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Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Light Novel #2

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest, Vol. 2

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After being summoned to a new world and thrown down into the depths of hell, Hajime Nagumo met Yue and together they conquered the Great Orcus Labyrinth. The pair was planning on taking it easy on the surface for a little bit, but a meeting with the bunny girl Shia Haulia throws a wrench into those plans. She has the peculiar power to see the future, and according to her, Hajime's the one saving her family in her visions! Hajime was planning on refusing, but it appears she might be able to help him on his quest to return home. And so, the adventure continues in Reisen Gorge.

380 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2015

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416 people want to read

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Ryo Shirakome

78 books113 followers

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5 stars
936 (49%)
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539 (28%)
3 stars
313 (16%)
2 stars
86 (4%)
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28 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
Profile Image for Cecille.
240 reviews2 followers
December 21, 2021
I don't like this new Hajime at all! And I don't like this new gag-a-minute focus where half the wordcount seems to be focused on punching down on someone (usually the ditzy bunny girl that joins the main cast). I thought the first book was funny on how earnestly it seemed to take it's ridiculous male power fantasy setup, but now that the book is trying to be funny, it just isn't. And worse still, the power fantasy bits don't land as hard when your protagonist is already a gruff, cold Punisher-type who can kill most anything with ease.

Oh, and there's also a transphobic joke side character thrown in, y'know, because this is a funny book.

The caustic sense of humor, mood whiplash, and largely static main cast reminds me more of 00s webcomics than something like a Konosuba, or even a Familiar of Zero. Good on ya if you're into that sort of vibe, but I find it and this book exhausting.
Profile Image for Patrícia⁷.
1,071 reviews117 followers
April 8, 2024
Rating: Ugh

Ok, so. This second volume made me mad, mad, mad.

I get it. Hajime is an anti-hero. That is fine.

But does he have to be an emotional and physical abuser as well? I kinda understand it was supposed to be somewhat comedic, but it's just abuse and disgusting too. It doesn't work. There is no excuse.

And then the girl falls for him? What? I will just keep reading this piece of garbage until the end to see if it has ANY redeeming qualities. Really liked the first book but this is getting on my nerves. Who thought this was ok?

Hajime could have been cold and pragmatic and ruthless without being an abuser.

After finishing: still think there was awful abuse in this book.

Plus the plot? It was horrible and sincerely clownish. It felt totally like reading an anime plot, except the gags were not funny.

Done with the series I don't think it will get better. The difference from the first book was staggering.
Profile Image for Tarl.
Author 25 books81 followers
August 20, 2020
Much like the first book, the second book in this series is sheer power fantasy, and I love it for it. Unlike a lot of other power fantasies, there is something that just works with this book. Despite the protagonist being mean, you see genuine moments where he cares for his companions and their situations. Despite being over powered, you see moments in this book where he is forced to think about things rather than blowing them apart with his guns. Also, you get to see how he interacts with other people who aren't human and who are suffering at the hands of humans.

All in all, there was a lot I enjoyed in this book. The only thing that kind of bothered me was the section with him training the rabbit-people. In the end, he completely messes them up, and turns them into something that while terrifying and somewhat glorifying on the power trip level, also would completely mess up the world he was isekaied into. (not that this isn't a problem for other isekai novels as well, hence the wonderful book Isekai Rebuilding Project: Volume 1) I will even go so far as to say that as uncomfortable as I was with how things went in the anime with the rabbit-people, the novel makes it end up far, far worse. Basically turning them into heartless murderers. This isn't to say I enjoyed who they were before, but this is dark. Very dark.

But in the end, I still really enjoyed this novel, and look forward to reading more in the series. If you are looking for unrestrained power fantasies with a harem undertone (and very implied sex), this is the series for you!
Profile Image for Craig Schorling.
2,340 reviews11 followers
August 25, 2025
There were some parts of this that I did enjoy. The action was decent and I liked the small segment with the rest of the class. However, Hajime was just annoying and obnoxious in this one. I enjoy banter and conflict but He was just a prick in this one. Also, it leaned way too heavy into the ecchi stuff. There would be a battle and the action is ramping up and then we need to have crotches and boobs interrupt a fight. This was rather persistent. This would have been more enjoyable if the balance of all these elements would have been better. I will be taking a break from this series and wait to come back to book 3 if at all.
Profile Image for Ridho Febriansa.
90 reviews1 follower
January 14, 2021
tl;dr 5 out of 5, it has major changes compared to the first volume.
don't worry, I will try my best not to spoil lot of thing from the main story.

little shout out before the actual review, HEY I DIDN'T THINK I COULD REMEMBER ALL OF THIS STORY FROM THE ANIME ADAPTATION?!

cover, rabbit girl wearing only bikini?!
please welcome to the new character, Shia? Shea? idk because both Hajime and Yue have nickname for her and I'm kinda stick with her nickname instead of her own name.

this new character, is extremely, making everything more interesting. I love their interaction, it feels so lively and natural that sometimes I giggle a lot between pages. I'm looking forward to see their interaction again.

hey, isn't that this guy who put 3 out of 5 for the previous volume? yes, you heard me right.
now I could say properly, please bear with the 1st volume because you will see interesting thing in the 2nd volume. even the author himself said that 2nd volume gave different atmosphere compared to 1st volume, and I am agree with him.

Second volume gives out more comedy and heart-warming feeling compared to bold hatred in the 1st volume. and don't worry guys, 2nd volume is more family friendly compared to the 1st one. but perhaps I still won't recommend you read it boldly in public reading the first pages, because the illustration there is dangerous.
Profile Image for Latty Tesoro.
199 reviews11 followers
July 1, 2022
Before I get into it, let me first start by saying that my review is solely based on my thoughts as a reader, and not that of a professional.

Honestly, I read half the book and skimmed the rest which was very difficult for me because I hate to mark a book as DNF. Thank god the anime adaptation did a good job with Shea’s character because she was intolerable at best in this novel. Hajime and Yue were no better but to each their own I guess, this is where my journey ends with the novel series Book 1 was a lot more fun and enjoyable and I look forward to the continued anime series.
1,452 reviews26 followers
December 30, 2018
Hajime and Yue have conquered the first labyrinth dungeon, but their troubles are only getting started. Once they're finally free, they run into bunny-girl Shea, who's fleeing for her life. Although Hajime isn't thrilled about it, they eventually join forces, as Shea may be able to help him find the next dungeon. He plans to conquer all the dungeons, learn their ancient magic, and somehow get himself home.

Shea is the most annoying character in this book. Her willful misreading of every single situation to conform to the way she wants it to be has the makings of an extreme villain. But of course she's supposed to be comic relief.

"Please don't talk about me like I'm dense or something. In fact, why don't you learn to read the mood instead? You're always trying to twist every situation into an opportunity to satisfy yourself."


At least Hajime gets it.

I don't find her funny, I find her insufferable. And since the whole book is about her, more or less, that made a good deal of this one hard to read through since I mostly kept hoping something, somewhere, would finally kill her.

At least the new dungeon was more amusing. This time Hajime, Yue, and Shea are challenging a dungeon built by a real sadist, whose annoying traps are much worse than the monsters they faced previously.

And there were some bits of genuine humor.

"Did you get her?!"
"Shea, anytime anyone says that the enemy's alive."


Overall, this book firmly cements the series as going the harem route, which is a shame (Hajime's opinion, once again, is firmly discarded by absolutely everyone---what Shea wants, Shea won't stop until she gets). I plan to go on long enough to see Hajime's eventual reunion/confrontation with his classmates, but I disliked a huge amount of this particular book. I rate this book Neutral.

See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....
5 reviews
July 16, 2020
As someone who started their journey with Arofureta by watching the anime, then reading manga then reading the books I really expected not to like this book. I'm not a huge fan of Shea so since I new that she'll be coming along didn't really made me excited but since I loved the first one I decided to continue my journey with this series, and now I'm really glad that I did.
I was pleasantly surprised with the pacing and the choices the author made. I loved the first scene after they made out of the Ocurus Labyrinth when they saw the sunlight for the first time, and I enjoyed the small nuances that were brought to Shea's character and her relationship with Yue and Hajime, the comradeship development was really enjoyable. I also liked how little time they spent in the second Labyrinth, in my opinion that was a really smart choice.

Some of my favorite quotes:

It was the light of the outside world. Sunlight. The light Hajime had spent the last few months, and Yue had spent the last few centuries, craving.

“...Hmm. Maybe she’s an evil rabbit?”
Hajime and Yue had a casual conversation while they watched the bunny girl run for her life.

Even MasterCard couldn’t buy what he needed here.

“...Don’t worry. Together we’re stronger than anyone.” Those were the same words he’d said back in Orcus’ room. They’d hold nothing back against anything that stood against them, even if it was the whole world. As long as they had each other’s backs, they’d be stronger than anyone.

He wanted to stay someone she could be proud of. In short, he wanted to look cool in front of the girl he loved.

“I can’t believe you guys are sleeping so peacefully... We’re in the middle of one of the Seven Great Labyrinths, you know?” He whispered softly with a smile on his face.

“Seriously, what do you even see in a guy like me that you’re willing to follow me all the way out here?” He looked down at her with surprising tenderness as he said that.

“I’m glad I was born a monster.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Casey.
678 reviews12 followers
June 19, 2019
3½... maybe 3 3/4s stars rounded up. It would have been a solid 4 except for the bonus material. You really don't need to insert all this sexual crap as extra stories or bonus material. It isn't graphic or anything, it's just every time you turn the page sexual innuendo or flat out talk of it. Just isn't necessary. If you want to skip the bonus stuff after the main-line ends I don't think you'd be missing much.

Okay, so now to the main story (which has enough sexual innuendo but at least it isn't every page or every other page). This book focuses again on Hajime and Yue with a new addition, rabbitgirl -- Shea! There is a brief interlude about his former classmates and how many of them have been coping (or not coping) with Hajime's "death". But if you blink you may miss it. The focus is on our trio and their adventures finding and clearing another dungeon. It almost seemed too short to clear another dungeon, but at least it wasn't broken into two or three volumes to get there. And as it was a wholly different experience it mostly works.

On the whole -- I am enjoying it. Hajime, Yue and now Shea are kinda OP -- I still enjoy their battles and the creative ways to use their powers to get things done.

Verdict -- If you like isekai and some fan service, Arifureta has enough of a different take to be worth checking out.
38 reviews1 follower
January 30, 2022
So I picked this up on the kindle edition as something silly, irreverent and a bit of a laugh to ward of the January blues. I'd read book 1 last year so knew exactly what I was getting into; and even if I was not sure then one look at the cover would make it clear. This is never going to be a work of high literature and I was not expecting it to be.

For me though it is a damned entertaining read. Even though there is, ironically, a proper background story here which is actually quite sinister and clever; this book does not take itself too seriously. I am not well versed in the genre to know if this is a parody of the genre or not but if it isn't then it certainly couldn't be. We have the start of a harem, overpowered characters and a bunny girl wielding a warhammer and is best described as a pneumatic airhead. If that is not a trope then I do not know what is.

The thing that surprised me with this one was that the author actually doesn't rely on the overpowered element. Instead the combat scenes are described relatively sparsely and instead the character interaction held the focus. I wasn't expecting this so I actually found this far more enjoyable than on the surface I would.

Perfect palette cleanse for the January blues and after reading some far more substantive novels.
Profile Image for Hisham El-far.
452 reviews11 followers
June 19, 2019
This is another Isekai light novel series.

This particular volumeis ok.

Not just 1 or 2 ordinary everyday people summoned to another world - but an entire school classroom of students AND their teacher!

There's also the added twist that the main character is the odd one out and had absolutely average stats and skills compared to his classmates.

Things swiftly went from bad to worse for our main protagonist in spectacular fashion, and in the previous volume the main character went through absolute hell - becoming insanely powerful in the process.

In this volume he and Yue meet more characters and stumble through more adventures in search of other Labyrinths.

This book is well paced. This being a Light Novel of a Manga series, there are a few of the usual let downs - namely occasional fan service moments. But the story is more than strong enough to make you overlook these.

Volume 2 is ok, but not quite as good as volume 1.

3 out of 5.
Profile Image for Karla Schneider.
765 reviews22 followers
November 14, 2018
His personality is not capitalist or efficient, it's just repulsive. It's not a bad personality to have if there is only one Heroine and she gets character development. But she doesn't, and it's a Harem so his attitude of indifference is not helping. Also the common mistakes of this spurge of "Other World" light novel are appearing; tiny spoiler, there's almost ZERO contact with the demon race for the first 5 books; there's no clearly defined system for the skills, levels, and professions of this world; and the main character being unintelligent is a serious no go for ANY plot. Constantly plastered with a constipated face, makes a ruckus in town to draw unnecessary attention to his party, and his inability to make decisions even if it's to help others for IMMEDIATE social and material gain due to his anti-socialism marks him with a huge "R" for retard on his forehead.
Profile Image for Steven Ritch.
18 reviews
January 14, 2019
Another good book!

After the events of the first book I was curious on how they were going to keep things going in the same manner and while they didn't really do that, it didn't take away from the experience, in my opinion it made it better.

After clearing the Great Orcus Labyrinth Hajime and Yue are finally free of the abyss and are back on the surface. Here they meet a Rabbit girl by the name of Shea. This is where we see the change in tone from the completely no nonsense seriousness of volume 1 to the more comedic volume 2. Which I think even though both are great I prefer the comedy more than the melodrama!

We meet new characters and go on a couple of exciting adventures, I honestly do feel like this book is better than the last and hope the series keeps up with that trend!

Looking forward to finishing the 3rd Volume!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
4 reviews
January 25, 2019
Hajime's journey continues. His troupe of two grows to three, on its way to becoming a harem. As he emerges from a conquered dungeon, he meets Shea, who entreats Hajime to help her save her village; however, Hajime's personality has gone through a shift. Gone is the boy that was so selfless that he sacrificed himself to save his classmates. Enter the overpowered adventurer with a single-minded goal of conquering all the dungeons in order to gain the powers to return home. He's ruthless and uncaring to the suffering of those that aren't in his circle of friends; his connection to Yue is absolute. At the close of the book, Shea's training engenders a feeling of respect from Hajime/Yue and she is allowed to join the party and help them conquer the second dungeon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Mandy.
443 reviews
August 19, 2018
There were really great moments and some not so entertaining moments when it came to this book. There are more good than bad.

Hajime and yue make it out of the labyrinth to meet a new character, Shea. She is a rabbitgirl.

She wasn't my favorite character, but she had her moments. My one pet peeve was the way she was treated by hajime. It was a case of it turning into verbal abuse a lot of the time. Was not fond of it at all.

Other than that the book was entertaining. I want found of the new labyrinth the entered. I liked the first one better.

Still, I will continue on to the third book.
1 review
October 28, 2018
Not as great as volume one, but still good.

Nice follow-up after the first volume and it’s nice to see Shea get more of the spotlight, though it’s lost some of its darker elements and doesn’t quite switch back to the heroes party as often as the first volume, because seeing them develop and trying to overcome their hardships is one of the highlights from in between story segments of the plot from the first volume.

Really enjoyed this more than I thought I would, compared to the manga,
And in comparison it has more detail.
255 reviews1 follower
March 28, 2024
Pretty much as bad as the previous volume. New character introduced just to get bullied constantly yet falls in love with the protagonist is not my favorite trope let's say. Which is sad for Shea because she's actually rather charming, but the chuuni harem story she's trapped in won't let her just want to be friends with the original duo. Other than that, the trap labyrinth got me as tired as the characters were, there was some cool action here and there but I'm more intrigued by what's happening to the rest of the class at this point.
Profile Image for 𝓘. 𖤝.
29 reviews
March 2, 2024
[ Arifureta (Vol 2) ]
⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟.5

I don’t have much to say for this review, really. I love this book. It took me forever to finish it because…well that’s just me, but, oh my god I love this series.

I will say this one didn’t have that UMPH that the first volume had, but maybe it’s because I’ve rewatched the anime like 5 times since then. Oh well.

I love Shea and I’m so happy this volume focuses on her joining Hajime and Yue.

SHEA I LOVE YOU. I also love you author <3 Ty for the story.
Profile Image for Bernard.
491 reviews6 followers
January 18, 2021
The conquering a dungeon routine gets old fast. Thankfully, there are a lot of other interactions that are actually interesting.

We meet bunny people and see how they develop with help from the main character. We start seeing much more of the world outside of the dungeon. A bunch of subplots start developing.

Not as good as the first book, but a solid second novel in the series.
Profile Image for David Anthony Beard.
238 reviews
April 23, 2021
I get enough.

This book continues the adventure of our heroes. There team is getting bigger and they explore another dungeon. Imam really glad I picked up the novels. They are alot better then the translated web version. There is alot extra stuff and better written. It is definitely a must to read the novel version.
46 reviews
September 22, 2021
Better after a rest

I don't remember what rating that I gave the first volume, but I do remember it being a nice extended version of the anime. This second volume is similar in that respect except things happen differently than the Anime. Not drastically different but it plays out better in the book. After reading this I also have more respect for Kaori.
Profile Image for Lee.
56 reviews
October 26, 2025
Este libro también me gusta bastante, me encanta la decadencia de Haulia y aunque en un principio no me agradaba Shea, me encanta su fuerza y determinación.
No me encanta que le den a un personaje la habilidad de ver el futuro y nunca la use, ps la uso para encontrar a Hajime y a Yue pero mas nada, igual este trio se vuelve uno de los mejores.
265 reviews5 followers
March 28, 2018
Great second book.

Very good continuation of the first book. Well written, with great characters and story. Humour, action and comedy are well written making this an entertaining reading.
8 reviews
July 26, 2019
Enjoyed the book, introduction of Shea was well done and adds a new positive/funny element to the story telling. Only problem is the inevitable harem but not a major annoyance. All in all enjoyable story to read
Profile Image for Major Flamboyant.
85 reviews
December 30, 2021
This one was actually more enjoyable and better written/translated. I had a better time with this one than the first volume. It's still nothing to write home about, and it is your typical Japanese light novel so don't expect expert prose or amazing plot.
15 reviews
December 16, 2022
DNF 55% ... This book is nothing like Book 1.

It went from a somewhat gritty litrpg in Book 1 to an extremely silly fall-on-your-face "comedy" with no litrpg or progressing elements.

It's like the author got replaced or just decided they would rather write silly garbage.
Profile Image for Suzanne Cook.
27 reviews
April 21, 2025
I hate writing titles

I do love reading your books. I have already seen a lot of the Anime on this but I am still enjoying reading it because books are always better. Thanks and keep writing.
69 reviews1 follower
July 21, 2017
More super strong action

Again, an isekai (another world) story that appreciates that hero's can be strong if thier enemies are just as. I loved it.
6 reviews
July 23, 2017
Fun read

The first book was amazing! This one is a lot of fun too; I look forward to the next one. The story is a little slow at some parts but still a fun read.
Profile Image for Lucia.
13 reviews
September 20, 2017
Significantly less entertaining than the first volume but still ok.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews

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