The Problem With Isekai

[00:00] Isekai has a bit of a bum wrap. I know

[00:02] quite a few anime enthusiasts who won't

[00:04] even look at a show if there's so much

[00:06] as a whiff of truckkun or cheap powers.

[00:09] And honestly, I can't say I blame them.

[00:12] Speaking as someone who's watched most

[00:14] isekai, most isekai are terrible.

[00:16] Notably worse at a notably higher

[00:18] frequency than basically any other genre

[00:21] of anime. And that's speaking as someone

[00:23] who's also watched most Harums. A

[00:25] sizable portion of the isekai audience

[00:27] will slurp up any old slop so long as it

[00:30] stars a nerd from Earth like them with a

[00:32] nonzero chance of pulling some elfy

[00:35] eventually in like 30 seasons or so. And

[00:38] I really do mean any old slop. The

[00:41] lowest rated isekai in any given season

[00:44] will almost always pull higher

[00:46] viewership numbers than the best

[00:47] original anime of any given year. As you

[00:50] might recall from my worst of 2024 list,

[00:53] Failure Frame is an isekai in which

[00:55] literally every fight scene is just

[01:08] and paralyze and poison until you just

[01:10] want to make out with a P320. And it has

[01:13] a 4.4 out of five on Crunchyroll with

[01:16] 85,000

[01:18] ratings. For context, Apocalypse Hotel,

[01:21] the best anime of 2025 so far, has

[01:25] barely 4,000. That's a thousand less

[01:28] than Ugly Mug Epic Fighter. An isekai

[01:30] that looks like this and is called Ugly

[01:34] Mug Epic Fighter. Some of y'all really

[01:37] will watch [ __ ] anything. And the

[01:39] anime industry is more than happy to

[01:42] give it to you. But that's not the

[01:44] problem with isekai. At least not the

[01:46] one that any of us can do anything

[01:48] about. So, not worth making a video

[01:50] about. I can't stop everyone else from

[01:52] watching bad anime. But I can at least

[01:55] help you watch some better ones because

[01:58] there is one crucial factor that every

[02:00] good isekai gets right and almost every

[02:03] bad one gets wrong. something that

[02:05] anyone writing an isekai should keep in

[02:07] mind if they want any chance of it being

[02:09] halfway decent. And anyone watching

[02:12] isekai should keep an eye out for for

[02:14] much the same reason. It's so important

[02:16] you can use it to clock if an isekai is

[02:18] worth watching in just one episode. And

[02:21] I'm going to tell you exactly what that

[02:23] problem with modern isekai is after I

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[03:54] learning today. Now, there are quite a

[03:56] lot of isekai with quite a lot of things

[03:58] wrong with them. From flat, boring power

[04:01] curves to altogether too many villains

[04:03] who turn out to be

[04:04] >> babies. That's right.

[04:06] >> To several what one might call tacit

[04:09] endorsements of slavery. But none of

[04:11] these problems are the problem. The

[04:14] power curve thing is a pretty big

[04:16] problem to the point I made a whole

[04:17] other video about it. But plenty of

[04:19] isseekai don't completely dunk that up

[04:21] and still manage to suck butts. And a

[04:23] few that basically disregard it entirely

[04:26] still turned out pretty awesome.

[04:27] Figuring out if a power system is

[04:29] interesting and satisfying to progress

[04:31] through can also take several episodes.

[04:33] Sometimes so many you don't even realize

[04:36] there is a power system until like

[04:37] season 2. And I did promise you a litmus

[04:40] test that could judge isekai in one

[04:42] episode or less. The root of the problem

[04:45] lies at the very core of the isekai

[04:48] concept. A story about a person from a

[04:51] world, usually this one, being

[04:52] transported to a cool new world.

[04:55] Basically, every isekai author has that

[04:57] second part covered, or at least tries

[04:59] to. I'm sure their moms think their

[05:01] worlds are cool. It's the first part

[05:03] that really trips them up, if they even

[05:05] think about it at all. Because isekai

[05:07] aren't just stories about cool worlds.

[05:10] We already have a word for those.

[05:12] Fantasy.ai

[05:14] are stories about people from worlds.

[05:18] Usually this one. Far too many fantasy

[05:21] light novel writers see that as little

[05:23] more than a cheat code for creating

[05:25] relatability. The isekai concept does

[05:27] easily facilitate the creation of

[05:29] fantasy heroes who are just like me for

[05:32] real without actually having to explain

[05:34] how that kind of guy could come to exist

[05:36] in 14th century Europe or whatever. You

[05:39] want to pat out some generic Tolkenesque

[05:41] fluff with an endless stream of game and

[05:43] anime references where the protagonist's

[05:45] personality ought to be, just pluck some

[05:47] nerd off the Tokyo pavement, pop him

[05:50] down in the starting town with one or

[05:51] more waifuss, and watch him go. On that

[05:54] note, making your story an isekai also

[05:56] has a lot of structural advantages. Not

[05:58] the least of which being you don't have

[06:00] to figure out how to get your

[06:01] protagonist to where the story starts.

[06:04] Just truck, bam, now he's there. He

[06:07] probably doesn't know [ __ ] all about the

[06:08] world he just dropped into either,

[06:10] giving him the perfect excuse to ask

[06:12] anyone he meets for an exposition dump.

[06:14] And that's on top of all the free

[06:16] dumping you get to do in the scene where

[06:18] he meets his travel agent. Just

[06:21] wondering, won't I have to learn this

[06:23] world's language?

[06:24] >> Details, just hurry it up already. I've

[06:27] got loads more dead humans to guide

[06:29] besides you. You know,

[06:30] >> the portal fantasy trope is an

[06:32] undeniably versatile tool for

[06:34] kickstarting a quick and dirty escapist

[06:36] fantasy quest. But it's so much more

[06:39] than that. Fully half the premise of

[06:41] this genre. What makes isekai

[06:44] interesting? What sets it apart from

[06:47] regular fantasy is the inherent

[06:49] conflict, the clash of perspectives,

[06:52] ideals, worldviews that comes with

[06:55] suddenly immersing a person in a totally

[06:58] foreign place, time, and jurisdiction of

[07:01] the laws of physics? How does that

[07:03] change someone? How would the world

[07:05] change in response to them? How does the

[07:07] new world compare to the old one? These

[07:10] are deep wells of thematic potential,

[07:13] opportunities for profound commentary on

[07:16] the world we live in and the people who

[07:18] live in it that most isekai writers

[07:21] completely ignore. Well, okay, not

[07:24] completely. The new world is better

[07:26] because it's more like a video game,

[07:28] unless it's a hard video game with lots

[07:30] of blood and guts, in which case it's

[07:32] better with an asterisk. That world

[07:34] changes the protagonist from an incel

[07:36] into a guy who's had his dick sucked by

[07:38] an elf, and he changes it in turn by

[07:41] setting a new bar for how many elves can

[07:43] suck one guy's dick. Sorry, spoilers

[07:46] for, you know, it's probably easier to

[07:48] just list the isekai that doesn't spoil.

[07:50] And that's precisely what makes all the

[07:53] ones it does so fundamentally worthless,

[07:56] at least after you've watched your first

[07:57] one or 20. Don't get me twisted. There

[08:00] is obvious value in raw escapist

[08:02] fantasy. A lot of stuff worth escaping

[08:04] on this [ __ ] of a late capitalist

[08:06] earth, but it's the exact same flavor of

[08:09] value over and over and paralyze and

[08:12] poison until all you can taste is slop.

[08:14] And maybe that's all you need. Maybe you

[08:16] just want to feel numb for 20 minutes a

[08:18] week. That is very valid. But aside from

[08:21] that, past a certain point of

[08:22] diminishing returns, you got to be a

[08:24] real weirdo who delights in watching

[08:26] other weirdos loudly tell on themselves

[08:29] through fiction to get anything out of

[08:32] watching more slop isekai. And most

[08:34] people are not me, which is why I've

[08:36] devised an elegant litmus test to

[08:38] identify and avoid the slop. After

[08:41] watching one or two episodes of a new

[08:43] isekai, all you got to do is ask

[08:44] yourself, what was the hero's original

[08:47] world like? And how did they fit into

[08:49] it? If the show gave you answers, or at

[08:52] least enough clues to speculate, you're

[08:54] probably watching something with

[08:56] something to say, at least something

[08:58] more than what if you lived in a video

[09:00] game. That doesn't guarantee that what

[09:02] it has to say will be good or

[09:05] interesting. Failure Frame uses a whole

[09:07] mess of backstory just to say, "What if

[09:09] you lived in a shitty gotacha game and

[09:11] also were a school shooter?" But at the

[09:13] very least, you know that the hero being

[09:15] from another world is going to matter to

[09:18] the story at least a little bit on some

[09:20] level. Yes, that's how low the bar is.

[09:23] But the sky is the limit for the shows

[09:26] that do clear it.

[09:28] >> Can I really believe that the people I

[09:31] care about also care for me?

[09:41] I probably shouldn't turn two of these

[09:43] things in a row into stealth glazing

[09:45] sessions, especially not in the same

[09:47] calendar year. But ReZero is one of the

[09:50] best examples out there of a character

[09:53] fundamentally changed by his journey to

[09:55] another world. When he arrives in

[09:57] Laguna, Natsky Subaru is a hot mess. And

[10:00] while we are only given the briefest

[10:02] glimpse of his life on Earth before he's

[10:04] torn away from it, it tells us quite a

[10:06] lot about him. He's the kind of guy who

[10:08] reads Jump in the Kini without actually

[10:10] buying it. The kind of guy who knows he

[10:13] should be eating miso natto cup noodles

[10:15] but gets tonkatu instead, plus some

[10:18] chips, cuz [ __ ] it. But also, he is the

[10:21] kind of guy with the presence of mind to

[10:22] catch a rare coin in his change and hold

[10:25] on to it. His eyes especially tell us so

[10:28] much about him. First with the way they

[10:30] follow that couple walking by in their

[10:32] school uniforms, then dart back to his

[10:35] sad single tracksuit encrusted Hikamorei

[10:38] ass, expressing a lifetime of

[10:41] self-hatred with one glance and a sigh.

[10:44] Then there's the way those eyes light up

[10:46] when he realizes he's been isekai. He

[10:49] wants this. He needs it. There is

[10:52] clearly something he hates about life

[10:54] back on Earth, and we don't know what

[10:56] that is yet. Subaru desperately does not

[10:58] want to think about it. So, it will be

[11:00] many episodes before we finally get

[11:03] around to unpacking why exactly he is

[11:06] like this. But it's enough to know that

[11:08] the writer has an answer to that

[11:11] question. Chamate a sec there, though.

[11:13] Didn't I just get done complaining that

[11:16] the only way most writers use isekai is

[11:18] to insert an earth nerd into striking

[11:21] range of some elf [ __ ] Is ReZero not a

[11:24] prototypical example of that? Sure, a

[11:27] lot of Subaru's early characterization

[11:29] is the same sort of self-aware, genre

[11:32] savvy, reference spouting anti-swagger

[11:34] we've seen from a billion other Kyitoes

[11:36] before. But the key difference is that

[11:39] Subaru is savvy to the wrong genre.

[11:42] Stuck in a much darker horror fantasy

[11:45] type thing where his nerd quips are

[11:47] painfully out of place and so frequently

[11:50] are his organs and limbs. Far more

[11:52] important than just doing something

[11:55] different with its otaku protag though,

[11:57] Re:Zero actually bothers to define who

[12:00] he is with more than that one word and

[12:04] to explore what life was like for him

[12:06] back on Earth when he wasn't watching

[12:09] anime and playing video games. There's

[12:11] depth there, space for an actual

[12:14] character arc. Sloppy Sakai heroes have

[12:17] character development. Your average

[12:20] Kyito will probably get a little more

[12:22] confident as his stats go up and maybe

[12:24] like learn to be slightly more

[12:26] responsible and less lazy or whatever,

[12:29] but they never have character arcs

[12:32] because it's impossible to draw an arc

[12:34] if all you know is where it ends. You

[12:37] need a fixed starting point with a

[12:39] clearly defined trajectory. and by

[12:42] treating the Portal Fantasy as nothing

[12:44] but a cheat code to spawn a backstory

[12:46] audience insert for their regular boring

[12:49] gamelit thing that frankly didn't need

[12:51] to be an isekai in the first place. All

[12:53] of these anime and manga and light

[12:55] novels sacrificed their ability to

[12:58] create that point. Now, of course, there

[13:00] are other areas where these isekai can

[13:03] still excel. They can have a solid plot,

[13:05] an interesting and immersive setting, or

[13:08] some quality waifuss. But I mean, they

[13:11] immediately set themselves way back in

[13:14] the waifu department by making the main

[13:16] guy those waifuss are going to interact

[13:18] with a pair of pants, which also affects

[13:20] the non-Waifu characters, if the anime

[13:23] decides to have those. And it kind of

[13:25] doesn't matter how fraught your world's

[13:28] political situation gets, how crazy the

[13:30] magic system is, or how deep the lore

[13:32] is, if the people living in it don't

[13:35] feel real. So, that's a massive uphill

[13:38] battle, even for a really good writer.

[13:41] And let's be honest, there's not a lot

[13:43] of those working in this space. It's not

[13:45] impossible, though. This season's the

[13:47] water magician has a very strong

[13:49] supporting cast who even get to save the

[13:52] day all by themselves while protags busy

[13:55] risen up the elf [ __ ] in the library.

[13:57] The adventurers guild that they're part

[13:59] of has a fleshed out bureaucracy behind

[14:01] it and its operations are subject to the

[14:03] whims of other political forces within

[14:06] the kingdom, not to mention economic

[14:08] forces. There's a whole plot point where

[14:10] fetch quests start drying up because the

[14:12] market's gluted with monster parts.

[14:14] There are other kingdoms too that we

[14:16] have to worry about. Plus a presumably

[14:19] evil empire with a really dumb name.

[14:27] [Music]

[14:32] The world generally feels alive and like

[14:35] it keeps existing when protagon isn't

[14:38] looking directly at it. which is a very

[14:41] good thing because Rio is easily the

[14:44] weakest link in his own story. He's not

[14:46] awful to be clear. He's got some fun

[14:48] quirks like being irritated by dumb

[14:50] sounding fantasy names and even some

[14:53] well-defined personality traits that

[14:55] synergize with the rest of the cast. The

[14:57] show takes its time giving him chances

[14:59] to flex and get elf [ __ ] too, which

[15:02] makes it all the more satisfying when he

[15:04] finally does. And while he is yet

[15:06] another crazy overpowered silent casting

[15:09] battle mage, at least there's a specific

[15:12] unifying theme to his silent casted

[15:14] magic that allows for some creative

[15:17] choreography and gives the show's action

[15:19] a unique identity. As pants go, Rio is

[15:23] very well tailored with some fancy

[15:25] embellishments, but at the end of the

[15:26] day, he's still Pants. We have no idea

[15:29] where he came from or why he is who he

[15:32] is. What did he go through on Earth to

[15:34] make him want to live alone in the

[15:35] middle of nowhere for years? Does he

[15:37] miss anyone back home? Do they miss him?

[15:40] Besides magic and sword fighting, what

[15:42] is he good at? What were his interests

[15:44] and hobbies? His personal goals. No

[15:47] matter how much time we spend with him,

[15:49] we never really learn anything more

[15:52] about him and what motivates him, which

[15:54] leaves this gaping hole in the story

[15:57] that only grows with each passing

[16:00] episode. And that hole doesn't need to

[16:02] be there because like many modern

[16:05] isekai, the water magician doesn't need

[16:08] to be an isekai. The only thing that Rio

[16:11] being from Earth really does for the

[16:13] story that couldn't be accomplished by

[16:15] just making him a weird guy who grew up

[16:17] in the middle of nowhere is explain how

[16:19] he knows what water molecules are, which

[16:22] does make his magic more powerful. So

[16:24] that's kind of important, but also you

[16:26] could like come up with an ancient

[16:27] civilization or a million other ways to

[16:30] explain that to him. And if he were

[16:33] native to this world, then the necessary

[16:35] explanations for how he ended up living

[16:38] in no man's land, how he discovered and

[16:40] learned his distinct form of magic and

[16:43] so on would all create opportunities to

[16:46] expand and ground his character. Secrets

[16:49] of the Silent Witch, also from this

[16:51] season, is a prime example of how much a

[16:54] fantasy story about an overpowered

[16:56] silent casting mage stands to gain by

[16:59] just having the courage to not be an

[17:01] isekai. And it makes a great point of

[17:04] contrast because like the water

[17:05] magician, it has an interesting,

[17:07] politically complex, lore rich world and

[17:10] a huge cast of thoroughly entertaining

[17:12] characters. So, we can see just how much

[17:15] making the protagonist an actual

[17:17] character adds to that. Monica Everett's

[17:20] OP incantation free magic isn't just an

[17:23] isekai cheat power. It's rooted in her

[17:26] love of math, which is all that she has

[17:29] left from her dead father and the

[17:31] crippling anxiety that makes her

[17:33] incapable of saying spells out loud,

[17:35] which is itself the result of being

[17:38] taken in by an abusive uncle at a young

[17:40] age. She also has an entire academic

[17:43] career behind her. Peers who really

[17:45] respect her, co-workers at her current

[17:47] government job who give her a hard time,

[17:49] a full life lived prior to the start of

[17:52] the story, which we slowly uncover

[17:54] through flashbacks and other emotional

[17:56] beats that would just be boring downtime

[17:59] in something like The Water Magician.

[18:02] But the effect isn't just additive, it's

[18:04] multiplicative because that extra side

[18:06] of the story interacts with all the

[18:09] other sides. Monica's past adds context

[18:12] and weight to her present development,

[18:14] allowing moments like making her first

[18:16] friend, discovering a passion outside of

[18:18] magic, and speaking up for herself for

[18:21] the first time to hit harder because we

[18:23] understand how hard those things are for

[18:27] her. It also lets her relate to the

[18:29] other characters and what they're going

[18:31] through on more than a surface level and

[18:33] vice versa. It just makes everything

[18:36] about the entire show better. And it

[18:39] does it without sacrificing the wish

[18:41] fulfillment of going to a fancy fantasy

[18:44] high school that isn't a magic school

[18:46] but does have magic electives, having a

[18:48] bunch of hot rich guys fall for her, and

[18:50] kicking ass with crazy OP spells. It's

[18:53] an escapist fantasy through and through,

[18:55] but not a mindless one. It's

[18:57] introspective, insightful, rich in

[19:00] character, a story with valuable things

[19:02] to say about anxiety, what it's like to

[19:05] live with it, and how we can overcome

[19:08] it. It doesn't just whisk you away from

[19:11] your miserable reality for 20 minutes a

[19:13] week. It gives you something to think on

[19:16] when you get back. Ways to understand

[19:18] and address the problems that make its

[19:21] heroine so relatable in the first place.

[19:23] That sort of mindful escapism also

[19:26] characterizes my favorite non-anime

[19:29] isekai, which Quest for the best

[19:31] listeners will be very familiar with.

[19:33] Dungeon Crawler Carl, a series of

[19:35] English language heavy novels that I can

[19:38] best describe as Sword Art Online meets

[19:40] The Running Man meets Hitchhiker's Guide

[19:42] to the Galaxy, in which the survivors of

[19:45] an alien fishnazi invasion must clear 18

[19:49] increasingly deadly levels of world

[19:51] dungeon on the universe's hottest

[19:54] reality TV show to win our planet back

[19:57] with methhead goblins, cockfighting

[19:59] cobalts, pyramid scheming hive mines,

[20:01] and some really really [ __ ] scary

[20:04] clown standing in the way, plus a

[20:06] psychotic AI with a foot fetish acting

[20:08] as dungeon master. That will be a whole

[20:11] lot easier said than done, even with the

[20:13] power of magic that the dungeon somehow

[20:16] makes real. But lucky for Carl, he has

[20:18] the survival skills he learned in the

[20:20] Coast Guard, a beautifully supple pair

[20:23] of feet, and his ex-girlfriend's

[20:26] prize-winning Persian show cat, Princess

[20:28] Donut, who, due to various

[20:30] circumstances, can talk now and shoot

[20:33] magic missiles from her eyes. Plus,

[20:35] she's much more media savvy than Carl,

[20:37] which really helps in a dungeon where

[20:40] stream stats matter just as much as

[20:42] character stats. If all this sounds

[20:44] silly, that's only because it absolutely

[20:47] is. Dungeon Crawler Carl is easily the

[20:50] most fun I have ever had in a story with

[20:52] this many stat screens. But that never

[20:54] stops it from getting deadly serious

[20:57] when it needs to, or from treating

[20:59] everyone we meet in this zany hell hole.

[21:01] from fellow crawlers to alien talk show

[21:04] hosts to fish LA resistance members as

[21:07] complex individuals with history,

[21:09] baggage, deeply personal motivations,

[21:12] and nuanced opinions on Gossip Girl.

[21:14] Despite the conceptual similarities to

[21:17] SAO, this is no massively singleplayer

[21:20] lit RPG. Though of course, Carl and

[21:22] Donut are the best characters of the

[21:24] bunch. Carl's past, in particular, is

[21:27] something the series really takes its

[21:28] time unpacking and exploring. He doesn't

[21:31] even fully confront it until six books

[21:33] in, but its weight can be felt through

[21:36] his every word and action, even

[21:38] especially when he doesn't want to talk

[21:41] about it. A conceit that allows Carl to

[21:44] present the more relatably nerdy surface

[21:46] level aspects of his personality upfront

[21:49] and suck that escapist fiction audience

[21:52] in before they realize just how little

[21:54] he actually is like them for real. It

[21:57] also allows the book to jump right into

[22:00] the action and start having fun with it.

[22:02] Then slowly layer on its more profound

[22:05] themes of found family, how trauma

[22:07] transforms us immediately and over time.

[22:10] How oppressive systems use trauma to

[22:13] beat us into compliance and turn us

[22:16] against each other to keep us from

[22:17] fighting back. And what you, yes you,

[22:20] can do about it if you're ever in the

[22:22] same room as the people responsible.

[22:24] [ __ ] gets so much darker than you would

[22:27] ever expect from the intro. And page two

[22:30] of that intro involves an old lady being

[22:33] decapitated. Yet at the heart of all

[22:36] that darkness burns a small, resilient

[22:39] flame of hope that shines all the

[22:42] brighter for it. And more than rich

[22:44] lore, strong characters, and wonderful

[22:46] humor, that is what really makes Dungeon

[22:49] Crawler Carl worth reading or listening

[22:52] to. The audio book is actually peak.

[22:54] It's also, I think, the biggest thing

[22:57] that modern isekai is missing and the

[23:00] real root of the problem. I don't know

[23:02] if you've noticed, but they don't really

[23:04] make isekai about people trying to get

[23:07] home anymore. The most recent ones I can

[23:09] think of are Ari Ferretta, Sunny Boy,

[23:12] and Dad's Been Reincarnated, which is

[23:14] like three of the last 200 or so. It

[23:17] used to be the entire genre. Esaflon,

[23:21] Rayear, Aben Obashi, Wizard of Oz, Alice

[23:24] in Wonderland, Digimon. No matter how

[23:27] otaku ccentric the anime was, no matter

[23:29] how fun the other world seemed, going

[23:32] back was always at least a question.

[23:35] Sometimes the hero would be tempted to

[23:37] stay, and sometimes they'd give into

[23:39] that temptation or just find out there

[23:41] was no way back. But there were always

[23:44] people back home that they'd missed,

[23:46] goals they'd leave unfulfilled, things

[23:48] they'd be giving up, consequences

[23:51] for the choice. Nowadays, there's this

[23:54] persistent feeling across the entire

[23:57] genre that nothing on Earth is worth

[24:00] going back to. Of course, some of that

[24:02] shift comes down to an increased use of

[24:05] the reincarnation angle. mine bookworm

[24:07] already died, for instance. So, it would

[24:09] be weird if she went back to Earth to

[24:11] read some books and see her mom again,

[24:13] no matter how bad she wants that. And

[24:15] her story is still full of hope. It's

[24:17] about making the most of what you have

[24:20] instead of pining for what you've lost.

[24:22] But that's the exception that proves the

[24:25] rule. Most modern isekai, reincarnation

[24:27] types included, exist solely to comfort

[24:30] and console their audience over how much

[24:33] [ __ ] generally sucks while offering no

[24:36] solution beyond, wouldn't it be neat to

[24:38] go somewhere that doesn't suck. Sure,

[24:41] the bullies at school are relentlessly

[24:43] cruel and your boss values you slightly

[24:45] less than his paper shredder, but hey,

[24:47] look on the bright side. You might get

[24:49] hit by a truck today. It's [ __ ] bleak

[24:53] if you think about it for even a second.

[24:56] But of course, not thinking about it is

[24:59] the whole point. These shows are

[25:01] designed to make you comfortably numb.

[25:04] So that situation you can't really

[25:06] escape from is at least a little easier

[25:09] to accept. And clearly there is a huge

[25:12] market for that. But in capitalizing on

[25:14] it, isekai creators sell themselves,

[25:17] their audience, and their art short. I

[25:20] can be about deep personal journeys,

[25:23] worlds shaken to their core by tenacious

[25:26] heroes with bold new ideas and universal

[25:29] human truths that transcend our present

[25:32] time and space. Instead, we're just

[25:35] drowning in so much elf [ __ ] it

[25:38] doesn't even feel like anything anymore.

[25:41] I'm Jeff Thu, professional escapism

[25:43] artist, and for my next trick, I'm going

[25:45] to sit on stage reading a book for 20

[25:47] hours.