The Popularity of Isekai: Explained With Science

[00:00] love it or hate it itai has had a

[00:02] veritable strangle hold on anime manga

[00:04] and light novels for years at this point

[00:07] the continued dominance and popularity

[00:09] of these types of stories has triggered

[00:11] no shortage of commentary Regarding why

[00:13] this specific storytelling device

[00:15] remained so popular in fact the very

[00:17] first video I made for this channel was

[00:19] on this very question but today I want

[00:22] to take a different approach what if

[00:24] there is a scientific explanation for

[00:26] the Evergreen popularity of isekai

[00:28] stories perhaps the animals of

[00:30] peer-reviewed academic literature

[00:32] secretly holds the answer to this query

[00:35] after perusing the Realms of psychology

[00:37] sociology media studies cultural

[00:39] anthropology among others I've developed

[00:42] three buckets from which we can

[00:43] understand the enduring popularity of

[00:45] esaki the first is psychological the

[00:48] story structure of isekai allows viewers

[00:50] to better connect and immerse themselves

[00:52] in the work the second is sociological

[00:55] the mechanics of isekai are particularly

[00:57] appealing to a growing class of young

[01:00] people who were disillusioned by a lack

[01:02] of Economic Opportunity a problem that

[01:04] originated in Japan after their economy

[01:07] stagnated in the early 1990s but has

[01:09] since spread to other parts of East Asia

[01:12] and the developed world the final bucket

[01:14] is technological specifically about the

[01:16] mechanics of how new isekai are created

[01:19] isekai stories come from a uniquely fan

[01:21] driven environment on the Japanese

[01:23] website SCH setat and it's that

[01:26] crossover between consumers and

[01:28] producers that creates a virtuous cycle

[01:30] by which isekai continued to be turned

[01:32] out to start with the psychological

[01:34] Dimension it's useful to confront the

[01:36] broader philosophical question of why do

[01:39] we consume fictional narratives at all

[01:41] on the surface it seems like a trit or

[01:43] even idiotic question but the more you

[01:46] think about it the more the answer is

[01:48] perhaps not as self-evident as it might

[01:50] initially seem by definition fictional

[01:53] stories are not real so why then do we

[01:56] as a species invest so much Collective

[01:58] effort time and brain power to the

[02:00] pursuit of stories worlds and characters

[02:03] that are completely made up after all

[02:05] thinking about fictional narratives

[02:07] wouldn't have helped our ancestors hunt

[02:09] great beasts or avoid dangerous

[02:11] predators one answer to this question is

[02:13] that perhaps a predilection towards

[02:15] fictional narratives may have in fact

[02:17] helped our ancestors survive and

[02:19] reproduce in Psychology there's an idea

[02:21] called theory of mind which essentially

[02:23] refers to our ability to understand

[02:26] others by ascribing motives emotions

[02:28] beliefs and desires to them that are

[02:30] different than our own individuals who

[02:32] are better able to understand the

[02:34] intentions of others both good and bad

[02:37] are much more likely to avoid

[02:38] undesirable outcomes like being

[02:40] ostracized from your village and more

[02:43] likely to achieve desirable outcomes

[02:44] like procreation in her 2006 bug why we

[02:48] read fiction the literature and

[02:50] cognitive science scholar Lisa Sunshine

[02:53] argues that theory of mind is essential

[02:55] for understanding why we are driven to

[02:57] consume fictional stories by Nature sure

[03:00] all fictional stories require engaging

[03:02] theory of mind to this end Zed proposes

[03:05] a thought experiment to imagine how

[03:06] fiction would work in a world in which

[03:08] there is no conception of theory of Mind

[03:10] a world in which we are unable to

[03:12] conceptualize how others might have

[03:15] different thoughts desires and

[03:16] motivations from our own Sunshine argues

[03:19] that in such a world the role of fiction

[03:21] would be significantly diminished if not

[03:23] completely eliminated intuitively this

[03:26] makes sense if we were completely

[03:27] incapable of understanding other people

[03:29] inner workings and how their thoughts

[03:31] might differ from our own there is a

[03:33] little reason to spend time absorbing

[03:35] madeup tales about other people

[03:37] Sunshine's core contention throughout

[03:38] her book is that our drive to consume

[03:40] fictional narratives is driven by a

[03:42] desire to exercise our social reasoning

[03:44] and Imagination she analyzes literary

[03:47] Classics like Bea wolf Don kote or

[03:49] Lolita to show how they employ

[03:51] rhetorical tricks to exercise and

[03:53] stimulate our theory of mind for example

[03:56] take the case of Lita which centers

[03:58] around Humbert humbert's obsession with

[04:00] the ttit Lolita the story forces readers

[04:03] to understand that Humbert is an

[04:04] unreliable narrator requiring the reader

[04:06] to perform the mental exercise to

[04:09] understand how his predilections and

[04:10] Neurosis color The Narrative that's

[04:12] presented to them in short we have an

[04:14] evolutionary drive to process and

[04:17] understand the mental states of others

[04:19] that is mediated through fiction so what

[04:21] does this have to do with isekai I'd

[04:23] argue that the mechanics of isekai can

[04:25] help to enhance theory of mind the

[04:27] central premise of isekai of course is

[04:29] it's where a person from our world finds

[04:31] themselves transported into some other

[04:33] Fantastical world what's interesting

[04:35] about many of the highest rated isekai

[04:37] like yojo seni or No Game No Life Is

[04:40] that the protagonists all come from very

[04:42] distinct pre isekai experiences T deura

[04:45] was a Cutthroat salary man who was

[04:47] murdered by a disgruntled former

[04:48] employee he fired Shido and soda are not

[04:51] just NS which is a fairly common Trope

[04:53] among isekai protagonists but rather

[04:55] they're defined by their obsessive skill

[04:58] and compulsion towards game playing

[05:00] these characters all carry defined and

[05:02] clear experiences and temperaments into

[05:04] their new lives such that the viewer is

[05:06] forced to reason about how someone with

[05:09] those characteristics and background

[05:10] would approach the novel and Fantastical

[05:13] situations thrown at them in their new

[05:15] reality a common plot device at isekai

[05:17] stories is having the main characters

[05:19] knowledge and experiences from our

[05:21] reality translate into success in the

[05:23] fantasy world which naturally encourages

[05:25] the viewer to think about how the

[05:27] experiences of the main character or

[05:28] even themselves would translate into the

[05:31] fantasy world an increasingly popular

[05:33] subgenre of iseki stories are

[05:35] reincarnation villainess Works

[05:37] essentially these Works will feature the

[05:39] protagonist being reborn as a character

[05:41] from one of their favorite books or

[05:42] video games from their previous life

[05:44] they then use their knowledge of said

[05:46] book or game that they got reborn into

[05:48] to influence the plot in essence the

[05:50] mechanics of having a person from our

[05:52] reality transported into a Fantastical

[05:54] one could help enhance the kinds of

[05:56] perspective taking that allow us to

[05:58] enjoy fiction of of course one of the

[06:00] primary criticisms of isekai stories is

[06:02] that most of them do not feature these

[06:04] kinds of unique or particularly

[06:06] memorable characters the kinds of low

[06:08] brow cookie cutter isekai stories that

[06:10] have made these plot devices widely

[06:12] ridiculed are scorned because these

[06:14] stories are seen as uninspired and

[06:16] feature Bland unmemorable characters

[06:18] well many of the genre's best shows

[06:20] feature characters of clearly defined

[06:22] and unique personality traits and

[06:24] experiences these are perhaps the

[06:25] exception rather than the norm one of

[06:28] the defining characteristics of lowbrow

[06:30] isekai stories is that they usually

[06:31] feature completely unremarkable Bland

[06:34] milk toast protagonists usually with the

[06:36] pr elction towards light novels anime or

[06:38] games they then very conveniently find

[06:41] that these traits allow them to become

[06:43] extremely overpowered in their new life

[06:45] The Supporting Cast is often little more

[06:47] than a Pastiche of well trotted anime

[06:49] tropes and the plot generally fares not

[06:51] much better with these kinds of stories

[06:53] trotting out the same W RPG elements and

[06:56] generic fantasy settings it's with these

[06:58] kinds of stories that the theory of Mind

[07:00] explanation starts to fall apart this

[07:03] kind of narrative setup does not

[07:04] particularly challenge one's theory of

[07:06] mind the entire purpose of having these

[07:08] kinds of protagonists is for the viewer

[07:10] to self-insert into them none of these

[07:12] characters typically have any kind of

[07:14] deeper character motivations for the

[07:15] audience to understand or dissect this

[07:18] leads into perhaps one of the more

[07:19] prominent reason why isekai tropes have

[07:21] stuck around for so long namely that

[07:23] they encourage Transportation into

[07:25] narrative worlds and identification with

[07:27] the protagonist as the name implies is

[07:29] transportation into narrative worlds or

[07:31] Transportation Theory as it sometime

[07:33] referred to in the literature refers to

[07:35] the ability of a fictional work to fully

[07:37] immerse or transport the viewer into a

[07:40] narrative if you have ever for instance

[07:42] binged an entire season of anime without

[07:44] any regard for the time you've

[07:46] experienced narrative Transportation

[07:48] when someone is strongly transported

[07:50] into a narrative they often lose track

[07:51] of their surroundings and the real world

[07:53] and they become highly engrossed and

[07:55] connected with the characters through

[07:57] scientific study researchers have been

[07:59] able to identify distinct

[08:00] characteristics and factors that predict

[08:02] narrative transportation in a 2014 meta

[08:05] analysis Tom van leer and his colleagues

[08:08] examined 76 studies on narrative

[08:10] Transportation they identified several

[08:12] key characteristics of the story

[08:14] receiver or the person reading watching

[08:17] or experiencing a narrative and how

[08:18] those influence the likelihood of

[08:20] experiencing narrative Transportation

[08:23] first they identify familiarity as a key

[08:25] driver of narrative Transportation the

[08:27] more knowledge a person has about a

[08:29] story topic or genre the more narrative

[08:31] Transportation they experience to this

[08:34] extent the mass proliferation of isekai

[08:36] works as a kind of virtuous cycle where

[08:38] the ever expanding Universe of isekai

[08:41] stories only increases people's

[08:42] awareness and familiarity with the

[08:44] genres conventions and troops and thus

[08:46] makes them even more likely to be

[08:48] transported into future isekai stories

[08:51] second they point out that certain

[08:52] people are just inherently more willing

[08:54] to be transported when you think about

[08:56] the typical isekai demographic it's

[08:58] usually Young men often without much

[09:00] else going on in their lives thus the

[09:03] specific demographic that isekai stor

[09:05] has appeal to have an inherently High

[09:06] propensity for transportation third they

[09:09] look at more General demographic

[09:11] characteristics they find that young

[09:13] people are more likely to be transported

[09:15] which checks out with the general eite

[09:17] demographic they also found out that

[09:18] more educated people are more likely to

[09:20] experience narrative Transportation

[09:22] likely as a function of the fact that

[09:24] they read more Japan as a society of a

[09:27] high degree of educational attainment

[09:28] fits this Bill the final finding here is

[09:31] a little interesting they find that

[09:33] women generally report higher levels of

[09:35] narrative Transportation than men while

[09:37] we often think of isekai as primarily

[09:39] appealing to young men as I have

[09:41] likewise assumed isekai as a plot

[09:43] mechanic has and continues to be quite

[09:46] popular with female audiences one of the

[09:48] earliest instances of an isekai style

[09:50] story was at the 1976 chjo manga OK no

[09:53] Mano or the crest of the royal family

[09:56] which revolves sort a young girl being

[09:57] sent back in time to an Egypt isekai

[10:00] stories were quite popular in shjo manga

[10:02] during the 1990s such as fushiki Yuki a

[10:05] story about two Junior High School girls

[10:07] they're transported back to ancient

[10:09] China from a book they find in their

[10:10] library of course there's also the most

[10:12] famous example in Inu Yasha which

[10:14] features a girl who was transported to

[10:16] feudo Japan through a well in her family

[10:18] Shrine and as I've previously mentioned

[10:21] we've also seen a recent rise of

[10:22] villainess isekai which primarily appeal

[10:25] to women however many of the

[10:27] characteristics from Van ler at all

[10:29] study are not necessarily unique to

[10:31] isekai the same demographic factors that

[10:34] make young men and women particularly

[10:36] likely to transport into isekai stories

[10:38] could easily apply to other types of

[10:40] narratives for instance before isekai

[10:43] became the invogue genre the early 2010s

[10:45] were heavily saturated by battle Herm

[10:48] shows exemplified by works like data

[10:50] live High School DxD the aster war or

[10:53] shivalry of a failed Knight to name a

[10:55] few both battle Herm shows and isekai

[10:58] share many similar characteristics both

[11:00] generally feature male protagonists that

[11:02] often seem plain or unassuming but

[11:04] conveniently have some kind of unique

[11:06] power that makes them incredibly strong

[11:08] both are often ridiculed for being wish

[11:10] fulfillment fantasy shows for young men

[11:12] however there are a couple of subtle

[11:14] differences that account for isi's

[11:15] enduring popularity while battle heram

[11:18] shows have largely died out the first is

[11:20] a bit on the nose but isekai likely

[11:22] evokes better engagement from the

[11:24] viewers because of the literal plot

[11:26] device of the main character being

[11:27] transported into a new world as I've

[11:30] previously argued this act might make

[11:32] consumers more likely to become invested

[11:34] in and become narratively transported

[11:36] into the story the second part of my

[11:38] argument is a bit more involved and has

[11:40] to do with the sociological conditions

[11:42] of particularly Japanese young people

[11:44] but also an increasing share of young

[11:46] people globally specifically I want to

[11:49] deconstruct a common criticism leveled

[11:51] at isekai stories namely that they often

[11:53] devolve into vapid escapism and wish

[11:55] fulfillment for socially maladjusted

[11:58] young men and boys it's worth

[11:59] interrogating what this contention means

[12:02] what exactly are these people escaping

[12:04] from and why has the narrative device of

[12:06] going to another world become the

[12:08] preferred means from which to execute

[12:10] this escapism people regularly criticize

[12:13] what they perceive to be a glut of

[12:14] unoriginal entr tropy isekai Series

[12:17] without considering the underlying

[12:18] reasons why these stories continue to be

[12:21] successful in our master's thesis fatuma

[12:24] Muhammad argues that isekai consumption

[12:26] has become endemic not as what she calls

[12:28] a quote ill advised coping mechanism or

[12:31] as a sign of Failure to Launch end quote

[12:33] but as a reimagining of the coming of

[12:36] age Tales of old isekai is particularly

[12:39] successful because it navigates the

[12:40] increasing unattainability of the

[12:43] idealized Japanese life for today's

[12:45] youth a defining characteristic of most

[12:47] isekai is that the main characters are

[12:49] usually explicitly defined as being

[12:51] ordinary or unassuming in the real world

[12:54] while there are some exceptions like

[12:56] Tanya who was once a reasonably

[12:58] successful businessman Man by and large

[13:00] these stories revolve around

[13:02] protagonists who have no real skills in

[13:04] their real lives except reading light

[13:06] novels in manga watching anime and

[13:08] playing video games these protagonists

[13:10] are often hii Kodi or people who live

[13:12] excessively withdrawn lives and have

[13:14] little social contact and rarely leave

[13:17] their houses a status exemplified by

[13:19] rudas from mushok kensei this contrasts

[13:22] starkly with the traditional Shonen

[13:24] protagonists people who are ambitious

[13:25] driven and constantly seeking to

[13:27] strengthen themselves even even though a

[13:29] common Trope of battle heram shows

[13:31] involves staring ostensibly forgettable

[13:33] or unassuming protagonists these

[13:35] nobodies usually go through a fairly

[13:38] normal Shen protagonist Arc of

[13:40] strengthening themselves and proving

[13:41] themselves to others consider for

[13:43] instance chivalry of a fail Knight while

[13:45] the protagonist the titular failed

[13:47] Knight is called so because of his

[13:49] inability to invoke magic he Masters a

[13:52] unique fighting style that allows him to

[13:54] defeat those who are supposedly much

[13:56] stronger than him his Arc revolves run

[13:58] him constantly over overcoming

[13:59] challenges and proving his strength on

[14:01] the contrary modern isekai protagonists

[14:04] rarely seem to encounter meaningful

[14:06] obstacles or barriers they transition

[14:08] seamlessly from people who are

[14:09] marginalized from Real World society as

[14:11] neat losers into veritable gods in the

[14:14] fantasy worlds that get transported to

[14:16] think of Ian from Overlord or Sid kago

[14:19] from Eminence and Shadow they're all

[14:21] granted essentially Godlike powers and

[14:24] rarely encounter any meaningful

[14:26] challenges or threats to themselves this

[14:28] character istic of isekai stories as

[14:30] power fantasies is often criticized for

[14:32] being narratively lazy which in all

[14:35] fairness it kind of is one of the

[14:37] fundamental characteristics of good

[14:39] fiction writing is that your character

[14:40] should encounter legitimate challenges

[14:42] that allows them to grow and change as

[14:45] characters however it's precisely

[14:47] because the characters are overpowered

[14:49] and encounter no meaningful challenges

[14:51] that ERS them to the core is aai

[14:53] readership unlike in a traditional

[14:55] shownin story where the characters

[14:57] encounter seemingly insurmountable odds

[14:59] but are ultimately able to Triumph and

[15:01] grow as a result the kinds of people

[15:03] that are drawn to isekai stories

[15:05] fundamentally don't buy into this notion

[15:07] of hard work being justified and

[15:09] rewarded these are people that are often

[15:12] economically marginalized and sometimes

[15:14] rightfully observe that working hard is

[15:16] no guarantee of success in the real

[15:18] world some people work their asses off

[15:20] and reap little reward While others

[15:22] seemingly continually fail upwards

[15:24] despite putting in no effort on their

[15:26] own the popularity of this specific

[15:28] narrative style and form of escapism is

[15:30] a result of persistently poor economic

[15:33] conditions in Japan historically the

[15:35] idealized notion of male adulthood in

[15:37] Japan revolved around a system of

[15:40] Lifetime employment or shushin coyo

[15:42] where people are hired by a firm after

[15:44] college and work at the same company for

[15:46] the rest of their lives the system was a

[15:49] product of the unique conditions of

[15:50] post-war Japan where the country had a

[15:53] significant demand for labor to fuel its

[15:55] booming post-war economy but much of the

[15:57] country's prime age M working population

[16:00] died in the war so to attract labor

[16:02] companies would enter into these

[16:04] lifetime employment agreements providing

[16:06] stable employment pensions and even

[16:08] housing assistance in exchange for this

[16:10] job security people are expected to

[16:13] extend that same loyalty back to the

[16:14] company by working long hours or even

[16:17] being willing to relocate across the

[16:19] country at your boss and the company's

[16:20] request the obvious problem here is that

[16:23] the system relies on a steady rate of

[16:25] economic growth to sustain itself if

[16:27] your employees are guaranteed lifetime

[16:29] tenure the only way to create new

[16:31] opportunities is to constantly expand

[16:33] and grow your business this worked for

[16:35] the 40 years between 1950 and 1990 when

[16:38] the Japanese economy grew at a truly

[16:40] exponential rate however the system

[16:42] would come crashing down in the late

[16:44] 1980s and early 1990s with the collapse

[16:47] of the Japanese asset pricing bubble

[16:49] which plunged the Japanese economy into

[16:51] a deep economic malaise that has never

[16:54] truly recovered from in response to the

[16:56] rapid contraction of the Japanese

[16:58] economy the lifetime employment system

[17:00] that once Define Japanese working life

[17:03] had become completely untenable during

[17:05] an economic recession companies usually

[17:07] respond by firing and laying off workers

[17:10] but Japanese firms didn't have this

[17:12] option due to their lifetime employment

[17:14] agreements as sociologist Hoshi Ono

[17:17] noted Japanese firms instead responded

[17:19] to the New Economic environment by

[17:22] freezing the addition of new lifetime

[17:24] employees in order to avoid having to

[17:26] lay them off the end result of this was

[17:28] that the generation that graduated into

[17:30] the job market of the 1990s and Beyond

[17:33] were confronted with the uncomfortable

[17:35] reality that the vaed status of Lifetime

[17:37] employment was simply no longer

[17:39] available to them the 1980s marked the

[17:42] ascendence of so-called neoliberal

[17:44] economic policy in much of the angl

[17:46] sphere exemplified by the policies of

[17:49] Ronald Reagan in the United States

[17:50] Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom

[17:53] and Brian morone in Canada neoliberalism

[17:56] is characterized by a focus on private

[17:58] Enterprise and the free market

[18:00] neoliberal economics promoted reductions

[18:02] in government regulations in spending

[18:04] privatization of formerly state-owned

[18:06] Enterprises and reductions in Union

[18:08] power and greater flexibility in

[18:10] employment it's this last Point that's

[18:12] particularly relevant for the Japanese

[18:14] context by the 2000s these same policies

[18:17] had started to make their way over to

[18:19] Japan in 2001 Japan's ruling liberal

[18:22] Democratic party proposed the succinctly

[18:24] named basic policies for economic and

[18:27] fiscal management and reform better

[18:29] known as HB noin or literally the big

[18:33] boned policy designed to write Japan's

[18:36] alien economic ship the big boned

[18:39] policies were a set of neoliberal

[18:41] reforms put into practice by prime

[18:43] minister Juno qumi who served as Prime

[18:46] Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006

[18:49] among them was the privatization of the

[18:51] Japan post and reductions in industrial

[18:54] subsidies persistently weak economic

[18:56] conditions also gave Japan's major

[18:58] business interests much more leverage

[19:00] allowing the weakening of labor laws

[19:02] that were designed to protect the

[19:03] lifetime employment system the end

[19:05] result of all these economic reforms was

[19:07] the effective end of Lifetime employment

[19:10] for people who came into the workforce

[19:12] after the 1990s while those who were

[19:14] grandfathered into lifetime employment

[19:16] Arrangements were largely able to keep

[19:18] their jobs new workers increasingly had

[19:20] to rely on part-time employment or

[19:22] non-standard employment Arrangements

[19:24] that provided none of the economic

[19:26] stability and benefits provided by

[19:28] lifetime Employments while keeping all

[19:30] of the terrible working hours and

[19:32] expectations of Japanese work culture

[19:34] between 1990 and 2001 the percentage of

[19:37] young people between the ages of 15 to

[19:39] 34 that were classified as featurers or

[19:42] young people that were either unemployed

[19:44] stuck in part-time or temporary

[19:46] employment Arrangements more than

[19:48] doubled from 10.4% to

[19:51] 21.2% amounting to more than 4 million

[19:54] people in 2001 this problem has only

[19:57] gotten worse in recent years in 2022 the

[20:00] percentage of people stuck in part-time

[20:02] contract or other irregular work

[20:04] agreements has ballooned to nearly 40%

[20:06] of the entire Japanese Workforce by

[20:09] contrast part-time workers make up less

[20:11] than 20% of the US Workforce his

[20:13] increasing Reliance on part-time labor

[20:15] has led to extremely depressed wage

[20:17] growth in Japan with average wages

[20:19] having increased only

[20:21] 11.7% between 1995 and 2020 whereas

[20:25] average wages have jumped over 50% in

[20:27] that same period in the US in 2013 the

[20:31] Japanese government passed a law

[20:32] designed to address the increasing

[20:34] divide between lifetime employees and

[20:36] irregular employees mandating that

[20:38] employers transition their irregular

[20:40] employees into lifetime employment after

[20:42] 5 years and stipulating that the

[20:44] employment conditions should not have

[20:46] quote unreasonable differences

[20:49] unfortunately this law has been

[20:50] effectively moved because the definition

[20:52] of unreasonable has been construed so

[20:54] broadly by the Japanese legal system as

[20:57] to effectively render this law un

[20:58] enforcable given it's essentially

[21:00] impossible for many Japanese youth to

[21:02] access these kinds of vaunted Lifetime

[21:04] employment agreements that once

[21:06] characterized the right of passage into

[21:08] adulthood is it any Wonder then why so

[21:11] many young people have rejected

[21:12] conventional Norms of growing up and

[21:15] entering the real world and are instead

[21:17] retreating into the fictional worlds of

[21:19] isekai by no fault of their own these

[21:21] people are bored into a culture that is

[21:23] not caught up to the current economic

[21:25] reality expectations for men in Japanese

[21:27] Society have largely not changed over

[21:29] the years with men expected to graduate

[21:31] into the workforce and work long hours

[21:34] to support a family that they often

[21:35] rarely get to see even if these jobs

[21:38] were attainable many people are

[21:39] rightfully questioning whether the

[21:41] lifetime employment system was truly the

[21:43] ideal it was held up to be if you've

[21:45] ever watched one of those day in the

[21:46] life of a Japanese acts on YouTube

[21:48] you'll probably see what I mean the day

[21:51] in the life of an average Japanese

[21:52] salary man in Tokyo is genuinely

[21:55] depressing with the subject of the video

[21:57] working nearly 14 18 hours from 7:00

[22:00] a.m. to 900 p.m. despite the fact that

[22:02] Japan is often held up as a modern and

[22:05] advanced Society their working culture

[22:07] is shockingly Antiquated fax machines

[22:09] are still a regular fixture in a

[22:11] Japanese office despite the fact that

[22:13] most of these machines are probably

[22:15] older than I am as someone who does

[22:17] business for Japanese clients for my day

[22:19] job I often find myself scratching my

[22:21] head at some of their business as usual

[22:22] practices of course the realm in which

[22:25] this is the most problematic is in work

[22:27] life balance or lack thereof even though

[22:29] companies are increasingly relying on

[22:31] irregular workers the total share of

[22:33] work to go around has largely not

[22:35] changed a problem that is worsened by

[22:37] the weird reluctance of many Japanese

[22:39] firms to adopt modern labor saving

[22:41] Technologies this results in employees

[22:44] being forced to work longer hours in

[22:46] suboptimal conditions for Worse paying

[22:48] benefits traditional Japanese firms are

[22:50] heavily hierarchical mired in

[22:52] bureaucracy and prioritized FaceTime in

[22:55] the office over actual productivity it

[22:57] isn't exactly a secret that Japan has an

[23:00] exceptionally brutal working culture

[23:02] with the language literally having a

[23:03] term kadoshi for death from over work

[23:07] admittedly a lot of the most undesirable

[23:09] factors of Japanese work culture have

[23:11] gradually improved in recent years Co

[23:14] especially forced a lot of Japanese

[23:16] firms to wildly diverge from what were

[23:18] sometimes decades long entr trenched

[23:20] Norms but the broader point about a lack

[23:22] of Economic Opportunity Still Remains

[23:24] Japan has been trapped in a decades long

[23:27] cycle of deflation resulting in wages

[23:29] that have barely budged since the '90s

[23:31] this criticism that isekai is a lazy

[23:34] plot Point designed to appeal to

[23:35] maladapted young men isn't unique and

[23:38] has been a recurring part of the anime

[23:40] manga discourse for decades indeed the

[23:42] term otaku is a term to describe someone

[23:44] who was obsessed with anime and manga

[23:47] originated in this context the first

[23:49] instance of otaku being applied to anime

[23:52] manga fans is usually traced back to a

[23:54] column written by nakami Akio in the

[23:57] lollycon magazine aaiko in which he ran

[24:00] a short-lived column called otaku no

[24:02] kenu or otaku research in which he

[24:05] denigrates otaku as immature and

[24:07] dysfunctional weirdos who are unwilling

[24:09] to grow up and have normal relationships

[24:11] with women we should probably not be

[24:13] surprised that isai has stuck around for

[24:15] as long as it has because it's simply a

[24:17] direct method of appealing to one of the

[24:19] core attributes of the otaku demographic

[24:22] for decades the preeminence of recycled

[24:24] isekai stories is merely an evolution of

[24:26] a phenomena that has been present in

[24:28] anime since the '90s in his seminal 2001

[24:31] book otaku Japan's database animals

[24:34] author Azuma hioki makes a central claim

[24:37] that the defining characteristic of

[24:38] otaku is that they no longer consume

[24:40] so-called Grand narratives and instead

[24:43] focus on database consumption where

[24:45] anime Maga fans isue complex stories in

[24:48] favor consuming less complex content

[24:50] focuses around the constituent elements

[24:51] of the narratives such as familiar

[24:54] character archetypes and plot points low

[24:56] brow isekai stories are essentially the

[24:58] epitome of database consumption where

[25:00] authors construct their stories from a

[25:02] database of familiar isekai troops

[25:04] resulting in a glut of familiar or

[25:06] otherwise unoriginal isekai stories that

[25:08] have flooded the landscape while the

[25:10] particular socioeconomic factors that

[25:12] have contributed to the rise of isekai

[25:14] originated in Japan I'd argue that one

[25:16] of the reasons that isekai has remained

[25:18] such a dominant player in the anime

[25:20] manga and light novel landscape is

[25:22] because these kind of Escapist power

[25:24] fantasy narratives increasingly have

[25:26] transnational appeal instead of M the

[25:28] appealing to the unique dysfunction of

[25:30] the Japanese economy we're seeing a

[25:32] similar story play out in much of East

[25:34] Asia including China and Korea in both

[25:36] countries we've seen a rapid rise of

[25:38] power fantasy web novels that have many

[25:41] of the same trappings of Japanese isekai

[25:43] such as ridiculously overpowered

[25:45] protagonist and repetitive genre

[25:47] conventions much like Japan China's days

[25:50] of Rapid economic growth are behind it

[25:53] with youth unemployment now a rampant

[25:56] Problem official youth unemployment

[25:58] statistics apparently climbed so high to

[26:00] a record 20% that the Chinese government

[26:03] decided to just stop releasing youth

[26:06] unemployment statistics in South Korea

[26:08] the situation isn't much better with the

[26:10] country carrying on many of the most

[26:12] Antiquated and toxic elements of

[26:14] Japanese work culture in the Western

[26:16] World we're seeing a separate phenomenon

[26:18] where young men in particular

[26:20] increasingly struggle to find purpose

[26:22] and value for men aged 25 to 54 labor

[26:26] force participation rates in the US have

[26:28] declined from 98% in 1954 to 89% in 2024

[26:34] this decline has been particularly

[26:36] pronounced for men without a college

[26:37] education while men with a college

[26:40] degree have a labor force participation

[26:41] rate of 94% men with only a high school

[26:44] degree sit at 85.7 7% with this

[26:48] declining even further to 81% for those

[26:51] without a high school diploma meanwhile

[26:53] young men have rapidly fallen behind in

[26:55] educational attainment women now make up

[26:58] 60% of all college students and are now

[27:01] substantially more likely than men to

[27:03] graduate at all levels of Education as a

[27:06] 20-some yearold living in America one of

[27:08] the trends I've noticed among people my

[27:10] age is a deep sense of pessimism about

[27:13] not just their own prospects but also

[27:15] about the trajectory of society in

[27:17] general there's often a deep sense of

[27:19] hopelessness particularly on economic

[27:21] issues like housing affordability and

[27:23] wage growth even among people who are

[27:25] ostensively well off complaints from

[27:27] Zoomers or younger Millennials about how

[27:29] they'll never own a home or be able to

[27:31] support their family are extremely

[27:33] common and widespread it used to be that

[27:35] when you ask kids what they wanted to be

[27:36] when they grow up theyd give you a

[27:38] somewhat far-fetched but otherwise

[27:40] normal profession like doctor teacher

[27:43] firefighter astronaut Etc but nowadays

[27:45] when you ask that same question the most

[27:47] common answer is that kids now want to

[27:49] become social media influencers of

[27:51] course most of them presumably grow out

[27:53] of this and face reality but it's an

[27:55] interesting reflection of how the young

[27:57] are increasingly skeptical towards the

[27:59] traditional Paths of economic success

[28:01] the broader sociological point I'm

[28:03] getting at is that while it's easy to

[28:05] deride lowbrow isekai stories as smly

[28:07] the product of laziness and consumers of

[28:10] bad taste to insist on consuming the

[28:12] same Escapist power fantasies each

[28:14] season it's worth interrogating what

[28:16] exactly it is these people are escaping

[28:18] from and why these kinds of explicitly

[28:20] Escapist stories have become more and

[28:22] more common across a variety of cultures

[28:25] the consumption and preference for these

[28:27] kinds of isekai stor can be seen as a

[28:29] kind of resistance to increasingly

[28:30] unattainable traditional Norms of

[28:33] getting a quote unquote good job

[28:35] settling down and raising a family the

[28:37] core story structure of isekai is deeply

[28:39] appealing to the kinds of people who

[28:41] feel trapped by an economic system they

[28:43] feel does not work for them it's not a

[28:45] coincidence that the protagonists of

[28:47] isekai stories are almost always young

[28:49] people who are defined by society as

[28:51] being Ena and undesirable they are often

[28:54] obsessive game rard needs with little in

[28:56] the way of traditional educational or

[28:58] job success yet these characters are

[29:00] able to find the kinds of success

[29:01] belonging and meaning in the new worlds

[29:03] they're transported to more sently it's

[29:06] often the very characteristics that make

[29:08] them undesirable in the real world like

[29:10] their obsession with games and mayor

[29:12] manga that make them so successful in

[29:15] their new realities take sort and Shido

[29:17] from No Game No Life who or transported

[29:19] into a world literally designed for them

[29:21] to use their gam playing skills take Ian

[29:24] from Overlord whose Obsession of a dead

[29:26] MMO transforms him from a dead end Life

[29:29] as a salary man into one of the most

[29:31] powerful figures in his new reality look

[29:33] at the large number of villainess

[29:34] stories where the main characters

[29:36] obsession with whatever particular game

[29:38] or story they get trapped in becomes

[29:40] critical to their survival and success

[29:42] the world of isekai provides young

[29:44] people disillusioned with the harsh

[29:45] realities of our world with an idealized

[29:48] alternative reality where their skills

[29:49] and predilections are rewarded and

[29:51] celebrated a final point that helps to

[29:54] understand the nature and Persistence of

[29:55] isekai is the unique method by which is

[29:58] light novels and later then Manga and

[30:00] Anime adaptations are produced before

[30:02] the Advent of the internet aspiring

[30:04] mangaa or light novel authors would

[30:06] submit their Works to literary contests

[30:09] that major publishing houses would hold

[30:11] and if your story tickled their fancy

[30:13] they would pick up your manga or light

[30:14] novel for serialization however this

[30:16] started to change during the mid 2000s

[30:18] with the Advent of the internet in 2004

[30:21] the website

[30:22] show or literally let's become a

[30:25] novelist was launched for convenience

[30:27] I'll be referring to this website by its

[30:29] domain name of cetu because the full

[30:32] name is a mouthful as the name implies

[30:34] the website is a platform where people

[30:36] can post or light novels for others to

[30:38] read most famously while not actually

[30:40] published on cetu sorted online

[30:43] originated as a self-published web novel

[30:46] on author kawaha Rei's personal website

[30:49] from 2002 to 2008 before being picked up

[30:52] by asy media Works in 2009 the breakout

[30:56] success of siio essentially open the

[30:58] floodgates for web novel adaptations

[31:00] particularly those from suu since 2010 a

[31:04] huge number of isekai stories from the

[31:06] website have been adapted into Manga and

[31:08] Anime just to name a few Log Horizon

[31:11] rising of The Shield hero konosuba M

[31:13] kensei slime tensei Overlord and isekai

[31:16] cheat magician all originated on the

[31:18] website suu has even given us some non

[31:21] isekai stories like Alia sometimes hides

[31:24] her feelings in Russian or I want to eat

[31:26] your pacas much like how the

[31:28] protagonists of isekai Stories asso the

[31:30] typical conventions of success in the

[31:32] real world the authors of isekai Works

[31:35] themselves have come to prominence by

[31:36] forgoing the typical conventions of

[31:38] literary success unlike traditional

[31:41] publishing in media which has full to

[31:43] the brim with Gatekeepers most writers

[31:45] onsu presumably started as readers and

[31:48] purveyors of isekai fiction which drove

[31:50] them to write their own stories in the

[31:52] website but stories get picked up by big

[31:54] publishing houses is ultimately often a

[31:56] function of how popular a story is on

[31:58] the website rather than the opinions of

[32:01] some literary agent or editor isekai

[32:03] stories are at their core written for

[32:06] and by the same audience with consumers

[32:08] of isekai fiction frequently crossing

[32:10] over into producers of said fiction the

[32:13] interplay between fans and creators that

[32:15] defines the modern isekai pipeline is a

[32:18] prime example of what the University of

[32:20] Southern California Professor Henry

[32:22] Jenkins describes in many of his seminal

[32:24] books on media studies such as his

[32:26] textual poaches con virgin's culture and

[32:29] participatory culture in a networked era

[32:31] Jenkins publication of textual poaches

[32:34] in 2003 essentially single-handedly

[32:36] willed the serious studies of fans into

[32:39] the academic discourse jenkin's Central

[32:41] Point in textual poachers is that rather

[32:43] than thinking of fans as brainless

[32:45] consumers social outcasts emotionally

[32:47] immature or fundamentally divorced from

[32:50] reality he makes the case that fans are

[32:52] actually active producers of meaning

[32:54] construct their own culture out of

[32:55] elements posted from various texts

[32:58] likewise while it's easy to think of

[32:59] consumers of isekai as similarly

[33:01] brainless or out of touch with the

[33:03] reality these isekai fans have become

[33:05] shockingly integral to the light novel

[33:07] manga anime industrial complex through

[33:10] their active poaching of different

[33:11] character archetypes settings and plot

[33:13] points at new texts on suatu isekai fans

[33:16] produced serious monetary and cultural

[33:18] value through their Endeavors the

[33:20] development of new isekai storus is a

[33:22] largely bottomup phenomenon driven by

[33:24] fan publication on cetu rather than a

[33:27] top- down one where media Executives

[33:29] decide what kind of media to produce

[33:31] show satsuka Naro is also an interesting

[33:33] microcosm of what Jenkins termed

[33:36] participatory culture an idea he

[33:38] introduced in textual Poes and

[33:40] subsequently refined and built on over

[33:42] the years in the 2007 white paper

[33:45] Jenkins gave the following definition of

[33:47] participatory culture a participatory

[33:49] culture is a culture with relatively low

[33:51] barriers to artistic expression and

[33:53] Civic engagement strong support for

[33:55] creating and sharing one's creation and

[33:58] some type of informal mentorship whereby

[34:00] what is known by the most experienced is

[34:02] passed along to novices a participatory

[34:05] culture is also one in which members

[34:07] believe that their contributions matter

[34:09] and feel some degree of social

[34:10] connection with one another or at least

[34:12] they care what other people think about

[34:14] what they have created the

[34:16] characteristics of the kind of particip

[34:18] culture fostered on places like shatu or

[34:21] other online web fiction publishing

[34:23] platforms is diametrically opposed to

[34:25] the kinds of characteristics and values

[34:27] that these people encounter in their

[34:29] real lives while access to good jobs and

[34:31] success in our world is heavily gatee

[34:33] kept and restricted shut n provides a

[34:37] platform by which anyone can write and

[34:39] theoretically become successful

[34:41] familiarity with light novels Manga and

[34:43] Anime is something that actually AIDS in

[34:45] your success in this Arena rather than

[34:47] being a source of scor and ridicule like

[34:49] in the real world publishing online and

[34:52] receiving comments from readers provides

[34:53] a sense of meaning in Social community

[34:56] that many of these people lack in their

[34:57] real lives given this it's not

[34:59] surprising that most isekai stories

[35:01] start out in this kind of direct to

[35:03] Consumer web fiction model instead of

[35:05] traditional models of media creation

[35:07] where business Executives or editors

[35:09] determine what kind of works they think

[35:10] will appeal to the public it's a

[35:12] naturally self-reinforcing cycle where

[35:14] the kinds of people drawn to isekai

[35:16] stories congregate on places like shetu

[35:19] producing popular works that draw in new

[35:21] people that are ultimately remixed and

[35:23] built upon into new isekai stories two

[35:26] the characteristics about partic

[35:28] cultures that Jenkins highlights in his

[35:29] 2015 book is that participatory cultures

[35:32] are inherently Democratic and diverse

[35:34] cetu and other web fiction publishing

[35:37] platforms like Royal Road Archive of Our

[35:39] Own watpad Etc have enabled thousands of

[35:42] socially and economically marginalized

[35:44] people to bring their own stories to the

[35:46] public while the anime manga industry

[35:48] has long revolved around Fan

[35:50] participation exemplified by the Bly

[35:52] ritual of comiket where hundreds of

[35:54] thousands of people Gather in the Tokyo

[35:56] big site to sell self-published binci

[35:59] the internet radically lowered barriers

[36:01] of entry and democratized who could have

[36:03] creative success whereas previously you

[36:06] had to depend on the whims of editors

[36:08] and suits at the major publishing houses

[36:10] to give your manga or light novel a

[36:12] chance the internet gives everyone that

[36:14] chance to prove the success and

[36:16] popularity of their own ideas the

[36:18] process of sidest stepping traditional

[36:20] Gatekeepers and creative success to

[36:21] instead appeal directly to individual

[36:24] consumers is an interesting reflection

[36:25] of the psyche of the core is a High

[36:27] readership the kinds of people who feel

[36:29] marginalized and left behind by an

[36:31] economic system that they feel no longer

[36:33] works for them essentially created an

[36:35] entirely new paradigm for Creative

[36:37] success in the anime manga industry a

[36:39] symbolic rejection of the traditional

[36:41] Norms of success and a prime example of

[36:44] how fans proactively create meaning

[36:46] rather than being just passive consumers

[36:48] of media the rise of isekai is

[36:50] interesting because it's both a product

[36:52] of the story itself and the macro Trends

[36:55] affecting much of the developed World

[36:57] these story are narratively effective

[36:58] because the prime narrative concept of

[37:00] having a character transported into a

[37:02] different world is essentially

[37:03] equivalent to the psychological action

[37:06] that one takes when you enjoy a

[37:08] fictional story but the broader point

[37:10] I'm trying to make and indeed the one I

[37:11] spent most of my time on is

[37:13] interrogating what is exactly meant by

[37:15] the common critique of isekai as wish

[37:17] fulfillment or escapism what exactly are

[37:20] the kinds of desires these people are

[37:21] trying to vicariously feel to their

[37:24] anime manga and light novel consumption

[37:26] what exactly are these people people

[37:27] trying to escape from in their

[37:29] day-to-day lives the case I'm making is

[37:31] that the enduring popularity of isekai

[37:33] is driven by a complex constellation of

[37:35] Economic sociocultural and technological

[37:38] Trends and until the underlying Trends

[37:40] pushing young people towards wish

[37:42] fulfillment media namely bad economic

[37:45] conditions and lack of opportunity

[37:47] improved were likely to continue seeing

[37:49] isekai Remain the top dog of the anime

[37:52] manga and light novel landscape