Last week, we reported on a Japanese writing contest run by Bungaku Free Market and Shōsetsuka ni Narō that banned all submissions with plots about "traveling to alternate worlds" or "being reincarnated into other worlds." Now, taking a look at the results of another recent contest that didn't enforce a similar ban, the 4th "Net Novel Prize," makes this more understandable.

Of the 46 winning stories listed on the "Net Novel Prize" contest's website, 14 have "alternate world" directly in the title. Some examples are, "The Unparalleled Saint Salaryman and the Road to Surviving in an Alternate World," "Alternate World Station Café," "Alternate World Brothel Manager," "Item Collector in an Alternate World," "This Alternate World's Magical Language Looks Just Like Japanese," and "Doing My Best to Pet Fluffy Things in an Alternate World."

In fact, the 1st Place Grand Prix prize, which included publication of the story and 1,000,000 yen (about $9925.80 USD), was won by a story about traveling to an alternate world titled, "The Chronicle of the Male Virgin Who Travels to the Alternate World Chiirem [cheat + harem] and Gains Healing Magic."

Plots about traveling to alternate worlds have been trending in anime based on light novels recently. Popular examples include Sword Art Online , KONOSUBA , Log Horizon , GATE , and, most recently, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- , which was just voted the top anime of Spring 2016 in a Japanese poll.

Source:Yaraon Blog