Main Character: Almus Gender: Male Cheat: Past Life knowledge Transport: Death (Traffic Accident)
Summary: A regular office worker ends up meeting his death... and suddenly finds himself in the middle of a forest, starving, in the form of a ten year old child. As he struggles to come to terms and survive, he's come across a Griffin and told that he's intruding upon his territory. The young man explains his situation, and the Griffin offers him a deal: if the newly named Almus can raise a group of children abandoned in the Griffin's forest, the Griffin will provide items, food, and shelter for them all for three years.
Pros: How To Form A Town 101, Griffin Dad, Politics, Blessing System
In comparison to all the other things I'll mention, the Griffin which initially takes in all of these abandoned children is actually a rather lowkey entity who, as the series progresses, makes less and less appearances.. and yet his presence is never really forgotten. To the humans, he's an immensely powerful force who cares nothing for them and prefers a life of isolation deep within his forest. He's a mythical creature in every meaning of the word and that is indeed our first impression of him as readers. Yet it quickly becomes apparent that he's more than just some distant myth. He may be inhuman and ancient, and yet he's surprisingly stable. He rescues the children out of kindness, but an off-chance bit of kindness means nothing if he doesn't carry through. That's the entire reason he spares our MC: if he's going to do this properly, then he's going to get someone more familiar with humans and how they should live than himself.
It's honestly a quote that I found really striking: "If it were you, would you abandon them starving and without shelter, or would you pick them up just to throw them away irresponsibly? If you save someone, be responsible to the end."
The quote is not only a good one on personal responsibility, but also a reminder to know your limits. If you can't do the Right Thing (tm) to the end to really make a difference, you might just be doing equal or more harm to their initial situation.
I think it makes for quite a good opening for an otherwise fun and interesting domestical/political isekai. In the modern day, we've progressed so much that the idea of needing to start from scratch like our ancestors is sort of in the past. Perhaps that's why some people can imagine thriving in a zombie apocalypse with nothing but a cool gun or machete. This series really shows how much work is required and how varied it must be. It even shows a few neat little lifehacks, such as using certain plants to drive away pests from crops or handy ways to make harvesting grains easier. It's really enlightening to see how society has progressed, but just in a smaller area and put on high speed.
All of that information is stuff that the MC brings from his past life in modern day Japan: history, life experiences with farms, and general leadership skills. However, there are things going on beyond him, and most of that would be politics. As a child who has a connection to the Griffin along with his brilliant ideas, he's of interest to those running the country... who have their own issues that are happening throughout the kingdom and in others. It's interesting to see the reasonings they make, what they decide to come to the MC about and what they keep hidden in their sleeve for the moment.
Additionally, there's one last thing. While there is a Griffin and "voodoo" (although I can't say how much it has in similarity to the real life equivalent), magic is fairly lowkey in this world. The main things are called "blessings", given to people such as the Griffin or even the princess of a kingdom. There is a large variety of blessings, with them unique to a person and not often able to be lended out. Mainly they've been focused on the MC, but the Griffin has one along with some others, so it will be interesting to see if anything is done with that.
Cons: The Romance, Power Sexism
I'm actually pretty relaxed and flexible when it comes to romance between young teens, or even pre-adolescent kids. When I was younger, I thought all sorts of dumb romances or crushes were fine, partially because of cultural influences I'm sure but also because kids never really think they're kids. Even now as an adult, I can understand that sort of mentality. (Which is different from condoning it, mind.) Especially in manga and anime, not really understanding how actual teens act or look is pretty common. Thus, I tend to detach from some level of real world common sense when reading manga and such, which allows me to enjoy the story.
Yet something about this series just... really makes it either awkward or annoying for me. Part of it is the fanservice, as usual, which is annoying on even the teenagers and looks really weird and uncomfortable when you see it on ten year olds. All the other boys can wear regular ass clothing, so why is one of the girls wearing some sort of v-neck crop top? Additionally, there's just not enough art progression when it comes to the ages. While some of the guys change quite notably (the kid who takes up archery is the most blatant example), all the girls don't really... seem to change, and not even some of the guys. The art style feels as though they never really grew up or changed in most ways. That's not exactly a great feeling, when you're watching them continue to dress up in skimpy clothing or talk about teenager hormone nonsense.
(Additionally, one of the romances feels a little rushed, since that particular love interest seems to turn around a little too fast on being stand-offish to being invested in how much he cares, but that's a personal preference.)
Additionally, there's one really gross scene where the MC's primary love interest tries to convince him to take some powder and isn't entirely clear on what he does. Instead of eating it, he feeds it to some nearby goats who all immediately start to "do it like they do it on the Discovery channel". Instead of treating this like a really fucked up date rape thing, it's treated more like a silly joke, and there are no real consequences. Again: these are very young teenagers at this point.
On a more minor note, things initially seem to be on mostly even levels when it comes to what kids do what jobs, but that changes once the girls start learning magic. After that, only men seem to be allowed to become warriors and the women are only 'voodoo magicians'. They can still participate in combat to some degree with the ability to spy on things while 'soul riding' an animal... but it definitely has that annoying and weird "real men fight, girls have to stay in the back" sort of thing. There's one girl who manages to be an exception in that she eventually ends up a cavalry rider, but it still doesn't really seem like enough.
General Warnings: Underage Romance, Attempt at Date Rape (Girl On Boy), brief Emeto
Slavery: Yes Fanservice: 3 - hey artist quick question why does the ten year old have a v-neck crop top thing Harem: Yes
no subject
Title: Otherworld Nation Founding Chronicles
Other Titles:
Author: KOIZUMI, Sakuragi Sakura
Main Character: Almus
Gender: Male
Cheat: Past Life knowledge
Transport: Death (Traffic Accident)
Summary: A regular office worker ends up meeting his death... and suddenly finds himself in the middle of a forest, starving, in the form of a ten year old child. As he struggles to come to terms and survive, he's come across a Griffin and told that he's intruding upon his territory. The young man explains his situation, and the Griffin offers him a deal: if the newly named Almus can raise a group of children abandoned in the Griffin's forest, the Griffin will provide items, food, and shelter for them all for three years.
Pros: How To Form A Town 101, Griffin Dad, Politics, Blessing System
In comparison to all the other things I'll mention, the Griffin which initially takes in all of these abandoned children is actually a rather lowkey entity who, as the series progresses, makes less and less appearances.. and yet his presence is never really forgotten. To the humans, he's an immensely powerful force who cares nothing for them and prefers a life of isolation deep within his forest. He's a mythical creature in every meaning of the word and that is indeed our first impression of him as readers. Yet it quickly becomes apparent that he's more than just some distant myth. He may be inhuman and ancient, and yet he's surprisingly stable. He rescues the children out of kindness, but an off-chance bit of kindness means nothing if he doesn't carry through. That's the entire reason he spares our MC: if he's going to do this properly, then he's going to get someone more familiar with humans and how they should live than himself.
It's honestly a quote that I found really striking: "If it were you, would you abandon them starving and without shelter, or would you pick them up just to throw them away irresponsibly? If you save someone, be responsible to the end."
The quote is not only a good one on personal responsibility, but also a reminder to know your limits. If you can't do the Right Thing (tm) to the end to really make a difference, you might just be doing equal or more harm to their initial situation.
I think it makes for quite a good opening for an otherwise fun and interesting domestical/political isekai. In the modern day, we've progressed so much that the idea of needing to start from scratch like our ancestors is sort of in the past. Perhaps that's why some people can imagine thriving in a zombie apocalypse with nothing but a cool gun or machete. This series really shows how much work is required and how varied it must be. It even shows a few neat little lifehacks, such as using certain plants to drive away pests from crops or handy ways to make harvesting grains easier. It's really enlightening to see how society has progressed, but just in a smaller area and put on high speed.
All of that information is stuff that the MC brings from his past life in modern day Japan: history, life experiences with farms, and general leadership skills. However, there are things going on beyond him, and most of that would be politics. As a child who has a connection to the Griffin along with his brilliant ideas, he's of interest to those running the country... who have their own issues that are happening throughout the kingdom and in others. It's interesting to see the reasonings they make, what they decide to come to the MC about and what they keep hidden in their sleeve for the moment.
Additionally, there's one last thing. While there is a Griffin and "voodoo" (although I can't say how much it has in similarity to the real life equivalent), magic is fairly lowkey in this world. The main things are called "blessings", given to people such as the Griffin or even the princess of a kingdom. There is a large variety of blessings, with them unique to a person and not often able to be lended out. Mainly they've been focused on the MC, but the Griffin has one along with some others, so it will be interesting to see if anything is done with that.
Cons: The Romance, Power Sexism
I'm actually pretty relaxed and flexible when it comes to romance between young teens, or even pre-adolescent kids. When I was younger, I thought all sorts of dumb romances or crushes were fine, partially because of cultural influences I'm sure but also because kids never really think they're kids. Even now as an adult, I can understand that sort of mentality. (Which is different from condoning it, mind.) Especially in manga and anime, not really understanding how actual teens act or look is pretty common. Thus, I tend to detach from some level of real world common sense when reading manga and such, which allows me to enjoy the story.
Yet something about this series just... really makes it either awkward or annoying for me. Part of it is the fanservice, as usual, which is annoying on even the teenagers and looks really weird and uncomfortable when you see it on ten year olds. All the other boys can wear regular ass clothing, so why is one of the girls wearing some sort of v-neck crop top? Additionally, there's just not enough art progression when it comes to the ages. While some of the guys change quite notably (the kid who takes up archery is the most blatant example), all the girls don't really... seem to change, and not even some of the guys. The art style feels as though they never really grew up or changed in most ways. That's not exactly a great feeling, when you're watching them continue to dress up in skimpy clothing or talk about teenager hormone nonsense.
(Additionally, one of the romances feels a little rushed, since that particular love interest seems to turn around a little too fast on being stand-offish to being invested in how much he cares, but that's a personal preference.)
Additionally, there's one really gross scene where the MC's primary love interest tries to convince him to take some powder and isn't entirely clear on what he does. Instead of eating it, he feeds it to some nearby goats who all immediately start to "do it like they do it on the Discovery channel". Instead of treating this like a really fucked up date rape thing, it's treated more like a silly joke, and there are no real consequences. Again: these are very young teenagers at this point.
On a more minor note, things initially seem to be on mostly even levels when it comes to what kids do what jobs, but that changes once the girls start learning magic. After that, only men seem to be allowed to become warriors and the women are only 'voodoo magicians'. They can still participate in combat to some degree with the ability to spy on things while 'soul riding' an animal... but it definitely has that annoying and weird "real men fight, girls have to stay in the back" sort of thing. There's one girl who manages to be an exception in that she eventually ends up a cavalry rider, but it still doesn't really seem like enough.
General Warnings: Underage Romance, Attempt at Date Rape (Girl On Boy), brief Emeto
Slavery: Yes
Fanservice: 3 - hey artist quick question why does the ten year old have a v-neck crop top thing
Harem: Yes