The Non-Effort of Isekai Anime - Why don't the try more and what are the Good Ones?

[Ryllharu]

The funniest part of all this to me is that the joke isekai ("non-serious" as MFauli has been calling them), actually do all the things he wants.

- Adult protagonists, want to return home, growth in the other world shows of more of their potential when (or if) they return, challenge their issues head on, have mature character growth as the story progresses, etc.

Isekai Ojisan (it's low-key and it is there, but the story is a slow burn), Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to (it's very obvious here and actually well-done, but series is still open ended). There's a couple others that are manga/manwha only and I can't remember the name of them at the moment.

Personally I don't mind. I read isekai for the fantasy world adventure, so if the characters return to Earth, it's not anymore fantasy world adventure. It's also why I'm not so interested in the "restaurant between two worlds" kind of isekai.

The interesting thing about Restaurant in Another World specifically is that it is actually a reverse-isekai and that individual never wanted to go back home. The other denizens who cross always do go back home at the end of their shifts or visits.

@Death Boo: Not sure why you talk about "revenge". Just someone who was weak and bullied and an outcast, returning and being a great, strong person.

"return to revenge" story is mostly self-defeating as a plot. you went to another world, met people, made friends, overcame hardships, learned stuff about yourself, had to face enemies who hated you and bridge those differences. having to come back to the real world just to be mean to other kids is pathetic. it shows that the adventure didn't change you. "the real treasure was the friends we made on the journey" is a cliché, but it's true for most stories.

DBZ already covered one angle, it represents a reverse in growth to show off (or revenge) that a power-fantasy in an escapist world fixed what hard work, desperation, diligence, or adversity in the real world couldn't do. But it also undermines character growth on the whole. If only an external experience and superpowers, fawning harem or individual romantic interests, and a fabricated and simplified world changes a person, was there any actual personal growth achieved at all? It's typically very shallow: "I got powers and that gave me confidence I never had before." Nerds always become attractive bishonen through some handwave bullshit that's almost always LitRPG garbage.

That's actually a problem I have with a lot of Korean power-fantasy manwha and why they always lose my interest over time as they drag out. They only numerically improve. They improve in appearance and power, but it's all a facade that avoids legitimate character growth. The authors gloss over any actual character development.

Give me a nerd who turns into a bishonen and is still a fucking coward until they actually overcome their trauma mentally. Oh wait, Mushoku Tensei actually did that, which is why I commended it for doing so.

edit:

lets say the hero was bullied at the beginning of the story, then we would eventually want the plot point to conclude. he comes back from the fantasy world after becoming strong.
what are the options?
1. he defeats the bullies and walks into the sunset. end of story.
2. he beats the shit out of them and humiliates them, every day in school is him winning over those who once looked down on him.
3. he helps the bullies overcome the issues that made them bad people, and he spends the story helping others.
4. he beats the bullies once, they no longer bother him, and he goes on with his life. what happens now?

i can't imagine the story at point 4. and even points 2,3 are weird, because they represent a shift in setting and tone that would be incompatible with the isekai fantasy story that was going on so far.

there is a story 'a returner's magic remains the strongest' (or something), mc comes back, beats the bullies from the moment before he was isekaid, and then the story begins. with the story being "ordinary high school student has amazing powers and discovers there is an underground secret world in the shadows of our society, and he fights an evil organization of magic powered people along with new allies". so it's basically bleach\flame of recca\bosuo renkin\yyh or any other manga ever.

Agreed.

Xianxia and other martial arts series just fundamentally do this better. There's no need to do an isekai element with them because that's a waste of time getting to the actual plot, so they just don't get written.