Painting: an ancient lexicon open on a carved lectern in a dark chapel of books, glowing runes and symbols lifting off its pages like fireflies.
TermLiterature term

Isekai

Japanese for another world: stories in which someone from our world is transported, reincarnated or summoned into a fantasy realm, often gaining special powers. A close cousin of Portal Fantasy, it dominates much of modern light novels and anime and overlaps with LitRPG & Progression Fantasy.

Japanese for another world: stories in which someone from our world is transported, reincarnated or summoned into a fantasy realm, often gaining special powers. A close cousin of Portal Fantasy, it dominates much of modern light novels and anime and overlaps with LitRPG & Progression Fantasy.

Origin

Rooted in folktales such as Urashima Taro; modern examples date from the late 1970s and 1980s, and the genre boomed in the 2010s alongside Sword Art Online.

Quick answers

What does "Isekai" mean?
Japanese for another world: stories in which someone from our world is transported, reincarnated or summoned into a fantasy realm, often gaining special powers. A close cousin of Portal Fantasy, it dominates much of modern light novels and anime and overlaps with LitRPG & Progression Fantasy.
Where does the term "Isekai" come from?
Rooted in folktales such as Urashima Taro; modern examples date from the late 1970s and 1980s, and the genre boomed in the 2010s alongside Sword Art Online.