Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (WN) Chapter 253 Discussion

This was my first ever light/web novel I've ever read. And maybe that's why I think I feel it deserves 3.5 stars but looking at it objectively, I'll say it deserves 2.5 stars, 3 stars at best.

Certainly, this novel is a great book for starters before you truly read more refined and outstanding books. Because after getting a taste of those, you'll never be able to read your run-of-the-mill Seinen Fantasy books like this one. If you look at other average Isekai novels, there won't be much difference besides minor details.

It certainly had a decent start, one that doesn't seem too bad compared to others. The cliche Isekai aspects were tolerable up till the 3rd book.

One of the major criticisms I had was the harem. Now that I think about it the first girl joining was understandable, the second girl joining was barely tolerable, the third girl joining was suffocation, and for some of the rest, it just didn't make any sense. The bar to join the harem kept being lowered and lowered until basically, if a female had a strong interest in the MC, they were able to join. Heck, it was even told that even the single female classmates had interests even though they were not in his harem. Oh and the afterstory that focuses on the MC is either about his adoptive daughter or doing some le*d things.

Spoiler

This is the situations with how the girls become part of the harem

First Girl : She's sealed away in the depths of a labyrinth where she meets the MC who initially rejects helping her but in the end, helps out.

Second Girl : She meets the MC after he leaves the end of the labyrinth after completing it and becomes extremely clingy just so the MC can save her tribe.

Third Girl : After rampaging due to being mind control, the MC sticks a metal stake into her rear end and becomes a masochist.

Fourth Girl : She's the teacher of the MC and after being hurt in battle, the MC does a mouth to mouth to feed a potion. She starts acting like half her age after learning about it.

Fifth Girl : She fell in love back on Earth when she witnessed the MC persistently apologizes to some bullies while getting ab*sed in order to get forgiveness for some stranger. It was stated that she fell in love because he was the only one with enough courage to act on the scene but in reality, it was anything but courageous, it was more of foolishness. Oh and the bullies left the scene because they didn't want to be caught by the police, the MC's actions didn't contribute towards them leaving the scene.

Sixth Girl : After the MC delivers a kidnapped child back to the mother, the mother instantly displays interests and states she's a widow. And from my memory, I don't believe there was a reason stated why she fell in love immediately (including the action of saving her daughter).

Seventh Girl : She falls in love due to the MC saving the Fifth Girl.

Eight Girl : A princess who contributed nothing that falls in love with absolutely no reason stated. Side Note : Loli[collapse]

Another thing I found intolerable was the contradictions the MC keeps creating. Consistently stating that he has no interest in affairs unrelated to him, he somehow is forced to deal with it. And these situations keep occurring until he starts actively participating without anyone's begging.

The side characters also seem quite lacking. Though there might be some backstory to their actions, the general gist of it isn't any different from the countless Isekai novels out there. There's the naive and justice loving hero, the two faced god, the beta male turned into alpha male (MC), and so forth. Beyond the MC and his harem, nobody gets character development and are flat characters throughout the entire story. Nothing about them stands out which makes the story less interesting.