By FUNA and Touzai. Released in Japan as “Rōgo ni Sonaete Isekai de 8-Man-Mai no Kinka o Tamemasu” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Kodansha Books. Translated by Luke Hutton.
(A reminder that the English Vol. 4 is the equivalent of the Japanese Vol. 5.)
Folks, I’m gonna talk about it again. Just as I did with the last Potions volume. And MMAA as well. And, honestly, Kuma Bear, which is not by the same author but does the same thing and appeals to the same audience. What the hell is with all the child labor love in these books? Every series seems to bring a tragic tale of orphans who are suffering terribly until our heroine comes along to offer them a job where they can earn cold hard cash to live on, and the kids subsequently develop a messianic devotion. Not to the heroine, though yes, for her as well. To work. They will work all the overtime. They will work weekends and holidays. It’s ridiculous. You could argue it’s a good way to get a small army of cute moe kids for this series for moe kid lovers, but… there are other moe kids in this series who are not child labor! It drives me NUTS.
Mitsuha quickly decides that she does not want to do any more of her diplomacy tour, and so she takes the kids and simply runs away back to her kingdom, with a few stops in Japan to set up a new business and make sure all her tax documents are in working order. (Mitsuha is very, very dedicated to making sure she does not screw up her Japanese taxes, even as she exploits less developed countries for labor and real estate.) She also takes two mercs, who are upset they were sick for the dragon battle, to fight some monsters, and quickly realizes that actual monster hunting is not Safe And Fun. In the second half of the book, she heads to the country that had sent that warship to do reconnaissance… which in practice just means doing the same stuff she did in the first country, only with more money and more mistakes.
I can probably answer all my questions about this author by observing the monster hunting scene. Mitsuha actually has to try to find a place with real monsters, as they don’t hang around the capital. Then, when she goes with two mercs and the captain, her noble family friends insist on coming along as well… because they know monsters are freaking dangerous, and bullets, as it turns out, can’t stop them. Swords can, though. Mitsuha ends up teleporting everyone back, flees to Japan with her two girls, and is super depressed… for a page. She then gets over it. This is even lampshaded. I think the author does not want the reader to overanalyze things too much, this series is for fun. Unfortunately for the author, I have a word count to make up, so here I am. I did enjoy Mitsuha make a couple of really dumb “I assume I am mature and know everything, but am actually a naive little baby” mistakes, especially when she starts handing out priceless jewels like candy.
So yeah, (checks author) this series is still not good, or bad. It’s FUNA. That’s what it is.
Speak Your Mind