Yeah it was fun in the beginning, after all who never thought about being transported to another world where you ate a big hero with swords and magic?
But what the hell, I’m pretty sure there’s more isekai now than other genres/settings. It’s gotten to a point that if I see the tag I just move on.
My main critique of the genre is how lazy it’s done. There’s nothing wrong with having the MC reincarnated, transported, or made overpowered. One Punch Man has a massively overpowered MC but it’s still really good. The problem is that they’re all low effort cookie cutter stories that are just checking items off a list.
They’re also fairly unrealistic. “Gasp…is this that isekai thing I’ve been reading about? I guess I’ll go join the Adventurer Guild and get a super dangerous job killing monsters despite the fact that I’ve never been in a dangerous situation before.”
There’s no way all these random people will just calmly accept finding themselves in another world with no freaking out or depression setting in first.
I’ve actually been writing a story with a more realistic idea on this
Dude has the stamina to do all that walking? His mother made him do a sport and track is the only thing he could tolerate. Still ends up exhausted when he has to carry the stuff a normal adventurer has to deal with
When he first arrives, he is flipping between trying to find the cool side of it and freaking out because, “Oh fuck uh I actually was ripped from my home”
Lots of action happens within the first few days? Has a mental breakdown when his brain finally catches up and he can no longer distance himself by comparing it to isekai tropes
“My modern knowledge makes things easier”? “…We uh, have magic that does that, why the hell would being able to harness electricity to make light matter? Besides, another country figured that out ages ago thanks to magic, just many of us prefer to use magic for it because cultural momentum”
When I think about what I would do if I suddenly found myself transported to another world, the last thing I would be doing is looking for a job as a mercenary. As stupid as a lot of the plot is, I really like Striving for a Luxury Liner simply because the MC recognizes that he’s not cut out to be an adventurer and becomes a merchant instead.
The only isekai I’ve read that properly utilized the isekai genre was Release that Witch since the MC’s “cheat” is his knowledge of mechanical engineering. He kicks off his own little industrial revolution to defend his territory.
Yes, there’s a lot of very good stories that have that basic setup, I’m just tired of how lazy and unimaginative most of it is.