607
on February 9, 2024
at 01:23
Updates currently happen every Friday but sometimes more often, visit this post for more scheduling information.
Support me on Patreon and read pages ahead of everyone else for as little as $1 a month. Have you heard about my Private art lessons?
Just TWO pages left until we run out of storyboards AHHHHH I’m literally laying the train tracks in front of me as we go down them.
However we do actually have a solid outline for the next few scenes I just have to string them together, and then there’s a long scene after that which is already written, and then an outline for how the chapter ends. So the end is IN SIGHT I just have to get around to actually putting the work in.
Mary should totally check out “The Summoned Hero is a Historical Materialist” on Sufficient Velocity. It’s a serious-but sometimes hilarious-SI fic in the Shield Hero setting which takes its politics seriously.
kinda ironic that she wants to write an utterly overdone cliche when she´s living in real life fantasy. i mean, what more do you need for inspiration?
btw, my favourite comfprt cliche is kinda the reverse of isekai – what if some supernatural elements turned up in RL, like what if a character of a non-supernatual/sci-fi show like bones or criminal minds turned out to be a vamp or highlander-style immortal…how that would impact team dynamics. and of course i´m planning to one day write an epic fanfic about it. guess i´m a cliche too, hu? LOLOL
Well cliches are only bad if they’re lazy or boring, they aren’t inheritantly bad!
True! 8-D
But even if her story may not be grand literature, if she enjoys writing it more power to her!
Screeeeeeeeeeech! I know its only 2017 but the Issekai genre was overstuffed then. Unlike now where it is overstuffed AND they don’t bother even Issekai-ing their protags. Now the fantasy world gets dumped in Seoul/Tokyo, or its a medieval dude in a medieval town, or its just a dude in regular Seoul/Tokyo but he gains more powers. And all with a brutal focus on just gaining more power. The number of stories revolving around “power number goes up” has steadily gone up.
If new protag gets sent to medieval Europe it would be ironic given that capitalism ended the medieval era and is (somehow) less evil than feudalism and mercantilism. Meanwhile colonialism is….. just as evil as the medieval system of conquest where you just killed everyone. At least its over quickly.
The source of evil? We get to fight the tree. Heck yea. But one could also assume its some dirty, filthy demon. But it kinda looks like a dragon.
I never said Mary’s idea was any good LOL
but yeah what is up with South Korea writing 100,000,000 isekai stories per day
*I wonder what’s in Pandora’s box…
SK produce tons of Isekai due A) being hella easy B) hardcore social unrest and institutional rot. The economy is messed up with low pay and brutal working conditions. They currently work a 52 hour week and the current SK government is pushing for a 69 (not nice) hour week despite running on a the opposite. But politicians literally murdering civilians at the behest of big business is not new. There is little social mobility due to a few companies that have strong government backing (its weird) making then unimpeachable and deeply nepotistic. If you are lucky enough to get a good job you win… a soulless job with no time for friends/family working unpaid overtime.
And South Korean men are super sexist. Like… Chinese 4Chan calls then overly misogynistic. In response women are also super sexist. So you either become a rage fueled freak or get attacked by said rage fueled freaks. Everyone has to perform military service (which is fine) except the rich and then people in military service get mocked as losers. Most in SK hate it there and want to leave. Makes sense that stories where people get control over their lives, friends, and romance are a big deal. In most western Isekai the protag usually is desperate to get back home. Not true for SK where it almost never comes up. Japan also has a similar thing with bad economy, giant corporations, overly rigid social structures, and alienation.
Now let’s talk about the shockingly high rates of self harm in SK and Japan.
*Shuts lid closed on box.
Phew! Thanks for the insight anyway, as far as it goes…!
Yes! Actually just today I watched a long video essay (from Moon Channel) about the dystopia that is SK and it really does explain the isekai media popularity.
Its a video about how capitalism and colonialism ruins lives. Its a comforting video I play on a loop when I get bored.
But yea, half of my comment comes from that vid. Perfect timing.
But I already knew about the stuff about Japan (from another Moon video).
I forgot: the other reason Issekai is so popular is because hella easy to write a hook, but the scenario does 75% of your heroes journey for you in like 4 panels. You literally are injected right into the action.
Intro: protag is already relatable.
Call to Adventure: God Issekaing you might explicitly tell you what to do
Refuse the call: Protag says “this can’t be happening” upon landing and fights monsters.
Threshold: Being Issekaied
Supernatural aid: Protag almost always gets a gimmick power.
Mentor: Sometimes the God that Issekaied you, but usually this part is subverted with “getting help is for losers / everyone hates me so I go solo”.
Challenges: The Issekai world.
Death/rebirth: Lots of Issekai and Blue Screens have protags dying. Usually for no reason.
Transformation: Literally via powers. Otherwise its just protag realizing the world is cruel man and they have to gain power.
I forgot: the other reason there are so many Issekai is because they usually have a concrete objective, and its explicitly told to them, they get inject into the action instantly, and protag is already relatable/understandable. That’s like 25% of your heroic journey in like 4 panels.
It’s going to be so full of cliche and tropes as it sounds from the description?
yes
Even moreso, then cubed. Me, I’m more a Booth Tarkington character dropped right in the middle of a something so political it makes medici stories seem straight foreward…and he’s not the good guy. Oh and a side order of H.G.Wells channeling Poe.
“Of course I started writing it back before I knew magic and demons existed so it’s all inaccurate.”