Isekai is a genre where the protagonist starts as a normal person living in the real world, usually a lonely teenaged kid, then abruptly dies and gets reincarnated as a super mega hero in a D&D-esq fantasy world. Usually something about their lonely previous life turns into their strength and they save the world. It's currently clogging up the industry and I hate it.
So isekai just means another world. Any story where the character is transported to another world is an isekai. To be a bit technical, what you described is probably the most prominent sub-genre within isekai at the moment. There's been a lot of them that take the power level of the MC and dial it up to 11. But then there's plenty where the power levels are all sorts of things.
for sure, there are a few good ones out there. I enjoyed the first few seasons of rising of the shield hero, and jobless reincarnation is very good when you fast forward through the pedo parts. Heck, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a timeless classic. I'm just kind of pissed off at the genre because they take a concept with so much potential and absolutely squandered them over waifu bait and power fantasy scenarios. The worst offender was Gate, where there were a few instances of really interesting plot points being set up, but they are sidelined in favor of the harem.
They follow the rule of "90% of everything is crap" like just about everything does in my eyes. Tons of straight trash but on the other hand there are the ReZeros, Mushoku Tenseis, Overlords, Konosubas, etc. to balance it out.
Isekai is a genre where the protagonist starts as a normal person living in the real world, usually a lonely teenaged kid, then abruptly dies and gets reincarnated as a super mega hero in a D&D-esq fantasy world. Usually something about their lonely previous life turns into their strength and they save the world. It's currently clogging up the industry and I hate it.
It's the easiest, laziest way to make a fantasy character relatable. Make him a normal person who's kinda boring.
Someone, somewhere probably wished for less high school anime and the monkey's paw granted their wish.
So isekai just means another world. Any story where the character is transported to another world is an isekai. To be a bit technical, what you described is probably the most prominent sub-genre within isekai at the moment. There's been a lot of them that take the power level of the MC and dial it up to 11. But then there's plenty where the power levels are all sorts of things.
for sure, there are a few good ones out there. I enjoyed the first few seasons of rising of the shield hero, and jobless reincarnation is very good when you fast forward through the pedo parts. Heck, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a timeless classic. I'm just kind of pissed off at the genre because they take a concept with so much potential and absolutely squandered them over waifu bait and power fantasy scenarios. The worst offender was Gate, where there were a few instances of really interesting plot points being set up, but they are sidelined in favor of the harem.
They follow the rule of "90% of everything is crap" like just about everything does in my eyes. Tons of straight trash but on the other hand there are the ReZeros, Mushoku Tenseis, Overlords, Konosubas, etc. to balance it out.