Dec 17, 2021
What separates Jui-san no Oshigoto in Isekai is its rather fascinating premise of having a veterinarian do his thing within a fantasy setting, forgoing the typical power fantasy quest of a betrayed young male becoming superficially cynical and going on a hell-bent journey of vengeance. This new premise is great precisely because it is fresh and interesting while still being a power fantasy. Where the main character with his superior knowledge of science, proves himself a 'powerful' and valuable being.
While this premise was largely fulfilled (and still is to an extent) in the manga's first 20 chapters or so, eventually the original premise subtly
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shifted toward the more typical Isekai horizons of action-adventure (albeit with a slight twist to the formula by having the main protagonist be a zookeeping gary-stu). Though I am a little disappointed by the changes, the aspects that make Jui-san no Oshigoto in Isekai such a pleasurable read persists, namely, the world-building. This manga greatly differs from the other Isekai by colouring its world-building with tons of believable details. For instance, it goes into considerable detail about creating anti-bodies to deal with deadly diseases in a fantasy world, and to an extent, its depiction of politics and economics while not looked into with as much depth as the medical side of things, is rendered to a believably decent degree.
Character-wise, most of the primary characters are entertaining and have nice anime-esque chemistry with one another though. It is also nice that some of them have a nice degree of psychological depth. The main character himself however won't be stealing any hearts. Though his background, motivations and philosophical struggles (of being a doctor that takes and gives lives) are interesting, his psychology is fixed within a persistent sentimentality that is not only be incredibly bothersome in its absurd naivety, it also reduces the character's depth to a simplistic dimension of being a 'good person'. This is not helped by the manga's insistence on proving the main character right even when it is detrimental to the believability of the story. For instance, the depiction of the main character's uncanny ability to 'tame' monsters without any special magic thing is done way too many times. This goes against the common lore that depicts monsters as hostile toward human life and reduces the weight of one of the manga's crucial questions: How should life be valued? Does life's value only extend to humanity? Or does it extend to monsters and animals as well? (What about the hostile ones or invasive species?)
Anyways, all in all, this is a really nice Isekai manga and a breath of fresh air within the sea of generic Isekai stories. Still, the Isekai tropes are here to stay, which means action, adventure, slavery (why is this a thing in Isekai), and a harem. While the harem narrative is present to an extent, it is not depicted in any official capacity where female characters swim about him sexually or romantically (though the main character is surrounded by female characters who have some affection for him). It also helps that the main character actually seems to be a believably stand-up guy who doesn't just treat people well to bed them. (The man firmly rejects a 15-year-old girl's advances and when he gets a slave, he doesn't go for her sexually)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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