Being hit by a truck to reincarnate with broken powers was the magic formula for making money over the last ten years, but the patience of the community is reaching its limit. The last decade will go down in history as an unusually one-sided era in the anime industry, overwhelmingly dominated by Japanese web novels focused on travel to other worlds, exiles of hero groups, and protagonists who achieve harems without any effort. While the pattern was already cooking with major works in 2016 like Overlord, Re:Zero, and KonoSuba!, it was in 2018 when the animated adaptation of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime finally established the definitive model that all studios would try to copy until exhaustion.

To understand this phenomenon, we need to look back. Between 2010 and 2015, late-night anime was still a niche driven by titles like Madoka Magica, Anohana, Sword Art Online, and Attack on Titan. However, in 2016, a brutal shift occurred: films like Your Name and A Silent Voice cleaned up the otaku image and attracted the masses. The isekai perfectly leveraged this new casual audience, creating an endless production cycle from web novel to manga and finally to television. But like all entertainment cycles, the bubble is starting to deflate, and analysts are already eyeing the two big heirs to the throne.

The first major candidate to dominate the next decade is the subgenre of “modern dungeons.” Instead of sending the protagonist to a medieval fantasy world, these stories open portals filled with monsters in contemporary society, introducing rank systems and guilds in cities we all know. The massive success of Solo Leveling is undeniable proof that this evolution feels like the natural next step. On the other hand, the second big bet points to artificial intelligence. Following in the footsteps of classics like Doraemon, science fiction stories exploring emotional bonds between humans and advanced robotic companions (or a good waifu cybernetic) are gaining incredible traction, reflecting our current dependence on technology.

Considering that the formula of reincarnating as incredibly powerful dominated the market for ten long years without anyone able to challenge it, do you prefer that urban dungeon invasions take control of the upcoming seasons, or do you think the franchises of science fiction with artificial intelligences have greater potential to surprise you?