Make Isekai a Theme not a genre

[Lacie]

Since Isekai is more of a Theme/Plotpoint then a Genre it would only be fair to classify as such on the site.
For reference we could use the former Genderbender Genre on this site. The gender bender trope was used as much as a storypoint a isekai is being used as one. What happens afterwards confines more with Fantasy/shounen tropes, which in itself are Genres.
So my sugestion is to move Isekai to the theme section too.

P.s sorry for my english, i am sorry if i somehow offended someone with it.

 

[Teasday]

You're free to make polls but don't expect us to actually change it

It's a genre

 

[Lacie]

to be honest i am more interested in seeing how many people already see a plotpoint as a genre in todays weeb society. As wrong as that sound in my mind^^

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

@Lacie I think isekai has been such a repititive theme that people in the otaku community has classified it as its own genre. Tell me, do you think horror started out as a genre of its own or a bunch of exceptionally scary stories that people would often find themselves comparing to see which one is better? I say that it's the latter.

If your definiton stands true, then, as examples, shoujou-ai would be a theme of romance rather than its own genre; zombies would be a theme of horror rather than its own genre; space would be a theme of sci-fi rather than its own genre. Plus, subgenres is a better fit as categories for my aforementioned examples.

Here is google's definition of the term "genre":

a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Feel free to interpret it on your own but my definition of "a theme so repititive that people would compare its stories with one another" agrees with google's definition much better than your "anything that is not a theme that is derivable from a pre-existing genre". Plus, your definition is paradoxical since if everything new is a theme from a pre-existing genre, then what are the first genres since there are no pre-existing genres to compare it to then? If horror appeared first before sci-fi and the first few sci-fi stories were sci-fi horror, then does that mean sci-fi should never exist since it is a theme from horror as there has not been any examples of sci-fi being not a theme of horror made yet? And how do new genres form then?

Arguing that isekai is a subgenre of fantasy rather than its own genre would make for a much more interesting and personally funner debate, in my opinion.

Spoiler

I think that the isekai genre can fit sci-fi as well.

Feel free to challenge me.

 

[jokerxhisoka]

to be fair, this theme / genre division is messed up, lot's of things are just wrong and I've seen so many themes that don't make sense with certain genres together. Why would a manga with fantasy genre have a supernatural theme? It's fantasy, weird things(supernatural) is part of the natural! and why tag a non-hentai with themes that would only work for hentai? Things just got more complicated than they really should.

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

@jokerxhisoka I mean, is there any valid and overpowering excuse not to do those things you mentioned?

 

[jokerxhisoka]

@DANDAN_THE_DANDAN could you make it more clear what you meant?

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

@jokerxhisoka To put it to more simpler terms, "Why not?"

 

[jokerxhisoka]

@DANDAN_THE_DANDAN well, that part I understood, what I want to know is why not what?

 

[Teasday]

_{@jokerxhisoka posted:}

It's fantasy, weird things(supernatural) is part of the natural!

What? Supernatural is by definition not part of the natural, otherwise it would be called natural. Supernatural is not a subcategory of the natural, obviously.

 

[Bramia]

@Teasday
He meant extension, not part. Don't be mean

And I agree about isekai not being a genre. It's just an excuse to mix fantasy with supernatural (because our universe living in parallel an entity able to take us somewhere else is supernatural and that somewhere else is a fantasy world).

The need for the tag exists though... No need to remove it, just put it where it belongs

 

[Teasday]

It's not an extension either. It's by definition "things that exist outside of the natural realm". If something is natural, it cannot be supernatural and vice versa. They're mutually exclusive.

e: Although to be fair I have absolutely no idea of what "supernatural things" would even be in the real world. To me, things that exist are by definition natural, so supernatural would be a self-contradictory label.

This is going into philosophy though so never mind

 

[Bramia]

That is incorrect. By definition, super natural is a super set of what's natural. In other words, it includes everything that's natural + other things. That's why it's an extension of it

 

[Teasday]

By that definition, everything that is natural is simultaneously also supernatural. I completely reject that definition, it makes no sense. If supernatural = natural + other things, what are the other things called?

Although it would be funny that I could eat homegrown, supernatural food

 

[jokerxhisoka]

@Teasday I meant what we perceive as supernatural in our world is natural in a fantasy world, meaning it doesn't make sense to say a manga with fantasy genre has a supernatural theme.

 

[Teasday]

@jokerxhisoka That's true if the characters don't think of whatever is happening as supernatural, yeah.

 

[goronyanpai]

In my view, Isekai comes with a whole package. Isekai describes the arrangement of their world. That is clearly a genre. It has been booming in the market lately and has grown into a single genre. That is different from the old manga I often encounter, which is not as important as a genre because it is only an additional concept.

If you speak the theme, it is more appropriate to narrow it down like this: parallel world, truck-kun, and so on.

 

[Foxy]

The problem with Isekai, it's both a genre and a theme.

It's a theme, when the Isekai world is the core of the manga.
Ex : 34 Yo NEET MC-kun, got sent in Isekai world by truck-san and want to get puss because of his cheat ability.
This despricption can fit shitloads of isekai manga, where usually you can't remember MC-kun's name.

It's a genre when the manga takes place in the isekai world, but the plot doesn't resolve on it .
MC-Kun is sent in an isekai world to accomplish something.
Ex : REZero where the MC has to figure out what's going on behind his "savepoint" power.

It might be a clunky explaination but that's my PoV
Sorry for bad englando ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

https://mangadex.org/thread/47277

 

[Le_Dook]

The Isekai boom we're seeing recently is a lot similar to the "Battle Tournament" book back in the 80s and 90s. I would regard Battle Tournament style manga as a fighting genre, similar to how a manga set in the future would be sci fi genre. These rules don't exactly apply to Isekai though, you could jump to conclusions and say that it's fantasy (which is technically correct) however since the setting could literally be anything from Medieval to Alien worlds, it's more accurate to call Isekai a genre really. Plus a theme, as described by Merriam Webster, can be either the subject or distinctive qualities. I don't feel that a broader topic like Isekai would fit into that