In the ever-changing world of anime, trends come and go to cater to the interests of fans. A recent trend that has become massively popular in today's anime is the isekai genre. An isekai anime is one that takes a character out of the "real world" and puts them into a completely different one that defies the reality they once knew.
But because all isekai anime follow the specific rule of transporting characters into another world, there are many other overlapping concepts and tropes across different series. Here are 5 annoying tropes that need to be transported out of the isekai genre and 5 that can stay.
10 Annoying: Parties & Guilds
Any fan of MMORPGs is all too familiar with the terms "party" and "guild." Both refer to teams that are formed in a game to train or accomplish quests together, though they may differ in permanence and regulations.
Because many isekai anime take place either directly in a video game or a setting resembling a video game, the party and guild aspect may appeal to the hearts of hardcore gamers. However, these terms often end up creating a cliched team, including the leader with the sword, the tank, and the cute magic girl.
9 Isn't going anywhere: Cute Faces With Monstrous Strength
Often in isekai anime, there are many characters who give off youthful and adorable vibes. This appeals to a certain demographic, but even more so when these little characters come equipped with unexpected monstrous strength or abilities.
The idea of pairing the face of an angel with the strength of a beast is hilarious, but also nice to see. It gives characters more value to the story than just their cuteness. Examples include Filo, the little bird girl from The Rising of the Shield Hero, and Rimuru, the slime in That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
8 Annoying: A Fresh Start
The premise of many isekai anime starts with an underachieving or underwhelming main character who apparently has no redeeming qualities. For this reason, they often dream about living in a fantastical world where they imagine they would thrive.
While not all isekai protagonists appreciate being involuntarily transported to another world, many see it as an opportunity to get a fresh start with their life so that they can finally amount to something. Taking in a refreshing breath of air from their new home, they eagerly set out on their adventure. How exhilarating.
7 Isn't going anywhere: Zero to Hero
Paired with the "fresh start" trope is the idea of a nobody becoming a somebody. In an isekai anime, this means that the underachieving protagonist will soon become the hero they always aspired to be.
Whether they were teleported into another world through death, a video game, or some mysterious random force, the isekai protagonist is often "the chosen one" or the "prophesized hero" who was sent to that new world with the intention of saving it. Suddenly, their boring mundane life becomes a lot more interesting, with a purpose and duty they cannot refuse.
6 Annoying: Classes & Levels
Like the party and guild tropes, "classes" and "levels" are associated with the roleplaying video game aspect of the isekai genre. Classes refer to which type of adventurer a character is, such as a swordsman, mage, archer, or warrior. The levels represent the growth and experience of a character through their training and travels.
The annoying part about classes and levels is that they pretty much define what a character is and is not capable of. A swordsman will always be loyal to their trusty blade, a mage will master magic with their stereotypical cloak and staff. Similarly, levels are a dead giveaway that defines how strong or weak a character is.
5 Isn't going anywhere: Trapped in a Video Game
Unlike the many isekai anime where characters are sent to a world that merely resembles a video game, there are also times when the characters are legitimately brought into the actual video game they were playing.
Though it may sound like a dream to be living in your favorite video game, it often turns into a nightmare for the characters who are trapped there until they fight their way out or die--whichever happens first. The most popular example of this trope is Sword Art Online, where a beta tester becomes a captive with thousands of other gamers in a new virtual reality MMORPG.
4 Annoying: Overpowered Hero
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, even in an isekai anime. They can be animal-like, a slime, a classic MMORPG character, or even a guy with a shield stuck on his arm. Regardless of who they are or where they come from, these heroes will commonly share the trait of being overpowered or having an overwhelming advantage from the start.
For example, in Isekai Cheat Magician, the initial power levels of the two heroes, Taichi and Rin, are exceptionally high, to the point where they would be able to surpass top-tier adventurers in their world. Taichi was even said to be able to destroy entire cities on his own with the proper training.
3 Isn't going anywhere: Ridiculously long title names
As the genre continues to grow larger and larger, new additions to the isekai world need to find ways to stand out from the rest of the pack. And the first way to catch a potential viewer's attention is with an anime's title. Isekai anime, in particular, tend to have very long and wacky title names that are sure to make you do a doubletake.
Some popular examples are High School Prodigies Have it Easy Even in Another World and That Time I was Reincarnated as a Slime. Other hilariously long titles pose random questions like Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? and Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!
2 Annoying: The Menu Screen
Menu screens are essential in any video game, often granting the player access to their stats, abilities, messages, or in-game notifications. In this sense, it's only natural for a menu screen to appear in isekai that transport characters directly into a specific video game like Sword Art Online.
However, having the menu pop up makes a lot less sense in the context of a parallel world that is not explicitly a video game. The addition of "the menu" and other in-game features disrupts the reality of what the foreign world actually is and instead creates the illusion that it's merely a low-stakes video game world.
1 Isn't going anywhere: Death & Reincarnation
To set an isekai anime into motion, there needs to be some sort of event that sends the main character to another world. The writers could get really creative in how they approach the jump from one world into the next, or they can just decide to conveniently kill off the main character and have them reincarnated into another world like everyone else.
Death and reincarnation happen far too often in isekai anime. There's a special meme to celebrate this unoriginal move: Truck-kun. Truck-kun reenacts all the fatal accidents (usually involving trucks) where characters are killed off out of convenience for the plot to progress. At least death in an isekai anime comes with the benefit of a second chance at life in a new world!