This week I’m not technically covering a Light Novel, I wish I was because I’d have found an image to use much easier, I’m covering a very well done web novel. Web novels are often what authors write prior to getting formally published, it often is like reading a beta version of a story and is usually pretty good. For instance Mushoku Tensei is mostly being translated into English via the web novel version since it so much farther ahead of the Light Novels. Anyways I’m covering Arifureta by Chuuni Suki this week.
Plot Synopsis: Among the class transported to another world, Nagumo Hajime is an ordinary male student who didn’t have ambition nor aspiration in life, and thus called “Incompetent” by his classmates.
The class was summoned to become heroes and save a country from destruction. Students of the class were blessed with cheat-like specifications and cool job classes, however, it was not the case with Hajime, with his profession as a “Synergist”, and his very mediocre stats.
“Synergist”, to put it in another word was just artisan class. Being the weakest, he then falls to the depth of the abyss when he and his classmates were exploring a dungeon. What did he find in the depth of the abyss, and can he survive?
Plot: The plot get’s pretty freaking dark after Hajime falls, and while normally I wouldn’t spoil something like that it happens in the first few words of the prologue followed by a flashback of events leading up to his fall. Hajime is a lot like other people who are bullied, submissive and generally trying his best to just get along in life. So when he falls he has two options, be submissive and die or “fall” once more and become a person who cares little to nothing about others and will kill anything that gets in his way. Hajime is very much not a nice person afterwards. That said he still somehow manages to win the hearts of several females. He quickly becomes a true monster in terms of stats and it’s really interesting to see how he gets around his many injuries from the fall and what follows after. Yes you read that right, no plot armor saves his body parts. That said most of his classmates are complete jerks to Hajime, with the teacher and about 4 other people being generally okay people towards him. Because of that, or because the author is lazy, the plot focuses very little on the other classmates, save those 4 and the teacher. This means the plot progresses rather quickly compared to other things, although that isn’t a bad thing.
Characters: Like I said above, Hajime becomes a very heartless cold person, of course the circumstances leading up to that change gives him perfectly good reasons to be that way. He is however very kind to a few select people, namely the women who fall for him. One of them Yue is a Vampire Princess with amazing magical capabilities, whose life has also been absolute crap until she meets Hajime.
Overall: If you don’t mind the massive amounts of violence, and I mean massive it’s more gory than Game of Thrones is, and enjoy a good Anti-Hero as a protagonist you’ll love Arifureta.
For those who like: Lots and lots of violence, Anti-Heroes, Fast paced plot.
Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or Harem series.
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Oh boy Arifureta. I had hopes for this Web Novel at first… but it suffers from blatantly amateur writing that makes it kind of hard to rate this up there. The pacing is wonky, and characterization is somewhat one dimensional. I can see why it’s a Web Novel and not a published Light Novel.
Eh I guess part of my disappointment with this WN lies from the fact I felt bait and switched. I assumed the MC would use his apparently lame Synergist job in a clever way that allows him to become more powerful (Kind of like in the Korean WN Legendary Moonlight Sculptor). Instead he just kinda gets lucky, obtains a TON of other abilities through a questionable plot development, then turns into a monster of sorts who’s power really has nothing to do with his original job.
There’s also that GODDAMN bunny rabbit. She just annoys he HECK out of me. Holycrap man, she Jar-jar bink’s the series for me. Her inclusion in the story felt like adding a random harem member just so the MC could have a harem and feel more like a TRUE MAN. I abhor developments like that. When a MC has a harem, I only approve if the harem is well developed and written realistically. Well if it’s a non-serious gag setting then I don’t care, but that’s another topic. An example of a good harem would be the one in Mushoku Tensei. Rudeus built his relationships over a course of many years, and he didn’t even aim for a harem in the first place. The relationships just kind of naturally came together that way, and the harem ended up being the best situation for all members involved. Each character accepted it and they all communicate to avoid needless harem hijinks. Where as in Arifureta it’s kinda like “YO here’s a random bunny girl the main pair just happens to run into, oh and she conviently falls for the MC cuz he’s like, teh ultimate bad ass and the STRONGEST DOOD ON THE PLANET!” Blarghhhhhhh developments like that make me face-palm.
Though that image, is that really a fanart of Yue?! I mean holy crap she’s stunning! I imagined Yue to be less well, developed lol.
Regarding his overpowered-ness it’s in the title. It translates to something like from the weakest job to the strongest or something like that, so I’m not surprised that what happened with him did. Bunny girl, I forget her name at the moment as I just woke up, gets better as the series goes on. I’m about 50% sure that the fanart is Yue, but I’m not 100% sure. It matches her descriptions though.
someone made a fanart of Hajime and you can find it in the animesuki forum here http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=5400257&postcount=12119
Oh sweet thanks for the link! Hope you enjoyed the article.
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