On the surface, Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu, seems to bring yet another generic Otome Isekei genre into the hundreds that have existed. Yet, the prose and execution is near perfection. The story will force a wide range of emotions, from anger, indignation, disgust, pity to anticipation, joy and satisfaction. You will feel anger from the setting that the characters have been put into, the indignation, or more aptly, desire for justice to those who are "evil". You will feel the disgust of the unfortunate circumstances that has befell the MC. Yet, you will also pity some of those "evil", antagonists with reasonable cause, that has done harm on the MC. You will feel more than enough satisfaction how the author has delivered the hand of justice to those who have done harm to the MC. Finally you will feel the joy how the MC has made it out of his predicament in the end of each arc, albeit be it as a blessing or a curse, the game must continue and the MC must trudge through a seemingly endless journey.
The story and setting itself is rather simple, the MC "Leon Foe Bartford", was a former Japanese salary man who died from overplaying an otome game that his younger sister blackmailed him to play. However, he reincarnated into the same otome game he was playing as the second son of a countryside feudal lord in the Hohlfahrt Kingdom, the country that the otome game's setting is in. Yet, one major thing is that Leon was quick to realize is the country he lives in is an unfair matriarchal hierarchy, with women dominating the social order and men unable to defy this order. Through this setting, we see Leon navigate the treacherous waters of a society where women, at every angle, takes the chance to abuse the male nobility.
As a self declared "mob" character to live a peaceful life, Leon sets out to complete the objective of the unbalanced otome game, to get the female protagonist, Olivia or 'Livia', to declare their love for one or all of the five male capture targets. To fail this objective would mean a world-ending scenario as the monsters and evilness would destroy everything, and ruin the hopes of Leon's so called "peaceful life".
However, this work is not as simple as it seems, as the author's unexpected twists would not make everything as easy as it seems, especially for a reincarnated who already completed the game. From the inevitable setting of the game, Leon will face multiple moments of despair, a forlorn future that Leon has to make it through. But from the wits, experience, and reliance of his cheat item Luxion, Leon will make it through the smallest slither of success even when the reader believes all hope is lost. For those who have done evil, karma will be delivered more satisfactory than the reader can imagine. Because of these points, Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu, is an amazing piece of work that encapsulate all these feelings.
As a work that is centered around an "otome game", there isn't as much emphasis on romance as one might expect. From my understanding, the author focuses way more attention on world building, drama, and relationship building (not just romantically but more specifically on a range of the different types of relations from political disputes, diplomacy, to sibling and parental disputes). As a manga-reader who primary reads romance, if one were to look for romance here, the author gives just enough to satisfy ones desire for this development. One should also expect drama to occur as this is not a completely happy and fluffy life that Leon will experience.
The story, the lowest score I have given, has one downside: it may feel that the author is rushing the story without fleshing out some of the points. This is most apparent in the first otome game as the reader is thrown all the details of the world. The plot advances relatively quickly compared to other similar genres, and one might be very confused at first. However after finishing the two arcs, I believe this is necessary as, rather than to add in non-consequential "fillers" to the story, readers will forget the major plot points early on in the arc that will be necessary to understand the conclusion of each arc.
[For the manga] The art is very nicely drawn with a large amounts of details give to backgrounds, which is important in creating a sci-fi otome game. The characters are also drawn exceptionally also with great details to their facial expression to understand how they feel. Although the LN directly states the feelings of what some of these characters feel, it is important to have that indirectly expressed in manga, which this artist does.
In the end I give a 10/10 enjoyment, which I do not give unless it fits the requirement of a "masterpiece". Although I may give more generous scores than other reviewers, I guarantee that this work will not disappoint you if you are interested in an isekei/romance-ish/harem/sci-fi battles/comedy/drama genre.
Of course, one of the unique hidden messages that is largely left out of other similar genres is that: harems are bad mkay.
