Me after 5000th jap mc said they don't wanna "Stand Out"

[BLIGHT_ZERO]

 

[Alski]

You know you could always stop right? the first 3 chapters is enough to tell you what its going to be like.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

You know you could always stop right? the first 3 chapters is enough to tell you what its going to be like.

OP is acoustic.

 

[laccoff_mawning]

I'm absolutely fine with MCs not wanting to stand out...

... As long as they actually act like it and don't show off in front of every single character the author introduces; you really wouldn't expect that to be difficult, but noooo. It turns out that it's harder to keep a low profile than slay the bajillion gods the MC fights- fights in sight of everyone he wants to keep a low profile in front of, bear in mind.

But remember, it could always be worse. The author could also have the MC speak the most arrogant, prideful lines that would burn your face to ashes in shame.



Oh wait. That's exactly what the authors do. It's almost like the MC's trying his absolute hardest to stand out in front of as many people as possible while telling them to keep it a secret because he 'doesn't want to stand out'.

Spoiler

I had a lot of fun writing this.

 

[BLIGHT_ZERO]

You know you could always stop right? the first 3 chapters is enough to tell you what its going to be like.

....it was within the said three chapters.

OP is acoustic.

what did i even do-

I'm absolutely fine with MCs not wanting to stand out...

... As long as they actually act like it and don't show off in front of every single character the author introduces; you really wouldn't expect that to be difficult, but noooo. It turns out that it's harder to keep a low profile than slay the bajillion gods the MC fights- fights in sight of everyone he wants to keep a low profile in front of, bear in mind.

But remember, it could always be worse. The author could also have the MC speak the most arrogant, prideful lines that would burn your face to ashes in shame.



Oh wait. That's exactly what the authors do. It's almost like the MC's trying his absolute hardest to stand out in front of as many people as possible while telling them to keep it a secret because he 'doesn't want to stand out'.

Spoiler

I had a lot of fun writing this.

WHY don't they wanna stand out tho. Like they never give us the reader a solid reason to not stand out. Like sure the alt is that the mc becomes the most arrogant insufferable lil prick, but just... Its always one extreme to another and I hate it. If its not beta mc its incel. this why I only Korean stuff now.
(Not that Korean stuff is perfect but like the ones that usually get translated are way better bruh)

 

[laccoff_mawning]

WHY don't they wanna stand out tho. Like they never give us the reader a solid reason to not stand out.

I've tried to think of a few examples of stories in which the "I don't want to stand out" trope is actually meaningful and done well. So here's a few reasons I thought of.

The main reason I thought of is because the MC wants to live a quiet, peaceful life. This is probably the most common reason I've seen given.

Perhaps 'The Daily Life of the Immortal King' is an example of a novel that does this reasonably well The novel itself is sort of all over the place, but I'm specifically talking about how it handles the trope of 'MC hiding his power'

We also have 'Disasterous life of Saiki. K.', which is a manga, not novel. But it's somewhat similar in premise to the previous.

And also 'Yuusha Party no Kawaii', in which the MC doesn't want to reveal his power more than necessary because he's a demon. Though the trope is not nearly as pronounced as in the previous two examples.

The other reasons I could think of were much more novel-specific.

In the 'Ex Rank Support' novel, it's suggested that it's strategically beneficial for the MC to keep his powers hidden as much as possible. And in 'Eminence in the Shadow', the MC wants to hide his power because he's a lunatic and it serves his lunatic purposes. Regardless of the reason, I'd say it pulls off the trope pretty well.

 

[BLIGHT_ZERO]

I've tried to think of a few examples of stories in which the "I don't want to stand out" trope is actually meaningful and done well. So here's a few reasons I thought of.

The main reason I thought of is because the MC wants to live a quiet, peaceful life. This is probably the most common reason I've seen given.

Perhaps 'The Daily Life of the Immortal King' is an example of a novel that does this reasonably well The novel itself is sort of all over the place, but I'm specifically talking about how it handles the trope of 'MC hiding his power'

We also have 'Disasterous life of Saiki. K.', which is a manga, not novel. But it's somewhat similar in premise to the previous.

And also 'Yuusha Party no Kawaii', in which the MC doesn't want to reveal his power more than necessary because he's a demon. Though the trope is not nearly as pronounced as in the previous two examples.

The other reasons I could think of were much more novel-specific.

In the 'Ex Rank Support' novel, it's suggested that it's strategically beneficial for the MC to keep his powers hidden as much as possible. And in 'Eminence in the Shadow', the MC wants to hide his power because he's a lunatic and it serves his lunatic purposes. Regardless of the reason, I'd say it pulls off the trope pretty well.

Saiki k was the shit, I LOVED it. Its probably the only instance of this trope I TRULY enjoyed.
ngl it feels like the authors just want to mc to be underestimated so they can get some sort of easy face slap points
or maybe is an extension of the beta mc thing in japan idk.

 

[laccoff_mawning]

Saiki k was the shit, I LOVED it. Its probably the only instance of this trope I TRULY enjoyed.

Have you seen "The Daily life of the Immortal king" at all? It's very similar to Saiki. K.

(Moreso in the anime/donghua than in the novel. The donghua sort of goes completely off the novel in a good way. I like it more than Saiki K, but I'd also argue it's objectively worse than Saiki. K. It's sort hard to explain exactly.)

But yeah. I definitely think that the trope needs to be done better. As a comedy lover, the trope can work really well for me. I have an idea for an "I don't want to stand out" story myself, but it'll probably be several years before I start writing it because I'm trying to only write one story at a time.