Quinn Angstrom
there are two genres in the world that have, to me, gotten so far overplayed that even parodies satirizing the tropes of them AND alternate takes on them to shake up the standards are both also overplayed, making interest in new entries virtually impossible
Quinn Angstrom
can you guess them
oh i'm scary
one is isekai but that's the easy shit
Quinn Angstrom
yes
Quinn Angstrom
that's the newer one
Villain
I'm honestly not sure what the other one is
oh i'm scary
yeah same
Villain
dark magical girls?
Quinn Angstrom
it's
Quinn Angstrom
zambies
Villain
oh ok
Villain
yeah I think we're all pretty over zombies
Quinn Angstrom
every possible avenue for zombies has been done, and done again
Quinn Angstrom
it's impossible to have a good unique isekai because every time one sees the faintest modicum of success 300 copycats immediately rise to make shitty imitations of it
ULTROHAZARDOUS🐙
the best isekai stories are the ones that don't realize they're an isekai story
yousoro!
isekai but it's seinfeld
oh i'm scary
I can't believe I didn't guess zambinos
Niamh Vibes
wildly, I don't think I mind stories where zombies are just. around.
Niamh Vibes
but if they're the main plot and focus, its a problem
Niamh Vibes
zombies the character vs. the genre
Rama
Zombie characters that are just characters are usually incredible
Princess Emily
I Can't Believe I Got Reincarnated As A Zombie
Quinn Angstrom
yeah that sounds about right
Quinn Angstrom
zombies being present is fine, zombies being the story is dead
Rama
Mr. Slant is my favorite Discworld villain who's not just a face attached to a shitty ideology
yousoro!
I did like that the one Konosuba character
yousoro!
is like
yousoro!
she's a lich
yousoro!
but she's not like a bad lich
Niamh Vibes
I'm trying to reverse engineer it in my mind to figure out if its possible to do an isekai where there's just a side character who's an isekai protagonist and everything else is normal
Quinn Angstrom
the closest I can think of to that is actually wargroove
Quinn Angstrom
where it's all fantasy epic except one character is an alien who landed on the planet from a sci-fi game the devs also made
Niamh Vibes
oh my god
Niamh Vibes
Dropping an isekai into your story feels riskier than a zombie because most versions where the isekai character isn't the main character is definitely tapped in the parody zone somewhere
Niamh Vibes
like the truck driver avoiding all those people isekai
Rama
I feel like a solid fantasy parody anime these days easily could have an isekai as a dumbass side character
yousoro!
I'm thinking 30 Rock
Rama
With the isekai as Alec Baldwin?
Rama
That could work
yousoro!
well I was thinking how Kenneth is obviously
yousoro!
some sort of immortal
Rama
I have not watched enough 30 Rock
Villain
wait I thought 30 rock was like an office comedy show
Niamh Vibes
it is
A Grinning DM
I’ve dropped isekai characters into my tabletop RPGs as non joke characters before I even knew the term
yousoro!
30 Rock - Kenneth is Immortal
yousoro!
It is
yousoro!
this is my point
yousoro!
an otherwise unrelated show with one character as the isekai
yousoro!
is basically 30 rock, where Kenneth is just casually some kind of immortal being in the office
A Grinning DM
The main villain in a Spycraft game I ran was secretly one of the named liches from D&D
A Grinning DM
And I’m still kind of mad the game didn’t last long enough for that Reveal
NekoInc, MSPM
... Damn that's good.
Okapi
I like zombies, but don't like most zombie series. And off the top of my head the only isekai I've liked recently is lesbian booklover travels through worlds her author little sis created, then gets a girlfriend in a world of magical girls.... And that was because the author is insane enough that it's fun.
Princess Emily
Okapi
: WHAT
Princess Emily
what series is that
Okapi
LN Clash of the Hexennacht. The author does a lot of smut so it's fanservicey. But I'm willing to forgive some of the author's weirdness and art cause he's genuine about his lgbt characters.
Okapi
Oh not zombies but there's a lot of skeleton isekai series
Okapi
Presumably because bones are less gross than decaying flesh so no bad smells?
Quinn Angstrom
I don't think skeletons are overplayed
kamikasei
Oh right, I forgot to say: Goblin Is Very Strong does the "isekai side character" thing, the Hero love interest is an isekai character but it's entirely incidental to the story
kamikasei
That's more down to the perspective shift by having a mook villain be the main character, though