Does this count as an Isekai?

[ThisAdamGuy]

In my WIP, the main character sees a huge flash of light, and the next thing he knows he's in a fantasy world and he's 13 years older. at first he thinks he was taken to a new world, but in actuality he didn't go anywhere, the world itself changed. And while it was instantaneous for him, that's because he was (to put it as simply as possible) in a coma, and everyone else actually had to live through the 13 years he was "asleep."

Think I could still get away with calling it an isekai?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

If you are not afraid of bad ratings\reviews, yes.

 

[Deleted member 206441]

No.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Yeah, put the tag in for surprise twist at end.

For the record, the bad reviews are not coming from the lie of it not being isekai.

Isekai aka otherworld to me has a broad meaning, so Alice in Wonderland can also be counted for me.

Where the bad reviews would come from is "it is all a dream/ the otherworld isn't real" part.

Try make that part vague.

 

[LeilaniOtter]

Everyone scoffs at isekai content and, funnily enough, they're the most popular books on this whole site - so, is it hatred or jealousy? *^^*

 

[RepresentingPride]

Its not Isekai, but depending on how you write the beginning, you can have your readers believe it's an isekai before you reveal the plot twist. That happen in a few stories, they use the tag and that worked well due to them hiding the fact it's the same world (so no isekai) before revealing it with a plot twist. If you add the isekai tag to help you hide it before the reveal point, then yes use it, if it's write from the beginning, then no, don't use isekai, unless you want to use wrong tag just to attract some readers base.

 

[Jerynboe]

It has all of the technical requirements, assuming that the world has really changed while he was out, so it’s an isekai at least as much as a hot dog is a sandwich. If the story is primarily about him reconnecting with his family and friends after 13 years of coma and picking things up where he left off as best he can, the isekai tag could probably be considered misleading. If it’s about him coping and adapting to this strange new world, it probably merits the tag.

 

[Theirl]

yeah u could! if isekai is another if enough time and enough changes happened u could say its indeed an isekai... a good example is futurama do u think u could call that "earth" the same earth frie came from?

 

[CharlesEBrown]

It's at least as close to Isekai as the blatant Portal Fantasy anime-style series on HBO/MAX. Suicide Squad Isekai.

Yeah, Clayface doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

[BigBadBoi]

In my WIP, the main character sees a huge flash of light, and the next thing he knows he's in a fantasy world and he's 13 years older. at first he thinks he was taken to a new world, but in actuality he didn't go anywhere, the world itself changed. And while it was instantaneous for him, that's because he was (to put it as simply as possible) in a coma, and everyone else actually had to live through the 13 years he was "asleep."

Think I could still get away with calling it an isekai?

I mean technically it's another world

 

[MajorKerina]

I did the same thing with a story. Two stories technically and both had isekai tag. They were pretty much de facto the genre but there was also mystery thrown in there so there was a nuance to the world

 

[RepresentingPride]

yeah u could! if isekai is another if enough time and enough changes happened u could say its indeed an isekai... a good example is futurama do u think u could call that "earth" the same earth frie came from?

He just go to the the future, it's the same earth, it even have his bank account

 

[Theirl]

He just go to the the future, it's the same earth, it even have his bank account

yeah thats the point the world changed so much its pratically another world

 

[RepresentingPride]

yeah thats the point the world changed so much its pratically another world

that not another world, just the same world 1000 years into the future, technology evolved that all

 

[JayMark]

The world has elves, orcs, dwarves, goblins, dragons, and beastkin now because a gate opened and all the fantasy races migrated to the MCs world. And the humans don't have powers so they are second class citizens. But the MC has a power that awakened because he was in a coma during the portal opening events.