That's fair, my exposure is mostly in re:zero, Konosuba, devil is a part timer, and shield hero. I feel confident saying those are self-interests or a subversion of it. I think we're vaguely agreeing that isekai can be a capitalist critique by having an alienated main character, but it is not necessarily. Is that a fair statement?
yes, but further that isekai is at it's strongest when it's examining the nature of wish-fulfillment and desire, or when it abandons that easy path to tell its own story (something done most straightforwardly by using the genre to serve as a basis for introducing the setting and characters, then heading off in its own direction). it's at its weakest when it plays itself straight or when it merely critiques the protagonist and their society. isekai has the relatively unique opportunity to critique two societies at once and to play them off each other. it's not really in the genre, except in an abstract way, but the Dispossessed by LeGuin takes this latter approach to amazing effect, comparing a poor, anarcho-communist society of people living on the moon with the rich, capitalist society living on the planet surface.
That's fair, my exposure is mostly in re:zero, Konosuba, devil is a part timer, and shield hero. I feel confident saying those are self-interests or a subversion of it. I think we're vaguely agreeing that isekai can be a capitalist critique by having an alienated main character, but it is not necessarily. Is that a fair statement?
yes, but further that isekai is at it's strongest when it's examining the nature of wish-fulfillment and desire, or when it abandons that easy path to tell its own story (something done most straightforwardly by using the genre to serve as a basis for introducing the setting and characters, then heading off in its own direction). it's at its weakest when it plays itself straight or when it merely critiques the protagonist and their society. isekai has the relatively unique opportunity to critique two societies at once and to play them off each other. it's not really in the genre, except in an abstract way, but the Dispossessed by LeGuin takes this latter approach to amazing effect, comparing a poor, anarcho-communist society of people living on the moon with the rich, capitalist society living on the planet surface.