Isekai where the MC is pissed and wants to go home

[moonfly7]

You know what I haven't seen ever with isekai? A story where the summoned hero is pissed off that people who have he knows nothing about stole him from his home and expect him to risk his life to save them. Oh, and you *might* go home if you kill that guy. No guarantee. But you get to be a hero so that makes up for it yeah?
Seriously. There has to be either a LITRPG novel or a manga about the MC having the reasonable 'heck no' attitude.

[J-H]

This is very old and still updating at a glacial pace:
http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=127171

It is the last (for now) in a series of stories about an epic-level drow (surface) archmage. In this one, he's summoned from Faerun and bound to help defend a kingdom from a high-powered barbarian horde. He is not happy about being there. His (similarly leveled) friends are also not happy about him being gone, and I expect they'll find a way there at some point.

[Cheesegear]

You know what I haven't seen ever with isekai? A story where the summoned hero is pissed off that people who have he knows nothing about stole him from his home and expect him to risk his life to save them.

Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness, of course. It's the best Isekai ever made.

[Razade]

Samurai Jack. Literally the whole plot.

[Cygnia]

"I Hate Fairyland"

[Lurkmoar]

"I Hate Fairyland"

In a similar vein, Birthright from Image Comics as well. But the problems really spiral out of control when Mickey gets home.

[Precure]

Does Erfworld count?

[Manga Shoggoth]

Does Erfworld count?

You would have thought so, but I think one of the parameters of the summoning spell was that the target wanted (or would have wanted, since it wasn't exactly a job application), to be there. Parson says as much in the gaming session, although I don't think he intended it to be that literal.

Of course, he does change his mind somewhat as the story progresses.

[moonfly7]

Samurai Jack. Literally the whole plot.

I mean, it's not an alternate universe, but a future where evil was successful. And Jack definitely doesn't want to be there, but it's less "ooh I hate this I wanna go home how dare you tear me from my home" and more like "I failed to stop this future from coming. I must make amends and save the world as I failed to do so long ago". So very much Jack isn't being a reluctant hero or really refusing to help, he's just upset because he had akuma on the ropes and the A-hole cheated.
(I've only ever watched the original samurai Jack so if this post is about the new one I could very well ve super wrong)

[GloatingSwine]

In a similar vein, Birthright from Image Comics as well. But the problems really spiral out of control when Mickey gets home.

Things definitely spiral out of control in I Hate Fairyland.... (Which is also Image Comics)

[HolyDraconus]

Why havent anyone mentioned Shield Hero? Like he keeps getting screwed in so many ways.

[Rodin]

Sword Art Online would count for the first season. The villain is the dude that trapped him there, and the only way home is through said bad guy.

Kagome from Inuyasha has a heck no attitude initially. She goes home and wants no part of the feudal era. It's only when monsters start coming through the portal after her that she realizes she has to return and fix the jewel.

[HolyDraconus]

Sword Art Online would count for the first season. The villain is the dude that trapped him there, and the only way home is through said bad guy.

Kagome from Inuyasha has a heck no attitude initially. She goes home and wants no part of the feudal era. It's only when monsters start coming through the portal after her that she realizes she has to return and fix the jewel.

I noticed both of those was in the early seasons. Now in SAO he has a virtual child and Kagome literally had a daughter with Inuyasha

[dps]

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, at least in the first book of the series.

[Rodin]

I noticed both of those was in the early seasons. Now in SAO he has a virtual child and Kagome literally had a daughter with Inuyasha

And that brings up an important explanation for why we don't see this motivation that often. There's thousands of people in SAO who do say heck no. Some commit suicide in-game to try and get back that way. Others refuse to leave the starting tutorial city. Still more explore just enough to realize they've had enough, and they try to make themselves comfortable in their new life. They wait for someone else to solve the problem.

Those people exist, but they aren't interesting enough to tell a story about. We see the reluctant heroes who decide to save the world.

[Cygnia]

The comic "DIE" might be worth looking at.

[HolyDraconus]

Rising of the Shield Hero is the embodiment of this thread title. He has no intention of staying in the new world and even called out that its entirely plausible that the king wont send him back, which would force him to work with other countries that would. Doesnt help matters that he got screwed over on day 1 in the new world and it goes downhill from there.

[Prime32]

Log Horizon has the protagonists want to get home, but they acknowledge that there isn't any obvious way to do that, and that it might not even be possible. They keep researching any leads that come up, but for the most part they focus on building a society and stopping homesick isekai'd folk from going crazy and lashing out at squishy natives (and even then, cults start springing up that promise their followers a way back to Earth).

[Tvtyrant]

The World Ends with You is basically this, except you're dead and it is a Bayblade tournament.

Jumanji has some characters like this in each movie.

[moonfly7]

Why havent anyone mentioned Shield Hero? Like he keeps getting screwed in so many ways.


Rising of the Shield Hero is the embodiment of this thread title. He has no intention of staying in the new world and even called out that its entirely plausible that the king wont send him back, which would force him to work with other countries that would. Doesnt help matters that he got screwed over on day 1 in the new world and it goes downhill from there.

great examples, accept I read the heck out of this last year

[HandofShadows]

"Let's Aim for the Deepest Part of the Otherworldly Labyrinth" The MC ends up in a game mechanics magical world (has no idea how or why) and just want's to get the heck out of dodge. When he's not getting experience points, he works in a tavern.

[Daer]

Kemono michi. wrestler gets summoned and he has quite different plans than those who summoned him.

[Anteros]

Log Horizon has the protagonists want to get home, but they acknowledge that there isn't any obvious way to do that, and that it might not even be possible. They keep researching any leads that come up, but for the most part they focus on building a society and stopping homesick isekai'd folk from going crazy and lashing out at squishy natives (and even then, cults start springing up that promise their followers a way back to Earth).

Log Horizon does explore some interesting concepts in the genre. The only problem with it is that it's super boring.

[Psyren]

Log Horizon does explore some interesting concepts in the genre. The only problem with it is that it's super boring.

I actually like Log Horizon. It feels like it was designed by people that actually played an MMO, unlike SAO.

If you want boring isekai, .hack takes that crown.

[GloatingSwine]

Log Horizon basically took all its narrative cues from The Walking Dead, in that nothing happened in the episode but the preview of the next episode made it look like something would happen next time. (It didn't).

Also it fell into the deadly trap of explaining the rules of the made up MMO precisely when they become relevant so that the main character can look very clever for using them in a fight, and never having that rule be effective again (especially when one of those "zomg he so good" moments is "can manage cooldowns to reapply a status when it expires" which is competent raiding 101).

(If there's an isekai based on a videogame or gamelike world that isn't terrible I haven't heard of it)

[moonfly7]

(If there's an isekai based on a videogame or gamelike world that isn't terrible I haven't heard of it)

Well I thought rising of the shield hero was pretty awesome.

[GloatingSwine]

Well I thought rising of the shield hero was pretty awesome.

All of the main character's problems disappear without effort on his part, and the entire world is basically an Idiot Ball pit.

Like for all that it's supposed to be about this put-upon hero rejected by the world he always wins anyway, either without trying or because something or someone comes along that undoes the problem (like the queen showing back up).

It turns out it just plays all the boring isekai tropes out straight. Dull main character who never has to struggle, never grows through failure, attracts a random harem half of which is underage. The works. It's like none of the authors (who are mostly young and selfpublishing direct to the internet) can even concieve of a fantasy world without those tropes.


Oh well. At least there's a new issue of Berserk out on Friday.

[Anonymouswizard]

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, at least in the first book of the series.

I clicked on the thread to say this, while I've not finished book 2 yet he continues there as well.

Thomas Covenant is not your typical portal fantasy hero. He's a bitter misanthrope shunned by society and abandoned by his wife due to contracting leprosy. The town pays his bills because they're afraid that if he goes outside the disease will spread. When he travels to the Land and is given a great quest his first properties are to a) ignore it and b) insist it's all a dream.

He spends pretty much the entire quest being dragged along because the ring and index fingers on his right hand are missing (thus making him look like the Land's legendary hero) and because his wedding ring is white gold (and this holds great magical power). Covenant takes this as proof that he's just dreaming, I mean it is incredibly convenient, and does practically nothing. This involves him getting chewed out for doing practically nothing.

He's also not very fond of the magic mud that makes his nerves regrow. Mainly because it starts to make him forget his leprosy survival skills.

Then when he's called to the Land a second time he starts shouting at the Lords to send him back because his life had finally started looking like it was getting better. About five seconds before he got summoned again.

[tyckspoon]

Also it fell into the deadly trap of explaining the rules of the made up MMO precisely when they become relevant so that the main character can look very clever for using them in a fight, and never having that rule be effective again (especially when one of those "zomg he so good" moments is "can manage cooldowns to reapply a status when it expires" which is competent raiding 101).


Well, give him some credit - that is actually far harder to do when you don't have a HUD tracking the precise timers, can't get a UI mod to show you the rest of the raid's key buffs and their timers, and have to personally recast/reactivate your skills or shout at your raid members to do so in time instead of hitting a hotkey and having it go off instantly. Most people's sense of time isn't that precise - if you ask 10 people to count off 10 seconds, you'll get 10 different periods of time.

[Silfir]

Kemono michi. wrestler gets summoned and he has quite different plans than those who summoned him.

Going home is the farthest thing on his mind, though. As soon as he realizes a fantasy world is going to have tons of fantasy animals and even beast demihumans he is all over that.

[Psyren]

(If there's an isekai based on a videogame or gamelike world that isn't terrible I haven't heard of it)

I've heard good things about That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, but I haven't yet gotten around to it myself. (No spoilers please.)

[GloatingSwine]

I've heard good things about That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, but I haven't yet gotten around to it myself. (No spoilers please.)

As long as all you want is a bit of light comedy with no tension, drama, or stakes, that doesn't realise that if it wanted to be that it should have been a slice of life but isn't....

[137beth]

Supernormal Step. (https://www.supernormalstep.com/)

[Ibrinar]

I've heard good things about That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, but I haven't yet gotten around to it myself. (No spoilers please.)

It's okay. It is the standard OP MC isekai with better writing quality but is ultumately still an OP MC isekai.

[moonfly7]

It's okay. It is the standard OP MC isekai with better writing quality but is ultumately still an OP MC isekai.

Funnily enough, when I read isekai where the main character is weak and has to work for anything, all I can find in the comments are people complaining that he's a weak wimp.

[Traab]

I've heard good things about That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, but I haven't yet gotten around to it myself. (No spoilers please.)

Overlord is another good one. The game its based on is a fascinating combination of your standard mmorpg and dungeons and dragons with a rather well developed but still vague enough for some slack set of rules. The main character isnt actually in that game world, but a different one that seems to function on similar rules minus hard coding things like levels and such. Like, he meets this one legendary warrior and its not like he sees a "level 35" over his head, but he is able to estimate how powerful he would be by his game worlds standards. And his own abilities, specifically stuff like immune to physical or magical damage delivered by someone below a certain level, still seems to work that way. Be aware that he is NOT a heroic protagonist. While there is a lot of humor, there is also a lot of dark stuff. The main character is a max level evil elder lich and all that entails.

But as far as the original topic is concerned, nope. Dude has no interest in going back to the real world. In the real world he is a nobody salary man with no real future. In this world he is a max level ruler of powerful minions and such. He comes to that conclusion rather quickly upon realizing that he is somehow stuck as his character in a new world.

[Anteros]

Funnily enough, when I read isekai where the main character is weak and has to work for anything, all I can find in the comments are people complaining that he's a weak wimp.

I think most people who are drawn to the genre are looking for wish fulfillment and escapism. The genre is full of Mary Sue protagonists, because that's what most of the readers want.


Well, give him some credit - that is actually far harder to do when you don't have a HUD tracking the precise timers, can't get a UI mod to show you the rest of the raid's key buffs and their timers, and have to personally recast/reactivate your skills or shout at your raid members to do so in time instead of hitting a hotkey and having it go off instantly. Most people's sense of time isn't that precise - if you ask 10 people to count off 10 seconds, you'll get 10 different periods of time.

Still a pretty standard skill for anyone who raided in games 10-15 years ago before all the descriptive huds and mods came out that basically hold your hand the entire time. Especially since you can just refresh the debuff slightly early to be safe.



(If there's an isekai based on a videogame or gamelike world that isn't terrible I haven't heard of it)

SAO is the best of them, and I don't even mean that as praise for SAO because it's pretty bad. The first handful of episodes where it's basically slice of life in a MMO are decent...it's just that everything after those first few are really, really bad and cliche. It gave us SAO abridged though, so at least that's something.

[Rynjin]

(If there's an isekai based on a videogame or gamelike world that isn't terrible I haven't heard of it)

The Wandering inn (https://wanderinginn.com/) is real good, though doesn't fit the example of what the OP is looking for. Most people just kind of settle in and make the best of it, for various reasons.

In part this is because something in the spell that summoned them there, or maybe the world itself, makes them not think about home or their families very often. Unless something actively reminds them, it just kind of slips their mind. A few people go out of their way to get their family's names tattooed on them so they can remember more easily.

[GloatingSwine]

Overlord is another good one.


Where the main character is boringly overpowered, there are no stakes for him, and it's idea of a personality for a female character is "please fondle my breasts protagonist-kun I am so devoted".

Then when it wanted to suddenly have stakes it took an entire episode of exposition about the rules of a made up videogame to explain why this time it would be Totally Serious.

And this is kind of the problem. It's not that every videogame/gamelike isekai is uniquely bad, they're all bad in almost exactly the same ways. If protagonist-kun wasn't already the bestestest before they were put into the other world the plot will basically run as if they were anyway. Nothing will significantly challenge them, nothing will make them grow or change as people, their decisions or the way they live in their new world will not have serious negative consequences that cause them to choose differently next time.

And those things are the fundamentals of an arc. Like if the events of the plot mean so little to the protagonist that nothing that happens can make them reassess themselves as people, why should we in the audience care either?


SAO is the best of them, and I don't even mean that as praise for SAO because it's pretty bad.

I think even Reki Kawahara doesn't think early SAO is very good any more. (especially not how the series treats Asuna and how regularly it leans on sexual assault of female characters as a motivator for male characters).


Anyway, if you want an isekai where everything sucks for the protagonist, watch Now and Then, Here and There. But be warned it's heavy stuff and nobody is having a nice time because it's about the experiences of child soldiers in real conflicts.

[Saph]

And this is kind of the problem. It's not that every videogame/gamelike isekai is uniquely bad, they're all bad in almost exactly the same ways. If protagonist-kun wasn't already the bestestest before they were put into the other world the plot will basically run as if they were anyway. Nothing will significantly challenge them, nothing will make them grow or change as people, their decisions or the way they live in their new world will not have serious negative consequences that cause them to choose differently next time.

You realise that this doesn't actually describe the most popular isekai very well? It's a good description of the problems of the mediocre to bad ones (of which there are a lot) but not most of the successful ones. Re: Zero doesn't work like this, Shield Hero doesn't work like this, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash DEFINITELY doesn't work like this, etc etc. I mean, it doesn't even describe SAO well, and that's the iconic isekai that inspired all the others. Kirito's a very very good swordsman, but he does run into challenges – it's just that they aren't always ones that can be solved in a swordfight. (And if you pay attention, the times he isn't fighting random lower-level monsters but has to duel an actually serious opponent, he often loses.)

I know it's fashionable to hate on SAO, but when something's that popular, it's usually worth considering that if so many people like it, there's probably something there, even if you can't see it.

[Traab]

Where the main character is boringly overpowered, there are no stakes for him, and it's idea of a personality for a female character is "please fondle my breasts protagonist-kun I am so devoted".

Then when it wanted to suddenly have stakes it took an entire episode of exposition about the rules of a made up videogame to explain why this time it would be Totally Serious.

And this is kind of the problem. It's not that every videogame/gamelike isekai is uniquely bad, they're all bad in almost exactly the same ways. If protagonist-kun wasn't already the bestestest before they were put into the other world the plot will basically run as if they were anyway. Nothing will significantly challenge them, nothing will make them grow or change as people, their decisions or the way they live in their new world will not have serious negative consequences that cause them to choose differently next time.

And those things are the fundamentals of an arc. Like if the events of the plot mean so little to the protagonist that nothing that happens can make them reassess themselves as people, why should we in the audience care either?



I think even Reki Kawahara doesn't think early SAO is very good any more. (especially not how the series treats Asuna and how regularly it leans on sexual assault of female characters as a motivator for male characters).


Anyway, if you want an isekai where everything sucks for the protagonist, watch Now and Then, Here and There. But be warned it's heavy stuff and nobody is having a nice time because it's about the experiences of child soldiers in real conflicts.

Yes the protag is overpowered, but thats because the story isnt about the protagonist and his struggles against an enemy, its about the protagonist and his attempts to learn about where he is, what this setting could mean, his running question of if his minions no longer being npcs means they might turn on him if they learn he is just some dude wearing a lich suit, and finding out if any other players also made it to this world like him, and if so, are they a threat to him unlike 99% of this world so far? And of course ensuring the tomb of nazarick, the home he and his guild built, and the people they created that he sees as the children of his friends are all ok. The only part I agree with is how stupid the whole albedo thing is. Its a joke that got driven into the ground a couple of books into the series and its still going. The only thing that keeps me going as I read those sections is seeing how it seems to be getting worse for her and wondering if that might lead to something interesting. Like a full on yandere freak out of some kind he has to deal with.

[Lord Raziere]

personally I think My New Life as a Villainess is pretty good, as its a straight actionless comedy about someone in an otome game trying to avoid their own death or exile because they got reincarnated as the antagonist and thus does a lot of things both heartwarming and eccentric to avoid that (such as taking up farming when they are a noble, not realizing they've accidentally made every single candidate male and female including the games protagonist fall in love with them with efforts to fix their psychological issues and thinking that they are still interested in each other.)

[t209]

Well, what about Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, where a group of kids teleported to Mystara after a roller coaster ride.

[Hopeless]

Well, what about Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, where a group of kids teleported to Mystara after a roller coaster ride.

Its not Mystara I always assumed from the way they called it the Realms it was a take on Faerun but I suspect that was just an easter egg given Baldur's Gate had one on the animated series in that game.

Wasn't there a reverse of this with visitors from another world stuck on Earth and wanting to return?

[t209]

Its not Mystara I always assumed from the way they called it the Realms it was a take on Faerun but I suspect that was just an easter egg given Baldur's Gate had one on the animated series in that game.

Wasn't there a reverse of this with visitors from another world stuck on Earth and wanting to return?

From 1d4chan,
"Of the three, it perhaps closest resembles Mystara, being a pulp-influenced "weird fantasy" world rather than the neo-Medieval Europe and neo-Renaissance Europe feels of Oerth and Faerun. With three suns and as many moons, the Realm is a land of strange and bizarre natural terrains and creatures; rivers that rain upside down, forests of skyscraper-sized mushrooms inhabited by malevolent snail-men, three-year-storms (as in, it rains for three years at a stretch) and more."

[Brother Oni]

Probably a older example, but the film Labyrinth. All Sarah wants to do is to make up for her mistake and rescue her baby brother from the Goblin Kingdom, although she comes to terms with needing her friends from there after she returns.

[oxybe]

Those who hunt elves.

A military otaku girl, an actress and a muscleheaded karateka are accidentally summoned to a fantasy world by an elven ritual and must recreate the magical sigil that summoned them to return home.

unfortunately the sigil was split into pieces and tattooed onto various elves (as part of the backfire curse).

cue fanservice and mid 1990's anime slapstick and fourth wall breaking humour. it's definitely dated, but i had chuckle here and there.

also: a magical tank contolled by a ghost cat.

El Hazard is another mid-90's isekai anime, this time about 3 teens and their teacher trying to make their way home. each of them have some sort of superpower.

one of the teens, jinnai, is the main antagonist as he wants to rule the new world and blames all his problems on the MC. also his laugh is incredible (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCok0B8uHfQ&app=desktop).

[HolyDraconus]

I actually like Log Horizon. It feels like it was designed by people that actually played an MMO, unlike SAO.

If you want boring isekai, .hack takes that crown.

Woah woah woah! That's fighting words!

[Rynjin]

Woah woah woah! That's fighting words!

Or at least it would be, if your main character wasn't moping or wandering around aimlessly all the time nyuk nyuk nyuk.

[HolyDraconus]

Or at least it would be, if your main character wasn't moping or wandering around aimlessly all the time nyuk nyuk nyuk.

That's going off the really old school Dot. Hack. Which was supposed to be more oriented on the theme and concept of it and less on actual action, though it does have action. GU is where it picks up, and you wouldn't even HAVE GU's main character if it wasn't for .Hack's events. It really helped start this genre, and side stories of .Hack had far more action the later in life they came to please more modern audiences. I still feel that Haseo/Sora is still a far better character than Mr. Black Swordsman will ever be.

[Rynjin]

Yeah, sorry, no .hack protag is better than Guts.

[HolyDraconus]

Yeah, sorry, no .hack protag is better than Guts.

....Guts isn't an Isekai... I meant Kirito.

[Rynjin]

....Guts isn't an Isekai... I meant Kirito.

Ah. I've never actually seen SAO; not really my bag.

Do they actually call him that?

[Kantaki]

Ah. I've never actually seen SAO; not really my bag.

Do they actually call him that?

Well, he uses a sword* and wears that silly black coat most of the time**, so it sorta makes sense?

*To the point he plays a Jedi-chick (not really, but the avatar looks like a girl and he uses a lightsaber) in a shooter game
**Or several similar looking coats?
A style/appearance slot item?
No idea how that worked.

[GloatingSwine]

It's pretty clear Kirito being called "black swordsman" is primarily a reference to Guts.

It's a pretty safe bet that if you think something in an anime or videogame might be a Berserk reference, it's a Berserk reference.

[Anonymouswizard]

Ah. I've never actually seen SAO; not really my bag.

Do they actually call him that?

YEp.

Which was fine in and of itself. The problem to me was the next year, when my uni's anime society was full of SAO fans and the new members started trying to post 'Guts is the fake black swordsman' memes on the society's Facebook page.

The only time I saw more concentrated sarcasm in a comment thread was the 'are traps gay' post.

Because it turned out that while the old guard was massive SAO fans, about 80% of them were even bigger Berserk fans. The most passive aggressive comment war I've ever seen followed, where a lot of Third Year students were attempting to explain how it was a reference and why Guts was so influential, and First Years utterly confused as to why people got so passionate over a meme. Berserk was practically sacred.

So yeah, the problem was the fans who started to attack series they'd never seen because it was 'fun memes'. It actually turned me off SAO, and it's why I've not watched any other portal fantasy anime (except for an attempt at MAR, which I'd read as a kid).

[HolyDraconus]

YEp.

Which was fine in and of itself. The problem to me was the next year, when my uni's anime society was full of SAO fans and the new members started trying to post 'Guts is the fake black swordsman' memes on the society's Facebook page.

The only time I saw more concentrated sarcasm in a comment thread was the 'are traps gay' post.

Because it turned out that while the old guard was massive SAO fans, about 80% of them were even bigger Berserk fans. The most passive aggressive comment war I've ever seen followed, where a lot of Third Year students were attempting to explain how it was a reference and why Guts was so influential, and First Years utterly confused as to why people got so passionate over a meme. Berserk was practically sacred.

So yeah, the problem was the fans who started to attack series they'd never seen because it was 'fun memes'. It actually turned me off SAO, and it's why I've not watched any other portal fantasy anime (except for an attempt at MAR, which I'd read as a kid).

I didn't mean for any of that. I think he was called that in one of the seasons but if what you're saying is true thats...hmm.

[Anteros]

YEp.

Which was fine in and of itself. The problem to me was the next year, when my uni's anime society was full of SAO fans and the new members started trying to post 'Guts is the fake black swordsman' memes on the society's Facebook page.

The only time I saw more concentrated sarcasm in a comment thread was the 'are traps gay' post.

Because it turned out that while the old guard was massive SAO fans, about 80% of them were even bigger Berserk fans. The most passive aggressive comment war I've ever seen followed, where a lot of Third Year students were attempting to explain how it was a reference and why Guts was so influential, and First Years utterly confused as to why people got so passionate over a meme. Berserk was practically sacred.

So yeah, the problem was the fans who started to attack series they'd never seen because it was 'fun memes'. It actually turned me off SAO, and it's why I've not watched any other portal fantasy anime (except for an attempt at MAR, which I'd read as a kid).

I'm not sure anyone in that story comes out looking good. I like Berserk as much as most people who have seen it, but anyone who gets upset over a silly meme like that needs a reality check.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

(If there's an isekai based on a videogame or gamelike world that isn't terrible I haven't heard of it)

Do you mean the video game design specifically, or the anime as a whole? Actually, either way I've heard good things about Bofuri (where the game has some problems but in-universe the designers are actively making constant improvements) and Infinite Dendogram. Have a link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH3y3YfIC6o&t=1s) to a video explaining why the game design on display in those two is so much better than in SAO.

Back to the OP, Sword Art Online: Abridged (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6kJKxvbgZ0&list=PLuAOJfsMefuej06Q3n4QrSSC7qYjQ-FlU) kind of fits; perhaps better than SAO proper (For those unfamiliar with it, SAO: Abridged is partly about parodying the original, but puts at least as much effort into constructing a solid story/characters and fixing plot-holes and other problems with the original). Kirito certainly doesn't care about helping the people trapped in SAO with him, but he loves living in the game world, not least because it gives him the power to tell all the idiots around him to screw off. His character arc is all about learning to care about people around him, so by the end of the first season he is willing to give all that up to help everyone escape the game. So that's both points: resenting the people in the world with him and refusing to help them, and trying to leave, though not at the same time.

[Anonymouswizard]

I didn't mean for any of that. I think he was called that in one of the seasons but if what you're saying is true thats...hmm.

It was during the first series, he's called that during the first arc. The second arc increases the Berserk reference by giving him a mini-Dragonslayer as a one handed sword.


I'm not sure anyone in that story comes out looking good. I like Berserk as much as most people who have seen it, but anyone who gets upset over a silly meme like that needs a reality check.

It's equivalent to the times I've seen people get annoyed at 'Prachett copied Rowling', the point of the anger was that you should read the older work before making such statements. Out of line certainly, but the for motivation was sound.

[Wraith]

If you liked Rise of the Shield Hero, you might also like Arefureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest.

It has a similar premise - a class of high school students fall through a magical portal and into a D&D-esque world where they are hailed as the Chosen Ones Who Will Deliver Us From Evil, but in the first episode the group's Synthesist (a support class with no combat ability and who is regarded as a nerd by the Paladins, Barbarians, Wizards and Wrestlers in the group) is betrayed and left to die at the bottom of what is basically Mordor.

Through careful application of his class abilities in ways that no one else realised was possible, he survives, thrives, and almost single-handedly murders his way out of the dungeon, declaring that his former classmates left him to die and so he's quite willing to do the same in order to go back home and leave this crapsack world to stew in it's own folly.

There are also some - minor, and comical - elements of this in GATE: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri. The main character, Itami, is a surprisingly excellent soldier in the JDF and he's assigned to a contingent who explore through the titular Gate into anther D&D-style world... but all he wants to do is go home and check out the new comic books available at an upcoming convention. The show is mostly about what happens when feudal knights get it into their head to try and fight a modern military, or what happens when a dragon threatens a town and you know a guy with a couple of F-15's on standby, but "I just want to go home and have an easy life" is a reoccurring theme in Itami's motivation.

[Prime32]

It was during the first series, he's called that during the first arc. The second arc increases the Berserk reference by giving him a mini-Dragonslayer as a one handed sword.You forgot that the second arc also gave him a fairy companion. :smalltongue:

[Rodin]

It's equivalent to the times I've seen people get annoyed at 'Prachett copied Rowling', the point of the anger was that you should read the older work before making such statements. Out of line certainly, but the for motivation was sound.

Obligatory Penny Arcade (https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/10/i-hope-you-like-text)

I am very, very guilty of this. Particularly taking young whippersnapper gamers to task about gaming history they should know despite not being born when it happened. :smallamused:

[Anonymouswizard]

You forgot that the second arc also gave him a fairy companion. :smalltongue:

I have actively suppressed most of the second and third arcs from my mind, because the second lost most of the good bits of the first arc and the third was just downright horrible.

But yes, and one which I couldn't care less about. Because I honestly like Puck, he served a purpose when he was first introduced (stopping Berserk from being outright depressing) and actually has a personality, while Yui just bores me.


Obligatory Penny Arcade (https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/10/i-hope-you-like-text)

I am very, very guilty of this. Particularly taking young whippersnapper gamers to task about gaming history they should know despite not being born when it happened. :smallamused:

Oh, also as guilty as can be. I get even worse when a series is currently being published, at least read/watch the beginning before calling it out as 'fake'. Or do a basic google to make sure your facts aren't obviously wrong.

At the same time I'm guilty of it somewhat at the other end, but I saw twenty minutes of Twilight and it bored me, so I'm going to rant about why it's a terrible vampire story sometimes (much less often these days, mostly when somebody tries to get me to read the books).

[HolyDraconus]

The 4th season so far looks like they learned.... though rumors that it's not made by the same people is floating

[Giggling Ghast]

My knowledge of Japanese works is fairly limited, but it’s very common for people from our world being transplanted into a Western fantasy world to just want to get the forks out of there. This goes all the way back to the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy Gale.

Of course, they usually end up wanting to either stay or wanting to return.

[LibraryOgre]

I think such things will usually be limited to early issues, if for no other reason than seasons/books/issues of whining by the protagonist would get old. However, I'd point to the Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg, wherein several college students are sent over to their gaming world. At first, most of them have the goal of getting him (one does not), but even after that, they occasionally have discussions about things they miss... like when a call and response password is a McDonalds jingle, since it would be something any of them could answer without a problem.

[Traab]

I think such things will usually be limited to early issues, if for no other reason than seasons/books/issues of whining by the protagonist would get old. However, I'd point to the Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg, wherein several college students are sent over to their gaming world. At first, most of them have the goal of getting him (one does not), but even after that, they occasionally have discussions about things they miss... like when a call and response password is a McDonalds jingle, since it would be something any of them could answer without a problem.

Thats a fair point, you probably COULD make a isekai where the entire focus is on getting home, but you would have to establish that its possible within the first season or two or else it would, as you said, get old fast. But even when they cant get home, just because they are now resigned after their third attempt to figure a way back failed, doesnt mean they are fine with being in this new world, they just accept they have no choice. So I think they would still count under this subject heading.

[Tvtyrant]

Thats a fair point, you probably COULD make a isekai where the entire focus is on getting home, but you would have to establish that its possible within the first season or two or else it would, as you said, get old fast. But even when they cant get home, just because they are now resigned after their third attempt to figure a way back failed, doesnt mean they are fine with being in this new world, they just accept they have no choice. So I think they would still count under this subject heading.

Like beating the final boss sends them home, and they all live if they win but you can't participate once you die. Members drop off as time goes on Gantz style, and the horror of the place gets to them. Like having to wipe out the goblins who didn't really do anything wrong because they want to live and they have to to win, or having to decide between staying at a town to keep it safe and knowing leaving will see a cut scene wipeout of the real people there.

[Fiery Diamond]

I think such things will usually be limited to early issues, if for no other reason than seasons/books/issues of whining by the protagonist would get old. However, I'd point to the Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg, wherein several college students are sent over to their gaming world. At first, most of them have the goal of getting him (one does not), but even after that, they occasionally have discussions about things they miss... like when a call and response password is a McDonalds jingle, since it would be something any of them could answer without a problem.

So, I've used threads on these forums to find some pretty good media: books, anime, TV shows. This post piqued my interest, so I headed over to Wikipedia (it has a VERY small page for this series). Series of ten books spanning two decades, interesting premise and description in your post... I need something new to read; I'll give it a try, I thought. I got it on kindle.

I didn't even last the first chapter. Heck, I didn't even make it to the introductory scene for the D&D meeting. Now, I've read plenty of books from the 1900s (this book came out in 1983, about six years before I was born). Some of them are good and age well, and others... not so much. This is DEFINITELY a "not so much." The interaction between the two characters in the initial scene had me cringing throughout. I had just paid for this, something that I was really hoping would be good, so I powered on through. Maybe it will get better as it gets into the swing of things, I thought.

I reached the following quote in the next character's introduction scene and quit right then: "All cripples fantasize, you see. They have to, just like normal people, although not always about the things normal people do." Now, I don't know what decade it became unacceptable to call physically handicapped/disabled people "cripples," but that's aged about as well as the N-word. That by itself, though, I could chalk up to terms falling in and out of acceptable use. But the second sentence... wow. "Cripples" versus "normal people?" And the sort of condescending narrator attitude feeling the need to explain that "cripples" fantasize just like the rest of us "normal people"? Nope. The only way I can see this book being accepted is by people who read it when it came out going back and rereading for nostalgia purposes, thus being capable of overlooking this kind of stuff.

Consider this my warning to everyone who read the quoted post and thought about going to read it like I did.

[Ibrinar]

And the sort of condescending narrator attitude feeling the need to explain that "cripples" fantasize just like the rest of us "normal people"?

In that form of narration that are the characters thoughts/perspective he is being self mocking and rather bitter the whole scene. I mean you can consider it problematic for what the makes him think and the whole way it is handled, but you should properly separate character voice and author perspective so you can do it for the right reasons.

[J-H]

I think I read that book. That's a deliberate setup. The character he ends up inhabiting is a dwarven berserker, and he ends up using some form of "I hate being helpless" when he's all manacled up somewhere as his internal mantra. He goes RedScreen and comes back to himself surrounded by a smashed wagon and a whole lot of Bad Guy bodies, and fairly happy with the results.

It's been a decade or more since I read it. Maybe it was on the Baen Free Library? They had character levels by letter instead of by number, and one of the starting characters had a bad moment of realization when his one-handed thief was in the middle of pick-pocketing someone...right?

[LibraryOgre]

I think I read that book. That's a deliberate setup. The character he ends up inhabiting is a dwarven berserker, and he ends up using some form of "I hate being helpless" when he's all manacled up somewhere as his internal mantra. He goes RedScreen and comes back to himself surrounded by a smashed wagon and a whole lot of Bad Guy bodies, and fairly happy with the results.

It's been a decade or more since I read it. Maybe it was on the Baen Free Library? They had character levels by letter instead of by number, and one of the starting characters had a bad moment of realization when his one-handed thief was in the middle of pick-pocketing someone...right?

Yep.

It's definitely got its rough spots, but I think James Michael/Ahira's characterization works.

[Lord Vukodlak]

"The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind"
They summoned a mighty hero to face the Demon King.... and two bystanders got caught up in it.