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Jul 31, 2023
This book is a magical-fantasy romance novel with "suspense".
The issue is that the magical-fantasy (i.e. the world-building) is incredibly plain and shallow, romance (and all the characters except the protagonist) are never built upon, and the suspense is never followed up on. This last part is especially heinous, as it leaves the reader with questions regarding a lot of the plot. Answers are never given to these questions. All this set-up for a grand plot and nothing is followed up on. Nor are there really any mysteries. Instead, we're left wondering what the consequences of these actions are, and why some characters performed certain
...
actions during the course of the novel.
Perhaps then, this novel is also a mystery? But no, there simple isn't enough substance in the novel to answer anything.
If you look at this novel as a "slice of life", the novel is merely acceptable. However, because the author goes through so much effort to explain things that add to the suspense of the story, this becomes a drama and not a slice of life. But none of the suspense is resolved, leaving the reader left feeling unfinished.
Perhaps this novel would have been great if the author was given another two or three novels to fill out the series. However, in the Afterwords, she says [paraphrasing], "This book has been adopted from the webnovel, but I added about 50% more content!" I shudder to think about how desolate the original work was.
The novel isn't completely irredeemable. The protagonist, side-characters, and their hi-jinks, are interesting until Chapter 4 (~45% of the book). At that point, everything falls apart. Had the author continued what she was going for initially, we would have wound up with a laudable-for-an-amateur slice of life novel. However, starting in Chapter 4, the author decided to not build up anything anymore and remove the interesting bits of the story, as well as making the protagonist into a dense idiot, thoroughly ruining all the previous good work that she has done.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone except aspiring authors for the explicit purpose of learning what not to do.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jul 10, 2023
I can't really do this novel justice in my review. I simply do not have the organizational capacity or vocabulary to review why I love this series so much.
As a Fantasty Romance light novel, the potential audience for this work is massive. But the target audience is Josei, i.e. Adult Women. Typically, women do not enjoy the high action or ecchi harems that fantasy novels contain. But as the author targets josei, these two things are almost completely lacking. If you're looking for these, or if you're relatively young, I wouldn't recommend this novel for you.
Instead, this novel gives you a journey through the life
...
of young gentry woman as she undergoes marvel after marvel in a fantastic world until she finally gets with The Guy.™ While a relatively standard from-rags-to-being-with-The-Guy™ story, the path it takes is fantastical, and the world the author builds is worth exploring.
The plot revolves around her going to a magical academy, where the author gives us a bunch of "a-ha!" moments for the reader to reflect on during the revelations of the last two books. A lot of "Oh, so that's why that happened." is given, which makes the book fun to read on a second read.
After the magical academy, she joins the titular and over-worked Sorcerer's Guild, where she is privy to international secrets on account of her strength and her job. You want a strong female protagonist? Nanalie is, without a doubt, a strong female protagonist. I'm not going to lie to you: The Main Character, Nanalie, is just a receptionist at an Adventurer's Guild with extra steps. Adventurer's Guilds don't exist in her world, but you can imagine it as the same.
As she does her job, she learns more and more things and has to deal with the government more and more, and thus deals with The Guy™ more and more. He takes up more and more of her thoughts even as she has to worry about her increasingly more important and serious job.
Even so, Nanalie practically denies giving any attention to The Guy™ all throughout the story. Yet, The Guy™ doesn't waver at all from this. This fact alone should be incredibly creepy, but The Guy™ isn't creepy enough to be creepy. Instead, he's just very annoying to Nanalie, nothing more.
Because she is strong, independent, and all those other feminist buzz-words that the West likes to throw around, The Guy™ isn't really an issue for her. Even if he was, Nanalie would have to be careful because The Guy™ is an important noble. Yet, the East still regards women as women, so the author lets her think through her issues in a womanly way. Notably for us men, small things interest her in ways that guys just aren't allowed to be interested in, and emotions can flow freely. Seeing a fantasy world from a female perspective is incredibly refreshing, and this novel is worth the read for that reason alone. [I'm not sure where to say this, but the author herself is a woman. It's not really relevant, but some readers may care, so there you go. Since I've diverting anyways, I also enjoy seeing the womanly thought process in regards to keeping up with her friends after high school and small things like her communicating with her mom about her father's growing pot belly. These small details add nothing to the plot, yet are just feminine and wonderful.]
There's not too much more to say about the plot without spoiling it. There is minor amounts of intrigue in the plot, including betrayal, primordial stories, the origins of magic, Nanalie's heritage, and so on, but a lot of the main focus of the world is taken a backseat to Nanalie's perspective. So while The Guy™ is out there fighting against the Big Bad Evil Guy,™ Nanalie is just chilling and doing her job. The victories that The Guy™ earns are more surprises to her that she muses over for a moment and then moves on with her life.
Again, this perspective of not being the main character for the major happenings in a fantasy world is refreshing. For this reason, the novel is also worth reading.
And so, what's the conclusion?
This series is worth reading for its:
- World-Building
- Nanalie and The Guy™'s character and budding relationship
- A female perspective on the world
- A backseat perspective on a "save the world" plot
This series is not worth reading for its:
- Action
- Ecchi
===
Now that the main review is over, I just want to talk about the relationship between Nanalie and The Guy™, because I think it's really well done.
Basically, The Guy™ just annoys Nanalie, but she realizes that she has a special relationship with him and both she and him can act like themselves around each other, which isn't necessarily the case with anyone else.
But the constant teasing and annoyance really resonants with my heart in a way that few other relationships do, but I just lack the capabilities on explaining why. It's really such a shame.
If you like to read cute scenes from the perspective of a flustered girl though, you should also read this novel.
I won't lie, that's precisely why I've reread this novel 3 times since September of 2021.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 7, 2023
This story is a slow burn masterpiece. Don't be fooled though, this is Dark Fantasy with a scoop of mystery sprinkled on it. Currently, there are three volumes translated into English, and to understand why this story is good, you'll have to read the third volume.
The other reviewer left an extremely long review, so I'll put in the effort to make mine short.
For those that need a little boost to get through volume 2: Fire girl isn't lying, but she will do what it takes to get what she wants.
This story seems like your standard isekai trash: powerful protagonist, harem, a video-game inspired skill
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system, a dungeon, whatever. The only obvious difference at the front is that each of the characters have flaws and genuinely feel real. This is refreshing, but even so, the first two volumes are very tame.
[P.S. The protagonist isn't perverted or dense either, so that's another obvious difference from other isekai trash!]
If you happen to pay attention to the story and what the main character is doing, you'll see cracks in the character and plot that simply don't add up. The author even places a few of them in your face using a plot related mechanic, just so you're aware that they exist. How nice of him!
As it turns out, these cracks exist on purpose. In the third volume, the real plot of the story comes together and you get to see what the story is actually about. It's a dark fantasy mystery series. Have fun going over everything you read and seeing how it all connects!
It's like driving on a mountain road and looking to the left and seeing a beautiful landscape. But the road doesn't lead you there. Instead, when you turn the corner, you'll see a different landscape, just as beautiful. But you're not going to get there either. Just like this road, the author has a plot that will get you to where he wants you while seeing all these other wonderful things, and you don't have a map.
Also notable, and you only learn this in volume 3, is that the nature of the story explores the depths of human goodness, and how twisted and vile it can be. Marvelous!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 14, 2022
Since I learned of this story, I've reread the whole thing once every three months. I truly adore this series.
This series is fantastic. Literally. It's an action fantasy romance-comedy. Standard isekai affair? Yes. Extremely well done? Yes.
It's just a really well done standard isekai story, with just enough mystery sprinkled in to keep you involved, and more than enough world building to let your mind wander.
The premise of the story is simple. The protagonist, Makoto, and his class are summoned to another world after a rather involved scenario involving a bus and an avalanche. But while his classmates get amazing skills like "Hero of Light",
...
Makoto is a weakling, less than most inhabitants of this new world. He trains long and hard, and gets no where. So once he is booted out of the church that he and his classmates were summoned to, a mysterious goddess who refuses to give her name visits him.
After pledging to support her, the story moves on. Here, the plot starts the process of making an overpowered protagonist over the course of the rest of the story. However, the author is very careful to set strong limitations on what Makoto can do, yet he does get help here and there. These limitations are serious and require work around and careful management from Makoto. But, as the problems associated with being a weakling fade in response to Makoto's growing strength and burgeoning relationships, new plot points are brought up.
I will say though, the Light Novel version makes these plot points feel less thought out, as if they "just occur". This is a shame, but that's simply how it is.
Most goddesses in Makoto's new world force their apostles to do as they say, but two out of three of Makoto's skills render him nigh immune to this. So instead, his goddess decided that Makoto should just do as he pleases. The interplay between Makoto and his goddess grows very interesting as he learns more about her, her goals, and the state of the world. The reader is left wondering what her goal actually is.
Regarding characters, well... if they're a companion of Makoto they're just tropes done well. For instance, you've already seen the only non-spoiler companion, Lucy's archetype elsewhere. She's a butterfingered glass cannon who cannot be honest with her feelings. Makoto's classmate companions, who generally do not group with him, are naturally overpowered, lending to mostly boring characters. The only interesting characters are, oddly enough, those that aren't direct companions of Makoto. [Excluding his goddess, who is very interesting.]
But while the characters might not be the most intricate beings written, their circumstances are. Those classmates who followed the Hero of Light took a different path than those who followed the Priestess of Water. Some characters, like the Grandsage, are enigmatic but powerful. So the characters may not be interesting, but they're all in very interesting circumstances, and they make different moves regarding the world. This results in a very engaging world that the reader simply wants to read more about. There are princesses that demand to be wed, kingdoms to negotiate with, and demons whose blood run in the veins of close friends.
In summary, the plot is very engaging, the world building is strong, a lot of interesting circumstances in the world are explored, and to say what makes the story so good with examples would spoil a lot of it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 6, 2021
Do you enjoy anime that has six frames a second, jittery frames, awful characters, and terrible voice acting? If so, you might be able to watch Dokkaebi Bangmang-I, known as The Silver Twilight. The film revolves around an incredibly obnoxious boy, his talking bear onii-san, some random village girl, the prince of monsters, and a dumb fat villager. They go about trying to solve the mystery of why some people have been going missing in the villagers’ village, but the prince of monsters loses a magic mace, which falls into the hands of an unsavory group.
This film is awful, but unlike most low-budget films made
...
in Korea in the 1980s, actually has a legible plot. You can understand the plot. There are even stakes involved, as both the villagers and the monsters don’t want to go to war over each other, while the unsavory group has their own goals of.... well, riches. I’m not saying the plot is good, only that it is sensible.
The characters in this film all suck, and I honestly don’t remember the names of them, save the villager girl, Clara. When I went to rewatch the film, I realized that they all only used each others' names once, so I guess names aren’t actually important.
Anyway, the brave boy is an abusing little snotball. He constantly abuses his “big brother,” the talking bear, calling him names like, “fat lazy bear” nearly constantly. Of course, he also abuses everyone else constantly and gets into the habit of shanking people in the butt with a stick later. Even worse, the dumb villager, who is only known for his stupidity, copies the brave boy, showing that abuse is contagious. The talking bear is actually useless, but as the random villager girl says, “he has a big heart.” Cliché and useless. The villager girl is useless and doesn’t actually serve a plot purpose. Last, the prince of the monsters is just annoying, but he’s not abusive. He’s like an annoying kid. By the way, the girl that is on the poster of this film doesn’t matter. I challenge you to point her out when you watch this film. She’s in approximately 80 frames, twice.
With a set of awful characters that have literally no redeeming qualities and a plot that can only be called “sensible” as a positive point, well, you’re not watching The Silver Twilight for its story. In fact, I don’t know why you’d watch it, but if you are, you’re not watching it for the story.
They made this film in Korea in the 1980s, a time when some studios in Korea pushed out low effort “anime” in the name of profits.
I do not know how well this film did in Korea, but based on its English dub, having watched it 35 years after it was made, I have to imagine that this film did not do very well, and the stats on MAL indicate this.
The animation of this movie is awful. There are a lot of still shots, minimal animation, and reused backgrounds. It is very obvious. Besides this, the English dub is so bad it’s humorous. And not humorous like Ghost Stories is, but humorous to laugh at. Even though it’s animated, the acting and choreography of this film is just atrocious.
In short, this film has no redeeming qualities, but it is certainly better than most low budget Korean anime that came out in the 1980s, such as Micro Teukgongdae Diatron 5 or Roboteuwang Sseonsyakeu. Unlike the other two, The Silver Twilight doesn’t completely reuse scenes, and it has an understandable plot without plot holes big enough to drive a truck through.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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