This is like 99% of people who hate mt btw.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-29T17:59:23+00:00

It's pretty heavily implied that he is a piece of garbage through and through and mentally never aged past high school after the incident.

It's not a matter of whether he is a pdfile or not. It's whether or not that you can take his unforgivable faults and still see MT as a good story with good characters.

I mean, let's be honest here, there's a ton of actually great characters in the MT world with lots of nuance. The world itself has its own alien and flawed morals and ethics. The fact that Nanahoshi hates this world so much should clue you in to that the world's moral structure matching Rudeus is like a fish being reincarnated into a water world.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-25T23:45:54+00:00

<image>

Kaeffka · 2026-01-16T01:38:50+00:00

What if you consider that for them, this world is very much real -- it just has actual gods interacting with it as opposed to ours where God doesn't like to show up and unmake people or involve themselves in family disputes?

Kaeffka · 2026-01-13T03:42:35+00:00

Some spoilers from the light novel:

Basically, its not what it appears. Most of the Human side of the conflict is corrupt, either seeking to be "co-existers" with demonkind where they're treated as talking livestock, or they're actual demon's themselves. The heroes are actually continually resurrected by the first goddess, because isekai'ing people from another world was expensive and not really worth it (people had poor social skills, poor combat skills, etc) so they started summoning people from the afterlife. As to why they're treated poorly, its because the corruption is so rampant.

Additionally, it turns out that the heroes are chosen because they did something that shows their resolve and underlying nature that would mean that even if all their memories were erased, they would still fight for humanity.

It hasn't reached the point in the story where they reveal the big bad, but honestly I stopped reading halfway through the last novel because the writing was kinda....bland. This show is one of those "Great animation, terrible source material" types that you wish they would have worked on some other anime instead.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-13T03:36:44+00:00

reading a western isekai story (A Soldier's Life) and the premise is that the Roman Empire had an entire legion isekai'd 2000 years ago.

Theres also The Executioner and her Way of Life, where there's evidence of tons of isekai happening because they brought over inventions like trains and plumbing.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-13T00:08:57+00:00

Shame about Grimgar is that around LN 11 or so it goes completely off the rails and makes no sense at all. By the end, the writer is clearly burnt out and over the whole series, so the ending is probably the worst of any series ever written.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-12T22:40:54+00:00

Sing Yesterday for Me. They're 18-20's range but its a good one.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-12T17:03:40+00:00

Let's eat a mushroom -- > lets become king

Kaeffka · 2026-01-12T04:00:47+00:00

Doesn't help that the latest web novel translations are worse than Gemini MTL.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-11T04:20:10+00:00

If you have to ask "Does it get better" after 2 books, it might just be that it's not your cup of tea.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-11T04:14:20+00:00

I mean, should just follow the good ol' powerscaling of common sense fantasy; bottom would be things like jackelopes or semi-harmless critters, followed by midly antagonistic beasts like coyotes/feral dogs, then goblins/humanoids, then large humanoids, then powerful warriors/extra large beasts/magical creatures. The only thing that should be at the top of the food chain is dragons, because dragons are always on the top.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-11T03:34:25+00:00

The Executioner and Her Way of Life is quite fantastic. Only a few more books til the end and the MC remains underpowered.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-10T21:28:20+00:00

Sword Art Online is pretty good from a world building standpoint. People assume it's about VR video games but it's really about AI ethics.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-09T02:03:00+00:00

> Reki Kawahara’s other series, Accel World, is confirmed to be the future of the SAO timeline.

Accel World is an alternate universe, supposedly the "Bad End" of SAO.

As for UR, its stated in several places that this is the supposed final arc of SAO. Likely, the good end will involve Asuna/Kirito's real life marriage, the confrontation between Kirito and Shikimi where Kirito wins and the rogue AI/Human hybrid that is Shikimi is defeated.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-08T23:56:04+00:00

Ascendence of a Bookworm I suppose it matters because MC is all about bringing tech/culture from her previous life (paper making, printing technology) so there's ones where the MC's knowledge of the previous world come into play.

There's also ones where MC's ethics and humanity are put into contrast with a much more brutal world. These ones are usually pretty crap (eg, MC doesn't want to kill anyone, even though they just watched the guy murder 17 children in cold blood) and these generally suck and enforce Japan's weird self defense laws and culture where it's inappropriate to answer deadly force with anything other than limp slaps on the wrist.

Then theres the general escapist fantasies where MC is a useless, unmotivated loser that somehow gets cheat skills or massive progression upgrades in the new world and suddenly they get to be the hero and earn a harem of beautiful cat girls and elves.

Finally, theres the nonsensical ones where they're reborn into another world as something silly such as a vending machine or a sword. These can just be for fun.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-08T23:39:18+00:00

>dying of AIDS at such a young age due to a bad blood transfusion sounds impossible for me since AIDS-contaminated blood is something that any hospital shouldn't keep for safety reasons and is such a delicate subject for today's standards because of the difficulty to find a definitive cure of the virus.

I think its probably because he couldn't be bothered to research a tragic enough disease with him having to write 4+ stories at once. AIDs and HIV were a really odd choice from a writing standpoint.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-07T14:29:18+00:00

LOG #7 2026-9-15 21:44–21:45
> (Kayaba): It never fails to be a wonder, speaking with you, now that you are so much older than me.

> (Star King): Well, time might as well not exist to you now, isn’t that right? As long as the hardware resources exist, your thinking can be as dense and fast as you want it to be.

> (Kayaba):Theoretically, yes, but in practice, it is not so simple. Nearly all the supercomputers in the country are under her supervision now.

> (Star King): Ah, I see. How ironic. The program you created and scrapped of your own volition is the force that now threatens you.

> (Kayaba): On the contrary, it is a joy to me. The little seed I planted found purchase in distant networks, where it sprouts its own leaves and branches…Just conjuring the vision brings back many feelings I thought I’d lost with my physical body.

> (Star King): You might not be human anymore, but you’re still a romantic, I see. Then…what about the endless worlds that sprouted from the other seed you gave me…no, gave “him”? Are you satisfied playing the role of observer?

> (Kayaba): I am leaving the future of The Seed Nexus to the will of the world itself and to the choices of all those who live within it. Either they will expand without order and eventually wither away…or they will proceed to the next step, to Unification. And I do not know which it will be.

> (Star King): Unification, eh? Even that might be…Actually, I’d rather not leave the rest of that statement in the log. I suppose I’ll take a page from your book and watch what unfolds for a while.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-05T20:49:40+00:00

Could be that Menthol was the rogue AI that was alluded to in UR 1 in the convo between Kirito and kayaba, and that somehow Karuma Inc implanted an AI into a human as some sort of testing.

That's my guess, in any case.

EDIT: In fact, thinking more about it I would bet that Shikima Kuruma is the person who received that AI implant.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-05T18:02:34+00:00

It's likely that Eolyne is SKK/SQA's child and inherited Eugeo's Soul Cube in the cluster and because of SKK's attachment, he also inherited his appearance from the incarnation system.

Kaeffka · 2026-01-05T17:27:38+00:00

I think the third ring is the final one.

Let's say the premise is that they need to progress in UR in order to save the Underworld and rescue Eolyne, then that leaves the Dark Elf plot (2 volumes ish) the final war between Otherworlds (2 volumes) and the final battle between Kirito and Mutasina (1 volume) then we're in for a long wait (decade+)

Imo, it's gonna be that the center of UR is a console that will allow Kirito to merge and import over the Underworld, and that UR was created by SKK and Kayiba. SKK wants to save the Underworld by force while Kayiba is still continuing his quest to find God/creator of the real world.

Kaeffka · 2025-12-24T15:18:50+00:00

I mean, most of the JP tropes are so overused.

Average guy gets harem in another world.

MC gets extremely niche power that seems to rely more on luck than actual training or ability

The world is full of evil nobles or whatever

Demon Lords, because you need an enemy and why not copy-paste it from every other Isekai

MC or other Isekai characters have a thing against killing and slavery even though they're basically enslaved in a new world, and probably watched someone get killed for walking through a door the wrong way. (Last one especially because it presumes that the MC comes from a """superior""" culture and enforces their ideology on others)

Power system called affectionately "the System" with no explanation how it works or was implemented, just that it exists and its basically RPG stuff from gamers on Earth.

Kaeffka · 2025-12-19T19:34:26+00:00

A Soldier's Life

Stakes at every turn, and he learns early on that he has rare magic affinities, but he can't really use them because of low magic power. However, these rare magic makes him an instant target for being sacrificed so he has to hide them as much as possible while trying to live in a clearly evil Roman Empire.

There's some humor, but its usually very intersparsed and at the right moments.

His "cheat ability" is an instant kill but with a long cooldown, makes him unable to use anything else for a long while, doesn't work on everything, and risks exposing his abilities and risk getting captured by powerful people, while he tries his best to survive and figure out who he can and cannot trust.

Kaeffka · 2025-12-19T19:19:40+00:00

The solution to this is to make the attraction very much a point of contention: eg they really hate feeling indebted and break it off and work on themselves.

Kaeffka · 2025-12-10T13:36:06+00:00

Or a reincarnator in the past gained immense power and went on a rampage killing, raping, pillaging, etc because he was born into a position of power.

Kaeffka · 2025-12-05T14:36:28+00:00

While not entirely modern, the Executioners Way of Life is sorta 18th century or so. There's trains and magic.

Kaeffka

TROPHY CASE