As isekai anime begins to die down after taking the 2019 anime seasons by storm, it’s time to analyze what the video game sub-genre of isekai anime does and doesn’t do well. Isekai was the name given to anime that feature characters starting a new life in a new world.
Video game isekai anime are different from regular isekai anime. The sub-genre features a character being transported into the world of a game rather than another world. Examples of these type of anime are Sword Art Online, Overlord, and Log Horizon. Be sure to check out some of the best isekai anime out there.
10 Right: Hero Identity
Video games make it very clear who the hero of the story is. More often than not, its probably the character you’re playing as. Video game isekai anime is similar in the fact that the protagonist of the series has their identity made very clear in the first episode.
In Sword Art Online, its quite obvious that it is going to be Kirito. Sometimes the reverse happens where the one who is to be considered traditionally evil is the hero. This happens in Demon Lord, Retry where Hakuto, the Demon Lord is the hero.
9 Wrong: Power System
Part of the fun in playing video games is the process it takes from becoming zero to hero. By training on weaker enemies and grinding levels, the player can watch their character grow taking on tougher and tougher enemies. In video game isekai anime, and really isekai anime in general, some of the strongest enemies are introduced early in the series. Even if the protagonist doesn’t end up fighting that enemy yet, there presence is made.
8 Right: World Building
Video game worlds are done best when providing a way of escape from reality. Whether it’s a fantasy world of magic or a modern replica, the role of the world is to create a setting different enough to the player. Video game isekai anime do a great job of building a world. Worlds adhere to a set of rules because of the game aspect often making for a more constructed world than fantasy isekai.
7 Wrong: Leveling
A common isekai trope is that the protagonist in the series starts at his peak strength or close to it and achieves peak performance in just a few episodes. This cuts out most of the training the protagonist needs to do.
This trope is presented in fantasy isekai series Wise Man’s Grandchild where Shin is trained from birth to be strong. In In Another Life with My Smartphone, Touya’s smartphone makes him overpowered.
6 Right: Character Chemistry
Character chemistry is important to any anime series. The ability to travel with one another, fight for each other, and roll jokes off one another helps engage the viewer with the series. In video games, it’s the players party, but in video game anime it’s the protagonists and the series’s side characters that need to glue the series together. Just look at Isekai Quartet. A series of past isekai characters all meshing together to create a comedic series.
5 Wrong: Save/Reload
Video games can get a bit hard sometimes. Maybe the player makes a mistake, or the opponent is just too high of a level. This often results in the player dying and having to restart from their last save point.
With exception to Re:Zero, this is almost never seen in isekai anime. The protagonist does not die other than their initial death to the transported world and never needs to do things twice.
4 Right: Cookie Cutter Side Characters
One thing that video game isekai anime does better than video games is giving characters personalities. Not just the main characters of the series but often shop owners, healers, and other types of utility-based characters are often memorable. It may not be the most detailed personality, but their identities are defined by more than their job title.
3 Wrong: World adaptation
A new world for the protagonist means a new set of rules and accustoms to get used to. Given that video game worlds in isekai anime are based on the rules of the game and have their own set of customs, for the protagonist to adjust to the world all in half an episode is completely unrealistic.
However, if the protagonist spent more than this amount of time its likely the series would get boring very quickly. Sometimes, a little fantasy for the sake of the plot is what’s needed.
2 Right: Escapism
We play video games to enter into a new world. It’s the closest thing we have to actually being able to isekai ourselves. It’s our escape from our day to day lives and the same is achieved when watching video game isekai anime. The goal of the anime is to engage us with the world they are creating giving us a story we can enjoy. If it fails to take us out of our day to day lives then what’s even the point in watching?
1 Wrong: Fighting Mechanics
Fights across all genres of anime are always portrayed to be more intense then they actually are. It’s part of the fun in watching them. There’s no stamina to worry about, no resource management, just an all out brawl of unlimited magic spells, complex moves with crazy names, and movements that wouldn’t even dared attempted on a controller.