Discussion When the MCs are just being complete jerks in stories

So I'm curious on what people think about this subject. In a lot of Chinese novels MC can do lot of really bad things but usually there is some short of motivation behind it. The reasoning might not always be good but there at least usually try to have some justifications. But after reading two novel I found that some time the MCs are just complete assholes for no real reason and as far as I can tell is all just for sake of trying to be funny.

1)The Strongest System - So this was the first time where I noticed it a lot and basically killed the novel for me. Like so many thing the MC does are written like its suppose to be a joke but you read it and its like... That's not funny its just plain fucked up. I kept reading but at one point where he want to "make up" to someone he "bullied" so he spy on said person and find that person had sex problem.

So he decide to solve this by making basically viagra. He give it to the dude and now the dude want to ask for more and blah blah blah. I didn't find it funny but it wasn't anything too weird. But for some random reason the author had the MC feed it to this two disciples who had to relieve themselves by literally fucking a hole in the ground... I wish I was joking but the novel itself literally implies that.

At that point I just stopped because while making stupid shit happen for the sake of being funny (even though its not) its mildly irritating this was just down right disgusting. So after this the whole kinda MC being jerks for the sake of being funny thing really stuck in my mind. Also for anyone curious when this happens its chapter 107.

2)Gourmet of Another World - Is when this happened the second time. Now I enjoy this novel a lot, its pretty relaxing as you know like nothing bad will ever actually happen to the MC no matter how many "dangers" the author puts in. Overall its good, mostly just lot of face slaps like ED but with lot more cooking. So it was all good until 5xx where MC enters like a competition.

This competition is mainly for alchemists but anyone else can enter as long as they can produce things that has matching effect. So since his cooking match pills and he needed to make his store famous he goes. What you expect would be some pretty standard people underestimating him, making fun of him, then he face slap them blah blah blah. And it kinda goes this way and this could be me but the author choose literally the most douche way possible.

So during the registration test he basically made sticky tofu that smelled so bad that the other people taking the test all failed coz they couldn't concentrate. Ok fine, then first round of elimination he does the same thing basically causing almost everyone else to fail. So judge ask him not to make something that stinky again. Second round of elimination he make something that smells so good almost everyone can't concentrate and fails. Third round everyone block their noise but he make someone so spicy that they choke on spiciness in the air and everyone fails.

Like the first thing was funny, second time was like ok w/e but the third and fourth time just really triggered me. Like there was absolutely no need for it to happen. I mean none of these people has any hostility toward the MC and instead of it being funny (if that was the intention) I sympathized with all the nameless people. So he makes it into top 100 and now its 1v1 for top 50 and exact same shit happen. He does some grilling and the smoke he creates basically cause his opponent to rage quit because its impossible to concentrate in all the smoke. Like not only does it just make the MC completely unlikable (even if he doesn't do it on purpose) and second devalues this skills. The whole point was to prove his cooking can match up to pills. Instead he is winning not because his dishes are better but because everyone else failed coz he cooking interfered with everyone else's ability to make pills.

This one triggered me more than the first because with The Strongest System I just dropped it and call it a day. But I was invested in Gourmet of Another World and really liked the story. Now this arc is so terrible I don't want to keep reading.

Well thanks for reading me rant because thing being kinda in my head for a few days now and really wanted to get it out. I'm really curious on what everyone else thinks about situations like this. Where MC is just kinda like a complete asshole for the sake of the story being funny.

TLDR: What are you thoughts on MCs being assholes for sake of being funny.

 

pretty sure that happens mostly on cn novels desu

 

Skim reading is the most essential thing I was taught in school.

 

Yeah, it is very triggering. Library of Heaven's Path has him doing asshole things accidentally so it seems forgivable.

 

you should read God level demon. The MC has to and acts like an ass always

 

No matter the motivation I don’t like asshole people in general~

 

Shi Yan from God of Slaughter was a complete dick in the beginning of the series though he is getting a bit better (I think)

 

IRAS???? Prime example there

 

I got to agree with you.
Similar things happen in AWE , and while it is funny at the beginning , it gets a bit annoying the third time the joke is repeated.
I remember i dropped Long Live Summons , when he started beating a dog and refused to make a pact with it , only because it was a male ,the novel was horrible anyway imho.

 

stop reading CN comedy!

 

Mind using 'SPOILER' ?

 

I don't agree with OP, at least on the Gourmet from another World part. Haven't really tried Scheming System yet so I don't know about it much.

In Gourmet I thought the MC was actually a rather pleasant individual to be around. Most of his actions that might seem jerkish are primarily because of the rules, expectations, and missions his Gourmet system placed upon him. That part in the competition he simply felt like he was making another dish from his store and had not intended to actually disrupt any of the other contestants.

He's the kind of stoic, quiet, and surprisingly kindhearted at times sort of MC I love to read about.

 

It really depends how its done, like with Library of Heaven's Path I didn't find anything too out there the triggered me. Ya he kinda does things to piss people off but its brief enough that you don't get hung up over it. And its not like shoved down your throat at least to me so I haven't really picked up too much on it. Then again this was before I read The Strongest System and that's what really kinda triggered me on this whole thing.

The one reason I never started reading IRAS even though I really got into god of music and top management. I was like hmm maybe try reading IRAS but the reviews about how much asshole the MC just turned off away.

Actually same reason why I stopped reading ISSTH because the bird and meat jelly really turned me off. I personally really hate like when one person get into a shitty situation because of who their with. And the bird was just like ARG I can already see all the shit going to annoy me a mile away XD Will probably finish it someday though lol.

I don't find the the MC a jerk for Gourmet from another World and I understand the point was like this is just what he does. However the whole setup really does kill the mood the novel had been setting so far for me. And like I said I think the reason it triggers me a lot here is because instead of him winning through his cooking skill he winning because others are failing. This kinda of win is really hallow and its fine to use it like twice but repeated 5 times it was really starting to grind my patience.

 

This is one of the things that annoyed me about I Shall Seal The Heavens, Meng Hao's shamelessness went from being funny early on and then turned into unfunny assholery because the author kept reusing the same joke even in situations when it made no sense.

 

I mostly read Slice of Life novels.
Most of the MC aren't jerks.
They either Nice Dumb Guy or Too Honest For This World Guy.
I had seen too many jerks in my workplace, why I want to read about jerks in my off time anyway?

 

Because authors want to be shameless but society doesnt allow them

 

Please don't spoil novels without warning everyone first. But yea I can't stand a MC being a jerk for non reason at all

 

Man i have seen worse i hate shameless MC,actually they are quiet a lot ,i can smell them all the way here in my country.

 

I prefer to mix up my reading sometimes protag is kind or oblivious, sometimes hard worker or lazy and sometimes nasty and manipulative. I find if u mix and match u don't get sick of MC type at least for me.

 

If I find the MC to be stupid like that I would most likely drop the novel.