Ouch at the dislike raitio. This was really polite, and I actually agree with your critique. But, I've been so worn down, I'm just happy this hasn't gone down the abrasive, in your face harem route. Although, the recent chapters have made me scared.
Yeah, in the end I read all the chapters because the art was too pretty, but I also read the spoilers in the comments so I don't think I'll go through the whole story. It gets really angsty and dark later. I'm glad there's no obvious harem, but I'd be okay if the story had no romance too and it's apparently heading that way (plus the female lead does some really dumb things later.)
I'm not sure I can read anything angsty at the moment either. And same with the romance. Not all stories need a romantic subplot. Have you tried reading Trash of the Count Family? I've read the novel, and the webtoon seems awesome as well so far. I recommend giving it a try. There's no romance or harem; it mostly focuses on family. And there's a dragon. Everything is better with dragons in it. Which incidentally is why kept on read this one.
Thanks for the recommendation! I just checked it out, I'll start with the webtoon then read the novel. I read a lot of different stories, and I actually really like shonen/seinen action/adventure type stuff, but I don't read them for the romance, so at times it can seem misplaced in the story. If I read this novel for the action and adventure and it turned into a romance out of nowhere, it would have pissed me off, honestly. I can also handle dark stuff, but not too much angst, I draw a line where important characters end up dying unless it's a really amazing story.
And dragons! I really love dragons but it's hard to find good dragon stories (especially manga/manhwa) and dragon western novels no longer interest me. So thanks again!
I feel like we're running on the similar wavelengths for what we're searching for in stories. "...If I read this novel for the action and adventure and it turned into a romance out of nowhere, it would have pissed me off..." Is actually why I end up dropping a lot of them. You have nothing to worry about with Trash of the Count Family tho. It's one of my favorites. And, unlike a lot of stories where the dragon is just a pet of sorts, the one in TCF is an actual character that learns and grows and develops along with the main character.
I can't think of anything else right now, but if anything comes to mind later on, I'll send you recommendation. :)
Thanks, I look forward to it :) I'd recommend God of High School and Jujutsu Kaisen if you haven't checked either of them out already (webtoon and manga, both with an anime out). GOH does lose some important characters, so I'm currently taking a break from it, same for Jujutsu Kaisen since I hear it's guaranteed to off a main character, but they're both amazing so I plan to read them completely anyway when I feel I'm ready to handle the angst. I hope at least one of these is new to you:
Shinrei Tantei Yakumo (psychic detective story) is a fairly good read about a smart protagonist. potential love interest, but so far no actual romance.
Devil's line (It's awesome, seinen, but has romance. Thankfully the fl is pretty great and I love all the characters. it's complete besides some extras.)
Kanata kara (also a romance, but the story is pretty great, the mc, a teenage girl, falls into a different world. A bit old, but I still loved the art and story. complete.)
Abide in the wind - about dragons, got disappointing for me in later episodes but was amazing for the first 100 or so chapters. It's tagged as a romance, but I wouldn't say it is for up to ch 100 because the dragon technically has no emotions.
Kubera (gets dark later, but a really great webtoon with great characters and story.)
While I wanted to like this, and I really do, I got to ch 50 before it was too much. I know stories tend to have the MC as the center of the universe, but it can get repetitive too. The MC is so great, he'll meet arrogant people, defeat them somehow, they probably get royally humiliated, and people are left in awe of him. While I don't mind this formula because I have loved it a lot before, I think it's just that I've gotten bored of it. I read a bunch of LN novels a couple of years ago, and they all seemed to have the same formula (some were even reincarnation stories like this one) so it doesn't feel like I'm reading something new. These stories have characters with a lot of arrogance only there so the MC can blow away their expectations. Also, from the spoilers, this is going to be an angsty story in the future and I don't want to read that right now.