10 Isekai Anime That Subvert Expectations
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In the last 15 years or so, the concept of isekai has become a mainstay of Japanese manga, anime, and certainly light novels. By now, this subgenre has become famously formulaic, and cynical anime fans might falls it predictable and stale. The core concept is a simple one: an ordinary person finds themselves taken to another world, either through reincarnation or teleportation, and they can’t find their way home again. Sometimes, the reverse happens, with magical beings or monsters arriving in modern Japan as exotic guests.
Isekai is famous for its many familiar conventions and tropes, which makes this concept rather easy to subvert in anime. Some isekai series cling to the formula, while others find minor or major ways to shake things up and take the isekai concept in a bizarre new direction. Given isekai’s nature, there’s ample room for authors to experiment with this idea, and subversion can take many forms. Ten particular isekai anime reshuffle the idea either with a single character or plot point, or subvert this subgenre with the entire plot or premise, which often makes for a memorable watch.
It has become a recent trend for isekai heroes to get reincarnated as something other than human, which can lead to some serious novelty in this subgenre. The hero might become an animal, such as a spider, or they might even become an item. What’s truly subversive about getting reincarnated as a sword is the fact that a sword can’t do anything on its own.
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