So after reading enough different novels I have come to the point where if I see certain things without an interesting twist within the first 20 chapters I just immediately give up on the novel. For me these are: Japanese: Dense Harem Protagonists Chinese: Murder Hobo Cultivators Korean: Lone Wolf Regressors trying to save the world but not actually interacting with anyone in the world they're trying to save... why are they saving the world again? What's your least favorite archetype for a MC?
Japanese: MC bullied/cheated on, goes to the past to get/plot revenge Chinese: chad MC gathering wives/girlfriends (with almost the same personality or no personality at all) like some pokemons and starring in some movie or movies Korean: MC have a sick father/mother/some family member in hospital suffering from some sickness that none in the world can cure aside from the MC once getting some special skill
My least favourite archetype is the 'I have no real skills and am actually an asshole but I got this cheat that I didn't work for so I get all the women' male in a lot of harem novels.
I don't like doormat MCs who just do what people tell them to all the time. MCs who spend most of their time doing harem maintenance. I'd rather them treat their wives like pokemon and forget about them 90% of the time than running around saving one wife after another because the author wants to portray them all as important and unique people. Rate and collect away. It's probably better writing than the alternative. Sanctimonious MCs. There's being a good guy MC. There's being a selfish MC who cares about himself first and foremost. You can't have both at the same time. Loki can be Loki and that's fine. Once Loki starts lecturing people like Captain America it's a problem. Once Captain America starts acting like Loki it's also a problem. When the MC is that full of crap I have to rage at them every time they do something screwed up or try to call out someone else.
more of a manga archetype these days, but: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CelibateHero MC tries too hard to avoid sex , when MC isn't too dense.
Japanese: effing coward even as OP MC, so many "ifs" that could go wrong but no brain cells used to make them go right Chinese: hypocrite mofos, when weak and got looked down on MC remembers that senior and get revenge; when becomes strong looks down on everyone not in his harem... gtfo Korean: (specifically in 2nd chance novels) loner, self-sacrificing emo that thinks everyone owes him something for being self-sacrificing
Chinese mc that loses all their abilities whenever the ml is in sight. It’s so irritating when they need to be saved by the ml repeatedly despite claiming to be strong. Like why tf does the ml always have to be better than the mc? Is it a sin for the ml to be weaker or equal strength? is it not pathetic for the main character to not be as smart as our high schooler ml despite being reborn with future knowledge? Isn’t it obvious that the mc is a failure when despite having the help of a system is still unable to beat the ml in anything and can only act cute? It makes me want to physically recoil from the amount of cringe and disappointment I bear whenever I read stories contains this shitty trope. For Japanese and Korean mcs, it’s the unattractive or average looking gamer who spends more than half their day on games and probably has body odor somehow getting a bunch of attractive and well adjusted girls who are interested in his boring life. Or when this gamer gets an op cheat that he totally does not deserve and proceeds to prove this fact right by behaving like an enormous asshole
When MCs are portrayed to be smart with high IQ and EQ, and they are, when it comes to anything other than their love interests. Like, you are supposed to be smart! Do you have eyes? You can see other cps clearly but not your own? When everyone around you can also see it? Overthinking and depressed MCs. You know, when they spend chapters over chapters describing how sad and conflicted the mc is. So many 'ifs' that it makes my head hurt. Also, beta MCs, loner MCs, scum MCs, etc etc things everyone hates.