Tag Archives: isekai

Squirrel Moon, 4/16/26

Posted on by Henry
From over a month ago

Today is a day for being behind.

Rotavirus, congested sinuses with modestly colorful snot, yet more interrupted sleep, being on sick-baby duty: not a few of my favorite things, but certainly a list of things I’m experiencing this week. The pictures on my phone are ever-more full of baby, and less and less full of flowers. Perhaps spring will change that balance a little bit. Maybe I’ll have pictures with both baby AND flowers.

There are no extended analyses for you today. Instead, I’ve got a few random thoughts.

First, I’ve crammed in a few episodes of Harley Quinn and I’m loving the show. It’s been a good thing to watch while slightly addled. I admire the ways in which the writers are layering on additional depth as the episodes progress and I’m excited to see where (and how far) they take it.

Second, I can’t help but continue to see the parallels (and diachronic threads) between the genres of classical questing fiction, portal fantasy, middle grade adventure, isekai, and now LitRPG. They’re not all the same thing, but… they kind of are all the same thing. At the very least, they’re playing Mad Libs with each other.

Third, I’m tired. I’m going to call it here and go rest my eyes or something until nap time is over.

Portals and the hero’s journey

Posted on by Henry

I figured out what I like about isekai and portal fiction—and why some of it feels so bad.

The portal fiction I love most plays with the hero’s journey. It is, at its core, about characters traveling into the unknown and experiencing growth through trials and tribulations. It’s the same pattern that so much adventure fiction I love adheres to.

The hero’s journey puts a big emphasis on coming home to confront the ways one has grown (in the image above, the Act Three segment saying “Master of Two Worlds” & “Incorporation”). But it’s confronting that growth which is the important part; what home you’re coming home to doesn’t particularly matter, as long as the recognition, confrontation, and resolution with past-self happens. The hero could literally return to their home world, or recognize any space within their new world as sufficiently home-like to be their new home—as long as they have that final confrontation and resolution.

And that’s the thought I had when everything clicked.

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So I’m A Spider, So What? pulls out neat tricks

Posted on by Henry

I just wrote about portal fiction and isekai anime, stories about people from one world (usually ours) transposed into a second world. All the stuff I said about loving this genre is still true. And, having just inhaled So I’m A Spider, So What? (an isekai anime about a schoolgirl reincarnated as a spider in a fantasy world), I’ve got some more thoughts for you about the show.

I inhaled the show, and…

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Sucked into the portal (fiction) again

Posted on by Henry

I’m a sucker for portal fiction, so it’s no surprise that I’m fond of—or at least eager to try—many isekai anime. I’ll even keep watching isekai long after I’ve decided that I don’t like the show. Something about it is compelling. It grabs part of my brain and refuses to let go.

There’s a lot of schlock out there. And worse. Hell, I watched at least ten episodes of The Rising of the Shield Hero, despite that show being a rotten apologia for toxic incels making slave harems (don’t be a shithead, and practice your kink consensually mmkay?). Someone else wrote more or less what I should have posted here about that show years ago—it’s a solid critique, check it out.

But that means when I find isekai that isn’t awful, that doesn’t feel like it’s spoon-feeding me poison and whispering sweet justifications of heinous shit, I’m delighted. And when I keep watching that isekai and find hints that they’re building towards bigger, more interesting twists with potentially interesting moral conundrums… heck. They’ve got me hook, line, and sinker. All of which is to say…

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