You used to be able to stumble upon a mysterious mirror in your eccentric uncle's attic and we were all okay with it. No one's immersion was ruined because the protagonist got hit by a truck in chapter 1.
I keep bringing up the trend of isekai with the initiating event of 'one day, on the way to my normal school or work life, I fucking died, what a relief' and people keep telling me I'm overthinking things
...because ultimately the books kill all the characters, and the happy ending of the story really is "btw y'all died in a train accident and now you're in Heaven, wheeee".
there's a lot I could say about this fictional conceit of dying in an accident and finding yourself in a strange new place; believe it or not, I've never watched any series with this plot, so I'm not familiar with how it usually plays out. but...gawd, how do I put this delicately...
...finding a portal to another world in your uncle's basement, in that older-fashioned sort of story, always meant that ultimately you'd return to your ordinary life with some renewed sense of peace and purpose, and often some kind of "there's no place like home" sentiments. you'd go to another world with the expectation that you'd return to a happier life at home.
now...
...suppose that wasn't possible anymore? suppose that sort of story makes no more sense?
suppose "home" really is a cesspit, and there's nothing to be gained from going back?
I'm not saying that's literally true, but I'm suggesting that our popular fiction is coming to reflect the inevitable cynicism and nihilism that accompany living in a rapidly disintegrating form of civilization where everything seems to be worsening without limit, with no prospect of an upward turn.
who'd want to go back home, who'd even think about wanting to go back home, when home is...(gestures round theirself) THIS?
~Chara of Pnictogen
