It is said that a good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end; others claim that you only need a charismatic protagonist with whom you can immerse yourself in the world you create; others say that for it to be a good story, it has to be an emotional rollercoaster where the reader doesn't know what hit them.
Personally, I agree with what the majority thinks; I would only add a small contribution: for a story to be a good story, it must avoid deviating from its own established rules, as is the case with so many fanfics where the protagonists are granted powers that are above the world they arrive in; some of these powers may come from other works where they follow their balance rules, but upon entering another work they ridiculously surpass what is already present; in other cases, they may even be too powerful. Even in their own world, bordering on the exaggerated.
cough cough Mangekyou Sharingan, cough cough.
Or the overly used "system". Let's be realistic, since SAO came out, besides sparking the isekai trope, all writers jumped on the trend of reincarnating with a system that would show them their stats, give them tasks, and even have a shop to buy things from other worlds. Seriously, that's ridiculous. You are arriving in a new reality where unique rules exist that shouldn't allow the existence or, at least, the correct functioning of foreign objects or powers, but, oh well, the system miraculously gifts them to you with the overused rookie gift package and they magically work without problems.
Personally, using a character stats system limits the development of a work, since everything boils down to who has the biggest ;) making the power of arts, magic, or any technique used as strong as the stats, neutering the surprise in battles, which are one of the most popular factors of any action work and the most remembered even by people uninterested in the work.
For example, it is not even half as interesting a fight where one character has three times the stats of the rival, as it is where both have a minimal difference; the smallest mistake by any of the involved can make them lose, but this is also limited because in a realistic environment it would be almost impossible for all the rivals you face to be as strong as you, or stronger or less, and the fact that they are, then, only confirms that something suspicious is going on.
But well, returning to the main point of what we were talking about, how the isekai trope is overexploited with the obnoxious "system" that comes to break any balance in the work, being this the mechanism to turn a common or even mediocre protagonist into the messiah, the hero or, in some cases, the "demon king".
Look, I know a fanfic is the interpretation someone creates based on another author's work, but with their touches, changing events, creating unique characters, filling plot holes in the original work, and even allowing the creation of a story of how we would do a better job as protagonists.
Sure, as we already know all the important events, where the treasures are, we know the characters inside out, so, who wouldn't! XD. But something annoying to see is the fact of deviating from the original work's rules when you are supposed to abide by them. If you decide to start from a world with its already established rules, at least you should do that so your work can integrate with the original work.
You know, since I'm complaining about things I don't like in fanfics, does anyone else share my point of view about those supposedly intelligent or planning characters who want to keep a low profile but want to reap the benefits at certain times and by doing so, practically get exposed and from there have conflicts with the protagonists or antagonists of the work? They are idiots, I mean, if you are so smart, why not take, I don't know, an intermediary to do it for you? And in case you want to avoid future suspicions, dispense with them, wink wink.
Oh, I know, when a protagonist who apparently knows the whole plot of the work they arrive in mentions that the greatest advantage of a reincarnated person is their knowledge of future events, as they are full of opportunities, so they decide to keep the "low profile" to avoid changing the plot and losing their greatest advantage. Three Doritos later, oh surprise!, they got fully involved in an important event that triggered a huge butterfly effect in the whole plot and everything they knew went down the drain XD.
Look, the biggest mistake of someone who knows the plot is to believe that their actions under the radar won't cause the plot to change, hence the butterfly effect; however small a change to the immediate future or the long-term, it will have repercussions.
Especially if you know that an event is important to happen as it should for the plot and you go and get in the middle to reap the supposed benefits. At that moment is when everything should go against the protagonist, but miraculously they get more than they thought and trigger a bunch of events that shouldn't happen, through which the protagonist gets buffed, meets more waifus, etc.
That for me is a "Deus ex machina"; either the author wants to see the protagonist with ruined plans and save them at the last moment to create tension, or they no longer liked the original plan and created a situation to follow another path.
And let's not talk about the protagonists who, in very short periods of time, relatively speaking, acquire immense power on par with beings who have lived countless years training, suffering setbacks and even being on the brink of death to get where they are.
Does anyone else find that unfair or is it just me? I mean, I train for centuries, carefully planning my actions to avoid premature death; I abstained from enjoying life to reach the top, only for a guy to come along who, in a fraction of the time it took me, arrives, defeats me, and takes away everything I achieved; that's sad :(.
But some might be wondering, because they are reading the rant of a random guy about his point of view on the bad things he found in the fanfics he read about isekai, when they were supposed to come to read a fanfic of an isekai, and I will tell you, my young padawans, that it is to fill words in the prologue XD.
Nah, it's not true, it's because I want to tell you a story that does not include the aforementioned points and rant a bit to relieve my heart, the story about a handsome, intelligent, tenacious, charismatic, adaptable, extraordinary, and a bit clownish guy who arrived in a new place, one where he started from the very humble and sought to reach the highest, sometimes with intelligence, others by sheer imprudence, but hey, that's part of life.
A story about that time I reincarnated as a snake.
And like every good story, we must start with the beginning.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Year 2024
Somewhere in America (No, the USA is not all of America).
-???-
"Because every time something good is about to happen to me, everything ends up getting complicated one way or another."
I'm on my way to my apartment after a disastrous date with a girl my best friend introduced me to; apparently, he thought she was my type, although I admit she was my type in terms of aesthetics: good figure from exercising, clear skin (as white as jade xD), short but well-cut and cared-for hair, a beautiful black color, she was 1.7 meters tall, which made her neither too short nor too tall, with blue eyes (like a beautiful calm lake on a moonlit night xD), and a face with good proportions (capable of destroying nations). While she was all that, she wasn't my type in everything else; damn, she was everything I don't like about women embodied in one being.
A sense of superiority over men, no, I don't mean that it's wrong to feel superior to others; we all do it at some point about some aspect. The bad thing is when it gets to the point of denigrating others for something they can't control. In this case, she thought men should do everything women say like vassals, give more rights to women and take them away from men. It's strange to find women who think like that when we live in a society that is mostly controlled by men. Hmm, because we live in quieter times; if she said that centuries ago, they would burn her as a witch, hahaha.
Another thing that bothered me about her was her stubborn personality. I agree that we all have our character and pride, but when you make a mistake that harms someone and you're not even willing to admit it, when clear evidence is presented that it's your mistake and you just deny it because you don't want to admit you were wrong, that's being stubborn.
And lastly, something that in my opinion is a resounding NO for a woman in a relationship.
She hated anime.
Yes, it may be exaggerated to dismiss any woman from a possible romantic relationship just because she doesn't like anime. Some will say that's exaggerating, but if something from my older sisters' marriages taught me, it's that if you don't share common interests or hobbies, the relationship will sooner or later have cracks. Why? Easy, because any relationship that lacks time together will reach the point of cooling off and then it only takes a trigger like stress to create friction.
Clearly, it's not because I want a cute girlfriend who can wear cute unconventional cosplays for me ;), no, no, no, well, maybe a little, but everyone thought about it at some point and can't deny it.
"Well, what can you do when fate doesn't allow it?"
I arrive at my apartment, which is in a nice area of my city. It's not a big deal, the usual: a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom with a bathtub, a nice balcony to appreciate the views, and most importantly, I call it... "The room," a large room full of shelves with light novels and anime figurines, a piece of furniture with all the latest generation consoles, as well as "my precious," a gaming PC with the latest components on the market; I don't need to describe which ones, everyone knows which ones.
But of course, you must be wondering, you're a typical dirty otaku, shut-in, who dreams of anime girls, who is bad at social interactions and possibly a failure of society, where did you get the money for those things, and I'll answer.
When did I say I was that?
Contrary to what many believe, being an otaku in America requires a lot of money. If you're a Japanese otaku, sure, you're a failure to society. So, how do we have money to buy light novels, figurines, and other accessories? Yes, those things are disgustingly expensive. Easy, with work XD, and I, thanks to losing almost a quarter of a century studying, finally got one that I love: video game development. Sure, I'm not a big deal, I'm not that genius who can create a company from scratch and launch a revolutionary game that will make history, no, I just have a job as a modeler to create monsters or enemies, as well as environments, give them animations, and even make boss battles.
You wouldn't believe the hard road to get here. It may be "easy" to create a game these days, with current graphic engines that provide a platform to create through modules and some code, but when I learned that in school and courses, it was taught from the basics.
Have you ever programmed in C, C++, or a similar language?
If you answered yes, you should know that things get complicated when you get to the graphics section.
If you answered no, good for you, you didn't waste much of your life learning something that would be greatly simplified later and saved yourself a lot of math.
So we can conclude why I have money to waste on useless plastic figurines just to satisfy my collector's taste.
While I was sitting in my desk chair, I put on a playlist of copyright-free songs, yes, those that are plentiful.
'Another day, following the routine, I wonder why Gera thought she and I would fit. He surely did it to laugh at me. I'll get my revenge at the next meeting with the guys; I'll get him drunk and take embarrassing photos and send them to his family, hahaha'
I smiled sinisterly.
After hours working to finish the company's latest project, a "Dragon" that would serve as the final boss of a volcanic dungeon, I can finally relax with some anime I have pending.
'Another dragon for the game, I don't understand why they keep adding more to the game. I understand that dragons are part of pop culture, but they are losing their essence. A dragon is supposed to be a powerful, noble, or diabolical being, at the pinnacle of power, not a mere monster you find in every area of the map, kill it, and get good loot. They should be the final boss, not an intermediate one that only serves to give the player powerful dragon items for other battles'
Looking through the pending anime, I found the latest season of the anime with a slime as the protagonist; I start watching it in 4K.
"Here you can see a dragon, a silly one, but at least of immense power. I hope they adapted the anime faithfully to the novel; there are parts I would like to see as they should be, like the fight between true dragons, which should be epic with effects."
I wonder how I would fare in that world; I would surely be unstoppable or a complete disaster. Let's not mention that I would be screwed if I started from the bottom. The slime got to where it got because the universe sided with it, not as the protagonist of a story, but as the protagonist of the universe. Besides, there were horrible moments in the history of that world; let's not mention what happens in the canon: the destruction of civilizations of multiple races by the dominance of some over others, the Demon Lords doing Demon Lord things, the eastern empire wanting to conquer the world, monsters killing each other for power everywhere, and the worst, Veladora's destructions when he was bored.
"Among those destructions, I think I remember he destroyed Luminous Valentine's kingdom, her vampiric utopia; I only remember it because Luminous is my waifu from Tensura, silver hair, heterochromia, sexy gothic dresses, a bit tsundere while being affectionate, loyal, and a vampire. Yes, she's perfect."
Finishing my anime session, I got hungry; I go to the supermarket a block from my house.
While I was walking back to my apartment, I was crossing the street, looking both ways before crossing, although it's supposed to be a one-way street, but since I don't live in a first-world city, drivers ignore the rules. When it was clear, I crossed the street, only to have a truck honk at me as I reached the end. I turn to my right and there I saw it, the enemy of all protagonists, the isekai messenger, capable of crossing worlds and arriving at the right moment when someone crosses the street.
Truck-kun
And as everyone knows, after a hit from a vehicle weighing more than two tons to a person, the result is not pretty for the person.
While flying from the impact, I could only think of one thing.
'Damn third-world drivers, the street is in the opposite direction!'
On the brink of death, in a pool of my own blood, with ribs piercing my lungs, I began to lose vision.
I hear someone shout.
"Help, call an ambulance."
'That lady is delusional if she thinks I'll live until it arrives. Oh, it hurts like hell; I wish I could withstand blows better'
Request accepted.
Acquisition of blunt force resistance
'Wait, did I just hear what I think I heard; better try it than regret it.'
As I continued to lose consciousness little by little, I thought of a being that always caught my attention, capable of surviving in any environment and any damage, adapting and becoming stronger, a being like me who always had to overcome difficulties to resurface better than before.
'I wish I had the ability to adapt, survive, and surpass my limits.'
Request accepted.
Unique skill: Successful acquisition of Adaptable
Blunt force resistance integrates into Adaptable.
With the last of my consciousness.
'I hope to have the ability to reach the top in the world that awaits me, a True Dragon.'
Request accepted.
Intrinsic skill: Successful acquisition of...
Intrinsic skill: Successful acquisition of...
Intrinsic skill: Successful acquisition of...