Discussion What's up with JP MCs?

If you've been here for a while you'll notice that there's this trend in JP novels where the MC was somewhat of a powerful figure or reincarnated with cheats that made the MC a force to be reckoned with; but.....

The MC chose to be passive or pursued a laid back life or something like that.

What's up with that? I mean, I don't hate it or anything; it's just that it piqued my curiosity.

Another thing worth mentioning is how often JP MCs being described as 'beta' and 'pushover' .

Are there actual, real-life reasons of why this is a thing?

 

Dunno
Honestly I hate BETA and spineless MC. But I don't like MC who slaughter people for no reason either

I just want to read a novel with normal and kind MC who gets angry, sad, and sometimes lost control and vents his/her anger to his friends like gon from hxh or klein from lord of the mysteries

 

I don't really like those extremes at all. I mostly prefer the more realistic MCs. Or at least as realistic as I can get them...

 

You read too much CN novels where the MC want, must, will and fated to be godlike existence.
All about hierarchy in CN after all

 

In Japanese culture, standing out is forbidden. You have to conform to the norm, ie if you a Half or if you speak english well in school, you are the minority and people will have a different attitude towards you. You have to "read the air" (google kuki yomenai) and try to please the surrounding people. Also there's the whole Dragon Quest hero archetype thing which is immensely popular in Japan and all that, so there you have it

Im at work and dont have much time, if you want to know more i'd provide an answer when I reach home

 

Being chivalrous means giving up your love if the person you love is not in love with you.

In some ways Japanese people are still trying to stick to their samurai codes.

 

Well, just don't use isekai mc as example. Those pretty much wish fulfillment mc archetype.
If I want to give well rounded mcs, Allison and Lillia have good mcs.

 

none of the above? they're all pretty shitty in their own ways

 

Aegir Hardlett. From https://www.novelupdates.com/series/oukoku-e-tsuzuku-michi/is a good example of the first choice

 

experienced, not a cunt, decisive, not too nice but not too scum either, not wishy-washy

 

R we just mentioning our ideal MCs now instead of discussing OP issue.

 

Here we go again..... well, tbh there's nothing wrong in wanting a laid back life, there's nothing wrong in being kind in fact thayt is a good thing, there's nothing wrong with wanting a harem to satisfy ur desire, there is nothung wrong at all......

The thing is they take it too far that it felt like the mc let other people use or step on them like a doormat.... u had to know when to bite back no matter hiw op u are cuz.... that felt more human..... another thing is the author tend make the mc op as fuck, there's nothing wrong with that but the thing is, it goes as far as any problem can be solved by mc even if the mc being passive and only react to event later on..... NOTHING COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG!

It is also, more often than not so badly written that u just want to scream WTF

Last but not least, they tend to use this "modern knowledge cheat" which i think too unrealistic.... most mc transported or reincarnated are highschool boy, salaryman, corporate slave or w/e and then when they are transported they became rocket scientist that could build anything...... even though there's magic in another world i'm sure the law of physics is the same, even though the reform i wanna implement are complex and sounds like foreign language i'm sure they will accept and do it and forget about the basics that need to be taught before such complex could be implamanted i'm sure these peasants are genius and will figure it out let's take A GREAT LEAP FORWARD and then........ it worked!

The last one truly put me off......

 

Same here, that's why -at least for me, finding a novel with characters that don't use the common molds is a delight

Not a big fan of CN actually, I kinda feel that they're too... power hungry? Can't relate much :v

Understandable. I thought that it must be because of japs culture and such, it's just that it surprised me how much japanese authors still sticks to their norm even in their fantasy novels

 

Hey, as long as the Mc aint naive and have more than one braincells then its all good.

 

well number 2 little better.

option number 1 more similiar to slapping young master CN novel so nope. NOPE.

option number 3 mc, story kinda always been lack of tension, and dense make readers pissed off.

option number 2 mc always been praised by his follower, call him mr. perfect.. serve right as filler. while mc has brain, his follower lack of it. meh.

I prefer balance mc, strong but not mr. perfect and pushover.. know what he deal with. it doesnt need to be smart, failed always been happen in real life. From zero to hero storyline and development is real. Close example is mushoku tensei.

 

Yea, I've seen ppl putting off JP novels because of the reasons you've said. Tbh some of those irked me a bit and some become a 'guilty read' of mine

Modern knowledge cheats are always fun to read, but it'll be a frustrating nightmare if u don't suspend ur disbelief, a lot

Btw, I didn't know that a cat likes to read isekai??

 

Honestly , most novels r already completed and written or were started long before the community got this big and wide so the authors couldn't just change their whole schtick immediately , if u notice the new webnovels u will find that most of them don't have such flaws because they r building on the shoulder of Giants and have an idea what the community wants . Not to mention writing such MCs and stories is easier than writing their counterparts and most authors r novices here so what do u expect for some it's their first work ever. Another thing to note is that they were written with only their home community in mind and not the global community it is now. That makes a big difference in writing and story plot etc. They were writing with what they saw in their community being liked as their main focus but that falls through when put on a stage like this. There r a lot of different cultures and people on this site with their own views on what a person or a society is , there will always be differences. If u r really put off by these I suggest reading a few originals I could recommend a few if u want.

 

Ikr? What matter the most there is 1st 2nd power and 3rd is power. Haven't seen a CN novel without mentioning power n cultivation stuff except the full romance one. Even that still mention some authority n stuff.
The one i know a bit different is "so what if it's a RPG world" and "the simple life of killing demon"

 

Well..... modern knowledge realy put me off u know..... cuz they tend to make it as if it is that easy to implement.... if they write it about how they work hard step by step and write it well enough.... i'm sure i would have more fun reading them.....but ohhhh no no no no, they just write it off in few chapters where it's instantly work.......

And yes, a cat could like a lot of things.... a lot of genres and themes.......

Edit: and.... as i said.... i don't like how they can suddenly turned into super genius, rocket scientist or w/e u may call it when they're just an "ordinary" highschool student or salaryman

 

This is a question that has been asked countless times, though more in a form of a rant about pussy JP MC's.
In reality the Japanese people are passive, pacifistic and overly polite in general so yeah it translates into their fictional characters.