- #1
The first 12 chapters are readable, but they are pretty cliche. It's just a typical OP protagonist in a JRPG style world story, except that the OP protagonist is a sword. Any novelty that comes from the sword aspect wears off pretty fast, and the fact that there are a trillion skills to keep track of even early on doesn't help matters much.Once the sword meets its sword master though, the quality of the story rises dramatically. It's overall a pretty much a slice of life adventurer story, but the main protagonist bounces off the deuteragonist (loli cat girl swordwielder Fran) extremely well. They have a sweet father-daughter relationship going on, and the generic personality of the swords develops to be a bit more fatherly. In contrast, Fran is a stoic badass. The dialogue between the main characters is consistently entertaining even while the novel is world building. The main characters don't develop particularly rapidly, but both undergo a slow gradual growth in character as the story goes on.The flaws of the OP protagonist style story are mitigated by the fact that Fran is vulnerable without the sword and that the story is about making her stronger rather than just making the sword as OP as possible. The character Fran has a clear motivation to get stronger (fulfilling her parent's wish of a successful evolution) that the sword is convinced to help Fran in. There isn't much of a plot otherwise, but it's sufficient for holding the story together. The world building is also pretty interesting. It's not 100% original, but I like certain takes the author has on typical JRPG cliches like dungeons.At first, the various adventures seem disjointed, but eventually, old side characters make appearances again and story arcs start referencing events in previous arcs. The story is still largely episodic, but a more obvious overarching plot starts forming by the tournament arc in Ulmutt rolls around. While side characters often seem flat the first time they are met, their occasional reappearance in future arcs means that some side characters get to be fleshed out more when Shisho and Fran meet them again and see a new side to them.Overall, Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita is a story that starts off pretty slow, but gets better as it goes on. Five stars might be a little high, but I can't help but like the story so much at its current stage.