I still like the idea but I’m tired of the power fantasy aspect. “Oh no! I’ve been killed/summoned/found a portal and now I’m in a fantasy world! At least I’m incredibly overpowered and/or my modern knowledge gives me god like status!”

The ones where the character still struggles to get by tend to be good still because they have to have some kind of story involved other than “average person conquers another world by being OP”

Edit: also characters whose only connection to their old life is a token scene in the first episode/issue where it shoes them get isakai’d and it’s never a bearing on the story again. It’s just shoehorned into a bad story because isekai is popular.

My main critique of the genre is how lazy it's done. There's nothing wrong with having the MC reincarnated, transported, or made overpowered. One Punch Man has a massively overpowered MC but it's still really good. The problem is that they're all low effort cookie cutter stories that are just checking items off a list.

They're also fairly unrealistic. "Gasp...is this that isekai thing I've been reading about? I guess I'll go join the Adventurer Guild and get a super dangerous job killing monsters despite the fact that I've never been in a dangerous situation before."

There's no way all these random people will just calmly accept finding themselves in another world with no freaking out or depression setting in first.

I'm more sick of the harem trope than the isekai trope, between that and fan service beach days I don't even feel like trying new shows sometimes

Dungeon Meshi is good, and not Isekai.

Portal fantasy in general is fine( think like inuyasha or digimon as old version of isekai). The issue is the isekai that are just mindlessly cloning each other with some new way to be OP.

The anime doesn't have to be good, it just has to make you interested in the lightnovel, which is where the profits are. With that in mind, the cheaper the anime can be produced the better. This is probably why there are so many shitty isekai and they keep coming.

The thing I don't like is how much of it is RPG themed but written by people who have never played any.

I still like the concept, it's just that 90% of the stuff that uses said concept is terrible. I mean, Isekai is only an initial premise, you need A LOT more to make a good anime.

When I watched Frieren the best thing was that it was no fucking isekai. It's still competence porn, but at least she is not a middle aged man who died lonely in his bedroom. Just a classic fantasy world. Loved it

There are decades worth of good anime out there. If new stuff isn't doin it for you, pick up a show from spring 2006 or something. A lot of trash comes out every season (and always has) but nobody is forcing you to watch it.

Harry Potter is isekai. The Wings of Merlin by TA Baron is an isekai. Percy Jackson is an isekai.

The problem isn't the genre. The problem is that the metric became a target for cheapasses with no imagination who want that trend money.

This is the same shit that happens in every form of media when production becomes more accessible. Idiots pick up the fire and run with it.

Probably not, but after something like 2 decade of zombie shit everywhere i will take ANYTHING over it. Also there are good isekai, bad isekai and chinese isekai where the only thing coming of it is the protagonist using modern Earth idioms and perfectly assimilating otherwise.