A-Rank Party wo Ridatsu shita Ore wa, Moto Oshiego-tachi to Meikyuu Shinbu wo Mezasu.
I Left my A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths!

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Another run of the mill, generic adventurer manga with a cute harem that suspiciously are happy to be wives of the same man. Usually it would be hard to give these kind of guilty pleasure reads anything higher than a 6 or 7 as the generic aspects designate the story to hit similarly subpar beats however this one has a few decent aspects.

While the latest addition to the harem falls in love way too fast, the prior members have an established backstory with the MC and honestly... Even I was falling for this MC. He isn't the run of the mill crybaby like Danmachi or ... Re:Zero and he isn't super edgy like SAO - he's a genuinely nice guy who (at the start of the series) is down on his luck being abused by his former team and decides to get angry and leave (yes he has realistic emotions). Every interaction he has with people is CRAZY wholesome, and while being an all round sweetie he comes across as realistically dependable and emotionally intelligent. I didn't once think his interactions with a character was unrealistic, and even his power-level is consistent with his backstory. Most of the other characters get less characterization but thats to be expected in this kind of series.

The drama is pretty good, and rather tense. The world is generic as f- but the world building is decent. The harem is whatever but they're all super wholesome. The artwork is SUPER cute.

Overall good read if you're fans of this genre.

Edit: Series continues to please, however it starts to fall into the pitfalls of this archetype story a bit too often when the MC.

Shame it was doing well so far. It's a typical "MC is the real power behind the super team and without him they're trash" storyline. But here the gimmick is that MC is willful and completely aware of his value to the team. Having the MC quit the team rather than being kicked out by a team that doesn't appreciate him is honestly just such a breath of fresh air. Characterwise that puts him ahead of so many others like Ren from Beast Tamer, or Ein from Even Given the Worthless 'Appraiser' Class, or Gail from I'm a Curse Crafter,

The magic system is uninteresting but ... the real cliff moment comes with the harem. I suppose it's a shuffle step ahead of the reluctant harems where no one does anything like in The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows. Here we have an ultimate fantasy harem where not only does a bevy of beauties want to be with the MC. They're all each okay with all the others wanting to be with the MC and they're all collaborating to be with him together. It says something that the most recent time I've seen that was Redo of Healer.

Harems are a fun trope in a manner but they feel over done. It's weird to say it considering my feelings on it's appearance on North American sitcoms but I miss the incestuous friend group. Where there would be three males and three or four females and they could all date each other. I feel like rather than a harem it would be way more interesting to get a mixed couples group. You get a lot less "But are you sure you want to live with me? I'm a male" situations. And it would make the hot springs scenes more interesting where rather than just all the girls trying to find a way into the male spring with the MC. We'd have a bunch of guys in the spring then a bunch of girls in the other spring and we'd get to see them play dynamics off each other. It's just so much more interesting than a basic harem.

But wishes aren't reality and the reality is that Yuke has a frictionless harem. He doesn't really have to do anything. There's nothing stopping everyone from being together. They basically just have to say it and do it and unlike many other harems. They're not really struggling to share their feelings for 4-5 arcs either. The character designs are solid. It's pretty each to tell everyone apart from their silhouettes. Though I often forget which character is Rain and which is Marina which doesn't say much about their character development. The rest of the story is passable. If you like this kind of thing it's okay. It's not going to be your favorite but it's not going to make you rage out (unless harems are a sore spot for you then stay away).

I don’t have a problem with wish-fulfillment manga; in fact, I quite like them. However, I do take issue when these stories don’t fulfill the “wish.” A crappy story is fine if it knows what it is and gives the reader what they want. A complex story, on the other hand, can deny its viewer base what they want because it has substance worth explicating. The purpose of these nuanced tales is communicating something meaningful to the audience, not placating them. Wish fulfillment, on the other hand, is geared toward satisfying the audience. When it does the opposite of that it defeats its own purpose.

If ... you present a harem you have to do something with that harem. Don’t make it a harem if the guy is going to wuss out. All of the women in this story like the lead Yuke and don’t mind sharing him. Cool. Have something happen between Yuke and the women that is substantive. This can happen progressively as the characters get close to one another.

In order to deepen these bonds, you have to test the relationship(s) somewhat. This can be done by creating challenges that two or more characters have to overcome. I believe the author made a mistake by not giving the female characters enough of a backstory – such as a past with conflict that needed resolving. Leaving them shallow only makes us question their attraction to Yuke. Yes, he is a Red Mage that used to be a part of an A-Ranked party who taught them about adventuring. But is that enough to justify just how close they become? The dark elf in Yuke’s party named Silk, for instance, has a hatred for orcs due to a war between the elven and orc races. Additionally, light elves and dark elves don’t get along – a dynamic that has political implications in the world. Placing Yuke as a catalyst for resolving that conflict, for example, would bring them closer together. This type of development would help progress Yuke’s relationship with the members of his party in a way that makes sense to the audience.

Some might argue that the expeditions Yuke has with the members of Clove (the name of his party) represent moments where the group gets closer. This is not entirely correct. Yes, the girls fight together and develop their skills in these moments. They also state how much they've come to love or care about Yuke. However, the members of Clove seldom have to overcome anything. Without doing so, how could they progress as a group? When a formidable enemy comes along, Yuke generally saves the day. The girls then receive powerups. Close calls in battle generally result in Yuke saying “I care about all of you” with sparkles bordering the screen and the girls blushing in appreciation. These instances do not constitute development but instead reinforce a trend where everything is perfect with and among Clove’s members. There is no opportunity for growth within this perfection.

I would be remiss to not mention Thunder Pike, Clove's enemy. A lot of the conflict of the series revolves around Yuke and his interactions with the leader of Thunder Pike, who mistreated him when he was a part of the group. Simon, the leader of the group and Yuke's childhood friend, is one of those comically evil jerkoffs who knows next to nothing about the logistics of adventuring and does not look out for the members of his party. Naturally, the group starts to deteriorate in the absence of Yuke (the support who is so powerful that he's not actually a support) and gains a bad rap.

Simon is a very easy character to hate. Being a dick is basically his only purpose in the series, which makes Yuke's treatment toward him questionable as the tension between both groups reaches its apex. The events of chapter 65, which I will not spoil, represented a tonal shift many readers were not ready for. I didn't mind this as much as I did Yuke's treatment of Simon. His goody-two-shoes nature really subtracted from the conflict in these chapters, despite what we know about Thunder Pike's actions. Finally, the lame battle in chapters 77-81 only further detracted from Yuke’s character. It took whatever satisfaction we might've garnered from the earlier chapters and threw it out the window. Overall, the Thunder Pike ordeal was drawn out much longer than it needed to be and made Yuke’s character look stupid.

The art is the best aspect of this series. The girls are attractive and distinct and the backgrounds are well drawn. I also like the character designs of some of the side characters. This is not one of those series where people look the same and you easily forget who is who. That aside, I find the series to be lacking – which would be more tolerable if it had Yuke make a move on the girls. Unfortunately, he’s one of those OP leads who denies most advances made by them and never provides a good response regarding his intentions besides “I care/love you all.” Yuke’s disposition is frustrating and kills my interest in the series. GoPro-kun, stop recording this and film some other party.

Ultimately, I recommend skipping this unless you don’t mind the lead backing out of almost every opportunity to get intimate with the women who love him.