Isekai

Isekai is a Japanese word that means “different world”. At least that's what Google told me.

In the realm of webnovels, isekai means the plot follows someone from Earth* who is magically transported to another world. Why? How? There are a number of answers to those questions, which I shall try to cover here.

*There is also “reverse-isekai”, where someone from another world is magically transported to Earth.

Here I'm going to cover “how”, because that sometimes informs the “why”.

For the first way, I ask you to think of Alice in Wonderland and Narnia. As you are reading this in English, I can assume you know what those are. And how the children involved get to their respective new worlds.

Portals. There’s a magic gateway that opens up somewhere, and on the other side is a different world with different rules.

While this way isn't as common nowadays, it’s still used. A magic swirling portal or glowing doorway or stairwell into the ground opens up, and the main character decides to go through.

This brand of isekai is the most… Well, it’s the only one where the character almost always actively decides to go. Sure, in others sometimes a prompt will appear and they choose [Yes], and sometimes in this one the doorway has a gravity effect that sucks the character in. But tallied up, if your character actively decided to go, they most likely went through a portal.

The second way I'll mention is the way through which this genre gained popularity: trapped in a video game.

To be specific, a virtual reality game.

At the beginning, a character will put on their VR headset. After a couple hours of fun playing they’ll realize they can't log out. Why? Could be a glitch. Could be an evil dev. Could be their soul has been removed from their Earth body. Lots of options.

This is the option which gives authors an almost pre-set goal: escape the game. In some of the other options, returning to Earth isn't possible. Or even wanted. But in these stories the goal is almost always to find a way out.

It’s a very easy plot to use. Chapter 1, we meet the character and learn about this awesome new game that came out. Chapter 2, we get to see the amazing new world and the character marvels at the reality of the VR. Chapter 3, everyone realizes they can't log out and shit hits the fan. Chapters 4 through (insert any number you want), trying to get out. Epilogue, character is back home, dealing with all the mental trauma and telling their family they love them.

Chef’s kiss.

Now, there’s a less common variant of that one where the character can, like, leave? Whenever they want?? Whaaa???

…Joking aside, while that 100% qualifies as GameLit (and 99% of the time as LitRPG), the internet is kinda split on if it counts as isekai.

The third way of getting isekai’d is by being summoned.

Basically, some deity or group of people on another world really need a hero, and the character is who their magic spell pointed out as the perfect person for the job. Occasionally the spell pulls in the wrong person, but whatever.

Sometimes with this one a prompt will appear asking if the character accepts the call to adventure. But more often they’ll just open a book and be sucked in. Or they’ll be walking home and suddenly magic lights will poof them into a king’s throne room.

And going home is, of course, impossible. The Royal Mages are very sorry about that.

Lastly, and most popularly, we come to reincarnation.

It's so popular I wrote it its own post. Here.

With that one, the important thing to know is the person dies and wakes up elsewhere.

And how do they die? Well, there are two popular ways.

The first is getting hit by a truck. Bonus points if it’s saving a cat or cute girl. This is so common that fan conspiracy theories claim it’s the same truck. They’ve given the truck a name: Truck-Kun. And fan art!

There are whole stories dedicated to following Truck-Kun as he plows down teenagers to send them off to their new lives. And whole forums dedicated to logging whenever Truck-Kun makes an appearance in any manga or light novel.

It’s great.

The second most popular way of having someone die is by having the character be old and catch some incurable disease. This is the most “natural” death option. Usually there’s a family member or two there, holding their hand as cancer or whatever finally takes them.

And then suddenly they’re either in a new place with little explanation, or they’re in front of a deity who tells them they did impressive things on Earth, so how about doing impressive things elsewhere?

The third most common way to die is in a natural disaster. Usually an earthquake, but lightning strikes and tornadoes (hello, Wizard of Oz) do come up.

And with that I believe I’ve mentioned everything.

What the person does when they reach the new world is up to the author, really. It can be anything from a harem romance to an epic fantasy to slice of life to grimdark misery porn. All isekai covers is how the main character gets into the setting of the story.

It’s a handy thing to use because of two main reasons:

1: The main character is from Earth, and thus it’s theoretically easier for the audience to relate to them.

2: Since the main character is new to this world and magic, it makes sense for other characters to spend whole chapters explaining what’s going on.

Gone are the days of authors worrying about how to get readers to relate to an elf prince! Gone are the days of having to begin infodumps with “as you know”!

All hail isekai as the best thing to happen to authors in the past century!!

(I finished this at 4:30am, I know that conclusion could use some work but whatever.)