Hello everyone! I'm in a very review making mood, so I decided to make a review on Seirei Gensouki. An Isekai with...well to be blunt a rather shitty anime adaptation, this review aims to help people see and understand how much better and more complex the novel is over the anime, as well as maybe get some of you guys who might've liked the anime to read the LN. I am not someone who makes reviews very often, so sorry if my style is a little inexperienced or if fail to construct this properly, furthermore please be warned there will be some major and minor spoilers up ahead. Anyways without further ado let's get into it! Starting with the pros
There are a few things Rio manages to accomplish as the protagonist of this story, the first thing is he gives us a very dark and relatable goal very early on in the story. That being, the revenge and death of his mother's killer, Lucius Orgueille. Now, if you think this series will milk out this whole revenge plot only for Rio to end up not even killing this guy due to a change of heart or something...haha you are in for a surprise.
The anime doesn't do a very good job of showing it likely due to it's rating or some other japanese board stuff (I'm frankly not sure) but Rio at this point in the story is already by normal society standards a murderer. Something else the anime doesn't completely delve into is the method in which Rio gets isekaid.
You see, Rio (Haruto) is not reborn as a child like in some other series. It's more accurate to say only his mind is reborn and more specifically, placed within the body of Rio Karasuki, now how does this actually affect our protag? Well...for one his mind is sort of fused with Rio's, so while he has Rio's memories and experiences he is perceiving these things as Haruto Amakawa, however his memories and experiences obtained by having his consciousness fused with Rio's creates an interesting divergence within his moral code and decision making.
Now you have to keep in mind, Haruto was raised as a normal Japanese civilian. With normal Japanese etiquette, I imagine some of us may be from the west and were raised or born in America, which has a completely different set of cultural and moral values depending on race, ethnicity, beliefs, environment, etc. While self defense is taught much more leisurely here in the states, link Japanese morality emphasizes more on social harmony, respect for elders and authority, and acting in a way that benefits the group rather than the individual, often through subtle cues and politeness ([link Source)
With this, you can see Japanese civilians are raised much differently as they emphasize social harmony, and putting others above yourself at times. Naturally, for Haruto this creates an incredibly oppressive atmosphere to suddenly be moved into this world, and in the hands of people who bought him as a slave no less, living in the slums. Thus, creating a unique and interesting premise to the story through Haruto's inner monologues and various choices throughout the series, something not many other isekai tend to offer to this degree.
Finally, for those who think Haruto will become a boring MC who sticks to his Japanese morality you don't have to worry. As Haruto adapts incredibly quickly to the morale code within the world, he also does this in a respectable amount of time so you don't see him as some empty character who's sole purpose is to "be cool" or "aura farm" as people call it these days.
Anyways, I spent enough time talking about Rio here. So I will briefly go over other standout characters, we of course have Celia, which I'm sure those of us who have seen the anime are very familiar with
Celia is one of the most important side characters, not only does she act as Rio's teacher in the first volume and one of the few genuinely kind people in his life, but she eventually makes a return as a permanent side character during the events of volume 5. Wherein, she starts traveling around with Rio which brings me to my next point being the plot. But before I do that lemme go over a few other characters, next up we have Aishia
Gorgeous isn't she? Aishia is something like the second protagonist introduced in volume 4 of the novel, she plays an incredibly important role throughout the series as Rio's contracted spirit and serving as one of the only characters capable of actually understanding his mental struggle and emotional turmoil. She's also just as OP as he is, which makes her a badass girl boss! Next up we have Liselette
Another beauty I know, Riv sensei just cooks hard with the art. Liselette is another character, and while her role is not as major as Aishia's or Celia's, she does serve some major roles as the head of a successful business that's in cahoots with some noble peeps that give her great power and a decent amount of jurisdiction within the world. While also being an interesting character as she seemingly appears to have made some food that only exists on Earth. The next one is Christina (the one on the right)
Yeah...I'm gonna say it again...gorgeous aren't they? Christina has great character development, she starts off incredibly prickly and unlikable due to making some rather poor judgment calls in the 1st volume of the series, something that weighs heavy on her mind 14 whole volumes later. The moment where she's finally able to have a genuine heartfelt discussion with Rio in volume 14 is one of my favorite moments within the series, it had me so giddy lol. Last character, Erika!
Erika is a phenomenal character, and in my personal opinion the best antagonist in the story to date. Her character writing genuinely blew me out of the water, with arguably the best arc in the series being with her introduction. She honestly was such a phenomenal addition to the series, if I had one wish it's that she could find peace in the next life. Anyways, I yapped so much so lemme move on to the next point
Now, I will move through these next points quickly cuz I'm not sure how much more space I have to type but the next pro is the plot. The plot of Seirei Gensouki is quite frankly very unique. Rio leaves the typical school cliche trope behind after just the 1st volume becoming a traveler and immediately setting out on his journey, this stays a recurring strong point in the series until around volume 16 or 17, where he officially joins a nation after careful consideration.
Single handedly one of the most interesting things about this story is how Rio often manages to deal with threats while exploring the world, and feeding himself and the viewer more info about the history of various nations, spirits, and nobility. Whether it's Beltrum, The Spirit Folk, The Karasuki Kingdom or The Galarc Kingdom, the world is full of rich history and the way they tie into certain events pertaining to our cast of characters is always interesting to see. If this aspect alone interests you, I think you will have a very good time reading this series so don't hesitate to give it a shot! Anyways, moving on to my next point the power system.
The next thing I find to be incredibly interesting is the power system of the series, which is split into 2 predominate categories. Magic and the superior Spirit Arts. Magic or Sorcery is a technique that manipulates magic essence and spell formulae to cause a variety of phenomena to occur, Sorcery is activated by pouring magic essence into a spell formula. With spell formulae being magic that can alter the world.
Subsequently, Spirit Arts is the technique which manipulate ode to impart one's will and desired image onto mana, causing phenomena that alters the world around the user. The differences between the 2 power systems are incredibly vast and interesting despite having technically similar results. There is also a ton of interesting discussions to be had about how spell formulae were created by the Six Wise Gods and imparted into certain families. It's seriously a genius system Yuri Kitayama made, and if you enjoy fantasy series for their well developed and interesting power systems I HIGHLY recommend giving this series a read for even that alone. I promise, you won't regret it! Ahhh crap hope I don't run out of text space, moving on!
Last and not least, we have cons. No series is without it's flaws and naturally, what is considered a con within a series is entirely subjective so your views on that may differ from my own. But I will briefly touch up on what I consider to be weak points of the series as of volume 21 which is as far as I have currently read.
Surprised? While this is one of the strong points of the series, I believe it can just as easily be a weak point to others. For starters, while Rio is a great character, he is at times a very cliche woman magnet and nice guy. Now, while I personally think this is well deserved and fine (I mean have you seen Rio's later CG's? That guys hot no homo) I can definitely see how some people would dislike this, especially since the series is very much a harem like series where the girls do tend to fawn over him.
However, that is not to say Rio is a cliche harem MC. He doesn't blush over every single little interaction and his internal struggle with himself and the nature of his revenge driven goal does mean he tends to distance himself from the girls, which to some people can be annoying (though after killing Lucius in the events of volume 14 he has slowly focused more on his connections with the ladies) so definitely expect way more growth there in later volumes! The series is at volume 26 currently! Next!
This is mostly a continuation of the previous con, which is how relationships between the characters develop. Again, this is a harem like series and at times it can definitely show when the series is shying away from the action or worldbuilding. Some of the girls have a very well built up and properly explained way of how they came to grow together and follow or depend on Rio. Others, have less development and can seem as if they're just there for the sake of falling for him. While it isn't literally every girl in the series that gets damp below the waist for our boy, it is certainly a decent percentage of them, so those of you that aren't super into harem stuff of this kind. You have been warned, and finally!
Yeah...I'm sorry, I can't really think of any other major con that's fault lies in the series itself however, while this applies to more than just Seirei I will 100% say man...having to wait for volume releases can really be a pain! Man...I remember when volume 18 came out and they left us with the cliffhanger for that lol. It was rough waiting 3 months, so yeah...those of you starting the series after the making of this review have a whole lot of stuff to sit through so I wouldn't worry. 26 volumes and 22 volumes if you consider reading from volume 4 (which I would recommend as the latest starting volume into the series since the anime does a REALLY horrible job at adapting around that segment, more info on that link here)
Anyways, that is more or less it phew...can't believe I was able to type all that and still have room for this lol. There is more I would like to add, such as villains which I believe to be a pro (Lucius and Reiss are good one's) and other antagonists who while opposing the MC aren't exactly "villains" such as Erika who is again in my opinion the best antagonist in the story as of current. Anyways, for those who somehow managed to read until the very end, I hope I was able to convey the positives and negatives of the series! And would be immensely grateful if I can get even a single person to check out and enjoy this series half as much as I did. Anyways, that's all from me cya guys in the next review!
11.5 out of 15 users liked this review
