The Fall 2024 Manga Guide

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman

What's It About? 

“I recommended Master Beryl as the knights' special instructor.” In a village in the remote countryside, Beryl Gardinant meticulously runs a fencing dojo. One day, he's paid a visit by his former pupil Allusia, now grown into the kingdom knights' commander, and Beryl decides to follow her to the royal capital to become a special instructor for the knights. As he's pulled into reunions with his accomplished and eager apprentices, what does fate have in store for Beryl?

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman has an art by Kazuki Satō, original story by Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima, and English translation by Matthew Alberts. This volume was lettered by Dustin Kim. Published by Yen Press (September 17, 2024).

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Is It Worth Reading?

Jean-Karlo Lemus
Rating:

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up, and Now They Won't Leave Me Alone has a novel twist for one of these fantasy manga with the absurdly long names: our protagonist, Beryl, is an old man well into his 40s (at least). It's novel how the story plays him up as the man-behind-the-man to a gaggle of figures renowned for their power across the kingdom, even if it's all in service of establishing a harem of nubile swordswomen for him. Beryl strikes you as a particularly somber character. He's humble to a fault: preferring to inherit his family's dojo in the middle of nowhere, utterly convinced that his students have far greater right to renown and acclaim than he does. We see a few flashbacks to his younger days teaching these students, but I wish they were more of a focus; these moments speak of a tenderness to Beryl that we otherwise don't get to see while his students bicker over whose house he should live closest to.

Similarly, it's a bit disappointing that there isn't much swordplay. The one fight we get is impressive, albeit one that needs constant exposition from bystanders. And yet, I want to see more. What is this man's philosophy behind teaching? What is the philosophy behind his particular sword style? There are a million and one “inspirational” movies about humdrum teachers changing the lives of students, giving them purpose, and guiding them into appreciating academia. The formula works, and for good reason—it's cathartic to see misfits find a surrogate family. It's a shame that so much of the emotional bonding between Beryl and his students is background material, let's actually see why his teachings are so important to them.

The least interesting thing about Old Country Bumpkin--the harem—is sadly the thing we get the most of, while the most interesting thing—the actual character and his feelings, both internal with regards to his relationship to swordplay and teaching as well as external towards his students—is sadly given short change. The swordplay (what little there is) promises some great action, but the characterization isn't quite there. But this series might hold greater promise. Mildly recommended.

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Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Please check off all of the tropes that apply:
√ middle-aged character who is referred to as if he's eighty
√ more than two hot young women infatuated with said character
√ aforementioned character is the women's first love
√ guy who thinks he's average but is insanely powerful
√ teacher with outsized influence on opposite-sex students
√ swordswoman who keeps vital areas exposed for fanservice reasons
√ bland fantasy world
__ RPG elements

Please consult the above checklist as an objective measure of whether or not From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman is right for you. Be advised that overdosing on genre tropes can result in unrealistic expectations about other forms of fiction and/or real life. If you think you may have consumed too much of one trope, see your librarian for remedy reading in a different area of fiction. Once symptoms have abated, you may return to your preferred tropes. Please read responsibly.

As you may have guessed, there isn't much that's particularly new or interesting about this title. That doesn't make it bad per se, just for a fairly specific audience, because at this point, stories about insanely powerful guys who think they're average and are beloved by scores of younger women are at least a dime a dozen. Again, this isn't a bad thing, especially for readers who enjoy it, and this one manages to distinguish itself by not using a game-based ranking system. There's an adventurers' guild but thus far there are no mentions of S-rank adventurers or anything of the sort. That goes for the knightly order Beryl is being brought in to train; there are stronger and weaker fighters, and that's just how everyone refers to them. It's a bit of a throwback in this sense, and a nice one.

The rest of the book unfolds pretty much as you'd expect. Country swordsman Beryl, who is probably around forty or forty-five but talked about like he's ninety-seven, is pulled from his rural dojo by Allusia, a former student. Now a knight commander, Allusia is determined to do two things: bring Beryl into the spotlight she firmly believes he deserves, and marry him. That last thing is one she's been keen on since she was a teenager, and she doesn't appear to be giving up any time soon. Fortunately for her, Beryl's father, the actual dojo head, is on the same page, and he forces Beryl to take Allusia up on the offer of employment, while tacitly agreeing with her marriage aspirations. So off Beryl goes to the big city, where everyone underestimates him except his four nubile former students.

In all fairness, this volume feels like a lot of setup, but it sadly backs that up with the creeping feeling that we're missing a lot from the source novel. It's not a great sign that the manga opens with a brief synopsis of the past, indicating that yes, things are being cut, and the whole book feels like pieces are missing. It's hard to develop any attachment to characters who are cardboard cutouts, and that's what we've got here. While I'd hesitate to say that this is strictly for novel fans who want to see the story play out in pictures, I'm also not entirely sure that that isn't who the intended audience is. This feels like the barest bones of the story, and while it isn't terrible, it isn't all that good either.

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.