| Over the recent years, I have noticed more and more anime/manga have started pandering to the lower denominator and start off with characters which automatically have all the overpowered skills they need necessary rather than working hard towards it in a way that doesn't seem too contrived or earned. Either by automatically having that one magic skill or power they need to overcome an isekai easily. Starting from Sword Art Online, there have been a lot of manga/lns which have had the protagonist have an op skill, which has increased as of late, with one of the egregious ones in recent times being "Am I actually the strongest". There are also some where "surprise royalty" happens to be a part of convenience for the protagonists and rather than a solution, most of mangas/manhwas have being part of royalty too much integral to the plot. One of the recent ones was The apothecary diaries where somehow along with the . Or harems of recent where the stories bend over backwards in order to make sure the MC has a harem, who will do his every bidding. Cafe terrace or kanokari or even "how a realist hero rebuilt the kingdom", for instance have sudden harems around the MC just for escapism. I just miss the old anime/manga where the MCs and story carried without needing to emphasise the overpowered-ness or convenient nature, getting all they want without having to lift a finger. As much as some want to call it a parody, "eminence of shadow" had a huge case of many a over convenience occurring for the MC starting from how by coinicidence he could drop a knife at some random point on the map and it turns out to be the enemy hideout, and this happens way too much often under the excuse of comedy. I just wish we had some of works before which didnt have everything straight up handed over to the MC and they had to figure things out, either by his brains or endurance, and they had experienced failure unlike straight off success over and over just because they had the plot armor of being the main character. We had stuff like Kaiji, chivalry of failed knight, or more popularly, death note where every character had appropriate challenges to overcome, and most of the cases it does not go according to plan. |
 Without change,we end up becoming the very person we hate. I was dead until the moment I met you. I was a powerless corpse pretending to be alive. Living without power, without the ability to change my course, was bound to lead me to a slow death. |
| I vaguely remember some major anime Youtuber (maybe Geoff Thew of Mother's Basement?) had a video about this very complaint, so maybe you might like to look at that. In the video, I remember him making the point that with the rise of streaming services (in case of anime) and reading apps (in case of manga), as well as changes in the way studios are run, managed and funded has led to them prioritising the front-loaded storytelling you're writing of over the long arc-filled epic narratives of the pre-2020 era such as Naruto, Bleach and HunterXHunter. |
| For me, the difference between "heroes having to earn their power-ups through hardships over the course of the story" and "being the strongest from the start" feels very similar to "romance about a couple getting together" against "romance with an already established couple that lives together". These are completely different story concepts even though they look similar. Tension and conflict work very differently as well because of that. There is a good chance that "hero being the best from the start" became more prominent, because stories were getting less and less time to grab the reader's attention, but I personally feel that there is another factor to this: "hero getting stronger" and "hero being the strongest" attract a different kind of audience. It's a modern genre that is establishing itself with a lot of loyal fans. If these fans are "the lower denominator" or if themes like Harem are generally poorly executed is something everyone can answer for themselves. I really hope that this new genre isn't replacing the stories people loved before, but that it can separate itself into its own space targeting its own demographic, so that both types of stories can exist side by side. Personally, I prefer if stories focus less on hardships for the protagonist and more on how everyone reacts to each other as well as on the change the protagonist brings to the world. It can be surprisingly thought-provoking in itself without having to rely as much on larger conflicts. In that sense, I really enjoy this new trend in storytelling. It's a bit like skipping over all the fight scenes, because you're only interested in the story around it. That's at least my interpretation on the topic. Maybe it's really just a decline in values or the result of ever shorter attention spans that people want everything spoon-fed to the main character, but I think it's a new generation of story that is here to stay. |
VaturnaJan 19, 3:34 PM
| You said it yourself: it's for escapism. Since there are so many out there, it appears that audiences are responding well to stories in which characters are just cool from the get-go without needing to put in as much work to earn their powers or abilities. What's happening now isn't unusual; anytime some genre or trope becomes popular, artists will race each other in the hopes that theirs is the work that blows up next. The "commoner is actually not a commoner" trope is old as dirt. I haven't watched The Apothecary Diaries, but if you dislike how it's used there, try Akagami no Shirayuki-hime; Shirayuki is never revealed to be royalty or anything but a commoner. Surprisingly, I found this trope done very well in Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu, mostly because they show the FMC actually working to develop, control and use her abilities. I see it as just another trend that will go away and be replaced by something else when it's eventually milked dry. Heaven knows that isekai has already been beaten to death and beyond. |
Reply to AjaxAscendant
I vaguely remember some major anime Youtuber (maybe Geoff Thew of Mother's Basement?) had a video about this very complaint, so maybe you might like to look at that. In the video, I remember him making the point that with the rise of streaming services (in case of anime) and reading apps (in case of manga), as well as changes in the way studios are run, managed and funded has led to them prioritising the front-loaded storytelling you're writing of over the long arc-filled epic narratives of the pre-2020 era such as Naruto, Bleach and HunterXHunter.
| @AjaxAscendant If you have a video link could you share it to me? I was not finding the video (or maybe i am looking at the wrong one) but could you let me know which you refer to? |
Without change,we end up becoming the very person we hate. I was dead until the moment I met you. I was a powerless corpse pretending to be alive. Living without power, without the ability to change my course, was bound to lead me to a slow death. |
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