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My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's Manga #2

My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's Vol. 2

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Transported to a world of swords and sorcery, Akira and his class found themselves endowed with heroic powers -- but nothing was as it seemed. In a vicious betrayal, the king framed Akira for the murder of his own Knight Commander, Saran. Now Akira flees into the depths of a perilous labyrinth, following Saran's last order: to reach the bottom at any cost. Finding unexpected allies and enemies within those magical corridors, the Assassin sharpens his skills, waiting for the day he can take revenge!

164 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 25, 2019

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About the author

Matsuri Akai

14 books19 followers
Name (in native language): 赤井まつり

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5 stars
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210 (34%)
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94 (15%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
Profile Image for D E N Z.
365 reviews16 followers
October 17, 2020
Honestly, I don't know why I'm still reading this series..... I really find the pacing of it to be off, albeit the illustrations are great ngl.
Profile Image for Heather.
986 reviews70 followers
May 25, 2024
The plot didn't advance very far in this volume, but there were some new characters introduced and a little bit of worldbuilding added. Akira continues to face the labyrinth's challenges. I kind of enjoyed him cooking and eating the monsters he was defeating. He gained a new companion along for his mission, quite a likable one, and in the end there was a beautiful black cat. I'm very interested in this cat. It has some kind of magic symbol on its forehead. It's so pretty and drawn realistically. I'm hoping to see more of the cat than anything right now. lol!

Meanwhile, one of the school boys, Asahina, is introduced. He somehow, in some dreamlike state, figures out that the king and princess have everyone under a curse, and destroys some of the crystals. Then the actual hero, Satou, gathers up the ones whose curses have now been broken, and they set off to supposedly kill the demon king. I really like the new guy, but I honestly thought he was an elf native to the fantasy realm because of his super long hair. He's beautiful.

The art is so gorgeous. I wish something more had happened in this volume or we had gotten more backstory or progression... I like the new characters that were introduced, though, and it seems the next volume should be a lot more interesting. This one was a little bit filler-y, more buildup than story.
Profile Image for Mary Catelli.
Author 57 books201 followers
September 21, 2020
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volume.

As in, it opens with Akira level-grinding alone in the labyrinth. Learning things. And not entirely alone.

And, with his effective exile, the story splits. Tsukasa decides to leave the castle because of what he's learned, and six of the summoned students go with them. One of them recounts how he probably broke the curse on the six of them, sleepwalking.

More worldbuilding is revealed, and bits of the plotting going about them.
Profile Image for Jessica ❀.
572 reviews16 followers
March 9, 2025
Yeah, this is almost exactly like Solo Leveling lol. The same premise anyway. But that’s okay, it works and there are still many differences as well. This volume was entertaining, a lot of world building and a few new characters introduced. The pacing was a little overly quick, but I’m still enjoying it. On to the next.
Profile Image for Mark.
2,720 reviews261 followers
October 30, 2021
Akira continues to descend the labyrinth, boosting his stats and gaining new skills, as well as picking up a new companion. Meanwhile, back at the castle, Satou comes to a decision and a lot of the simmering tension kind of withers on the vine.

Well, that went pretty generic pretty fast, didn’t it? After the grand conspiracy and strange magicks that were pitting classmate against classmate from last volume, you’d hope that the book was about to lean into these secrets and shadows and our erstwhile assassin would bring things screaming into the light.

And this volume offers a hearty ‘nah’ to that and instead we get isekai dungeon adventure #4287. Even the whole ‘evil classmates’ thing was apparently too much tension for the story to stand and things get watered down there really quickly.

It isn’t all bad, just depressingly predictable. Akira nearly perishes from exhaustion at one point, so the author deus ex’s his machina but good. Although the ‘skill gain’ afterward seems to be a wry comment on this and was appreciated as such.

I actually really enjoyed Akira’s backstory, which is a bit more fleshed out than I was expecting and gives his forced transport to another world a little more weight than similar books would bother offering. I like a little thought behind things like this.

The way this led to his unexpected and low-key friendship with Asahina was actually the high point of this instalment for me. The latter gets introduced in this volume via another mystery where the outcome might not be the best idea.

He, however, is a reasonably solid addition and feels like that one friend who’s the go-between for two people who don’t necessarily like one another all that much. No points for guessing who that refers to, but it still adds a little more to the brewing rivalry.

The other big addition is the elf girl, Amelia, which feels like the start of Akira getting a harem going, but we’ll see. It’s never the wrong note in my book to have outcasts coming together to make their own family, and there’s some of that here, but Amelia’s defining characteristic thus far is ‘pointy ears’ and that’s largely standing in for her personality too. There are hints of an interesting backstory, but not enough answers given.

Also, with Akira’s dad having vanished years ago, Akira having similar powers to the first hero, and said first hero being Japanese and establishing a small country that grows rice and has a hot springs (applause to the author for having the audacity to just say, ‘here’s a hot springs, deal with it’)?

I’ll guarantee right here and now that the first hero’s Akira’s absentee father. It’s not a great turn, frankly, because it really sucks the air out of the whole ‘Akira struggles with providing for the family’ if his dad had no choice in the matter. Anyway, try and look surprised if that turns out to be right.

The sneaky king gets a page or two of time and the curse used on the students is elucidated on a bit, but gets de-fanged so fast it isn’t too important. Taking this interesting stuff away to do what every other book in this genre does is a huge, huge wrong turn.

I mean, once Setuo, the hero, takes off from the castle with some students who are freed, where does that leave things? Try not to worry too much about the other cursed kids though, since our ostensive hero cares not enough to make a throwaway line about it. Akira at least had a good reason to get the heck out of Dodge.

Also, in case you needed one more cliche to hang your hat on, it’s pretty likely the demons aren’t evil. At least they had the decency to deliver this message via a talking cat.

3 stars - it isn’t utterly awful, but this is literally exactly what I was scared of when I read that really good first book. What was unique appears to be mostly cast off so we can add in the women and get the skills to pay everybody’s bills. I may keep going, I would like to see if I have truly nailed all this story’s beats ahead of schedule, but my enthusiasm has been well and truly dimmed.
Profile Image for Azbaqiyah.
982 reviews
June 21, 2025
Things are heating up in My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s Vol. 2 🔥

After being framed by the king for murdering his commander, Akira escapes into the dungeon. As instructed by his late commander, he must now conquer all 100 floors to survive.

Along the way, he meets Amelia and a new demon-like allies 🗡️ Meanwhile, a few of his old friends manage to break free from their curse and are now on a mission to find Akira... and defeat the Demon King 👑💀

It’s getting darker, deeper, and definitely more intense!
Profile Image for Rebecca.
4,217 reviews69 followers
May 2, 2021
Yes, it's pretty standard isekai fantasy, and yes, I probably wouldn't have picked up this second volume if my library didn't have it, but it's still good enough to read, doesn't appear to hate women (Amelia the elf is great), and I'd read the source light novels if someone licensed them.
Profile Image for ˙⋆✮ Anny ✮⋆˙.
559 reviews299 followers
April 24, 2025
Nice 2nd volume, again, I loved the art! This is more on the action heavy side with a lot of dungeon fight scenes, and we also learn a bit about the past of the characters in the real world. I'm gonna stick with this series!
Profile Image for Sheepy .
2,567 reviews13 followers
June 21, 2024
The series continues to be really good, the slow information on the mcs classmates fits well with the flow of the main plot along with the introduction of new characters!

Again the art is really good, especially during the fight scenes

2024: I remember literally nothing from this volume! So I'm glad I decided to reread it before starting the new volumes I finally got, but this was a good volume also! Can't wait!!!
Profile Image for Sunread26.
1,286 reviews
May 9, 2024
Chronique complète :
https://sunread26.wordpress.com/2021/...

Extrait :
On se retrouve pour la suite de Je suis un assassin et je surpasse le héros avec Akira désormais en entraînement intensif dans le donjon de Kantynenn. Forcé de fuir suite aux manigances du Roi, et de la princesse, du royaume des humains, il doit désormais s’améliorer afin de pallier à tous ce qui pourra lui arriver… Si je devais résumé un peu plus ce qu’il se passe durant ce tome, je dirais plusieurs rencontres clés.

Le tome des rencontres en effet, car à par cela, il ne se passe pas grand chose, du moins, du côté d’Akira. Il s’entraîne encore et toujours dans le donjon, et finie par faire la rencontre du personnage en second plan sur la couverture du tome 1, en fin de tome, il y aura également une nouvelle rencontre, mais celle-ci sera sûrement plus décrite dans le prochain volume. Du côté de Tsukasa, le fameux « héros » du titre, les choses bouges un peu plus, sentant lui aussi que le roi et le princesse ne sont pas aussi bon qu’ils le prétendent, il fugue avec plusieurs de ses camarades qui ne sont plus sous enchantement. Mais surtout, il semblerait que quelqu’un d’autre soit capable de manipuler l’esprit des élèves, puisque c’est grâce à cela que plusieurs ont pu être libéré de l’envoutement.

Avec ce nouveau tome, on en apprend un peu plus sur le passé de nos personnages, notamment Akira, Tsukasa et Kyosuke qui se connaissent depuis longtemps semble-t-il. On apprend qu’Akira n’est pas vraiment du genre ouvert envers les autres, mais que grâce à sa sœur (de manière indirecte), il a pu devenir ami avec Kyosuke, celui-ci s’en veut d’ailleurs de ne pas l’avoir soutenu ou suivi l’ors du tragique évènement du tome précédent, car lui aussi était sous l’effet de l’envoutement. Malgré tout, il souhaite se racheter et pense qu’en suivant Tsukasa, il finira par retrouver Akira. Il possède lui aussi un sabre, complètement blanc, est-ce que celui-ci à un lien avec celui d’Akira qui est tout noir ?

[...]
Profile Image for LaPommequirougit.
1,261 reviews50 followers
January 9, 2021
https://lapommequirougit.com/2021/01/...

Je remercie les Éditions Doki doki pour l’envoi de cette lecture. Quel plaisir de retrouver ce manga et le personnage d’Akira dont je suis devenue complètement fan dès le premier tome !

D’ailleurs, en parlant d’Akira, ce dernier est dans de sales draps. En effet, alors qu’il était à deux doigts de découvrir ce que tramait le Roi, il va être injustement accusé du meurtre de la seule personne qui était son complice ici.

Akira n’a pas d’autre choix, il doit fuir. Il décide alors de se réfugier au fin fond d’un donjon. Là-bas, il va y affronter nombreux boss et essayer d’acquérir plus de force, d’arrêter de se reposer uniquement sur ses compétences. Mais là-bas, il va faire la rencontre d’une elfe qui répond au nom d’Amelia. Ce qu’il ne sait pas encore, c’est que sa rencontre avec cette dernière va lui changer la vie.

Le tome commence par un peu d’action et on est directement dans le bain dès le début. C’est ce que j’ai apprécié dans ce tome, mais en réalité, qu’est-ce que je n’ai pas apprécié ici ? Absolument rien ! J’aime vraiment beaucoup ce manga et ce tome me le confirme d’autant plus.

En bref, c’est un deuxième tome qui confirme ce que je disais déjà avec le premier, cet isekai est prometteur. J’ai l’introduction d’un nouveau personnage, même si on n’en apprend pas énormément sur cette dernière dans ce tome, mais je l’espère dans les suivants. Je suis très impatiente de lire le troisième opus, car j’aime vraiment de plus en plus ce manga !!!! 🙂
45 reviews2 followers
July 26, 2020
Short (spoiler)

While I enjoyed this volume it was pretty short. It read quickly and felt more like I read a chapter more than anything else.

Spoiler: Two characters were introduced, the hero leaves with some of his other classmates and our MC is leveling up in the dungeon - end of volume... You pretty much only see the hero leave the castle, and the MC fights two bosses, not much in-between either of those events, plus you meet two new characters without learning whole lot about them.

Anyway not much happend and would reccomend waiting for the next volume to be released before reading this one since it might leave you feeling dissatisfied. Also think the price is a bit high for what you are getting in this volume, but guessing it's because of the illustrations?

A gave this a five star rating because I still enjoyed it and want to support the author.
Profile Image for Sara.
1,322 reviews35 followers
December 28, 2020
Read more graphic novel reviews at www.graphiclibrary.org.

Akira has retreated back to the labyrinth his class went to in volume one, determined to gain maximum levels in as much as he can. He’s been in the labyrinth a month before he finds Amelia trapped inside a slime monster. She’s an elven warrior who has come to the labyrinth for the same reason, and the two decide to team up to defeat the most challenging monsters at the end of the labyrinth. Back in the castle, Kyosuke, another classmate whose class is samurai, wakes to find himself in the princess’s chamber, having just cut through six black crystals. He has no idea what he’s doing or what the crystals are until the next day when hero Tsukasa announces he’s going off to fight the demon king. The rest of the class ridicules him, all except six classmates, Kyosuke among them.

I’m really liking the RPG elements as a storytelling device. Akira is forced to train and grind in order to achieve the skills he needs, and he has to go through some difficult fights in order to strengthen his physical abilities without his magic. I kept waiting for Amelia to betray Akira like everyone else has so far, but it didn’t happen in this book. Now we have seven more of Akira's classmates who are no longer under the spell of the princess, but who's to say she doesn't put them back under her influence? Hopefully, her spells have a distance limitation and she can't do anything to them once they leave the castle. It'll be interesting to see their adventure paralleled with Akira and Amelia's.

Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 8-12
Profile Image for Perseus.
75 reviews
February 14, 2021
I'm not super keen on the elf. She's nice but not all that interesting. I really hope the author isn't shoe-horning her in here to force romance between her and Akira. She didn't leave much of an impression, as evidenced by the fact that I have already forgotten her name. I like Kyousuke; he was a nice addition to the cast and I want to see more of him, Akira, and Tsukasa together. I like their dynamic.
93 reviews2 followers
February 1, 2021
Good continuing

Like the way it continues from book one. Waiting for Akira and the hero party to join forces. The assassin, the hero and the samurai, good to see that the three of them has history together. Hoping that they join and fight together. Waiting for the next book. Thank you for the price reduction.
Profile Image for Andrea.
148 reviews
September 8, 2021
More and more this is giving me sword art online vibes and I am here for it. As one of my favorite animes, I am constantly on the lookout for similar type storylines.


I picked this up as a quick read after some of my bigger and darker fantasy reads, so it is a nice cleanser to the brain and a good break from 500+ page books.
2 reviews
July 21, 2020
Great new isakai

Great story and innovative premise hopefully Amazon doesn't decide to refuse to release the next one like they have been doing recently with some manga I'm definitely looking forward to the next book
Profile Image for Bookluvr7.
493 reviews5 followers
June 18, 2022
I thought this was a great second book in the series. I don’t think it was as good as the first because it didn’t have as much action. But still overall great book. Definitely will continue this series. 4/5 stars.
Profile Image for Lynnette.
972 reviews
April 4, 2025
Vol. 2

Akira goes to the labyrinth to get stronger! He has been accused of killing the Captain! He needs to go stronger! He meets an elf in the labyrinth and they become companions!
Profile Image for Alyssa.
3 reviews
July 23, 2020
Another manga!

I like the story because of fast pace. There are multiple characters developments. We will not know what happen next. Can't wait for the next one
Profile Image for J-Lynn.
1,355 reviews4 followers
September 9, 2020
With such a short book, it took me two days to read it because I wasn’t that interested in this installment. However, the ending has me pumped for the third book!
Profile Image for Kathleen.
3,523 reviews7 followers
June 1, 2021
Akira makes a new friend, and his old friends set out to find him!
7 reviews
July 1, 2021
Amazing

Vol 2 was so look ok good ! I could not put it down good thing in found this! On to the next vol.3
Profile Image for Lindsay.
2,908 reviews95 followers
July 30, 2023
I like the trope subversion here with the hero. It's a nice change.
Profile Image for Christine Joy.
852 reviews9 followers
January 28, 2024
I think it was okay. The pacing is odd, and the characters aren't memorable. The relationships in the series are weird too. They're already established, and there no real bonding. The art is nice
Profile Image for Jourdy.
758 reviews1 follower
August 28, 2024
The first hero being Japanese and looking a lot like our protag? How interesting
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews

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