Reincarnation Fantasy

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An emerging genre, seen largely in Japanese web novels, wherein a protagonist from the mundane world dies, usually from an accident, and is reincarnated in a fantastic world with memories intact.

In a parallel phenomenon, this has also become a popular premise for English-language Self-Insert Fics, replacing the fantastic world with the setting of a work of fiction. This variant is occasionally used for Japanese web novels as well, replacing the source material with an original Show Within a Show, though these stories are more likely to have the protagonist replace a "canon" character, whereas fanfic tends toward Original Characters.

This genre has multiple points of appeal over a more traditional portal fantasy. An author has a ready-made excuse for the protagonist not to try to find their way home, as might be expected: That life is over. The central device provides a built-in reason for the protagonist to be "special", with years of cognitive development over their age peers -- rarely is the main character younger than high school at death, and they're more often in their 20s. It also gives the protagonist a built-in place in the new world's society, without having to make connections on their own or deal with a lack of cultural knowledge or even a language barrier. (This can be essential for settings where magic skill or the like is needed to make a difference on a large scale and is generally learned at a young age.) The Self-Insert Fic version also provides a handy excuse for authors to avoid revealing their real names on the Internet despite explicitly basing their characters on themselves.

Downsides include a usually slow beginning -- an infant isn't going to be able to do much (though some Japanese examples have memories only recovered in early childhood) -- and the fact that some plots simply aren't possible if the protagonist's old identity is to be discarded altogether. These include the aforementioned search for home, a convenient if well-worn goal that provides a natural end-point for the story, and objects from our world being brought into a fantasy setting. It also becomes vanishingly unlikely that a character from the new world will ever go to the old, or even discover its existence.

Usually makes use of A Hero Is Born and/or A Minor Kidroduction, out of simple narrative necessity.

Compare/contrast Trapped in Another World.

Examples of Reincarnation Fantasy include:

Anime and Manga

  • Many of the Japanese examples listed under Literature have received manga adaptations, with Mushoku Tensei's being published in Monthly Comic Flapper and a number of others on the website Alphapolis.

Fan Works

  • Dreaming of Sunshine is the Trope Codifier for the fanfic version.
    • The setting of Naruto also demonstrates a number of the advantages listed above particularly well. To wield any sort of power, a character pretty much has to have been trained as a ninja from a young age, and to be wholly trusted by the main characters, it's best to have been trained by their own village. As such, the reincarnation fantasy is almost a necessity for a Naruto Self-Insert Fic.
  • In Bad Faith takes another cue from Dreaming of Sunshine: The main character becomes a canon character's Original Character twin sister, in this case Draco Malfoy's.
  • The Clan of Samsara takes the premise much further than most, with an entire ninja clan taken from across the history of the real world.
  • Tsume Yuki, of Time to Put Your Galleons Where Your Mouth Is fame, has written several stories in this genre.

Literature

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