I can only think of two Isekais where the whole plot is the main character trying to get home, and the anime fans are gonna hate which two things those are.
I wasn’t sure because the only reason I even say A Kid in King Arthur’s court counts even though he just goes back in time is because he goes so far back in time, nothing he knew about the world he knows really applies making him effectively in another world. Sam never goes back too far, but, then again, wasn’t he also from the far future? 🤔
Also: Black Knight is basically A Kid in King Arthur’s Court which I just lump together. lol
The Wizard of Oz, which Futurama is parodying, definitely counts! Yes, Dorothy wants to help the randos she meets, but the whole reason she’s going to the Emerald City in the first place is to try to get home to live in poverty with her dirt-farming, teetotaling aunt and uncle.
Interestingly, when Fry is actually presented with a way to get home via a forward-traveling time machine and a universe that resets, he never brings up getting off at 1999 and it’s never mentioned in any way.
Fucking love that show… its a shame he missed his home world because his mother just had the gate fixed but also I don’t actually think it was the correct one
I can only think of two Isekais where the whole plot is the main character trying to get home, and the anime fans are gonna hate which two things those are.
A Kid in King Arthur’s Court and Farscape.
3 if Quantum Leap could be counted as an isekai.
Inuyasha.
The plot does not revolve around anyone trying to get home in that, tho. Kagome gets to go home whenever she wants, and does frequently.
I don’t hate that at all. Isekai is just a subset of Portal Fiction.
Quantum leap is an Isekai. Getting home is a mainstay of the “Summoned Hero” genre of isekai.
Anime examples include:
The Rising of the Shield Hero
My Status as the Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s
My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One In This Other World Stands A Chance Against Me!
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest
Non anime example: Black Knight
Is a cursed thing to hear and it’s absolutely true.
I wasn’t sure because the only reason I even say A Kid in King Arthur’s court counts even though he just goes back in time is because he goes so far back in time, nothing he knew about the world he knows really applies making him effectively in another world. Sam never goes back too far, but, then again, wasn’t he also from the far future? 🤔
Also: Black Knight is basically A Kid in King Arthur’s Court which I just lump together. lol
Spider-Man Unlimited 1999
The Wizard of Oz, which Futurama is parodying, definitely counts! Yes, Dorothy wants to help the randos she meets, but the whole reason she’s going to the Emerald City in the first place is to try to get home to live in poverty with her dirt-farming, teetotaling aunt and uncle.
Futurama, too. But without the “wanting to go home” aspect.
Interestingly, when Fry is actually presented with a way to get home via a forward-traveling time machine and a universe that resets, he never brings up getting off at 1999 and it’s never mentioned in any way.
Since we’re talking that era, Sliders was a great show early on and it’s a tragedy nobody knows it.
Fucking love that show… its a shame he missed his home world because his mother just had the gate fixed but also I don’t actually think it was the correct one
Calling Farscape an isekai took me out.
And I mean… you’re not wrong.