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Explainer | What is isekai? How the Japanese anime genre in which down-and-out characters are transported into a new life is exploding in popularity

  • Isekai – ‘alternative world’ – anime covers a broad range of storylines that focus on a chance at a new life, one free of past regrets and mistakes
  • The genre taps into the pent-up frustrations of people who feel undervalued and dissatisfied with modern life, experts and fans alike say

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Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, about a 34-year-old “jobless male virgin” who is hit by a truck and reincarnated as an infant with magical powers, is one of the most popular “isekai” Japanese anime series. Photo: Studio Bind

Getting hit by a truck doesn’t sound like anyone’s favourite fantasy, but it’s an idea central to an escapist type of Japanese anime exploding in popularity.

Isekai – “alternative world” – anime covers a broad range of storylines in which a character is transported into a new life.

But one form of isekai often starts with a bang: a struggling protagonist, sometimes depicted as a loser, dies a violent death but is reincarnated as a hero with unique powers.

It has found new popularity in Japan and beyond, with US speciality streaming service Crunchyroll reporting “great appetite” for the genre that includes titles like That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.

“We’ve seen very strong performance of these titles worldwide,” says Asa Suehira, chief content officer at Crunchyroll.

A scene from the popular isekai “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation”. Photo: Studio Bind
A scene from the popular isekai “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation”. Photo: Studio Bind

In 2021, five of the top 10 most-watched Japanese anime on China’s Bilibili video platform featured isekai storylines. And the genre is so popular that “isekaied” even features in the online lexicon guide Urban Dictionary, defined as “the act of being run over by a truck and reborn”.

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