Now don't get me wrong, standard qualifier from an avid anime watcher, yes, isekai fantasy anime was always generally considered pretty trash. I consider it the junk food of anime where you know it's terrible for you but you kind of watch it anyway and I've sometimes found it entertaining because the studios redeem the shows with decent character writing and backstories.
The last couple of shows overall have been so bad it's surprising and it's almost woke levels of shittiness and I hope this is just a blip because it's summer anime but how do you manage to fuck up such a basic premise as making an interesting fantasy story? It doesn't have to be original or even amazing, just make it decent. I'm seeing the newer stuff come out and it's like they've shamelessly copy-pasted scenes and plastered them onto the new characters and their budget is clearly very low because you've got the poorly rendered 3D monsters problem again.
Maybe Frieren raised my expectations way too much but even by Isekai trash anime standards it's been a particularly poor showing at the moment. Once you notice all the shit they do to cut corners in animation like literal slideshow scenes with audio ( It's usually a hotspring scene or they're 'wandering' around a market ) it's really hard to unsee it and I despise studios that do this.
I don't know I always disliked most isekai anime. You say Frieren raised your expectation but it is THE OUTLIER. It's one of those anime that has really good overarching theme and relevant setting. The main character is almost a mary sue but you can't help but like her enough because she seems to have very firm belief in something and not for shallow reasons either and she is the central figure that actually carries the plot.
Do you remember anime called Coffin Princess Chaika? It had great premises and compelling mystery but it kind of lost its charm along the way and became a bit forgettable towards the end. Personally I still like that anime but I'm not sure if anyone remembers it. I figure most fantasy and isekai anime have that same kind of quality. It has great premises in the beginning but somewhat loses its plot and becomes tropey. I find it extremely common in Isekai anime especially.
Chaika on the front page?
SHOCKING TRUTH!
Chaika was awesome. Definitely felt super rushed though so I got the novels and have been meaning to get around to them one day, but I can never find the time....