Part of what got me into anime was its ability to portray these rich, fictional worlds and stories to get lost in (whether accurate or not), and I’ve been thinking more and more about that in the wake of last season’s *Trigun Stampede* and (to a lesser extent) *Kaina of the Great Snow Sea*. It’s really gotten me thinking about the state of the Fantasy genre at large in the current ecosystem.
Cause maybe it’s just me, but I feel that for the sheer volume of fantasy shows coming out, the overall quality of fantasy settings have been dropping. The prevalence of the “isekai template” has become prominent even among non-isekai stories, which certainly allows the writer to get into “the meat and potatoes” quicker, but I feel misses the whole point of having a *fantasy* world. When I’m watching a fantasy I *want* to get immersed in its setting and be swept away by the details. Repeating the same setting over and over gets tiring after a while (to speak nothing on the rest of the writing).
To flesh things out a little more, I don’t think we’re exactly starved for options. Last year gave us both *Sabikui Bisco* and *The Girl From the Other Side* (not to mention more *Made in Abyss*). 2021 gave us *Mushoku Tensei* (the rare isekai that puts in the work), *Ranking of Kings*, and *To Your Eternity*, and *night world* and 2020 gave us glimpses of it with *A Whisker Away* and *Pokemon: Twilight Wings*, but that’s about it. I admit I’m ignoring partial magic worlds like that in *Dragon Maid*, *Vanitas*, or *Wonder Egg*, but even with those thrown in that’s still less works in the last three years than isekai or isekai-adjacent shows last season. Considering that Demon Slayer won Best Fantasy at the CRAs earlier this month [*insert obligatory “the CRAs are a joke” line here*] it seems like people’s appetite for immersive fantasy worlds is dwindling and its resulting in less of these available on the market.
None of this is to attack people who watch Isekai, since I know the appeal is obviously different. I’m just curious if anyone feels the same as me? If not, I’m always down for some recs to scratch my itch (I know I didn’t mention *The Fire Hunter*. It’s on my planning list). Also, if you are a fan of these isekai worlds and have read this far, I’d love to know what the appeal is for you?
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