Needs Help: First Chapter Displacement

So a while back I edited the Trapped in Another World page to add information on the "Isekai" genre that's currently popular in Light Novels. This lead me to the Overlord page, where I noticed First Chapter Displacement commented out as a Zero Context Example.

It looks like this is a page on Isekai that was launched without going through YKTTW, and consists entirely of Light Novel examples... most of which are red links, and many of which were originally Zero Context Examples.

I'm not sure if Isekai is distinct enough to count as a subtrope of Trapped in Another World, but even if it does this page needs work.

This looks like a prime candidate to be cut and possibly sent back to YKTTW if we don't rule it a duplicate of Trapped in Another World.

edited 4th Jan '16 11:30:03 AM by shimaspawn

My gut says that a few of the works listed on Trapped in Another World (in particular those Lord of the Rings fanfics) would count as Western examples of Isekai. After thinking about it for a while, I tried to come up with a list of common features of the genre:

• The protagonist is an Escapist Character whose most valuable asset is being a Genre Savvy outsider. Since they don't think in the same way as the natives of the new world, they can pull off Achievements in Ignorance or invent groundbreaking new tactics or abilities which others would overlook. However, they will almost never attempt to directly recreate the technology of their old world in the new one (see point three for why). If the world they were transported to is based on a story or game, then the protagonist will have knowledge of its plot or mechanics that give them a major advantage.
• The protagonist will quickly become skilled in combat, regardless of whether they had any fighting experience back home. They might have gained special powers as part of being transported to the new world, or the story might include an early Time Skip to give them time to train. One popular shortcut is to give the protagonist the body of an MMORPG character they played.
• The protagonist's original world is inconsequential to the story, and the idea of returning home comes up rarely if ever (at best, it will serve as the motivation of an Anti-Villain who was transported to the new world in the same way as the protagonist). In some cases the protagonist doesn't even remember their old life in any meaningful detail.
• Reincarnation can be used as an exotic means of transporting the protagonist to the new world. In this case the character simply dies and wakes up as a baby or young child, with their mind fully intact (which usually leads them to be considered a Child Prodigy).

"Reincarnation as means of transport" might be tropeworthy itself. At least, I'm not sure how well reincarnation-based Isekai really fits the Trapped in Another World page, and it's distinct from the typical usage of the Reincarnation and Past-Life Memories tropes.

edited 4th Jan '16 8:17:26 PM by Prime32

Yeah there is a trope here. In quite a few L Ns they use the first chapter to show the MC is normal, excessively normal then they go off into whatever story or world. Most of the time that one chapter has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the work but they do not even have to move away from the location.

The works go to extreme lengths to show 'this is normal'.

High School DXD for example Starts as is a pervert with a date with a hot girl, he gets murdered then rezed and tossed in a world of demons. Nothing is outside the norm in any way till the big event, after that everything is.

Madoka Magica ep 1 is normal to the extreme till the end of it, nothing in it would be outside the norm of Kirino Mosaic.

edited 4th Jan '16 7:43:33 PM by Memers

Isn't that Powers in the First Episode? Plus Ordinary High-School Student and Broken Masquerade for those examples in question.

edited 4th Jan '16 8:13:17 PM by Prime32

That is gaining powers and capabilities in the first episode? Some might but many do not gain any kind of powers or something like that.

It's excessively normal then some kind of abnormal something which starts the actual plot of the show. Ranging from undeath, knowledge about aliens, espers, and time travel, transported to another world etc. Even run of the mill series like Aikatsu do it.

It's a specific type of intro for a Self Insert Main Character series, they must show normalcy that the viewers can relate to before starting the fantasy plot.

Hell with Aikatsu the main character, Ichigo, was a normal person who helped out running the family restaurant never having done anything abnormal. By the end of the umm second episode she had moved out and now is going to Magic Idol Singer boarding school. No abilities as the stage and the CCG do the 'magic'. 50 episodes later she learns that her mom was the biggest idol of them all but that didn't help the Self Insert Intro so they waited 50 episodes to reveal it to her.

edited 4th Jan '16 10:29:56 PM by Memers

Bumping for input on . IMO there is very much a trope here.

edited 6th Jan '16 2:13:30 PM by Memers

That is sounding like a trope, but I still think it's cut and send back to YKTTW at this point. We need an entirely new description, name, and set of examples.

The works in the examples that I know fit but yes they need to be massively rewritten, It is a very common thing in Light Novels due to the popularity of self insert style characters and flow.

YKTTW it is?

edited 6th Jan '16 5:08:30 PM by Memers

YKTTW sounds like a great idea.

Agreed. It's the perfect place for this. Let me know when you have what you need from this, and I'll dewick and cut it.

Never YKTT Wed anything before and I am a really bad writer, as you can see by my posts, but I will try to get one going tomorrow.

You should have a little more faith in yourself. You're good at clarifying tropes. Much better than you think you are. I'm willing to proof it when you're done if that helps.

Ok here goes

edited 7th Jan '16 1:08:10 PM by Memers

Tweaked it a little for you, but the meat is good.

Ok sorry that took so long.

here is the YKTTW, any help will be greatly appreciated.

I will YKTTW the Drop In Intro as soon as this one moves, that is the other common LN intro with series like The Ambition Of Oda Nobuna, Angel Beats, Dog Days etc.

Changed my mind after seeing shima's version of Memer's write up. Send it back to YKTTW.

edited 10th Jan '16 9:52:41 PM by Karxrida

So someone in the YKTTW brought up Easing into the Adventure which is not the same thing but it's close and written more Adventure Genre specific instead of Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and the discussion seems to have stalled. What do I do now?

Most of the examples I got so far are not adventures, more Fantasy School Life or Battle Harem.

Drop In Intro is still good right?

edited 12th Jan '16 5:53:46 AM by Memers

Honestly, upon reading Easing into the Adventure nothing jumps out at me that it can't cover the Sci-Fi /Fantasy examples as well-unless I'm missing something.

edited 13th Jan '16 10:22:16 PM by tryrar

Keep

The name of the trope is awful.

So when does voting end?

Well, that didn't take long; only 10 wicks to go through. Cutlisting, then closing this.