When I say “out there” I mean books that cover topics and perspectives that are rarely hyped up in popular conversations around what people read. Like everyone can find a popular video recommending self-help productivity nonfiction or YA #relatable fiction but a recent fiction book that blew me away was “I’m thinking of ending things”, it got a movie adaptation on Netflix but after the movie came out very little conversations about the book carried on. Fair warning, the book “I’m thinking of ending things” is a horrifically bleak exploration into the mental state of someone contemplating suicide at the end of his life and his reflections about himself and his mistakes throughout the years are not helpful if you’re looking for a good time. But I’ve never seen a story go that far in depicting someone’s mental state in that kind of situation so it blew me away but is also underrated imho.
Isekai as a genre has been a very hit or miss ordeal where the ones I really enjoy like Gate or Mushoku Tensei remain in my memory as top tier shows in their own right but the rest just seem like copy paste remakes, though hearing about the progression of the main lead like the way you described it makes me think this’ll be a more grounded story so I’m looking forward to giving it a shot, thanks for the recommendation!