Failure to identify with the main character?

[ThisAdamGuy]

So I'm listening to the Dungeon Diving 101 audiobook. I'm trying to get as wide of a reference for popular litrpgs as possible as I write my own, but I've never been interested in the harem romance genre. That's probably why I completely and totally failed to identify with the main character, Ken. He's 100% a blank slate protagonist that the reader is supposed to insert themselves into (while he's busy inserting other things *badum tsss!*) but I just couldn't get into his headspace because I can't imagine being in a world where every hot girl I meet either immediately falls head over heels in love with me, or falls head over heels in love with me five minutes after learning my name. If that were to happen to me in real life, I'd refer each and every one of them to a psychiatric ward, but Ken takes it all in stride as if this is just how things are supposed to work. I know harem stories operate on a different set of rules than real life, but this is so far removed from reality that it broke my suspension of disbelief.

Kinda funny how that works, isn't it? Magic, superpowers, and trucks that send you to alternate realities? No prob. People who don't act like real people? Immersion immediately and irrepairably shattered.

Have you ever read a book that you just flat out couldn't identify with the main character?

 

[Corty]

Have you ever read a book that you just flat out couldn't identify with the main character

No because I quit the book if that happens. It's why I never ever could read GoT

 

[Eldoria]

Not reading the novel but watching the SAO anime. I really don't understand what's so interesting about Kirito that every girl who meets him falls in love. And it makes me frown even more because Kirito already has Asuna but the author keeps adding other girls to his harem in every arc. What's so interesting about a harem story like this? Do you (the readers) imagine yourself as Kirito? I'm not interested and don't understand it.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

I can watch movies where I don't identify with the main character...
But reading requires far more effort.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

No because I quit the book if that happens. It's why I never ever could read GoT

but who was the MC in GoT? ... John? Daenerys? Tyrion? I say Ned was the MC and once he was killed, it was game over for the books and show.

 

[Corty]

but who was the MC in GoT? ... John? Daenerys? Tyrion? I say Ned was the MC and once he was killed, it was game over for the books and show.

No real idea. I never got far with the first book. I bought it, but it's just not my cup of coffee. It happens, I just couldn't get into it because I only enjoy books if I can self-insert myself into the shoes of the characters. Didn't happen there.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Yes. I usually do identify with A character but not always the MAIN one.
The only fiction book I could not identify with any character in (because the author put too many levels of separation by making the reader a part of the story, but as a literal intangible character who just observes events... if I even understood the almost poetry-like prose correctly, that is) I have been unable to get past chapter five of (The Worm Ouroboros). But in stories like, Don Quixote, I identify more with the sidekick Sancho Panza than the MC, for example, and I think Arthur Conan Doyle wanted the audience to identify with his narrator, Doctor John Watson, and just admire his main character Sherlock Holmes.

 

[whitesculptor]

Not reading the novel but watching the SAO anime. I really don't understand what's so interesting about Kirito that every girl who meets him falls in love. And it makes me frown even more because Kirito already has Asuna but the author keeps adding other girls to his harem in every arc. What's so interesting about a harem story like this? Do you (the readers) imagine yourself as Kirito? I'm not interested and don't understand it.

Personally, enjoyed the story concept, and completely ignored the romance part.
I wanted the author to show more about the leveling up, the struggle, the dangerous dying, rather than the timeskip he did.
But well, things are rarely the way we want them to be. ♡

 

[Eldoria]

Personally, enjoyed the story concept, and completely ignored the romance part.
I wanted the author to show more about the leveling up, the struggle, the dangerous dying, rather than the timeskip he did.
But well, things are rarely the way we want them to be. ♡

In the early season, when Kirito was trapped in the game, the story was actually quite interesting, presenting a death game with lives at stake. However, everything changed when the author continued to add new girls in each arc. Actually, adding girls is fine, but why do the relationships between the MC and the girls often end romantically? Even though there are many relationships that could be explored, whether as mentors, comrades in struggle, or even ideological enemies. Unfortunately, the author is stuck with a cliche trope: the black-haired MC gets a harem by beating up his enemies (or rather, this anime is the pioneer of black-haired harem MCs?!)

 

[LuoirM]

Huh... Reading this thread is interesting, because by far, my most successful novel that once got #23 trending is about a mentally challenged man who had a deep Southern accent and got women (yes, Forrest Gump inspired, love that movie)

Am I on a different conversation here? Identifibility =/ Relatability?

 

[whitesculptor]

In the early season, when Kirito was trapped in the game, the story was actually quite interesting, presenting a death game with lives at stake. However, everything changed when the author continued to add new girls in each arc. Actually, adding girls is fine, but why do the relationships between the MC and the girls often end romantically? Even though there are many relationships that could be explored, whether as mentors, comrades in struggle, or even ideological enemies. Unfortunately, the author is stuck with a cliche trope: the black-haired MC gets a harem by beating up his enemies (or rather, this anime is the pioneer of black-haired harem MCs?!)

Even if I sound mean, the story had enough potential to reach where it reached, even without all these girls popping. It would be like solo leveling on the survival part, but better, since the concept was simply cooler. Solo leveling I read the Manga before anime being a thing and sincerely, it became super dull.
At least in sao, everyone could reach max level and become relevant.
Another thing in sao, was the first forty or fifty levels, they were entirely skipped. Considering players would have the hardest time on those levels as it was the first time of a lot of people unlike Kirito: would've allowed the author to write a pov of him who has some knowledge and mechanics vs a completely new player, who could just die after some chapters.

 

[Alski]

Another thing in sao, was the first forty or fifty levels, they were entirely skipped. Considering players would have the hardest time on those levels as it was the first time of a lot of people unlike Kirito: would've allowed the author to write a pov of him who has some knowledge and mechanics vs a completely new player, who could just die after some chapters.

I just wish the author had done SAO: Progressive stuff earlier.

 

[Sylver]

Not reading the novel but watching the SAO anime. I really don't understand what's so interesting about Kirito that every girl who meets him falls in love. And it makes me frown even more because Kirito already has Asuna but the author keeps adding other girls to his harem in every arc. What's so interesting about a harem story like this? Do you (the readers) imagine yourself as Kirito? I'm not interested and don't understand it.

I don't think it was the characters that made SAO popular, but rather the concept of playing in a virtual reality video game turned manga/anime. Maybe it didn't invent the genre but it certainly popularized it enough that for some time, other manga tried imitating its success.

As for Kirito, he's a blank slate based off my memory. He had a cute design but that's about it, the women love him because it's a not so subtle harem project and they serve their purpose as eye candy for him.

 

[Eldoria]

As for Kirito, he's a blank slate based off my memory. He had a cute design but that's about it, the women love him because it's a not so subtle harem project and they serve their purpose as eye candy for him.

Well, Kirito is a generic harem MC. I prefer the heroine, the knight Alice, whose figure reminds me of Saber and Joan of Arc. By the way, the idealistic female knight archetype also inspired the female knight character in the novel I'm still writing.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

Can't understand the not-dragons, so pretty often.