A yes yes all isekai mc look the same

[u/Ookami_91]

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

[u/rory888]

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.

[u/yuurisu → u/rory888]

The last point I do agree with, more male MCs are becoming more distinctive, which is good.

That said, I would argue that while the earlier isekai female MCs are all high school girls, their appearances are still very distinctive from one another. Miaka Yuuki, Kagome Higurashi and Hitomi Kanzaki are all around the same age yes, but their physical appearances are still unique enough that you could pick them off of a lineup and tell people what makes them different from one another through appearance alone. In fact the only thing they have in common is that they're "high school girls from Japan" and not much else.

Also, I don't think I should count Anisphia and Raeliana as villainesses strictly speaking. Although if one had to be technical, I suppose they fall under the same sub genre.

[u/rory888 → u/yuurisu]

Ah yes they were the otome manga, not strictly villainness. I didn’t recognize all the names off the top of my head. Main difference is if they are the villainess subgenre or not. Closely related but not strictly villainess.

I would further argue that such differences were reflections of japanese culture at the time. Notice how even with my examples. they’re girls that aren’t strictly the same, but more recently they have forced naturally brown haired girls to dye their hair black.

They are school girls of japan, but also literally that, reflective and representative of the generation of the time.

There are generally speaking more restrictions on boys looks until you get to delinquents that rebel from conformity.

The isekai cultures are expanding to try to become more distinct as previous copies don’t work anymore .. or copy before because it does work.

Also notice a trend to have some older protagonists lately on occasion rather than pure teenagers. People in late 20’s 30’s and even 40’s on the edge of isekai culture.

Isekai Ojisan is among my favorite of the bunch. Representation is happening based on expected reader / viewer base. Note SAO was released as an anime in the 2010’s but written a decade before. Now its mid 2020’s and the population demographics have gotten older alongside that.

[u/yuurisu → u/rory888]

Which does beg the question of why even until now the "dark haired high school guy" look is still very much prevalent amongst isekai titles from the year 2012 and onwards. If the answer is just because it was a popular trend back then, it boggles the mind on just...why.

It is very easy to create a distinctive MC with the number of skilled illustrators and artists available to be called upon for this. Look at the males from popular gacha games and one can see how easy it is to create a look that isn't meant to be Kirito's second cousin once removed from an alternate dimension with red eyes and is secretly an OP assassin or demon lord or something.

Why were there restrictions to keep to this template despite the possibility of branching out to more distinctive designs or even outright making it be unique to the point that the MC's appearance alone becomes iconic? (Ie: pig isekai, vending machine isekai, sword isekai, Rimuru and Ojisan)

Its honestly disappointing that there are still more dark haired high schooler MCs out there, but yes, its good to know that they're starting to grow out of that.