By Shoji Goji and Saku Enomaru. Released in Japan as “Hitoribocchi no Isekai Kouryaku” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Andrew Schubauer.
First off, we have a change of creative team in the copyright. To Eric Margolis: thank you for your service, please have a rest now. To Lorin Christie: I see you got a promotion, please continue to help us enjoy this as editor. To Andrew Schubauer: Welcome to our new Meat Shield Translator!
I’ve mentioned before that this series does have a real meaning and moral behind “let’s watch Haruka bang his gorgeous monster concubines”. This volume in particular hits it hard at the end of the volume. If you are in power, if you enjoy the largesse of the people, then you have a responsibility to care for those people and make sure they are happy and content. If you do not do this, if you ignore the people saying it’s too hard to help them, or if you actively say that suffering is a good thing, then you are scum and deserve everything you get. When everyone arrives at the Beast Kingdom, the reader is briefly puzzled why Haruka and the girls are so utterly furious, but then it becomes clear – to get there, they had to pass through the devastated beast villages filled with dead people that the rulers didn’t bother to save. As for the Church? Well, using religion to genuinely make everyone’s lives better is still approved of. But the bulk of the Church isn’t doing that. And as for God, no one is impressed.
The last book implied this one would have the visit to the Beast Kingdom and then the attack on the Pope, but you know Loner Life is never going to do things quickly. No, this one is 463 pages, and you feel every one of those pages as Haruka decides to try to level up (remember, something damn near impossible for him to do) by sneaking into dungeons, fighting dungeon bosses, and getting killed/revived over and over till he’s a bloody mess. Needless to say, he does not win any friends by doing this. In his spare time, he rescues some adventurers who had heard about how awesome life was on the frontier, came to test their skills, and then discovered why the frontier is still terrifying. Finally, Haruka ends up setting off for the Beast Kingdom/Battle against the Church, and yes, everyone does come with him – much as he wants to protect them, he can’t put the girls off this time.
One thing that happens at the start of the book is that the Jocks (or Meatheads, as even Class Rep is calling them now) reveal that they’ve gotten engaged to five of the First Division’s warrior women, and, while pretending to be embarrassed, seem pretty happy about it. What’s more, we hear again that the Nerds have gotten into relationships with four of the Beast Girls in their kingdom. Despite all this, Haruka is still talking about searching the Theocracy to try to find something that can get everyone home. Class Rep is already aware that he means “everyone but him”, and that’s just not acceptable. It’s become pretty clear that, much as they miss Japan, the cast have decided that this is their home which they love. The reason Haruka has not cottoned on to this, of course, is because he is determined to distance himself from everyone he cares about and therefore he cannot understand why anyone would want to be around him unless he’s literally enslaved them. And even then, with the Mean Girls, he still doesn’t get it. Class Rep ALMOST confesses to him at the end of this book, but not quite, and it looks like he barely notices.
As I write this, the anime based on the manga is airing, but it really does seem like a completely different series. There’s still a lot to love about this series once you get past everything to hate about this series.
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