Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp (Oegwauisa Ellije) is another entry in the “Is this an isekai?” anime that makes us question a genre’s definition. Doctor Elise has reincarnation elements. Indeed, our main protagonist dies and is reborn twice. She’s also a cute doctor, so the title fits. This girl went from an egotistical princess to an honorable doctor very quickly. The Elise character trailer highlights this, but the series trailer gives us a better overview. We’ll see how much Elise changes between lives when the series premieres sometime in January 2024.
Yuin and Mini worked on their Doctor Elise web novel from September 18th, 2017, to February 16th, 2021. Kidari Studio and KakaoPage have made all ten volumes available to read.
Our “maybe” isekai protagonist and two of her Best Boys are as follows:
- Elise de Clorance / Song Jihyun — Yui Ishikawa (YoRHa No. 2 Type B (2B) in Nier: Automata Ver1.1a). A princess whose greed led her family to ruin and to her own demise. She reincarnated into modern times and became a genius doctor. However, there’s no escaping one’s own past.
- Linden de Romanoff — Yohei Azakami (Guel Jeturk in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury). The Empire’s crown Prince and Elise’s fiancé.
- Graham de Fallon — Yoshimasa Hosoya (Fumikage Tokoyami in My Hero Academia). The Empire’s leading physician.
Studio Maho Film has set up a home page, a Twitter page, and even an Instagram page to promote Doctor Elise. Fans and potential viewers can find behind-the-scenes information and Key Visuals there.
When Is an Isekai an Isekai?
An isekai is typically a series whereby a person goes to another world. Anime like Sword Art Online and No Game No Life are considered isekai, despite Sword Art Online only having their protagonists playing VRMMORPGs as their physical bodies remain in their original world. So then, is time travel a type of isekai? If someone travels so far into the past that the world they knew is gone, would that not be traveling to another world?
For instance, would Inuyasha be considered an isekai series? Kagome and Inuyasha travel across centuries. The land itself changed, technology changed, there were demons, and so on. Then, would Doctor Elise be considered an isekai series? I actually thought it was when I first started reading. The princess dies, ends up in the modern world, and becomes a doctor. It’s like a reverse isekai. Then she mentioned time. Through some discussion with Joe, she’s likely from Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy. Discuss your opinions below, but if a character enters a world they don’t fundamentally recognize as their own, I believe it’s an isekai. Even Kagome had to get used to Feudal Japan, and she’s from Japan.
From Criminal to Doctor
Doctor Elise follows its titular character through the highs and lows of life, death, life again, death again, and then back to square one. Elise was a cruel and jealous queen who abused those around her. The servants were not spared her wrath. She got away with it due to her social standing and good looks. Things only worsened when she married the Prince and ascended to the throne with him when he became Emperor. Elise went too far and was burned at the stake while her father begged for her life to be spared.
Elise awoke in another place and time as the Korean orphan Song Jihyun. Despite her low standing and lack of parents, Elise, as Song Jihyun, was a true prodigy. She excelled in whatever she tried. As such, she focused her efforts on becoming a doctor. Elise wanted to make up for the sins of her past life. So it was that she became a doctor of great renown in Korea. She saved lives others thought were beyond saving.
For 30 lengthy years, Elise lived her new life to the fullest, all to make up for the ills of her past. However, a plane trip ended in tragedy, and Elise’s second life was cut bitterly short again. She awoke in the distant past, back in her original body, before she ever married Prince Linden. With memories of two lives guiding her movements, she set out to change the future and cherish those around her.
Are you going to watch Doctor Elise when it premieres? Do you think she is the new Best Doctor in anime? What do you think of this isekai conundrum? Let us know in the comments below.
Has reading this made you want a pretty nurse to soothe what ails you? The Perseus 1/7 Figure Nursery Time Ver. figure from Azur Lane is now available for pre-order. She’s not guaranteed to cure anything, but only looking at her might make you feel better.
