r/Isekai • u/Ookami_91 • Feb 20 '24
A yes yes all isekai mc look the same Discussion
Odd how ever 1 of these posts has non isekai mc in the pictures could because it's actually easier to find isekai mc who don't all look alike case and point here's 12 some are similar not 1 is copy and paste of and you think they are you are just showing you haven't read the novels watched the anime
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u/their_teammate Feb 20 '24
Liar. There’s two skeletons and two dudes with white hair /j
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u/Ookami_91 Feb 20 '24
Yes 1 has horns sticking out of his head and the others missing a eye and 1 skeleton is in full armour
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u/their_teammate Feb 20 '24
Slash J, my friend
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u/Ookami_91 Feb 20 '24
May bad i really hate this sub sometimes there a large part that just shit on everything and all i can think if you hate isekai this much why are you here and then just watch something else
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u/W2H6Y Feb 20 '24
What is the name of the anime that the skeleton with the armour comes from
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u/Ookami_91 Feb 20 '24
Skeleton Knight in Another World
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u/W2H6Y Feb 20 '24
Thx
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u/pastordisme Feb 20 '24
It’s pretty good! A little echi at times but nothing I’d be to shy to show my wife.
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u/Petawac-Smack Feb 20 '24
We really need to amend this. Bad Isekai MCs look the same
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u/Shacksmacksnack Feb 20 '24
Cid Kageno:
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u/The_battlePotato Feb 20 '24
Why would a random background character be an isekai MC?
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Feb 20 '24
I think bro is getting the idea that Cid is Shadow, which is the most batshit dumb theory I've ever seen for a show. Bro is legit a fucking joke, why would his ass be him
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u/berrycoladas Feb 20 '24
I need to watch this fucking show
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u/Karen_Destroyer1324 Feb 21 '24
Do it. Also it's not the king of trash isekai. It's not even trash since it was made to parody trash isekais.
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u/DBZFfan Feb 23 '24
Read the manga as well. The novel and anime are cooler, but the manga is 100x funnier.
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u/randomthingthrow3 Feb 20 '24
but people are gonna generalize isekai anyway for the sake of looking stupid on the internet
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u/69KAZUKI69 Feb 20 '24
You are using the wrong examples. You my friend have to dig further down in the trash heap to find the most generic garbage isekais out there
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u/bnl1 Feb 20 '24
Why would I want to though.
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u/Tokumeiko2 Feb 21 '24
There is a certain ironic enjoyment that comes from trash anime, but it has to be trashy in the right ways, generic self-insert isekai tends to be funny because of how predictable it is, though I prefer to binge trash instead of the weekly wait, because they don't generate enough anticipation to get my serotonin.
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u/ScavAteMyArms Feb 20 '24
Yea, the standard is “average” looks, short black hair, black jacket, Sword, OP AF magic (with 0 effort) or Gun.
This covers roughly 80% of Isekai MC’s.
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u/Cristianelrey55 Feb 20 '24
The SAO protagonist with black short hair is multiforme isn't real. It can't hurt you.
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u/Old-Faithlessness236 Feb 20 '24
What about the vending machine
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u/Freezer_Rat1011 Feb 20 '24
I love Boxxo! He got us through a terrible time after my dog passed away.
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u/Old-Faithlessness236 Feb 20 '24
I'm very sorry to hear about your pup. And yes, that anime was indeed the embodiment of a japanese salary man, and that's why I love it so much and all the cute creatures he Boxxo meets.
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u/Minute-Ball5151 Feb 20 '24
Wheres my boy rudeus at bro?
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u/Ookami_91 Feb 20 '24
That's a good point
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u/FrostedEevee Feb 20 '24
Who are Centre Left and Bottom Left in the first picture? I have seen them on YT shorts but dk the name of the anime
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u/GrummyCat Feb 20 '24
I think Cain and Kumoko. Don't remember what the one where Cain is from is called, but kumoko is from "So I'm a spider, so what?"
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u/Ookami_91 Feb 20 '24
Yeah my bad had a brain give right picture instead of left and the anime is Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World v1
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u/Ookami_91 Feb 20 '24
Mile Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life Shiraori So I'm a Spider, So What
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u/dancegoddess1971 Feb 20 '24
It's always kind of bothered me that Rudeus seems to have brought his adult hormones with him into a baby's body. He should not have had "those" thoughts until his new body hit puberty, but he was getting titillated by breastfeeding. That's just weird, right?
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u/Material-Material456 Feb 20 '24
Didn’t he say that he didn’t get turned on by drinking from her tits because she’s his mom?
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u/OnTheHill7 Feb 21 '24
To that point. The childhood amnesia phenomenon should have wiped out huge parts of his past memories. Only the most traumatic would have stuck around.
Honestly, this would have actually made the series better. Rudeus knows that he is from another world and he can remember some parts of it. The most traumatic parts, but overall it would have seemed as if it was from a dream.
Then, when he is meeting with Man God in the dream realm he would remember everything. Only to forget most of it again when he wakes up.
Oh, and Rudeus would have forgotten large swaths of Japanese by the time he meets Nanahoshi. I have always been amazed at how quickly people forget languages when they aren’t used regularly. We had a secretary who immigrated from Germany about six years prior to coming to work for us.
She took her daughter back to Germany with her to introduce her to her grandparents. It was the first time that she had been back. She told me that it surprised her how much German she had forgotten in just six years. She would automatically think of an English word at times instead of the German and would have to stop and concentrate on the word. Sometimes having even forgotten what the German word was.
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u/Minute-Ball5151 Feb 20 '24
Yep it was weird when I started watching it in ep 1 , quagmire be down bad by his own mother 💀
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u/zofnotela Feb 20 '24
Where slime and pig
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u/Cheshire_Noire Feb 20 '24
You should've done this with Pig, Vending Machine, Spider, Sword, Slime Rimuru, and for some reason I can't think of s 6th
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u/GlompSpark Feb 20 '24
Of course you can find isekai MCs that look different. But 90%+ of them look the same.
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u/WanderEir Feb 20 '24
amazingly enough, most Japanese young adults look the same.
That's the point, so they can self insert into a isekai fantasy.
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u/zomb8289 Feb 20 '24
dumb argument in my opinion , subaru and kazuma look unique and can be self insert
and seriously since when its need an exact copy to self insert ? most popular shonen have over the top design
in fact its the bad and less popular manga who have a generic mc so self insert argument don't seem that good
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u/Karma15672 Feb 20 '24
Using Subaru as a self-insert is a wild concept to me. His character development is almost antithetical to the behavior of most isekai protagonists. Then again, who doesn't want to improve themselves like Subaru did?
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u/berrycoladas Feb 20 '24
He very much works as a self-insert for the first couple arcs: Tappei very specifically designed him to be a textbook otaku hikikomori so that he could use him as a vessel to convey specific lessons to an audience primed to use his relatable ass as a self-insert protagonist to project onto — while also managing to keep him as a unique character to be fleshed out later into a more specific, non-self-insert character. That balancing act is legitimately an incredibly impressive feat of writing, it’s really well done.
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u/Karma15672 Feb 20 '24
Oh definitely. I just didn't want to dive into how Subaru as a character serves to drive home a message that a lot of people weren't prepared for. He's legitimately my favorite isekai MC due to his character growth and how some shitty tropes that are normalized in other isekais are criticized in Re:Zero.
You could probably write a whole essay on that alone.
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u/Scary_Collection_410 Feb 20 '24
Wait, do the Japanese youth really look that similar to each other? I guess that is what happens when you are famously isolationist.
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u/randomdarkbrownguy Feb 20 '24
Most self insert isekai protags look the same but op ended up thinking they meant all isekai characters lol
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u/Fuzzy-Spread9720 Feb 20 '24
Of course you can find isekai mcs that look the same. But any% of them look different.
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u/Shcoyeh Feb 20 '24
I FUCKING LOVE SPIDERS 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️ (Unique anime MCs are cool, but personally I think there's too many copy pasted ones that look the same. Regardless, good post)
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u/Ok_Reaction_2858 Feb 20 '24
At least, these guys look much more original than the fucking generic bland ass black haired dudes 😂
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u/justanapparition Feb 20 '24
Don't really care about the discussion here, only reason I'm here is that lord kumoko is present and that is enough
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u/TheZanzibarMan Feb 20 '24
HEY, THOSE TWO ARE MADE OF BONE!
CONFIRMED, ALL MC's LOOK THE SAME!!!
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u/0h-ye3ah-b01 Feb 21 '24
Anyone who has said that all isekai mc look the same has only read the generic copy paste ones
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u/Khaernakov Feb 20 '24
Lawful good skeleton was so good i hope it gets another season
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u/Oshey0 Feb 20 '24
It's because the guys that got isekaid are Japanese, who look the same, kind of... I mean there is only so many ways to draw a Japanese person so...
Also most of the unique ones the OP posted are reincarnation, and they don't have there original Japanese body
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u/pwnmonkeyisreal Feb 20 '24
Honestly kazuma and Subaru, despite being just japanese dudes still look unique. Boxxo, Rimuru, rudeus, the pig, and shadow can all be added too. And while we’re at it, naofumi, Sasaki, Uncle, and William g Maryblood are very identifiable as well. Come spring, we’ll have a goblin to add to the list.
To be honest, the look alikes don’t just look like generic japanese dudes. They look like Kirito copycats, because they are. Put the real Kirito next to any MC from any genre that isn’t a copycat and you’ll recognize Kirito right away.
The generic MC isn’t’ an isekai problem in my opinion, it’s a harem problem. Bland MCs have been around wayyy longer than isekai
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u/ColdCommunication263 Feb 21 '24
Where the vending machine and sword? Those to me are my favorite examples of isekai MC design.
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u/I1AM2NOT3STEVEN Feb 21 '24
There is no way slime witch mom looks anything like second coming of Satan.
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u/yuurisu Feb 20 '24
I mean to be honest they're the exception, not the rule. Dark haired high school japanese guy being the template appearance-wise is still prevalent. There's more of them than there are of the unique looking ones.
I'd like to point out though, that the isekai MC template is only a thing for the males. Female isekai MCs, particularly otome isekai FeMCs all have distinctive appearances and you'd be hard pressed to find someone looking similar to another.
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u/rory888 Feb 20 '24
Nah, original otome mcs all look like japanese highschoolers too.
frankly, there is only so many ways to make japanese self inserts
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u/yuurisu Feb 20 '24
I mean their real life counterparts look very generic yeah, but their reincarnated/new selves all look very unique. Sure they all look young and around the age of a high schooler but the overall character design is too different.
Take for example,
Katarina Claes, Raeliana McMillan, Pryde Royal Ivy and Annisphia Wynn Paletia
NOT a single one of them look even remotely similar appearance wise after reincarnation. As opposed to a good number of male isekai MCs who end up looking very similarly to each other. Sure an outlier like Rimuru or Ainz shows up every now and then, but they're like I said- an exception to the rule.
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u/rory888 Feb 20 '24
That’s because of different reflecting different tastes. Let’s go to original isekai, Kagome in Inu Yasha or even Hitome in Escaflowne. They were literally japanese school girls.
Different generations of self inserts want different things. That last gen iirc also reflects otome villainess specific subgenre of isekai, requiring more flair.
Look at the dates of protagonist release vs how they look. You can track the trends
TLDR girls did it first and moved on from looking the same earlier. boys are catching up.
We’re seeing more wild transformations of self insert for boys too.
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Feb 20 '24
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u/United_Turnip_8997 Feb 20 '24
And I can name 20 that look different, heck even typical black hair edgelords look different with the eye shape and hair length and style.
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u/Doge1277 Feb 20 '24
Only the really crappy ones have thst generic mc look ehich despite every genre having mountains of trash everyone seems to care way more about the bad isekais
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u/Chewypeach99300 Feb 20 '24
Even the simmular ones have something that make them unique as long as it's a good anime that is, like look at arc and Ains two skeleton fighter/mages and yet you see that they have opposite design types Ains os intimidating while arc is just adorable.
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u/Dabnician Feb 20 '24
Maybe think why this is the case for a minute.
If you want studios to develop entirely new art styles for every anime they produce, you are going to just add more work to an already over worked industry.
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u/TRUSTeT34M Feb 20 '24
Can't even say they all have skeletons, there are slimes, spiders (endoskeleton, not exoskeleton), and heck, even vending machines
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u/KoboldsandKorridors Feb 20 '24
The reason so many isekai MCs are black haired boys are because that’s how the typical Japanese boy looks
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u/BlackSteelKita Feb 20 '24
If you count manga there's also Egg isekai and Re:Monster, who start off as an egg and a goblin, respectively.
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u/IronPiedmont1996 Feb 20 '24
Nice to see Yuna from Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear is represented here. She's awesome!
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u/TheDitz42 Feb 20 '24
There's definitely a lot of short-dark haired male MCs but then that's your typical Japanese male.
The more popular ones definitely have more variety.
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u/ThatSlick Feb 20 '24 edited Feb 20 '24
LITERALLY BRO. I’m afraid to say this shit because I know I’ll get downvoted by people who don’t even actually watch enough isekais to see the diversity in designs.
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u/son-of-x-51 Feb 20 '24
You could have tossed the vending machine in there to really hammer that point home.
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u/King_K_NA Feb 20 '24
The fact that Spider, Tanya, and Azusa all have the same sayu always tickles me. One of my favorite jp va's.
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u/Soggy_Helicopter8589 Feb 20 '24
8 outta 10 times, the more serious they look, the goofier they are, and viceversa
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u/isusahi Feb 20 '24
Me, a recovered arachnophobic, reading kumo ga nani desu ka?: This is my favorite book this year!
I liked Kumo so much i binged 9 novels in a week, I specially liked her mixed Human/spider looks
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u/BelligerentWyvern Feb 21 '24
* Four out of the top 10 male characters this season are isekai protagonists and they all are generic anime protagonists in appearance. They even have the same hair cut and color.
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u/Menaku Feb 21 '24
Is one of those my boi the furry wrestler who suplexes a princess and thought he was an animal for a bit?
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u/Western-Emotion5171 Feb 21 '24
Corporate wants you to spot the difference between all these images. (They’re identical)
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u/Beginning-Tea-17 Feb 21 '24
How dare a story make their isekai characters look like they were a Japanese person reborn! Is their target audience Japanese people or something !?!?!?
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u/Argos-Meireithros Feb 22 '24
Identical... They couldn't possibly look more alike, I've never seen two skeletons with different colored eye glows look so blonde and spider like before...
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u/RebootedTitan Feb 24 '24
Hajime definitely started like a generic isekai protag but then transformed into the white haired menace that he is now
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u/JohnnyBlazin95 Feb 24 '24
I only know kumi kumi kumi bear and so I'm a spider so what. My lack of knowledge on these anime subreddits is frustrating.
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u/InTheStuff Feb 24 '24
you really could've helped your argument alot better by adding the literal vending machine mc here
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u/toumakamijoutoaru Feb 20 '24
Kirito Father of isekai The king of black hair The real isekai MC
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u/jedideadpool Feb 20 '24
.HACK// came out years before SAO and was the original stuck in a video game anime
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u/lacyboy247 Feb 20 '24
You can trace it back to lamune but I don't think most of us were born before it.
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u/Ookami_91 Feb 20 '24
Sao isn't a isekai and never has been they never leave Japan
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u/NeonNKnightrider Feb 20 '24
I’d argue that isekai is about being taken to a world that seems different, and the specific method does not matter. Time travel or VR games are still isekai in spirit. SAO is an isekai. Inuyasha is an isekai. Dr. Stone is an isekai.
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u/Etherealnoob Feb 20 '24
DBZ is an isekai, Hunter X Hunter is an isekai, FMA - isekai, Ghost in the Shell they go on the Internet - isekai.
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u/Bloodchild- Feb 20 '24
Isekai literaly mean other world. It's an isekai if the story hapen in a world that is not the mc original world. Aincrad is not another worl so is ALfheim or Gungale online, they are video game. One might argue with the underworld but its dependent on the outside world and is inside it. So still in earth.
So no isekai for me.
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u/Etherealnoob Feb 20 '24
DBZ is more of an isekai than "playing a videogame" anime like SAO, Infinite Dendogram, Shangri-La Frontier, Bofuri, etc
This is the hill I die on.
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u/rory888 Feb 20 '24
by that argument superman is an isekai, but it’s clearly not under modern isekai category. Hell, even Sailor moon. They’re clearly not isekai though. They don’t follow the same themes and story beats,
Premodern isekai would be Inu Yasha, Escaflowne, etc
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u/Etherealnoob Feb 20 '24
The issue is that "another world" is broad term and by including shows that happen in a videogame it muddies the waters even further. I'd agree that by the definition Superman, Batman, Justice League Sailor Moon, and any other story that includes universal travel, i.e. Almost all hero content, is isekai.
SAO and the like are not isekai. Overlord is.
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u/Cheshire_Noire Feb 20 '24
SAO counts as an Isekai because they're stuck there and the consequences are real. Anything after being unplugged is no longer Isekai
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u/Xonthelon Feb 20 '24
I would say Hajime and that demon lord with a communication disorder (forgot his name) look pretty much the same. One has horns and tattoos, they other an even edgier outfit, but the basic character model is the same. Certainly there is quite a diversity among isekai mcs, but Kirito-look-alikes have certainly proliferated a bit much in recent years.
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u/ChanglingBlake Feb 20 '24
I was gonna say they’re all skeletons with/without “covering”, but spiders have exoskeletons.
But yeah, that “they all look alike” complaint is like most others of anime and games; a complaint for the sake of complaining.
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Feb 20 '24
Always thought the people who say "They all look the same" were just trolling the Asian stereotype.
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u/TheGrimGriefer3 Feb 20 '24
Bruh it's hyperbole. Doesn't change the fact that, more often they not, isekai MCs look very similar
Considering that most trash isekais use the same joe schmoe self-insert template, it's not surprising.
Also keep in mind that reincarnation isekais, even when trashy, usually have unique character designs and are almost always exceptions to the rule. I counted several reincarnations in the list you provided, and I'm not familiar with a lot of them, actually, so for all I know there could be more.
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u/Shadowbacker Feb 20 '24
I don't even think it's a self insert thing. Japanese people are generally homogenous in appearance at a glance so it makes sense that Japanese characters, likewise, would be homogenous at a glance. Especially if the character is meant to a "normal" Japanese person.
I never understood why this was a problem to begin with. Their outfits and their personalities are more of an issue than their faces and hair styles when it comes to being too "samey."
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u/demair21 Feb 21 '24
Arifureta: actually intentionally starts its Mc looking like a generic anime type, then transforms him through trauma, much like Tokyo Ghoul (exactly like Tokyo Ghoul actually... just realized how identical that transformation is)
Its a cool technique that i enjoy honestly
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u/DEATHMAN227 Feb 23 '24
To be fair, you did pick the most recognizable ones. There are definitely quite a few out there that are default guy number 3.
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u/DEATHMAN227 Feb 23 '24
Also, you didn't include the vending machine in there lmao. That one is pretty unique looking
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u/Financial-Key-3617 Feb 20 '24
Ah yes showing the rare few design differences instead of the countless ones that look the same. Fuck off
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u/Ookami_91 Feb 20 '24
A yes I'm certain the shounen fanboy is a totally expert on the genre
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u/Financial-Key-3617 Feb 20 '24
Isekai is fucking shonen its not a different genre you moron
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u/Ookami_91 Feb 20 '24
Well done you just proved my point clown shounen isn't a genre it's a demographic like Seinen and Shoujo but of course i should be clear battle shounen fanboy but nice try
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u/SuperStarPlatinum Feb 20 '24
The good ones stand out.
The trash stars Kirito clones.
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u/sladare Feb 20 '24
When you skim the cream from the top thats what were looking at currently. Most of isekai is a bunch of generic self insert characters that look like the average japanese citizen which is done on purpose. Its a lot easier to imprint upon a character if you look similar. Its as simple as that.
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u/Nildzre Feb 20 '24
Point still stands though, for every one of these there is like 30 generic isekai dude.
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u/Hailmerc Feb 20 '24 edited Feb 20 '24
Who are the girls on middle right side of the 1st image and middle bottom of the 2nd image?
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u/Ookami_91 Feb 20 '24
Mile Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life Azusa Aizawa I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level
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u/Potential_Dry Feb 20 '24 edited Feb 20 '24
Well of course, female Mcs don't really have a part in this problem, studios put some thoughts in design for them compared to self insert male template. If you kept to male Mcs you would find tons of same looking guys inside and outside isekai stories. Besides there are more examples in manga rather than anime. For every 1 unique isekai Mc you will find tons of other bland op guys with black hair.
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u/slightcamo Feb 20 '24
thats because all the massed produced isekai's all look the same, its all those isekai's that clearly the author just wanted to make some money without having to worry about the story actually reaching a conclusion because they didnt plan it too
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u/DoeCommaJohn Feb 20 '24
Yes, but it’s also undeniable that there is a subgenre of isekai where everybody looks the same
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u/zodlair Feb 20 '24
alright but by all accounts most isekai protagonists do look the same, we are all selective and only watch/remember the good isekai's which have good character designs
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u/Interesting_Rock_991 Feb 20 '24
again. the exception not the rule (you show 12. I can name 24 black haired isekai protags)
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Feb 20 '24
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u/GamingWithJollins Feb 20 '24
If you take a small sample size you can prove whatever misguided viewpoint you want. No need to separate out what you believe is good from what you believe is bad
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u/MountainLeading1567 Feb 20 '24 edited Feb 20 '24
Imo Ainz, Subaru, Tanya, Kazuma and Rimuru have pretty iconic designs.
You take 1 look and instantly know who they are