Nominal isekai is an isekai that quickly stops caring about otherworldly matters.
There’s no reason for these stories to be isekais.
For this trend to end, we should start supporting regular fantasy stories.
If you’ve watched any amount of isekai stories, you’ve noticed a very particular trope. A person is sent to another world (usually, but not always, upon their death), and once they cross that interdimensional threshold, the fact that they were sent there from our world is not mentioned or utilized by the narrative. A nominal isekai, if you will.
Nominal isekai
Our main character finds themselves in a new world — and that soon stops mattering at all. If they are reincarnated as a baby, the story skips multiple years until they are well acclimated. If they are sent through a magic portal, they just start grinding levels and traveling the world, like a regular adventurer. Either way, they barely, if ever, use their otherworldly knowledge, and even then — it’s usually by demonstrating their Superior Cooking Skills.
These are the stories like Drug Store in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist (Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life: Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore), The Faraway Paladin (Saihate no Paladin) and the Eminence in Shadow (Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!). Each of these stories could’ve carved the entire isekai premise out without losing anything of value at all — and isn’t that a thought?
Why bother?
Isekai has been a thing for many decades. It’s a meme to point that Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is an isekai story — though between Inuyasha, Fushigi Yuugi and Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi), there are plenty of pre-modern isekai anime. Back in the day, they offered us a great contrast between our mundane sensibilities, and the fantastical realities of the other world, with the protagonists serving as a window into those realms of whimsy and magic.
Then, came the modern isekai, and with it, this weird sense of familiarity — new protagonists are all genre savvy, and already know what to expect from a life in another world, making those other worlds far less whimsical and magical. Still, even if our hero is not interested in returning to their original world, the modern isekai experience at least leaves some wiggle room to introduce the spirit of adventure and discovery.
Not so much for the nominal isekai. Would’ve the Rising of the Shield Hero (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari) had a better first episode if instead of its lazy Day 1 controversy, the four heroes were raised by the local Church, and sent into a bigger world with the baggage of expectations (and in case of the Shield Hero, also hatred)? Certainly. Would’ve it also been far less popular, due to how middling and boring its writing is? Definitely.
Nominal isekai are stories that only use this genre due to its high popularity compared to regular fantasy stories. This trend will only stop once we all start supporting good fantasy stories again. As we probably should.
Do you mind nominal isekai as a trope?
Rising of the Nominal Isekai.
Summary:
Nominal isekai is an isekai that quickly stops caring about otherworldly matters.
There’s no reason for these stories to be isekais.
For this trend to end, we should start supporting regular fantasy stories.
If you’ve watched any amount of isekai stories, you’ve noticed a very particular trope. A person is sent to another world (usually, but not always, upon their death), and once they cross that interdimensional threshold, the fact that they were sent there from our world is not mentioned or utilized by the narrative. A nominal isekai, if you will.
Nominal isekai
Our main character finds themselves in a new world — and that soon stops mattering at all. If they are reincarnated as a baby, the story skips multiple years until they are well acclimated. If they are sent through a magic portal, they just start grinding levels and traveling the world, like a regular adventurer. Either way, they barely, if ever, use their otherworldly knowledge, and even then — it’s usually by demonstrating their Superior Cooking Skills.
These are the stories like Drug Store in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist (Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life: Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore), The Faraway Paladin (Saihate no Paladin) and the Eminence in Shadow (Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!). Each of these stories could’ve carved the entire isekai premise out without losing anything of value at all — and isn’t that a thought?
Why bother?
Isekai has been a thing for many decades. It’s a meme to point that Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is an isekai story — though between Inuyasha, Fushigi Yuugi and Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi), there are plenty of pre-modern isekai anime. Back in the day, they offered us a great contrast between our mundane sensibilities, and the fantastical realities of the other world, with the protagonists serving as a window into those realms of whimsy and magic.
Then, came the modern isekai, and with it, this weird sense of familiarity — new protagonists are all genre savvy, and already know what to expect from a life in another world, making those other worlds far less whimsical and magical. Still, even if our hero is not interested in returning to their original world, the modern isekai experience at least leaves some wiggle room to introduce the spirit of adventure and discovery.
Not so much for the nominal isekai. Would’ve the Rising of the Shield Hero (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari) had a better first episode if instead of its lazy Day 1 controversy, the four heroes were raised by the local Church, and sent into a bigger world with the baggage of expectations (and in case of the Shield Hero, also hatred)? Certainly. Would’ve it also been far less popular, due to how middling and boring its writing is? Definitely.
Nominal isekai are stories that only use this genre due to its high popularity compared to regular fantasy stories. This trend will only stop once we all start supporting good fantasy stories again. As we probably should.
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