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There have been tons of popular isekai with harem, for example, Sword Art online, the Rising of the Shield Hero, Parallel World Pharmacy, etc. Needless to say, harem isekai is now a trend.

What's the first harem isekai and its method of reincarnation in anime and manga separately? How does harem isekai gradually develop into a trend?

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The trend was started in 2006 by Zero no Tsukaima.

The unexpected success of this franchise not only led to three more seasons, which as far as anime goes is very rare (even more so back then), but it also led to more isekai shows being produced.

Of course, it took about a year for the DVDs to come out and then another year for people to realize that this really was gold and not just a quick lived trend. So slowly we started to see more of this.

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari (2009)
Dog Days (2011)
Sword Art Online (2012)
Oda Nobuna no Yabou (2012)
Ixion Saga DT (2012)

To call out a few that rode the wave Zero no Tsukaima started. By the time SAO was understood to be a very big success too, the thing was a made deal. This stuff sells, so more should be made. And the rest is history.

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    [citation needed] - I seriously doubt that this was something that only started in 2006 given how prevalent both of these were in modern media.
    – Makoto
    Commented Oct 10, 2022 at 17:28
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    @Makoto You can try to find a harem isekai anime from before 2006, but you won't, since it doesn't exist. Zero no Tsukaima was a turning point for isekai shows. Before they were more pessimistic/sobering and didn't feature harems. They also weren't framed "isekai". If you go all the way back you get Alice in Wonderland (1865). Or if you limit it to anime there were shows like Orguss (1983), but those were Sci-Fi in nature. They weren't isekai anime in the modern sense and they have nothing to do with the current trend.
    – Ocean
    Commented Oct 11, 2022 at 11:37
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    @BCLC I can't speak for other people, but Harem started to become a trend due to Tenchi Muyo (1992) and really established itself during the early 2000s, while Isekai became a trend due to Zero no Tsukaima (2006) and really established itself during the 2010s. You'll have a difficult time finding anything resembling Harem before Tenchi Muyo, but Isekai has always kinda been around. It just wasn't really a trend. To the point that when the protagonist in the anime Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2006) made a reference to "isekai-jins" no one made the connection to a genre.
    – Ocean
    Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 17:14
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    Also, back when Zero no Tsukaima released, it wasn't considered "isekai" in the same way as we would do so now. There was no such genre. It was seen as a normal fantasy anime. I watched Zero no Tsukaima back when it still aired in 2006 and even by the second season no one called it an isekai anime. It was a fantasy anime. I also watched Haruhi and didn't even make the connection to Zero no Tsukaima when Haruhi talked about isekai-jins. The translation called it "sliders" back then (just looked it up) and I still don't know what sliders are supposed to be. But I know what isekai-jins are.
    – Ocean
    Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 17:20
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    @BCLC If you are comfortable calling Alice in Wonderland and Digimon Adventure Isekai it has always been around. Zero no Tsukaima was the first to combine Isekai with Harem elements.
    – Ocean
    Commented Oct 23, 2022 at 21:10

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