PLEASE HELP!!!
I LOVE to read, and I've been reading LN/WNs and manga, and watching anime for a LOOONG time, but lately, like over the past couple of years, they all just make me sick - shounen especially, as they're all the same. I'd like something that just plain makes sense. These are some of my biggest peeves, but I can deal with one, or two:
Skill levels? Come one. How many of us, "You can't beat my driving! I'm a lv 43 Bus Driver!" "I'm a lv 32 elementary school teacher." "Oh, I just jogged around the block and looked at my soulboard, and my stamina has risen to level C." "I just swung this hoe once, and now I've got the farmer class and became a level 4 farmer!" It's all so stupid - UNLESS it's fora novel that's in the gaming element genre.
Also, UNLESS it's a story about getting pulled into a game (Game Elements genre) like SAO, Overlord, and Log Horizon, it's stupid as hell and makes no sense what-so-ever. I mean, when I go deer hunting, the deer doesn't drop items like its hide, meat, coins, armor, potions, magic stone, and a gun. Also it's body doesn't disappear into little lights, nor does it get swallowed by the earth. No, if I want material, I have to skin it, and process the remains for the meat (why would a deer have potions and currency, or even metal weapons?). Also, how many times have you killed a mouse and gotten a bunch of carrots from it? I shit you not, there was a LN where EVERYTHING, including produce came from dungeon drops! Have you gotten iron ore from a rabbit lately? So unless the MC is in a VRMMO, or magically gets pulled into his game, keep that crap out.
The thing about gods gets my goat the most - gods are supposed to have no restrictions - that's what makes them gods. There is no, "I'm not allowed to..." or "I'm unable to..." No, it should be, "I can, but I won't...", or "I'll only allow..." Seriously. Now if there's a hierarchy of gods, and it's explained that the God of all gods doesn't allow something, then that makes sense. Also it'd make sense if the god is in disguise of a servant of himself, saying that he won't allow this servant to do so and so.
Also the thing I hate most about most of the isekai I read that involves a god is that they are made out to be so damned racist, so they make no sense what-so-ever. It's "The Japanese this," and, "the Chinese that." A god of another world would call the being, "a person of Earth." After all, when you kill an ant do you say, "My house is infested with ants," or do you say, "My house is infested with red Colombian Ants."? To a god, especially of another world, race/ethnicity wouldn't matter because a human from Earth would be just a human from Earth.
Then we have stories with a god for everything. I kid you not, I read one LN where there was a god for every job in existence. I so wanted to see the god of rectal thermometer testing. I dropped that one quicker than Rosie O'Donnell a carrot. I can understand having up to a dozen gods - any more than that kills the story for lack of interest. The Greeks and the Romans each only worshipped 12 gods. Native Americans worshipped over 200 and Hindism contains over 300 million (500 of which are more known), so no one cares about any of them, like the vegetable section of the grocery store to Michael Moore.
Then we have the MC compared to the rest of the world. I understand the path of the OP MC, but making the rest of the world out to have every body else being completely incompetent and useless. Yes, I read one WN where the average villager would be overpowered by a simple field mouse, and everyone was in such awe when the MC eliminated the mouse - yeah, I threw up and deleted said novel (what's sad is the huge following that novel has).
Okay, and the MC is OP, but you know, there should be masters in other fields. A master bowman. A master spy/thief. A master magician. Yeah, some novels do have them, but the majority, don't, and everyone else is an idiot, incompetent, or both. (I just read a novel where a lady knight, swordswoman, female archer, and a female mage, smart enough to find a demon king's general, and knew their tactics, and were listed as class C adventurers, yet the knight couldn't swing her sword, the swordswoman couldn't draw hers, the archer couldn't even draw, and the mage knew no spells - dropped) Then, what about training to become OP. Oops, I sneezed, now I'm a rank SSSSS Dark Sage, where my buddy has been training for 50 yrs to be a rank F ditch digger? Let's get real.
And why does EVERYBODY have to be flabbergasted by EVERYTHING the MC does. Jeez, you'd think they never seen another person pick up a beer and drink it. And I find it stupid as hell when the MC brings in corpses to be processed, and it's like none of the other adventurers have ever seen one before, let alone brought one in. What do they do all the time, just stand around and drink? Where do they get the money to do so? It makes no sense.
What's really sickening and overly used is the killing gazes by EVERY male because the MC has one, or more, women around him. Me, I'd think, that guy must be really nice, treat them well, or is rich, but I the thought that killing someone because they are more fortunate than me has NEVER crossed my mind. I don't even see that in middle school boys with their RAGING hormones. A guy has a cute girl, the other guys think, "So jeally! How can I get a girl like that?" Even they know that beating up the fortunate guy would gain nothing, and only drive the girl away... No. They might scheme on how to break them up, or make themselves look better to drive her to their own arms.
I love isekai. I love fantasy. I love adventure. Just make it something that's not so childish, and makes actual sense.
For example: The Bermuda Triangle claims another plane - it's a wormhole, or dimensional portal that sends planes and ships to another dimension, or world - and that plane tears apart while going through it, and a girl gets knocked out in the chaos and wakes up in another world, or stands before a goddess and gets sent to another world.... Then she has to learn the language, train for her profession, winds up OP at it, and defeats the demon lord, or wins at life - BUT, not everything is on a silver platter with the end at the beginning.
Does ANYBODY know of any good reads, or am I doomed to read only immature children's stories? (Even Seinen are very childish nowadays) Geez. They don't even have to be about a hero. Some of my favorites have been about a skills/trades master. I'm hoping there are some on this site, as there seem to be a lot of authors here. Maybe one, or more, are creating exactly what I'm looking for. :)
PLEASE send me some recommendations.
A couple of my faves:
The Galactic Navy Officer Becomes an Adventurer Keep Sci-Fi out of Swords and Magic, unless the story is about an Imperial Galactic Officer who crash lands on world of swords and magic. Best part yet, the MC HAD to LEARN the language and its literacy. Great novel when it's not a frikkin cookbook.
I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship Another great SciFi Isekai novel, but TL caught up with author, so gotta wait for new releases.