[Recommendation] - Similar MC to Souma of Realist Hero

jindo90

Is there any recommendation for stories similar to Realist Hero?
The thing I like about RH is that the MC is not OP, not emo, and well, kinda relatable.

Rahul Balaggan

@jindo90 Just from JNC i will recommend:

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (Female MC but everything else checks out)

Gear Drive (Same thing female MC but everything else checks out)

The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar (Personally speaking V1 was a little tough to get through but V2 forward has been a very pleasant read)

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash(The very definition of not too OP)

Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension (Not OP but does very interesting things)

infinite dendrogram (this is a toss up many people would argue MC is OP but in my opinion based on other people in that world might as well be an ant and i am not talking about Ant Man)

Also if you enjoyed the world building and economics of Realist Hero you should read Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight (The MC is fairly OP)

Terabyte

@rahul-balaggan said in Realist Hero Volume 8 Discussion!:

Gear Drive (Same thing female MC but everything else checks out)

I'd say Crown is pretty OP?

Rahul Balaggan

@terabyte I would agree but if she isn't thinking about how to use it then it ain't doing anything, other then that its only been a single volume so far and in that 1 volume she wasn't OP

DTTA

I think we'll have to agree to disagree. People talk about Touya, but comparing first books, Anti is /far/ more OP than Touya was in the first book or two. ;)

tylerh129

@dtta Anti?

myskaros

@tylerh129 Gear Drive's protagonist.

This conversation should really be moved to a different topic though.

HarmlessDave

For "SimCity" development, Smartphone is the closest but the MC is eventually very overpowered. I also enjoyed the Maoyu anime but the LN doesn't have an English license - https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/1366/maoyuu-maou-yuusha

The characters in Grimgar are all level 0 at the start but I've only seen the anime, I'm waiting for a catch-up month before reading the first LN.

Guspaz

People often compare the Chinese web novel Release That Witch to Realist Hero since it's got the common theme of being an isekai story where a modern protagonist with no cheat skills other than their modern knowledge becomes a leader and uses their modern knowledge to help reform the kingdom they're in.

Release That Witch is more serious, I'd say, and it lacks almost anything that would identify it thematically as a Chinese story for a long time (though the "martialist" side story later on does have a hint of Chinese style to it). An anime adaptation has been announced (with a PV trailer), though I don't think a release date has been mentioned.

While the theme of Realist Hero is about applying modern knowledge fairly directly to his kingdom, Release That Witch is more about the protagonist's creativity at figuring out how to use the fantastical abilities of the fantasy witches to replicate modern technology. Major focus is put on the difference between being able to make things in small batches (for example having a witch use her power to help build a rifle) versus being able to make things at scale (for example having a witch user her power to build the tooling to manufacture rifles).

cosm1cfall

@harmlessdave You'll be waiting a while because Grimgar was on catch up only a couple of months ago, wasn't it?

DTTA

@Guspaz If I might ask, how does the MC in Release that Witch 'feel'? I tend to avoid most Chinese novels as they tend to have a type, and while so does Japanese, I can deal with that more.

The whole 'Jerkass arrogant MC who beats up everyone while often performing atrocities 'cause he won't take no shit' protagonist makes me cringe. Is he more ... shall I say ethical, perhaps?

SoullessMinion

@dtta RTW's MC isnt THAT type of MC, at best his "arrogant attitude" at the beginning is more to keep appearances with his subordinates to get things done. his Ethics if i had to say would be extremely good (well pre-story Roland was a piece of S*** but thats only semi-relevant before MC improves his image and leadership to improve the city he's in charge of)

if this is an indication of his ethics then one of the first things he sets out to do within his town is to

spoiler

id really recommend trying it out, you'll likely forget its a CN novel half the time (i also avoid those type of MCs you described above like the plague)

Guspaz

Yeah, the type of isekai is kind where the MC gets reincarnated as an existing person in the other world (with that person's memories), but their own personality intact. The pre-isekai version of the MC's... host is an arrogant hedonist playboy, but the MC himself is basically the polar opposite of that, which leads to an interesting dichotomy in the early parts of the story when others try to reconcile "his" past behaviour versus his current personality. He has the memories of doing that stuff, but they don't really feel like his own memories, and he treats them as just some useful information that he can draw on occasionally. His memories of being a mechanical engineer are a lot more useful, after all ;)

He's not afraid of playing the arrogant card when he's facing down others in power, but largely because he's determined that pretending to be arrogant is what's needed in that situation.

myskaros

RTW's Roland is basically "wouldn't it be amazing if there were a benevolent tyrant who always wanted what's best for everyone, never got corrupted, and was never at risk of dethronement?"

DTTA

Hrm. Okay, I'll take a look at it, then. I don't like how passive Japanese MCs can be, but that's a relatively harmless negative compared to some of the things that are common in Chinese webnovels, so was curious. :)

myskaros

@dtta RTW is the only Chinese WN I read, and I really enjoy it. As Gus said, it's very similar to Realist Hero, and it's very different from the stereotypical Chinese novel "cultivation! beat up the tyrannical power family with 99th realm heavenly experts!" deal.

Crey

@myskaros Tyrant? He's all about "empowerment of the people! everybody is equal!" if he actually behaved like a king I probably would have continued reading this. :)

myskaros

@crey I guess "tyrant" was a poor word choice, but he's still very much a dictator, just one who only moves for what he perceives to be in the best interest of all people. Again, I like the story and it is very similar to Realist Hero, but both series do make use of a person in absolute power deciding to lead their countries along a very specific path.

It's an interesting question, though, one we see play out in our modern politics: once they succeed in "modernizing" their nations/worlds, what happens when people decide their rulers aren't making the best choices for them? It's easy to use our modern Earth history to advance technology and effect social reform, but once you reach the limit of what history can teach you and need to advance into the future, can you truly continue to say you and only you alone know what's best?

Raitoiro

@cosm1cfall Yeah it was in catchup in July

Raitoiro

If your looking for not op relatable MC, The empty box and Zeroth Maria as well as Kokoro connect have that but the setting are really different.
So i'm spider so what? Could also fit, like with Infinite Dendrogram the mc is kind of op (or at least has a really thick plot armor) but they're also quite relateable (especialy the spider).
Outside of what is licence Shinsekai yori has a great protagoniste, she is powerfull by the end but never op.
And with total "objectivity", Grimgar is the best and totaly what you're looking for ^^