Oct 8, 2023
Hero’s Daughter surrounds an interesting premise, a male hero who has died and reincarnated as a female. It is not unheard of, but for me, at the very least, this is one of those types of stories that have finished or that I’ve read to completion. 622 chapters later, I finished reading, and I don’t think that it is the greatest thing I’ve read or the most interesting or well fleshed out story I’ve been exposed to. However, that doesn’t mean that it is wholly bad in any way. I just feel like it is severely lacking in different attributes that it advertised originally, failing
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to present them in a way that is “more” interesting or at least more detailed. Let’s get into it. (Skip to “Overall” if you want the TLDR)
Story: 6
We follow Reid, a half-demon assassin who is a part of the legendary six great heroes. However, he lost his life protecting others by fighting off a demon, and he was given another life by an incredibly weird (sus) goddess, subsequently being reborn as the daughter of two of his comrades, Lyell and Maria of the six great heroes, now being known as Nicole. I think that this is a pretty good way to start off this kind of gender bender, reincarnation type story. Even if this was already pretty clear by the title of the novel, I think that having Reid being reincarnated in his same world is a whole lot better than having him being sent to another world to be reborn there like most other reincarnation titles would have you experience. And the plot of him being reborn as the daughter of two of his comrades brings a lot to the table. For one, it gives you the inclination that this story would be pretty interesting. Imagining yourself as a parent, it would be pretty jarring for your daughter to announce that she is your former comrade that died in battle. Nicole would most likely try to hide this fact as best as she can in order to prevent something like that from happening as well as trying to live a normal life. This she does. Off the bat, you are given your protagonist whose situation gives you the inclination that it would make the plot extremely interesting and enjoyable to read. Well, the story does accomplish that to some degree, but it fails to meet expectations based on what was advertised.
One of the first gripes I have about the story is about Nicole hiding her identity of being Reid. The whole point of a novel including a character who is trying to hide their true identity is to have their true identity be found out or accidentally revealed to others. The way that this is done is not great. Most of the characters who find out about or know of Nicole’s identity as Reid are mainly characters outside of Reid’s former comrades and outside of Nicole’s current friends. Even with that being said, for 622 chapters/13 volumes, only a select few characters actually find out that Nicole is Reid. I understand that a story about an individual hiding their identity can have that character’s identity being found out or have their identity hidden with the story still being interesting. However, the plot of this story is lacking to the point where you kind of want more people to find out that Nicole is Reid in order for more character development and more plot development to make things more fun and interesting. In fact, I would say that some of the best moments in the story is when someone of Reid’s former comrades or someone that knows him from his previous life, discovering that Nicole is Reid. The whole big reveal of Nicole’s true identity is not until far off into the story. I’m not going to say when in order to avoid spoilers, but it is definitely a long way before you are going to get to that point. This story really needed that push from Nicole’s true identity being found out by her friends and comrades more to make the plot more interesting, but with how little it actually happens, the plot sometimes gets stale to the point where you’d wish this happened.
Second, oh boy, the plot is so slow. Adventure or Slice of Life. Choose one, the other, or both. The Adventure aspect of the story is seriously lacking. When I was first reading this story and got around the 400 chapter mark, I still wasn’t completely sure when the story would end because of the extremely slow progression, but I figured that there would still be time for more of the Adventure and Action parts of the story to be added in. That wasn’t the case. Plot involving the main antagonist of the story is so spread out and uneventful, that it sometimes felt annoying to be reading those parts and you’d rather be staying with Nicole and her friends’ antics. Any large-scale encounters with the main antagonist are basically almost nothing until the very final confrontation which is really disappointing. The Adventure and Action in this story just is not it. As for the other half which is supposed to be somewhat a combination of School-Life, Slice of Life, and Romance, it definitely fills up the beginning parts of the story when Nicole is still in school as well as most of the downtime in the plot, but there is also nothing much to say about it either. I think that this aspect of the story is fine at the very least. It allows you to get to know a lot about each of the characters, but it leaves you wanting more in other areas. But the romance is either there as a light whisper or completely absent in certain parts. Cortina had a hidden crush on Reid in his past life, and it is so criminal that their relationship is not explored that deeply now that Reid is Nicole. The same goes with Reid/Nicole and Finia. I won’t get too much into it as it would spoil some of the story and character interactions, but the romance is just completely absent at times which is extremely disappointing to say the very least. And the comedy. Oh boy, the comedy. It is practically nonexistent in the story. I would like a laugh or a hearty chuckle once every dozen chapters, but the story is missing a lot of comedy aspects that would’ve made the reading experience more enjoyable or at least more fun than how it already is. Sure, I’ve definitely laughed a handful of times throughout the story due to Nicole and her friends’ antics, but I didn’t get something that really made me hold a smile and truly laugh until the very end of the story during its conclusion. I’m just very disappointed in the lack of comedy to keep things fresh, interesting, and entertaining consistently throughout the story.
Characters: 6
I won’t lie: most of the characters in this story are pretty interesting. However, just like with the story, I have many gripes with some of the characters. Starting with Nicole, I think the way she is characterized is suitable for the most part. Because the story and her character is focused on her being the reincarnation of Reid and trying to hide that fact from her friends and former allies from his previous life, it brings a lot of character to her and makes her incredibly interesting. That being said, I think her development throughout the story is also pretty decent. Most of it involves her coming to terms of her now being a girl and understanding that she is no longer the same person with the same capabilities as herself in her past life. That aspect of her character is very straightforward which is nice to see, but I still would’ve liked more conflict between Nicole’s current life and character versus her past life and character as Reid. There are only a few parts of the story where the whole idea of Nicole being a much more fragile individual is taken into account. And there are even fewer moments when there is visible disparity between Nicole’s current life as a female and her past life as the male Reid. To be speaking more clearly, I just would’ve wanted to see Nicole/Reid’s development as a woman, now that she is one. It would’ve provided some more good character development to her while also potentially adding to what is currently the lacking comedy aspect of the story. I’m pretty sure that you have at least read one or two other Gender Bender or Sex Shift manga and/or light novels to understand what I am trying to say here. Nicole’s character is almost like a mask covering up her character from her past life instead of trying to incorporate herself and really seriously take into account and develop in her new life. Moving onto Nicole’s close friends, Michelle’s character is really never expanded on that much outside of the beginning arc of Nicole growing up. Her character is portrayed as the fun-loving girl of the group who can be a little bit dense at times, but she still is very lovable, especially with her love for food. And I just wish that was expanded on more. There are hints that kind of give you the idea that she sees Nicole more than just as a friend, but that is just never expanded on, just like the rest of her character. I have no real issue with Michelle as a character, but she is just pushed out of the story way too often for you to really consider all that much about her. As for the rest of the people in Nicole’s close friend group, they do have their moments in the story, but I will avoid talking about them here in order to avoid spoilers. However, just like Michelle, they are very often put on the backburner so that Nicole can be centerstage of much of the plot. When it comes to the legendary six great heroes, they are pretty hit or miss. I won’t get into all that much to avoid spoilers, but, again, similar to Nicole’s close friends, they are absent from the story for long periods due to Nicole being front and center of the plot and they just don’t have any real important role, aside from like 2 ½ of them, to Nicole’s development and the plot involving her. Finally, when it comes to the main antagonist of the story, I just find them to be annoying. Their entry into the story is pretty abrupt and you see really no real purpose to them being evil and all that. The same can be said about the minor antagonists of the story. They are just pretty annoying with how infrequent encounters with them are, and you would usually rather quickly read over their parts to get back to Nicole’s antics.
Overall: 6.25
I don’t hate this story. I definitely would not say that it is among any of the best stories I’ve read either. To make things simple, I would just say that this story is boring. Fantasy, Slice of Life, Adventure, Romance. This story just lacks in each of its respective genres, and what hurts it even more is the fact that it severely lacks in comedy or light-hearted fun. The story just follows Nicole and centers on her so much that everyone else is practically put off to the side so that there can be focus on her. I definitely would’ve liked some better writing and character considerations in order to make the story a bit more enjoyable to read. But would I recommend reading it? Yes, but leaning towards maybe. This story is completely fine. If anything, it is more of just a very straightforward story with very straightforward and simple writing. It’s not a bad read, and the story itself has no obvious or outright-detrimental flaws with it. However, it is 622 chapters, and the plot and writing is very bland. It’s not stale, but bland. There are many aspects of the story that I find lacking, not bad, but lacking in things like comedy, light-heartedness, and a change of pace in between significant plot developments. It is just alright.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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