Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom

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Short review. No spoilers.
I've read 11 Ln's, not chapters.

Souma can’t do everything himself. His specialty is delegation. Using people's talents and his modern knowledge to support his vision for the kingdom’s future. This results in a large cast of characters. Although lacking depth, these characters are memorable through their purpose and web of connections.
I like how each country has separate nouns. I.e. Kingdom, Mercenary state, Republic, Union, Empire, etc. Makes them easy to remember as well.

It is a harem. Mostly political marriages. Each girl also supports him in their own ways, although I won’t spoil. It feels like a caring family, not something to ... prop up the Mc’s worth. The only harem I’ve given a pass to.

The plot moves quickly, then addresses detailed aspects, then picks up again. There is always something on the horizon to look forward to.

The art is super bland. I have better characterizations in my head of these characters.

As of now I have read the first 2 volumes including all of the side stories and a bit from the third one. Also I tried to avoid any spoilers that would ruin the reading experience and I feel like I managed to do that.

I do like my fantasies and isekais every once in a while, but they sometimes come with a hefty backlash and that is how I feel at the moment about this show.

Let's talk about the story a bit. It's not the worst, I feel like it goes somewhat at a decent pace that I won't get bored. Also it has some ... good build up at points. So basically it's not really bad or really good. The best part of this novel is some of the interactions with the king and his comrades, when he just needs someone to be there, but it doesn't go too in depth so they are usually pretty short and not too frequent.

Even though I feel like it's not that bad, there are still some features that I don't like and that's why I think I may not read this one for too long. Since the points I'm about to say have been the same for the first 2 volumes and it seems like they aren't going away anytime soon. First feature is the harem type interactions, it's not that I hate harems but they really are something generic that I have seen in many places before and that also includes some of the characters like Liscia and Aisha, in the other hand I really like Juna who is a bit different on her own way.

I said that the story isn't that slow, but there's also something that bugs me. That is the setting and the narration. Even though it's in isekai fantasy world it still feels pretty unoriginal. I feel like there isn't unique things present in the novel, like alluring magic system, it just feels very basic and something that has been inspired by other isekais instead of the writer making one from the scratch. For example there are quite a few chapters about the TV system which is new for the isekai world but not for the reader.

That also leads to the second problem which is that the story is kind of colorless, which may also stem from the fact that I'm more used to manga and anime than novels. It is just that I'm not that intrigued by the narration where they tell me that the mc invented sewers and told some people about forestry.

The description gives you an accurate picture about the novel. It's a realistic isekai which isn't that good in my opinion because some of the characters are generic and I don't personally like the narration and some of the contents in it. But still I did somewhat enjoy the first 2 volumes, might not read further though.

If I was to describe this novel in a single word, it would be 'amateur'. The premise is interesting but the execution leaves much to be desired. I'll outline my problems with it using minor spoilers for a better reading experience.

Let's go through the problems starting with my biggest one. The author constantly breaks the 4th wall for absolutely no reason. A scene will be unfolding with characters engaging in a conversation and the author will suddenly interrupt it saying "Let me explain some background for what is being talked about" like he is talking to a child, then the author talks for the next ... few pages going into the topic in excruciating detail. It is incredibly condescending and insults my intelligence by insinuating that I won't be able to glean any of this info if the author were to weave it into the story. There are no jokes to be made, no wit or clever play on words, no creativity...nothing a competent writer would do with a 4th wall break. It just screams that the author does not know how to convey information without outright addressing the reader. It is lazy writing and takes me out of the novel every time it happens, which is quite a lot.

Next is that there is no subtlety. Everything is black and white. The most frustrating example of this is the male to female ratio in conflict with the MC. Every time a new female character is introduced they are always angels who can do no wrong and instantly see that the MC is in the right. Even the princess of an enemy country rebels against her family and birthplace in favor of the MC even though she has never met or seen the MC. This ends up with the situation where all the enemies are men and thus making the story extremely predictable. Whenever a new female character is introduced the reader instantly knows she'll become an ally of the MC no matter what situation she is currently in. There is no tension at all, women are always in the right and can do no wrong.

Moving on, another frustrating and frankly an amateurish thing the author does is that they leave nothing to the imagination. Whenever a concept is introduced the author will go into a tangent detailing how it came about, what it means in the context of the plot, how the characters are interacting with the concept, etc....everything is spoon-fed to the reader like they don't have a brain which can fill in the blanks even if the author does not detail each and everything. The biggest example is the technology of the world, the author constantly brings up the fact that the technological stack of this world is all jumbled up because of the existence of magic and magical creatures. A warship made of iron can exist in this world because there are creatures which can pull said warship so they don't need propulsion systems like we don't on Earth. But this is obvious the moment the author describes that there are 2 sea creatures tied to the warship, but the author still insists on breaking the 4th wall to explain exactly why a warship like this is possible with the technology of the middle ages. Another one is the anti-air cannons installed on the castle walls. The reader already knows that air forces exist in this world because of creatures which can fly and magic can be implanted to projectiles to increase their range and power. So the moment the existence of the anti-air cannons is pointed out, the reader can instantly connect the dots to figure out why they exist and how they can be of use, but the author takes 2-3 paragraphs explaining it anyway. Because of this I feel like I am reading what I already know and have to resort to skimming through it if I don't want to get bored to death. Also, it feels like the author is bludgeoning me with the hammer of "don't think about anything, I'll force-feed you every small detail and leave nothing for you contemplate. Shuuuuuushh, just shut off that brain of yours". It's like this is not a published novel but a fan fiction written by a novice.

Let's talk about the characters now, in short they have no depth. The MC is a wise 19(?) year old student with in-depth knowledge of economics, administration, management, agriculture, construction...anything the plot wants him to tackle next. He never panics no matter how much pressure he is under or how impossible of a problem he is tackling; Hell! he is calm as a rock even when he gets summoned to a new world and pops up surrounded by dozens of people including the King and the Prime Minister; but easily gets flustered when it comes to even a hint of flirting. Also even after getting a goodnight kiss by his fiancee he still thinks she has no affection for him at all and she just feels pressured to do this. WHAT? WASN'T SHE TELLING YOU ABOUT HOW SHE THINKS ABOUT YOU LITERALLY IN THE PREVIOUS SCENE. DID YOU FORGET ALL THAT IN 30 SECONDS? Basically, he is a smart infallible monster when the plot wants him to be, then a buffoon when the plot wants him to be. I can't relate to him at all making his tangents on anime songs and Sun Tzu quotes to be a chore to read through. Oh yeah, there are an enormous amount of references to existing media and historical people. Of course this would not be a problem if done right but the MC just goes off on tangents providing detailed accounts on what he thinks of particular anime songs and the like. This is entirely distinct from the author's constant 4th wall breaks. The MC just talks to us about his interests like he knows we are reading his thoughts as he has them. Breaks my immersion every time. Of course all of this fluff ends of taking more than half the pages of the novel, the actual plot only getting the smaller half making it seem like nothing is happening even after reading dozens of pages but then suddenly a bunch of stuff happens all at once. The pacing is all over the place. Now I am going off on a tangent, I am supposed to talk about the characters.

The rest of the cast is bland, the girls are all super nice and care about the MC and all have only token differences in their personalities. They don't really get any development at all. The dudes get introduced and added to the ally group but then get almost no screen(?) time, basically the author forgets about them and only mentions them in passing later.

I want to render criticism to the actual plot now. It's boring. There is no tension at all. Everything just works out, everyone sees the wrong in their ways and acknowledge the MC as the savior and start kissing his ass. The MC gets accepted without any real challenge from the moment he gets summoned to the world. It's all a magical fairy tale where the MC is always right and the enemies are only in name with nothing at stake. No matter what happens we already know the decision MC is making is the correct one, there is no ambiguity or nuance, there is no dialogue or opposition to his ideas, no one questions him and are awfully ignorant about everything. Boring. Even the supposedly super smart new Prime Minister is always in MCs agreement and even in their conversations they are always on the same page. They have zero arguments, whatever proposal the Prime Minister has the MC has already given it thought and knows exactly what to do. Also the author never confronts any problems that would actually happen if we thought about this stuff realistically. For example, in the beginning when the King abdicates his throne to the MC (** I have a gripe here which I'll talk about later). Everyone just goes along with this even though this is supposed to be a feudal system of the middle ages. Realistically, a rebellion would immediately happen by people who have even the slightest connection to the throne and the country would fall into civil war. The author's excuse for this not happening is that the King is beloved so they trust him and stuff. But the more beloved the King the more the people would find this suspicious and the more likely the rebellion. We already know the masses and everyone was under the impression that the throne was usurped, we also know that the King is beloved by the people, so where are the riots and the coups? From the very beginning I am questioning the realism of the world, which is a black stain on a novel titled "How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom".

I initially thought this was a clever ruse by the author in order to stage an assassination attempt on the MC by people who were discontent with him. The author deliberately not showing these people to surprise the reader. But I was giving the author too much credit because a golden opportunity showed itself for this turn of events to play out but nothing happened. The reason for my wrong impression was that the MC was never on guard against anything at all, he let anyone enter his personal space for conversations. So when a little girl was acting extremely timid, unable to raise her voice enough that the MC could hear her, I thought this is it, the little girl must be here to kill the MC or something. Nope! I gave the author too much credit. But it was so much worse than a wasted opportunity, it was a stupid plot convenience because what the little girl had to say was such a bombshell that it would screw everything up if anyone else heard it. So the MC conveniently maneuvers around this problem using a stupid plot contrivance.

There is so much more but I think I have conveyed the inability of the author to write anything convincing with the above-mentioned examples.

** In that scene the MC is just as surprised as everyone else. WHAT? How could a King abdicate the throne to someone without their knowledge? What if he says no? It's not like you can force someone to become the King. It is so mindbogglingly stupid that all I can do is facepalm. Also, the King have known this guy for like 3 days and he is confident enough in him that he is giving the MC control of all the lives in his kingdom just like that. All without the MC's knowledge that he is planning this.Are 3 days really enough to judge whether someone can handle a responsibility like this? Also why couldn't the King just appoint this guy as an advisor and implement the policies he proposes? That would solve all the problems with rebellions and riots that I mentioned before, which should've happened in the story but didn't because the author doesn't want to portray any actual conflicts.