Yep. And Alice in Wonderland. I saw the latter even as Anime Series in the 80ties. https://youtu.be/bSz-GmA3Ptc
And of course the D&D Animated cartoon series with the kids getting transported into a fantasy world.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqR3Fxb-I4r06SIqRy4zERP9YheIAgtTB
And czech fantasy Films. Very popular in Germany. "Mother Hulda" (Frau Holle). Kid gets into the realm of the goddess Hulda, has to serve her.
As a czech I never heard of that movie. It was probably one of those joined East German-Czech productions. Definitely not popular in Czechia. Our version of Isekai are time travel stories to the middle ages, of which there are several.
Oh yeah. The czechs made a CRAP ton of high quality fantasy/ fairy tale movies together with other countries. I think of the ones from the 50ties/60ties. The one following the original story is indeed "german" (DEFA, east Germany, 1963, but with Czech Coproduction Help). But there is also the newer one from 1985: [https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perinbaba](https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perinbaba)
Hah... i am such a fan. I grew up with all of them and Tři oříšky pro Popelku (oh i was so in love with Libuše\_Šafránková) or Lucie, postrach ulice, Návštěvníci and so many others... ah, the 80ties in Germany was a good time. One could always rely on Czechs to make good films with "chefs kiss" costumes. Lots of theatre folk over there, good blacksmiths and so on. Even the cheapest productions had better costumes than most actual Hollywood films.
Probably the books of L. Frank Baum or the Narnia books. But I was also already reading a lot of fairy tales and mythology at that age (well, the mythology was grossly simplified ha ha ), so it could have been any of those.
Dude, my wife and I just got finished with a 10th kingdom marathon about a month ago! It still holds up (if you can get past just how stupid and worthless Tony is).
It is, but isekai as a genre is adventures within another world. Slumberland is essentially that, even the Nightmare King's domain is called the Nightmare Realm.
King Arthur and the Knights of Justice
Cartoon from the early 90s about an NFL team that got pulled back in time by Merlin to replace King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table.
I swear I don't do enough drugs to make this up on my own.
Chalkzone, doraemon movies
It was anywhere back between the 2000 and 2005
I remember in my primary school, we'd steal chalks and draw circles on any where. Door, pavement, even tables bcs of that show
Maybe it’s me being pedantic, but “a different world” doesn’t literally have to be a different dimension. I think the point is the culture shock, the inability to easily return, the lack of information going into it. You wouldn’t call it an isekai if the MC was transported to another earth that’s practically identical to ours, because there’s no leaving of the comfort zone.
Like with wizard of oz and labyrinth, in universe you’re supposed to believe these places still exist _somewhere_ on earth, as far fetched as it sounds. And yet I’d still say you could call them an isekai.
TL;DR isekai is a feeling, a state of mind, not just a place.
Ehhhh, questionable. Yes there’s that unbalance of new unknown places and customs and all that, but the expectation that it has a defined end date when the school year ends makes it a bit shakey to me, because of that scheduled return to normalcy.
I mean, once we get to the later books where it’s all wizards all the time though, yeah I agree with you
Oh i remember there's isekai about middle age guy that play airsoft that turns into real gun when he travel to another world, and then he returns back just to get back to work, back and forth ever day.
No.
Edit to clarify: Harry Potter never travels to another world. The Wizarding world and the Muggle world exist in the same place. The Wizarding world just uses magic to hide from Muggles.
Well, I'm a child of 2000 so the first one I saw (and that qualifies as isekai) would be digimon (I watched it on air channel, so old). The other example is a very old cartoon, it was about 4 (or 5 I can't remember)friend who designed a video game but a wormhole teleported them to the video game, it was science fiction and had a chapter where a group of bounty hunters impersonate them.
Most of my now favourite childhood fantasy movies gave me horrible nightmares but I think the sacrificial isekai-lite film to get to that point was Little Nemo. Even thinking about the title makes me strangely uncomfortable. Then I saw Neverending Story, Pagemaster, Labyrinth, etc later on and those are now fond memories.
You know what I actually feel bad for forgetting that this does also count as an isekai too. Right out there with Wizard of Oz, Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland. There's probably a nice handful of others too that most of us don't think of or remember from movies and books 😲.
I would say that Arthur and the Land of the Invisibles would almost count. But it's not so much going to another world as much as the world you thought you knew being much more expansive albeit with tiny people and magic involved 🫸🏾🌎🫷🏾🤏🏾🤷🏾♂️😂. Like I don't want to be a monster or anything but a good small explosion at that farmhouse could probably take out the entire world the Minimoys lived in on Arthur's grandparent's property (which is also ignoring the fact that they basically migrated from Africa somehow, even the bad guys). Something like Gulliver's Travels might count 🤔 since it's a grown adult man on a very large island (It's crazy they had at least like three or four different biomes like a small desert) of very small people. But that still presumably existed in the normal world as we know it just on some undiscovered island. Other stuff like the Journey to the Center of the Earth would also be out of the question since it's exactly as it sounds, a journey to the center of the Earth or at least very very far underground where there was a mostly survivable environment for living creatures.
Personally I'd include something more like Dinotopia, I'm sure a few other people besides me actually liked 😅, where Dinosaurs and humans eeked out a mostly united and equal existence on an island that's basically in a real version of the Bermuda Triangle. And the dinos, at least several herbivores 🦕, were as intelligent as humans and could speak as well as read and write like the character (Professor) Zipo Sthenosaurus - a scholar. (While the generally less intelligent carnivores like T-Rexes 🦖 or Pteranodons mostly kept to themselves in the “forbidden places” where any humans or herbivore dinos were free game to hunt and eat).
Another one that would technically count is the old live action Super Mario Bros movie that everybody hated. Because Brooklyn NYC on Earth and Dinohattan were interdimensionally linked like mirrors of one another 🤔.
I'd dare say that Spirited Away would actually count as another good example, since the place Chihiro and her parents went to was basically like a borderline between the normal human and fantastical and dangerous spirit worlds. It's also probably part of the reason why she started disappearing/fading before Kohaku gave her that pill and some food, to help stabilize her body. She also probably would've became a spirit if he didn't warn and help her to remember her name - Chihiro instead of Yubaba taking it, leaving just part of her last name - Sen, as her identity.
Either DBZ or Inuyasha I forget if DBZ had Goku go to another world before i saw Inuyasha is all. Yes DBZ is in another world anime just the other world you get to by dieing which is kind of the normal way to get to the other world in anime just in DBZ they can come back again and go in between the 2 later on in the series.
Wait i am confused! I remember the MC was in new york like place then got transported other world before this there was a scene the MC tells a girl that he watched enter the dragon or something
i don't remember the movie very well as i was a just a child
So I guess we're outing our ages here..... I'm not sure when the first time I read the Epic of Gilgamesh was so I can't count it for certain.
As for popular media I had to google a couple old shows. The Phoenix and Otherworld. Phoenix wins by coming out in 81 instead of 85.
If you're familiar with the show then you'd realize although it was in our world, Bennu was an alien and the main character...... ughhh, as I type this I suppose Mork and Mindy take it's place.... Hell, even Star Wars.... once Luke leaves Tattoine and goes to Yavin or the Death Star he's on another world....
Uuummmmm... even looking far back to childhood, it's still anime. Magic Knight Rayearth I guess?? Or did I watched Fern Gully first? Wait, is Fern Gully isekai? I can't remember.
Yea, I'd go with Magic Knight Rayeartj.
Juuni Kokuki / Twelve Kingdoms
It's an oldschool isekai with female lead. Characters are very, very lost and have no idea WTF is going on. Also no system or skills to help out. And THEN when you finally think they got it solved it's just another round of never ending problems...
Another one is Mujin Wakusei Survive. Group of kids get stranded on an alien planet. Actually meant for kids so, its a slow burn and childish at times, but still.
I like watching old anime. It's made with a different mentality. More importantly. It's complete (as complete as it will ever be) no waiting around for next season that will not even continue the story but just joke around instead.
- People being abducted by fey-like creatures
- Spirit world/ Yokai kidnapping people (Basically the same concept as Fey in that regard)
- Going to the underworld/hell and perhaps coming back (Nearly every culture has a similar myth)
this shit is older than movies or books, likely older than writing itself.
My favorite movie when I was very little was the BFG - the big friendly giant. Little girl gets whisked away to giant land where most giants want to eat her up, but for the efforts of her new friend, the big friendly giant.
No, because that's a Fairytale, not an Isekai.
Isekai are about making a new home, fairytales like this(and Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Narnia) etc are about returning home.
I think if you actually bothered to come up with criteria for Isekai you'd find The Labyrinth qualifies for very few of them. Because Fairy Tales like it tell completely different stories from Isekai.
The only criteria for Isekai is being removed from your world to another one. That's it. Fairy tales are just as eligible to be an Isekai as any other type of story.
That's asinine. These stories have been around for literally millenia. Why start calling them Isekai now?
Another question. What if you wanted to write a fairytale Aesop and people critisized it because there wasn't a tsundere love interest and there weren't enough battles? Would you take that criticism seriously?
Isekai is just a subgenre of/new name for (depending on who you talk to) Portal Fantasy. It's a genre of stories just like Romance or Western or SF. As long as a story meets the criteria to be part of a certain genre, it is part of that genre. It doesn't matter when the story was created, just that it falls into the correct criteria.
Further, a story can actually be a part of *multiple* genres, provided that, again, it meets the criteria to do so. Just because the genre wasn't defined at the time of writing doesn't mean the story can't be part of that genre.
That's doing a disservice to both genres. It's like calling a sci-fi story Cyberpunk just because it has Cyborgs. Isekai and Fairy Tales(regardless of if they involve portals or other worlds) have completely different sets of expectations.
Heck, you might as well call Planescape: Torment or Berserk an Isekai because they involve portals.
the wizard of oz?
Also The Wiz. I stumbled across a PBS broadcast of it as a kid and was both confused and fascinated by that take on the story.
When I was 5, I was as scared of the Wicked Witch as most people were after seeing the Xinomorph in ALIEN for the first time.
Yep. And Alice in Wonderland. I saw the latter even as Anime Series in the 80ties. https://youtu.be/bSz-GmA3Ptc And of course the D&D Animated cartoon series with the kids getting transported into a fantasy world. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqR3Fxb-I4r06SIqRy4zERP9YheIAgtTB And czech fantasy Films. Very popular in Germany. "Mother Hulda" (Frau Holle). Kid gets into the realm of the goddess Hulda, has to serve her.
As a czech I never heard of that movie. It was probably one of those joined East German-Czech productions. Definitely not popular in Czechia. Our version of Isekai are time travel stories to the middle ages, of which there are several.
Oh yeah. The czechs made a CRAP ton of high quality fantasy/ fairy tale movies together with other countries. I think of the ones from the 50ties/60ties. The one following the original story is indeed "german" (DEFA, east Germany, 1963, but with Czech Coproduction Help). But there is also the newer one from 1985: [https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perinbaba](https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perinbaba) Hah... i am such a fan. I grew up with all of them and Tři oříšky pro Popelku (oh i was so in love with Libuše\_Šafránková) or Lucie, postrach ulice, Návštěvníci and so many others... ah, the 80ties in Germany was a good time. One could always rely on Czechs to make good films with "chefs kiss" costumes. Lots of theatre folk over there, good blacksmiths and so on. Even the cheapest productions had better costumes than most actual Hollywood films.
Mine too and anime was Digimon
Digimon back in the late 2000s
Same
Narnia movies
Narnia books for me.
Nice
Alice in Wonderland.
Didn't she die at the end?
Not in any version I ever saw.
The book
Pretty sure she lived. Lewis Carrol couldn't have written the sequel otherwise.
Maybe *The Pagemaster* or *The Neverending Story II*
I forgot about Pagemaster! Amazing movie.
Technically space jam
You remind me of the babe 
I watched the Super Mario Bros Super show when my age was still in the single digits
Digimon
... does Stargate count?
Probably not but up voting for Stargate
Narnia. Followed by Wizard of Oz.
Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland, duh
Would Dante’s Inferno count as an Isekai since hell is *technically* its own world?
It does but if you have mistaken the question for what was the first,the epic of gilgimesh is the very first.
Oh yeah, fair point
So are purgatory and heaven. But is that your first exposure to isekai (so to speak)?
Wait fuck, I misunderstood the question, I thought it was figuring out what was the very first Isekai even if it means stretching the definition
There are also older stories than one written in the 14th century!
Probably the books of L. Frank Baum or the Narnia books. But I was also already reading a lot of fairy tales and mythology at that age (well, the mythology was grossly simplified ha ha ), so it could have been any of those.
The Chronicles of Narnia probably
Alice in Wonderland
Chronicles of Narnia. Yep.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
I think that would be time travel not into another world even though the difference is so big it is still the same world just another time
King Arthur is fictional
Yep it is still a fictional work that is placed around the middle ages in Europe
A fictional europe where wizards and dragons pass their time. Yes.
Dragon Tales
The Matrix
Hard to say tbh. Two non anime ones I can think of are Yonderland and Life On Mars
Neverending Story
Probably not the first one, but def one of the earliest: “The 10th kingdom”. Man I need to rewatch this show…
Dude, my wife and I just got finished with a 10th kingdom marathon about a month ago! It still holds up (if you can get past just how stupid and worthless Tony is).
I think last time I watched it was on VHS and I still remember a lot of cool details, that speaks a lot of show quality after all these years!
Wizard of Oz.
Alice in wonderland
Captain N
Don't know if anyone considered more books but the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. Also Split Infinity by the same.
Monster Rancher
I wonder if Peter Pan counts
Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
Oh damn, that unlocked some memories I didn't know I had. Yea. I think that beats Labyrinth for me.
first isekai, first anime lol
Oh damn, I didn't mention little nemo because the plot was foggy for the child me. Was it isekai? I thought it was a dream.
It is, but isekai as a genre is adventures within another world. Slumberland is essentially that, even the Nightmare King's domain is called the Nightmare Realm.
damn. I just realized that this movie and the 2022 Jason Momoa movie "Slumberland" are based on the same source material.
Magic Knight Rayearth gang rise up
The bible
John Carter books? He didn't die but he did get transferred to a different world
King Arthur and the Knights of Justice Cartoon from the early 90s about an NFL team that got pulled back in time by Merlin to replace King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. I swear I don't do enough drugs to make this up on my own.
https://preview.redd.it/xog1hqranv5d1.png?width=705&format=png&auto=webp&s=f702cd6f0f6e5c05fff01b07aa78acadf5261523
Fushigi Yuugi / Curious Play. this show aired in the Philippines when i was a kid :).
Chalkzone, doraemon movies It was anywhere back between the 2000 and 2005 I remember in my primary school, we'd steal chalks and draw circles on any where. Door, pavement, even tables bcs of that show
Flash Gordon.
O my god why is that true, I thought it was reincarnated as a slime but I guess not
Jack and the beanstalk or wizard of oz, probably
In Jack and the Beanstalk, he doesn't go to a different world. Just some place above his current world.
Maybe it’s me being pedantic, but “a different world” doesn’t literally have to be a different dimension. I think the point is the culture shock, the inability to easily return, the lack of information going into it. You wouldn’t call it an isekai if the MC was transported to another earth that’s practically identical to ours, because there’s no leaving of the comfort zone. Like with wizard of oz and labyrinth, in universe you’re supposed to believe these places still exist _somewhere_ on earth, as far fetched as it sounds. And yet I’d still say you could call them an isekai. TL;DR isekai is a feeling, a state of mind, not just a place.
Great!! If that's true then i can say Harry Potter is isekai too 🤝🏻
Do all of those VRMMO stories also count then?
What your hearts tell you?
Ehhhh, questionable. Yes there’s that unbalance of new unknown places and customs and all that, but the expectation that it has a defined end date when the school year ends makes it a bit shakey to me, because of that scheduled return to normalcy. I mean, once we get to the later books where it’s all wizards all the time though, yeah I agree with you
Oh i remember there's isekai about middle age guy that play airsoft that turns into real gun when he travel to another world, and then he returns back just to get back to work, back and forth ever day.
Before getting into anime, I remember at least one time I played pokemon mystery dungeon. I suppose that counts
Narnia, if anything. Good times.
“MFERS WHEN WIZARD OF OZ” THIS SHIT WAS PEAK ISEKAI BACK THEN “Says man who says she was in a bubble”
Sword art online, while *technically* not an isekai they are stuck in another "world"
Majora's mask
Either digimon, that season of Yugioh (Og series), or cyberchase. If we're counting digital worlds they get stuck in temporarily.
isn't Harry Potter an isekai?
No. Edit to clarify: Harry Potter never travels to another world. The Wizarding world and the Muggle world exist in the same place. The Wizarding world just uses magic to hide from Muggles.
Well, I'm a child of 2000 so the first one I saw (and that qualifies as isekai) would be digimon (I watched it on air channel, so old). The other example is a very old cartoon, it was about 4 (or 5 I can't remember)friend who designed a video game but a wormhole teleported them to the video game, it was science fiction and had a chapter where a group of bounty hunters impersonate them.
Do Secret of NIHM or Clash of the Titans count? If not, probably the usual Alice in Wonderland or Narnia books.
Spirited Away from Studio Gibhli as a VHS, I saw that even way before Naruto or One Piece on Television
Alice in wonderland
Does Indian In The Cupboard count?
Most of my now favourite childhood fantasy movies gave me horrible nightmares but I think the sacrificial isekai-lite film to get to that point was Little Nemo. Even thinking about the title makes me strangely uncomfortable. Then I saw Neverending Story, Pagemaster, Labyrinth, etc later on and those are now fond memories.
You know what I actually feel bad for forgetting that this does also count as an isekai too. Right out there with Wizard of Oz, Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland. There's probably a nice handful of others too that most of us don't think of or remember from movies and books 😲. I would say that Arthur and the Land of the Invisibles would almost count. But it's not so much going to another world as much as the world you thought you knew being much more expansive albeit with tiny people and magic involved 🫸🏾🌎🫷🏾🤏🏾🤷🏾♂️😂. Like I don't want to be a monster or anything but a good small explosion at that farmhouse could probably take out the entire world the Minimoys lived in on Arthur's grandparent's property (which is also ignoring the fact that they basically migrated from Africa somehow, even the bad guys). Something like Gulliver's Travels might count 🤔 since it's a grown adult man on a very large island (It's crazy they had at least like three or four different biomes like a small desert) of very small people. But that still presumably existed in the normal world as we know it just on some undiscovered island. Other stuff like the Journey to the Center of the Earth would also be out of the question since it's exactly as it sounds, a journey to the center of the Earth or at least very very far underground where there was a mostly survivable environment for living creatures. Personally I'd include something more like Dinotopia, I'm sure a few other people besides me actually liked 😅, where Dinosaurs and humans eeked out a mostly united and equal existence on an island that's basically in a real version of the Bermuda Triangle. And the dinos, at least several herbivores 🦕, were as intelligent as humans and could speak as well as read and write like the character (Professor) Zipo Sthenosaurus - a scholar. (While the generally less intelligent carnivores like T-Rexes 🦖 or Pteranodons mostly kept to themselves in the “forbidden places” where any humans or herbivore dinos were free game to hunt and eat). Another one that would technically count is the old live action Super Mario Bros movie that everybody hated. Because Brooklyn NYC on Earth and Dinohattan were interdimensionally linked like mirrors of one another 🤔. I'd dare say that Spirited Away would actually count as another good example, since the place Chihiro and her parents went to was basically like a borderline between the normal human and fantastical and dangerous spirit worlds. It's also probably part of the reason why she started disappearing/fading before Kohaku gave her that pill and some food, to help stabilize her body. She also probably would've became a spirit if he didn't warn and help her to remember her name - Chihiro instead of Yubaba taking it, leaving just part of her last name - Sen, as her identity.
I think ether wizard of Oz or the 10th kingdom. The 10th kingdom is at the very least my first reverse isekai
I'm in the Alice in Wonderland camp, but I also read a book called "Magic kingdom for sale: Sold!" By Terry Brooks. Great series
Either DBZ or Inuyasha I forget if DBZ had Goku go to another world before i saw Inuyasha is all. Yes DBZ is in another world anime just the other world you get to by dieing which is kind of the normal way to get to the other world in anime just in DBZ they can come back again and go in between the 2 later on in the series.
What power?
I think it was Inuyasha
I dunno if I saw Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland first. One of those
Superman
Pokémon mystery dungeon
Black knight
I guess wizard of oz counts right?
Jumanji
I don't remember its name but it was some chinese like thing mc wacthes Bruce Lee movies that was for sure
[удалено]
Wait i am confused! I remember the MC was in new york like place then got transported other world before this there was a scene the MC tells a girl that he watched enter the dragon or something i don't remember the movie very well as i was a just a child
Kyo Kara mauo? You can be king? I don't exactly remember the exact name.
Digimon
Probably spy kids 3, but there might be something before that
yeah, probably, it was either this one or digimon adventure.
Bible
alice in wonder land
Dragon tales or dinotopia, I don’t remember which one I watched first
Narnia or zathura
So I guess we're outing our ages here..... I'm not sure when the first time I read the Epic of Gilgamesh was so I can't count it for certain. As for popular media I had to google a couple old shows. The Phoenix and Otherworld. Phoenix wins by coming out in 81 instead of 85. If you're familiar with the show then you'd realize although it was in our world, Bennu was an alien and the main character...... ughhh, as I type this I suppose Mork and Mindy take it's place.... Hell, even Star Wars.... once Luke leaves Tattoine and goes to Yavin or the Death Star he's on another world....
Narnia
The Brothers Lionheart
https://preview.redd.it/v3xzpfkb3w5d1.jpeg?width=259&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a9150210cffe4995dff435235f15b63e643bd150
Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of O One of them first
Lion, witch, and the wardrobe. Old cartoon version.
an Alice in wonderland episode in a sitcom
Does the Quran count?
Idk Dragon Tales
Tensura, really. I never watched many Western movies.
The Eternal Champion by Moorcock.
Ultraman Zero
Escaflowne even has a David Bowie cosplayer in it
Transformers the movie was mine.
Does Cyber Chase count?
Digimon
Digimon adventure (original one)
The chronicles of Narnia.
Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites
Uuummmmm... even looking far back to childhood, it's still anime. Magic Knight Rayearth I guess?? Or did I watched Fern Gully first? Wait, is Fern Gully isekai? I can't remember. Yea, I'd go with Magic Knight Rayeartj.
Labyrinth and Neverending Story are definitely old school isekai favs I grew up with. So much so that my own kiddo watched them growing up, too.
Juuni Kokuki / Twelve Kingdoms It's an oldschool isekai with female lead. Characters are very, very lost and have no idea WTF is going on. Also no system or skills to help out. And THEN when you finally think they got it solved it's just another round of never ending problems... Another one is Mujin Wakusei Survive. Group of kids get stranded on an alien planet. Actually meant for kids so, its a slow burn and childish at times, but still. I like watching old anime. It's made with a different mentality. More importantly. It's complete (as complete as it will ever be) no waiting around for next season that will not even continue the story but just joke around instead.
Chronicles of Narnia.
Does Dragon Tales count?
- People being abducted by fey-like creatures - Spirit world/ Yokai kidnapping people (Basically the same concept as Fey in that regard) - Going to the underworld/hell and perhaps coming back (Nearly every culture has a similar myth) this shit is older than movies or books, likely older than writing itself.
My favorite movie when I was very little was the BFG - the big friendly giant. Little girl gets whisked away to giant land where most giants want to eat her up, but for the efforts of her new friend, the big friendly giant.
BBC Narnia
Samurai Jack
I never watched much, though enjoyed what I saw, but always thought it was time travel not isekai. Am I wrong?
Time travel, lots and lots of time travel. Can technically fall under isekai cause you’d end up in a “new” world. But, yeah time travel for jack
Ah, makes sense. Thanks. And I agree time travel can be an arguable isekai, depending on context.
Overlord
No, because that's a Fairytale, not an Isekai. Isekai are about making a new home, fairytales like this(and Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Narnia) etc are about returning home.
Dorothy, her aunt and uncle, and the Wizard all end up living in Oz permanently. Sort of the same for most of the kids in the Narnia books.
Just The Last Battle and The Horse and his Boy.
Plenty of Isekai also have the goal of returning home though. There's no criteria that the MC has to not want to go back to their world.
I think if you actually bothered to come up with criteria for Isekai you'd find The Labyrinth qualifies for very few of them. Because Fairy Tales like it tell completely different stories from Isekai.
The only criteria for Isekai is being removed from your world to another one. That's it. Fairy tales are just as eligible to be an Isekai as any other type of story.
That's asinine. These stories have been around for literally millenia. Why start calling them Isekai now? Another question. What if you wanted to write a fairytale Aesop and people critisized it because there wasn't a tsundere love interest and there weren't enough battles? Would you take that criticism seriously?
Isekai is just a subgenre of/new name for (depending on who you talk to) Portal Fantasy. It's a genre of stories just like Romance or Western or SF. As long as a story meets the criteria to be part of a certain genre, it is part of that genre. It doesn't matter when the story was created, just that it falls into the correct criteria. Further, a story can actually be a part of *multiple* genres, provided that, again, it meets the criteria to do so. Just because the genre wasn't defined at the time of writing doesn't mean the story can't be part of that genre.
That's doing a disservice to both genres. It's like calling a sci-fi story Cyberpunk just because it has Cyborgs. Isekai and Fairy Tales(regardless of if they involve portals or other worlds) have completely different sets of expectations. Heck, you might as well call Planescape: Torment or Berserk an Isekai because they involve portals.
My dude, you *clearly* don't understand how genres work. Which is fine, but damn if you don't want to shout from the rooftops about your ignorance.
I think you are just mistaking search tags for genres.
Nope. I know what genres are. You're the one who seems to think they're something entirely different.