Control. It all boils back to the need to control a living being; whether the weeb in question genuinely sees those they're controlling as a human or not.

I think a controversial one that irked me was Nidome no Jinsei where people claimed dude was a soldier during rape of Nanking. I had to do a double take on that shit

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an isekai classic.

Most shonen is a power fantasy. Isekai is just an excuse to drop every pretense that it's not.

Planescape Torment is my favorite Isekai.

Wow. was not expecting either of those stories to be name dropped

12 Kingdoms, Rayearth, Escaflowne, and El Hazard were decent Isekai from what I remember. They're all from the 90s/00s though.

They still had trash Isekai in the 90s, like Those Who Hunt Elves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Executioner_and_Her_Way_of_Life

IIRC the person who wrote the story actually made the lower part of this meme as well as a teaser for the story