Three and a half stars.

So many stories get produced yearly on the Japanese internal market (made by the Japanese for the Japanese), that tropes and anti-tropes and anti-tropes for the anti-tropes have been explored. For example: using absurdly long titles for fantasy stories. This tale, like many others in its general genre, features a party of heroes that are supposed to save the world or whatever, but the story starts with the protagonist getting kicked out of that party because he’s perceived as useless.

I’ve come across a surprising number of manga series that feature that anti-trope, and most of them launch into a revenge-focused narrative. As the anti-trope for that anti-trope, our chill protagonist doesn’t give a shit about being kicked out of the hero’s party, or more accurately, he takes it as a father would if his annoying kids started flying the coop: he hopes they have learned enough for the horrors they’re about to face on their own.

In fact, the protagonist is far from useless: he was the strategist and god-tier buffer of the party, capable of turning an average party into a force to be reckoned with. One of the most entertaining parts of this story so far involves witnessing how the hero’s party, comprised mainly of mean-spirited idiots, slowly realize that they’re hopeless without the man they drove away.

Regarding the protagonist, as soon as he gets dismissed, he embarks on more or less episodic adventures loosely tied together by the notion that some unseen hand is manipulating the events. Even though the guy gets mocked and sneered at by most people once they learn that he got kicked out of the hero’s party, he calmly makes them realize his power through good deeds that unite the community. He’s quite an inspiration in that regard.

Anyway, this is yet another of those Japanese stories that fulfill the common daydream of amassing a harem of attractive and powerful women who will eagerly murder your enemies. The ladies in this case are a feisty dragoness in humanoid form, a big-breasted saintess, a mythical female wolf in humanoid form, and a disguised princess who was chosen by a holy spear. We are introduced to each of these ladies in episodic adventures, which goes a long way to get us acquainted with their peculiarities.

This manga series is a lot of fun so far, not a masterpiece or anything, but features cool action and entertaining interactions. As far as I know, it’s adapting a novel, so it should have plenty more to go. In any case, these uniquely Japanese tales serve as great bulwarks against the armies of night, for which I’m forever grateful.