Isekai definition change.

[Fried_Chicken]

Currently the definition is vague, when the crux of what is expected form an isekai is for the story to be told from the lense of someone form our earth or one functionally identical.

Currently, shows such as Stargate and Star Trek would qualify as isekai when its not what anyone expects from an isekai.

Furthermore, lately the fanfiction isekai genre has been inundated with amnesia-isekai stories that don't offer what is expected from an isekai story. They take a cheap way and start with a blank slate that is nearly identical to the farm boy trope.

I suggest using the reincarnation tag for when a person is given another life without their sense of self contained within those lost memories.

Otherworldly knowledge can be useful for when some memories are retained but most lost.

Portal fantasy can used for when the Mc has the ability to world hop back and forth to earth like say in the Gate series.

This leaves the isekai tag solely for when the Mc is placed in another world with their sense of self intact.without the ability to return home af all, or return home easily.

Tldr: The isekai tag is almost useless Currently and rendered moot when paired with the amnesia trope. Let's make the category much more concise.
For those who disagree please comment why.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

Or, more accurately, fail to check the definitions at all.

Most people don't bother to read the definitions, or FAQ pages.
Same reason why reviews are almost useless here: if they are even slightly out of the way, people don't bother to check them.

That, and/or some people love to jump on bandwagon (coz they want traffic on their story pages), coz it's the trend...even if they knew the definitions. Like how some authors would put in the 'Gender bender' tag even if it's a minor part of the entire story.

 

[Fried_Chicken]

It doesn't matter if the definition is changed or not; at the end of the day, authors are the ones tagging their series.
The fundamental problem is that some of them misuse the tags; changing the definition will not fix

Or, more accurately, fail to check the definitions at all.

Most people don't bother to read the definitions, or FAQ pages.
Same reason why reviews are almost useless here on SH: if they are even slightly out of the way, people don't bother to check them.

This is why I want a non native English tag. 99% of the tag abuse comes from Chinese crap.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

This is why I want a non native English tag. 99% of the tag abuse comes from Chinese crap.

It's useless, seriously speaking. The bots would put in the tags they want to put in, even if they read/understood the FAQs and knew every definition of genres out there.

We can report it, but then again, reporting in this site required taking screenshots and links of the offending page coz the admin (just 1 person) got his hands full.

 

[Fried_Chicken]

It's useless, seriously speaking. The bots would put in the tags they want to put in, even if they read/understood the FAQs and knew every definition of genres out there.

Sad but true. Currently I can't even use the genre sort on the homepage, everything MUST be found through series finder.( what a horrible name) guess advanced search ability may as well be added there because it nearly useless.

 

[Rhaps]

You know, I ran in this problem a while back, is space travel an isekai?
Ultimately my answer after consulting many people is no, space travel and isekai is not the same.

 

[Piisfun]

This is why I want a non native English tag. 99% of the tag abuse comes from Chinese crap.

Which wouldn't help either, since more than half of the actually good authors are non-native English speakers. Germans authors especially; It makes me wonder if there is a lack of any good German writing sites.
Also, that is outside of the scope of what tags are for. They are to describe the story, not the author.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

Sad but true. Currently I can't even use the genre sort on the homepage, everything MUST be found through series finder.( what a horrible name) guess advanced search ability may as well be added there because it nearly useless.

That's the best remedy for now. We can't really do anything about tag abuse unless the site staff would add more people to monitor this place. Heck, there are even rumors (quite substantiated) that there's AI use in the approval of story covers (I got to experience this personally; my non-NSFW image got rejected because the 'admin' who checked it deemed it NSFW...though it only has lots of skin-tone colors).

Well, in any case, it's not like the problem is unique to you. It's also the problem of other readers, and it's really annoying, but nothing can be done in the near future.

Which wouldn't help either, since more than half of the actually good authors are non-native English speakers. Germans authors especially; It makes me wonder if there is a lack of any good German writing sites.
Also, that is outside of the scope of what tags are for. They are to describe the story, not the author.

True. Especially to authors; not only we'd have difficulty putting in genre tags (coz the space is small, and scrolling is difficult; it restarts to top whenever you select one), lazy ones would just put in the 'nearest genre' to define their works.

 

[Fried_Chicken]

You know, I ran in this problem a while back, is space travel an isekai?
Ultimately my answer after consulting many people is no, space travel and isekai is not the same.

By definition it is, but not intent. Its exactly why the definition needs clarity.

 

[Anonjohn20]

Now it's more personal insults? Definitely loser mentality. They even went through the effort of making memes because they can't handle the debate. That's not just loser mentality, but sore loser mentality.

You called him a loser and now your complaining that he "used personal insults" by telling you to take your meds. By your own logic, you are the sore loser.

 

[Fried_Chicken]

Which wouldn't help either, since more than half of the actually good authors are non-native English speakers. Germans authors especially; It makes me wonder if there is a lack of any good German writing sites.
Also, that is outside of the scope of what tags are for. They are to describe the story, not the author.

I know but I want to be able to sort them out of results. If its fluent enough to be unnoticeable, the tag is redundant.

 

[Anonjohn20]

You know, I ran in this problem a while back, is space travel an isekai?
Ultimately my answer after consulting many people is no, space travel and isekai is not the same.

Its really not, but Chaddts would disagree.

 

[Fried_Chicken]

You called him a loser and now your complaining that he "used personal insults" by telling you to take your meds. By your own logic, you are the sore loser.

I described the mentality not the person.

 

[Rhaps]

By definition it is, but not intent. Its exactly why the definition needs clarity.

Eh, I think the current definition is clear enough. The majority is capable of telling whether a story is isekai or not.

 

[Anonjohn20]

Eh, I think the current definition is clear enough. The majority is capable of telling whether a story is isekai or not.

The definition is clear for everyone except him, so that must mean that everyone else is wrong and they're relying on the evil "rule of the majority."

 

[Fried_Chicken]

That's the best remedy for now. We can't really do anything about tag abuse unless the site staff would add more people to monitor this place. Heck, there are even rumors (quite substantiated) that there's AI use in the approval of story covers (I got to experience this personally; my non-NSFW image got rejected because the 'admin' who checked it deemed it NSFW...though it only has lots of skin-tone colors).

Well, in any case, it's not like the problem is unique to you. It's also the problem of other readers, and it's really annoying, but nothing can be done in the near future.

True. Especially to authors; not only we'd have difficulty putting in genre tags (coz the space is small, and scrolling is difficult; it restarts to top whenever you select one), lazy ones would just put in the 'nearest genre' to define their works.

The restart

Eh, I think the current definition is clear enough. The majority is capable of telling whether a story is isekai or not.

Yet it gets flooded by stories that for all intents and purposes aren't isekai at all. Particularly, those with amnesia. How can it be "another" world if it's the mc's only known world?

This isn't even touching in the fact of memory erasure=personality death.

The definition is clear for everyone except him, so that must mean that everyone else is wrong and they're relying on the evil "rule of the majority."

We all have a sense if what isekai is, the point since the beggining is its vagueness. As pointed out earlier, by definition stargate qualifies but nobody considers it isekai. This is exactly why it needs clarity.

 

[Rhaps]

Yet it gets flooded by stories that for all intents and purposes aren't isekai at all. Particularly, those with amnesia. How can it be "another" world if it's the mc's only known world?

This isn't even touching in the fact of memory erasure=personality death.

yeah this sound more like a you problem more than anything. Anmesia isn't erasure of memory, it is there to tell the readers that the memory will come back at some point, it isn't permanent.

 

[Anonjohn20]

Yet it gets flooded by stories that for all intents and purposes aren't isekai at all.

As Hans has tried to explain to you multiple times, that's not the fault of the genre; its the fault of writers who want to deceive viewers into reading their story.

How can it be "another" world if it's the mc's only known world?

Because they were forcefully sent and trapped in a second world. If a bad author uses a genre or concept and then doesn't take advantage of what makes that concept unique, then it means that they're a bad author, not that the concept isn't there.

Here I sent a pic that explains why amnesia Isekai is, in fact, that genre while travelling on a ship is not.

 

[Fried_Chicken]

yeah this sound more like a you problem more than anything. Anmesia isn't erasure of memory, it is there to tell the readers that the memory will come back at some point, it isn't permanent.

The damage is. When they are regained they aren't the same person meaning nobody was isekaied at all. Once they are lost for any real period of time, a new personality develops that those memories are added ontop of, not replacing. The anime Golden time touches on this very well.

As Hans has tried to explain to you multiple times, that's not the fault of the genre; its the fault of writers who want to deceive viewers into reading their story.


Because they were forcefully sent and trapped in a second world. If a bad author uses a genre or concept and then doesn't take advantage of what makes that concept unique, then it means that they're a bad author, not that the concept isn't there.

Here I sent a pic that explains why amnesia Isekai is, in fact, that genre while travelling on a ship is not.

Read the definition it says "protagonist is reincarnated." He can't be the same person if memories are lost. The memories must stay intact for them to be the same person. Another new entity is created if memories are lost. This is a second being that never existed prior to being iskeaied. A second being that never existed physically nor mentally in the first world, hence they don't qualify.

 

[Rhaps]

The damage is. When they are regained they aren't the same person meaning nobody was isekaied at all. Once they are lost for any real period of time, a new personality develops that those memories are added ontop of, not replacing. The anime Golden time touches on this very well.

You are talking to an otome isekai maniac, the amnesia trope is use way more time than I would like to see it, like an ex-gf you keep seeing, so I am VERY familiar with this. An isekai with amnesia work percisely because of the MC has the knowledge of another world, especially moral codes, it won't overwrite but add on top like you said, but the moral delemas are usually the highlight of this type.

 

[Fried_Chicken]

You are talking to an otome isekai maniac, the amnesia trope is use way more time than I would like to see it, like an ex-gf you keep seeing, so I am VERY familiar with this. An isekai with amnesia work percisely because of the MC has the knowledge of another world, especially moral codes, it won't overwrite but add on top like you said, but the moral delemas are usually the highlight of this type.

The point is they aren't the same person from their ending on one world to their life in the next. Without that, it's not the same person and not isekai. I work with the elderly with alzhiemers, and I can guarantee that they aren't the same person from moment to moment. They change based on the memories they have access to.

You are talking to an otome isekai maniac, the amnesia trope is use way more time than I would like to see it, like an ex-gf you keep seeing, so I am VERY familiar with this. An isekai with amnesia work percisely because of the MC has the knowledge of another world, especially moral codes, it won't overwrite but add on top like you said, but the moral delemas are usually the highlight of this type.

All memories are needed to be the same person though. Removing memories creates a new entity that never existed before. That new entity even if they have some basic memories retained, isn't the person from our world period. Every single memory must be intact to be isekai. ALL OF THEM.