The elephant in the room in another world: Analyzing Isekai Tropes and how to Deconstruct them

[TGN]

Your assumption that enslave magic is undetectable in a fantasy world is definitely the weak link.

My thought experiment was more to illustrate unorthodox uses of slave magic; something that's not antique Greco-Roman slave practices. Slave magic is still powerful in fantasy. Absolute monarchs seem ever-present in anime. What stops them from enslaving their vassals and entire nation? What stops the totally-not-Catholic-Church from enslaving its flock?

But assassins sent by the gods have the power to just break through the front, shrug off magic and steel, and kill everyone. And they know where you live.

That's another issue I have with fantasy. Often, a group or individual has the ability to 1v1 an entire empire. Why are these people not the emperor already? How do medium and small powers maintain independence from great powers who have millions of times the military force? For example, Slime Anime has the concept of demon lords, each of which has the ability to kill more than 20k soldiers. How have they not turned the entire world into their vassals already?

I have so many issues with the world building of fantasy, from geopolitics to evolution.

 

[cksn]

or in the same vein, what stops husbands from enslaving their wives, & what stops the culture from beginning to treat that as an essential element of marriage itself

 

[GipoScribantino]

This one is not as grandiose as others, but I had this thought so might as well share: why are street stalls selling food only ever dealing with meat skewers? It's not like Japan does not have any "stall food" (for a lack of better term) tradition so the theory of authors being ignorant doesn't hold as strongly as in other cases, yet in comics you only ever see meat skewers or at most a sweet thing in the form of some kind of crêpes.
If we also consider the numerous anachronism present in "middle age isekai", there are literally no reasons to not have stalls sell e.g. donuts, which are known in Japan, yet isekai towns do nothing but sell meat sometimes even by the sea.

 

[flannan]

That's another issue I have with fantasy. Often, a group or individual has the ability to 1v1 an entire empire. Why are these people not the emperor already? How do medium and small powers maintain independence from great powers who have millions of times the military force? For example, Slime Anime has the concept of demon lords, each of which has the ability to kill more than 20k soldiers. How have they not turned the entire world into their vassals already?

People of extraordinary power usually can get any position up to their ambition. It isn't an accident that heroes get to marry a princess in the end - that means they'll become a king someday. Just this season, I'm watching 2 anime like that - Isekai Smartphone and Tensei Kizoku.
But while marriage and throne seem nice to warriors (who don't have much to do anyway, especially as they grow older), wizard types prefer to weasel their way out of it, and get a sinecure where they don't have to work, and only get money. Money which they use to fund their research.
And at some level of power, magic-users get to the level where humans can't offer them much anyway. You don't bother ruling over ants in your backyard, right? They can neither understand you, nor make anything useful. Such people usually live as hermits far away from ordinary people.
Societies that do not reward people of extraordinary power are portrayed as corrupt and quickly topped by enemies, external or internal.
And when societies of "evil" races are portrayed, their hierarchies are explicitly based on personal fighting ability. With Demon King being whoever fights the best.

How do medium and small powers maintain independence from great powers who have millions of times the military force? How have they not turned the entire world into their vassals already?

Same as in real life. The real limit to the size of an empire is not the strength of its armies. It's the speed of its roads and communications. A demon lord has to vigilantly watch the borders of his domain, or he'll lose territory to his neighbors. A demon lord has to vigilantly watch his subordinates, or they'll plot to kill him and take his place. Thus, it's not uncommon for a demon lord to only have as much land as they can personally reach in a hour or two of flying.
And of course, people like Miriam Nova just don't have interest in empire-building. They either want to be left alone (especially if they are wizard types), or just want to fight.
It's also not uncommon for demon lords to be racist. So that they'll only want to have their race and a few closely related ones as their citizens. So the size of their domain is limited by suitable terrain, its carrying capacity and the speed of the citizens breeding.

 

[flannan]

This one is not as grandiose as others, but I had this thought so might as well share: why are street stalls selling food only ever dealing with meat skewers? It's not like Japan does not have any "stall food" (for a lack of better term) tradition so the theory of authors being ignorant doesn't hold as strongly as in other cases, yet in comics you only ever see meat skewers or at most a sweet thing in the form of some kind of crêpes.
If we also consider the numerous anachronism present in "middle age isekai", there are literally no reasons to not have stalls sell e.g. donuts, which are known in Japan, yet isekai towns do nothing but sell meat sometimes even by the sea.

In a typical fantasy world, agriculture is a dangerous occupation that mostly consists of being eaten by monsters and burned by enemies. At the very least, the price of hiring goblin slayers and other monster hunters has to go into the price of producing grain.
While meat of low-level monsters like dire rabbits, hell boars and saber wolves is available from adventurers for cheap.

So, donuts is something you might eat in a fancy restoraunt (if you're lucky to live in a fantasy world where cooking is good and doesn't need MC to revolutionize it), while meat is high turnover food that is sold to commoners at stalls.

 

[GipoScribantino]

In a typical fantasy world, agriculture is a dangerous occupation that mostly consists of being eaten by monsters and burned by enemies. At the very least, the price of hiring goblin slayers and other monster hunters has to go into the price of producing grain.
While meat of low-level monsters like dire rabbits, hell boars and saber wolves is available from adventurers for cheap.

So, donuts is something you might eat in a fancy restoraunt (if you're lucky to live in a fantasy world where cooking is good and doesn't need MC to revolutionize it), while meat is high turnover food that is sold to commoners at stalls.

Sure, I can do with <insert food here> being luxury because <insert reason here>, but why is it nothing but skewers? Just for the sake of an example, sandwiches are commonly eaten by MCs when camping with their companions, so why is there no stall selling meat sandwiches? Remember that adventurers can cook skewers too when they are camping.

 

[Hitspark]

Sure, I can do with <insert food here> being luxury because <insert reason here>, but why is it nothing but skewers? Just for the sake of an example, sandwiches are commonly eaten by MCs when camping with their companions, so why is there no stall selling meat sandwiches? Remember that adventurers can cook skewers too when they are camping.

So what's the first thing that you think of when you imagine Medieval Europe, without any knowledge? Basic fruits, soups/porridge, meat and bread. Maybe some cheese if you're lucky.

What is another thing you think of when you imagine Medieval European shopping? Shops for items and stalls for food.

Meat? Stalls? Skewers!

It really just boils down to an over simplification, likely done by someone who understood what Medieval Europe was like and simplified it for the sake of the story - only to be copied by every isekai author thereafter without thought as to the reason WHY it was like that. You know, kinda how we went from 0 to 80 on "Status!" screens?

Also, understand something. Japanese people are VERY into stereotypes, to the point it is almost scary. They're surrounded by foreigners 24/7 but most don't really interact with them that often so they just see things on TV and the internet and assume there must be some truth to it. So it isn't too unlikely that the stereotype of a "Meat stall" or "Meat Skewer" just fits their perception of Medieval Europe overall.

 

[GipoScribantino]

I don't understand why you are being apologetic towards these tropes. The whole point of this thread was to examine these stereotypes and provide some alternative or a different point of view on them, not to cry because we call incompetent authors incompetent.

The food stall matter effectively can be summarized in this question: "if <food that can be eaten while walking> is known to the general population of the world the MC finds itself into, so not just nobles or whatever, before the MC brings the superior Japanese knowledge to the isekai, why is there no stall selling <food that can be eaten while walking> but only meat skewer stalls?"

The answer to this question has nothing to do with stereotypes, with interactions with Europe or anything like that.
It has to do with authors showing people eating food, sometimes even going the extra mile as providing recipes, and then ignoring everything they have shown by having stalls sell nothing but meat skewers.

You don't have to have lived in the USA to realize that if the people of the isekai know about donuts even before MC appears, then a stall selling donuts is only logical to exist.

 

[Sahkuh]

I don't understand why you are being apologetic towards these tropes. The whole point of this thread was to examine these stereotypes and provide some alternative or a different point of view on them, not to cry because we call incompetent authors incompetent.

The food stall matter effectively can be summarized in this question: "if <food that can be eaten while walking> is known to the general population of the world the MC finds itself into, so not just nobles or whatever, before the MC brings the superior Japanese knowledge to the isekai, why is there no stall selling <food that can be eaten while walking> but only meat skewer stalls?"

The answer to this question has nothing to do with stereotypes, with interactions with Europe or anything like that.
It has to do with authors showing people eating food, sometimes even going the extra mile as providing recipes, and then ignoring everything they have shown by having stalls sell nothing but meat skewers.

You don't have to have lived in the USA to realize that if the people of the isekai know about donuts even before MC appears, then a stall selling donuts is only logical to exist.

Calling authors incompetent because this a ginormous stretch and it’s hilarious that you’re calling him apologetic and saying they are crying because they don’t share your viewpoint

 

[GipoScribantino]

Calling authors incompetent because this a ginormous stretch and it’s hilarious that you’re calling him apologetic and saying they are crying because they don’t share your viewpoint

It's not me who started telling about stereotypes and lack of foreign exposure in reply to a genuine question about clichés, though.
But we are getting off-topic, so let's drop this argument and if you think you won because I don't want to keep going, so be it.

Oh, and the majority of isekai authors are incompetent. No, there is no need to be a writer to understand that, one just needs to have read a lot. It's not just about street stalls: it's about overusage of clichés, it's about making everyone else stupid just to show the MC's intelligence... we could go on forever listing all the issues a common isekai has, but this has been extensively written elsewhere and this thread is about analyzing these issues and get another point of view on them, not complain about their existence.

 

[Hitspark]

I don't understand why you are being apologetic towards these tropes. The whole point of this thread was to examine these stereotypes and provide some alternative or a different point of view on them, not to cry because we call incompetent authors incompetent.

The food stall matter effectively can be summarized in this question: "if <food that can be eaten while walking> is known to the general population of the world the MC finds itself into, so not just nobles or whatever, before the MC brings the superior Japanese knowledge to the isekai, why is there no stall selling <food that can be eaten while walking> but only meat skewer stalls?"

The answer to this question has nothing to do with stereotypes, with interactions with Europe or anything like that.
It has to do with authors showing people eating food, sometimes even going the extra mile as providing recipes, and then ignoring everything they have shown by having stalls sell nothing but meat skewers.

You don't have to have lived in the USA to realize that if the people of the isekai know about donuts even before MC appears, then a stall selling donuts is only logical to exist.

I disagree to an extent. A person's preconceived notions drives many of the things they do. I've seen the data, I've listened to the stories and I've talked to people who have been to japan (not super thrilled on going there myself with the monkey attacks that happened recently) and they are a very stereotype-centric people, and to say that has no bearing on their writing is ignoring the culture of the place. I don't frame this as an innate negative because it often causes them to have an intense intrigue when confronted with the reality of the situation rather than a negative reaction.

That being said, to make a broad stroke on a trope and say "Well that just makes sense!" doesn't get to the root of the trope. You could say "Well it just makes sense!" with any trope if you frame it similarly.

"Well if <Character besides MC> has trouble figuring out <problems>, it only makes sense that the MC from a more advanced timeline should be able to fix it."

Identifying a trope root means you often do have to dig into the culture surrounding the trope. For example, having piercings or tattoos often gets you odd looks, fired from jobs, rejected from interviews, kicked out of some places and so on. Why? Because Yakuza and Gangsters were known to wear them. It is a stereotype rooted in lack of exposure to people who have them and these people walk around them every day. You very often see this reflected in Manga. Most MCs and Side Characters, unless they have had gang relations or seedy pasts, will not have tattoos or piercings of any type (not counting women with earrings).

Ignoring the culture surrounding the people utilizing the trope doesn't help understand the trope any better. Now I could very well be wrong on all aspects, I'll have to research it later and find out. However I could also be totally right. It's 50/50 at this point. Maybe you'd like to have a discussion on it, maybe you wouldn't. But I'm willing to absolutely bet that the answer is not independent of their cultural shortcomings or advances and that some significant part of the trope falls into it.




Side note: Isekai authors are not incompetent. They are actually very competent. They're intentionally exploiting a boomed market for short term gains often leveling out to long term profits if they persist. They're playing a game they know they can win and very much are. The genre does not often care how badly the story is written, how character motives don't make sense or whatever else. It drives itself on pure, unabashed wish fulfillment and they deliver to a 'T' and then some. That's not incompetence, that's knowing your market and that is pure competence at it's finest.

 

[GipoScribantino]

Your reasoning on the culture behind a trope is correct, so I'll make this specific counterpoint to stay in the topic of analyzing alternatives to the common application of a trope: isekai are a fantasy work, so instead of having places with the same food as real life, they can have some made up edible thing, give it some fancy fantasy name and call it a day. Just do that instead of skewers. Cliché averted, fantasy setting reinforced, and you can even fit in a "funny" skit with the MC being grossed out at first only to discover the thing tastes good.

Finally, you are conflating two different human skills into one: you are talking about the skills to exploit a market, in which isekai authors are indeed competent; that skill, however, does not mean they are competent writers, which is a skill irrelevant to how much you can meet a certain demand in content.
A work might meet the baseline of the genre and have some popularity, but if it's bad under multiple aspects the author is a bad writer.
Popularity is never and indicator of how good something is; it is a hint at best.

 

[Hitspark]

Your reasoning on the culture behind a trope is correct, so I'll make this specific counterpoint to stay in the topic of analyzing alternatives to the common application of a trope: isekai are a fantasy work, so instead of having places with the same food as real life, they can have some made up edible thing, give it some fancy fantasy name and call it a day. Just do that instead of skewers. Cliché averted, fantasy setting reinforced, and you can even fit in a "funny" skit with the MC being grossed out at first only to discover the thing tastes good.

The question on that is could the author justify it's flavor to the audience? Let me explain. When writing about flavor in books, you're attempting to draw a connection to something the reader might comprehend. But it can't be too exaggerated or (so some authors may feel) the flavor can't be imagined. This is likely why foods are often under-described, with the intent being that the reader can "fill in the blanks"

In Japan there seems to be a stark difference, especially when it comes to manga. They describe it in excruciating detail with such intense and exaggerated expressions. So how do you convey the flavor and texture of a food that doesn't exist in such a way? Many of the foods that are used are foods you can go eat in a restaurant or cook at home, rarely do you see food so extravagant that you'd never be able to enjoy it yourself. In fact I've seen manga portray high-class, stuffy food as "meh" meanwhile the more common food like Ramen is just a mind blowing experience. In fact that very well may be a reason behind it since many japanese people do have experience with meat stalls and it's easy to experience, kinda like why fantasy world's often have very japanese festivals.

Finally, you are conflating two different human skills into one: you are talking about the skills to exploit a market, in which isekai authors are indeed competent; that skill, however, does not mean they are competent writers, which is a skill irrelevant to how much you can meet a certain demand in content.
A work might meet the baseline of the genre and have some popularity, but if it's bad under multiple aspects the author is a bad writer.
Popularity is never and indicator of how good something is; it is a hint at best.

You misunderstand what I mean. What I mean is, when you're asking if someone is a competent writer then you need to ask the intent behind their writing. Not everyone writes for deep and complex worlds that capture the imagination of the reader for years to come. Some really do just write for the money and as much as they can get before moving on to the next project. If the intent is not to carefully craft a cohesive, immersive story, but to produce something the market will consume without question, is that not a competency in writing?

For example the author behind Fairy Tail is very well aware of his market. Sometimes he makes it sound like he doesn't even enjoy writing Fairy Tail, complaining about having to give sad backgrounds to villains at every turn. But with that he's clearly admitting he's writing in a way he knows people will buy. His popularity and career is based entirely off of knowledge he's gained about the market and he's utilized his writing skills in a way to take proper advantage of that. He has shown he can write better stories in the past, but with Fairy Tail he shows he also knows how to write to market. With his complaints it's clear that the money is likely one of the only aspects that keeps him going (besides contracts).

That takes incredible skill and competency, because you have to know the tropes and why the work, the audience and why they like it, if those tropes still even work in the current day, how they fit together properly without being off-putting and so on before you can use them. That's why I say they're competent writers. Not because they're popular, not because their stories are good, but because they've clearly planned out what to write about, how to write it, and where to market it to achieve their goal. It is the intentionality behind the writing that makes it competent, not just the result.

 

[GipoScribantino]

The authors can justify the taste and other qualities of a fantasy food: just say it's good.
You see, a good story does not require the reader to self-insert into one of the characters; when the MC is presented with an undefined mass called food and says it is good, it ends there and the reader knows it is good even if the actual taste, texture, level of cooking, etc. cannot be imagined.

Does this go against the Japanese culture and modus operandi? Maybe, perhaps, but we as users on Mangadex should not care: we are writing posts in this thread to examine different points of view and that necessarily goes against culture and whatnot.
I never claimed the entire country of Japan has to change their ways, but I did say that there are other ways to tackle the street food stall that do not involve the — at this point cliché, which is what annoyed me — meat skewer.
I accept that Japanese people want the most detailed description of their comic food, or that authors don't want to write super-detailed universes; that does not change the fact that it is possible to write this particular trope, the food stall, without using meat skewers and that brings us to my very first post on the matter.

Lastly, those skills you listed certainly make them competent in certain fields, but that does not mean their writing is that of a competent person.
Placing myself on a high pedestral to make an example, I also know the tropes to exploit to get a presence in the market of isekai (just read this thread to learn about some), but that does not mean the writing I produce is any good.

Or talking again about the Fairy Tail guy, if we go past the tropes being used, is the actual writing good? I have not read Fairy Tail so I can't comment, but is the pacing the right speed (not too fast or too slow, etc.)? Are there any plot holes? Is the author repeating the same joke over and over again in the span of multiple consecutive chapters?
These are just a few questions to get a feeling on whether a writer is good outside the exploiting of the "genre tropes" you described, and the "incompetent isekai writer" fail at delivering almost everything in that regard.
Of course they do not have to "fix" everything: it is fine to "fail" at something as long as the rest can balance it out, which is what is missing most of the time.

 

[cksn]

being good at writing material that sells does not make you a good writer, because the purpose of writing is not to sell copies. high art and low art are both legitimate but bad writing is not legitimated by selling well. it's possible to pervert and misuse writing.

 

[Hitspark]

The authors can justify the taste and other qualities of a fantasy food: just say it's good.
You see, a good story does not require the reader to self-insert into one of the characters; when the MC is presented with an undefined mass called food and says it is good, it ends there and the reader knows it is good even if the actual taste, texture, level of cooking, etc. cannot be imagined.

Does this go against the Japanese culture and modus operandi? Maybe, perhaps, but we as users on Mangadex should not care: we are writing posts in this thread to examine different points of view and that necessarily goes against culture and whatnot.
I never claimed the entire country of Japan has to change their ways, but I did say that there are other ways to tackle the street food stall that do not involve the — at this point cliché, which is what annoyed me — meat skewer.
I accept that Japanese people want the most detailed description of their comic food, or that authors don't want to write super-detailed universes; that does not change the fact that it is possible to write this particular trope, the food stall, without using meat skewers and that brings us to my very first post on the matter.

I don't disagree that it's possible to write another way with the trope, very easily you could replace the trope with something more effective, efficient and overall satisfying. But the main part of why we're talking about Meat Skewers in general was, well, trying to figure out WHY meat Skewers are the main point in so many Isekai and so far we've uncovered two possible suspects.

1. Culture around the author.

2. Expectations (when writing food).

Or talking again about the Fairy Tail guy, if we go past the tropes being used, is the actual writing good?

Not even in the slight.

I have not read Fairy Tail so I can't comment, but is the pacing the right speed (not too fast or too slow, etc.)? Are there any plot holes? Is the author repeating the same joke over and over again in the span of multiple consecutive chapters?
These are just a few questions to get a feeling on whether a writer is good outside the exploiting of the "genre tropes" you described, and the "incompetent isekai writer" fail at delivering almost everything in that regard.
Of course they do not have to "fix" everything: it is fine to "fail" at something as long as the rest can balance it out, which is what is missing most of the time.

Fairy Tail makes me want to forget the english language in totality. I have absolutely no love for the story what-so-ever.

Lastly, those skills you listed certainly make them competent in certain fields, but that does not mean their writing is that of a competent person.
Placing myself on a high pedestral to make an example, I also know the tropes to exploit to get a presence in the market of isekai (just read this thread to learn about some), but that does not mean the writing I produce is any good.

being good at writing material that sells does not make you a good writer, because the purpose of writing is not to sell copies. high art and low art are both legitimate but bad writing is not legitimated by selling well. it's possible to pervert and misuse writing.

The innate problem in this part of the discussion seems to be that you regard an author's competency to directly correlate to the quality of their writing. Perhaps in a different world that would be the case. But Competency and Quality are two different things.

competent

1. having the necessary ability, knowledge, or skill to do something successfully.
   "a highly competent surgeon"
   • (of a person) efficient and capable.
     "an infinitely competent mother of three"
   • acceptable and satisfactory, though not outstanding.
     "she spoke quite competent French"

Competent simply means you know how to get the job done well enough to succeed and Isekai authors, in particular, know exactly what they're doing to make that happen. The fact so many of them are so successful at what they do demonstrates a very high level of competency in that set of authors. This is not indicative of quality of their writing nor should it be, but it shows that they're not stupid. That there is an incredible intentionality with them. They know what they're doing, they know why they're doing it, how to write it and they know how to keep succeeding with it and that is their goal. That IS competency in the purest form and to say they're not competent because their writing is absolutely garbage, misses what it means to be competent in the first place.

I feel like they're the final segment of that director ERB, like they are the Micheal Bay of the manga industry and they know it. They're well aware higher quality exists, but they choose to do the more profitable thing and just make story after story as long as it sells. "I aint got that guilt money, I don't give a Fu--"

There are, of course, ways to be both competent with a high-level of quality and that's (generally speaking) what this thread is about.

 

[GipoScribantino]

trying to figure out WHY

No, you are wrong. From the OP:

Now then, this thread is for Collecting Tropes you find issue with, Brainstorming ideas of how to potentially deconstruct these tropes and get some cool concepts out.

Nowhere it is asked to talk about why, but rather about what could've been done differently.

competent

1. having the necessary ability, knowledge, or skill to do something successfully.
   "a highly competent surgeon"
   • (of a person) efficient and capable.
     "an infinitely competent mother of three"
   • acceptable and satisfactory, though not outstanding.
     "she spoke quite competent French"

I had a hunch the disagreement was on a vocabulary technicality. We can stop this discussion then. Pretend I edited out every mention of "comptetent" with "being able to write a good pacing, correctly time the comedic moments, do not overly rely on visual assumptions favouring a good level of descriptions, etc." and call it a day.
This thread was, once again, never about being successful or being able to exploit tropes for profit, but merely on the actual writing.

 

[Infomantis]

A question I've always had in regards to isekai is the prevalence of The Truck for method of isekai. I don't know about japanese truck drivers, but if I was one I think I'd probably get pretty tired of the bum rap that they get from these.

 

[Hitspark]

No, you are wrong. From the OP:

Nowhere it is asked to talk about why, but rather about what could've been done differently.

I was talking about you and me.

But the main part of why we're talking about Meat Skewers in general was, well, trying to figure out WHY meat Skewers are the main point in so many Isekai and so far we've uncovered two possible suspects.

This is not about the general thread, but our conversation specifically.

I had a hunch the disagreement was on a vocabulary technicality. We can stop this discussion then. Pretend I edited out every mention of "comptetent" with "being able to write a good pacing, correctly time the comedic moments, do not overly rely on visual assumptions favouring a good level of descriptions, etc." and call it a day.
This thread was, once again, never about being successful or being able to exploit tropes for profit, but merely on the actual writing.

I find it hard to believe it was a simple difference "vocabulary technicality" to be honest. I did, at various times, agree with you that their writing was subpar and pointed out that subpar quality did not reduce their competency....

Regardless, perhaps it's the pedant in me but I very much like to stick to dictionary definitions as I feel it helps define things more clearly. But if you wish to end the conversation here, then that is fine. Wish you well.

 

[TGN]

People of extraordinary power usually can get any position up to their ambition. It isn't an accident that heroes get to marry a princess in the end - that means they'll become a king someday. Just this season, I'm watching 2 anime like that - Isekai Smartphone and Tensei Kizoku.

But the heroes should already be king. In Isekai Smartphone, the emperor of the neighboring empire got rekt by their own general. Sure, that general got some buffs (that the emperor definitely should have gotten already), but you'd think there'd be more of a fight. The kings should be among the most powerful in the nation, instead they're so often puppets just waiting for a hero to arrive. And when the kings do seem to be powerful, they're only used in one-off situations, never an actual consideration.

Societies that do not reward people of extraordinary power are portrayed as corrupt and quickly topped by enemies, external or internal.
And when societies of "evil" races are portrayed, their hierarchies are explicitly based on personal fighting ability. With Demon King being whoever fights the best

= Societies not based off of fighting capabilities are corrupt.
= Only evil races build societies based off of strength, implying that human societies don't
= Human societies are therefore corrupt and easily toppled, but not evil
???

A demon lord has to vigilantly watch the borders of his domain, or he'll lose territory to his neighbors. A demon lord has to vigilantly watch his subordinates, or they'll plot to kill him and take his place. Thus, it's not uncommon for a demon lord to only have as much land as they can personally reach in a hour or two of flying.

Or they can do what the Mongols did. Teleport into a city, bitch slap the ruler into paying tribute, then teleport away. And if the demon lord is the strongest in the region, then all they'd need to do is summon their subordinates every once in a while, read their minds, and kill traitors. Not exactly the most time-consuming rule.


The rest of your answer boils down to rulers being 'too bored to actually rule'. Not a very satisfying end. Though one would think that if an entity gets bored of nation-building, they'd eventually get bored of everything. Even then, there'd eventually be some cut-off point where someone isn't too powerful to be done with life, but powerful enough to solo empires, as so often is (as is in the case with Slime, what with the demon lord that Rimuru obliterated). Why don't those people conquer the world?