Exploring isekai : mapping worlds through anime, manga, and light novels / edited by Shintarō Mizushima and William B. Ashbaugh.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Ashbaugh, William B., editor.

Mizushima, Shintaro, editor.

Series:

Global East Asian Screen Cultures.

Global East Asian Screen Cultures

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Animated films--Japan.

Animated films.

Anime (Motion pictures).

Anime (Television programs).

Imaginary places in mass media.

Manga (Comic books).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (329 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing (UK), 2026.

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2026.

System Details:

text file rdaft

Summary:

Exploring Isekai offers the first comprehensive study of isekai in anime, manga and light novels in which characters from the "real world" are transported, summoned, reincarnated or trapped in fantastical realms.Challenging the misconception that isekai is mere escapism, the volume brings together an international group of contributors to consider.

Contents:

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Notes on the Use of Japanese Language Part One: Isekai in Historic Perspective 1. The First Anime Isekai: Aura Battler Dunbine's Origins and Cold War Fears - Shintaro Mizushima and William B. Ashbaugh 2. Isekai Enactment in Millennial Japan: Mediating Violence in Now and Then, Here and There - Brett Hack 3.Worlds Beyond, Selves Within: Mythopoeic Metamorphosis in Select Isekai Anime - Ananya Saha Part Two: Understanding Isekai 4. Exploring Isekai: The Window into Another World - Michael Cserkits 5. Alice in Borderland and Beyond: Examining Existential Crises through an Isekai Manga - Alayna L. Vander Veer 6. Open for Otherworldly Business: Work, Life, and Fantasy in Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement - Zach Long 7. Intersecting Media: Game Systems as Narrative Tools in Kumo desu ga, nani ka? - Giovanni Tagliamonte 8. The Social Significance of Isekai: A New Narrative Type in the Age of Fiction? - Jessy Escande Part Three: How Fiction Influences Reality 9. Sokushinbutsu and Isekai in Takahashi Rumiko's Inuyasha - Jon Morris 10. Creation of a New Transcendent: Religious Affordance in Overlord and My Next Life as a Villainess - Barbara Greene 11. "Now Go, and Don't Look Back": Spirited Away, Anime on the Global Stage, and Extratextual Isekai - Zoe Crombie Part Four: Gender Perspectives on Isekai 12. Queering Isekai: The Executioner and Her Way of Life - Travis Nishii 13. Power, Transhumanism, and Gender Differences in Preference for Isekai Anime - Stephen Reysen, Thomas R. Brooks, Courtney N. Plante, Sharon E. Roberts, Kathleen C. Gerbasi, Rhea Joshi, and Cole Rehbein 14. Control, Autonomy, and Slavery in Isekai - Yaochong Yang and Matthew Valenzuela Contributor Biographies General Index Index of Non-Japanese Novels and Fiction Authors Index of Anime/Manga/Light Novels

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-350-46559-3

1-350-46557-7

1-350-46558-5

9781350465572

OCLC:

1569121907