Re:Monster

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Re: Monster is definitely one of the most enjoyable novels I have read in a long time. Firstly I should mention that the writing style is similar to a diary and everything is viewed in first person. Dialogue we see is few and the readers only view characters as the way Rou perceives them (Most of the time)... can also be certain instances where we get POV of others but it is few. With that said besides Rou we don't get much of other characters but I still really like Rou and his power so it is fine for me but if you don't like ... the cold calculating anti-hero type then avoid Re:Monster. Next is the story and in this novel it takes an approach where there isn't one huge goal but more of whatever the MC feels like doing he will do, you might think that gets boring but his antics are one of the best parts (without spoiling much I will just say he is very greedy and always wants to improve his abilities and position in the new world. Examples being going into a fight he only believes he has a 30% chance of victory just because he wants the abilities of the monster or using addictive lotion on nobles so they always have to come back to his massage shop...) There is sex in this story but it isn't descriptive and he also has several wives so warning for the people who don't want that. Art isn't very involved as it is a novel but a manga version of this is out and it is done pretty nicely. I would recommend this to people who are looking for a story about a character who starts at the bottom and travels to the top.

Now for the flaws as I did have a few I want to mention. Firstly is like I said earlier how it is all written like a diary, it is definitely a double edged sword and it makes me feel less connected to other characters. Secondly is the fact that it has great story potential but it isn't used to its fullest and what I mean is how he was reincarnated and his blessing by a greater god. They aren't delved into much even by day 190 (vol 5) so guys who like epic stories definitely will dislike the feeling of such wasted potential. I had a few other issues but none worth mentioning.

Conclusion is that I really enjoy it and will continue reading as long as it keeps going. I also want to mention since bakaupdates (the site most people know of) doesn't update when new chapters are translated and I don't know why. On the wiki you can read all of volumes 1-5 in english that was translated by Pacem community translations. For the hardcore fans of this series who are looking for some like it I would also recommend checking out Royal Road Legend or Japtem as they have hundreds of Fanfics just off this novel, which isn't surprising as the world concept is epic!

A good start that starts to meander and get dragged on by politics. Spoilers below.

Storywise, the MC has the ability to gain abilities of anything he eats, and his rpg world makes the applications of his chimera ant-like powers very interesting. I liked watching him fight weaker monsters, eat them, then use their powers to beat and eat bigger monsters. Along the way he levels up, helps expand his tribe and strengthen his allies, and he develops weapons from monster carcasses like a turtle shell shield as well as gain weapons from other uses. The various job classes and combination abilities he has are pretty ... cool too, and his growth to eventually challenge the legendary heroes/dungeons and become a force to be reckoned with is pretty cool, as well as his later ability to do various summons.

The problems is that after about 125 days or so, he starts focusing on certain missions for the princess and setting up shops in the cities. This is hugely boring and also fairly meainingless, because he has the abilities luck/golden rule/overcharge/etc that allow him to rip off merchants and always win overall at gambling. In addition, his power level means he can challenge numerous dungeons and got a ton of money from his loot. In fact, with his power, hes able to kill the entire city just about if he wanted. So theres little reason to spend so many days talking about the shops and the chump change he gets from it. Its a large detour from the start when he focused on getting abilities and becoming stronger, which was much more interesting. The level up and rank up after 100 levels was interesting too, though I did feel they leveled up really quick compared to the power level of other monsters/humans.

Another issue was the politics involed with the princess and the kingdom. It was handled almost as badly as in Mushiku Tensei. It was largely boring, waiting around day after day when he had a near infinite (several thousand) undead soldiers and golems that he could spawn and yet he wouldnt attack with them. This drawn out battle was extremely boring.

Theres also many days spent just drinking or lounging around his base. While the base is interesting, it started to get dull because he would gloss over the details and focus on the elven wine/other alcohols.

The characters arent all that developed and a bit stereotyped, but it didnt bother me much as Im not a character guy. I still found the MC more likeable than, say, Rudeus.

I still enjoyed reading this for the rpg and battles/abilities/dungeons and other rpg aspects, but I didnt care for a lot of the above. I also found his recruitment and usage of his enslave ability a bit too convenient for some troops, like Avenger. The auto activations of psalms and his storyline didnt make much sense and I thought things were awfully convenient falling into place too. I think Idve preferred if he left his village and traveled the world rather than set up shitty bases in towns that he could easily conquer. Anyway, overall a solid read for the rpg world its in but gets much worse after he starts to venture to the human world and embroiled in unnecessary boring politics. The fire volcano dungeon was semi interesting, but him fighting the dragon solo was a bit much.

What happens when you let a teenage otaku suffering from chuunibyo, write his own light novel? Re:Monster would be that answer.

Well I'm not sure if it is a kid who wrote this mess of a novel but it definitely matches the storytelling that one of my younger cousins would come up with when they were in their early teens.

Re:Monster is another fantasy/re-incarnation tale that I've just started reading having come across this series as recommendation after reading Gun-Ota, Mushoku Tensei and Souen no Historia(novels that also have re-incarnation as a theme).

So going back to my first sentence, Re:Monster really feels like a kid had ... wrote it and the story-telling itself feels like a copy of a walkthrough you'd find at GameFAQ/dot/com(no...seriously). Everything is narrated like as if the main character was in a game(even though he isn't) and the way he levels up is so stupid that if this was actually a game, the game company would have gone bankrupt before end of volume 1.

One of the reasons why I rate this series poorly is due to that; no matter how much you try to paint the MC as a hero(or anti-hero) or even a villain, he is anything but due to having no plot and the repetitiveness of his antics has pretty much gone stale by volume 2. To make matters worse, he has a harem of (human)women suffering Stockholm-syndrome who is meant to be in love with him. I won't go in to detail so as not to spoil for any potential reader, but one thing I will say is that that part of the series felt like I was reading hentai for a moment. Like really...

Anyways...back to the review; Re:Monster is not recommendable for all. Some may like it or are only their for the M18+ moments but to be honest, even those occasions are dry after his second time.

Overall Rating: 3/10