Story of The Ancient Demon King! Chapter 55 Discussion

I want to like it, but I'm not really sure what's going on. It may just be that the brain rot has set in too deeply and such a normal plot escapes my current view, or the story legitimately doesn't make sense. I'll leave that up to you to decide.

Plot:

So, according to the summary and first chapter, the MC is someone who is obsessed with heroes and villains. He feels that it's unfair for evil to always triumph, to gain all the benefits in life, while the "heroes" are really nothing more than debauched lunatics without any true righteousness.

Then, for some reason, he gets reincarnated and decides to make his dream a reality. He plans to become the strongest Demon King (?), raise a hero, and have said hero defeat him in a final climactic battle, saving the world and humanity from his clutches. However, aside from saying that, nothing he does is in line with that dream. At least, I can't see it.

Before I get into why, I want to explain what I believe a Demon King to be.

A ruthless, cunning individual, with ultimate power and an army strong enough to crush kingdoms. In some stories, "he's" strong enough to contend with gods. In others, he brings ultimate despair across the world, turning order into chaos. The antithesis to righteousness. A symbol of depravity. Someone who will kill, so long as it benefits him. A psychopathic tyrant, obsessed with power.

You get the point. I know, nowadays, we have Demon Kings often depicted as either the good guys, or someone pushed to a bad end by force. They're labeled "demon kings" simply because they either wield dark magic, are the king of the demon race, offending someone they shouldn't have, or all of the above. The term "Demon King" is often used incredibly lightly, especially in current Japanese webnovels. It's to the extent that, in my opinion, they can hardly be considered "demon kings".

This novel, according to the summary, is supposed to be somewhat in line with my original view on Demon Kings. It portrays itself as a novel, where the MC will follow the route of a tyrannical, kingdom-building leader, whose sole purpose is to raise a hero, so the MC can experience true justice (albeit, through someone else).

A little convoluted, but I can get behind it.

Now, here's the problem.

So far, the MC hasn't done diddly dick. He's gotten OP in like 2 chapters... somehow. It's explained, a little, but not really. He's just however OP the author wants him to be, though it seems he's working on rectifying that.

He hasn't built an army. He doesn't seem to have any plans on building an army. He works as a part-time waiter, part-time servant of the princess, part-time blacksmith, part-time.... the list goes on. Regardless, he's just doing a bunch of odd jobs to make some cash and collect information.

At the same time, far from bringing despair, he's only saving people and annihilating villains. He gives people he likes strength, then leaves them in the dust, not capitalizing on their moment of weakness. (Though, despite that, every woman he saves is enamored with him.)

He's got a castle... which is okay.

Other than that, I'm not really sure what's going on. Far from being a demon king, most of the story focuses on everything else but that very aspect. The King, side characters, female leads, love interests... all of these things seem to get more screen time than the MC and his goal.

As for the MC, he's just kind of... running around, existing I guess? Again, I'm not really sure what he's doing. I'm not even sure if he knows what he's doing. Why is a self-proclaimed Demon King even working under some random shop owner in the first place?

He's basically invincible. If he wants money, he can take it. If he wants information, nobody can stop him. If he wants subordinates, either pay them in things other than money or instill a deep sense of loyalty in them. He's doing things with the least amount of efficiency as humanly possible.

I know I've gone off on a bit of a tangent, but it's frustrating when 50 chapters goes by, yet it feels like nothing's happened.

I think the author has totally veered off from the original plot, but I could be wrong. Again, maybe my brain cells just can't handle something normal yet, and this is all a misunderstanding. Though, that's highly unlikely. However, I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Characters:

Not a beta-cuck Japanese MC, so that's a relief. Though, he's a bit weird. I don't really have a problem with him, other than his way of achieving his goals.

The side-characters are fine. Again, they seem to get more screen time than the MC.

However, there is quite a bit of classism. Not just from royalty or nobility looking down on others, but EVERYONE seems to look down on the MC when he's in his young adult (15yo) form. There's so much time wasted with useless dialogue.

Other than that, even though all these side characters get more screen time than the MC, we hardly know anything about them other than if they're female, they love the MC. In fact, everyone has a good opinion of the MC, for literally no reason.

There's not really much to comment on. Pretty standard Japanese webnovel nonsense.

World Building:

I'd say this is one of the stronger parts of the novel, though that's not saying much. Lots of information on the Human side. Very limited information about demons. The power system... well, so far, there isn't really one. Gods... they exist... maybe. Churches certainly do.

Aside from all that, most of what we know is based on the MC's limited, ignorant worldview. Something he doesn't take the initiative to rectify.

Useful information about the world and setting is scattered at best, and blatantly ignored at worst.

Fight Scenes:

Normally, I wouldn't add this category in here, but I have to bring it up.

The fight scenes are terrible. They hardly exist at all.

You might get a few lines of something happening, but rather than a fight, you usually just get the end result. There's almost no mention of "attacks", "slashes", "dodges", or any sort of intense buildup. The author goes straight for the result 90% of the time. Which is a shame, because the fight scenes could potentially be epic.

Personal Thoughts:

I wish the author did a better job at writing this. The chapters often feel random, as if the author arbitrarily wanted to write something that vaguely resembled the original, intended plot of the novel. Then... he goes off on several chapter long tirades of... stuff that seemingly makes no sense. For example, one chapter, the MC just suddenly infiltrated the Royal Academy. When? Why? We have no idea. I think it says that he did so to obtain information, but the man can turn invisible and go unnoticed by even the Kingdom's strongest. Hell, he has the strongest person in the Kingdom on his side!

Everything he does makes no sense.

Need money? Work part-time.

Need information? Work under royalty and infiltrate the academy.

Need subordinates?...... Well, let's put that off.

Need strength? I'm too busy with the first 3 to care. Only when I get clapped will I start to focus on this again.

Do evil? No. Eradicate evil.

Become a Demon King?.... I'm not sure he knows what that means.

There's no thought about the future, except from the first few chapters. There's not even any thought in general. He just travels around and does things, for seemingly no reason. Then, overly smart people try and come up with reasons and justifications for him, without his knowledge.

It's all so confusing. Nothing makes sense. The MC makes no sense, the chapters make no sense, and sometimes the words on the page don't really make much sense. It really seems like the author forgot what he was writing every time he starts another chapter.

As for the rest, Hokuss's review mentioned it as well.

It seems like a poorly written spin-off of Eminence in the Shadows. Changes in POV happen quite frequently. Misunderstandings between characters are forced, as the MC usually leaves mid-conversation.

MC's background is confusing and unclear.

The best description I can give the novel is that: It's a bunch of poorly written short stories that happen to be in the same world.

Rating:

I'll withhold a star rating for now. I feel like I may be misunderstanding what's going on, despite a large part of me doubting so. That being said, I probably won't be reading this anymore.