I can't understand why gods in japanese novel...

For the sake of eating popcorn.

 

The gods in japanese novels arent gods that looks like the embodiment of human's perfect form.
Theyre humans that have the body of a god.
They get bored, they make mistake, they lust, they do stupid things , theyre lazy and they are not omnipotent and omniscience.
Theyre ordinary human that gets immortality and massive powers.

All these stories act on the premise that the gods are in need of entertainment and the MC is the main character of the show that they are watching amongst of many others like it. Some of em will even do masacre for fun... like how people do if they have immortality and unlimited power.

 

Well... They are not "God" in the concept of Abrahamic Religion like Christianity or Islam. They are more similar to Greek or Norse Gods. Gods who do questionable things, do err, and whimsical. Not a "summum bonum".

 

Yeah Japanese gods are pretty wimpy in most isekai. I understand wanting to keep followers happy but what's one kid gonna do? They won't be able to report back to their home world about how merciful the god is and in the new world most end up getting cocky and starting one of every flavour harem.
Honestly I'd rather have gods with a secret agenda such as sending off the hero to defeat the demon king and once they finish their goal, the god swoops in to steal the power of faith the people put into the hero. Well writers could probably make a better reason but at least some sort of agenda would give these gods some sort of characterisation rather than just the same old thing.
Higher beings shouldn't be so accommodating to mortals without some purpose they can benefit from, it's too suspicious.

 

I'm sorry you got killed accidentally, please don't hate me, please forgive me! PLEASE! DON'T HATE ME!

I usually can't stand the beta attitudes of Japanese MC's and end up dropping them, but there are some which shine through the mass beta harems.

 

Japanese gods are just another potential harem member.

 

What if the gods didn't want you to understand what it is they do.

 

This is pretty much true, I heard it from a local when I went to japan. She was a pure shinto (which are very rare) follower she explained how shinto is very different from other religion and it is a form of animism. They don't worship gods but dieties like the ocean, mountain or lakes. She said that majority of japanese don't even follow a specific religion, they will pray at shinto shrine, buddist temple, even go to church and they even celebrate christmas. They even have saying that japanese people are born shinto and die as a buddist because in Buddhism a person reincarnates in death. So their religion became just some form of culture, their view on god is different from ours. But still they are extremely respectful to their dieties, shrines and temples.

 

Stop generalizing things that you've seen in one WN about JP gods to every other novel out there. There are variations out there like that fag in Dungeon Seekers, weird fuckers from Campione, or probably one of the most popular in SMT where gods attittudes varies like the demons in it. Gods in Dies Irae or Kajiri Kamui are even more different than your perception of JP writers gods. Heck, we might even put gods in Demonbane if we're going VN territorry and see whether you can call the likes of Nyarl or Azana as wimp.

Then again, most isekai does only make gods only as plot device to make MC OP. It probably can't be helped if you only read WN for JP novels.

 

To give stupid mortals some entertainment to waste their times with.
LaLa~

Oi oi! Even some clique God from some fking amateurish novel has more sense of responsibility than you. Good thing you're not the God of world I live in.Whew~

 

Sometimes the mindset of Dao cultivators reach a point where they do not feel the need to lower themselves, less than what they are.

Spoiler: Kinda like Tony Stark

 

No one can understand how god act. Not even god itself.

 

I think a balance is more important. This thread popped up because gods are either spineless or treating humans as worthless ants. There is no middle-ground. Both are *equally* boring to me after a while.

At first, it's a novelty for a month or two. And then, it's all same-y.
In some stories, gods are practically looking for excuses to torture someone to death. In others, they're spineless.

And in yet others, they're a *just* plot device which hands magical powers without much thought into it. I'll be honest here, you'd be better off just cutting the god part and having the guy / gal appear in the new world than inserting these plot device gods. It's not like you'll ever see them again.

It's a conumdrum which is becoming more and more apparent. A story is either filled with psychopaths who are constantly robbing and killing. Or they're filled with a spineless MC and other stereotypes. Some have a healthy dose of realism, others don't.

To be honest though, the moment a god sits down to talk to the MC is the moment the story has gone wrong, unless an exceptionally good reason is given.
Gods don't care about mortals. At-least, not individuals. They probably have billions of souls to handle, most likely with some automated process, as who wants to go over them personally.

You'd be more likely to talk to a robot or a golem than a god. And those probably would be a little subserviant.

 

They're gods. They could just bring you back to life.
They don't need to make you a demi-god which would arguably cause much more trouble than just reviving you.

 

Better than dealing with the greek gods.. those guys have issues..

 

But almost or majority god from jp novel is either god of other religion or plain isekai god that not from japan origin

 

What series do the god dogeza?

 

This post reminded me of The Harem Was A Forced Goal were the goddess forces the mc through hundreds of reincarnations and just fucks with him because she was bored.

 

There are (or were) a lot of real life religions where gods do personally handle every single mortal who dies, either guiding them to the afterlife or judging them after death (or both).

Etruscan, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Australian, Hindu, Celtic, Norse, Turkic, Maori (if you count eating every person who dies), Philippine, Siberian, Inuit, and Chinese mythology (probably some others, but that's a long enough list) all have deities like that, personally attending in some way to every mortal after death. There's even more if you also count powerful spirits or supernatural beings and not strictly gods.

 

Well, a society's perception of a God can change for the current needs of said society. If we were to judge solely on the novels that are being translated, then it would seem A kind, just, grateful, and thoughtful God is what the Japanese people desire. So, a God who would massacre a village because they invoked his wrath is probably not what the Japanese people are seeking. However, that explains why the authors writing the story may want it that way. What about in the context of a story?

First off, if it is set in a Dog eat Dog world, I would agree it would be out lf place for a God to be so nice. Unless, the purpose said God has for our Hero is to reform the world or some bullshit like that, then it would explain why they're nice. If it is a nice world, then I don't see a problem with there being a nice God. However, even for a nice world, it wouldn't be too odd for a God to be a giant asshole.

Honestly, to get right down to it, it should be judged on a story by story basis. There are nuances of a story that explain a certain characters actions or attitudes. You just have to apply it to the stories God, in this instance. Well, unless, the writer is so bad, that his story is devoid of the slightest nuances.