Oct 2, 2015
As you may or may not know, galgame is a popular type of game in Japan, whose main goal is to raise flags with heroines and ultimately get together with each one of the heroines (and have sex, for 18+ version). For good or for bad, there many fans of galgame even outside of Japan, myself included. Now here is a mind-blowing concept, what if you are able to project the plot and characters in your favorite galgame into your real life? What would you do? What sort of (mis)adventures would unfold? Most importantly, do you get the chance to date your favorite 2D galgame
...
heroine?
This, of course, is exactly what happened to the protagonist of this light novel.
Interestingly enough, it turns out that being a protagonist of a galgame is not as easy or as envious as one would have thought. Even if he did build a harem, he barely had any time to enjoy it, since waves and waves of danger just come so suddenly in threatening his peaceful everyday life. This is perhaps the strongest point of this novel. Often, there are new plot twists occurring that throws protagonist's peaceful life out of balance. Just as you thought that everything calmed down, a new crisis occurs.
Unfortunately (or fortunately for the protagonist), the 180 degrees plot twists are preceded by paragraphs of daily, bland life of the protagonist that most readers don't care about. Each volume feels rather long, exacerbated by the writer's limit in his narrative ability. Not that I expect a lot, but the writer's soulless, bland narrative of daily conversations really make even your typical galgames look good.
Another major discredit to the novel comes from the poor development of characters. Don't get me wrong, the protagonist, and a few non-heroine side characters are decently portrayed. Yet, the essence of a galgame, the characteristics of heroines, are not brought out at all. In fact, all of the heroines might as well be side characters for that matter, even if all of them did manage to become protagonist's harem in the end. Perhaps the writer intended to write this way, but it still doesn't cover for the fact that interaction between heroines and the protagonist is mediocre at best.
Galge no Sekai yo, Youkoso! is a bit voluminous, sitting at 8 lengthy volumes for the main plotline. It does suffer from bland daily narrative, as well as poor development of the heroines (perhaps because there are so many). However, for light novel readers who also are visual novel fans, or for readers interested in such concept, this should not be missed. The deconstructive plot twists alone are worth the read.
6.5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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