say, Mushoku Tensei is my #1. Odd how the novel came out in 2012 but somehow it didn't get an anime adaptation till 2021 but regardless, it was a joy to watch and I'm glad it was picked up by a great studio.

Gigguk: "It's impossible to recognize each of these shows at just a glance." Me: "Are you sure about that?"

Couldn't agree more. I sooo wanna see your anime in mins again 😭yours were the best!

I hope I will live to see the day when a modern Isekai get's a full adaptation and an actual ending.

I think the only example i remember "ending" was Cautious Hero, but it felt as though from the beginning it was meant to end. It was a story that was probably already planned out to end and I'm glad it did, because that was one hell of a ride

Gigguk has a point. Isekai with an ending is so bloody rare. Here's hoping Mushoku Tensei can do the job.

Loved this video!

A series I really want to see animated is hero has returned, basically a reverse IseKai were the main characters were IseKaid and when they came back they realized they had nothing left and proceeded to eventually go insane and basically destroying the world and the first protag got IseKaid after the main villain/protag killed him.

Isekai is love. Isekai is life.

Never thought about it that way before, but I couldn't agree more with the fact that Isekai shows need to start having proper endings. I find myself watching less and less anime, because everytime I start an isekai, it ends up feeling like I'm adding a new show to my list of series which I'll never see the end of. I've lost interest, because the payoff never comes. It often feels like the real progression stops mid-series, never to resume. As much as I love watching good anime, I also enjoy watching good anime wrap-ups, good endings. It gives the shows a sense of purpose, instead of just telling a meaningless story.

My god, ur right...I've never seen an Isekai that I loved actually end! Most of the time, I am forced to read the novels or manga just to get any sort of closure. Tbh, it's that way FAR too often for a lot of anime and it's really disheartening when there are so many stories I love but we just don't get an end!

I didn't know much about this genre before this video but I always thought Log Horizon was pretty cool. Every opening is an absolute banger.

"We Need An Isekai That Has An Ending" We have one at least, "Familiar of Zero" had an actual ending at least.

I completely agree about the “finally seeing an ending” is a really big thing that adds so much. Like it just adds so much to know these stories end or have a target. Even if ending sucks u canbe like hey it was great and then dipped. But you have a nag in ur head where u can rave about a show and then 4 years later “oh a new studio did X and oh wow it’s terrible. Sorry u finally listened to me just noe for X reason. I guess i have to take back my recommendation and hope u still trust my judgement.”

"Isekai will never die" XD saw that Truck coming from a mile away, still got hit!

That's so true about isekais never concluding! Lol none of the ones I really liked have ever concluded. Not like the main protag ever went 'back', but it still in the process of powering up instead, for something? Idk. But that's an interesting observation 😂❤️🤷‍♂️

My big problem with isekai is sometimes it just doesn't need to be isekai, a lot of the time it feels like a way to get cheap exposition in like having your main character have amnesia so everything can be explained to the audience. Some of them could just be good fantasy anime without the protag being from another world.

I can think of one exception to the failure to reach conclusions: The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious actually reaches a satisfying end in twelve episodes.

The commercial so needs to be like edited and looped for like 10 minutes because I could listen to that commercial over and over again you are a master

Great video! I love isekai, but I definitely have that same problem you do. I would love a show that had the ending in mind when they started.

Garnt: "I honestly believe the genre might be on a path towards a better future" *Proceeds to show a series made 10 years ago*

Completely agree with the part that Isekais should focus more on having an ending ... that is what I love about Mushoko Tensei and similar animes ... they portray the story of the life of the main character from the beginning to the end, Episode 1 starts with the birth, the last Episode ends with the death. It feels like a journey with all the ups and downs that come with such a journey and you really get invested in them. People see the first Episode of Mushoko Tensei and only see him being an asshole and I agree, but I also see how he changes over all the years and becomes one of my favorite characters at some point. No matter what character you take from Mushoko Tensei, there are no black and white characters and they are deeper than they seem at first glance (hint: some characters may seem fairly bland in the anime so far, but you'll see all of them again at some point, it's a long story). Anime producer should focus more on the journey and make me care about the characters instead of harem shit where the only quality of most of the characters is to have tits and cheer for the MC.

Honestly when you mentioned the ending thing the only one that came to mind was The Familiar of Zero

The source material for Konosuba has an ending, and even though I've heard a lot of criticism for it, personally I think it was pretty great. It's volume 17 and we're only up to volume 5 so it'll take a century for the anime to get there tho

Considering Mushoku Tensei's studio was formed just to adapt it, I hope it does eventually reach its end. I've read the whole source material, and goddamn, it deserves to reach its end.

Yes, yes it is.

I was trying to predict what your improvement suggestion would be, but I wasn't even close. But dang, your analysis is DEAD on!

3:30 That was so nice of Connor to let Garnt use a clip from one of his old family home videos.🐵

"Isekais are great actually!" "Okay grandpa let's get you to bed"

Not just Isekai, I think all story’s need to be thought with an ending in mind, and it’s a problem with a number of anime. The author might change what the ending will be like down the line, or change how they intended to get to it, but they should just have an ending in mind when they start. Otherwise you run the problem of the story just seemingly going on, and on, and on, and you’re not really sure where to stop, or how to stop, until one day you decide “ok, time to wrap this up now”. If story’s have an ending already thought up, at least you know that is what you’re working towards. Then you can just do anything in-between.

Well made and well played, Gigguk. Also, what's the ending song? I'm kinda curious.

Gigguk, I sincerely thank you, from the bottom of my heart in France, for giving me hope again that one day, I might just see the fruits of my favorite anime genre be beared once and for all !

What I've effectively learnt from all of this, is that there's a lot more Isekai than I even thought possible, so much so that when I hear "fantasy" in anime context, my brain often defaults to "Isekai?..."

When i was a kid, for school we had to read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. I knew then that there was something to this "man out of time" idea. Cut forward to 32 year old me guzzling down every bit of isekai, trash and treasure alike. The clashing of worlds, lands, and eras has always made a compelling premise to me. Isekai is the seed every story has planted in all our minds brought to full bloom. The simple question, "what if i was there." Stories, real or fiction, history or fantasy all give us a glimpse into the lives of others. Isekai is a door instead of a window. "what would I do?" "what could I change?" "how would this change me?"

Now that you mention it? We really need a Isekai have a ending with a good legacy left behind.

I highly recommend the webtoon Her Summon. The art is out of this world, and the story is complete already. Support the author/artist on Toomics

I’ve watched your videos for 3 years now, and I really have to say they’re still as much of a breath of fresh air as they were back when I started watching. Thanks for the great content and I’d like to let you know that I’ll keep watching for as long as you keep making videos!

As far as I know, Mushoku got an adaption in the first place under the premise, that it WILL be finished instead of axed some episodes in. So I'm positive for this one, although it will take some years. And hopefully on the same visual quality throughout.

I would love to see an Isekai of the variety where the protag suddenly remembers all their memories of their past life, except at the same time, they lose all memories of their current life. Additionally, this happens when they are in their late teens or older and they have friends, family and acquaintances, to whom the protag does not divulge what has happened. The result is that the protag is now in an unfamiliar world, incapable of asking direct questions about the world without arousing suspicion, surrounded by strangers who were close with the person the protag is trying to fit in as. In general, what I think is needed in reincarnation Isekai where the protag is not born with the memories of their past life, is more characters who knew the protag before they recovered their memories of their past life and can call them out for their radical shift in behavior.

Thank you for this video

One of my favorite series is actually an isekai. Youjo Senki is just so delightfully unique, I can't help but love it to bits. Everything about it is wonderful and I implore anyone to check it out if your looking for a isekai war story set in WW 1.5 'Germany'

I just truely hope they actually take their time with Mushoku Tensei and do the story justice. I never read any of the story, but I've heard nothing but great things and I'm excited for what's to come.

Your editor also included "Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town" poster which is neither an Isekai, nor shit.

I heard that Mushoku Tensei will be animated till the end, but how long it will take I don't know. I've read the web novels and I'm reading the light novels as they come out and I'm really looking forward to seeing the ending animated!

This Manz literally put isekai over DARTH JAR JAR true tho 😂

Yknow, I never really considered it before, but when you look at how long it took for 2 of the big 3 that all held anime on their shoulders to come to their conclusion, and how much they evolve and mature. Shows today don't really get their chance to shine, and the 'best' ones tend to have a few seasons with hopes for more instead of expecting more until the story is done. It's very strange when you compare the two how we just don't expect a show to continue until it's canceled or ends.

That hit spot, i must say as a fellow isekai trash, this is very much appreciated 👍

Somehow, out of all the many many animes I've watched, I've never watched an isekai except for 'My Next Life As A Villainess'. I'm a total webnovel/manhwa addict, though! I seriously can't stop reading them, no matter how hard I try. And somehow, even though all of us fans SAY we're tired of the isekai trope, we still keep reading them. Lol

0:05 really kills me every time I watch it 🤣

Well written, well made shows will always be watched and enjoyed. There's no such thing as a dead genre.

I've been seeing a lot of variety in isekai manga/manwha recently and it got me back into the genre, so I have some hope. I think it's a fun genre because we all want to be reborn in another world, but it was done to death the past few years, to the point that I think over half the anime I see is isekai. I've also noticed that the isekais I've been really enjoying have had female leads: there's no generic incel wet dream male MC and no over-the-top fanservice. I think as long as we start seeing more variety in the genre it can still be saved.

I think a funny idea for a special would be writing a single chapter for an isekai or coming up with a premise and then rating them.