The Spring 2020 Manga Guide

Hero Life of a Self-Proclaimed Medicore Demon

What's It About? 

The Demon King is the most powerful demon in all the land. Their stature is unmatched, and they rule over their world of Jinn and Vampires with a firm hand. A school to train the next generation in the art of magic is held inside their castle. And though these young people may be talented, none can rival the Demon King's raw aptitude. Or can they? Enter a young farmboy named Chrono Alkon. In his first test, he creates the largest student house in the academy's history. Though he projects an unassuming front, his power is massive. So massive it seems he is destined to seize the throne from the one who it currently belongs to (a woman despite the title of Demon King). Chrono is then enlisted to hunt down the magical artifacts hidden in the residences of previous Demon Kings. Will Chrono be able to live a normal life as a student (after all, he has a crush on a Vampire from a prestigious family)? Or will his power and destiny isolate him?

The Hero Life of a (Self-Proclaimed) "Mediocre" Demon! is based on the light novel series by Shiroichi Amaui. This manga adaptation features characters designs by Tamagonokimi and art by Konekoneko. It is published by Kodansha Comics and is available for $7.99 digitally. The original light novels are currently uavailable in the United States.

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Is It Worth Reading?

Faye Hopper

Rating: I guess, let's talk about titles for a second—

You know, I understand that the overly-long, grandiloquent titles for these light novel fantasy things are, like, a genre staple…but y'all have to understand, the eternal game of ‘do I type the full title out at some point in my review’ or ‘do I shorten the title to a key phrase’ is not a fun one. And can we dissect this a little? What are the roots of this trend? Did What do you do at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us? come out and the light novel gods suddenly decide 'hey this is neat and not at all extremely obnoxious for people trying to talk about the damn thing; decree from on high, no light novel shall go without a title of at least ten words to describe the premise'? I must know, I have to know, because this has been my world for the past two years and to not know one's history and yet to be ruled over by the world it hath wrought is equivalent to—

…So Hero Life of a Lame Demon Person or Monarch or something is the story of a guy. He's a generic everyman and yet he is super powerful. Girls like him for some reason. There's an uncomfortable thing where he has the ability to, in the book's terms, ‘enslave people’. They are bound by conjured chains, if he issues a command they must obey, and they cannot be away from him for long. Of course, the ability is only ever used on women (who don't mind because they just like him so darn much; and it's all good, he doesn't even know he's using the power!).

It's really gross and bad. There are a lot of exposition dumps to explain in laborious detail how things work and how spells are cast. And…uh, yeah. I didn't like it. It was kind of boring and occasionally quite skeevy.

…So back to the question of titles, I must wonder, what is the goal of a title? Because on the one hand it is an extension of marketing, but on the other it is the ultimate indication of what a story is. Which is more important? Because in terms of the latter, a lot of these titles could be viewed as successful in the sense that they do summarize what the book in question is about. And yet, they are mouthfuls that barely stick in the mind. Or…could it be that these lengthy, winded titles are an indicator of a self-serious mentality where a writer wastes a lot of words on something totally tangential to what they are actually supposed to be writing about? Hm. Couldn't be. And another thing—

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Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Oh, The Hero Life of a (Self-Proclaimed) "Mediocre" Demon!, you were so close. Being a better book was within touching distance of your metaphorical fingertips, and yet you decided to go down one of the more distasteful routes a story can take. Yes, you decided to bring in a “domination” spell so that two of the attractive young female characters would become the hero's slaves.

Obviously that's not going to be a deal breaker for all readers, but it is one of the more contentious tropes in fantasy fiction, and its use here is largely compounded by the fact that it really wasn't necessary. Chrono is a nice enough protagonist that both of the girls in question already like him quite a lot, meaning that the author could have worked out a different reason for them to end up either scantily or unclad in his bed each morning without resorting to this. Chrono is aghast at what's happened and at this point the need to search previous demon kings' dungeons for an item that can undo the curse (or rather, repair the item that can undo the curse) is a decent way to move the plot forward, although again, Liza (the current demon king) had already provided one in the fact that the school she runs and that the other characters attend needs more money, which they get from plundering said dungeons. So really the only thing this is doing is providing some questionable comedy.

That's a shame, because without it, this is a blandly likeable book. It has a bit of a Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Ended Up in a Starter Town vibe to it, with Chrono, a member of the rare jinn race, coming to the demon school from his very rural hometown with zero idea of how insanely powerful he is. The main difference, apart from the demon thing, is that everyone keeps telling Chrono that he's amazing, he just can't quite wrap his head around it. In fact, he's a little disappointed, because what he really wanted was to make friends his age, but with his powers, that's not really happening…and now with the domination spell, he can't even be sure his first friend wants to be around him on his own merits. It's nothing particularly new or special, but it is comfortably enjoyable as Chrono and the ladies explore dungeons and spring traps. The art goes along with that, being nice to look at and easy to read without breaking any boundaries, and the translation is very smooth and readable. It's just got that one obnoxious thing going on, but if that doesn't bother you and you just want an easy fantasy, this fits the bill.