The Isekai genre is falling and here is its replacement

Key things

• Shonen anime remains popular, but shojo anime has been making a comeback in recent years.
• The success of shojo anime adaptations such as Dress Up Darling and Horimiya has garnered attention online.
• The decline in isekai's popularity may be due to oversaturation and a shift to more relatable slice-of-life content.

Shonen will always be at the top of the charts, but seasonal shonen anime tend to share the spotlight with the “trending” genre that follows close behind. Dozens if not hundreds of seasonal anime have been anime with insanely long titles and harem stereotypes where the protagonist is downright OP and conveniently never loses. There are exceptions to the Isekai rule that are actually well done or of course provide a new take on the genre; Re: Zero, Konosubaand That time I was reincarnated by slime are some of the more notable examples of Isekai.

But times are changing. The only successful Isekai of late are sequels to already successful franchises; the new Isekai tend to be fewer, further apart, and not as highly rated. While shonen has always been at the top of its game and won't be letting up anytime soon, there's a new contender to compete with this year's popular shonen… and it's the complete opposite.

Shojou Anime Finally shines again

Romance, Slice-of-Life, and other Shojou subgenres filling the charts

While shoujo manga and anime had their heyday in the early 2000s, the genre fell behind in more than a decade, leaving the well of shoujo anime relatively dry and barren with few exceptions. However, the last few years have seen an explosion of shojo manga. This of course leads to shojo manga adaptations. Some of the flashbang hits of recent years are Get dressed Sweetie, Horimiyaand currently airing Fiancé of the Yakuza social media takeover. Some other recent hits Kaguya-sama: Love is war, Fruit basket reboot, Komi can't communicateand others.

Some of them, including the above Love is war and Fruit basket temporarily overcome Brotherhood of Full Metal Alchemists and were the top-rated anime on the infamous anime-watching site MyAnimeList, causing enough buzz to gain online attention.

Note Fruit basket's reboot, many popular Shojo anime from the 1990s and early 2000s are now; Ranma 1/2 to be among them. Even Crunchyroll reports on what they call a “Shojo Renaissance” in this year's article, highlighting the anime Kimi ni Todoke after a 13-year hiatus, the popular manga is finally getting a third season A sign of affection and Honey lemon soda after years of waiting from fans, they are finally getting adaptations. Shojo anime is really making a comeback and influencing how other genres handle their romance.

Why was Isekai so big?

Why did Isekai explode in popularity in the first place?

Isekai as a genre usually involves being trapped in a fantasy world, typically an MMORPG or other type of video game, but would almost always feature some kind of fantasy. This provided a level of escapism for anime fans around the world. Huge and intense popularity Sword Art Online certainly contributed to the overall success of the isekai; most anime studios wanted to recreate this phenomenon Sword Art Online became But another factor that contributed to Isekai's success was the escape into the ultimate power fantasy of the average gamer who became the protagonist of their favorite game.

In isekai anime, it was often an ordinary player who was reincarnated or transferred into a fantasy game they were already playing. And nowadays, most MMORPG players are also anime fans, since most modern MMORPGs are modeled after anime, so there is a lot of crossover between the two niches. So logically, these hybrid gamers and anime fans would be drawn to an anime that shows someone they relate to traveling through an immersive video game world similar to the games they already play, right?

So why is Isekai not so popular anymore?

What has changed in the world of Isekai?

There are several theories that could contribute to isekai's declining popularity. The most obvious is oversaturation. When any genre takes center stage as a trendy and popular genre, fans of the entertainment medium are likely to get burnt out on it. This is especially true for anyone who has been trying to keep up with seasonal anime over the past decade and has witnessed the isekai genre slowly devouring the space that holds a larger variety of genres.

“The isekai genre doesn't have to die, but it needs to be reborn in a less caricatured form. That's already starting to happen, but the process needs to speed up. Anime studios in particular should also be much more selective about the number of isekai they're willing to make during the season to adapt, and writers who want to write isekai would be wise to rely on them to try something different.'

Another theory that points to Isekai's downfall is that we as a whole don't need to escape as much as we did a few years ago. Depending on the country you're in, COVID-19 lockdowns have been on and off for several years, preventing experience of the outside world for a considerable period of time. Many otaku spent their time during lockdown watching anime and playing video games, so isekai was more relatable. Now that the world is out there experiencing the world again, and relevantly, the characters are in more realistic, grounded situations like what is seen in shoujo anime. Most people have spent years with limited contact, shutting down social events and going to school online rather than in person. When people relive them in real life, they also want to see the same experiences and events on screen.

The Isekai genre itself is starting to reflect this, with dozens of slice-of-life isekai being released alongside the typical action fantasy adventure. While isekai is certainly not unpopular, the ratings of shojou anime are creeping up and sometimes even surpassing isekai. The genre's dominance won't last much longer unless they find a new way to innovate.