Group Precipitation

by FanOfMostEverything

Trapped in Another World with Unwanted Cheat Powers, by FoME

Introducing Sunset to Earth’s pop culture was an ongoing group effort, with different friends handling different genres and media. It was Fluttershy’s efforts that had introduced her to anime (other than Dragonpearl) and that had made her aware of the CHS Neighponese Culture Club.

She’d known of the club during her bad old days, but only as one more way to divide and conquer the school, one that had ended up sundered as its members had retreated to their own larger cliques. Now she understood it as… Well, basically an excuse for several students to watch magical girls and highly improbable romances after school. Fluttershy had warned Sunset about recent trends in the medium, but with Scribble Dee as club president, scantily clad harems weren’t on the docket any time soon. And that was all Sunset had cared to know about it.

“Sunset?”

So when Scribble Dee, a unicorn aspect with frizzy orange hair and yellow skin like some surreal anti-Applejack, came to Sunset one day with a thick paperback in hand, she was rather confused by the approach. “Um, yes?”

The girl squirmed under her scrutiny, and Sunset recalled all of the incidental bullying she’d put her through. Scribble had never been a deliberate target, but she’d often been in Sunset’s line of sight during especially foul moods. “Sorry for… everything.”

Scribble blinked owlishly, then gave a weak smile. “Oh! It’s not that. I know a redemption arc when I see one.”

“Thanks?” Sunset’s eyes darted to the crossed pencils emblem on the girl’s skirt as she recalled fringe psychological theories about how ponies’ cutie marks warped their way of thinking.

“It’s just, I know you hate stumbling across this kind of thing without warning…”

Sunset sighed. “Right, we share a lunch period, don’t we?”

That got a grin and a nod. “Yeah. So I figured you ought to know about this.” Scribble offered the book to her.

Sunset raised an eyebrow as she read the cover. “Reincarnated in Another World as an Almighty Pet Goldfish.” She glanced up at the blushing Scribble. “The only other world I can send you to is Equestria. And you won’t even get turned into a pony, much less a goldfish.”

Scribble shook her head. “Not that. It’s a certain plot device in the manga. Right at the start.”

After a few pages, Sunset looked back up. “Is it the vehicular homicide?”

Another shake. “No, that’s been a common way to kick off isekai stories for years.”

Sunset furrowed her brow. “He gets sent to a bar?”

“What?”

“Never mind.” Sunset kept going. Another few pages later, she sighed. “Oh.”

Scribble sighed. “Yeah.”

The artist had applied a thin veneer of plausible deniability. The character’s face was never shown, always cut off by the top of the panel or obscured in her hair, and in theory that could be any young woman with striped hair in the black-and-white pages. But sitting behind an overloaded desk in a fluffy cloud afterlife with a nameplate that read “Sxxxxx Sxxxxxx” made the intent clear.

Sunset read bemusedly as the portrayal of her sifted through a mile-high inbox to handle the main character’s premature demise, mixing up several forms in the process and sending him to his titularly surreal fate. She sighed. “Why do I get the feeling that this is as much of a trend as the main character getting run over?”

“It is more recent than that. The original light novel just used a generic god of the afterlife, but the manga adaptation came out just after everything changed, and, well…”

“It’s a trope now?”

Scribble nodded. “People online are calling it ‘Kami-shima.’ They never come out and show your face or say your name, but it’s a bit like not using the actual name of Burger Princess. Everyone knows what they’re referring to.”

Sunset dragged her fingers through her hair. “I was dragging my feet on getting Magical Mayhem translated. I should definitely get on that. Don’t want people thinking this kind of thing could actually happen.”

“It’s isekai,” Scribble said with the same tone Sunset might have used to talk about Prince Blueblood when she was Celestia’s student. “Pure wish fulfillment with barely any plot.”

“People want to get turned into goldfish?”

“Okay, mostly pure wish fulfillment.”

Author's Note:

Yes, the CHS anime club is canon.

Comments

[ShadowLDrago]

Trapped in Another World with Unwanted Cheat Powers,

HAH!

Sunset furrowed her brow. “He gets sent to a bar?”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

I get it!

“Why do I get the feeling that this is as much of a trend as the main character getting run over?”

It will.

“People want to get turned into goldfish?”

It means no worries for the rest of your days.

[Malandy]

fringe psychological theories about how ponies’ cutie marks warped their way of thinking.

When all you have is a hammer... And with unicorns, you have a pretty nice hammer.

At least there's no megalomania here?
...
“Sxxxxx Sxxxxxx”

Heh. ... What is that old old trope about hiding celebrities' names this way??
...

Woo! Cultural change!

Sunset's Isekai reference!

Lol goldfish. Well, "Almighty"... They can grow forever, so I guess.

[Stahlseele]

but it’s a bit like not using the actual name of Burger Princess. Everyone knows what they’re referring to

*groan*

[nlinzer]

Digimon is the only good Isekai.

[TheGJ90]

I wonder if Sunset gets that she, originally, was living out her own Isekai story (minus the dying, of course).

[Jorbun]

Even canon Sunset is kind of a unique spin on an isekai protagonist.

Came to the human world from a world of myth and magic, instead of the other way around. Did so intentionally, rather than by accident. Is able to return home, instead of it being a one way trip.

There are more comparisons I could make if I weren't slightly sleep deprived, I'm sure.

[Thought Prism]

Fluttershy had warned Sunset about recent trends in the medium, but with Scribble Dee as club president, scantily clad harems weren’t on the docket any time soon. And that was all Sunset had cared to know about it.

I would not be surprised if the mangaka for 100 Girlfriends made Sunset the protagonist in this AU.

[B_Munro]

11913441
There are some actual "reverse isekai" around nowadays, such as The Devil is a Part-Timer

[B_Munro]

“People want to get turned into goldfish?”

Better or worse than a vending machine?

[Herald of Opera]

11913441
Maybe it was unique at the time, but we're seeing more reverse isekais just for the sake of variety. And maybe a side of social commentary by way of having an outside confront us about how insane modern life is.

[Eroraf86]

11913431
Inuyasha would like a word.

[darkszero]

Given just how ridiculously massive the number of isekai out there is. Even anime adaptations, there's at least 5 per season. If not 10.
There's gonna be a bunch of reverse isekais and even a pretty good one or two. And of course, a bunch of terrible ones.

[Speckle]

Hey, if Kumoko can make it as a spider, this dude can make it as a goldfish

Good to see Sunset making amends and new friends bonding over manga. The CHS Anime Club looks like a fun place to hang, imho (I love that AJ is Tuxedo Kamen)

[Bookwurm666]

11913431
read "I've been killing slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level"

[Bookwurm666]

11913695
that is technically time travel, not Isekai

[Herald of Opera]

11915269
The Mark Twain story most people semi-jokingly cite as the first isekai was also technically only time travel, as is the Poul Anderson story I counter-cite as actually having all the hallmarks of the genre and not just the namesake "another world" (to the same time period, at that).