Game of Familia: Kazoku Senki
Game of Familia

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A deconstruction of classic Isekai settings and the protagonist who inhabit them.

Game of Familia is a dumpster fire that seems nothing special at first. Edgy MC, cliche and overused fantasy isekai setting, secondly main characters who are little more than underdeveloped character stereotypes. But looking past all of that, I sincerely think this premise is something that has a chance at growing into something good.

We have a colorful cast of characters, a morale ambiguous main character who relies on big brain IQ plays to prevail against all the odds against him, a kind and amicable motherly figure oneesan, a martial arts genius and morally perfect ... gyaru oneesan, and finally the logical genius loli oneesan. At first the three sisters seem to be little more than stereotypical tropes but as the plot progresses you see them question their beliefs now that they've found themselves in a world drastically more different and complex than the one they once lived in.

Due to the other reviews, I went in with low expectations and found myself pleasantly surprised. The graphic erotica elements of this story is nothing like Redo of Healer, somewhat more tame and tasteful, with a mild amount of fanserivce mixed in. All around, this was a story worthy of truly being called "mediocre". Nothing amazing but nothing horrible either.

An incredulously edgy, blatantly misogynistic, story masquerading as a meaningful dark fantasy tale. The truth is, this isn't really Berserk. The protagonist does many 'edgy' things claiming that he is happy being in the background, giving his other family members the platform to bask in the light. But the way the manga develops and tells its story constantly puts the protagonist front and centre in every single one of its conflicts makes it hard to take what he says seriously. Also, what is with the gratuitous sexual violence and activity in this manga? Why is sex the only way to 'conquer' and get a female ... character on the protagonist's side? Why are all the characters so blatantly horny, with rape being the no.1 activity in the manga to signal to viewers that a character is antagonistic? Hell, sometimes the use of sexual violence and seduction of women isn't at all necessary to the progression of the story, or the development of the characters.

But aside from the edgy elements, I think one of the worst things in this manga is its poor characters. The characters aside from the main protagonist and his family are barely fleshed out at all (Though honestly, the female family members are also not very well characterised and often play out as cliches). The female characters especially, making them sometimes feel like meat puppets made to parade around the protagonist. The most egregious thing is how the manga constantly flips antagonists into his companions. It is forced and a little nonsensical when you bring in the context of their actions before they became an 'ally'. These antagonistic characters don't have a strong motivation to change their allegiance at all! But it's forced in there anyway to serve the fantastical narrative that the protagonist is some alpha that bathes in the darkness, converting all morally grey-black characters into allies to do his bidding.

Still, I think there are some interesting ideas in this manga. For one, the manga does fulfil the promise of a 'ruthless' and intelligent protagonist who uses his glib tongue and scheming to his advantage. In fact, some of the schemes that the protagonist pulls are interesting and kind of well thought out. It's just a shame that most of the conflict just falls down to pure firepower, making much of the scheming feel rather unnecessary. Still, while the manga explores its themes in the most juvenile and thoughtless way, the art is quite nice, and some action sequences are really good.

Chapter 37 update: still bad.

Well, it's not good. That's my 3-chapter review. Thanks for reading.

To expand a bit more, it sucks. A lot. Wow. Bad isekai? Who coulda seen this coming.

Art is mid. It's not especially good, but it's serviceable. Whenever your eyes aren't drawn to the revealing outfits and lots of ecchi you'll be noticing the horrible proportions and bone-breaking ankles.

Character is poor. About as good as you can get when its a harem story which is obviously setting up for the 3 step-aunts to get with the MC, their brother/son/nephew. The 3 girls theoretically have a personality, but the only one where it's ... shown is the martial artist. Our MC claims to be 'normal person' in the first chapter, and then becomes a super mage, super spy, and super everything else. It's utterly lacking in any character development, reasoning, or like, good character traits.

Story is not good. Uh. Specifically, it sucks. The monsters are just here to rape and kill, per exposition, which is a bad explanation for the gratuitous ecchi rape scenes we get. Apparently they can't communicate, yet we see them talking. Beyond that, there are random pig-investors which just exist for more rape/molestation fantasy... WHY!?!?

Enjoyment: I hated it. I have an appreciation for good ecchi, and this shit ain't it, dude. Unnecessary gratuitous rape/nudity, no thought put into plot/worldbuilding, and no character development whatsoever.

Story: 1
Ar: 5
Character: 3
Enjoyment: 1
Overall: 2