What is isekai tensei?
Isekai tensei (“reincarnation in another world”) is a story pattern in which a hero who dies in modern Japan is reborn in another world, such as a fantasy world of swords and magic, and thrives using memories of their past life or special abilities. Stories in which the hero moves to another world alive are called isekai ten’i (“transfer to another world”). Because heroes so often “get hit by a truck” and are reincarnated, the phrase “truck reincarnation” (Truck-kun) was also born.
The “Narou-kei” boom
In the 2010s, isekai reincarnation and transfer stories became hugely popular on sites such as “Shosetsuka ni Naro” (Let’s Become a Novelist), where anyone can post novels. Many were turned into books, manga and anime, and it became a major genre, giving rise to the term “Narou-kei.” Today it has branched into many forms, such as villainess stories, slow-life stories and stories of entering a game world.
Otherworld stories of old
Stories of people going to another world and coming back are old: Urashima Taro, who went to the undersea Dragon Palace and returned to find that ages had passed; the Greek myth of Orpheus, who visited the land of the dead; and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, in which a girl falls down a rabbit hole into Wonderland. In Japan, kamikakushi, people suddenly vanishing, was also thought to mean being carried off to another world.
Urban legends of “ways to go to another world”
Online, “ways to go to another world” are told as urban legends, such as “move between floors of an elevator in a set order and you can go to another world” (the elevator game) and “draw a figure on paper and go to sleep and you will reach a different world.” Accounts such as Kisaragi Station, a station that does not exist, and the Shimokitazawa time slip are also popular as stories of wandering into other worlds.
These are only to be enjoyed as ghost stories and games. Never do anything dangerous in imitation of a story.
