Back From Far Away – This Week in Anime

That’s right, hope y’all enjoyed us talking about shoujos in shonen last week, because there was a time when the isekai setup was largely a shoujo trope! And with new anime versions of Red River and From Far Away announced on the horizon, it’s time we did our due diligence. Aw yeah, mid-season retro isekai sampler, baby!

And Rayearth is indeed an ideal example of the kinds of excess this genre was operating just fine on before Kirito moved in and gentrified things. It’s got a lot of the stock Dungeons & Dragons setup that’s familiar in so many isekai to this day, but also? Is it kind of a magical girl series? And a mecha series too? Also copious amounts of chibi cut-ins.

This is another reason these shows aren’t as good now. We’ve forgotten what true quality looks like.

It’s further propped up by punching above the potato-grade personalities populating plenty of others. Magic Knight Rayearth is definitely pitching a bit younger, but that means it’s eager to make sure its characters come off with some character right away, and it works with this somewhat archetypical magical girl trio of tempers.

Umi’s already my favorite for how she…kind of sucks.

It does mean that this show can sometimes feel like it’s not in a hurry, in that chatting-around-the-tabletop-game sort of way. I can mostly respect it, and it’s an odd reminder of how these things have changed just beyond the base demographics.

Or maybe I’ll just miss the possibility of modern use of the Working Designs localization of the Saturn game. We could be putting Umi through so much more.

We see her friends looking for bits of her afterward; it’s brilliant. Is the mad bomber still on the run after this? Doesn’t matter, Noriko’s got bigger problems now!

A lot of the series from this era actually hone in on the linguistic issues that oughta be inherent to cross-world travel, and I am here for it compared to the way it’s glossed over in modern times.

So, worms, psychic tykes…you think Hikawa was a fan of Dune?

Isekai opinions that will get you into this situation?

She also has to deal with…a lot more. Like I know I touched on this element with Noriko in From Far Away, but as evidenced by that cover, Yuri gets put through it in Red River!

I appreciate Yuri’s attempts at a go-getter attitude as she finds her way in this story. But I’m shocked she doesn’t learn a little extra caution given how dedicated this living history lesson is to constantly getting her tied up, almost sacrificed, or almost sexually assaulted. Interesting reminder that just because girls are the target demographic does not guarantee them an easy time in an isekai.

And I agree with your take regarding the escapism. Isekai, and even world-transportation stories in general, used to use the alternate worlds as a vector to impart growth and development for their characters, often before returning them to their original setting, now more worldly and well-adjusted. I don’t know if that’s precisely where Yuri winds up over the course of Red River‘s 28 volumes, but she’s going somewhere, and I’m interested in finding out!

Of course, its length, age, and the fact that it’s shoujo means chances are slim for it to get a license over here, and the respect its pedigree oughta deserve.

From what I’ve seen, I like it too, but feel like for probably subtly different reasons than they did.

Or so I thought. I assumed they’d all be eligible bachelors, but then one of the VIPs winds up being this rad super-strong lady who immediately jumps to playing Miaka’s romantic rival! As we said, there is a lot here!

It’s imagining not just an alternate world, but maybe hoping for a better world? Or at least something not just designed to cater to a cipher’s wish-fulfillment fantasies.

TV networks used to just do stuff. Though I guess isekai anime had already worked out for them previously with Digimon. Regardless, Escaflowne is absolutely an all-timer. I love how its approach and focus on Hitomi means spending most of the first episode in the regular world with her before she gets isekai’d. Gives a great sense for how she is and what she’s leaving behind that you don’t always get in the genre, especially today.

Also, given that Fox Kids was airing, this was almost certainly my first blush with a Yōko Kanno soundtrack, edited as some of it was. What a first encounter. The strings from the theme of the titular mecha awakening have lived rent-free in my head since that day.

Especially when it looks this slick. You know I love me some 90s anime, but it was a very engaging swerve to hit some hard 00s style by the time I got to this one! Interestingly, it’s still adapting source material from those earlier 90s, and you can see how Twelve Kingdoms getting animated after all that time could feel like an event, not dissimilar to the reaction news of Red River‘s anime version got.

I love Yuka. She feels like a metacommentary on entitled centralized isekai protagonists before that was even really a thing. But regardless, that’s why this kind of look into the past can prove so valuable. It reminds us of how rich a genre like this was in its earlier heyday. And with new adaptations coming out, maybe it can get there again. I’m actually…excited for new isekai premieres in Red River and From Far Away? A whole new world, indeed.