Paul is transported to another world where he doesn’t know the rules and has to start over in a strange land. He befriends the locals, goes on adventures, becomes their leader, and eventually saves the planet.
What do we think?
No. It’s the same world, it’s just that the world encompasses both Caladan and Arrakis, as well as well… the rest of the galaxy. It’s the in-world equivalent of Paul traveling to another country where he’s unexpectedly royalty.
There is no “right” answer for this question - it all depends on how you define isekai.
Is it just a trope, or a genre? If it’s a genre, which works should be considered the canon? Does being transported into another part of the same literary universe count as “being in another world”? Does the protag need to be from Earth, or a world resembling Earth? etc.
Personally I don’t consider it isekai. For me isekai is a lot like a novel, manga and anime movement, and Dune is simply too far from said movement to be part of it:
- it’s considerably older - from the 60s. Most things that I’d call isekai are from the 00s onwards.
- it’s the product of another culture - Dune was written in USA; most isekais are Japanese, or at most Korean and Chinese
- the setting is completely different - the setting in most isekais is a swords-and-magic world, or perhaps a game-like world. Dune is a basically a sand hell.
- as @Moghul@lemmy.world said, the world where Paul ends is part of the same literary universe as the world that he’s from. That’s actually quite impactful as it means that people in Paul’s world Caladan are fully aware of Arrakis, and it’s part of the same “power structure” as Caladan.
- etc.
None of those things would be enough on itself to say “no! not isekai!”, but when combined they make me think “perhaps we should classify Dune as something else”.
But again, that’s my personal definition. If you use a different definition, calling Dune an isekai might be sensible.
Very well thought out! Coming at this question as a Dune fan and not an Isekai enjoyer, I would like to note that Dune does have its fair share of swords and magic.
I don’t know too much about Isekai but let me have a try at this following argument:
The Isekai element might not be that Paul moved from one planetary capital to another as the heir apparent to House Atreides, but that he had to flee into a world with much more limited contact with the wider galaxy: the world of the Fremen.
The Fremen of the deep desert live a life quite different than that of the average Imperial citizen. Life in a sietch is unlike anything Paul has ever experienced and he must learn to fit in, in order to survive.
All of this only concerns the first book of the Dune series. As the story plays out, you will find that the protagonist of the entire series is not a single individual but rather Humanity in its totality. I don’t think that’s very Isekai…
By that logic Star Trek is an isekai.
