Discussion why do so many novels make the mc's be reincarnated

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by ajhearne, Dec 6, 2020.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. pastlover

    pastlover Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2018
    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    52
    Reading List:
    Link
    In my opinion, It is about relatability, the reader can feel the MC's pain because it is relatable if you imagine you are experiencing the same thing. But it's not relatable anymore once the culture is different and MC's mindset is very different from the readers.
     
  2. ajhearne

    ajhearne Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2017
    Messages:
    91
    Likes Received:
    45
    Reading List:
    Link
    Well then why do we enjoy them if they're mostly about China, Korea, and Japan? They have a very different culture to us to the point that keeping names separate is difficult and when someone who hasn't popped up in a while appears we have to try carefully remember who it is. The mindset thing is sometimes true, but at other times they live exactly as people of that time do so that would be the same mindset, with some of them killing people within chapters and feeling nothing about it that's not exactly relatable to me and would seem more normal if they were raised in that world
     
  3. Darius Drake

    Darius Drake A poster of verbose posts

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2017
    Messages:
    1,085
    Likes Received:
    544
    Reading List:
    Link
    I used Forty Millenniums due to it clearly using reincarnation without intending for it to really add to the story itself, while having examples of why it was easier for the author to actually use the reincarnated trope. Just because it isn't a perfect example of what the OP was asking for doesn't disregard what I was talking about, even if you're the OP.

    Like I said, it's to make writing the story easier. If you're using a crutch to make writing your stories easier, are you really going to complicate it shortly afterwards by making a realistic world, or even one where people look at your MC being weird as if they're actually weird? No, of course not. Instead you'll make them OP and have everyone who isn't an antagonist praise the ground the MC walks on. I've been reading "Lord, It Doesn't Matter", which is the manga version of "This Overlord Doesn't Care About Anything". I suspect you would consider this a close example of what you were asking about, as the MC's reincarnation basically hand waves away him being secretly competent and publically a lazy bum without any real reason or explanation, and references it often. Again, it's used as a crutch, an easy way to get people to ignore the fact that the MC has no real explanation for why he's lazy, strangely competent at anything he puts his hands on, or has "unique" values that nobody else understands but allows him to befriend others easily and make a lot of money (which would mean that his values aren't unique, though I don't think the story actually suggests that the MC's values are overly unique, just how he goes around utilising them are).
     
    ajhearne likes this.
  4. pastlover

    pastlover Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2018
    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    52
    Reading List:
    Link
    True. We have different culture but we have the same morals, an example would be: We would be express sadness, if our loved one is killed by another person, if the MC is purely raised in the world built by the author, the same sympathy would not be met or possibly more sympathy. In my opinion, a ton of MCs are transmigrated/reincarnated from earth because we could be certain that the level of emotions we would feel in the story is the same as the MC.
     
  5. ajhearne

    ajhearne Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2017
    Messages:
    91
    Likes Received:
    45
    Reading List:
    Link
    That's true thanks for answering. What about the psychotic mc's that allow themselves to do anything to an enemy but refuse to suffer the slightest grievance? (none are coming to mind with reincarnation from earth, but I mean mc's like the ones in against the gods or I'm sorry for being born)
     
  6. the_TRASH

    the_TRASH Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2020
    Messages:
    88
    Likes Received:
    95
    Reading List:
    Link
    I also think it is just to follow the trend of people being born with a cheat. I haven't read the novel you're referring to so I may be wrong but just look at it this way... Humans tend to take things they have for granted and then regret it later when they lose them. So I think the reincarnation part was for him to know the experience of regret or loneliness in this case, right from the start so he will appreciate what he has obtained in his next life. For that, I believed it is a cheat on itself, even aside from those who reincarnated with intact knowledge or prowess.
     
  7. vlue

    vlue Jaded Isekai-Reader

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2016
    Messages:
    699
    Likes Received:
    481
    Reading List:
    Link
    What do think is some things do you think reincarnation stories don't explore enough?
     
  8. ajhearne

    ajhearne Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2017
    Messages:
    91
    Likes Received:
    45
    Reading List:
    Link
    He lived as trash for a long time before the novel started and had his fiance annual the engagement in the first arc of the story so he probably would have matured naturally
     
  9. novaes

    novaes Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2016
    Messages:
    234
    Likes Received:
    277
    Reading List:
    Link
    I think for me I like the fish out of water and meta-gaming aspects. If done well it really hooks into that underdog theme (although a lot of the genre is pure wish fulfillment OP nonsense). How can a person from earth be thrust into absolute chaos and find a way to tower over it.

    It appeals to my more gaming oriented tastes. I like hardcore, I like hell-mode challenge runs and all that juicy stuff. But yeah, a lot of it really is wish fulfillment for losers. Not that it's bad to have wish fulfillment, it certainly has its appeal, but it's not really filled with enough dramatic tension, excitement and wonder as I usually want.

    Thankfully there are a lot of isekai stories that do work more on the overcoming obstacles and growing angle, as opposed to the gods just barfing up an endless amount of free happiness onto some absolute loser because oopsie noodle god accidentally truck'd this idiot, better invest countless resources making sure his every wish is granted while leaving the rest of reality a festering pile of misery.

    I do agree with other people about the relatable nature of the genre, too. "Oh this person is like me, how would I do in his situtation?!" and that sort of stuff. But my tastes are definitely not the majority, which does firmly appear to be in the realm of "GIRL MAEK PP HARD! Y NO GIRL LIKE ME? I WISH I WUZ OP WIZERD SO I CAN CATGIRL SLAVES ABLOO BLOO BLOO"... cough cough...
     
  10. Darius Drake

    Darius Drake A poster of verbose posts

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2017
    Messages:
    1,085
    Likes Received:
    544
    Reading List:
    Link
    The stuff you don't like having some popularity has resulted in some story writers including "Reincarnated MC" into stories where the reincarnation does nothing, even if it's mentioned regularly. Which is what the OP was actually asking/complaining about. If the reincarnation adds something to the story, they're happy to leave it out of the discussion.

    Which is why "Lord, It Doesn't Matter" is a good example, in my opinion. MC is reincarnated, and the only things he got out of being reincarnated is a willingness to allow himself to be a lazy bum, and a connection to an inter-dimensional network of people who became rulers that literally does not show up after it's introduction where there are complaints from the members asking the MC why he hasn't taken over anything. From what I remember, his reincarnation is brought up on occasion, but mostly to hand-wave everything odd about his actions, abilities and other trends away as unimportant. Basically, while the MC's reincarnated, it adds nothing to the story and there's no real reason for them to have been reincarnated.
     
    novaes likes this.
  11. ajhearne

    ajhearne Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2017
    Messages:
    91
    Likes Received:
    45
    Reading List:
    Link
    I'm going to start by saying I haven't read this so I'm going on knowledge you've given me and what I've thought based on that
    Wow that sounds even worse than battle through the heavens because at very least there reincarnation was brought up without changing anything in the novel it's used to erase the need for a real explanation for the Mc's abilities, but that should break the wish fulfillment part because it would then need to be a person who could make those choices and was that competent who reincarnated unless the choices he makes are obvious choices that anyone could make, but then he wouldn't be any use in the new world just put someone competent in his place instead
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2020
  12. Darius Drake

    Darius Drake A poster of verbose posts

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2017
    Messages:
    1,085
    Likes Received:
    544
    Reading List:
    Link
    OP noted Battle Through The Heavens as their reason for starting this thread, what with it bringing up the subject regularly but never having it be of any importance to the story. "Lord, It Doesn't Matter", aka, "This Overlord Doesn't Care About Anything" (the original title of the Novel), basically uses it early on as an excuse for the MC to have administration cheats while also giving a reason for the title (everyone else on that inter-dimensional network are Overlords, which is why they want to know why the MC hasn't bothered to become one to). While his reincarnation might be brought up in author text every now and again, I don't think that it's overly regular or in your face about it, excusing that stupidity at the beginning of the novel that almost directly says "MC probably could have easily become a supreme ruler of the human lands, or at least taken over his father's domain, by now if he had actually bothered to do so".

    That said, I've mostly read the manga version, and the novel might bring up the MC's reincarnation more often than the manga.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2020
  13. ajhearne

    ajhearne Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2017
    Messages:
    91
    Likes Received:
    45
    Reading List:
    Link
    Sorry my bad I did mean battle through the heavens. Against the gods is a different novel with reincarnation but it's not from earth to somewhere else he was never on earth and he stayed on the same planet as for the reason for reincarnating it's so he can have super op medical knowledge and a pearl that blocks all poison I didn't really enjoy it because of the harem
     
  14. Nightow1

    Nightow1 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2019
    Messages:
    2,494
    Likes Received:
    2,992
    Reading List:
    Link
    It comes into play later on.
    He has a mission to destroy Earth.
     
  15. novaes

    novaes Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2016
    Messages:
    234
    Likes Received:
    277
    Reading List:
    Link
    This is a good point. It also reminds me of that awful YA craze where everything is vampires(etc) because they are cool, even though they were barely vampires(etc) at all.

    I think I vaguely recall some batman comic strip where batman's "mother" uses the bat signal to get batman to take the trash out, and it's wrong on so many levels yet surprisingly fitting in this argument. Why? Because it was popular, of course! How silly of me, lol.

    I do remember a lot of stories where the isekai is not mentioned ever again after the introduction. JP, CN and EN. I'm sure it happend in KR but I don't recall anything specific.
     
  16. JrX

    JrX Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 14, 2015
    Messages:
    130
    Likes Received:
    88
    Reading List:
    Link
    If you think about it the novels that only mention reincarnation on the first 3 chapter and never mentioned it again are usually those with the most blandest mc with no personalities and the reason for that is it's the easiest way to qrite a self-insert story.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.