Isekai Meikyuu de Harem wo

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First to say I read the web novel (not light novel) up to chapter 225.
What I like
1) The MC (main character) actually have sexual relationship with his slaves. So many novels and mangas the MC is like eunuch and that is refreshing.
2) Even if MC is OP (Overpowered) - that does not mean he can not loose to weaker enemy. Also there are characters that are pretty strong and can defeat MC and his party easily (depend on circumstances).
3) The leveling system - it is very well done and logical. It is not only levels, but jobs and different jobs have different advantages ... and disadvantages.
4) The importance of weapons. With the exception of MC first weapon (cheating weapon), other weapons are not so different and only 1 improvement make the weapon in completely different class.
5) Battles in the dungeons - even with OP - that does not mean that the battles completed in a minute like in other stories - the battles are still hard and if not careful the MC (or other party member) may be killed if something goes wrong. The difference is that with OP MC the battles are little shorter, but still not easy.
6) The trade in the isekai world. It is very well described - common staff are in the stores, but if you want better and rarer - you go through brokers and pay commissions and even then you have to be careful not to raise suspicion.

What I dislike
1) Is stopped and is not completed.
2) The battles are too long and I thing it may be described shorter (not dislike a lot).
Other small staff, but not worth mentioning.

Isekai Meikyuu de Harem wo was one of the first isekai light novels to ever exist, and it's pretty much the godfather of isekai as we know today, the WN and LN both came before Mushoku and Re:Zero were published, and many LN authors have cited it as an inspiration for their work. LN fans in Japan even consider it to be a classic among LNs.

And because of this I was curious to read it, and I can see why so many have taken inspiration from it. The story starts in a pretty interesting way, with our MC browsing suicide sites online because of ... how horrible his life was, and while surfing the dark web he encounters a mysterious game, and then before starting the game he does everything he can to get the best possible character build using a randomizer option, and I mean that in a really desperate way. When he finally gets that, he desperately starts the game while ignoring the warnings that says that he will never be able to leave the game.

And that's how it starts, a pretty compelling way to start a isekai story, leaving your old shitty life where you had been bullied, abused, and had no friends, to starting life in another world with abilities that make you much stronger than everyone else. This may seem like a cliche, but back when the WN first started, those type of stories weren't as common as they are today, and this is another reason why so many authors were inspired by this series, some people just like to read wish-fulfillment stories like that, and the concept of starting life in another world is really captivating and interesting to some.

Now that I've gone over the premise and the back story, I would like to talk about the actual enjoyment that I had with reading it. One of the first things that I immediately noticed is how much "explanation" there is, the MC just has too many monologues and is always "overthinking" things if you could say that, this kinda took out a little bit of the enjoyment because things happen reaaaally slow. It takes pretty much the whole of volume 1 just for the MC to get his first slave, and while exploring the labyrinth he is always testing everything about his own skills and abilities, I kinda appreciate how much detail the author puts into his character and abilities, but it does feel a bit dragged out at times.

One of my main complaints however would be the art. I was used to light novels having really good art because all of the series I had read so far were relatively more modern series. But this LN has the same artist that worked on Fullmetal Panic and that's a really classic LN series from the 90s. So the art-style is really similar to those you see in classic anime from the 90s and 2000s.
This is even more disappointing because this is supposed to be an ecchi series, but the art really doesn't help it and it feels wrong to call this an ecchi.

And this leads to another complaint that I have, I thought this was supposed to be a really heavy ecchi series, from what I've heard from some manga readers, and MAL even labels it as "erotica", but this is definitely not even close to that. Compared to other ecchi LN series like Shinmai Maou and Masou Gakuen HxH, this series is not ecchi at all. Yes the MC has a harem of sex slaves, but pretty much none of the illustrations show them in a fan-service way, nor are their moments together on the bed even written or described.
So if you are coming to this series expecting an ecchi or fan-service than be prepared to be disappointed because pretty 80% of the LN is just about exploring the labyrinth.

Still it had it's moments and as far as fantasy LN goes it's pretty well written in that part.
I'd say from the 4 volumes that I read so far:
Volume 1 was the best
Volume 2 was decent
Volume 3 was boring
Volume 4 was ok

I heard the manga has better art-style and has more fan-service, so if you are looking for that than better read it instead, but if you strictly in for the fantasy, labyrinth exploring, and world-building, then you would be better off with the LN.

If you enjoy turning your brain off for some light dungeon exploring with minimal world building with a side of slave-girls it's an OK read!

I can distinctly remember two segments that are genuinely good in the LN, the first one being when Michio is exploring the starting town at night trying to find and take care of a bandit gang. During these segments we receive some decent exposition exploring this town's workings surrounding the bandits and how Mochio should operate to deal with them. The second segment being a near death encounter in the dungeon that he sets out to explore. These moments are a ... great contrast to the other chapters of the LN because it's mostly downhill from here.

The LN's overall structure is slow paced. This can be explained by the story's non-exclusive focus one dungeons and the fact that Michio is somewhat cautious when exploring , which is not an inherent problem. However when it's combined with excessive retelling of similar dungeon exploring moments it gets drab pretty quickly. This combined with the subpar world building and little character interactions leads to a situation where the world feels empty and lifeless.

As the synopsis states, there are video game systems implemented in the story that are tied to character growth. I usually love rigid leveling systems, seeing the main character min-maxing his potential growth as well as its straightforwardness in determining power levels. While Michio is the guy to min-max, he is completely terrible at it, to the point of frustration. Not only does he pick bad builds but the LN math is incorrect when calculating the different benefits that he receives, leaving an awful experience when reading segments that focus on min-maxing.

There is a reason why the manga and anime focuses on ecchi, which did not even exist in the LN. It's because the other aspects are not that well written or unique. If you want to read the LN, the first book is the best one by far, so go on ahead. However I personally do not recommend this LN.