Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer

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Manga that I believe are highly underrated and deserve more attention.

In which the protagonist of the story is currently in the middle age period of their life. Maybe they’ve retired from adventuring after success? Or maybe it's even failure or humiliation? Nonetheless, they're called back into adventuring in one way or another. Maybe they’re called back into the real world again because their help is needed? Or they’ve finally been gifted a second chance at the life they wished to experience all those years ago? Or maybe their offsprings' call to adventure inadvertently drags them back?

Usually possessing the maturity as acquired from experience in life, they’re generally more world weary and mature, and not as naïve as the typical young age/teenage protagonist as found in shounen fantasy stories. However, the reversal may be true if the story is a comedy; such protagonists usually possess a stereotypical man-child/boomer mindset.

"The world is a stage, and we’re all just players. But we don’t get to choose our roles."

Semi-Noir is characterized by some elements as cynical heroes, stark lighting effects, frequent use of flashbacks, intricate plots, and an underlying existentialist philosophy, albeit not necessarily followed by bleak, eventual prognosis of events to come.

The isolation from society of the typical semi-noir hero was underscored by the use of stark high-contrast lighting. Classic images of semi-noir included rain-soaked streets in the early morning hours; street lamps with shimmering halos; flashing neon signs on seedy taverns, diners, and apartment buildings; and endless streams of cigarette smoke wafting in and out of shadows.

The inherent subjectivity of Expressionism is also evident in semi-noir’s use of narration and flashback. An omniscient, metaphor-spouting narrator frequently clarifies a characteristically hemi-labyrinthine semi-noir plot or offers a subjective, jaded point of view. Tension and suspense are increased by the use of all-knowing narrators and flashbacks, in that the audience is always cognizant of impending bleak turn of events, even with presence of plot armor to save the day at the eleventh hour.

The heroes of semi-noir generally share certain qualities, such as moral ambiguity, a fatalistic outlook, and alienation from society. They also exhibit an existential acceptance of random, arbitrary occurrences as being the determining factors in life. Such compassionless pragmatism is found in the most noble, as well as the most tarnished, of semi-noir heroes. The weakest of such characters exhibit an abundance of tragic flaws.

Semi-Noir villains are often characterized as homme fatales or “spiders”; in the words of one critic, they are “comfortable in the world of cheap dives, shadowy doorways, and mysterious settings.” They cunningly and ruthlessly manipulate their counterparts to gain power or wealth.

Nevertheless, the semi-noir villains often evoke sympathy, as they are frequently victims of emotional or physical abuse, with such victimization providing impetus for their vengeance. They are trapped in passionless or violent bonds of contract/servitude and resort to murder as a means of escape, usually destroying their conspirators in the process.

(list will be kept updated)

in my opinion, in no specific order

a series of titles in which a human character reincarnates as a monster, demi-human, location, plant, or object! there must be references to the mc's previous life while following the journey of their current life, and the mc must be noticeably non-human, either by appearance or abilities. if the mc is unaware of their previous life until later, this may still be considered.

(updating!!)

not on MAL:
Yuri Wall by Seta Seta
'“As an outsider, I want to silently protect and watch over the love between women…,” said a Yuri fanatic that got hit by a car and reincarnated as a wall in a certain apartment! And for some reason, the residents of the apartment room are always two girls in yuri relationship… Let’s support these cute and heartwarming couples together with the passionate wall in “Yuri Wall”!'

Don't Underestimate a Big Carrot by 人家特可以
'A young genius, Cheng Xin, is mysteriously shot at an award ceremony for the Omniscient AI System. When he awakens, he finds himself transformed into a scruffy-looking radish spirit in the Secret Forest, and the omniscient system is haphazardly activated. Thus begins the legend of the Great Radish.'

Reincarnated as a Legendary Grimoire by Geumhon, Yang Galbi
'I was reincarnated as a grimoire containing all the magical knowledge of another world. Anyone who reads me can become a legendary archmage. Please, just read me... But no one is willing to open my pages.'

A Sword's Evolution Begins From Killing by Pikapi (噼咔噼)
'Ye Fan was reborn as a strange sword with its own upgrade system. Ye Fan has been continuously upgraded through the killing experience of the sword masters of the past dynasties, and has become an evil sword that everyone in another world competes for. As soon as the evil sword was born, it would definitely set off a bloody storm, and Ye Fan also worked hard to get rid of the sword body and restore his human form as soon as possible…'

Evolution: Road to Space Monster by 공포의거북이, 아이나무
'The protagonist wakes up to find that they are reborn as an alien creature inside an SF survival video game. In order to survive in a strange, foreign world, they must use their knowledge of the game and evolve until the final stage. Through this evolution, the protagonist becomes a terrifying creature that everyone fears.'

Skeleton Evolution: Starting From Being Summoned By the Sorceress by 静孤与寞
'Jiang Cheng, a man who unexpectedly finds himself reincarnated into a fantastical game world as a lowly skeleton, summoned by a group of beautiful female players using dark necromancy. To his dismay, this skeleton is no ordinary minion; it's the epitome of cannon fodder, barely worth a second glance! But fortune smiles upon him, for he possesses an extraordinary ability—the Infinite Evolution System!'

Slayerdramon Ant by Taxue Comic
'A high school student Zheng Lang reincarnated into an ant after the death. The world he lives now is another world, under the control of monsters. One day, he ran into some people who accidentally entered the world and they became friends. A new and exciting journey is waiting for them…'

"Memories are like stones, time and distance erode them like acid."

Saudade is an emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for a beloved yet absent something or someone. It derives from the Latin word for solitude. It is often associated with a repressed understanding that one might never encounter the object of longing ever again. It is a recollection of feelings, experiences, places, or events, often elusive, that cause a sense of separation from the exciting, pleasant, or joyous sensations they once caused.

A stronger form of saudade may be felt towards people and things whose whereabouts are unknown, such as old ways and sayings; a lost lover who is sadly missed; a faraway place where one was raised; loved ones who have died; feelings and stimuli one used to have; and the faded, yet golden memories of youth. Although it relates to feelings of melancholy and fond memories of things/people/days gone by, it can be a rush of sadness coupled with a paradoxical joy derived from acceptance of fate and the hope of recovering or substituting what is lost by something that will either fill in the void or provide consolation.

Saudade is a word in Portuguese and Galician that claims no direct translation in English. However, a close translation in English would be "desiderium." Despite being hard to translate in full, saudade has equivalent words in other cultures, and is often related to music styles expressing this feeling such as the Blues for African-Americans, Añoranza in Spain, Sehnsucht in German, Dor in Romania, Tizita in Ethiopia, Hiraeth in Welsh, or Assouf for the Tuareg people, Appocundria in Neapolitan, or Mall in Albanian. In Slovak, the word is Clivota or Cnenie, and in Czech, the word is Stesk. In Turkish, the word Hasret meaning longing, yearning or nostalgia has similar connotations, as does the Polish Tęsknota.

Personal comment: Realized that instead of mere noir, what I actually like is inherent melancholic longing for something deeper as shown in this list, usually as what happened in main characters' past.
Noir and Semi-Noir lists would be kept updated nevertheless.

Rule :
When reincarnated, MC's appearance should NOT have any resemblance of human (e.g: succubus, elf, kemonomimi, etc).


----------------Tensei Stacks Series--------------------------

MANGA
Weird Reincarnation (Humanoid)(MC):https://myanimelist.net/stacks/57887

Reincarnated as The Opposite Gender (MC) : https://myanimelist.net/stacks/57330


ANIME
Weird Reincarnation (MC): https://myanimelist.net/stacks/42719


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This interest stack aims to gather manga / manhwa set in worlds where monster-filled dungeons play an important role in the narrative, whether as places of adventure, challenges, or sources of power.

This interest stack aims to gather manga / manhwa set in worlds where magic, abilities, skills, martial arts and such are a fundamental part of the universe and the power systems.