{"id":50962,"date":"2025-08-13T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=50962"},"modified":"2025-08-12T17:18:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T08:18:27","slug":"veteran-japanese-anime-director-surprised-to-learn-that-isekai-is-recognized-in-the-oxford-english-dictionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/veteran-japanese-anime-director-surprised-to-learn-that-isekai-is-recognized-in-the-oxford-english-dictionary\/","title":{"rendered":"Veteran Japanese anime director surprised to learn that &#8220;isekai&#8221; is recognized in the Oxford English Dictionary\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Nobuyoshi Habara<\/strong>, a Japanese animator, character designer, and director famous for his work on projects such as <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230711-20025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rurouni Kenshin<\/a>, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and the recent Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom film, recently attended the 2025 Animethon convention held in Edmonton, Canada. While <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NobuyoshiHabara\/status\/1954803200269095115\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">promoting his upcoming anime<\/a> \u201cMy Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero&#8217;s\u201d at the event, Habara was surprised to learn how widely the Japanese word \u201cisekai\u201d has come to be accepted in the English-speaking world.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u30ab\u30ca\u30c0\u306e\u30a8\u30c9\u30e2\u30f3\u30c8\u30f3\u3067\u958b\u50ac\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b&quot;ANIMETHON\u201d\u3068\u3044\u3046\u30a4\u30d9\u30f3\u30c8\u306b\u53c2\u52a0\u3057\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002<br>\u305d\u3053\u3067\u9a5a\u3044\u305f\u306e\u3067\u3059\u304c\u3001\u300c\u7570\u4e16\u754c\u300d\u3068\u3044\u3046\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e\u306f\u3059\u3067\u306b\u300cIsekai\u300d\u3068\u3057\u3066\u901a\u3058\u308b\u3060\u3051\u3067\u306a\u304f\u3001\u30aa\u30c3\u30af\u30b9\u30d5\u30a9\u30fc\u30c9\u82f1\u8a9e\u8f9e\u66f8\u306e2024\u5e74\u7248\u306b\u3082\u8a18\u8f09\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u305f\u4e8b\u3067\u3057\u305f\u3002<\/p>&mdash; \u7fbd\u539f\u4fe1\u7fa9 Nobuyoshi HABARA (@NobuyoshiHabara) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NobuyoshiHabara\/status\/1954483202455961894?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 10, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em><strong>Post translation: <\/strong>I recently participated in the Animethon anime event held in Edmonton, Canada. What surprised me during my visit was that the Japanese word &#8220;\u7570\u4e16\u754c&#8221; is not only understood as &#8220;isekai&#8221; by foreigners but is also listed in the 2024 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.<\/em>\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIsekai\u201d is a Japanese word that directly translates to \u201canother world\u201d and refers to different or parallel universes. Interestingly, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oed.com\/dictionary\/isekai_n?tab=meaning_and_use#1411582730\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oxford English Dictionary\u2019s definition of \u201cisekai\u201d<\/a> does not pertain to this original meaning, but to the genre of fiction named after it. Defined as \u201ca Japanese genre of science or fantasy fiction featuring a protagonist who is transported to or reincarnated in a different, strange, or unfamiliar world\u201d, media such as anime, manga, and video games that include isekai elements are classified under the genre.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1193\" height=\"671\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1193px) 100vw, 1193px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250812-50962-001JPG.jpg\" alt=\"My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's\" class=\"wp-image-50966\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250812-50962-001JPG.jpg 1193w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250812-50962-001JPG-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250812-50962-001JPG-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, there is no mention of \u201cisekai\u201d being used as a verb in English dictionaries yet (i.e. Truck-kun isekai\u2019d Tetsuya into a world ruled by dinosaurs). While the usage of \u201cisekai\u201d as a verb is more colloquial, it wouldn\u2019t be surprising if it made its way into dictionaries in future editions. Coincidentally, this is a use of \u201cisekai\u201d that only exists among English speakers, as Japanese people <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/slotpoipoi\/status\/1954521208516755477\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">amusedly pointed out<\/a> in response to Habara. Considering <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hamasuho\/status\/1954547768049197502\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">how many online searches there are for the word<\/a>, \u201cisekai\u201d is quickly becoming a term known to a wider audience than just self-identified otaku.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related articles:<br><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/isekai-truck-deaths-accused-of-sending-negative-subliminal-messages-about-trucks-by-japans-logistics-industry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Isekai truck deaths accused of sending negative \u201csubliminal messages\u201d about trucks by Japan\u2019s logistics industry<\/a>\u00a0<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-convenience-store-looks-like-isekai-into-elden-ring\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Japanese convenience store looks like it was isekai\u2019d into Elden Ring<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anime director, character designer and animator Nobuyoshi Habara recently expressed wonder at how global the word &#8220;isekai&#8221; has become in the English-speaking world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":50965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[73,17],"class_list":["post-50962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-anime","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Veteran Japanese anime director surprised to learn that &quot;isekai&quot; is recognized in the Oxford English Dictionary\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anime director, character designer and animator Nobuyoshi Habara recently expressed wonder at how global the word &quot;isekai&quot; has become in the English-speaking world.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/veteran-japanese-anime-director-surprised-to-learn-that-isekai-is-recognized-in-the-oxford-english-dictionary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Veteran Japanese anime director surprised to learn that &quot;isekai&quot; is recognized in the Oxford English Dictionary\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anime director, character designer and animator Nobuyoshi Habara recently expressed wonder at how global the word &quot;isekai&quot; has become in the English-speaking world.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/veteran-japanese-anime-director-surprised-to-learn-that-isekai-is-recognized-in-the-oxford-english-dictionary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-12T19:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250812-50962-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"954\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"534\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carlos &quot;Zoto&quot; 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