Isekai is a new trend that has taken the anime industry by storm in recent years, but the genre actually has a lot in common with gokuportrait of early Dragon ball. Dragon Ball is often credited with shaping action/adventure shounen and popularizing anime outside of Japan. But Isekai?
Despite the differences and sometimes exceptions, Isekai generally adheres to certain well-established myths that, on the surface, don’t seem like Dragon Ball or Goku. One such popular subgenre involves the hero sending Isekai’d to another world, thanks to which they gain incredible powers that make them invincible and undefeatable. And because heroes are often unfamiliar with where they’ve taken Isekai, much of the series involves them trying to figure out the rules of this new world despite being godlike. In fact, many of these sets include all of this information in their actual titles to entice people to read or watch them.
Exploring Goku’s world basically makes him the hero Isekai
This basically explains the main premise of Dragon Ball, which includes Goku being transported to another world. That said, the latter case isn’t necessarily just because Goku is from another planet, although he was purposefully transported there, not dead, and not caught up in a novel or game. While it helps for comparison, the reason why Goku doesn’t mingle with others and has trouble catching many social cues is that he lived alone for many years after his grandfather’s death. Gohan passed away, during which time he had no contact with the outside world. When he meets Bulma and joins her search for the Dragon Balls, he basically has to learn everything about humanity from scratch as if he had just brought Isekai’d to Earth even though he lived there almost all his life.
Then there’s the fact that Goku is so ridiculously strong that no one is really a threat to him. Goku’s first big loss in Dragon Ball was against Master Roshi disguised as Jackie Chun, and the only reason Goku didn’t win was because Master Roshi had longer legs than him. In fact, Roshi feels compelled to compete in disguise because he fears that, because Goku is so strong, Goku will stop training if there is no one stronger than him at the tournament. And there wasn’t. But as is the case with every Isekai hero possessing incredible strength, Dragon Ball created for the sake of conflict. For example, Goku was once saved by Yamcha because his enemies captured Bulma and threatened to hurt her if he didn’t let them hit him. Other times, Goku’s stupidity or lack of common sense complicates his ability to win.
Dragon Ball Z may also have invented an Isekai subgenre
Although Goku is still very strong, Dragon Ball Z ended his invincibility when he died in battle with his brother Raditz. Furthermore, the proliferation of aliens (including Raditz) is not a match for most Isekai. It will look like more characters from Isekai’s hero world will join them later, however, there are some opposite Isekai like Dead Mount Death Play and The Game Devil that challenge those sides. this staple. Maybe Dragon ball Z act as blueprint for reverse Isekai?
Dragon ball streaming on Crunchyroll.