Seoul Station Druid
You'd think that in a world where magic, monsters, and the concept of being sucked into another dimension is the norm, that this guys story would be more believable. For all they knew, the land he ended up in worked with a different timescale(ie every year is 100 years in that world.)
It always throws me off when returner stories have everyone so cynical and suspicious of the stories told by survivors. Its only been 10 years since whatever magical monstrous event happened!! They don't possibly know everything there is to know about this stuff.
On the aspect of the FL:
Im not against having romance in this sort of story...when it's done well.
The issue is, with a male protagonist power fantasy like this, or anything similar, its very difficult to introduce a FL, and make the dynamic between her and the protagonist enjoyable. Because, at its core, these stories focus on the protagonist being stronger and cooler than everyone else-there might be different plotlines and coats of paint to hide the cliche, but its always there. And in following that trope, it means the female love interest(because theres very rarely a gay overpowered MC) will end up being either a damsel in distress, or someone who doubted the ML's strength and came to respect him after being beaten-like in this.
The woman can't be as strong as, or stronger than, the ML. Which is why it's often so uncomfortable.
I wish there were more stories that handled romance well--if only there were FL's who stood on par with the protagonist, without either looking down on him or being some sort of tsundere stereotype. Or, hell, even a female lead who knew the protag before he became all buff and overpowered.
There's potential in the genre, as much as fans of it preach hatred at the mere mention of a romantic interest.
Unfortunately, this story doesn't grasp that potential.
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