The Isekai genre is arguably more purely escapist wish fulfillment then most, being literally about escaping this world, going all the way back to C.S. Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The With and The Wardrobe. It may not quite be the first Isekai story, but it is the most important in popularizing it. And it was translated into Japanese as early as 1985.
It's not common to use this Anime term to describe western novels like the Narnia series. No one would deny that the term applies and so they are technically the same genre. But the development of Isekai in Japan, in Otaku centric media, has been very particular. With increasing nods to Video Games of the RPG genre, (making them perhaps feel slightly more Tolkien then Lewis). But also filled with Anime cliches, including the influence of Anime's most dreaded genre, The Harem.
I haven't watched a lot of Isekai Anime. I tried both Konosuba and Re:Zero in 2016 and wasn't able to get into them. If you count trapped in an MMO shows as Isekai, then I've seen 2 seasons of SAO and will see more when it's dubbed. My onions on them are complicated.
Right now I'm currently watching In Another World with my Smartphone, via it's simuldub so I'm a few episodes behind most watching it, episode 8 I finished recently. I'm really enjoying it, the number 1 of the Summer season was Princess Principal, but this show has been fun.
I never thought I would be this into a Harem show. I've liked other Anime with the harem stuff going on, but never all that much liking it for the Harem, but rather preferring to imagine the girls kissing each other. In this case I like that the show is seemingly building to a non monogamous resolution, as of episode 6 four of the girls have basically already agreed to share the main character. And it helps that I kinda see why they like him, he is nice, clever, has a sense of humor, and I'm not afraid to say he's kinda pretty. So not as Bland as the usual Harem protagonist.
The Haremness isn't the only thing that's blatant wish fulfillment about it. He is also really OP, but in a way that is fairly well explained in the story and so doesn't come off as inexplicable as Kirito or the MC of Log Horizon.
This show, and the two 2016 shows mentioned above, are Light Novel adaptations, and so as expected are very Meta, but in different ways. Those two were a Parody and a Deconstruction, two things that kinda overlap sometimes.
The Meta in a parody and/or deconstruction involves a scenario not playing out how you expect, or playing out fairly straight but in a way that seems designed to undercut the idea that this fantasy is a desirable situation. Something deconstructive can have an ultimately optimistic ending, concluding it's worth it, but is still all about the price.
This show is Meta, it's definitely winking at the audience subtly at times. But rather then spoofing or criticizing it's own genre, it seems to be an unashamed unapologetic wish fulfillment fantasy. And I actually find that refreshing.
Today critics of fictional media are growing more and more obsessed with rejecting wish fulfillment. Praising every deconstruction that comes along.
Of course a lot of shows criticized for being pure Wish Fulfillment are ones perceived as putting on a pretense of being something more, of having something deeper to say, but seemingly in the end don't really. I think that's what a lot of the hate SAO has received comes down to.
This show has no pretense, it does not want to trick anyone into thinking it's deeper then it is. And yet that does not result it becoming pure memetic trash like Eromanga-Sensei.
Digibro has expressed the view that Meta in Anime is lazy if it's not in some way subverting or rejecting the trope being referenced. That simply telling us you know what you're doing doesn't make it okay. Well I agree it can come off that way sometimes. I haven't seen the main shows he was attacking in that video.
But I do see value in being meta in a way that purely and unironically celebrates the fantasy the show is indulging in. And that is what appeals to be about In Another World with My Smartphone.
We definitely need art with messages and deeper meanings. Including that fiction that warns us to be careful what we wish for in-case some cute silver tongued BunnyCat offers you a contract. But I think Art that's pure wish fulfillment is just as artistic and worth praising.
Isekai is a wish fulfillment fantasy going back to Narnia, which was about escaping war time England. But Lewis did have messages he wanted to send, and for fans who don't quite share his peculiar brand of Christianity, those messages sometimes become the story's weakest parts.
So an Isekai story that is unafraid to simply be about the fantasy of being sent to a High Fantasy world with your smartphone and demigod like magical abilities, and meeting a bunch of cool cute chicks to hang out with, is exactly what I need right now. So in a way I like it similarly to why Digi likes Ponyo.
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