Re:A lack of male protagonists is making it harder to get yo...
by impossiblefork on Sunday November 08, 2026 @05:24PM
(#50418065)
I'm not saying that time travel stories like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Island in the Sea of Time or 1632-style stories are bad.
I read 1632, it's a bit sci-fi pulp-y but entertaining, especially when you're a Swede and some of the characters are familiar from real-life history. I've written stories in this direction myself too, and portal stories.
But my portal stories are usually in opposition to Isekai tropes, and I think most of this stuff is too. 1632 isn't an Isekai, ISoT isn't an Isekai, Narnia isn't an Isekai-- maybe it shares some destiny tropes with Isekai-type stories, but there's an attempt to give it weight, etc.
The bad aspects of the Isekai aren't that there's a portal, it's excessive indulgence.
I read 1632, it's a bit sci-fi pulp-y but entertaining, especially when you're a Swede and some of the characters are familiar from real-life history. I've written stories in this direction myself too, and portal stories.
But my portal stories are usually in opposition to Isekai tropes, and I think most of this stuff is too. 1632 isn't an Isekai, ISoT isn't an Isekai, Narnia isn't an Isekai-- maybe it shares some destiny tropes with Isekai-type stories, but there's an attempt to give it weight, etc.
The bad aspects of the Isekai aren't that there's a portal, it's excessive indulgence.