To the people that recommended Ascendance of a bookworm
A while back I posted an extremely cold take about Isekai not being very good at exploring what it would be like to actually be isekai’d. Or how, in the vast majority of these shows, there really isn’t any reason to have the Isekai setting aside from being a lazy writing tool to allow them to add a bunch of exposition about the fantasy world to the clueless MC and the viewer. Which is useful, but I’ve always felt the setting is also grossly underutilized in a lot of ways for most shows.
Several people recommended Ascendence of a Bookworm and you absolutely nail it.
This show really dives deep into the cultural shock that a person going to a different world would have to contend with. Figuring out how to just survive (much less explore) in this new setting, not knowing the value of certain things, various customs and ceremonies, the major religions and the lay person’s relation to all of that. Coming down with an illness that you don’t understand because it’s native to the new setting, and so on. Where most isekai would give you some exposition about why a festival that is taking place happens and the MC is just an outside observer, Ascendance of a bookworm asks “what would the MC’s role in actually participating in this festival as a member of the world they now inhabit look like?”
It also has the MC introduce foreign things to the new world in a way that is a little more grounded. Instead of having a Dr. Stone level of understanding how inventions were made, the MC has mostly surface level knowledge of how something is made and has to use trial and error to actually reach the intended result. Like a person who once googled “how is X made” might remember the components of how to make it but not the more intricate details of the actual steps involved.
Not only that but it also explores some philosophical debates about the idea of the “self”. If you suddenly wake up in a new world in a new body, what happened to the consciousness that used to inhabit the body? If you still have that persons memories are you now them? Or are you still the person you were before? Or both? Or neither? It also doesn’t just gloss over the fact that the MC (if the MC is reincarnated for example) shouldn’t know the things that they know as far as the people around them are concerned.
Granted, not every Isekai puts their protag in an already born body, but the point remains that there are aspects of being transported to another world that, if they were actually explored, would elevate the story itself and the genre as a whole.
It’s a shame the average isekai enjoyer would probably find the plot of Ascendance of a bookworm to be “too slow”. Its pacing is more akin to a slice of life than a fantasy adventure. And to be fair, if I \*had\* to be nit-picky about the show, one of my critiques would be that the actual fantasy part of the world is being under-explored and the fantastical nature of the world the MC inhabits is only really hinted at from time to time until near the end of the first season.
Striking a balance between the two would be what an ideal Isekai would look like for me. Having said that, it does look like as the story goes on we’ll get to see more and more of the actual magic and mystery of the new world.
This show is going right to the top of the list for one of the best Isekai out there in my book.
Several people recommended Ascendence of a Bookworm and you absolutely nail it.
This show really dives deep into the cultural shock that a person going to a different world would have to contend with. Figuring out how to just survive (much less explore) in this new setting, not knowing the value of certain things, various customs and ceremonies, the major religions and the lay person’s relation to all of that. Coming down with an illness that you don’t understand because it’s native to the new setting, and so on. Where most isekai would give you some exposition about why a festival that is taking place happens and the MC is just an outside observer, Ascendance of a bookworm asks “what would the MC’s role in actually participating in this festival as a member of the world they now inhabit look like?”
It also has the MC introduce foreign things to the new world in a way that is a little more grounded. Instead of having a Dr. Stone level of understanding how inventions were made, the MC has mostly surface level knowledge of how something is made and has to use trial and error to actually reach the intended result. Like a person who once googled “how is X made” might remember the components of how to make it but not the more intricate details of the actual steps involved.
Not only that but it also explores some philosophical debates about the idea of the “self”. If you suddenly wake up in a new world in a new body, what happened to the consciousness that used to inhabit the body? If you still have that persons memories are you now them? Or are you still the person you were before? Or both? Or neither? It also doesn’t just gloss over the fact that the MC (if the MC is reincarnated for example) shouldn’t know the things that they know as far as the people around them are concerned.
Granted, not every Isekai puts their protag in an already born body, but the point remains that there are aspects of being transported to another world that, if they were actually explored, would elevate the story itself and the genre as a whole.
It’s a shame the average isekai enjoyer would probably find the plot of Ascendance of a bookworm to be “too slow”. Its pacing is more akin to a slice of life than a fantasy adventure. And to be fair, if I \*had\* to be nit-picky about the show, one of my critiques would be that the actual fantasy part of the world is being under-explored and the fantastical nature of the world the MC inhabits is only really hinted at from time to time until near the end of the first season.
Striking a balance between the two would be what an ideal Isekai would look like for me. Having said that, it does look like as the story goes on we’ll get to see more and more of the actual magic and mystery of the new world.
This show is going right to the top of the list for one of the best Isekai out there in my book.
Commentaires
All the manga parts are being written by different authors in parallel, and I didn't want to skip ahead in the story, so I've read through all the parts that the anime covered plus Part III up to where it's been written, but I found the mangas to be really great.
I am just not a light novel reader (almost all the books I read are non-fiction, I don't really read novels period, not just light novels) but as a guy that likes Manga, I think the Bookworm mangas are great.
I would always strongly recommend picking it up, and I am really excited about the upcoming season.
Also what do you mean "stopped"? The main LN is complete. Do you mean the spinoff?
Also, as a fellow reader that's more familiar with heavy novels, my primary complaint with it is that its prose is somewhat lacking, but at the same time, it's pretty handily the best prose I've encountered in a Light Novel, and from what friends have told me, the LNs with better prose can be counted on your fingers, perhaps even one hand.
The only reason I watched Bookworm was because I was killing time during a slow anime season.
"What is preschooler garbage?" (I was very ignorant)
**further into season 1**
"Oh no! Myne! Taihen-da!"
The production values of season 1 were so god damn low.
I can only hope production of the show continues as long as it takes to actually reach that point though.
Seasons 1-3 of the anime cover parts 1 & 2. Something major happens at the end of s3 that transitions into the next part of the story. Season 4 will begin part 3.
Need to rewatch this, feels like s3 came long ago.
I compare it to like say, Fellowship of the Ring in Lord of the RIngs. It's *possible* to describe Fellowship as a prologue to the main plot of Lord of the Rings, in that most of the big action and plot centric events occur in the Two Towers and REturn of the King.
But calling Fellowship prologue kind of treats dismissively the world building, character development and such that actually makes Lord of the Rings really special.
It's precisely because Myne's relationships with all the people in the slums, the merchants, the Temple and such are laid out with such care and development, that how the world operates not kjust from the top down, but on a practical day-to-day sense from the perspective of the lower classes that telling a story about "class" works.
Another Isekai I loved was The Great Cleric, the slow progression and structure of the world connected very well with me.
As a non-manga/LN reader I can only judge the anime based on what I’ve seen and not what is to come, but the show does a good job of foreshadowing that things will pick up so I expected as much.
The show actively admonishes pedophillia multiple times.
There’s some “puppy love” aspects between Lutz and Main, but it avoids anything even remotely sexual. When the show does bring that particular topic up it is exclusively used to show that the person in question is evil.
*edit Unless they, god forbid, pull a Promised Neverland, or do something equally as stupid like adapting at a rate of 1 volume per 1-2 episodes
Mushoku Tensei has its problems but, compared to other iseka, it’s a great example of actually exploring how an adult mind transferred into a new world with the body of a child might go. Rudy’s low self esteem and depression from his previous life don’t just vanish and play a part in his current life. Similarly, because Rudy has the consciousness of an adult it puts a strain on his relationship with his father as he grows up because he has a “I’m a grown ass man” mentality and he later comes to regret that.
These are exactly the sorts of topics I’d love to see explored more.
1. The author shifted it to being an isekai rather than just fantasy rather late in development, because she decided that it was the most effective way to interweave the different plot lines she was considering.
2. You mention the philosophical nature of "self" in isekai series. This is actually something that comes up quite a few of them, but mostly later on past where the anime had adapted.
I also feel that once we get to a certain arc, opinions will also be divided just like AoT's fourth season.
For me, it was a slow and steasy Build Up for the big Final and was absolutely perfect. I loved every part of it
Part 5 Volume 8 was my favourite by far and the wait for it was worth it.
I guess the first anime isekai was Dunbine, which I only vaguely remember. It was certainly very different than today's cookie-cutter isekais.
https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/d5j198/wt_aura_battler_dunbine_animes_inventive_first/
In most of the modern isekai, the goal of the genre is to stay in the fantasy world because they have more powers and were losers and failures in our world. 9/10 times they are power fantasies compared to older Isekais.
I'd watch way more isekai if they were like this.
Gate started down the right path but kind of lost it's way. It gives nods to some cool ideas like the mage getting a hold of modern physics and chemistry books, the medic bringing contraceptives and antibiotics to the red light district and ofc the modern military taking on dragons but it just kind of glossed over these more then really dive into them.
Nothing has really come as close as Bookworm and I have no idea why. I know for a fact people would watch/read a story about people bringing gunpowder, steam engines and bluejeans to a new world to say nothing about sharing our music or telling campfire stories of Spiderman to crowd of kids that's never heard of him. There is SO much room for this kind of thing.
Hey guys I just popped into your world with a smartphone loaded with wikipedia and I want to kick off a magic fueled industrial revolution combined with a cultural infusion of new music and storytelling... oh, and maybe a revamp of your economic domestic policies and lets follow that story for like a few generations and see what kind of kingdoms our kids build with it. Anyone want that story?
The only story I know of like it is the "Guardians of the Flame" books written over 40 years ago and it doesn't even have a modern audio book adaptation, just a rip from the 40 year old cassette tapes. Where is the love for a real Isekai?
I think the series has an incredible and believable ramp-up for its story and world. Unlike a lot of isekai or fantasy anime the main character would logically not be involved in the inner workings of government or learning about key aspects of the world from the outset, instead Myne is slowly, bit-by-bit being introduced to people, problems she has to solve, and things she has to learn as she works her way up the ladder to make her dreams come true. This also helps by making things less overwhelming, especially being introduced to new people to keep track of.
I'm looking forward to the upcoming anime adaptation of Part 3 by WIT, although I am a bit worried that even more stuff will end up being cut out to fit the runtime like in previous seasons. There were some pretty important scenes and events that ended up being removed that dulled a lot of worldbuilding, character development, and emotional moments which is disappointing. Like one chapter that was cut mid part 1 that ended up not giving the full thematic impact of [Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 1] >!when Lutz accepted her as "his Myne" and how much this meant to her and accepting her new identity.!<
[Ascendance of a Bookworm LN volume 2] >!Deducing from her mother's perspective that Urano *isn't* a bodysnatcher and that she's been Myne since birth but just couldn't remember her past life recontextualizes her identity issues and personal growth while removing the uneasiness for the viewer of her "stealing" someone else's life.!<
Series isn't for me but glad you liked it, if you're looking for "better" isekai's you should check out 12 kingdoms and Eacaflowne. They're pretty great and judging by what you wrote you'd likely enjoy them.
I also found the series a bit mid/overhyped, and resisted reading the LNs (33 books? please, where will I find the time) for a few years. Then I ran out of reading material and decided to slog through the painful slow start of Part 1 -- and found myself _hooked_. I was finishing two books per day (work/sleep suffered) and enjoying myself immensely. Started a re-read immediately after finishing all the books (including side stories).
why does the general need strategy explained to them? why does the career ninja need a fight explained to them, why are powerful mages explaining basic magic to each other?
that stuff breaks pacing, but also its said, but they already know, not thought about and the story moves on.
having characters digest ideas from another world and apply ideas from out world, makes it seperately intresting... but also can explain why of all the people this is the first person to do (something familiar to us) diffrently.
sadly because so popular, lazy writers use it as a crutch not just a tool, and often it falls flat.
Pick the novels up if you ever had the chance. Read from the start, you're not going to regret it.