All genres tend to be repetitive- that’s kind of inherent to a genre a bit- in action, how many motivations are there? Revenge, enforcing some moral code, crime/desperation, group conflict, save the world/universe/multiverse/society/country/city/family/way of life etc…?
How many romantic comedies are there? Two people dislike each other but through circumstance spend time and fall in love, two people love each other but have some circumstances between being together, one person is infatuated with the other and…
We can do this all day.
Now, genres don’t mean everything has to be the same, it’s a game of nuance. “Other world” anime don’t have to JUST be “person from our time/world in another..” or “person from another time/world in ours..” you can have person from a world that isn’t our own in a world that isn’t their own or our own or other things. But there are factors here. In the same way it doesn’t always have to be a teen or an otaku/geek type- but we have to understand the genre and some basic things about fiction.
VERY few generally widely consumed works of fictions are totally dissociated from our experiences. If you sit down and REALLY look at many fictions they are obviously fiction. Language almost always is understandable and close to or identical to our own regardless of time or place. Sometimes there is some slang or this and that but fake slang, especially in abundance, tends to come off as lame in most fiction. It’s a lot of work and skill and an element of chance wether your fake slang is taken as
Cool and immersive or as lame and annoying. While we can’t say with certainty what the language or culture or technology would be across time or reality- history does tend to serve as a template that often culture and other things in fictions are often remarkably and statistically unreasonably similar to our own. This is largely for two reasons- firstly that if you can’t understand what you are reading or seeing you probably won’t be interested. If it is completely unrelatable you’ll probably be lost and not engaged. Secondly, it saves time and allows a story to just proceed. Many fantasy properties do need quite a bit of world building for you to understand how things work and the world and the stakes etc. that’s WITH all the “touchstone” similarities to our world to make it easier to digest.
So without touchstones you come in completely not knowing what is going on. Before the story can start you need to learn an entirely foreign system of concepts and language and politics and morality and such, and the story needs to pause or slow or it stumbles as you move through it because otherwise you couldn’t really get what was going on. So at least one of the worlds in an itsekai is usually our own because that at least provides an anchor for the viewer who is presumably- from our world.
But fantasy is also commonly a sort of surrogate. We sort of place ourselves into the fantasy world. So involving our world also helps allow us to imagine being in that fiction ourselves. Seeing others stumble through our world from outside is a fun way to get different perspective on our own life and world. It’s about us, the viewer.
So it’s also common that the protagonist is a “geek” or “otaku” or such that might represent to some degree the fans (or some self image of fans) common to anime and itsekai. Anime is often made by fans who relate their own experiences and perspectives through their work. So while the “school kid” etc. handles both a grounding in reality and possibly a relatable character- there is another level to it and why characters of that age or type are so common.
Two major factors are that is an age of maturity and immaturity. Inexperience and experience. Young people have a competence and ability that means it is believable that they could do amazing things, it’s far less of a stretch to think a teen could navigate combat or politics or save some far off world than to think that a small child could. But the character type also makes it more believable and forgivable when the character has certain moments. Mistakes or poor decisions that you would think a 30,40,50 year old would be a total idiot to make are like- well ok. That’s ok on a high schooler. They are learning even if they are smart they haven’t lived decades as an adult doing this sort of thing…
It’s also more believable that someone in their teens or early 20’s could have experience and expertise especially across a wider range and so you can skip the character needing to have the same growth as a younger character might need and the generally slower pace. There is a level of inexperience though that is helpful. Often people in the teens to early 20’s aren’t expected to have spouses, children, dependents, overly complex lives- do we can optionally skip past making the loss of their life a central plot point. They may miss parents or friends or a crush or their home and life- but it isn’t in the viewers mind or needing to be addressed how their 5 years or whatever in fantasy land is time a child has no parent or that when they return after the family bread winner was away the family may be destitute or such things.
It streamlines things and sort of Govea a pass to enjoy the ride- it’s like someone taking a year or whatever to study abroad or such. It’s generally expected or acceptable for people in that age group to go away from home and find themselves and explore and such. That also functions as a bit of metaphor or parable.
But an important factors there is this- younger viewers can at least have some aspirational comprehension or romanticization of being in that age range. Viewers that age can directly relate, and older viewers can recall what it was like to be that age. It’s not quite the same if your protagonist is 40. That can be unrelatable or not aspirational for kids and teens.
Not having spouses or likely serious long term relationships tends to leave room to explore romantic storylines and the sorts of relationship dynamics that exist between people from very different backgrounds and worlds. Having a protagonist who hasn’t had certain experiences also brings the ability for “firsts” and novelty and such.
So we tend to get these sort of commonalities because they are what makes sense to a wide audience. More specific fiction can be more diverse but it often tends to have optimal appeal to a narrower audience.
Other things tend to work out as well- a protagonist who is powerful or accomplished or gifted or skilled speaks to a wish fulfillment aspect of the viewer. If you are “escaping to another world” most people either are A: living awesome real lives and want something they can’t get in this one or B: not living an awesome life and living similar in another world wouldn't be super cool. There are riffs on this- Konosuba being a take for example.
Of course there ARE itsekai that are more or less “alive of life” or where the protagonist or circumstances are greatly different, but especially when you get a volume of properties in the same genre- especially a relatively niche drama- they’ll tend to start having similarities or seeming formulaic. And yes, some degree of this is going to be in quality or effort. LOTR is a fantasy with quite a bit of lore, there are many popular franchises like this, War Hammer universe, D&D etc. and they do have devoted and large fan bases. These properties tend to at least be accesible to people who don’t have the entire encyclopedia of knowledge and they also tend to have a lot of thought and/or care into them. LOTR has entire actual languages and an almost living history.
Some of the repetition in a genre comes from such work where someone “did the homework” so others sort of ape off that- the high fantasy genre is rife with influence and even copy catting and “borrowing” from LOTR. We see that in anime too- where a well liked work is aped by others often with much less effort. Sometimes the results are objectively good and other times not so much- but there are some measure parts attempting to “cash in” or capitalize on other successful properties as well as “fan service.”
Indeed, sometimes we get these tropes and cliches because the people most likely to watch that type of entertainment WANT those things. Expect them. New and novel often aren’t well received in media. How many people are avid fans of experimental or art house films? How many in that genre are terribly profitable vs. Being artistic expression for the sake of it or technically, conceptually, philosophically brilliant but not the sort of entertainment most people want to unwind or relax to? When most people are looking for a fun diversion and a little fantasy they don’t turn to experimental extinsentialist surrealist indie films.
We can see dabbling with these concepts in mainstream pop media- the film “Scott Pilgrim Versus the World” is in my mind as many other minds an excellent film. Witty, fun, entertaining, interesting, somewhat novel (in mass film media) and yet it is designated more a “cult classic” than a “block buster” and has had success but primarily with a niche audience. It would perhaps be unwise for film makers to attempt to carry that same style into the majority of mainstream film then, now, or in the near future.
So it is certainly the case that there are things that tend to “play well” in a genre. A staple of fantasy for 1000+ years is the “magic sword” or, if the author wants to be “different” perhaps an axe or scythe or some novel and often impractical weapon of their choice. Sometimes it is a staff or book or armor or jewelry- but it’s a persistent and almost expected element and even if The item isn’t strictly magical it often holds some quasi mysticism or special attributes like being “space metal” or some rare and exotic material or being forged by some extinct or ancient or otherworldly power etc etc. when that is missing from the genre it tends to often be noticed
Sometimes a way to get away from that is to focus on magic or the like or unarmed combat or using some sort of spirit or animal or monster etc. as a weapon or tool- but the concept largely remains the same and it is often the case we have a hero who has special abilities and/or items or one who is just skilled naturally or one who is not skilled and must survive and navigate with a lack of skill or power- but the overall gist works out about the same.
How many romantic comedies are there? Two people dislike each other but through circumstance spend time and fall in love, two people love each other but have some circumstances between being together, one person is infatuated with the other and…
We can do this all day.
VERY few generally widely consumed works of fictions are totally dissociated from our experiences. If you sit down and REALLY look at many fictions they are obviously fiction. Language almost always is understandable and close to or identical to our own regardless of time or place. Sometimes there is some slang or this and that but fake slang, especially in abundance, tends to come off as lame in most fiction. It’s a lot of work and skill and an element of chance wether your fake slang is taken as
So it’s also common that the protagonist is a “geek” or “otaku” or such that might represent to some degree the fans (or some self image of fans) common to anime and itsekai. Anime is often made by fans who relate their own experiences and perspectives through their work. So while the “school kid” etc. handles both a grounding in reality and possibly a relatable character- there is another level to it and why characters of that age or type are so common.
But an important factors there is this- younger viewers can at least have some aspirational comprehension or romanticization of being in that age range. Viewers that age can directly relate, and older viewers can recall what it was like to be that age. It’s not quite the same if your protagonist is 40. That can be unrelatable or not aspirational for kids and teens.
So we tend to get these sort of commonalities because they are what makes sense to a wide audience. More specific fiction can be more diverse but it often tends to have optimal appeal to a narrower audience.
Other things tend to work out as well- a protagonist who is powerful or accomplished or gifted or skilled speaks to a wish fulfillment aspect of the viewer. If you are “escaping to another world” most people either are A: living awesome real lives and want something they can’t get in this one or B: not living an awesome life and living similar in another world wouldn't be super cool. There are riffs on this- Konosuba being a take for example.