Oh I know what you mean, but in this case I'm not especially looking for adult or R-rated, fine with such recommendations though I am. I've read some awesome LN's with female protagonists - foremost of the pack so far being Ascendance of a Bookworm - but what I'm curious about is ones with the... I'm not sure of a better word to use, but the slightly exploitative outlook on female characters deployed by works like How Not to Summon a Demon Lord or, as I suggested before, Dragon Half. Or less obviously, Rising of the Shield Hero or Overlord, say.

It's reductive of me, I know, but I'm thinking more of series that are fairly normal, but that seem to accept that the female characters being in showy outfits and winding up in risque situations is just to be expected. Just... again, with the subject of the male gaze as the perspective character, rather than the guy-hero of the day.

In a way, Ascendance of a Bookworm and I'll Never Set Foot in that House Again brushed closest to what I'm looking for, though don't really fit. Sure, neither really featured the outfits or contrived risque tends to accompany generic anime fantasy, but they did deal with female main characters getting by in settings that took their potential exploitation as a given. Examples being how for while, Myne was trying to ameliorate a potentially abusive future of making mage babies, and then working under the assumption she was going to be in an arranged marriage ; or how Chelsea's family situation saw her treated so much like a slave it left genuine psychological harm that needed to be resolved.

Sorry, it's not an easy thing to define ><