/a/ - Animu & Mango

I've been readings oda nabuna but the translation for the recently translated volumes suck ass.

It's a harem shit but it's a good harem shit to me at least.

The next arc is gonna be United Japan vs the crusade led by Queen Elizabeth 1st

>>847112

Are you having a stroke?

>>847248

>best girl dies

Dropped.

>>847080

>upcoming animu adaptation

What?

So since the Ride-on king is getting a manga I figured I would actually sit down and read the Web novel. Problem is, I can't seem to find it. First time I ever saw it was a few months ago on Novel updates, but I'm not getting any good results with the English title. Does anyone have the original name?

Alternatively, am I crazy? Does a Web Novel even exist? I was so sure it did but the last 30 minutes have dampened my confidence.

>>847096

Reika-sama is great but the translator has been giving me blueballs recently. Went rmfrom super consistent to never ever updates in a flash.

Does anyone else think the ratio of licensed novels to published novels is huge? There are so many licensed novels scheduled for release late 2018 - early 2019 yet I haven't seen more than 50 novels already in print.

Did publishers only recently turned up the heat or am I just late to the hobby?

I will post some of the best translated shit you can find.

>Dungeon defense, literal godlike translation and novel.

>Ouroboros Record – Circus of Oubeniel, even better translation and the novel is darker than dungeon defense but its the kind I enjoy most, where the protagonist is unabashedly evil.

>Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World, good harem where the protagonist isn't a cuck and he gets laid every night with cute girls although its more of a slice of life novel and doesn't focus on sex, it also comes with an occasional drawing.

>The girl who ate a death god, excellently dark and well translated, it's about a girl who survives a bandit attack and joins her countries military and slaughters people, she is also obsessed with food.

All of them are quite dark and they are all well translated, they are also still being updated except for the last one, don't let Ouroboros Record's 23 chapters fool you, the chapters are MASSIVE.

>>847507

Ride-on king is a manga original, it doesn't have a WN.

>>847519

>Dungeon defense

Was good to a point then got redundant when they got to BEACHES AND SHORES

>>847528

I see. I must have seen the first chapter on Novel updates when it came out at first. I feel like it must have been around May. Explains why I couldn't find it though, thanks anon.

>>847574

I've read most of the translation for the LN and all of the translation for the WN. It's pretty much the same up through the spirit tortoise fight. There is a whole lot more professional sheen to it and it had some new stuff added, but all the major plot points are nearly the same. The fight with the spirit tortoise is a lot shorter in the LN, and splits the LN off of the plotline in the WN.

Having read up through the end of the new arc, it kinda goes back to recycle the curse series on the other heroes and the town building stuff, but it's different enough to warrant reading.

If you liked the WN, the LN is just a better version.

>>847574

I liked the beginning of the web novel when it was just a consumption isekai and the not-so-comfy adventures of a level one merchant. It eventually turns into power level shonen shit after the MC gains his cheat abilities, so I ended up dropping it.

>>847591

The first 3 volumes really are the best part of the series. I don't dislike the village building arc though.

>>847604

>That list

Is just your tastes. Don't do that, let the people talk for themselves and contain your list autism.

>>847611

I've gotten such a bad taste for gookshit I can tell whether or not a gook wrote something within a fucking paragraph of reading it. And it sickens me to my core, like I bit into something sour.

>>847615

And it's important to expose those who want to read light novels to the eternal gook/eternal chink of the light novel realm. The choices on the list are the easier to swallow horseshit.

>>847614

To further explain those choices, another way to put it is that if I were to eliminate the complete shit from the list, and the so-so novels from the list, I'd be left with roughly 20 titles. I plan to separate the lists in such a way that anons are aware if they're reading garbage or if they're reading something decent.

>>847617

> expose those who want to read light novels to the eternal gook/eternal chink of the light novel realm.

This is possible by just having them read invisible dragon and dungeon defense though. Having just those two is enough to get the point across.

>>847620

>31 volumes

Truly the Drizzt of /a/ media.

>Currently reading:

Lazy dungeon master.

Shomin no aji.

Both are pretty good. They itch my desire to read isekai anyway. Shomin no aji's mc feels a little mary sue-ish at times, but eh it's isekai so fuck it. It also keeps me from getting blue balls from kenkyo kenjitsu since it gets updated often. I don't know why people keep recommending dungeon defense, because that shit bored me really quickly.

>>847632

Dungeon Defense was released while a lot of /a/ was waiting for the next Overlord LN to release, and it was only at volume 1 at the time. A lot of the site jumped on it because it was enjoyable for the first two volumes and reminiscent of Overlord.

>>847633

I really like dungeon defense. A physically weak but smart guy constantly in danger of getting wrecked by bitches on all sides that could tear him half. And just the whole 'playing the fool' thing that's basically been his motto.

>>847604

>the people over at J-Novel Club are at least nice enough to not send C&Ds out to fan translators until a volume in question is complete

That's nice of them. Hopefully they get more novels in print just like they did with grimgar of fantasy and ash.

>Paying 6.99 for a 3 MB file

>>847671

You forgot that it is "Deus Ex Machina 2: the Edgelord's Electrical Boogaloo!".

I'm still waiting for Dungeons to be Defended as well.

>>847701

>Realized I forgot an entire section

Fuck it.

>>847701

I know this is the LN thread and I don't mean to shitpost so don't take it as such, but what do people see in Overlord? I tried watching the anime, I gave it the 3 episode try and it was awful. It seem to fit snugly into the Shitty Isekai tier. But everyone else seems to go crazy for it. I just don't understand.

>>847701

Hold on a second. Goblin Slayer isn't isekai.

>>847719

That's the joke.I think.

>>847720

Also this, to be honest.

>>847713

Its better written than the most. It has some nice moments. Setting is a bit different because its about a whole group of people instead of single character. In the end its above average tier. You just havent seen shitty isekai yet.

>>847725

>>847721

I see, in general I avoid isekai entirely because the entire genre doesn't appeal to me. But everyone gave such a glowing opinion of Overlord so I decided to give it a try and was disappointed. I guess it's the type of thing I missed the boat on. Oh well, thanks for explaining anyway

>>847725

>>847726

>You just havent seen shitty isekai yet

>I avoid isekai entirely because the entire genre doesn't appeal to me.

The well runs deep anon. No matter how far down you go there always seems to be a new level of despair lurking in the depths. Overlord is probably in the top 5% in terms of quality, not because it is good but because it is surrounded by mediocrity.

>>847729

Let me guess, 95% of the genre's plots boil down to: Truck-sama takes a salaryman to a poorly written other world. Where he's now the hero of legend who has to stop the big bad evil guy and all the girls love him and he has a harem. Also he's incredibly OP and never has a problem with anything?

>>847738

You're making me glad that the only LN I ever read was All You Need is Kill when it first got translated. That sounds like a rabbit hole I really don't want to go down.

>>847604

>Sevens

My person of african descent.

>>847740

Try Mushoku Tensei and don't listen to list autism, he has chronic shittaste and he's too enthusiastic about sharing it.

>>847745

>and don't listen to list autism, he has chronic shittaste

I recommended Mushoku Tensei.

>>847735

That's actually not the problem at all. You can still follow that cookie cutter plot and still have fun, interesting writing. If anything subversion is actually a staple of isekai WNs at this point since so many people who have never written more than a sentence in their lives will read a LN and say "heh, wouldn't it be great if someone wrote exactly this thing but instead of X it was Y". A lot of LNs are just WNs that were ripped from the internet in a format where the author cranked a chapter a day. Since the original work is done in such a haphazard way with no fore thought, the writing quality is already going to be low while simultaneously being worse than whatever inspired it.

>>847729

Actually last 2 volumes were actually good. I wouldn't be surprised if in next book they will pretend that most of awful shit never happened.

>>847735

>hero of legend who has to stop the big bad evil guy and all the girls love him and he has a harem

Often he is average OP dickhead who wanders aimlessly with his harem for no reason.

What you described is top 10%.

>>847738

Hell, if you think about it, dungeon defense is not so bad. If not for the edgiest edge I ever seen anywhere. Have you ever seen compulsive liar? The guy/girl who always talks about all the great stuff which happen to them. Like how he slept with 10 girls at the same time and defeated 10 guys in fistfight and how he knows a great way to make money if you lend him 10k$ (50$ will also work). Dungeon defense is exactly this but the guy also listens to cradle of filth.

>>847744

I remember starting reading something about elegan/tg/entleman elder lich. Was about nice shenanigans in some drow town, but suddenly it was few fucking pages describing all the bullshit skills and stats some character had. I never felt more betrayed.

Shitty LN often can be not so bad in general but one aspect can be so bad it makes it impossible to read.

>>847744

Wow that sounds bad. I think I'm correct on staying away from the whole medium

>>847745

Maybe one day if I feel up to trying one again, is there any good place to find translations?\

>>847748

>>847752

You're not inspiring confidence in me, judging from how badly you describe it. It makes me curious as to why you continue reading all this?

Is it really as >>847744 says where it's an addiction to find something decent in a mountain of shit?

>>847759

>Maybe one day if I feel up to trying one again, is there any good place to find translations?\

There's the official place:

https://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Mushoku_Tensei

There's also .epub/.pdf versions of it:

https://armaell-library.net/novel/mushoku-tensei

https://archive.org/details/manga_Mushoku_Tensei

Often, just google it and the options will appear. I myself have downloaded the .epub versions from a shady google drive long ago.

>>847759

>It makes me curious as to why you continue reading all this?

To me it's not so different than watching a mountain of seasonal trash as it airs when it comes to wading through trash. When I really started on the LN grind I was going through a bad time in my life and I couldn't be bothered to get out of bed most days or even work on my anime backlog. I ended up spending months just blowing through nearly everything that even marginally caught my interest. One of the things that I noticed was that since a lot of them were on going, I would finish everything that had been translated of one WN, but still want to keep going, so I would move onto the next closest thing.

If you are looking for intellectual stimulation then you probably shouldn't be on /a/ in the first place. If all you want is something comfy to read before going to bed, or at work, or to just no life consume for awhile then there are plenty of passable works. Anon's list is a good start.

>>847759

95% of anything is shit. And you usually can come here and read about good stuff.

novelupdates.com is alright, you can even see a reviews.

>Let’s make it short here... MC is sh*t and a pu**y.

>Have power, but won’t use and let others have their way with him.

>P.S it’s my opinion and how I feel so if you like a spineless MC... go ahead!

> While the synopsis made it looks like it's Konosuba meets Overlord with misunderstanding comedy, the whole story in actuality is just another isekai harem with garbage tier fan service and an annoying protagonist that can't use his power to his fullest due to his underdeveloped brain.

For example.

Rating system is shit, but reviews are good.

>>847765

>I don't get it. What is the quality of Mushuoku Tensei?

>I read it until the calamaity or whatever happens and am caught up with the manga

That's your problem. Also, Mushoku Tensei is the best "serious" isekai out there, the only one I managed to like because I seriously detest the genre (KonoSuba is also good, but it's comedic, parodic).

I would also recommed Reika-sama (Kenkyo Kenjitsu) more here - it seems faggots have too much childish isekais and too little cute ojou-sama love stories.

>>847765

>I'm honestly curious how anyone thinks it's even worth reading

It's one of the only isekai that actually has a real resolution and polygamy.

>>847765

The calamity is arguably the absolute worst and trashiest part of the entire light novel. Everything before it is great, and everything after they return from the Demon Continent is pretty good, but the Calamity is kinda crap (but it's needed for the rest of the story I guess). The main story doesn't even begin really until they're back on the main continent. See >>847767 and >>847768

>>847772

This, the calamity stuff is, like, at the earliest stages of the story, maybe at 5% mark.

From there so much happen it's almost funny to hear it being invoked as an excuse, specially because it's a single point event that triggers the real plot.

>>847764

Thank you, I'll save those links

>>847762

>>847764

Well intellectual stimulation isn't something I'm looking for in LNs, and I'm fairly familiar with pulp scifi as I've read a ton of them and I've heard LNs are similar to pulps. Also I do understand that most of anything is trash. including your waifu But I've heard that the vast majority of LNs and WMs are extremely poorly written which translates to english even worse. And honestly the isekai genre doesn't appeal to me much and I've also heard that the LN medium is filled to the brim with it so I suppose that all turned me off of looking into them too much. As I've said earlier I read all you need is kill when it was first translated and published in the west and enjoyed that and I understand that there are a few standout LNs such as Kino and the Monogatari series which I am interested in reading since I've enjoyed the animes. But I guess I'm fine with being a casual and not a full on fan of LNs.

>>847777

>Thank you, I'll save those links

was meant for >>847761

>>847780

>piss poor family.

>Lives in a 3 room house in a medieval city.

Pick one.

Then there's also the fact that she gets money from inventing sticks.

She then also invents oil because somehow a medieval society has never had leatherworking or cooking, speaking of cooking next she invents cake because this society has never tried to make any sort of sweetened bread.

I really wanted to like this one because it had such a realistic and down to earth setting at the start but they had to make her relevant by turning the world even more retarded than your standard dragonquest based isekai world.

>>847844

>>847845

>medieval society has never had leatherworking or cooking

Some of authors write that before protagonist came everyone were eating dirt and lived in houses with holes in every wall during winter. No one was smart enough to pluck the holes, they were just complaining about the cold and unfairness of it. And because someone is poor he cant clean himself at all and everyone is surprised when protagonist cleans all the layers of dirt from himself. They really think that people were not only retarded to eat dirty potato, they were so retarded to eat dirty potato leaves instead of potato itself. Also everyone in medieval society think that reading is useless skill. Why would anyone want to learn how to read and therefore be able to make a living doing easier jobs instead of hauling rocks for living? Anyone with useful skills should be laughed at! Round wheels? What a bloody stupid idea! Everyone knows that wheels should be square!

>cooking

If anything medieval society should have more variety in their local recipes for food. In modern day you can cook whatever from a fridge, but they must have considered preservation of food and availability of it. Hell, I dont think that even dungeon meshi had seasonal food in it yet.

Also reminds me of stolen tv series. You know "married with children"? They live in a 2 story house in original show and its considered "poorfags living". But in russian adaptation they live in 2 story apartment with giant rooms while they are supposedly live as poorfags.

>>847845

To be fair, that's part of the propaganda taught through the high school level in American schools, so it's not impossible that Nips, a lot of their modern education being formed on American foundations, would have a similar view of medieval Europe. I'm not saying it's right, just that it makes sense why they'd think that way. Since US schools teach that sort of bullshit to make it seem like public education has carried us so far into the future.

How is that possible to tag a reverse trap story as belonging to the "gender bender" genre?

https://www.novelupdates.com/series/crossing-to-the-future-its-not-easy-to-be-a-man/?pg=22

>>847931

Perhaps what he could do is list the categories in rows and put anything isekai on the right side of the image. I'd also suggest getting rid of good reads and just highlighting recommended series in their own categories instead. I'd disagree with you on GS, once the memes wear out their welcome what's left isn't that great.

>>847701

>Inside the cave of obscenity

I gave that a look, and the graph wasn't kidding, it really is pretty shitty. Felt like an hour of being teased with no payoff. That said, don't think it's isekai. Just fantasy.

>>847943

Happens all the time, these fuckers must die.

Pretty sure I already posted these in the last LN thread but I'll post them here again. Not currently reading anything right now but these are three that I've read most recently:

>Death Note: Another Note - The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases by NisiOisiN

I enjoyed this one. Naomi Misora as the protag rather than Light, L or someone much more prominent in the original canon took a bit of getting used to but she was pretty likable and well written. I especially enjoyed the narrative style of the whole thing being told from Mello's POV, which I wasn't expecting but enjoyed nonetheless. I like the idea of Beyond Birthday almost as L's doppelgänger and I thought he was a good antagonist, especially with the cat-and-mouse games he plays with Naomi throughout the novel. My one complaint though is that I wish Beyond was fleshed out more since he was an interesting villain and I would've liked to have known more about him and his past. Overall, I wouldn't go so far as to call it great but it was still pretty damn good overall and was a fun crime thriller with a psychological flavor more than anything else, even if you're not a big fan of Death Note.

>L: change the WorLd by M

Jesus Christ, this one was bad. The plot was very predictable, dialogue was fan fiction-tier garbage and almost all characters were paper thin and forgettable. The only redeemable thing about this one is that we get to see a side of L that neither the manga nor the anime really showed, but even that wasn't very extensive. The movie adaptation seems slightly better but not by much.

>All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Hands down my favorite light novel thus far. I know that the "Groundhog Day mixed with Starship Troopers" comparison has already been made but really, that's the best way I can describe this one. The plot is fairly original and quite interesting, and the sci-fi aspects are very entertaining (time travel through looping, military weapons/tech, Mimics, etc.). The writing is good for a light novel and I loved the dry, dark sense of humor where it was used. The setting is interesting since it's on an island and reminded me of the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan where U.S. forces are storming Omaha Beach at Normandy while under fire from occupying Germans. Most of the characters are at least decently written and memorable, especially Keiji Kiriya and Rita Vrataski. The progression that Keiji makes as a character throughout the novel is fucking cool and seems to be designed like the protagonist of an RPG who increasingly gets better every time he dies and respawns. I can't really say much about Rita since most of it would have to be put in spoiler text, but one thing I definitely appreciated is the fact that she's pretty badass without being a Mary Sue or an insufferable stronk womun that seems to be in every goddamn Pedowood movie and TV show nowadays, although the more you find out about her, the worse you feel for her, especially by the end. And speaking of the end, the ending is kind of depressing but still well done. The manga adaptation is a worthwhile read too, imo. The art is great and some of the creative liberties they took in terms of the differences between this adaptation and the original novel were good, although the dialogue was noticeably weaker and trimmed down a lot as well as toned WAY the hell down for a T+ audience, as was a lot of the violence since both aspects were pretty graphic in nature in the light novel. Perhaps the one weak part was the Mimics in that they don't seem to be very threatening until they attack since they're compared to dead, bloated frogs more than once rather than some tall or scary menacing thing, although maybe Sakurazaka was going for more of a Pennywise type creature where it seems harmless until it's too late. All in all though, this was a great fucking read and I'd definitely recommend it.

>>847780

Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru:

https://www.novelupdates.com/series/tensei-oujo-wa-kyou-mo-hata-o-tatakioru/

is also relatively dectent. It goes completely off the track for a typical "otome game heroine" novel, mostly in a good way.

>>847713

It's the definition of a farce. If you take it even marginally serious, you're gonna get nothing out of it. Watching bone daddy sperg and stumble from one victory to the next and listening to his internal monologue as he tries to keep a hold of a band of super powered evil shit stompers is a unique experience. It also has the benefit of reminding me of old times playing DND/mmos with friends.

I can honestly say that waiting for the LN releases and reading through the novels is one of the most fun experiences of my life.

>>847752

>Have you ever seen compulsive liar? The guy/girl who always talks about all the great stuff which happen to them. Like how he slept with 10 girls at the same time and defeated 10 guys in fistfight and how he knows a great way to make money if you lend him 10k$ (50$ will also work). Dungeon defense is exactly this but the guy also listens to cradle of filth.

I laughed really hard at this description. It's the best way I've ever heard this one described. Good job anon.

>>847765

Raphtalia is on the cover of about half of them. Same with Filo. I can do a detailed breakdown of the covers when I get home.

>>847780

>82 chapters

>decently interesting premise

I'll look into it anon. Thanks.

>>848103

>All You Need is Kill

Reminder that this was adapted into an pretty alright movie with tom cruising.

>>847722

>>847720

>>847719

>Hold on a second. Goblin Slayer isn't isekai.

Goblin slayer is "trapped in a game world" setting.

It's just done with enough subtlety you plebs haven't figured it out.

>>848258

>trapped in a game world

Except it isn't, you giganigger. Just because the setting runs by RPG rules, with stuff like classes and charactersheets, doesn't make it isekai.

>>848258

Oh really? Tell me when a regular faggot got translated into goblin slayer's world because that's what Isekai it's about: People getting sent to another worlds, normally by dying and getting send there or being summoned as muh hero.

>>848260

Goblin Slayer is a pure /tg/ storytiem, even purer than the original Slayers or Record of Lodoss War.

They literally use D&D 5th Ed characters sheets.

You know what's worse?

It's not even a good storytiem by /tg/ standards.

>>848262

"Real" people are the gods playing with the figurines, which are the players, which are the authors and his fa/tg/uys friends...

>>848265

As far as I know they're called rightgeous gods and chaotic gods who created that world out of boredom. Nowhere it's said those gods are people. You're grasping at straws.

>>848263

>>848265

Wouldn't it be funny if Goblin Slayer put it in nip minds that that's what tabletop games are supposed to be like?

>>848263

>>848265

>DnD is a versus game, in which two groups of people play against each other.

Confirmed for never having played a roleplaying game in his life.

You know what's worse?

Even if you were right and this was just the retelling of some fantasy campaign, that still would make it Isekai. That's like calling the movie "The Gamers" isekai.

>>848271

>They use character sheets on the guild registration, hence the gods must be players.

Yep, you are. Even if you were right it wouldn't make goblin slayer an isekai.

>>848272

<DnD is a versus game, in which two groups of people play against each other.

Well yeah...

You do know D&D isn't a computer game right?

The guy you're playing against is called a game master (well dungeon master in D&D).

And even without that while cooperation is preferred (for simplicity) PvP action is a perfectly frequent occurrence when you have players with different alignments (especially in D&D since the alignments are fairly rigid).

When you set up gods as players, third person narration speaking of dices, you openly uses RPG sheets, you make the main character someone special regarding those dices and players, etc..., then you're in a fucking game world and it's the central "mystery" of the plot.

The funny thing to me is that if GS was (explicitly) an isekai it wouldn't be hugely different than it is now. Someone OP like Haruhi (aka 'Hero') could have been an isekai hero all along and we wouldn't be any the wiser.

>>848278

You're going to get punished by fa/tg/uys for this post and for good reason, but it's worth pointing out at least that players vs. the DM is hardly unheard of, even though it doesn't often make for a good game.

>>848278

I'm really not sure what you are trying to do here.

>The guy you're playing against is called a game master (well dungeon master in D&D).

Yes. One single person is the DM. The setting clearly implies that the evil creatures are guided by multiple evil goods, just like good gods watch over the fate of the adventurers. Neither side is in direct control of their pawns.

It's also implied that every adventurer fills out an adventure sheet, even those outside the main group, who would be DM-controlled NPCs in a real game.

Lastly, why would a character inside the game fill out the character sheet that the player has already filled out?

>PvP action is a perfectly frequent occurrence when you have players with different alignments (especially in D&D since the alignments are fairly rigid).

Not in the same way the story is structured. Sure you sometimes have people in the same party murder each other over dumb shit. What you don't have a is a game in which two player groups of equal size play adventurers vs monsters skirmish games.

Not that it would be impossible to do but then the story would certainly have a different structure.

>>847699

>Mushoku Tensei

It was decent but it really dropped the ball in the last arc and it's a total cocktease to show us a more powerful alternate version of himself that he never reaches. And I have no idea how he ushers in the age of mages when it seems like sword guys still dominate.

He was:

>An adult born again

>Had the partial soul of an incredibly powerful mage

>Learned magic from some of the best teachers

>Had hax armor

And he still almost gets his shit pushed in by the sword guys in the last fight, how can any other mage possibly live up to his level when they need to train from childhood to have mana that's decent AND they can't possibly have as much mana as him.

>>848243

>>848244

I torrented the movie somewhat recently but just haven't gotten around to watching it yet. A lot of people seem to say that it's one of the best live action movies out there originally based on an animu or mango but considering most of them seem pretty bad or at the very least mediocre, even the Japanese made ones, that may not be much of a compliment. Who knows though, maybe I'll end up enjoying it. It definitely deserves a feature-length anime film adaptation at some point.

>>848290

The fact that the author has accepted Matt Ward as his spiritual liege only strengthen my argument.

>>848562

The fact that you had to steal that joke from the manga thread on /tg/ only weakens your HONOR.

>>847780

Just finished catching up on this. It's ok. Not super unique or interesting, but enough to stand out. Decent time waster.

MC is portrayed really inconsistently. One moment she's a hypercapitalist, the next she's giving shit away.

I like that she's not uber powerful, but she's also not the most interesting character, and can feel pretty one note. She is also a lady sperg, the worst kind of sperg.

>>847604

I've been enjoying kono sekai ga game da to ore dake ga shitteiru. It's another isekai where a guy gets thrown into a game he's obsessed with. Unfortunately, the game is filled with game breaking bugs and was balanced by sadistic devs that hated their players. To survive the harsh world the main character abuses the glitches and his knowledge of the game. Isekai itself has already been done to death, but this one is handled really well. The author does a good job of building an interesting world, and it's clear he had a concrete idea for the world before he started writing. Any new information that comes up feels more like an extension of the world than it does an overturning of what was already established, and that is a pretty refreshing change of pace when reading this genre. The bugs the main character abuses are all pretty logical, and they feel way less like ass pulls than the typical OP shit. Some examples of the bugs the main character has abused so far are: lying down on the ground and stabbing monsters' ankles because they weren't designed to hit there, using invisible hitboxes from old cosmetic glitches on attacks to catch people off guard, and digging up high level quest rewards with a shovel because he isn't limited in what he can interact with anymore. There's 2 volumes translated (and continuing to be) right now, but I'm not sure how far the raws go.

>>847699

Goblin slayer isn't an isekai though. Thinking about it, I don't think isekai makes for a very good category here anyways. There's just too much of it. I'd sort them out into different categories based on how they approach the story.

>>849029

I'd say there needs to be a distinction between isekai used as a plot element to tell a unique story (Overlord, Konosuba, Grimgar) and isekai as a genre of samey cookie-cutter power fantasy stories (OP Hero haremshit, edgy revenge fantasies).

>>847726

Overlord is a comedy. The story moves forward due to the crazy stuff the MC's underlings do and the new world's natives do. You get fun adventures, crazy happenings and epic shit going on, but the meat and potato of the novels are the comedic bits.

>>847765

Mushitku Tensei is about a pedophile who gets isekai'd and builds up a harem including a 6 year old girl he groomed, a noble 10 year old girl he groomed and a "I'm actually 400 years old" loli mage. It's OP shit where the MC barely has to put in effort to become OP he's actually reborn with the ability to become OP. Everyone worships the MC for being amazing can't-do-no-wrong type. Despite all of that, it still does have some great moments and it has best bro immortal demon guy with multiple arms.

It reminds me of MuvLuv Alternative. It's a complete shit fest with an unbearable MC that everyone worships. It reads like shit, the pacing is awful and the characters are hateable. But every now and then the story is set up in a way to have something amazing and flashy happens, it feels awesome. And from my experience, that's how Japs do their story: filler trash to connect big moments and who cares about quality if those big moments are cool.

>>848386

I watched the movie completely blind and was stunned by how good it was.

>>849031

Isekai is a person or consciousness being put in a completely different world/reality and being aware of it. Goblin Slayer is a fantasy story, Grimgar is isekai.

Read a fair bit of Kumo desu ga nani ka, and it was pretty good until she became a god and now I've been stuck reading about the shitty side story characters I don't give a fuck about. Lookitme I'm the typical peace loving japanese high school student that won't harm or kill anyone no matter what. I want more food adventures with the spider.

>>849057

>Overlord is a comedy

It attempts to joke at best.

>>849057

>Read a fair bit of Kumo desu ga nani ka

Apparently manga goes in different direction right at the moment when LN went to shit.

>>847943

And a friendly warning, for any "cishet bigoted pig" like me here, it's better to omit any translator footnotes for that story. No need to get riled over a minor issue.

>>849057

Just don't talk, really, we can see your anxiety.

>>849077

I've not followed the manga. what did they do different?

>>849057

>Overlord is a comedy.

The only jokes in overlord are albedo thirsting over ainz and ainz's actions being read as some magnanimous shit by everybody around him. Both had shitty executions and got old a long time ago.

>>849496

The central joke is Ainz bumbling around and causing accidental success. If that is something that you can not find enjoyment from, I do not believe that you can find a whole lot of enjoyment in the show. Personally, I find his bumbling and acting to be just about as funny as the entire character gallery of Konosuba. Konosuba is still funnier in the end, but I derive about the same level of enjoyment from the two.

Considering all the hype it got, I decided to read the first 3 volumes of Saihate no Paladin.

And to be honest, I was a bit disappointed.

The world building is good, the side characters are interesting, but the novel suffers from the fact that the MC is too much of a hero.

It also feels a bit directionless, William (MC) just wants to live a "good life with purpose", and there's little foreshadowing or build up for future arcs.

The world doesn't follow game rules, and is more of a "proper" fantasy world, which is a nice change from the norm of LNs/WNs, but besides the worldbuilding the writing isn't anything special.

Saihate no Paladin is a good series, and worth a read, especially if one enjoys more traditional fantasy settings. But I wouldn't consider it "the best LN by far" like many others do.

>>849557

>>849701

>Not every comedy is slapstick, anon.

The level of risk for Ainz of being found out as a fraud by the nazarick npc is incredibly low. He fucks up? npcs think it's a test or something beyond their understanding so ainz always gets away with it. He does shit by accident and somehow gets better results than expected every single time. The dude never meets failure even by accident. It happens every single time so shit gets old. It's not a matter of the nature of the joke, it's more about the same joke being used ad nauseam.

Rather than the comedy, I find more interesting the world he was sent into. The nazarick npcs and regular dwellers of the world are more complex than Ainz and have actual character development like sebas, the lizard people, the dwarves or even Neia change more in their respective volumes compared to Ainz has barely changed at all.

>maybe you read the later volumes post-editing.

Probably. I found pdfs of the volumes and read them as it is, I didn't really bother to check who did the translation so maybe it is as you say.

>>849696

I didnt know that there was a third volume out of Faraway Paladin. I read the first two in April.

>>849718

There are 4/5 volumes published.

Volume/part 3 was released in 2 books (3.1 and 3.2).

The volume 4 translation was published April this year.

>>849722

Did you grab it off of Nyaa? I can't connect to any of the seeders there and can't seem to find another source.

>>849727

>Did you grab it off of Nyaa?

No, I got it from Madoka.

>>849767

Ah, I made a slight typo: https://ghostbin.com/paste/yhtxw

>>849029

Read the first two volumes. It's not bad, I actually kinda like it. I was expecting it to devolve into an OP harem fuckfest but it didn't.

>>849841

>No harem fuckfest

That's the only reason battleshit is tolerated in the first place.

>>849844

I can't stand harem stuff. It's fine if there is a fight for the MC, but I can't stand the harem ending.

>>849815

Maybe deep down they know they would've done the same, especially Takitsubo if any of them made a move on her man.

GROUP 100% survivor rate all other teams get BTFO

S3 and Frenda death animated SOON

>>849916

To be fair, Frenda did sell ITEM out and her personal vendetta against Hamazura only gained traction after he severely mutilated her on several occasions, explaining her abnormal hatred of him past the initial murder attempt on him I still don't remember what happens that finally makes her stop trying to kill him after getting stabbed in the eye, shot, having her hand amputated and being blasted with a jet engine

>>849920

Hamazura mutilated her in self defense, all stemming from her trying to kill him from the start because she's an insane bitch.

>>849922

Never said he wasn't justified in dicing, kebabing and sautéeing her, just that reasonably it fueled her bloodlust.

>>847701

>no kino no tabi

>>850118

The list is crap, but Kino is vastly overrated.

>>849696

Im midway through part 2 of book 3, and I can say that this is easily one of the best iseaki with a more serious tone I have read. I really wish it was just a fantasy story.

>No "World like a game" bullshit.

>MC is ==PURE== and just a good guy.

>Cast is pretty standard fare but not terribly trite or awfully written.

>MC is /fit/ and gives decent life advice.

>>848243

>>848386

>>849057

Oh, finally got around to watching the movie today and all things considered, it was pretty good. I was expecting it to just be alright but I came out of it pleasantly surprised.

>>850195

Depending on your maturity stage, you could say what you said about any character.

This doesn't look good for you.

Got really bored and looked around and found something unusual. A crossover fanfic of Fate and Mass Effect, essentially in the vein of an isekai, called "Man off the moon".

It's kind of interesting, in the sense that you can just feel the autism dripping off of the writing, on a bunch of different subjects, though you can tell he doesn't know shit about spaceflight early on. Aside from the MC being completely overpowered and blowing through the admittedly interesting set ups, so far it's been pretty good.

>>850311

Holy shit that sounds like a great train wreck. How long is it?

>>850286

You didn't get the message, it seems, and of course you wouldn't.

>>850326

Like 300k or something and by the looks of it, it'll take another 200k until it ends.

>>850349

The whole story is about overcoming fate. I'd say after the Ogre Lord it starts to take a slime tensei route of retarded, but author-san did nerf him, by killing a lot of the "literally who?" Goblins that had evolved in the human invasion arc. I doubt it'll end in the way the prophecy foretold.

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet but Falling in Love with the Villainess is pretty good. MC isn't bullshit strong, there is no harem bullshit, romance actually fucking goes somewhere. It gets kinda iffy around Part 3 though. Basically it's Expecting to fall to ruin I became a blacksmith but not dogshit.

>>850449

Whats the story with the three in the top left?

>>850449

>ugly

>Looks like a completely normal guy

Dropped before I even started reading.

>>850449

>Cucked already and it's only chapter 3

>>850449

>has healing magic

>wants to be handsome

>Has a magical ability to mend and reshape flesh at his whim

>not just using that magic to cosmetically alter himself

>>850557

On this note it's really funny how wildly healing magic can function in fiction.

>>850480

I forget some of the details, but I believe the guy in the red coat is some noble/wizard that he befriends through the weirdest of circumstances, the blonde is some maid tanaka takes a fancy to and seems to bully by bringing her on his adventures, and they're riding a dragon-turned-loli

How do I save this entire thread?

>>850633

Using archive.is.

Http://archive.is/1Q3G5 .

>>850633

>Right click

>Save as

>>850449

This one is pretty funny. All of the characters intentionally have pretty bad personalities, and it's entertaining to watch the train wrecks unfold as they interact with each other.

>>850624

The noble wizard is the best part of this series. Although the best scene was when Tanaka finds Mercedes having her way with an enemy female magician.

>>847096

>>849917

For the longest time, I thought that these two were the exact same thing. I'm still not sure which one I read first.

>>850562

The wrong way to use healing magic has the best way to use it as a steroid that lets people push beyond their physical limits. Think about all those people who have temporary super strength and then tear their muscles and break their bones using it but instead they instantly heal afterwards. One of the limiting factors in strength training is your recovery time, what if you could do your 1RM until your mana runs out?

>>850819

I've got a soft spot for delinquents and this sounds right up my alley.

>>850819

I'm a little bit in, and I need to know something before I continue. Is this going to go the route of MC coming to think girls are absolutely wonderful? The dynamics at the start have been really hard for me to get through. He's surrounded by a bunch of terrible violent bitches and is being haunted by the ghost of a faggy white knight that is trying to convince him that these women are great.

>Grandma left grandpa after cheating

>Mom left dad for another guy

>Aunt is violent and belligerent towards him

>The fiancee throws shit at him whenever he tries to talk to her

>Girl sitting next to him kicked him and stole the lunch he was trying to buy

>I'm guessing that the ghost's sister murdered him because she couldn't stop smiling during the funeral

Every single female introduced so far has been vile, and one of the only two male characters is constantly going on about how wonderful and cute they are. If MC is just going to eventually get brainwashed into loving them, then I'd prefer to drop this shit right now rather than later.

>>850967

Later on the one that kicked him apologizes and starts supporting him after realizing she was being a bitch all along for no good reason. The dude will always hate his grandma and mom, that doesn't change ever. He also never changes his impression of his aunt. The fiancee later stops acting like cunt, apologizes to him for being such a little piece of shit, he forgives her and their interactions becomes cordial. I think this is what happens in volume 1. It's been quite a long time but I remember the delinquent always telling the faggy ghost all this shit was his fault for being a player. The ghost monologues would be a bit long so I frequently skimmed through them.

>>850978

Thanks, I'll power through this part, and decide whether to continue after I finish the volume.

>>847701

What about Haruhi, Log Horizon, Boogiepop, OreImo, Kino, and Monogatari? These are important titles, anon.

>>850995

>visibly cynical boy

>visibly neat girl with long dark hair

>visibly normalfag girl with short brownish hair

Now I'd really like to know the origin of this kind of trio, because it seems to be a new thing that is being copied more and more. I fear this will be the isekai of the next decade. Which is bad, because I'm weak against the neat type of girl.

>>851006

>Neat girl

Remember when people knew the name of the archetype and who was the first girl who originated it?

Yeah, newfag.

>>851006

>I fear this will be the isekai of the next decade.

Anon, Gekkou was published in 2010

>>851015

It also took quite a while for isekai stories to flood everything, even though they were present before the 2010s. Of course we are speaking of a certain combination of archetypes here, so it's a somehow different matter.

Why do people like MCs that are sissy like Shinji or Shonen hot shots? Both are unbearable.

I wish we got a cast out of something out of King of the hill but with good character growth.

The school children in Bokurano: Ours handled it WAY better than Shinji,

>>851040

>Why do people like MCs that are sissy like Shinji or Shonen hot shots?

Ask the japanese, I've never seen, in all of my years of this crap, a single westerner who liked such MC characters.

>Bokurano

You see, you have to stop treating imaginary beings as living ones, as having agency, as having thoughts of their own: all characters are the author, and the author's will.

>>851040

I dunno but I don't think the same people that like shinji would also like the typical hotblooded shounen MC. One is a wimpy virgin little faggot that wants to run away but is too much of a faggot to actually do it so he ends up in a even shittier situation. While the hotblooded chad (specially in sport manga) is the living symbol of hard work, dedication towards an unorthodox goal and the unquenchable will one needs to follow their dreams.

IF you notice, japs are forced to compulsive education, forced to go to cram school, forced to go to university, join a company and become corporate slaves. It wouldn't be surprising if kids stuck in the middle of said process were to find the story of a MC who follows his dreams despite the impossible odds somewhat attractive.

>>851165

I can't help but laugh when I read comments like this. You also live in a corporate hellhole.

>>851461

>you can't compare it with anywhere else in the world.

Try China.

>>851461

>but Japan has such a shitty study and working culture that you can't compare it with anywhere else in the world.

India, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia (if you're not a noble), both Koreas, Soviet-era Russia...

>>851461

>Japan has such a shitty study and working culture that you can't compare it with anywhere else in the world.

That isn't true anymore. Japanese working conditions have improved considerably in the last twenty years.

The reality is that the average Nipponese doesn't work more than the average American.

>>851461

>>851469

Don't get me wrong, OP, Japan has a shitty work culture, but it's not unique other than them being less populated per square mile compared to other countries (they're about in the middle of countries which is surprising considering most of the population lives in some city or another). In Japan, you still have the option to go become a tradesman if you fuck up horribly and make a decent wage even if it's nothing compared to what your father made. In other countries, fucking up is basically the death penalty compared to Japan which actually desires to keep the natives employed.

Say I have decent taste but I just got started with isekai and LNs, what do you people recommend?

I've loved Konosuba and the only thing keeping me from reading the latest volume is real life shenanigans. Same thing with Overlord but I'm only on volume 8.

I partially watched the log horizon anime but I thought it went to shit around the middle of the first season when it stopped being about the early politics of settling in the world, although that awful "reddit gamer" cringe struck me even in the episodes I deemed watchable. The writing quality just dropped from there and the typical isekai shenanigans in it weren't enough to keep me going.

I liked the Youjo Senki anime and the LN is on my backlog.

Although I'm stuck unable to read I'm asking for more because soon enough I will be stuck only able to read.

>>851469

Add the entirety of south america to that list because we live in literal feudalism.

>>853143

>/r/ing when an anon above made a newfag list

>>853144

>>853143

Nah but you should read Altina and Mushoku Tensei. I think you'd like both based on your tastes.

>>853144

Lists are pretty bad because there's no discussion, just listings. But I did save the list.

>>853150

I'm not really sure what I can discuss in regards to an /r/ if you haven't read it though, anon. It's basically impossible to explain Altina without spoiling it other than "a different world where France is ruled by superhumans at the beginning of the age of musket warfare" and Mushoku Tensei is best explained by reading the first couple chapters.

I've been having a discussion with a friend about why I dislike isekai despite liking the premise immensely.

The biggest problem I have with the genre is the complete lack of romance—not relationships and eros, but a feeling of wonder and curiosity for the world the characters are thrust into. Like stats and skills seem to exist for two purposes; a) power fantasy where minimal effort results in a lot of rewards, b) a crutch for people who want to write about another world without actually writing about another world.

It's the insistence on using translation skills, of generic medieval fantasy settings and comparing everything to the real world for reference. "Oh, so this is an apple—my mistake, it's an appla actually," and tying the monetary systems to yen with perfect conversion rates and no fluidity to the various materials. A coin's value is always equal to a sum of yen divisible by 10, no exceptions. And god forbid the economy actually shaping the costs of things through supply and demand, no no, much simpler to simply take reference from the post-industrial Japan for how much things should cost.

Or fuck, if you get to meet a fucking GOD after you die then why is it always the same bullshit where a literal fucking deity has none of the divine presence or weight one would expect from such a being? Why the fuck would they be so impressed by your good manners or groveling that they go out of their way to help you? Why would your accidental death be anything more than a blip in the system, or why would the not simply squash a human like a bug if they wanted to fuck with them?

But alright, let's strip all the wonder of exploration and of braving the unknown, remove all the complexity and slap on some training wheels to make sure no one ever feels overwhelmed or lost, that's fine. Let's instead focus on what everything else in Japan focuses on; waifus. No wait, they're all boring and unimaginative too. Where are the monstergirls, the inhumane and terrifying? No, no. Let's have a slavegirl that looks 99.99% human, or a busty elf. That'll work for sure.

For all their interesting premises, the nips can't help but be unimaginative ant-people after all.

>>853143

>>853163

Both of you read Grimgar.

>>853163

Read The 12 Kingdoms books.

No medieval Europe, economies change, the world has it's own fantastical logic and when they are in the presence of an actual God and not just the divine emperors and divine creatures there is an actual weight to them.

Then again, only 4 of the 8 novels could be sort of classified as isekai. The other books in the series are about fantasy people living their lives in the Twelve Kingdoms without Japan or Japanese people being mentioned even once.

>>853163

I think you'd enjoy traditional fantasy like Sevens or something like Grimgar more if that's how you feel about it. I think the main issue is that too many isekais try to be a parody or a deconstruction or a comedy instead of just being a damn fine isekai about a hero's adventure. Does anyone even know where the whole demon king thing came from? I thought it was dragon quest or something, but I legit can't think of any old fantasy game RPGs that focused around a hero and his companions against the demon king outside of anime.

>>858764

>why can't you just have a fucking harem?

>Unironically wants a dude to cheat on his waifu

Monogamy is the only way, harem fags were a mistake.

>>858859

Monogamy is the way if you're a human. If you're a demon king or more specifically a goblin in this case, a harem is the proper way.

>>858765

I'm also wondering about the origins of this standard fantasy setting. I know the Maou has roots in Buddhism and I think was later also applied to Satan once Christianity showed up in Japan, but I doubt that's where the modern idea is taking inspiration from. DQ is definitely a major source of inspiration since everyone and their cat in Japan has played it, but I think it's probably a mix between it and something else.

Can we at least find patient zero? What was the first fantasy setting that had this sort of premise?

>>858874

Some of the early titles I see brought up as a possible precursor to the isekai boom are...

>Seisenshi Dunbine

>Magic Knight Rayearth

>Fushigi Yûgi

>El-Hazard

>Genmu Senki Leda

>Aura Battler Dunbine

But none of these really match up to fantasy isekai really well. It seems a lot of early isekai was more sci-fi based.

>>858879

El hazard isnt even good

And why not mention inuyasha?

Isekais fail because a good number of them fail to be stories inatead of clear goals for protagonists to build a progressing adventure around you have a power wank that never ends. Interesting plots and character developments are almost universally absent. Just a premiae and some rapid burnout as the story goes fucking nowhere. At least crazy shit like gantz never violated basic story structure "if this then that"

>>858918

That's not a list of good materials, it's just a list of materials that are suggested to have influenced early isekai works (in finding out more about the origin of the hero vs. Demon king works).

>>847510

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12561123/1/Kenkyo-Kenjitsu-wo-Motto-ni-Ikiteorimasu

Is that enough to relieve you of your blue balls?

>>859112

Can I touch your hair?

>>859114

Headpats are verboten.

Road to Kingdom, holy fuck this was actually interesting and enjoyable to read. Basically, "Conan/Guts builds a harem and wants a kingdom". Doesn't shoot its load, is clear that it's all about the smut and the main character has a clearly defined and rational(for himself, at least) goal that he won't stray form all the time.

>>853212

>>853252

>>858765

Sevens was alright, though it wasn't very good. Like, it's competent and did nothing really wrong, but aside from a few Mr. Lyle sections is was never really into it. Will check out Grimgar and 12 Kingdoms, thanks.

>>859736

>Road to Kingdom

This looks like a fun read from the title. Usually anything by the nips with the word "vampire" is an immediate turnoff, but this doesn't look bad.

>>853163

It's post modern humor you wouldn't get it.

>>851472

Do their recent suicide statistics support your claims? I'm curious a little.

>>847574

>>847584

Where you guys reading the LN at? I was hooked by the manga when it was around chapter 4. It's painfully slow waiting for chapter releases. but the sites i find usually only have the first LN and I cant find any translations for the WN.

I'm also a huge fan of the manga artist now its a very simple clean style but keeps enough detail to be engaging.

>>863473

WN:

https://yoraikun.wordpress.com/tny-chapters/

378 chapters so it should keep you entertained.

>Read the first few chapters of Goblin Kingdom because some anon recommended it

>Main character kills off the other races females out of disgust and pity for their state then spends the next couple paragraphs bitching about how low their numbers are

>Ret conning in female goblins afterwards just to solve the authors own lack of balls

I'm tired of this limp dick writing

>>863584

They never retconned anything though? Goblin Females were cannon from the start, it's just his particular tribe didn't have any. In retrospect I recommended it early on and it's kind of wavered on the verge between shit and meh.

>>863487

>the initial chapters deleted from Baka-Tsuki

Use web.archive.org to read deleted content. The snapshot from May 16 2015 to be exact.

>>853163

What i hate about isekai is how miso soup/soy sauce is the best food ever made.

>>864571

I can understand miso. I'm not huge fan of miso soup, but it has a distinctive flavour that can't really be replicated. Coconut Aminos are a superior umami taste compared to soy sauce in every way though.

>>865493

This is why we must learn rune.

>>867144

Only 5 chapters in and I already had to wash out the sweet taste out of my mouth by drinking caramel flavored chocolate milk mixed with sugar. This is heading towards a sugar overdose by chapter 10 at this rate.

How far does the Goblin slayer LN translation go? Last time I checked it was at half of first volume or so.

>>867376

I heard four volumes, haven't bothered checking, funnily enough, even though I usually read the LN first.

>>867376

5 out of the 7 volumes released in Japan are translated.

I need bleach for my mind right now because of the following.

>>865805.

Looking for something like Samurai Executioner or Onward to our Noble deaths.

And now something completely different. Supposed to be a plain gender bender fantasy story, in fact an attempt to put life into a philosophical dilemma. If you take the title, exchange 'girl' with 'man' and look the term up on Wikipedia, that will be a biiig spoiler, so be warned.

https://www.novelupdates.com/series/swamp-girl/

A little letdown at the end that the central question wasn't given a decisive answer.