Isekai

Isekai, meaning different world or another world, is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy and science fiction centered on a person or people transported to and forced to survive in another world, where the protagonist typically gains formidable powers or importance they lacked in their original world; the transition between worlds may occur through death and reincarnation or through summoning by a person, object or god in the alternate world, commonly a medieval-like realm of humans, humanoids and monsters. In a reverse isekai, a person from another world is instead transported to Earth. The concept traces to Japanese folktales such as the story of Urashima Taro as well as to Western fantasy literature, and the first modern isekai works are considered to be Haruka Takachiho's novel Warrior from Another World and the anime series Aura Battler Dunbine, with The Twelve Kingdoms and Sword Art Online later helping popularize the genre; since the 2000s, isekai novels have increasingly been published online on websites such as Shosetsuka ni Naro, and the genre has become one of the most popular in anime, particularly noted for its escapist appeal to Japanese salarymen.