Title: WorldEnd: What do you do at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us?
Author: Akira Kareno
Pages: 169
Genre: Fantasy, Light Novel
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
In Japan, long titles are becoming extremely predominant in media– hence this title. This is a harem light novel about a human being stuck in a world of monsters. When Willhem is looking for a job he takes the one with a bunch of girls who happen to be weapons capable of mass destruction. But what neither knows is that they are both connected in more ways than one.
Oh No’s
The first couple chapters are really all over the place and I had a hard time trying to figure out what the actual plot of this story is. The main plot doesn’t actually start until at least a quarter of the way in. It is also the same way at the end. The author just goes off on a tangent instead of actually finishing the story. This is really equivalent to the first episode of a show.
The harem. How did I not realize this? This is your typical book turned show about one boy surrounded by twenty girls who all want to kiss him. The only thing is, the guy is absolutely uninterested in being romantically involved with anyone. This is actually quite common but I really hate this trope.
The translations in this book were quite off at times. I feel that a lot of the story just didn’t come through very well in English. For instance, the girls are referred to as both faeries and leprechauns when those are two different beings entirely. The dialogue was quite cut off in points as well. Luckily this is an extremely short novel so you aren’t impeded in any way by this.
Yay’s
The art! All Yen Press light novels come with artwork either from the manga or created by a mangaka for this series. It helps when trying to imagine a character, you get an actual depiction of them. Sprinkled throughout there are also random scenes that were drawn out such as some of the faeires and one of Willem.
The plot of this light novel is great. It has a lot of potential to be a great anime actually but they need to cut out that weird part about him being a dad to someone the same age as him and the weird harem stuff. That just doesnt sit very well in today’s age. Other than that, this story has a lot of world-building to it that we get to learn about all the way through till the end.
Finally,
If you love yourself some Japanese harem mixed with an actually interesting main plot then look no further. Do be warned, that you will not be satisfied with just the first book. You will have to go on to the next if you like the plot at all. Cliffhanger endings are the worst.
My recommendations for this novel are perhaps Sword Art Online and Re:Zero.
Favorite Quote
“But that’s something only bloodthirsty people do!”
“Bloooodthirstyyyy! Blooodthirstyyyy!”
“That’s not something you repeat like a song!!”
Pg. 74
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-PM
Purple Manatees 