Title: The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want a Fourth Time Other Titles: Author: Densuke (II), Takehiro Kojima
Main Character: Amamiya Hiroto / D-01 / Vandalieu Gender: Male Cheat: Unique Magic and Multiple Reincarnations (because god fucked up) Transport: Death (Terrorist Attack), Death (Double Murder)
Summary: While on a ship tour trip, Amamiya Hiroto and all of his classmates end up perishing in a terrorist attack that destroys their ship. With all of them in the afterlife, they're soon approached by a deity who gives them the choice to be put back into the regular reincarnation cycle... or be reborn in an entirely new world with their memories and also special abilities! Yet while he's waiting for his turn, Amamiya witnesses someone who not only has an extremely similar name... but even looks like him? The shock of this ends up leaving him behind, which is only then that the deity realizes his terrible mistake. But he can't send Amamiya back, and can't give him any special abilities or good fortune for a new world... Thus dooming the youth to a life guaranteed to be full of misfortune.
Pros: God's Fuck Up and the Following Consequences, Suspicious Circumstances, Mom-Son Relationship, Bone Friends, Bikini Armor Jokes
Isekai gods can really be a toss-up. In the worst case scenario, you can get complete assholes who don't even want you to be there and will toss you to the side to struggle. Other isekai gods are basically your new family, deeply invested in your happiness. Others are more neutral, simply moving the process along regardless of their individual personality.
And then you have the fuck ups.
These are a surprisingly common isekai god in their own right, where the MC stuck with them has ended up in their situation not because it was necessary in any way at all but because God was such a ditz or a jackass or an idiot that they genuinely just messed up. Usually this is reserved for causing the MC to die in the first place, and the isekai journey is a way of apologizing to the poor soul. It's embarrassing in a way but the honest mistake aspect of it combined with the isekai reward helps take away some of the sting. However, that last one seems to be the most vital aspect of it: that a mistake is recognized and that proper recompense is given. Needless to say... the MC in this story doesn't get even that much.
From the get-go, the MC's story is that of tragedy. Not only does he die in a horrible attack, unable to truly help anyone, but then his chance at getting a new life is stolen from him in suspicious circumstances and God essentially tells him "Well! Guess you're fucked and doomed to a life full of misfortune and misery, but, hey, chin up and optimism and stuff, right?" It's little wonder that the MC becomes so full of bitterness and vengeful thoughts towards the god that's put him in this situation... or towards the cruel scientists who end up experimenting on him for their own interest and gain. This rage eventually extends even to his former classmates, along with the person who took his name, abilities, and good fortune. The title of this series gives away everything, although it might be confusing at a first glance: the MC dies in this miserable second life that he's been given and is cycled into a third life but only after God curses him so that he can't get vengeance on his former teammates.
Yet to the MC? Another clash between him and them is only inevitable. The isekai god responsible for this whole disaster might think it best for the MC to 'live and forgive' but that isn't exactly an easy thing for someone to just do, especially when it's the God's own careless fault for the whole mess. However, as a human being (even if his body is a little questionable now), the MC can't help but grow. In his third life, for the first time with even his past lives consideration, he's born to a mother who is alive, well, and truly adores him. The relationship between the MC and his third life mother helps soothe over some of the horrible and traumatic things we're made witness to in the MC's second life, and it's really heartwarming to see. I think it's in the nature of most readers, when reading a story where a character is thrown through the ringer, to want to see them made happy for even a little while. With the inclusion of the MC's mother, we get that, for a little while. We get to see how some of his misery and rage is abated, just a bit, as he enjoys what is genuinely a mother's life and basks in her loving praise of him just... growing up.
I mean, it gets bad eventually, because this is still a story of revenge in the end, but some of the humor and heartwarming moments like these help not be too depressing, and yet don't take away from the MC's main goal of revenge or the terrible things that happen eventually in the story.
Some of that humor also comes from the minions that our MC works his necromatic abilities on, of course. The story shows its balance of horror and comedy with them well. On one hand, there's no denying the terrifying imagery they invoke easily enough as they slaughter wayward bandits with ease, blood dripping off bone. Other times, they invoke a lightheartedness born from their bond with the MC as they ask for his praise, bemoan their inability to make a fire or fly, and just goof around. Whether they're endearing or horrifying is all dependent on the situation, and the safety of their creator.
Of course, the jokes don't last forever. As I mentioned before, this story never forgets that it's ultimately a revenge story in the end, and a lot of interesting questions have been set up from the beginning that I can't help being intrigued about. Who was the 'fake' MC who took all that power and good fortune for himself? How will the MC's former classmates affect his future, or even reach him in this world completely different from both his homeworld and the world they initially reincarnated into? Can the MC find the proper vessel for a wayward soul, and how will he deal with the rest of a world that wants nothing to do with him? A lot of questions have been set up, leaving me eager to see how they come up again or are solved.
Cons: Fanservice
I'll be honest, the fanservice in this story seems to be keeping me off-balance on making a solid decision one way or the other. For example, his mother is a voluptuous woman with more than a couple of shots of her that are clearly meant to emphasize that, even when it feels a little... inappropriate to do so. I also always kind of find it weird when a MC's mother is made to be Super Hot (tm) with lots of fanservice moments, because, I mean. In most stories, the MC is the character whose viewpoint we're supposed to be most stuck with, so it just seems... really weird to also make the mom character super attractive in all these poses and looks to the reader. Yet at the same time, the story almost seemed to poke fun at it at one point, with how yeah, babies need to be breastfed, but this is weird for a teenager in a baby's body, and the mom just treats it as a natural process.... etc, etc.
Later on in the story, we also get a glimpse of a female character in the typical bikini armor on a title page at one point. Later on in another chapter, two sets of typical bikini armor are then possessed... but with no bodies forming underneath them, leaving it to look like as if there's bikini armor on invisible bodies. That, too, almost seems to be a joke in a way towards typical cliches and tropes of fanservice.
If it were more clearly one way or the other, I would have an easier time deciding how to feel about it, and yet.
General Warnings: Mass Murder backstory (many people die before reincarnation), Child Abuse, Human Experimentation, Starvation, Necromancy, Revenge Plot, breastfeeding a baby with the mental space of a teenager, Parental Death, Animal Death, Rape
Slavery: Yes Fanservice: 3 - The MC's mom in his third life has quite the figure, so of course attention has to be drawn to it instead of it just being a basic and boring fact. While there is a rape scene, it's not shown in detail (although parts of it are still shown in the panels), and it's treated as a horrifying thing instead of fanservice. Harem: No
The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want a Fourth Time
Title: The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want a Fourth Time
Other Titles:
Author: Densuke (II), Takehiro Kojima
Main Character: Amamiya Hiroto / D-01 / Vandalieu
Gender: Male
Cheat: Unique Magic and Multiple Reincarnations (because god fucked up)
Transport: Death (Terrorist Attack), Death (Double Murder)
Summary: While on a ship tour trip, Amamiya Hiroto and all of his classmates end up perishing in a terrorist attack that destroys their ship. With all of them in the afterlife, they're soon approached by a deity who gives them the choice to be put back into the regular reincarnation cycle... or be reborn in an entirely new world with their memories and also special abilities! Yet while he's waiting for his turn, Amamiya witnesses someone who not only has an extremely similar name... but even looks like him? The shock of this ends up leaving him behind, which is only then that the deity realizes his terrible mistake. But he can't send Amamiya back, and can't give him any special abilities or good fortune for a new world... Thus dooming the youth to a life guaranteed to be full of misfortune.
Pros: God's Fuck Up and the Following Consequences, Suspicious Circumstances, Mom-Son Relationship, Bone Friends, Bikini Armor Jokes
Isekai gods can really be a toss-up. In the worst case scenario, you can get complete assholes who don't even want you to be there and will toss you to the side to struggle. Other isekai gods are basically your new family, deeply invested in your happiness. Others are more neutral, simply moving the process along regardless of their individual personality.
And then you have the fuck ups.
These are a surprisingly common isekai god in their own right, where the MC stuck with them has ended up in their situation not because it was necessary in any way at all but because God was such a ditz or a jackass or an idiot that they genuinely just messed up. Usually this is reserved for causing the MC to die in the first place, and the isekai journey is a way of apologizing to the poor soul. It's embarrassing in a way but the honest mistake aspect of it combined with the isekai reward helps take away some of the sting. However, that last one seems to be the most vital aspect of it: that a mistake is recognized and that proper recompense is given. Needless to say... the MC in this story doesn't get even that much.
From the get-go, the MC's story is that of tragedy. Not only does he die in a horrible attack, unable to truly help anyone, but then his chance at getting a new life is stolen from him in suspicious circumstances and God essentially tells him "Well! Guess you're fucked and doomed to a life full of misfortune and misery, but, hey, chin up and optimism and stuff, right?" It's little wonder that the MC becomes so full of bitterness and vengeful thoughts towards the god that's put him in this situation... or towards the cruel scientists who end up experimenting on him for their own interest and gain. This rage eventually extends even to his former classmates, along with the person who took his name, abilities, and good fortune. The title of this series gives away everything, although it might be confusing at a first glance: the MC dies in this miserable second life that he's been given and is cycled into a third life but only after God curses him so that he can't get vengeance on his former teammates.
Yet to the MC? Another clash between him and them is only inevitable. The isekai god responsible for this whole disaster might think it best for the MC to 'live and forgive' but that isn't exactly an easy thing for someone to just do, especially when it's the God's own careless fault for the whole mess. However, as a human being (even if his body is a little questionable now), the MC can't help but grow. In his third life, for the first time with even his past lives consideration, he's born to a mother who is alive, well, and truly adores him. The relationship between the MC and his third life mother helps soothe over some of the horrible and traumatic things we're made witness to in the MC's second life, and it's really heartwarming to see. I think it's in the nature of most readers, when reading a story where a character is thrown through the ringer, to want to see them made happy for even a little while. With the inclusion of the MC's mother, we get that, for a little while. We get to see how some of his misery and rage is abated, just a bit, as he enjoys what is genuinely a mother's life and basks in her loving praise of him just... growing up.
I mean, it gets bad eventually, because this is still a story of revenge in the end, but some of the humor and heartwarming moments like these help not be too depressing, and yet don't take away from the MC's main goal of revenge or the terrible things that happen eventually in the story.
Some of that humor also comes from the minions that our MC works his necromatic abilities on, of course. The story shows its balance of horror and comedy with them well. On one hand, there's no denying the terrifying imagery they invoke easily enough as they slaughter wayward bandits with ease, blood dripping off bone. Other times, they invoke a lightheartedness born from their bond with the MC as they ask for his praise, bemoan their inability to make a fire or fly, and just goof around. Whether they're endearing or horrifying is all dependent on the situation, and the safety of their creator.
Of course, the jokes don't last forever. As I mentioned before, this story never forgets that it's ultimately a revenge story in the end, and a lot of interesting questions have been set up from the beginning that I can't help being intrigued about. Who was the 'fake' MC who took all that power and good fortune for himself? How will the MC's former classmates affect his future, or even reach him in this world completely different from both his homeworld and the world they initially reincarnated into? Can the MC find the proper vessel for a wayward soul, and how will he deal with the rest of a world that wants nothing to do with him? A lot of questions have been set up, leaving me eager to see how they come up again or are solved.
Cons: Fanservice
I'll be honest, the fanservice in this story seems to be keeping me off-balance on making a solid decision one way or the other. For example, his mother is a voluptuous woman with more than a couple of shots of her that are clearly meant to emphasize that, even when it feels a little... inappropriate to do so. I also always kind of find it weird when a MC's mother is made to be Super Hot (tm) with lots of fanservice moments, because, I mean. In most stories, the MC is the character whose viewpoint we're supposed to be most stuck with, so it just seems... really weird to also make the mom character super attractive in all these poses and looks to the reader. Yet at the same time, the story almost seemed to poke fun at it at one point, with how yeah, babies need to be breastfed, but this is weird for a teenager in a baby's body, and the mom just treats it as a natural process.... etc, etc.
Later on in the story, we also get a glimpse of a female character in the typical bikini armor on a title page at one point. Later on in another chapter, two sets of typical bikini armor are then possessed... but with no bodies forming underneath them, leaving it to look like as if there's bikini armor on invisible bodies. That, too, almost seems to be a joke in a way towards typical cliches and tropes of fanservice.
If it were more clearly one way or the other, I would have an easier time deciding how to feel about it, and yet.
General Warnings: Mass Murder backstory (many people die before reincarnation), Child Abuse, Human Experimentation, Starvation, Necromancy, Revenge Plot, breastfeeding a baby with the mental space of a teenager, Parental Death, Animal Death, Rape
Slavery: Yes
Fanservice: 3 - The MC's mom in his third life has quite the figure, so of course attention has to be drawn to it instead of it just being a basic and boring fact. While there is a rape scene, it's not shown in detail (although parts of it are still shown in the panels), and it's treated as a horrifying thing instead of fanservice.
Harem: No