Hello~ So I've always loved the world transport trope, and I'm happy that RPG-loving writers have really jumped on it lately, but I've also noticed that most of them seem to be pretty badly written, usually having shallowly overpowered self-insert protagonists...

So, my request: I want likable characters with depth, plots that go somewhere, interesting concepts, etc. Optional bonus points if other characters are aware that the protagonist is from another world. You can recommend general RPG stuff too, if you think they're good. Manga, novels, recommend them all. I don't like really serious stuff like Shuto Heru, but that's the only big exception I have.

Examples of what I want:
- Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru (Novel) - smart protagonist, deep characters
- Kyou Kara Maou - interesting protagonist, good characters and plot, great concept
- Otome Game no Burikko Akuyaku Onna wa Mahou Otaku ni Natta (Novel) - advancing plot, deep characters at first (the male leads get shallow/irritating after a while)
- Feng Yu Jiu Tian (Novel) - smart protagonist, though the plot and other characters aren't as great
- Tenseisha wa Cheat o Nozomanai - decent characters, interesting plot concepts
- Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? (Novel) - protagonist is a little overpowered, but overall not bad
- Yandere-kei Otomege no Sekai ni Tensei Shite Shimatta Youdesu (Novel) - nice characters and decent plot so far
- Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami - intelligent and responsible protagonist, interesting characters
- Kanata Kara - great protagonist, nice characters, advancing plot, interesting concepts
- Sora wa Akai Kawa no Hotori - best manga ever

Examples of what I don't want:
- Slime Tensei Monogatari (Novel) - slow, uninteresting protagonist
- Fenglin Tianxia - Wangfei Shisansui (Novel) - uninteresting protagonist, OP
- What Came to Mind During My Third Time in Another World Was to for Now, Get Naked (Novel) - lacking plot, uninteresting protagonist, OP
- Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (Novel) - slow, uninteresting protagonist, OP
- Soshite Shoujo wa Akujo no Karada o Te ni Ireru (Novel) - extremely uninteresting protagonist
- Overlord (Novel) - uninteresting protagonist, lacking plot, terrible characterization everywhere, OP
- No Game No Life (Novel) - okayish in terms of plot and main characters, but the minor characters are really boring
- Mahou Tsukai no Neko - uninteresting characters
- The Queen's Knight - uninteresting characters, slow
- World Customize Creator - uninteresting protagonist
- Isekai de "Kuro no Iyashi Te" tte Yobarete Imasu - uninteresting protagonist
- Crazy Girl Shin Bia - uninteresting characters
- Kamitachi ni Hirowareta Otoko (Novel) - uninteresting protagonist
- Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari - great protagonist, extremely uninteresting rest of the cast
- Konjiki no Moji Tsukai (Novel) - uninteresting characters
- Parallel World Pharmacy (Novel) - uninteresting characters, OP protagonist
- Himekishi ga Classmate! - Isekai Cheat de Dorei ka Harem (Novel) - extremely uninteresting protagonist

(In addition to all that, the writing quality is just plain bad for a lot of the list)

There are a few others I've read but haven't mentioned since I'm in the midst of evaluating them, but that's the jist. Please recommend me good stuff! I love this trope and I need more. Thank you!

Last edited by Blique at 12:59 am, Jun 15 2016

How to put this... I agree with half of that list, disagree with other half... =w=;;

So not too sure how much these will suit your tastes but try them out? With that said, I'm pretty much listing raw novels, since I dunno if there's translations and can't remember any mangas atm. There seems to be so many titles these days that I thought weren't, but are in fact translated... @ @;;

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n0088bq/
Dun remember, but it did leave an impression on me for pretty good English and whatnot, in compared to most other novels. Recently got updated so rereading atm.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n3963ce/
A summoned hero... that instead of fighting monsters became the king. Great plot, great protagonist, slightly iffy harem members...

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n3862be/
Instead of being an earthling, being the protagonists are actually from the world they return to. Unique plot, deep settings, interesting cast. Oh and, plenty mystery especially behind world history. Includes both rebirth and tripping. First season completed.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n7002cp/
Pretty decent, it's kinda time traveling mixed with SF and parallel worlds, but focuses on war, politics, and economy. Can get quite funny.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n2605br/
I won't say it's unique... but I enjoy it. =w=;; I would think there's quite a bit of background that's coming up, like the real identities to some of the cast. Prolly the most different part to this one is that the two worlds are connected. There are ppl who have come and ppl who have gone.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n6470bm/
A more serious and realistic world travel, with great cast.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n6473bp/
Resummoned heroes... by the demon king. Cast isn't the best but plot is great.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n3056ci/
Overpower but unique and REALLY fun to read.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n9829bi/
Unique protagonist, not too much of plot but it's more of those slow pace relaxed type of stories. Imagine if a god moved to a new world!

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n5011by/
Kinda been a while so memory blurry, but I love the strategy side of this novel.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n7740cq/
Read it as comedy. You won't find something like this elsewhere, I laughed my ass off. xD

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n9264bj/
Protagonist isn't the one who tripped, which makes things all the more interesting. Protagonist is actually an NPC villain, but due to a small event, defies the fate the world destined for him... unknowingly. The one who's the earthling comes out a bit later, and goes from er... I won't spoil it.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n0156bp/
It's pretty template and cliche, but makes sense and I love the mentality of the protagonist.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n2571z/
The main focus of this one isn't the fact that he is originally an earthling, which is why it makes it interesting. Character growth, and especially the background of the world.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n8344u/
o3o Not much to say, it's just great.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n8528cn/
The boring cliche story is in fact...? The continuation and explanation to a cliche story unveiled. Read until the last chapter or you're missing out on over half of the story.

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n8038cb/
Backwards tripping.

I have been on the search for similar things.

Kuro no Maou (Novel) - This has mixed reviews, but I really liked it. The characters are all very well developed and you really feel the struggle that the MC goes through. This novel has a slow pace with sudden fast developments mixed in. It seems to be they type of story that you will either love or hate.

The Demonic King Chases His Wife - The Rebellious Good-for-Nothing Miss (Novel) - This starts out like its going to be another Fenglin Tianxia - Wangfei Shisansui (Novel), but I like it much better. The MC is not nearly as ridiculously over powered. Its also more political and focused on her relationship with the Male character. The chapters are really short and there is a lot of descriptions. Again, I like it, but I like aggressive male romantic characters.

Yandere-kei Otomege no Sekai ni Tensei Shite Shimatta Youdesu (Novel) - If you like the whole otome game type of plot you might like this one as well.

Shen Mu (Novel) - This is one of those wuxia reincarnation stories that mostly focuses on cultivation, but it doesn't seem as popular as others. I think that is because the MC is not particularly over powered. For the majority of the story he is struggling to stay alive as it seems every women he meets either betrays him or wants to kill him. Its also a "reincarnation" story, not a "taken to another world" story.

Saver - This is an older shoujo manga. The first few chapters take place in modern times and have almost nothing to do with the rest of the story, you could almost skip them completely. They also are not the best quality scans. I think that most people don't like them and it chases people off from it. Try to give it until the MC actually travels to the other world before making a judgment.

Edit: Ok you most likely won't like this one, the main character is a know it all and a little overpowered... its also a "reincarnation" story rather then "taken to another world"... but its my current obsession so I'm going to throw it out there.... Tales of Demons and Gods (Novel). I love it so much, I made the the wiki for it.

Last edited by sithkazar at 11:03 pm, Nov 23 2015

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@reanseih:
Feel free to re-suggest stuff I listed if you think they're really good. I dropped a lot of them pretty early on because I found the writing/protagonists to be cliche/boring, but if later events make it worthwhile, I might consider picking it back up.

Your suggestions sound intriguing. 8D I'm behind on my kanji studies, but I think I might be able to get by. Thanks!

@sithkazar:
Yandere-kei Otomege is great! I just caught up with the latest update. I think I had intended on reading it before, but there was only a couple chapters out at the time and I forgot all about it.

Started reading Kuro no Maou too. The plot looks promising, but the writing is hard to get through...I made it to chapter 11, might continue later if I get bored.

I tried out Saver up to volume 4, but there's something about the storytelling that I can't quite get into. I think it's the pacing, or the strange choice of moment used to portray the scenes. It reminds me of Basara, which I didn't like too much either.

I'll start on the rest soon and tell you how it goes.

Oh, we have rather similar tastes. Here's my recs:

My Disciple Died Yet Again (Novel) - It's bit of a parody on Xianxia webnovel type stories. I look forward to reading it everyday. It's hilarious and the characters are very fun. The heroine is from our world and gets transported to a xianxia world.

A Generation of Military Counselor (Novel) - Heroine is an ex-SWAT police detective that gets transported into ancient China. She basically ends up training soldiers and doing military stuff with her modern knowledge. Very charismatic and tough lady.

Record of Washed Grievances (Novel) - Actually the prequel to the above, but I'm pretty sure they can be read separately. This time the heroine is a medical examiner who gets transported back in time.

Silver Diamond - AMAZING world building and characterization. I've read most this author's works (the ones where she writes the story and not the ones where she's just the artist) and this is a common thread. Her stories do start out slow though.

----------
Maybes:

Lasboss x Hero - Shounen manga parody. A mangaka gets transported into his own poorly rated cliched shounen battle manga.

Knight Fantastic Night - The story definitely has pacing problems. This is more of a romance with fantasy elements than anything focused on action or adventure. The characters are aware that the heroine comes from another world and some of them try to stop her from leaving (but this is a minor aspect).

12 Kingdoms - It's been a long time since I've read the novels and watched the anime, but I remember it being pretty good. The heroine starts out super annoying, but she becomes a much stronger and interesting character as the story progresses. (The novels are no longer published in English, but you can find them if you look around.) I do take some beef with how the other world works, but overall, a good story.

Rure - I haven't read this in a long time and I left off somewhere volume 2, but I do remember liking it.

Shunkan Lyle - There's only one translated chapter out! But what a first chapter it was. It reminded me of Bokura no Kiseki

Sorry it's been a while, got distracted by various things.

I read all of the Silver Diamond releases so far, and I love it! I'll check out other stuff by the author too.

I read Rure a while back and remember that I liked it, but I think I stopped reading because the scanlations stopped.

I read the first two chapters of Shunkan Lyle. The story seems great, but the storytelling is really awkward...I usually like Arina Tanemura's stuff, so I guess it's because of Yui Kikuta. I'll continue reading it for a little longer though, to see if it's worth pushing through for.

I'll try out the rest of your suggestions soon. Thank you!

Oh, I remember the series that got me into this trope was Sono Mukou no Mukougawa, which is still my personal favorite of this subgenre.

Also, I read +a no Tachiichi lately and enjoyed it, but I've also heard that the ending was, uh, pretty frustrating.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgal also seems kind of interesting so far. (The protagonists aren't overpowered saviors of the world and are fighting simply for survival, etc.) But, as I'm sticking with the manga, it's still near the beginning of its run, and I have no idea if it'll get better or worse from here.

If you're OK with some slasher horror-esque stuff and not fantasy, Tenkuu Shinpan has some really great action suspense going on. Also a likable protagonist and supporting cast and an interesting mystery.

If you're interested in comedy, RPG (Gaechaban) is pretty fun.

For a general RPG manga, Tsuyokute New Saga is probably my favorite iteration of the subgenre in this current boom. (Then again, I've always been a sucker for time reversal series.)

(P.S. I'm not entirely sure what you qualify as "super serious," so your mileage may vary and all that with some of these.)

http://royalroadl.com/fiction/2850

great story, interesting universe, and I like almost every character in the story.

it a original English web novel

I think you will like it a little because I don't get what kind of character that you like but anyways
the main character is strong but not to much, what overpowering is the knowledge that come from his previous world. He is not a lazy cheat that gain power with no effort.

This one is a fan fic at japtem translations, in the begging the Mc is not so overpowered and he works himself up in power. It also has a "false" vrmmorpg setting and the Mc (a boy) isn't only in one world but multiple one's. Really great plot and it's my favorite so far. Has kind of regular updates about one chap per week depending on if the author is busy with other things or not. Anyway I highly suggest that you should read it.

World Gate Online by imaginexbreaker

Ps: It has a harem setting!

I updated my list a little, though it's been a while and I forgot the plots of some of the ones I dropped, so I didn't list them...I might get around to that later.

Anyhow, I'm back again wanting more recommendations! Please and thanks!

I tend to like the serious type, so I don't really know what types you're exactly indicating, but, nonetheless, here's a few more (most of which have not been mentioned):

Tsubasa - Reservoir Chronicle: it's by CLAMP and involves constantly moving from dimension to dimension.

The Black Knight Who Was Stronger than Even the Hero (novel): one of those RPG ones you mentioned.

Suijin no Ikenie: it only has two chapters thus far, but it has a promising start which is reminiscent of a few of the others you mentioned.

Kenjutsu Komachi: short but fairly good.

Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari: a harem RPG type.

Immortal Regis: if you're okay with the tragic, then this is a good Supernatural one.

Desert Coral: I think this one fits, it's reminiscent of Rure especially.

Dalsez: it's more of a parallel world type, but it has the other-world feel.

You might also want to try the Dream World category.

Last edited by blackluna at 1:03 am, Jun 14 2016

Amatsuki
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