Isekai manga with more substance

[VonCesaw]

Is there any major manga that provide a decent amount of substance to either the story or the environment?
As to say, opposed to the usual "author wanking himself off with his [Monster] girl designs/"""MAGIC""" system/skill system/perfect MC"
Or the opposite of "my character must be the next Shadow the Hedgehog who got beat by his dad and now swears revenge on [ENEMY]

There don't seem to be too many that go against the grain save for those that are taking the piss on it (Bonedaddy and his magical adventures / Slime and his Gobburin waifus / Konosuba)
Like, how many times do they have to just inject a character in the world so that they can either not "invent" anything from their world or "invent" things that logically should already be invented
(Soap, irrigation, animal husbandry, MUH SUPERIOR NIPPON FOOD SKILLS, human sanitation, governmental systems, economy, etc.)

 

[baladeabacate]

https://mangadex.org/title/31477/solo-leveling

 

[Shitposter-chan]

Dead Mount Death Play isn't hosted here, but it's really good. It's not major though. I also like Vengeful White Cat and Fiancée's Observation Log of the Self-proclaimed Villainess, but I could see how others might not. Peerless Alchemist is worth checking out if you like martial arts magic stuff. Imo, the number of harem girls rises in direct proportion with the author's inability to make substantive progress with the plot.
If solo leveling is an isekai, then so is everything under the RPG-style adventure/fantasy umbrella.

 

[tagloff]

Could try Tondemo Skill, not major, yet. Newish and just being released from web-novel to manga. But it's a Cooking themed one. Along with Omotenashi Gohan, Cafe o Kaiten Shimashita finally started being translated, Izakya Nobu and Shokudou are both popular enough they got made into anime.
Log Horizon should start going somewhere again, the author got out of jail(tax evasion).
It's not Isekai, but I highly recommend it for the 'world building' aspects your probably looking for, but again, cooking theme. Dungeon Meshi and Hakumei to Mikochi.

 

[TehSDragon]

https://mangadex.org/title/24211/neet-dakedo-hello-work-ni-ittara-isekai-ni-tsuretekareta

It's not particularly original, and dabbles in many of the cliches, but... the MC actually has a modicum of self-awareness, and the writing is, surprisingly, not ass-tastic-terrible, compared to a lot of other generic isekais

It still uses the trope-y gamer interface, though xd at least the author seems to realize how out of place it is - or, well, that's how it feels to me, anyway

 

[RhoninFire]

Before Isekai became such a defined concept, the thought of a story premise of "taken to another world", did mean so many possibilities. Before it became so big, such a story prompt invites all kinds of ways to imagine possible storylines. I will give credit that that most isekai doesn't completely drop the ball, a few does have flashes - whether is the initial MC background premise (Kamitachi ni Hirowareta Otoko), an interesting twist (Instant death), or exploring an interesting implication (Chihoukishi Hans no Junan). Higher rated ones have more throws in more likable characters (Bakarina) or a bit more grounded in how it changes a trajectory of a character (Duke's Daughter).

Note: the above the just me giving credit with examples that when you read too many, you can at least notice flashes what of you're looking for.


My suggestion that I think is the closest you're looking for is "Ascendance of a Bookworm" AKA Honzuki No Gekokujou. It's an isekai that explores the most of a very likely implication of someone getting taken to a medieval world - your knowledge means squat, your skills means squat, and you're gonna struggle to adapt from 1st world comfort to peasant medieval life (which I should warn, many have complained the first few chapters of her being too whiny, personally I find it completely realistic and people understanding how easy we have with how hard to adjust if we lose it). Not just it explores how knowing the concept of something doesn't mean you can re-invent it, it doesn't skimp on good worldbuilding nor a very smooth way in building it up. While in other isekai you somehow still have apples and sushi, Bookworm pick up another implication - a different would should implies plants and animals from ours. And it all presented very smoothly, no hamfisted infodump, but a slow building of starting with small teases where the MC would dismiss as a wild imagination or food prep lesson from mom that some steps sounds completely weird.

If substance means following realistic consequences of being isekai'ed and worldbuilding with actual sense of alienness then Ascendance of a Bookworm is my recommendation.

The only thing is MD only has the first 5 chapters. Another group translated to 20 chapters, but pulled it off MD. You have to find it on egscans's website. But 20 chapters is all they will have as it has been licensed. So unless another group picks it up, you'll have to buy it (once they translate more than just a few so far).

 

[roxach]

Overlord, its not without wish fulfillment with the MC being OP and curbstomping everyone but it has a really good worldbuilding, more than curbstomping the LN/Anime shows you the impact the transported MC has in this new world, to give you and example in the anime season 2 the MC barely appears instead they show us hows the situation with the other tribes and countries, really interesting.

Also Log Horizon, at first glance it sounds like another Sword Art Online but you couldnt be more wrong, after being transported to the game the story follows as the MC and other important people from the game (like guild leaders) try to create a new goverment dealing with politic matters.

 

[FireFish5000]

@VonCesaw What type of isekai are you looking for? Isekai, in the end, is just fantasy with an added "I am from another world" line. The genre is wide and vast.
Some example: "isekaied into a magical world", "into a under-developed world", "into a book/game", "isekai portals"
with a genre of: comedy, romance, slice-of-life (only ones I read).

Most actual isekai (ones where the author still remembers its an isekai after ch1) will try to re-invent something stupid.
Since I am not sure what exactly you want, I will just post a few that stand out IMHO:

Darker/Tragic stories, but no hedgehogs(no single/explicit revenge targets to focus our frustrations on). :
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari
Mushoku Tensei ~Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu~

Comedy, no skill system, just extremely OP magic with absolutely no limits. Makes fun of its own genre very well. Pretty much the complete opposite of what you asked for, which is why I think you should read it and laugh at the genre with me: Ore to Kawazu-san no Isekai Hourouki

Great Drama, but invents crap that should already exist, probably not a good fit for you: Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami

 

[ninjadork]

I would recommend https://mangadex.org/title/15359/isekai-tensei-soudouki. The MC is a character both interesting and competent in and of himself, the OP bits have explanations that make sense both in the setting and from the outside, there's no flanderization of characters as of Ch 41 that I could see, and the world setting and the politics are tolerably developed.

Unfortunately, most isekai manga/manwha either has heavy flanderization (if you haven't heard the term before, it's similar to reverse character development) or is profoundly simplistic and silly in how it introduces new elements to the story.

 

[Zellyia]

I'll second Tondemo Skill (it's a.....isekai fantasy cooking manga? Updates only like a once a month).

While not true isekai, I'll throw in:
A Returner's Magic Should be Special (MC travels to the past to level himself and his party up in order to prevent the end of the world. It's well written and paced.)
Solo Leveling (MC accesses special job class and gets OP. Not as original, but it reads easily and the art is good).

 

[boag]

This is what you are looking for
https://mangadex.org/title/22637/otome-game-no-hametsu-flag-shika-nai-akuyaku-reijou-ni-tensei-shite-shimatta

@ninjadork
As much as I love Balud and his adventures, he falls prey to the inventing of shit that should have already been invented, not that it makes it bad in any ways, I still Consider Shoudoku in the top 10 Isekais.

 

[ninjadork]

@boag That's true, but he keeps it within reasonable limits for the most part. The only things I can think of that's pretty much BS is the chemical gilding and the little concrete sidenote in the early chapters.

 

[boag]

@ninjadork
I also liked that he threw a shot in the dark about the colera pandemic and that he actually caught it, it raised the tension of the series, and its not often we see an Isekai deal with diseases.

Another one that i like but is not for everyone is Risou no Himo.

 

[Raycu]

@firefish5000

I would hardly consider Mushoku Tensei to have an abundance of substance. From the extremely powerful protagonist, to the pedo-bait romance, it's not really a shining example of the genre.

 

[ninjadork]

@Raycu How far did you read into the manga? The accusation of pedo bait is mildly accurate, especially with that idiot demon queen nonsense, but the rest of it is quite substantial. It just takes a while before we get to the part where the MC is jacked up.

@boag Yeah, I liked that one two. Despite a proliferation of the usual stupid cliches, all of the characters are built like actual people, warts and all.

 

[MolaCola]

@Raycu i agree on the pedo-bait part, legit forgot all about his actual age
while i'd say he is incredibly strong and gifted, i wouldn't line him up with the other insert OP protagonists out there
since unlike most isekais that tend to get a lot of clicks he falls short and would have died quite awhile ago if it wasn't for the people around him
@ninjadork and @boag ticklin me fancy, im curious though the cliches might be a turn off for me

 

[ninjadork]

@MolaCola I left a review in the main comments section of the series' title page. It's currently near the top so you should find it quickly.

The biggest cliche is some stupid bullshit about how he brings a lot of electronic items along and they work perfectly fine on a "water powered generator" IIRC. It's mostly a side note to the real story, but it highlights some of the smaller cliches like how everybody somehow never figured out how to make glass.

 

[FlashGordan]

I'm a fan of The New Gate.

MC is stereotypically OP but he doesn't flaunt it and there are some surprisingly touching interactions between him and the former NPC characters for whom he has been missing for 500 years.

Spoiler

Chapter 34 gets me every time.

The female characters aren't just walking fan service either and have a lot more substance than your average isekai bimbo.

Similarly Yasei no Last Boss ga Arawareta! has a time gap involved too that lets the characters feel much more fleshed out. They've all had their own arcs that develop their attachment to the MC. Their reunions feel more heartfelt for it. There is technically genderswap but it's basically never brought up after the first chapter. The MC genuinely cares about his NPC comrades and helps the fallen heroes who now weakly rule kingdoms regain their confidence. No fan service. Brief but not heavy handed flirtations with the idea of prejudice, overcoming past mistakes, finding confidence in spite of disability, and forgiving the targets of your vengeance. There aren't many chapters for it yet but I'm interested to see it develop.

 

[boag]

@ninjadork
MT is really competently written, It took me a good long while to realize that everyone in that world were horrible people, and it was ironically the series spinning its wheels and falling apart with the orsthed vs hitogami garbage that snapped me back to reality.

RnH, I can forgive the minor things, because the MC isnt a do all, and actually fucks up a fair couple of times, and every character gets nice good developments.

@MolaCola
It has the usual standard arc of getting used to the new world, and then it goes from family drama to POLITICS POLITICS POLITICS!
Its a very good read, but not everyone enjoys the politicking.

 

[FireFish5000]

@Raycu As others have stated, it is very substantial once you actually get into it. I nearly dropped it in the beginning as well, though for a different reason (I could not stand ugly/fat MC, even in his dreams, but even he grew on me). This story is dark, quite vulgar and vivid in its depictions, and tragic enough to invoke an emotional response. However, it maintains a comfortable, homely atmosphere. I don't read many tragic isekai, but of the few I am, this is the only one where the MC doesn't seem to completely hate his life or those around him. (granted, my other ones are all revenge plot ones)
The weight this story has is largly dependent on this. We know the characters, all of them, very well. The author spends plenty of time with character development and foreshadowing. Because of this, everything that they are going through hits us closer to home, as if it is happening to a friend.

The story, atm, is also very large scale. We can keep up with it since, unlike most stories where these would be side characters who we only saw for 3 panels, every character has had a lot of development time and their backstory told. It makes it much more memorable. I haven't read the last 6 months worth of material (I am not ready for the reunion and separation I believe is about to come), but I havn't forgotten a bit of it. Meanwhile, generic isekai B is completely forgotten by the 3rd month.