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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2436 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 2, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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90% of Isekai is exactly this, though. For a while it's fun, but doesn't it get boring fast?

I don't think it's that readers are bored of it, it's that writers are. It's been done before. Writers, good writers anyway, are setting out to create something. Burroughs and Howard already exist, so the only things you get like them are either twists in some way or they're thinly veiled fanfiction.

I'm largely out of the anime loop, although I did watch more Baki lately, and have been pecking at Vinland Saga.

From what very little I've seen of Isekai, the protagonist is usually a loser until he ends up in another world. These are less stories of excellence and more stories of lowering the difficulty setting on life.

There are isekais (in particular the Russian brand) where the protagonist is a more classic masculine archetype (special forces, talented engineer, talented engineer with special forces background etc). Still, it is peculiar that people today rely on this plot device to such an extent to put the excelling protagonist into a setting that he can dominate. It seems that the modern world has been disillusioned of great men. Both in the moral sense and in the extent people believe a great man can make an impact.

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