Agent23
Ни шагу назад!
You mean like every single other isekai out there?
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Anime & Manga General Anime/Manga Discussion
- Thread starter Captain X
- Start date
Yinko
Well-known member
There are plenty of stories where the character starts off in the wilderness and then says that they will be loners, but none of them where that actually ends up happening.
Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
Pretty much, Isekai could actually be interesting but few writers ever actually do anything interesting with the concept. Like 90% of them read like a shitty SI uplift fanfic.
Agent23
Ни шагу назад!
There were some decent ones, the OG stuff like Log Horizon, Mushoku Tensei, that one about the otaku chick getting reincarnated as the evil character, Overlord when it started, The World's Finest Assassin gets reincarnated into another world as an Aristocrat, One hit kill big sister...
bintananth
behind a desk
Those Who Hunt Elves is an interesting take. The three isekai'd characters are dropped into a swords-and-sorcery(ish) fantasy world without gaining any superpowers. They want to go home and the locals want to be rid of them.
It runs on "rule of funny".
Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
Why is it always a medievalish inspired fantasy setting? Scifi settings are a thing although I guess you couldn't have cultural posturing as easily in a higher tech place.
Because they're all based on D&D.
Agent23
Ни шагу назад!
I think because most (J)RPGs and adventure games are in that type of setting.
It annoys me as well, some scifi Isekai would be nice.
Pocky Balboa
Well-known member
I've mentioned sci-fi ones before. That mercenary one, the comedy one where the MC tries to be an evil galactic overlord written by the writer of MobuSekai, the one where the MC reincarnates as the AI of a battleship, there's a mecha one that had multiple people get portaled, probably a couple of more I'm forgetting, and of course there's Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure if you're a Tenchi fan. I guess Muv-Luv counts too?
Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
Here is a hilarious isekai
mangadex.org
A Genius' Isekai Overlord Legend - Fist of the North Star: Amiba Gaiden - Even if I Go to Another World, I Am a Genius!! Huh? Was I Mistaken... - MangaDex
The unprecedented "Fist of the North Star" spin-off!! "Fist of the North Star" x "Another World", a forbidden combination of different kinds! Amiba is the main character! He was defeated by Kenshiro and died... but then he woke up in another world for some reason!? Genius fighter Amiba's great...
Terthna
Professional Lurker
Not as many as you'd think; though the ones that are, are usually pretty good. Most however, are actually based on Dragon Quest.
John Carter of Mars belongs to the sword and sorcery subgenre of fantasy, right alongside Conan.
Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
Is that why they all have fuckin rpg mechanics like levels and whatnot? Because barring one or two exceptions I cant stand that immersion breaking shit.
Terthna
Professional Lurker
Partly; but they're also taking cues from Sword Art Online, who's popularity kickstarted the isekai genre (though it itself wasn't actually an isekai story, and instead was about people being trapped in a video game).
Agent23
Ни шагу назад!
Names and links to MAL/mangafox pls!!!
Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
Rahxephon
It's an unadulterated Evangelion clone to a T.
- Alien invasion by creepy organic mecha (Angels/Dolems)? Check.
- The nations of the world established a powerful NGO to combat them (NERV/TERRA)? Check.
- Said organization uses their own creepy organic mecha reverse engineered from the enemy (EVAs/Vermillions)? Check.
- Tokyo is at the center of this world ending conflict? Check.
- Protagonist who is a wimp and is the only one who pilot the mecha to fight the aliens and whose parent turns out to be a big bad involved in a conspiracy to end the world? Check.
- Girls inexplicably interested in this wimpy teenager? Check.
- First half of the show is made up of episodic plots about fighting the Angel/Dolem of the week? Check.
- Angelic aesthetics? Check.
- Conspiracy plot dragged out for a long time and lots of playing the pronoun game? Check.
- Up its own ass on psychology and metaphors? Also check.
I could go on.
Unlike Evangelion, Rahxephon is simply not as enjoyable to watch. It doesn't have the same level of production values in terms of art, animation, shot composition/framing, or directing. It is also digipaint and looks oversaturated compared to the cel animation of earlier anime. The moment to moment show isn't as captivating and the cast overall not as interesting or as likeable (I did like the two old commander guys. I guess the newspaper reporter who was snooping around was also interesting). No standout scenes. And so on. A very large percentage of the show's screentime is spent on navel gazing. Evangelion is often criticized for this but IIRC the navel gazing and deep thoughts about nothing were only a fraction of that show's runtime. I ended up feeling like I watched shoddy rehash of Evangelion.
The anime is too vague on the lore on the aliens. How did Ayato get alien blood? His alien mom was born to the grandpa, and I don't think he married an alien, so did the daughter get converted into an alien by the aliens? Was the evil general born an alien from the start and converted into an alien as well? What's stopping the aliens from converting all of the humans into aliens? The alien lore in Evangelion was also very vague but at least it wasn't essential to understanding the plot and character motivations like it is here.
The show has failed to convince me of its main romance, failed to make me believe that they actually love each other. To summarize: Ayato and Haruka were school mates in Tokyo. Haruka was outside of the Tokyo when the aliens trapped Tokyo in a bubble in which time progresses six times slower than the outside world. By the time the show begins, Haruka is a 29 year old woman and Ayato is 17.
At the start of the show, it had only been 2 years since Ayato last saw Haruka. He wasn't thinking about her at all, which seems to imply that he just was never really close to her let alone romantically involved. He also doesn't seem really interested in Haruka as a person once he leaves Tokyo. He doesn't even ask her about how her life has been since she was caught outside of the bubble. In fact, he seems to spend more time talking to the two other girls, Megumi and Quon. So why does he suddenly profess love to Haruka in episode 24?
Then you have Haruka. It has been at 14 years since she last saw Ayato, and yet she is still pining for him? What? This guy doesn't remember you after two years on his end, but you're still infatuated with him after 14? I also find it hard to believe that Haruka hadn't been scooped up by another man by the time the show begins. She's attractive and she is a normal, sane woman who a normal man wouldn't be repulsed by. She isn't a drunk or an adulterous party girl like Misato from Evangelion was. I also find it weird that she would be attracted to a homeless teenager who has no job, no assets to his name, no inheritance (his alien mom seems to be rich but she's an enemy of the rest of the world. Either the aliens win and Haruka is killed or enslaved, or Tokyo is destroyed and mom's assets are confiscated by the victors), and is seen as an enemy of the world. Marrying him doesn't seem like a very secure life decision, especially when again she is surrounded by military officer who do have solid careers and have wealth and probably aren't going to be disposed by the state as soon as they have served their purpose.
I guess a point in this show's favor is that I at least managed to make it through 24 episodes, which is more than can be said for most modern anime. Would never rewatch, though.
Pocky Balboa
Well-known member
Yeah, I agree with you that Rahxephon was meh, but to be fair about this particular point, a lot of anime and manga were trying to be Evangelion in the mid 90s-early to early 00s, even the ones in genres that had no business trying to ape Eva.
Pocky Balboa
Well-known member
Whoops, sorry Agent23, I got distracted and forgot to include this in the previous post before hitting Post Reply:
Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! (Mezametara Saikyou Soubi to Uchuusen Mochidattanode, Ikkodate Mezashite Youhei to Shite Jiyu ni Ikitai)
I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! (Ore wa Seikan Kokka no Akutoku Ryōshu!)
Unparalleled Path ~ Reincarnated as the AI for a Space Battleship ~ (Musou Kouro ~ Tensei Shite, Uchuu Senkan no AI ni Narimashita ~)
Assault Colossus of the Nemesis Warfront (Nemeshisu Sen'iki no Kyoushuu Kyouhei)
And here's two of the sci-fi isekai that I mentioned in my "forgotten about" category, but I was reminded of when I was looking for the JP names of the above four. I forgot them for good reason, both are absolute trash IMO and I consider myself to have a high tolerance for the usual garbage and BS you'd find in LN, manga and anime. I'm just including them for you to laugh at.
Living a Maiden Game in Hard Mode (Otome Game no Hard Mode de Ikite Imasu)
I Got Reincarnated And Mistaken As A Genius? (Isekai ni Tensei Shitandakedo Ore, Tensai tte Kanchigai Saretenai?)
Nah, I'd say its genre is planetary romance/science fantasy, more similar to things like Flash Gordon, C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy and DC's Adam Strange
Incidentally, Agent23, there are a couple of LN/manga I didn't include in the sci-fi isekai above because I consider them planetary romance.
Agent23
Ни шагу назад!
Yeah, it was more consistent.I actually liked Rahxephon better than Evangelion for the most part. I was just confused by what exactly happened at the end after the kid had managed to kill everyone he ever knew or loved.
And I think the ending was basically a reboot of the world without the time dilation Jupiter thing or the Mu.