I enjoyed the novel, its still a clear isekai genre with all its bad habits, but it was nice and kept me hooked until I catched up (End of Volume 12). This is an interesting feat, because till now only Re:Zero Novel was the isekai that managed to truly get me.
The story is divided in
Acts, and each Act is divided in a few
Arcs involving certain characters.
Act 1: Volumes 1 - 4
The thing that impressed me the most was the huge difference in character between Naofumi and his anime version. He's way more heartless and rude in the novel, to the point he's even kind of a jerk. The problem I talked to you about before, that of bad way of writing, was very present in the first two volumes. The events are interesting, the way they are told... not so much.
For example, in the first arc, when Naofumi is framed and he becomes a ruthless bastard, then takes Raphtalia to kill for him. The novel focused a little too much on his way of watching everything, to the point even the reader absorbs his apathy. I could tell the author wasn't very experienced at narrating from a 1st person perspective and he improved along the way (the last volumes are way better), so at the beggining the story felt like a Self-Insert MC, with not enough emphasis in telling the story and everything on how the character feels about all that surrounds him.
Consequently, all characters save Nao (and slightly Raphtalia) were non-existant to me, they just weren't defined well: this guy is good, this guy is bad, that girl is a bitch, these three guys are fools... you know what I mean.
This is the double edged weapon that is poor 1st person narrative. The backstory of Raphtalia is very bad in the novel, I didn't get to feel anything unlike in the anime where the feelings of the characters and their relations were founded much better, even if it was for a short amount of time.
Still, I absolutely loved how the first novel portrayed the damaged psychological state that Nao had, his paranoia and grief, hiding his true emotions even to himself (readers) and twisting reality in his head to fix the world into the hateful image he created. Also the cute relationship with loli Raphtalia was heartwarming and more direct, I wish her feelings and thoughts were shown in real time and not in the special chapter at the end, but still the final battle against Motoyasu and how Raphtalia manages to get him and release him from his cage... it was beautiful
The
2nd Volume was quite boring tbh, only good thing was the addition of Filo and at the end the Shield of Rage appearance (which was done much much better in the novel compared to the anime). The whole adventure to get Filo's clothes, the mining stuff and the Bioplant incident... I get they were necessary to build an image for Naofumi as your friendly neighbour Spid... I mean Saint of the God Birb
But they just weren't told well, too much blabber and uninteresting upgrade talk. Again all characters except the main duo + Filo were forgettable, even the Witch of the shop that helps them against the Nue just stays as... the Witch of the magic shop. The Weapon Shop owner at least built a nice relationship of trust with Nao and he would appear to react to the developments of their adventures, but he was the exception to the rule.
Then again, I love how dumb yet adorable Filo is, her innocent way of thinking and reasoning is nicely done, it still gets me a smile everytime she gets upset and says "Booo"
The Shield of Rage episode against the Dragon Zombie (Gaelion's corpse lol) was cool and had a way better transition and drama added to it. It also made a pivotal point in Raphtalia's maturation, it feels like the moment she stepped up her game to protect Naofumi from himself she also got a duty to look over him. From then on her character became much more composed and serious, unlike her anime version in which she's just a little too weak mentally.
I only have one doubt regarding that moment, when Nao was absorbed by the Shield, he heard a voice instigating him to get angrier, to eliminate everything, but at that moment he hadn't absorbed the Dragon's core so the conscience of the Demon Dragon couldn't have been there... I dont know if there's an explanation to it or if the Shield was directly speaking to him.
Then
Volumes 3 and 4 were much better, the wave battle and the first showdown with Glass was intense and swift (I really really liked her characterization at the moment, as powerful cold antagonist), then the Melty issue and the ploy from the Church.
I still dont get how Trash and Bitch got so far in the plan, mainly because of the 20iq heroes and plot convenience, but it was very intense. The raid on the Fat Nobleman's house and Raphtalia giving no fucks to get her revenge was sweet, infinitely better than the anime
Then Fitoria's inclusion was amazing, gave purpose to Filo as character and a look at the past of the world, aswell as truly OP yet interesting side character that sums to the cast.
Finally, the confrontation with the High Priest was epic, a little too slow most of the time due to the steady rythm that the story had at the moment, then comes a turn based battle with everyone being useless except Naofumi... but still epic. Blood Sacrifice was a nice way to close the conflict and the punishment for Bitch and Trash was priceless.
Loved the ruthless Queen, a little too ruthless but I honestly didn't care since those bastards were designed to be hated after all. Motoyasu marked himself as the dumbest shit in the series by believing in Bitch after all but still the closure to Nao's struggles in Melromarc was so satisfying.
Act 2: Volumes 5 - 9
This is the Act that promised to be fantastic and ended up being... Okay.
First the
Cal Mira Islands: Exp Event, the heroes consolidate themselves as the dumbest creatures on earth and in their pride they refuse to listen to Nao, I can understand they got suspicious of him, but outright dismissing everything anyone said because "Thats not the game I knew" is blatantly stupid, it felt like they had to be completely retarded so they could be weak for the sake of plot, and that wasn't good.
Then L'Arc and Therese showed up as pretty interesting side characters, I could tell they could become an interesting side party and when I saw they had special weapons I instantly thought "Seven Star Heroes", but when they showed up to be foes from the other side of the rifts I was greatly surprised.
The battle was quite cool, the only thing I didn't like was the downgrade that Glass's character took, she completely lost her powerful antagonist aura by being so threatened by Nao's party alone. I expected her to be much more than just a simple miniboss in the 3rd Volume... Had she taken Kyo's spot as antagonist of the Arc itself would have been so much better with her cold personality, then Kizuna can stop her and bring her back into the pacific way... now that would have been a much more engaging development, besides, having
Ultra Instinct Rishia match her instead of the angry baby that was Kyo... holy crap that would have been
amazing.
Anyway, whats done is done.
After the Cal Mira Arc Itsuki positioned himself as the Trashiest piece of Trash, then Rishia gets added to the team. I wasn't very fond of her at the beggining since excessively shy-undecisive characters annoy the hell out of me. Then when she finally awakened she started to have purpose as member of the party.
The opposite happened with Eclair, she started off amazingly well, as a master swordswoman teaching Raphtalia and composed knight, then she just lost her edge (lmao) and vanished in between other characters. At least she recently came back to bring back Ren into his senses.
After the heroes kept showing their retarded sense of reason they separated from Melromarc but, even if Naofumi says he couldn't have done more I strongly disagree. Nao has almost none empathy with people he doesn't care for, its one of his faults as character, so he just kept thinking of the other heroes as morons not worth discussing with instead of people he had to understand.
There was one line that Ren or Moto said back when they snapped that really caught my eye because it was true: "You keep watching us from over your shoulder, it pisses me off", he treated his teachings to them as truths they had to abide instead of things he had to convince them of. His approach was weak, still right that the other Heroes lived in denial.
The Spirit Tortoise Arc was intense, Ost was nice as the Oracle type of supporting character. My main issue with it was that it took too long, too much fighting against the same enemy with the same mechanic "Shooting Star Shield, Air-Strike Shield, Second Shield, blablabla Zweite Aura blablabla" you know...the first time it was epic, when he did it for the 27th time against the heart of the Turtle was just too much.
Kyo was a pretty bad antagonist, an angry mad scientist with a hundred tricks under his sleeve, he wants to steal the Turtle's energy to conquer the world... huh. At least it was cool that Rishia brought him to the edge.
Ost's death was so sad tho, she was around for a very short time but still felt as part of the the Naofamily, it was painful to see her go
You already know what I think of the
Other World Arc. It started of pretty good with the labyrinth and meeting Kizuna but, since taking revenge on Kyo was the main goal, it lacked interest on the final purpose. L'Arc lost quite a bit of representation and Therese became non-existant, at least Glass remained present most of the time.
The best was Kizuna (Nao's counterpart), Raph-chan (Best pet) and Raphtalia getting the Vassal Katana, the rest was forgettable. Well, the final battle was cool I guess, it was a mix of the previous Arc battle and the High Priest battle (magic combos with supporting spells + awakened Rishia + Shield of Wrath IV).
Act 3: Volumes 10 - 14 (?)
Its in this Act when the improvement in the writing shines, the narrative is so much better and the comedy took a step forward. I wont get into details like the previous Acts because its not over I guess, besides I only read till the 12th
The
Village Reconstruction arc is connected with the other mini-arcs (Hero Hunting Arc and Gaelion).
Sadeena's playful personality, I liked it, Im not fond of characters that stay around only to hit on the MC but she still has a charm about her.
The Cursed Heroes left pretty amazing moments and a good development in Motoyasu and Ren's cases. It was so satisfying to have Rishia kick Itsuki's ass, now that was
true Justice
Im just not very excited about Atla as a character, I didn't expect her to go full stalker mode on Naofumi, that self-imposed rivalry with Raphtalia doesn't add to her character since she has no chance against her. I hope she gets another motivation soon because her character actually has potential, being related to Trash and all the lineage of Siltvelt.
Im also glad Gaelion is not some Filo #2 and adopted the personality and wisdom of the previous Dragon Emperor. Now I wonder whats going to happen now that Raphtalia's origins have been revealed and the Naofamily have to take on that ancient kingdom of Ninja demi-humans. I hope Naofumi finally gets past his damn density and appreciates Raphtalia after it.
In conclusion, so far its a pretty interesting series and Im looking forward to further releases. It has many things to polish and some mistakes here and there but I dont regret stepping beyond the anime territory. A
7/10 for me.
Thanks for reading, if there's something I didn't really get please tell me, I read very fast so maybe my memory is hazy.