It’s been a while since I last talked about a light novel series. I’ve also been fairly depressed looking at the state of new manga releases lately, so what better time than now? Furthermore, as an attempt to protest the putrid state of manga coming out right now, I’m limiting this selection to novels without manga adaptations. I also didn’t intend on them all being isekai, but that’s just how things played out.

Evil God Average

• Chapters: 3 Volumes, 82 Chapters
• Status: Completed
• Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Supernatural
• Publisher: Syosetu, Takarajimasha

Synopsis

A beautiful Japanese girl with scary eyes is inexplicably chosen to become an emissary of the evil god in another world. How will Anri deal with this situation?

Thoughts

I’m going to admit that I’ve only read the first volume of this series. I was completely fooled into thinking that it was completely over at that point. It wasn’t until I looked up some images that I saw cover-art for two other volumes. If I’m going to be completely honest though, I don’t really want to read further. The ending of the first volume was very clean, very simple, and very conclusive. Reading further makes me think I’m about to watch the Star Wars Prequels.

Anyway, I appreciate the swift execution of the Story. The thing is that the story isn’t much to write home about. Go to another world, buy a slave, start a dungeon, become god, yadda yadda. We all know how this goes. If you want to introduce somebody to the isekai genre, I’d encourage that you show them this. It’s typical, generic, but still well-executed and very funny.

Nigotta Hitomi no Lilianne

• Chapters: 168
• Status: Ongoing
• Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Gender Bender, Shoujo Ai, Slice of Life
• Publisher: Alpha Polis, Syosetu

Synopsis

30-year-old Japanese otaku dies in a car crash one day and is reborn as a blind baby girl in a fantasy world named Lilianne. We intimately follow her through her entire life as a child. Along the way, we’ll get to know about her mother, father, siblings, and other characters that Lilianne meets with.

Thoughts

I think it’s fair to say that modern fiction has a habit of skimming through their character’s lives before the teens. So it’s a perfectly sound idea to try making a story centralized around the protagonist as a baby. Unfortunately, Lilianne doesn’t have the mind of an infant, so what’s the point? All it means is that our perspective is limited to a single room.

Lilianne’s blindness was also a cool idea. Reading a story where the protagonist has nothing to go on but tactile descriptions and hearing could have been very compelling. Unfortunately, this idea is also knee-capped by giving Lilianne magic radar powers or something. Her vulnerability as a baby still makes her a lot cooler than most isekai protagonists. I guess you could just imagine this being a really detailed prologue to every other isekai story ever.

Tensei Shoujo no Rirekisho

• Chapters: 64
• Status: Ongoing
• Genres: Fantasy, Shoujo, Slice of Life
• Publisher: Shufunotomosha, Syosetu

Synopsis

A genius Japanese high school girl who is capable of doing anything is run over by a car one day (I wish authors could come up with some more interesting ways to kill off their protagonists). She is then reborn as Ryou in a fantasy world. This world has a deep reliance on magic for everyday tasks, but is running out of magicians. Ryou will do her best to survive in this world with knowledge of technology from Earth.

Thoughts

Oh, boy. This novel was a serious roller coaster for me. The quality of the story seemed to vary wildly from arc to arc. Just as soon as you think that the story has a sort of rhythm down, it suddenly flips the tables. I acquired a deep loathing for the character of Alan for his stupid, entitled, bratty nature. But just as soon as I think that we’ve moved on from him, out comes the academy arc. Try to guess what character decides to plague my life with his presence again.

But like I was saying, there are quite a few highlights. Traveling around the country with bandits was great fun. The arc with Ryou being the magician’s assistant was good for the world-building as well. The very start of the story is painfully derivative of the isekai genre though. Ryou whips out the usual Earth knowledge to revitalize a village. You know, crop rotations, threshing devices, blah blah blah. I’d say that the good parts just barely out-weigh the annoying parts.

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