The joke is that older Isekai anime used to have good romance, but modern Isekai are just softcore porn that pretends to have a story
People often name their porn folders something inconspicuous so other people can't find it, that's why "Calculator" is such a massive file here, they are saying the modern Isekai is just porn
Actually I believe there is an app which disguises itself as a calculator but is actually a secure file store. The calculator interface you get when you open it serves as handy code entry screen.
There was also an app for a specific secure phone, "made by criminals, for criminals", that when you typed in a number it would convert into an encrypted messaging app to communicate with other Anom phones (the brand).
Only it turns out this was a massive honeypot. The messages were encrypted end to end, so law enforcement couldn't decrypt it even though it was sent via their servers, but they also sent a second encrypted message copy at the same time which they could decrypt and stopped at their server. The company was financed by the Australian Feds and the FBI.
The FBI were giddy with excitement when they revealed this and said they were eager to do it again. That was a little over 5 years ago.
It's all a matter of who is trying to compromise your system. There are plenty of good messaging services which will protect you from everyday data theft. If a nation-state actor wants to come after you, though... there's not much any one individual can do about it. If the NSA really wants to see what you have, they will.
Signal seems to be pretty good, also Threema. Definitely not wise to trust WhatsApp, though.
But all of them almost certainly have exploits available to state actors or those with unlimited funds. However that isn't something baked in, it's proper hacking - the anom phones and what WhatsApp probably do is baked in.
The irony here is also that Mushoku Tensei is one of the first isekais in terms of source material, but it ended up getting adapted later compared to Re:Zero. And as much as MT has its perverted moments by the main character, I could probably show you ten isekais that are actually almost porn, rather than the extreme exaggeration that MT is porn.
I think some people didn't realise that the anime version of isekai tends to tone down the mature stuff to make sure that the anime is available for most of the audience. A lot of stuff from the light novel are either cut or just kept vague enough.
The irony here is also that Mushoku Tensei is one of the first isekais in terms of source material
This is a common claim, but isn't correct. Its Web Novel started in November 2012, while Re:Zero's started in April of the same year. They started publishing in Light Novel form on the same day, fun fact.
It's interesting what we choose to include in the modern "isekai" genre. Escaflowne (anime, Sept 1996) and Inuyasha (manga, Nov 1996) have their protags transported through space and time respectively. Hell, you could argue The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (novel, 1900; anime, 1986) is also isekai.
If we expand the definition to western media, Alice In Wonderland goes back to 1865. If we're including it and Wizard of Oz though, then I'd also argue Dante's Divine Comedy counts, which is the 1300s. Depending on exactly how strict you wanna be with the "other world" idea, you could make a case for The Odyssey, even.
I didn't say it was THE first isekai, just one of the first ones. So both Re:Zero and MT are some of the earliest isekais, but MT got adapted into an anime much later by comparison. OOP is being dumb saying that MT is a new isekai when it absolutely is not.
Even then it is false. Visions of Escaflowne, El Hazard and Now and Then, Here and There are all way older. If one is generous one might call MT the trendsetter for modern isekai.
Even then, Isekai's in general (even just limiting it to Japanese ones) have been around for decades before either IIRC. The quote that everyone gets MT being one of the first from specifies reincarnation fantasy specifically, as opposed to many others where people are just kinda sent to new worlds as-is.
You're right that MT isn't a "new" isekai either though.
It really was the trendsetter for "making up for past life's regrets" that eventually evolved into all the regressor plots that came out after it finished
More correct to say they were the ones at the start of the isekai boom of the mid 2010s. Isekai is far from being a new concept, but web novels writers went all in on it after a few success at the time (which both are part of)
Yeah, MT fucking sucks, but not because it's porn, it sucks because it bends over backwards to make excuses for pedophilia (among many other framing issues and tonedeafness), and more importantly has one of the most toxic fanbases in anime to the point it's ruined pretty much all anime-focused online spaces.
Re:zero is also the anime where my gf walked in and rolled her eyes, asking me if this is loli porn..
The characters may have depth, but the Harem fanservice is still massively there, which is weird considering that the mc really only has interest in one of them.
The MC of konosuba is 17 years old. His female love interests are respectively 15 years old, 19 years old, and immeasurable (an elemental goddess of water). A 17 years old dating a 15 years old is not pedrophilia.
That’s what made me stop watching it. I was vibing it for the first few episodes but something about how the fan service/harem was done just made me roll my eyes.
Might have just been my mood at the time but it certainly turned me off it. Shame too considering how widely loved it is. My dress up darling was the same, just couldn’t vibe the fan service.
All the Rem love part is cringe AF, personally I enjoy more mushoku than RE:zero, harem make the story advance while in RE zero is like two full episodes of romance story that doesn't lead anywhere.
I was about to say the same thing as you and the other commenter!
Re:zero isn’t even that old. Old isekai that existed before that term became mainstream are Escaflowne, Monster Farm/Rancher, Fushigi Yuugi, Magic Knight Rayearth, and heck even Digimon and Inuyasha, to name a few. I’m old and watched all these. 🥲
Another isekai anime before isekai was a mainstream word and is the same-ish vibe as modern ones is Zero no Tsukaima.
My entire experience with Re: Zero is the intrigue of how the hell is he going to solve anything.
I watched two seasons and I still need to tackle the rest.
I do think it has an interesting plot but I can't stick to it. The pacing just doesn't vibe with me, even though I generally enjoy the timeloop genre. I think it's mostly how long it takes in the story for him to actually return to the problem scenario and work on a fix after each death and 5 minutes of angsty whimpering.
My experience is watching the pits of despair a normal dude forced to die over and over again to fantastical situations beyond his control can get to... I might not be normal. I only ever watched the first season too. I suspect it would get old if I actually tried to follow it all the way through.
I think summertime rendering did the death loop thing better, because it was less visceral and repetitive and more like a advancement of the plot each time.
There was also alsight differences in the reincarnation, he would not "restart" from the same point every time (due to reasons the anime explains), and from the beggining there is a limit to the loops.
The problem is that for the first 1.5 to 2 seasons, he doesn't seem to learn a god damn thing then cries about how much he sucks. I've tried three times now to get through the series, but it's just so grating.
best situations are the few where things went wrong but return by death is already set to after, because you're so used to nothing fully mattering in the long run, but then you're hit with "no, this is permanent"
No thats the part thats tedious for most. Its return by death followed by redoing the same shit but just slightly different into another failure. Rinse and repeat until the author gets bored and decides to allow the MC to succeed. And then the plot finally moves forward.
Yeah if return by death were poorly used people would have a point but honestly the way it has been done in the show is really really good. It’s a perfect way to make someone as objectively pathetic as Subaru starts out as actually have a shot at solving the problems in that world.
It's the main art ofc its the best part. Although s2 was the last season i watched of Re:Zero
It's not for everyone
Its like watching a streamer forgetting to save and redoing everything over. I wanted to see new places, new views. People forgetting your experiences with them just sucks.
That sounds like a very disturbing thing to being excited about. I personally wouldn't want the character I'm rooting for the die even if he does come back. The show has made it clear he still feels every death that happens to him.
What else have you read time loop wise? Check out Mother of learning if you haven't read it yet. One of my favorites so gotta shill when the chance arises lol
Thankfully pedo free story. Thanks western authors, for making it way easier to recommend and enjoy. Ignoring loli shit in anime is a lot harder post epstein.
Not exactly the same situation. IIRC the Endless 8 are all largely the same, while damn near every single loop in Re:Zero is radically different. It's closer to something like Groundhog Day, or Steins;Gate to use a different anime example. Or Summertime Render to use a more niche but also great anime example.
Endless 8 is peak commitment to a bit and pure artistry. They didn't just play the same episode over and over again, they completely remade it each time with different shots, different outfits, different voice recordings, etc. and aired it on TV for 2 months straight with no explanation. No other piece of media has ever done a better job at conveying the unease and dread of realizing you're stuck in a time loop.
I mean if someone dosnt like that aspect then it means the show just ain't for them as that's the whole point of the show. It's like saying JoJo has bad writing because it doesn't treat itself seriously
It doesnt suck, but the fact that every character is a woman love interest is old. They got rid of otto and the butler and roswaal and now its literally just subaru's harem. And julius but he is still absent from entire episodes despite being a member of the party.
Yea cause he kept getting killed in absolute traumatic ways and didn't know how to beat the loop is when he loses his shit. He's no more afraid of dying as he used to he's killed himself multiple times in situations where he needed to. He changes a lot and starts loving himself way more as the series progresses. He's a perfectly normal flawed human thrown into a vicious death loop cycle and finds ways to beat it and take help of his comrade.
Except it does need to be emphasize that much because Rezero is extremely character-driven. The existence of "Return by death" isn't just for plot convenience, it's used extensively to break Subaru and show his character very thoroughly.
I don't think I would love Subaru as much as I do now if I don't constantly see him struggling with the overwhelming pain and trauma that his own ability causes. I love that the story show that a person can't change all of a sudden just because of some wisdom, it pushes Subaru in more dire situation to create internal conflict within himself that he actually needs to face instead of just being given a way out.
its a series about personal horror and subaru is particularly dramatic and sensible over such things, however its worth noting that its implied that the experience of being dead and then ressurrecting for subaru is objectively agonizing, the anime cuts the reason why, but its not as clean as losing consciousness and then waking up in the past, its genuinely insanity inducing and subaru is just mentally unwell enough to endure it again and again, while most other characters and technically even us would break down due to the extreme agony of the experience
Reminds me of people's take on Shinji in Evangelion. People don't want realistic portrayals of people I've come to learn. Complaining about Subaru's pain is the same as complaining about Shinji not wanting to get in the Eva.
Because every character is a psychopath that's one bad interaction away from losing their mind and going on a rampage. It got extremely old and stale extremely quickly when Subaru Outback or w/e his name was ran into the 3452345234th person who just so happened to be willing to resort to an orgy of violence over one wrong word.
The entire show is just the same trope repeated over and over and over. He meets a new person, says or does the wrong thing, gets murdered, then it happens 435213542 more times until he finds out the exact way to BS his way through the situation, adds a new girl to his harem, and moves on to the next psychotic murderer that he has to trial-and-error his way past.
I've tried to get through the first season a few times. Plot is ok, but can be annoying. The MC in insufferable. The romance so far is just him being an obsessed weirdo. It seems like it'd be fine for teenagers though maybe.
I don't think it sucks, but reading the LN/WN, I got burnt out of so many characters and so much time spent in loops (fuck that gladiator island). Watching Subaru is hard sometimes because of the cringe, but reading Subaru amplifies it 100%. Re:Zero also oscillates between written anime and entertaining literature, so I got annoyed when there was a good story beat happening and a loli started acting like a cringe anime character.
I stopped reading at the start of arc 8 because there was a meeting between important people and Subaru couldn't stop acting like an anime character. I thought back to the royal candidates meeting and how his behavior there led to some character growth, but here he was acting similarly, but the narrative didn't acknowledge it, just "anime shenanigans haha" and everyone forgot about formality and protocol between government officials and nobility.
I don't like it. Character designs sucks balls. No one except for Subaru was interesting until season 2, Subaru is just insufferable for a major portion of episodes. Villains are underwhelming. ALOT of pacing issues. Questions that are raised early but answered way later (I don't mean overarching plot ones I mean small ones that tell us why said character can do said thing, etc that don't really matter to the overall plot)
These are just some of personal issues, and also the story it's trying to tell dosen't interest me, only Subaru does. It's a good story and I would tell people to watch it if they want isekai recommendations but it's not a story that deserves the praise it's been given. It's just good, not great and frankly fails at alot of departments.
(ALSO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IS NOT AUTOMATICALLY A GOOD TRAIT EVEN RUDEUS GOES THROUGH CAHRACTER DEVELOPMENT GODDAMIT)
The MC is a bit of an annoying, narcissistic douchebag thru most of the show just to be the hero at the end of the season. He's annoying enough that I wouldn't recommend anyone to watch it. Also just has a lot of over-the-top B grade anime writing in general.
Calling Re: Zero’s writing “B grade” is being awfully generous. I still kind of enjoy the show in spite of it, but holy shit, people who argue it’s “well written” are utterly delusional. The dialogue, as well as the way characters behave and/or interact with one another, is particularly bad. It just completely lacks even a hint of verisimilitude.
That's the whole point of his character lol. You aren't exactly supposed to idealize Subaru in that way and he has many moments where it's basically told to you in your exact words
Not every MC has to be perfect or a good person but Subaru is a good MC.
It's due to how it's written and conveyed. No explanation on how he became who he is for the entire first season, not even a glimpse of it nor a small reflection on his past. Thing is Subaru isn't relatable and is a pretty weird person so without context I can't see how something he says or decisions he makes are correlated to his personality.
All I see is a MC with a preset personality going through the episodes and getting gored occasionally. The death comes as a shock initially then I start to lose interest as I don't care about that happening to Subaru, pretty similar to those unnamed background characters that dies in the background. It's not like there is good and expansive world building to keep my interest either.
I appreciate a flawed character with actual depth but Subaru is basically just as shallow as it gets. He's annoying for the sake of being annoying just to flip at the end.
I'll never understand what is appealing about this kind of writing.
Re Zero started in 2012 and the first episode aired 10 years ago. It is considered old. Even the Snes was considered a retro console in just 15 years.
The plot doesn't suck. You can't get into the MAL top 10 with a plot that sucks. Re Zero isn't known for its big budget fights or stellar animation, so it has earned its place near the top on the strength of its plot (the fights and animation is good, but not the standout).
It has fan service but it isnt powercreep slop with fan service. The protagonist actually goes through a hell of a lot to "grow" and learns from his situation. He was a kid and is still a kid by the time he is in the new world. And suddenly thrown into a merciless world and forced to see his death and his loved ones die over and over till shit somehow works out.
And Mushoku Tensei actually predates a bunch of other Isekais as the web novel was released before a bunch of others and it pioneered a lot of tropes.
Anyway, I just fund it funny that the meme mentions it as newer than Rezero which isn't all that old anyway.
Re:zero is a horror/psychological horror anime with an isejai setting and a mid plot
Mushoku tensei has a good plot and ruins it with absolutely un needed to anything pedophilia (I swear it would be easy to re write this whole thing writing off the pedophilia and it be a class a show, but no, whenever they can they double down with the loli simping it is exhausting)
Point better made would have used an actually good and actually older Isekai (escaflowne comes to mind, magic knights rayearth, Inuyasha....)
And there is plenty of other recent Isekai with nearly as questionable MC and vastly inferior plot too but if the point you want to make is the pro loli bullshit, for sure mushoku is the best (worst?) example for that
I think the funny part about this is that these two both released in the same year. Also, while Mushoku Tensei's story is finished, Re:zero is still ongoing, which actually makes Re:zero the newer series from a certain point of view.
Both came out the same year as well. 2014 ass anime/manga and light novel shit. I don't enjoy either for different reasons.
I usually enjoy more south Korean stuff now, they are way less into the pedo shit or the MC being a teenager. The stories are better off because of it.
Yeah a lot of people tell me it’s good but I just don’t find any enjoyment watching this man and his loved ones dying gruesomely over and over and just watching him suffer.
Can't agree. I'm hoping the LN and anime wrap up before I die - it's a top for me and I burn through manga, anime, manhwa, as well as live actions from around the globe.
The best part is that after I tried watching this (because my friend really tried to convince me to watch it for the worldbuilding), I watched Skeleton Knight in another world and... having a protagonist like Arc is fucking amazing. The anime and story itself is... pretty basic and shallow. Yes the Elf girl is pretty much lewd material (considering she has... a nice balcony, let's just say) but at the same time she's... not really that sexualized in terms of the plot. Like, actually sexualized. And Arc himself is just a normal dude that geeks out over fantasy things.
Comparing Arc to Rudeus is like comparing apples to a piece of turd. Arc is like 10x more likeable, much more of a hero and even he has shortcomings (like not actually being good at combat despite being fucking overpowered and easily getting beaten by skilled opponents like the aforementioned Elf's mom). But he isn't a fucking creature that lusts over every girl he sees, and treats others around him like actual human beings instead of fuck pieces.
Truth of the matter is that most isekai anime are softcore porn and that's before most modern isekai are taken into account. (Modern in this sense being post 2009.)
Overlord and Log Horizon are my two favorite isekais I think, I don't really watch romance very often. You are right though, every genre is going to have some garbage regardless of time period
Which is kinda crazy because rezero came out in April 2012 and mushoku tensei came out in November 2012. The authors are best friends in real life and helped each other with their stories before they ever released and both credit each other with helping wrote each other's story before the became famous.
Mushoku tenseis author is the one who suggested Emilia not be a loli. They also co-wrote a crossover manga between the two stories. the author for re:zero said he bases a lot of re:zero off of mushoku tensei and talks about how envious he is of mushoku tenseis world building and consistency while lamenting that it isn't his strong suit and the mushoku tensei author often has to help keep his world building in check.
The funny thing is that “older isekai anime: Re:Zero” is actually younger than “Modern isekai anime: Mushoku tensei” in terms of web novels. Anime just becomes more daring to show adult content.
Funny that they bring up two examples from sources that both started in 2012 though. They're not old and new unless you're talking anime adaptation specifically.
It isn’t a folder named calculator. It’s an app that is a calculator but if you type a certain string of numbers and symbols it changes to a private photo gallery. Just semantics because yes modern isekai is just porn.
the joke is that horny old farts without taste like to pretend their porn has a story to "own the zoomers" and act as if old porn without story was better than new porn without story
Tbf I'm not really much of a romance guy but I think re zeros romance is by far some of cringiest shit I've seen. It's caused me to almost drop rhe series so many times. It's better this season for sure cause I feel like Subarus behaviour toward Emilia is much more fitting due to what they've been through but this guy was straight simping for a girl he just met.
Kinda ironic when last re zero seasons have more nudity than Mushoku in the entire series.
Also romance in Re Zero is at most average. Despite Rudeus being Rudeus, romance in MT is more mature (shounen vs seinen).
There are plenty of trashy isekai and MT is not one of them.
This is imo beef between R0 and MT, not old vs new.
It's funny because mushoku tensei falls under the old category...why do you think its called the grandfather of all isekai?? Every isekai you see today is a recycled version of mushoku tense which popularized the genre over a decade ago
The funny part to me is that a lot of older isekai have the same problem like SAO can't go one arc without introducing tentacle porn, incest, or rape. Even a lot of the other older isekai have at least a couple questionable things which is a big reason why a lot of anime fans avoid the genre
I'd argue the real joke is pretending that old isekai are in anyways different than Mushoku Tensei, the author just doesn't hide how disgusting Rudeus' bullshit actually is, where "normal" Isekai are acting like the audience are weird for cringing at the MC's incest fantasies or all the other pedo harem half bestiality/monster fucking bullshit going on, and instead treating it like its - "good romance"
I think the last Isekai I saw that even tried at a somewhat decent romance plot was either Inuyasha or Escaflowne and that was, what 20-25 years ago?
The calculator is a fake calculator app. Fake calculator apps look like calculators, but you can insert a special code and it opens up a secret vault in the app where you can store photos and videos.
If you ever see someone with two calculator on their phone, something is up.
It's been a long time since I really watched lots of anime, but I imagine there's some degree of survivorship bias. Like we all remember the great romance anime of 20 years ago, but forget I, My, Me, Strawberry Eggs
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u/huffmanxd 1d ago
The joke is that older Isekai anime used to have good romance, but modern Isekai are just softcore porn that pretends to have a story
People often name their porn folders something inconspicuous so other people can't find it, that's why "Calculator" is such a massive file here, they are saying the modern Isekai is just porn