At which point can a character be considered a self-insert?

It's easy, they don't.
That's 90% of those critics are not worth reading.

Author self-inserts =! self inserts

Author self-inserts often were made after years of actual self-reflection and actualization to the point that their self-inserts are indistinguisable from an actual character - and sometimes, they aren't even the MC. For example:

Gen Urobuchi self insets as the guy who does hard decisions to save others

Miyazaki's self insert is Porco Rosso - a fat guy who enjoys the small things in life

Lovecraft represented himself as Randolph Carter - an struggling author who lives in paranoia because of the minorities

Tom Bombadil

Sometimes, some authors just wanted to be part of the world they created.
Bad authors wanted to be the center of that world, though

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Generally speaking the self-insert in anime is always a relatable generic guy and I believe most people understand the concept. A true self-insert would be the mc in One Room.

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Often self-inserts can be characters who ARE flawed and far less powerful/strong/imposing than others relative to the series. A big part of the self-insert factor is how characters unreasonably warm up to them and the self-insert just fits into all their lives like a puzzle piece.

Self inserting is stupid and I will never understand it.
This girl is made for a different type of self insert.

Yeah, being the center of the world is the biggest red flag of a self-insert

Sounds like you're talking more about a Mary Sue than a self-insert.
This is the ultimate self-insert anime.

True, author self-inserts are at worst a dumb gimmick. Like Undertale having a dog be the author

Reminder there is a difference between author self insert (also called the author's mouthpiece) and a blank slate character that is lazily written to be inoffensive to the general audience by having little traits that could cause any sort of division.
>I can't really think of many examples where you can clearly tell the author is self-inserting.
Eren Yeager from SnK and Subaru from Re:Zero. And I'm not saying in the typical wish fulfillment sense but more so you can tell the authors are projecting aspects of themselves onto the MCs

According to yuritrannies every male character is a self insert and female self insert characters don't exist.

>at worst a dumb gimmick
>author hijack the plot to talk about depression and gender dysphoria
Don't play indie video games.

>One Room
Oh god this shit was more uncomfortable to watch then aku no hana. It transcends self insertion. It's literally asking you pretend youre there as it's happening.

> female self insert characters don't exist
They do but they are RARE because majority of the best yurishows are made by men

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Reminds me of the Koihime Musou "adaptation" were they removed the male MC to make it a moe show.

But to know for sure if a character is an author surrogate you actually need to know what the author is like. The generic nice guy self-insert is much more self-evident.

>Madoka
>Nanoha
>LL
>Utena
>Sailor Moon
>Mai-Hime
>Symphogear
>Yuki Yuna
None of these I consider yuri though.

It's easy to tell, really
1. ask how much said character affects the world
2. Ask how much the world affects them

Good authors self insert themselves for 2 reasons
To be part of that world
Or be a metaphorical exploration of their beliefs in life

Uro enjoys creating a selfless character whose belief gets broken down and ends up becoming a better person overall

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Most protagonists are in some way a self-insert

Who do they think the entire otome genre is for?

I literally just said the characters ARE flawed and lesser than other characters, how the fuck is that a Mary-Sue

A self-insert wants all the characters they like to just warm up to them even when there's no real reason for them to

Still mad about this tl

huh just showing me that doesn't mean that mai-hime is a yuri, i call these yuri bait.

What about genderbent characters?

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Lol

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>Most protagonists are in some way a self-insert
It's like I said, author mouthpi and blank slates should be differentiated

That's a different kind of insertion

Ousama Game's author named the main character after himself

for this one I call it bisex-bait

>mouthpi
*mouthpieces

Especially since Utena had male on male buttfucking. Imagine if a modern day yuri show had a yaoi scene or two, the fans would shit themselves and autistic trolls would never let them live it down.

Marys Sue usually have flaws though. But those "flaws" ends up making them cooler.

>the fans would shit themselves and autistic trolls
nah in not a fan I drop the show because it's not pure yuri but bifaggot, not that I really care tho. the characters are just meh

Self insert protagonists are almost always
>Male
>Japanese
>High School Students
>with a superpower and/or are super geniuses
>surrounded by beautiful women
>have largely invisible families except a cute sister figure

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Inu Boku
Little Witch Academia
Devilman

This user gets it.

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Wait LWA had Yaoi?

Blank slates barely exist in anime/manga, this is not video games.
Look at the Persona anime and look at how they handle a real self-insert MC. They've got way more personality in the adaptations.

That sounds more like authors can't help but show some of their thinking and beliefs in their writing. When I think of an author self-insert I think of someone like Tusk from Cross Ange where you can clearly tell the writer is playing out some kind of power fantasy.

No one wants to self-insert as Shirou.

He's literally me

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I couldn't even remotely begin to self insert as this shitter.
Recognition is too important to me, I'm vain as hell.

When his name is Chad and he's fucking the main girl

>literal porn game about hot chicks desperately in need of your "mana"
>one wants to self-insert

>a litteral sociopath
Don't forget your meds, user.

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You want to self-insert as some autistic self-destructive weirdo with the IQ of a rock? At least use Shiki or something.

>muh self-destructive mc
I sure don't want to self-insert into coldsteel the hedgehog. It's a self-destructive archetype, after all. Yet it's a fact this is a super common self-insert oc. It's not my fault fatefags are sonic autistim-tier. You'll have to find a new cope.

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>Subaru
Eh, I don't really see it, especially considering the author mentioning thinking him up while working at his job as a butcher, of all things.
Plus isn't his penname "grey cat"? What's interesting is that the two characters that have killed Subaru the most are both cat themed old men.
That being said, I think he self inserted as Reggie the most. His rants seem like they came from the heart.

He's self-desructive because he's a dumbass, not because it's cool. He jumps into danger without thinking and the game is full of idiotic bad ends. Shiki is self-destructive in a cool way since overusing his power destroy his brain.

How about characters who stop being self inserts?
Iirc the author of SAO admitted that at the start the main character was a self insert, but considering decades have past and the author has grown older, it probably not the case anymore.

Cobra obviously.

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Kirito will remain one of the most obvious self-insert in fiction no matter what. But one funny thing is that he has a lot of female fans.

I don't want to believe it either, but it's a super popular porn vn highschool haremmc written entirely in their perspective. Fatefags will look at that and think "yes, this is me".