This isn’t really a novel, it is more like the deluded fantasies of a 12 year old japanese boy. Harem fantasy, sub-par writing style (though I’m not sure if it is the translator or the original but I honestly don’t care), the story just doesn’t pull you in. It isn’t funny, it doesn’t have great suspense, poorly written fight scenes, poor character interaction and dialogue. Fortunately, no one would truly expect that coming into this story based on the description. I just hoped it would be a shot in the dark great read – which it isn’t. For that reason, it gets 2 stars instead of 1.
While I understand that this novels has its flaws, and certainly my translations could use a lot of brushing up, but leaving a comment like this helps no one and instead prevents people from actually giving it a chance. If you think your ‘honest’ reviews are actually helping anyone ‘avoid’ bad novels, I beg to differ. Seeing this kind of comment just makes me lose motivation, after spending 1 whole day getting 3 chapters out.
87 percent translation 
Never go Full Retard, its a web novel translation what does he expect from it “A dark emo hero scenario”? “a masterpiece right from the start”? A dark great read my ass, it was not that type of story to begin with. its the silly adventures of a 12 yr old former hero with his merry friends with a few fan service action along the way. Its in the description, his goal is to build an HAREM not anything troublesome as to fight the next demon lord its not his job, why do think they summoned a pretty boy to begin with? there won’t be any dark build up on the story here. why do you think that the covers for printed versions are of cute smiling girls? GET THAT IN YOUR HEAD DUMB-ASS!
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Haha, thanks for commenting! While I do agree it would be nice to have some kind of plot going, the slice of life makes me feel happy after reading it too.
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well there may be some plot in the future but it will not be serious, maybe he will gain a pervert disciple in the HERO(LoL)
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I think such comments may be made by people liking another series that´s translated by the same translator.
Then they may post such comments hoping the translator to focus on the novel they themselves prefer.
That´d also be an explanation why they take their time to write such a comment for a novel they aren´t interested in.
I for myself don´t care about the comments of other lee…erm.. readers anyway.
I read the synopsis of a story and if it catches my interest I´ll read a few chapters.
If I like it I continue to read it. If don´t like it I´ll just start looking for another one.
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Thanks for commenting! Made my day ^_^
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I will agree that the overall writing is poor, but it’s honestly not “bad” per se. It’s a nice lighthearted read. Definitely not on my tops list, but neither is it a monstrosity of a light novel that I can barely read (I’ve seen a few, but I’ll avoid listing them since it looks like there’s a few fans based on the comments above). I’m all for honest reviews, but the criticism should point flaws out in a straight forward manner rather than in a condescending way. I’ve dabbled with story writing before, and it’s honestly really depressing when you spend a month writing a story, and someone only states that “it’s like a two year old’s writing.” That kind of feedback gets us nowhere.
Btw, is that the poster’s username I see? I know you wanted this kind of of reaction in the forums, but I suggest you give the poster some kind of privacy, even if they make comments like these. I’ve seen some pretty nasty lash backs, so I’d avoid posting usernames, emails, etc.
Good work overall though. I’ve been meaning to point this out for awhile, but your translations have gotten a lot easier to read. I still think you should get a proofreader to fix up the small details, but the improvement is pretty obvious compared to some of your earlier works. ^^ Thanks for the effort you put into this!
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Thank you for your long comment! Yes, I try to look at other translation when I’m reading novels and see if I can change my sentence structure in any way. I’m glad someone notices an improvement. (Not so sure of it myself)
I’ll remove his name as per your suggestion, good point. Guess I was just ranting due to my disappointment after working hard on it for one day.
For me too, I’ve started from writing a novel too, and I know how hard it is to plan out the characters and story line to fit an underlying plot.
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Good luck! It’s funny seeing how much theory crafting I’ve done for my world (to make it as physically accurate as possible instead of blaming everything on magic) yet I have like… 2 chapters XD. It’s certainly hard to write, esp if you don’t want to make it sound like the kiddy 2 year old’s writing or the 12 year old’s fantasy that people are blaming you for. Those comments really hit the nerve…
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I haven’t read the story (in my bookmark, waiting for more chapters before reading) but that kind of comment won’t discourage me. Some-one also rated 1 of my favorite WN 1/10 (Arifureta).
At least say which part he doesn’t like else it’s just vandalism and not helpful at all.
For me the important part is not about being OP(it’s always a plus though) or harem or deep plot or whatever. What pull me in is the way the mc think. A hypocrite is no good, idealism often fails to keep up with reality, a dense mc is just irritating (is he even a normal human?), OP mc but oblivious to that fact just shows his incompetence (especially toward money – to me who never have enough money is just like a slap to the face).
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Hm, before I go any further, would you mind if I pointed out why I really don’t like Arifureta?
I’ve read up to chapter 50, so I can’t speak for anything after that, but it’s one of the few stories that I really tried to enjoy, but just… couldn’t.
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I see each person to their own taste I guess :)
I’ve read many light novels on Baka-Tsuki. There are many good ones but I am not fond of many (half of them?) mainly due to Shounen development of the mc something like revenge will result in nothing (about this I really like how Takeru in ‘The 35th Test Platoon’ think: After revenge there remains only emptiness but it pushes you forward), spare the enemy even though the mc and his companions almost got killed with reasoning like “I don’t want to be like them” (Tell that to the soldiers on the front line and ?) or the over-bearing-tsundere heroine (why can’t they be adorable like Kagami in ‘Lucky Star’ ?)
But strangely so many of those are being translated with zeal…
tyizor I have nothing against your preferences. Who know we may like the same novel?
Btw I really like smart mc. I prefer an mc who can’t do anything by himself but understand the situation to one who can push through but always remain in the dark.
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Thank you for bookmarking! Appreciate your comment
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Yeah, our tastes in a good MC look like they overlap, but the issue I have with Arifureta is because the author does a poor job of making him that (smart MC).
Part 1: MC’s “intelligence”
The MC builds a rail gun, but there’s no explanation whatsoever of how he does it. He builds a few gun, or even improved rail guns, no explanations there too. The author seemed to go for making him seem resourceful and educated, but it came across as unexplained convenient inventions to me. If you want to convey that the MC is intelligent, I personally feel like there’s a need to at least briefly touch on his/her thought process.
Additionally, author does nothing else whatsoever make the MC seem resourceful or smart. Fights are straight forward with no tricky planning. Everything seems brute forced. Every potential loss (eye/) is more of a power up than anything, and he’s not the one to make them. Building the weapons was all he really did, and we don’t even know how.
People complain about elf tensei to some degree because it’s TOO detailed on the technical part. I agree that it’s a tad too much, but I’d prefer too much over too little. You see that the MC is educated and knows what he’s doing, not everything is blamed on magic, and with that you’re able to fully immerse yourself in what kind of person the MC is.
Part 2: Plot
Yeah, I’m not going to go into too much of this since a lot of other novels have done the same thing and I’ve still found a way to enjoy them. Biggest concern I had was the torture scene was like *poof* I’m reborn. >.> Drag it in a bit and let us see how the character develops. I won’t blame the author since he probably didn’t want to go into detail, but at least show us the thought process a bit.
Part 3: Side Characters
Oh gosh. Bunny girl acts like an idiot, speaks in a “cutsey” manner, and seems like the 3rd wheel in the vampire/MC couple. She does nothing for the story. If side character A do nothing for the story (except negatively impacting it), there’s something wrong.
Honestly, I like the formula the author is using, but I hate his application of it. This is just a self-fulfilling rant to get things off my chest. I don’t expect people to necessarily agree, but this is just my opinion on it.
As you’ve mentioned though, to each his own. I’m one of those people that’s extremely concerned about how the author carries events out. That’s why I’m particularly careful when writing my own stories to avoid becoming what I hate. >.> such pressure.
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I’m thankful that you’re still translating even with that kind of comment being slapped directly to your blog/face. Keep up the good work.
Btw, I’m envious that you can read and even translate all dem novels. Might as well continue my Japanese lessons later.
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Yep, it’s worth it to work for it. Although it may look that way, but I take an insanely long time to read a single chapter too, that’s why I might as well translate while reading it. Never give up on your dreams! Personally, I find Anki helpful for memorization of terms that I didn’t understand. Just do 5 words per day, you will be reading fluently in 1 year.
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Well, I’m rather enjoying it and will continue reading.
Is it a great story? no.
But it is entertaining for me.
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If he thinks this is a 2 then he might die after reading slave harem. Different tastes for different people and I feel this one is more of a slice of life 4-koma of a successful hero similar to the manga about a hero bbs (translated by ak scans) than a mushoku tensei adventure
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Yep, and it’s a plot to get a harem. Which kind of says that it doesn’t really have a plot? Although I do wish some sort of plot starts.
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Well, it is webnovel and has amateurish feeling and while i doubt there would be many t cal it masterpiece it is enjoyable as it avoid many cliches. And even if characters are shallow and visual description is lacking, the plot itself is not fixed in any direction so it has some potential perhaps like death march. As i cant read japanesse and can only compare translation to mtl i cant criticize but even with errors ( as long as it is only grammar and meaning is unchanged, not that i would know since i cant read original ) it is readable. All in all it is easygoing novel merely for amusement and perhaps to feed delusions of some individuals without heavy plot or the usual masochistic protagonist (hate those) so i would rate 6/10 and voluntary translator gets 7/10 (if you can keep up the pace) so dont be discouraged there are surely many lurkers that appreciate the effort :).
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Thank you for the long comment. As a new translator who was very much a lurker previously, I kind of underestimated the effort needed to translated. Your comments really makes a difference!
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> it is more like the deluded fantasies of a 12 year old japanese boy.
the world have advanced too much if 12 year old boy have fantasized about harem and some wish fullfilment. at least not in my place , 12 year old boy still like shonen or hero story the pure one with power of friendship or some shit like that.
and it seems like those reviewer never seen something worse, or it just not up to his/her fetishes. I for one enjoy reading some slice of life or easy going story like this. and I can say that I can enjoy this story very much.
keep up the good work translator-san :)
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Thanks for commenting :)
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Well,, Fuuck him too..
Remember!! “Each to their own”.
I enjoy the novel btw..
Thanks for the effort.
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Thanks for commenting!
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I disagree with mwms8. I am honestly enjoying the series. I like reading about overpowered characters and am thankful for your hard work on this translation that was originally a teaser.
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Thank you!
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I’m enjoying it. Sure it’s trope-laden wish fulfilment, but that doesn’t make it any less fun.
Keep up the good work :)
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yay! =D
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