Not sure what started the current trend, but the trope seems to be pretty old. Wikipedia lists isekai anime from the 90s, and there's also Alice in Wonderland from the 1860s. Isekai first became a thing with LNs, of which Mushoku Tensei was probably the first one to hit it big.
Harry Potter would not be considered as an Isekai genre as Harry was discovering a hidden aspect of his world rather than get transported to another. Most Isekai series focus on how the character from one world survive and adapt in another with minimal to zero interactions between the two worlds.
A practical reason for isekai anime to become so popular is that anime production relies on content production. It should be pointed out that many popular isekai anime were adapted from Japanese light novels such as Overlord, Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, No Game No Life, etc.
Early anime and manga titles that could be classified as isekai include Aura Battler Dunbine (1983 debut), Fushigi Yûgi (1992 debut) and El-Hazard (1995 debut), in which the protagonists stayed similar to their original appearance upon entering a different world.
Isekai (Japanese: ???, transl. "different world") is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy light novels, manga, anime, and video games revolving around a normal person from Earth being transported to, reborn, or trapped in a parallel universe.
Overlord is one of the isekai series that have flooded the Japanese market in recent times. In short, its protagonist is a man who plays a lich called Momonga in a MMORPG.
Dr. Stone is an isekai in disguise. In the case of Dr. Stone, they travel from Earth in our near future — the year 2038 — 3,700 years into the future after every person has been turned to stone, but magically kept alive.
Although the player behind Tsukasa is female, the character Tsukasa is male and is referred to here using male pronouns.
Video game elements are fundamental to the isekai genre, emboldening the protagonist to apply what they already know from normal life to the laws of a new world. Angel Beats! is no stranger to this. It's this contrast that's at the core of Angel Beats!.
Top 50 Anime Everyone Should Watch
- Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. This is my favorite anime.
- Hunter x Hunter (2011)
- 3 One Punch Man. Ultimate fight and humor.
- 4 Detective Conan.
- 5 Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu.
- 6 Sword Art Online II.
- 7 Boku no Hero Academia.
- 8 Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei.
Wise Man's Grandchild Season 2 was never officially announced, so there is no official release date for this anime in 2020. That doesn't mean there won't be a continuation to Kenja No Mago, because that depends on a few factors that this article will answer.
