- #1
Overall, a decent novel with interesting and well established characters, and most importantly, that includes the main character. In the sea of dull isekai MCs whose only purpose is allowing the most boring of people to self-insert, having an MC with as much personality as the others, if not more, is enough to make the novel stand out. And MC isn't the only character above isekai standards. Hell, the pet wolf who can't even talk has more personality than most isekai MCs. Other than that, the novel also has a decently compelling setting and plot, with a bit of politics here and there involving different countries and races. The plot isn't the focus however, and it progresses very slowly. I would like to see more countries and find out what they're about and how they will interact with the other characters, which at least shows that it's done well even though it's not the focus. Although the very last few chapters (374 & 375) had some characters revealing motives that didn't really make any sense given their previous actions. But as it's literally the latest chapters as of writing this review I won't take that into consideration.A few general things to take note of:Given the setting, you would probably expect there to be some "dungeon defense" content, but there is virtually none. The dungeon system is used a lot for various things, but developing an actual labyrinth to deal with intruders is not one of those things. Well, defenses are prepared, but so far anyway they haven't been used at all. It kinda turns into an inside joke. Speaking of, a lot of abilities that MC acquires are also never used. As someone who has no interest in combat, this is more of a good thing to me, but I guess it could be an issue to some. Of course, the novel is not over yet, but still, some stuff was introduced like 300 chapters ago.If you're considering reading this novel after having seen its title and description, you probably don't hate slice of life. Still, I have to warn you that there is a LOT of it. There are also arcs where the characters go out on an adventure to solve some conflict or another, but I'd say more than half the novel is made up of episodic slice of life chapters. Some are even placed in the middle of an adventure, which felt quite strange. Like, in the middle of the characters being in a somewhat suspenseful encounter in some other country, there's gonna be a chapter or two about those characters suddenly eating barbeque at home. I'd bet that would be quite annoying if you waited a week for that chapter. I'm not sure if putting those chapters with the other slice of life in between adventures would even be better, as there are already so many in a row there. I like slice of life quite a bit myself, and they are definitely well written and fun, but the amount of them still made me wish the next arc would come sooner a few times. I think they would be easier to get through if they had some continuity instead of being episodic. Or if they had more development of any kind. Often, stuff that is considered slice of life still has some sort of development going on, like meeting new characters, getting character development, in the case of this novel there's playing with new dungeon facilities, crafting items, or spawning modern technologies. While there is some of that, most of it is just eating, playing and banter. Which, again, is well written and good fun, and if that's just the thing you like you will love this novel.This novel has a lot of lolis, but while you can certainly call the author a lo*icon, the main character never deviates from a pure guardian figure, and there is no content whatsoever that can't be called purely wholesome and cute. Well, you could say that some jokes are made which make light of pe*ophilia, like the girls calling MC a pe*o because his monster gained a loli form, or saying "wow, you didn't bring back another little girl this time, how surprising" upon MC's return. But, especially in the scope of japanese media, I can't see anything to be upset about at all here.The novel also features a harem. I don't like harems and I think a novel can always do better without one, but the author here at least clearly tried to improve upon the whole harem formula. MC has a favorite which is made very clear to everyone, he made a choice and got together with her first, and always voices his reluctance to getting more girls. Yet still, it's like japan just can't deal with an isekai not turning into a harem, and his first, chosen wife pretty much forces MC to get together with other girls. I appreciate MC's attitude, but that development towards a harem was so disappointing and unnatural. His wife explains herself, the usual "I like the other girls a lot too and I don't want to see them suffer", and you might think "yeah that's reasonable" at first, until you actually think of a reverse scenario. Like, in this case say MC's loyal pet wolf evolves, gains a humanoid form, and falls in love with a girl in the harem. While the girl is friendly with the wolf boy, she's not really interested in him as a lover and doesn't want to be unfaithful at all, but because MC respects and likes his pet, he not only accepts, but pretty much forces his pet into his harem. This is a complete equivalent, yet something like it will never and has never been written in a light novel, because nobody would accept it, and it would clearly be seen as an unnatural action on the part of MC. While forgoing the harem would be the best option, you could at least improve further upon the way it was done in this novel by acknowledging this contradiction. Because it would make sense that MC would think about it. He could say something like "Lefi, I would never accept you having another lover, no matter how much I liked the guy or how assured I was that you still love me, so I find it unsettling to see you not only accept it, but even encourage it." Even if this was only followed by "That's just how I am", this acknowledgement would still do a lot for me. At that point, I can only think, well, who am I to question the mentality of a fictional character? Not to mention a girl, in a different world, who's not even human. Still, I expect the main character to think of this, else I feel like the author is trying to hide the unfairness, hide the fact that he's designed heroines to be unnaturally accomodating, which is kinda pathetic.Speaking of, a few times when I've complained about harems and such, I've had replies the likes of "you're reading a wish fulfillement novel, what do you expect?" But I don't get this destructive attitude that implies your wish fulfillement novel can't also be good. Unnaturally accomodating characters, an MC who beats obstacles by pulling powers out of nowhere instead of using his head, cartoon-ass dumb villains who are only there to make MC look good, a world where literally everything revolves around MC, a complete lack of side characters doing their own thing and having their own romance, etc. These things are not necessary pillars of a wish fulfillement story, they're just symptoms of cheap, easy to make bad stories. Improving on those issues is only going to improve the story, no matter what, and turn a cheap one into a much more satisfying wish fulfillement novel. The author of this novel certainly tried to do exactly that, and for the most part succeeded. The harem is the only thing I don't quite like. Maybe also a bit lacking in side characters doing things that don't involve MC.I feel like I've mostly complained, but there really are plenty of things to like about this novel. The main character is unique and his antics are always fun to read. He's also sincere and doesn't act like a teenager regarding romance, which is a rare sight in light novels. While I complained about the harem, the romantic relationships themselves are great, and very well balanced. Also, one of the usual issues with harem which is that the large amount of heroines makes each of them lack exposition and development, does not apply here due to the sheer amount and quality of character exposition. I don't have that much more to say since really the main thing that makes a good novel is simply that "the characters are good", and that's something you have to see for yourself.Lastly, the translation is excellent and incredibly thorough. I don't remember noticing a single mistake, typo or awkward sentence, which is not something I can even say about most professional licensed releases. I ought to say it's on the liberal side, which I much prefer over literal translations. This is mostly apparent on the MC's speech and thoughts, which use, let's say... "very colorful" language, which just cannot be directly translated. It might be jarring if you're coming from having read the manga where MC sounds a lot more tame, and I did wonder if they didn't overly change the feel of the character by taking too much liberty with the translation, but after reading more of the novel and seeing how consistent it is, I'd say it's more likely that it's the manga that doesn't do the character justice. Plus it's simply way more fun, so even if the character's feel in the novel TL isn't completely accurate, I still prefer it this way. That said, it would be fair to say that the novel TL goes overboard in a few places. I doubt, for example, that the author would agree with their character using "autistic" as a derogatory term, if that was changed during TL. So keep in mind if you find some things upsetting that the original text might not have been quite the same. (or alternatively just don't get offended by fictional characters)
