Why do people read books? Why do people watch anime? Besides entertainment, most enjoy the above hobbies due to the concept of escapism. We all need to remove ourselves from our current worlds/mindsets and reading/indulging in anime does that quite well. Isekai anime is the idea of escaping our worlds—whether we want to or not—and finding a new life in a world not of our own. That’s why Kirito from Sword Art Online is envied by many. Don’t you ever wonder what it would be like to go from a mundane everyday life to becoming a hero trying to save the world in a fantasy setting?

Relating to a super cool high schooler like Sakamoto from Sakamoto Desu Ga? is a pretty difficult thing. The same can be said of Kamina from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann or Izuku Midoriya from Boku no Hero Academia. These characters are just so amazing and superhuman that, while they might have relatable concepts, they still aren’t characters we can see ourselves as. In isekai anime, we can relate to the issues faced by Satou Kazuma and/or Haruhiro from Hai to Gensou no Grimgar. These protagonists are your everyday guys who just find their ordinary lives turned upsidedown when they end up in alternate worlds. Isekai anime works to not only make us feel like we’re escaping everyday life but we can overlay ourselves on characters who often are otaku or NEETs like many of us tend to be.

Anime can often get very chaotic with huge side-plots and branching storylines like you often see in the Bakemonogatari series or the sci-fi mystery Ergo Proxy. Isekai anime tend to be quite simple, allowing almost anyone to just go in and enjoy. The Rising of the Shield Hero or Overlord tend to be a bit more in-depth with their stories—especially Overlord—but even these shows don’t push your mind into having to remember big plot devices or character storylines. All you need to know is that these protagonists have to survive and fight to either become stronger or to increase their chances of returning home and we love the simplicity.

One of the most common complaints we hear about the isekai genre is that all the series are the same. While many isekai anime are built from the same mold/base there are plenty of series that do things quite differently. Just look at Youjo Senki, Drifters, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, and Log Horizon. Yes, the basic isekai theme of being transported to another world is within each of the above series but they use unique concepts/themes, making them quite different. Yujou Senkii brings a businessman who is killed into a WWII-like world as a powerful female mage/soldier and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is about a man turning into a slime monster! Isekai anime is far from generic and we know there are plenty of other untapped ideas lying in the hearts of creators just waiting to be made into anime.