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The story
A discussion on 5ch about “isekai” (parallel-world reincarnation) stories known as “naro-kei” — named after the novel-posting site “Shosetsuka ni Naro” that spawned the genre — kicked off with a post noting that “there are basically only four plot patterns, yet over 1,000 titles use them.” Commenters pointed to the constant recycling of stories where the hero gets an overpowered “cheat skill” and dominates everyone, or the “just you wait” (zamaa) revenge arc where a noble family or party kicks the hero out only to regret it later. Others criticized the poor writing quality of the source novels and suggested the character templates are lifted wholesale from RPGs or Tolkien’s works. Opinion split between those who blame lazy, mass-produced writing on the creators and those who argue it’s simply supply meeting demand.
What people said
・Die, get reincarnated, receive a cheat skill, become OP
・Get kicked out of your noble family or party, then make them regret it (the classic "zamaa" revenge trope)
Some of it's bad enough you have to wonder if the editor is garbage or just doesn't exist — not something you should be charging money for
That's it
Which means there's demand for it
They just die and go to another world, that's it
A noble gets exiled to the frontier and then dominates everyone from there
It was so similar I genuinely thought I was rereading the same book lol
Read it and it was actually pretty fun, but then I looked at the original novel and it was seriously bad, like something a grade-schooler wrote
Even the protagonist's inner monologue had that "onna-san" vibe (a dismissive 5ch term for stereotypically catty online chatter) — dialogue and thinking like a watered-down One Piece or watered-down Gintama
They're creepy enough that you have to wonder if they were written by an actual creepy otaku (kimo-ota) in real life…
I guess there just aren't that many variations on ideas that actually land with an audience
On the flip side, is there anything you'd actually recommend?
Revenge
Missed-connection romance between a man and a woman
What was the other one again?
Normally that shouldn't even be possible, but with "naro" stories it happens more than you'd think
Some of the manga volumes actually include a bit of the original novel text at the back
And reading it, way too many of them are genuinely terrible writing
It's not just basic language skills — the vocabulary and sentence structure are so bad some of them are borderline unreadable
You unlock new menu items with skill points, but I was already bored by volume 1 lol
It's actually "Tsuji Soba," not Fuji Soba
Though the menu was a total ripoff of the real Fuji Soba
Basically it's all just one-punchline gimmick premises
And they slap on the reincarnation/isekai template just to get people to notice the gimmick
At this point it's basically an improv comedy game (oogiri)
Also it's creepy how dragons always turn into women when they take human form
Though for the most part they were treated as male, as a symbol of evil
It's just for horny otaku fan service, obviously
I lose interest halfway through every time
I never really got the worldbuilding where "heavy knight" is treated as a bottom-tier job
And then it turns out to secretly have huge potential…
It's weird how conveniently only the protagonist ever notices that
Even without knowing the game mechanics, you'd think everyone else would've figured that out too
Dwarves are stout little guys who are great blacksmiths
A world where beastfolk face discrimination
Goblins and orcs are ugly and sly
Aren't these tropes originally from RPG video games?
Wasn't Tolkien the original source for that stuff?
I think a lot of it is actually lifted from Dragon Quest
Like the front-line/back-line party roles, and how mages and healers are usually girls
Honestly it'd be funnier if a regular creepy otaku just went back to being a kid and became an elite or a "paripi" (a trendy, sociable party-going type)
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
“Naro-kei” is a nickname for the body of work originating from the posting site “Shosetsuka ni Naro” (“Let’s Become a Novelist”). Since the 2010s, publishers like KADOKAWA have replicated whatever formula sells, causing a rapid surge in template-driven titles. In the thread, an explanation leaning toward personal attack — “it’s because the creators are creepy otaku” — clashes with a market-based explanation — “they’re mass-produced because they sell” — and the latter is closer to reality. Because Naro turns amateur online submissions into published books, the wide variance in the source novels’ writing quality is also a trait rarely seen in other genres. It’s worth noting that having “few patterns” is a phenomenon shared by other genres like sci-fi too, so it’s a common misconception to treat it as a flaw unique to naro-kei.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “So about these isekai reincarnation ‘naro’ stories….”
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