Is it just me?

unknownmat

@Zeteni It's great that you keep such as open mind. I really struggle to get into new series. I typically need some kind of "hook" before I'm willing to invest the time. This is, for example, why many series that I read are picked up after watching an episode or two of the anime - my desire to see what happens next is usually enough to keep me reading until that point in the story. This was true for Bookworm, Arifureta, Overlord, Tanya the Evil, Classroom of the Elite, and many others.

The irony is that I've long observed that the plot/premise of the story has only a limited effect on how good it is. Really great writing can make any premise, setting, or genre, a joy to read. And yet to this day I can't help but to rely on the the summary blurbs when searching for something worth investing the time in.

I guess this is all a long way to say that I'm not surprised at all that you can find great stories hidden among even those that don't initially catch your interest. I might even give Finding Avalon a try.

Seandrake

@Zeteni The issue I have is that at the minute there seems to be a trend to make the MC so dumb that they should likely struggle to breathe and walk at the same time.

There all basically harem protags just without the harem to help them do the thinking. The problem is I hate stupid characters and the contrived circumstances that get built around them.

Zeteni

@unknownmat In which case allow me to enumerate a few more series that turned out better than expected for me, in case you're hankering for something new. (forgive me if I list anything you're already reading/have looked into)

The Reincarnator and the Goblin Maiden’s Happily Ever After: Using a Past Life to Keep a Joyful Wife
My favorite of the batch, though all the other Heart series from this latest batch have all been winners for me.

The Hero and the Sage, Reincarnated and Engaged
Some tropey OP MCs nonsense but it has enough of a twist keeping it fun and a good dynamic between the leads. It also has a central mystery that's being prodded at just enough to be very encouraging.

Dagashi-ya Yahagi: Setting Up a Sweets Shop in Another World
Of the "ridiculously blessed non-combat tradesmen" series I've read, this is the one I've stuck with. I was wavering for a while, but it actually having meaningful progression (and not just power progression), has endeared me enough to stick around.

The Eternal Fool's Words of Wisdom: A Pawsitively Fantastic Adventure (Manga)
I'm really, REALLY hoping we get the light novel of this one soon.

Goodbye, Overtime! This Reincarnated Villainess Is Living for Her New Big Brother
I assumed the whole bro-con shtick would be nauseating and render it unreadable but there's actually enough going on with it that I don't even notice it. Lots of depth in the lead and the author clearly and dearly loves history and lets that knowledge show in their writing, leading to an enriched world, what little we've seen of it.

Zilbagias the Demon Prince: How the Seventh Prince Brought Down the Kingdom
I assumed it was going to be edgy OP MC revenge nonsense but I ended up liking it so damn much I wrote a twenty-five-hundred some odd word review gushing about it.

The Otome Heroine's Fight for Survival
As above I thought it'd be OP edgy MC and nothing more, but girl, and while that's exactly what it is it executes it so damn well I'm honestly floored by it.

Finding Avalon: The Quest of a Chaosbringer
Definitely worth giving it a try as you're considering. The setting, while simply an alternate history Earth, matters a lot for the series. It can be a bit grindy at times, it is a litRPG after all, but it really leverages the things that make it unique.

unknownmat

@Zeteni Wow, thanks for that. These are all series that I hadn't even attempted to read.

Zeteni

@unknownmat said in Is it just me?:

@Zeteni Wow, thanks for that. These are all series that I hadn't even attempted to read.

Well then I'll be happy to hear which, if any, pan out for you!

HarmlessDave

@Zeteni said in Is it just me?:

Dagashi-ya Yahagi: Setting Up a Sweets Shop in Another World
Of the "ridiculously blessed non-combat tradesmen series" I've read, this is the one I've stuck with. I was wavering for a while, but it actually having meaningful progression (and not just power progression), has endeared me enough to stick around.

This one surprised me too, after being disappointed by how Peddler progressed even ignoring the obnoxious little sisters.

Mature male MC who is not an idiot or stalker, sweet awkward OP female MC with a scary side that we readers hopes she continues to grow out of.

The rest of your list seem worth trying too -- they all had a premise that scared me off from even trying them.

sorvani

@Zeteni said in Is it just me?:

The Otome Heroine's Fight for Survival
As above I thought it'd be OP edgy MC and nothing more, but girl, and while that's exactly what it is it executes it so damn well I'm honestly floored by it.

This one is a quite interesting gimmick on the otome game trope. To me, the pacing of the storytelling is spot on. If we had more than 2 books out (3 is only 2 parts into prepub) I expect that it would be on my top 5 list (see other post).

Seandrake

@Zeteni Otome Heroine is amazing I read up to vol 6 on the fan translation and it maintains the quality all the way through.

But I will try some of the others, I’m currently reading I can parry everything and slogging through the first vol as everyone says it gets better.

Zeteni

I'm simultaneously elated by the idea some of you might try something at my recommendation and crestfallen that they had gone unnoticed. To be fair, it was trying out Avalon and being so surprised that got me to commit to trying (nearly) everything that comes out of JNC going forward.

I'll take this opportunity to once again shill Zilbagias which is my favorite since Pale Moon Reverie came out. In fact, it's now in my top five series overall, the others being Bookworm, Min-Maxing my TRPG, D-Genesis, Rebuild World, and I'll squeeze in a bonus non-JNC series for good measure, Secrets of the Silent Witch.

Cid

I've never thought the titles J-Novel Club sells are interesting.

Travis Butler

@Zeteni said in Is it just me?:

I'm simultaneously elated by the idea some of you might try something at my recommendation and crestfallen that they had gone unnoticed. To be fair, it was trying out Avalon and being so surprised that got me to commit to trying (nearly) everything that comes out of JNC going forward.

Yeah. It's getting harder to do, given how much JNC's catalog has exploded, and I've ended up passively letting some series slip away after one or two volumes just because there's so much to go through. But I try to give every LN series at least the first two parts to get me interested, unless they're so off-putting that I quit in disgust.

(I also admit that as JNC's catalog has ballooned, I'm getting less and less tolerant of chunni fantasies. It's not even the OP that bothers me; it's the blatant wish fulfillment, where either everyone fawns on the MC, or everyone dumps on the MC with the MC swearing he'll show them all. Worst are the ones that combine the two, where the MC gets dumped on and then acquires fawning groupies to support them in their revenge.)

HarmlessDave

@Travis-Butler said in Is it just me?:

Worst are the ones that combine the two, where the MC gets dumped on and then acquires fawning groupies to support them in their revenge.)

Looking at you Backstabbed!

...except I've read the first 5 volumes and will probably get to the rest eventually. The edgelord gacha waifu harem master part is impossible to take seriously but the world and story is somewhat interesting.

It's kind of like watching Tales From The Crypt or Creepshow where bad things happen to bad people, except the avatar of vengeance is gacha addict wish fulfillment self-insert.

sorvani

@HarmlessDave said in Is it just me?:

Looking at you Backstabbed!

...except I've read the first 5 volumes and will probably get to the rest eventually. The edgelord gacha waifu harem master part is impossible to take seriously but the world and story is somewhat interesting.

I never gave that one more than V1 of the manga. I can put up with crap for interesting world builds that I can snipe ideas from for my D&D games :P

I will have to rethink my decision.

Arcene

@HarmlessDave I thought the exact same thing! - I also stopped after V5 (I think) - V10 Just came out today on bookwalker.jp

It's weirdly better than I thought, but not good enough to stream, after V1? - I did have to give it a chance, the starting bit was not good.

Cid

@Travis-Butler said in Is it just me?:

I also admit that as JNC's catalog has ballooned, I'm getting less and less tolerant of chunni fantasies. It's not even the OP that bothers me; it's the blatant wish fulfillment, where either everyone fawns on the MC, or everyone dumps on the MC with the MC swearing he'll show them all. Worst are the ones that combine the two, where the MC gets dumped on and then acquires fawning groupies to support them in their revenge.

I recently asked about something along these lines. I basically said, "It's no surprise JNC got its start pandering to fans of wish fulfillment. But do those really sell enough to justify the 500 that were licensed?" I was told yes, the majority of those 500 chuuni fantasies sell enough to cover the cost of translation. I expected a more diverse catalogue as more titles were added. J-Novel Heart is just the same thing but for girls...

HarmlessDave

@Cid - I suspect the cookie-cutter Isekai Tensei and Noble On The Brink of Ruin sales might be what allows licensing more niche titles like Goodbye Otherworld, See You Tomorrow and The Sidekick Never Gets the Girl, Let Alone the Protag’s Sister.

Big-name actors do that all the time in Hollywood, they join a blockbuster movie in exchange for getting some passion project funded. Stephen King books pay for a publisher printing a few Pulitzer-bait Serious Novels.

Gamen

@Zeteni said in Is it just me?:

I don't know what your habits are with new batches but I've found more than a few times that if I try out everything (or at least close to it) I'll end up liking something I either had no particular interest in or even outright scorned based on the premise.

I do something completely different with the same result - I open every single part and chapter, and sometimes just glancing at that first page is what hooks me. Zilbagias is one of those, with After-School Dungeon Diver and Strongest Exorcist being two other recent ones. ...I really should go back and read the beginnings though. Though my impression from the comments is that Dungeon Diver basically starts abruptly anyway. But given that I've actually gone to Kakuyomu to read a few chapters ahead in Zilbagias at times...

Others haven't hooked me, but they're still worth skimming through to get a chuckle. (Looking at I Could Never Be A Succubus!)

@HarmlessDave said in Is it just me?:

Big-name actors do that all the time in Hollywood, they join a blockbuster movie in exchange for getting some passion project funded. Stephen King books pay for a publisher printing a few Pulitzer-bait Serious Novels.

And also to take risks on first-time unknown authors.