(There's a second list, just add a 2 to the name of this list and you'll find it) ... more>>

There are too many novels with cliché romance and harems with annoyingly useless girls. Reading them gets extremely tiring. There are too few novels with absolutely no form of romance or harem. Here are some novels I've found to not have romance/harem or have an harem/romance theme that didn't affect the plot of the novel to the point of it being annoying. 

Feel free to recommend novels that fit the criteria, arigatou^o^

P. S. I haven't read all the novels in this list so I might not be accurate in judging them. And there are some I've read but didn't finish and the novel ended up having romance or harem elements in a later chapter, please feel free to correct me anytime you see that I wasn't accurate. Arigatou minna-san <<less

Sequence is CN- JP- KR- Fluffy- (Comedy)- Exceptions- To-reads. Not ranked by number. 
My descriptions varies greatly from a gist, polished review, impressions, or explains key points.        ... more>>

[Flexible Preferences] 
A. Protags are somehow mostly male but I read both!- interesting, has compelling qualities, flawed with development
B. Entertaining, Distinct, & Creative
C. Steady premise, no TERRIBLE plot hole 
D. Romance: good execution, pacing, build-up, & evokes emotion; no bullsh!t drama & brain-dead denseness
E. Vital, relevant, fleshed-out characters
F. Comedic & Fun
G. Danger, Wars, Battles, Strategy, Tactics, Trials, Fights, Thriller, Suspense
H. Lore, Culture, Kingdom, Worldbuilding 
I. Political Intrigue, Schemes, Mind Games, Manipulation, Mystery
J.  Pure tragedies rarely - it hurts!
K. No BL/GL(yet?)
L. Can be R-18 
M. Polygamous-like IF great story | even if you're averse consider my recs. ;)

[Criteria]
1. These are (mostly) 4/5 stars in story, translation and enjoyment according to my flawed evaluation that is mainly 3/10 objective, 7/10 subjective.
2. I have perused the novels or adaptation before sharing my thoughts.
3. Writing must be consistent, coherent and engaging and the ending must at least not be sh!t. Clichés to a point are fine however it needs to be purposeful & executed well. 
4. I will keep adding books that are promising, satisfying, translated.  <<less

Caution: bear the risk of having your taste being too sky-high standard.

The isekai here is pointed to another world, but not only to the usual Jpn isekai with reincarnation/rebirth/transmigrate MC. It can be the world that's totally not in the earth, and maybe it's not a reincarnation/transmigration and MC is from that world. ... more>>

My ideal isekai novel is the one with the world building as its central theme and the romance is non existent, even if there's romance element in it, usually it's slow and just as unnecessary side dish.

NO HAREM for me. Tho few of them has harem and romance tags, for me there are those that are not romance and harem, so I'll explain in related description instead. 

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No description.

goldmine of misunderstanding novels. mostly focus on comedy stuffs... more>>

tag explanation
conscious = protagonist intentionally create misunderstanding
comedy = misunderstanding is funny
amusing = the suffering of that guy... kukuku
realism = the world is alive, its rules are serious, because it's not just opera stage for protagonist.
.

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-List from scribblehub-

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/108367/the-queen-of-darkness-does-not-want-to-be-the-villain

misunderstanding&comedy&amusing

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/234170/there-is-definitely-something-wrong-with-my-viewers/

misunderstanding&comedy

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/122738/i-see-kai/

misunderstanding&comedy(kinda get dark)

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i hate royalroad's UI so i don't use that site. so please comment if you have misunderstanding novel from there that you want to add. <<less

Book list, novels where the main characters are completely bad and ruthless (I don't want mc that justifies h24 why they do bad things but just mc that assumes and have no moral or human conscience).... more>>

No romance, to add a new book in my list of books mc need to enter in one of this 3 categories.

If the novel have romance I wil say it, not much author write full evil mc.

Absolute Neutral : Absolute neutral has two definitions : a person who is not inclined to commit wrong doing but who if need be does not hesitate to get his hands dirty after all profits is above all selfishness comes first. Second, he has no emotions he is ruthless no desire only the most rational and mechanical thought.

Neutral Evil : Neutral Evil, he will be very prone to do evils but which must benefit him in some way and will never think emotionally but rationally. Killing people for betterment ect.... have no regrets about the harm done even if the people are innocent.

Chaotic Evil : Chaotic Evil, simple and precise, he commits immoral acts for no reason and has no moral boundaries or conscience, he shamelessly spits on them, he just wants to do evil without reason and commit unparalleled atrocities only for his perverse pleasure.

Don't hesitate to recommend books that I didn't added.

If you want more evil novel, translated or not join this discord :https://discord gg/rawnovelcommunity <<less

Novels that fall under the category/theme that shows the 'Dark' side of humanity and the Main Character must also be on [~Neutral to Evil Faction~]... more>>

Since this is gonna be a collection of known novels that I obviously not read yet... I will 'automatically' rank them based on their current 'Star Ratings' [Of course feel free to debate which should be higher on the list and which should not, As we all know... ratings can sometimes can't be trusted]

Novels with no description means only one thing of these two; either I have not read that Novel in question or I have no time to add one <<less

these novels aren't ranked. all are good and i recommend all of these for you guys to read. there's no (or some may have a little) romance here,  but no harem. ... more>>

♡ contains action, adventure, fantasy, horror, mystery, cultivation, supernatural, slice of life, world hopping etc...
♡ cn, kr, jp <<less

No BL/GL. No Crossdressing.

...

Isekais are fun reads when done right, cringey when generic, and horrible when done wrong.... more>>

Sorted from Best to Worst with the ratings being pretty biased.

Honorable Mentions: The Beginning after the End (NOT ON NU) {4.35/5} It's cool, that's all I can really say.

THE LIST NOW HAS A SECOND PART IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW: https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/8455/ <<less

This list a mishmash of all kind JP novel, hope you find good stuff to read, rank doesn't matter

Novels I enjoyed/am planning to read in the future. A lot are in the kingdom building, some otome game, some reincarnation. Novels are generally ranked... more>> by page from favorite to least favorite. <<less

I  prune this list often with  better replacements. Last page has the "updates"... more>>

1. Charm of the soul pets 2. Mechanic 3. Overlord 4. Throne of magical arcana 5. Mage Adam 6. shrouded sea scape <<less

No description.

Sturgeon's law: 99% of everything is terrible.... more>>

I know many people say that there are no good novels on this site, and it oftens feels like the top lists are filled with overpowered MC's, undeveloped harems, 2D characters, and lacking plots.

There are some novels that stand out, however, whether that be for their plots, characters, or translations.

This is a list for my personal 1%. It is ranked in order. <<less