無職転生 1–34/262
I have very mixed feelings about this book.
Ch1, eps 0–11
I initally picked up the webnovel a couple years ago, but the perviness of the main character (and first chapter) really put me off. I decided to commit to reading the first few chapters, and am happy to say that the book gets much better from the second chapter. (Why do all fantasy prologues suck?)
I enjoy the magic system of the book and MC’s progression, but I find his comments about the female characters off putting. Some of the character interactions (especially when shifting to the father’s POV) feel quite nuanced, though, so I’m reeeeeeally hoping that the perviness is an intended plot device and that we’re going to see character development on MC’s part—especially since his best and only friend has turned out to actually be a girl.
I’m a bit surprised by my reading pace—each subchapter has taken me ~40–60min so far, which means that this book is going to be a ~200+ hour investment…
Anyway!
If you can stick through the first chapter, and like fantasy, I think it’s worth reading 
Ch2, eps 10–19 😭
So far, I have continued mostly enjoying the book for its progression and magic systems. I love how proactive MC is in his planning, his interaction with people, and the way he convinces Eris of the importance of things like math and writing. He’s smart, in a cool way.
The ecchi bits have, so far, been kind of like corn on pizza. I don’t really appreciate them, but the corn:pizza ratio is small enough that I can mostly ignore them.
Then it happened
TW: Perviness / SA
Ch20/262, where MC gropes Eris, is the first time I’ve been genuinely disappointed by MC. I mean, I’ve been annoyed/rolled my eyes plenty of times, but here I had to take a few minutes after finishing the chapter to work through how I felt.
Here’s what gets me: MC is smart and apparently has a pretty high EQ. For example, on the night of The Incident, here are things he himself states that he has observed:
- MC’s biggest interest is magic, but he has a wand, not a staff
- MC is probably missing his parents, because she can’t stand being away from hers for even one day, whereas he hasn’t seen his in three years
- MC doesn’t ever really play, because he’s always busy studying or planning lessons
- It’s not appropriate to throw a birthday party for MC because his existence is kind of being suppressed (thanks, dad!)—but she took it upon herself to plan and throw an entire surprise party for him, so he can also experience what it is to turn ten years old
- She bought into his act of being said that his parents were not there, acknowledged how lonely he must be feeling, and (innocently, as a child does) decided that she could sleep in his room tonight, so he doesn’t feel so alone
- He knows that she does not like being groped, and talks about how she often dodges him or simply beats the shit out of him
And then when he returns to his room and sees her there, and hear’s her explanation of why she’s there (because she thinks he is lonely), he says: Especially because I’m so lonely tonight, I might do some super ecchi things
And I initially thought that this was just a kinda indirect/in-character way to get her to leave his room without, well, fighting her or telling her to gtfo
… but then Eris blushes, looks very uncomfortable, and says OK…
…AND THEN MC CHOOSES TO GROPE HER.
Like what the hell, I don’t even know what to say.
I don’t even necessarily have a problem with his general perviness. That feels understandable and in-character to me—if you haven’t gotten off in 10 years, it’s going to get to you. He’s kind a douchey, but the wandering eyes and head-in-gutternes are understandable.
But to consciously process all of that about Eris, and that she wasn’t going to like it, and then choose to continue? Just feels really upsetting, especially given how intelligent MC seems to be.
Ch3, eps 20–33
Mixed feelings. I was initially skeptical of MC (and Eris) being Deux Ex Machina’d / yeeted to the far end of the other continent, and also of a new character being introduced.
In hindsight, I’m happy with that decision. We’ve already seen ~12 episodes of life at Eris’ house, establshed that Rudeus is a dedicated teacher, and yada yada. I don’t think there’d be a ton more room for development there.
I’d say that this has been my favorite chapter so far. having to get along with a new companion (who could kill him and Eris by sneezing), having to deal with that character’s reputation, and having to cross a treacherous continent by foot led to the creation of lots of problems. I enjoy the way the author depicts Rudeus as solving these problems. I think this is his strongest point, actually, and it’s good when the story leans into that.
Negatives:
- I did again find myself annoyed that despite Rudeus’ ability to create cunning plans, quite objectively evaluate potential courses of actions, and generally just be very intelligent, he doesn’t seem to able to apply those things to the way he interacts with Eris.
- I also went
and became very anxious when it was established many of these creatures from the magic continent age differently than humans… despite appearing basically humanlike… meaning that they look 12 but are actually like 45.
I’m still looking forward to Chapter 4—I consider myself fairly invested in the book at this point—but also am increasingly worried that at some point MC will run out of plot ideas and lean harder into the Loli elements. I’ve got a feeling that I may end up DNF’ing this at some point and being very disappointed about it.
