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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