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If the RPG World Had Social Media... Manga #1
If the RPG World Had Social Media... Manga, Vol. 1
When a fantasy world has fully functioning smartphones and internet (for some reason), it’s only natural for its sixteen-year-old shut-in of a Hero to declare war via text message on the Demon Lord who has abducted the kingdom’s princess. But is it natural for that Demon Lord to be an innocent teenage girl who hates conflict?!! And somehow, this hopelessly weak, level one Hero ends up texting that overly pure Demon Lord, her cheerful Demon Generals (who are all smitten with her), and a kidnapped princess who is seriously falling for her captor as he sets off on a perilous journey to meet his online cru—er, mortal enemy face-to-face!
162 pages, Paperback
First published November 27, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 18, 2021
Better than The Brave-Tuber, Vol. 1, but not by much. A story has to live past its conceit, and unlike in Brave-Tuber, the conceit's existence isn't completely pointless here. Just almost completely pointless. Apparently the original "novel" was told in the form of texts, a kind of epistolary novel in tweets. "Hero"--given no other name--is so shy he communicates with people right next to him via text, which is kind of cute as a character trait, but also only exists to support the conceit.
Other than that, you've got the millionth iteration of a "video game-like fantasy world," with nothing to distinguish it from the 999,999 others, and a raft of characters that I'm certain I'll forget five minutes after I've sent this review out (one hint that that is the case: I can remember only one or two of their names right after having read the book). A comedy that didn't make me chuckle--much less laugh--once.
Another one from my partner's library.
Other than that, you've got the millionth iteration of a "video game-like fantasy world," with nothing to distinguish it from the 999,999 others, and a raft of characters that I'm certain I'll forget five minutes after I've sent this review out (one hint that that is the case: I can remember only one or two of their names right after having read the book). A comedy that didn't make me chuckle--much less laugh--once.
Another one from my partner's library.
June 25, 2021
Yet another RPG world, yet another hero after a demon lord. Amidst all that, this world also has social media and you might think that might make a difference, but one person’s telepathy is another’s smartphone as far as I’m concerned.
As we open on our hero leaving his mom on read and then move to him deciding to leave on his epic quest because the king sends him a pic of the princess, followed by some serious flaming of the Demon Lord like an online punk, I was really quite ready to run screaming from this book.
However, once you recognize the depressing truth of a 16-year-old acting like a horny idiot online and that the book blows through pretty much all of its ‘social media’ jokes (get ready for that ‘left on read’ joke to come back again and again), the book is forced to actually try and, in doing so, kind of won me over.
The Demon Lord being a girl is nothing new, but it’s pretty funny how they justify the main cast, Hero excepted, being all female by her being super powerful and a serious feminist who banished all the chauvinist male demons (to the dismay of the hero’s father).
As the Demon Lord and Hero start their believably young-brained and kind of sweet text relationship, aided by both of them being very shy in real life (explosively so, in the Demon Lord’s case, which is an old joke I was very happy to see back again), it’s turns out this actually has a little more heart to it than I thought it would. Not much, but it’s there.
By the time all the demon generals show up, the Hero has assembled a full crew of cute girls, but he’s mostly loyal (there’s definitely some Tenchi-era sensibility to this one) to his burgeoning relationship with his supposed foe. It’s not his fault he’s completely hopeless (no really, it’s not).
And I am not going to lie, the running gag of how much the hero dies is actually pretty funny (the poor guy takes a critical hit from a slime!). Once he starts texting from his coffin it achieves a lunacy that befits a story you shouldn’t be taking too seriously.
Mix in an adorable cat girl (light novel adaptations are killing it in the cat girl game lately) who is forced by the Demon Lord to talk in cat puns but forgets half the time, a masochistic vampire, and a tsundere angel and you basically have Konosuba with the serial numbers filed off. A bunch of goofy misfits who may not have much, but are starting to enjoy hanging around together.
Make no mistake, I laughed at this book more than once (I’ve never seen shibari as a punchline until this book) and I howled at one part where an incredibly haughty prince who yells the name of his sword with every attack gets the most hilariously drawn parting shot capped off by a Team Rocket joke.
It doesn’t all work - the Princess who suddenly decides that the Demon Lord is desirable because she’s female is one of the lamest yuri characters I’ve seen lately - there’s very little done with her besides ‘I’m gay, haha’. The hero can be a little much at times and the social media angle really just doesn’t add as much as you’d think.
3 stars though, all that being said. There’s a cute underlying story and while not everything gels together, I definitely feel like I’ll give this a second volume. It’s pretty breezy and, once it gets going (overpowered mom also rocks), it was enjoyable enough.
As we open on our hero leaving his mom on read and then move to him deciding to leave on his epic quest because the king sends him a pic of the princess, followed by some serious flaming of the Demon Lord like an online punk, I was really quite ready to run screaming from this book.
However, once you recognize the depressing truth of a 16-year-old acting like a horny idiot online and that the book blows through pretty much all of its ‘social media’ jokes (get ready for that ‘left on read’ joke to come back again and again), the book is forced to actually try and, in doing so, kind of won me over.
The Demon Lord being a girl is nothing new, but it’s pretty funny how they justify the main cast, Hero excepted, being all female by her being super powerful and a serious feminist who banished all the chauvinist male demons (to the dismay of the hero’s father).
As the Demon Lord and Hero start their believably young-brained and kind of sweet text relationship, aided by both of them being very shy in real life (explosively so, in the Demon Lord’s case, which is an old joke I was very happy to see back again), it’s turns out this actually has a little more heart to it than I thought it would. Not much, but it’s there.
By the time all the demon generals show up, the Hero has assembled a full crew of cute girls, but he’s mostly loyal (there’s definitely some Tenchi-era sensibility to this one) to his burgeoning relationship with his supposed foe. It’s not his fault he’s completely hopeless (no really, it’s not).
And I am not going to lie, the running gag of how much the hero dies is actually pretty funny (the poor guy takes a critical hit from a slime!). Once he starts texting from his coffin it achieves a lunacy that befits a story you shouldn’t be taking too seriously.
Mix in an adorable cat girl (light novel adaptations are killing it in the cat girl game lately) who is forced by the Demon Lord to talk in cat puns but forgets half the time, a masochistic vampire, and a tsundere angel and you basically have Konosuba with the serial numbers filed off. A bunch of goofy misfits who may not have much, but are starting to enjoy hanging around together.
Make no mistake, I laughed at this book more than once (I’ve never seen shibari as a punchline until this book) and I howled at one part where an incredibly haughty prince who yells the name of his sword with every attack gets the most hilariously drawn parting shot capped off by a Team Rocket joke.
It doesn’t all work - the Princess who suddenly decides that the Demon Lord is desirable because she’s female is one of the lamest yuri characters I’ve seen lately - there’s very little done with her besides ‘I’m gay, haha’. The hero can be a little much at times and the social media angle really just doesn’t add as much as you’d think.
3 stars though, all that being said. There’s a cute underlying story and while not everything gels together, I definitely feel like I’ll give this a second volume. It’s pretty breezy and, once it gets going (overpowered mom also rocks), it was enjoyable enough.
June 28, 2021
The hero (surprisingly named Hero!) has a billion curses on him and is stuck at level 1 with 1 HP. THANKFULLY, this RPG world has cell phones! So he talks to the Princess he's going to rescue via text, then DM's the Demon Lord to let him know he's coming for him - only to find out the Demon Lord is actually a cute girl! Who can't talk to boys, so her castle is filled with all women. Yeah, you know where this is going.
A digital ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss+ for review. All opinions are unbiased and my own.
Like this review?
Check out more of my reviews on my blog, Elley the Book Otter
A digital ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss+ for review. All opinions are unbiased and my own.
Like this review?
Check out more of my reviews on my blog, Elley the Book Otter
September 26, 2021
The title is a little misleading. It's not so much social media as it's just texting.
The story starts of extremely slow and almost borderline idiotic. It felt like it was trying to be too much of a comedy/parody of the fantasy Manga genre, where all the jokes were falling flat.
As the story progressed and we got more interaction between the leads, the story itself also progresses on quality and has me hoping to see where Hero and Demon Lord's romantic relationship goes next. Hopefully the next volume will be a huge step up in writing quality.
The story starts of extremely slow and almost borderline idiotic. It felt like it was trying to be too much of a comedy/parody of the fantasy Manga genre, where all the jokes were falling flat.
As the story progressed and we got more interaction between the leads, the story itself also progresses on quality and has me hoping to see where Hero and Demon Lord's romantic relationship goes next. Hopefully the next volume will be a huge step up in writing quality.
August 23, 2025
Very original story, beautiful art, and a world building that draps on cliche without being too much.
My only dispointment would be on the (too) heavy perverted jokes. A few would have been ok especially with certain characters (Nicoletta and the princess) or some misunderstanding, but adding too much (the father and the pictures asked by the hero) was off-character (I understand the hero is more "daring" by text but there is a limit to how much).
Otherwise great read. it's cute, light and funny. I highly recommend.
My only dispointment would be on the (too) heavy perverted jokes. A few would have been ok especially with certain characters (Nicoletta and the princess) or some misunderstanding, but adding too much (the father and the pictures asked by the hero) was off-character (I understand the hero is more "daring" by text but there is a limit to how much).
Otherwise great read. it's cute, light and funny. I highly recommend.
July 18, 2021
While this sometimes felt a tad disjointed, it was still a lot of fun. Nothing too special about it, but it amused me enough.
For Libraries: Loads of innuendo, but nothing to salacious for a teen collection.
For Libraries: Loads of innuendo, but nothing to salacious for a teen collection.
July 12, 2021
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was... terrible. I can't believe I forced myself through this one. Let's just say, a lot of this is very much fan service in written form but written very badly. We also didn't need to constantly be reminded of the Hero's weakness every other page. It got super annoying on top of everything else that was super cringy. I kept thinking it would get a tiny bit better but... no such luck. Sorry, but not for me and I won't be continuing this series.
This was... terrible. I can't believe I forced myself through this one. Let's just say, a lot of this is very much fan service in written form but written very badly. We also didn't need to constantly be reminded of the Hero's weakness every other page. It got super annoying on top of everything else that was super cringy. I kept thinking it would get a tiny bit better but... no such luck. Sorry, but not for me and I won't be continuing this series.
April 18, 2022
What a fun concept! Hilarious and relatable dialogue- can't wait to read more.
May 14, 2022
Not even worth the upside down pgs. I would have suffered through but not after upside down pgs
November 13, 2022
2.5 stars.
October 24, 2023
Wasn't sure about this at the start but I have to say it's really grown on me!!! Such cute moments!
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September 30, 2025
This was so much better than I expected. I loved the relationships between characters and the video game humour littered throughout was right up my alley. I had an absolute blast with this.
December 7, 2025
This is a very unique concept and the characters and comedy just creates a chill feel-good atmosphere. The art direction matches the vibe of the writing very well.
June 29, 2021
Super cute and funny, pretty enjoyable read. I can’t wait for more volumes to come out!
June 24, 2025
What if you have a fantasy world but you have working internet and thus social media/chat apps? Sounds fun right? And it was! So much fun~
😍 Meet our hero. He has so much social anxiety that he only talks through chats. Yup. The guy is not into the mood to actually talk. Which made me laugh quite a bit. I loved seeing him chat this way with various characters along the way. The best ones were the chats with the princess and the demon lord. I also liked his personality. He tried his best to get to the demon lord (to save the princess and to meet up with the demon lord) despite dying all the time, and I had a chuckle at how he reacted to various things, like a true hot-blooded teen. He seems so shy, but then he is asking for pictures (you may guess what ones). I hope that as the story continues he becomes a bit less shy and finds more confidence.
😍 I also love the demon lord. She is such a sweetie and I had a laugh that she is also super shy (yes, she and the hero are made for each other). And I had an even harder laugh when we find out what happens when she has one too many emotions happening. She is so strong and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of the strength.
😍 I loved that a lot of the conversations in the manga are by text/chat messages (along with avatars of the characters).
😍/🤣 I loved the princess. She is kidnapped by the demon lord and she doesn’t mind it at all. The palace is nice. The food is better. But of course, as we quickly find out, the demon lord is a girl (though the princess stays quite oblivious despite all the hints which just made me laugh). I loved the chat conversations between her and the hero.
😍/🤣 Not to mention how the Demon Lord kidnapped the princess. The girl’s social anxiety struck hard and she just turned to the princess for help. I guess that works?
😍/🤣 That one time when the Demon Lord told the hero about the time she and the princess had a bath together. I loved how honest she is and totally forgot that she is talking to a guy.
😍 Finding out more about the hero and why he is constantly dying. There is a whole bit of lore behind it and I loved every piece. I was already wondering if the guy was cursed or something because it is just not natural for someone to die that often/not be able to do much.
😍 I loved the chats between the Demon Lord and our Hero. They really are so cute together and I am shipping them already. Hopefully one day they are able to meet each other.
😍 The underlings/4 generals of the Demon Lord. It was just so much fun to meet with a new one each time. I loved seeing each of their personalities and I loved that they joined the hero’s party. Not to mention the way they introduced themselves. These 4 think they are really the main characters.
😍 The art was just fab. I really like the style, and I also loved the expressions on the character’s faces.
All in all, this was so much fun and I laughed many times. I would recommend it.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
😍 Meet our hero. He has so much social anxiety that he only talks through chats. Yup. The guy is not into the mood to actually talk. Which made me laugh quite a bit. I loved seeing him chat this way with various characters along the way. The best ones were the chats with the princess and the demon lord. I also liked his personality. He tried his best to get to the demon lord (to save the princess and to meet up with the demon lord) despite dying all the time, and I had a chuckle at how he reacted to various things, like a true hot-blooded teen. He seems so shy, but then he is asking for pictures (you may guess what ones). I hope that as the story continues he becomes a bit less shy and finds more confidence.
😍 I also love the demon lord. She is such a sweetie and I had a laugh that she is also super shy (yes, she and the hero are made for each other). And I had an even harder laugh when we find out what happens when she has one too many emotions happening. She is so strong and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of the strength.
😍 I loved that a lot of the conversations in the manga are by text/chat messages (along with avatars of the characters).
😍/🤣 I loved the princess. She is kidnapped by the demon lord and she doesn’t mind it at all. The palace is nice. The food is better. But of course, as we quickly find out, the demon lord is a girl (though the princess stays quite oblivious despite all the hints which just made me laugh). I loved the chat conversations between her and the hero.
😍/🤣 Not to mention how the Demon Lord kidnapped the princess. The girl’s social anxiety struck hard and she just turned to the princess for help. I guess that works?
😍/🤣 That one time when the Demon Lord told the hero about the time she and the princess had a bath together. I loved how honest she is and totally forgot that she is talking to a guy.
😍 Finding out more about the hero and why he is constantly dying. There is a whole bit of lore behind it and I loved every piece. I was already wondering if the guy was cursed or something because it is just not natural for someone to die that often/not be able to do much.
😍 I loved the chats between the Demon Lord and our Hero. They really are so cute together and I am shipping them already. Hopefully one day they are able to meet each other.
😍 The underlings/4 generals of the Demon Lord. It was just so much fun to meet with a new one each time. I loved seeing each of their personalities and I loved that they joined the hero’s party. Not to mention the way they introduced themselves. These 4 think they are really the main characters.
😍 The art was just fab. I really like the style, and I also loved the expressions on the character’s faces.
All in all, this was so much fun and I laughed many times. I would recommend it.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
April 2, 2022
A gag series about a totally useless hero who is tasked with rescuing the princess and defeating the demon lord. Only to find out that the demon lord is a girl and the two fall in love despite only being able to talk over an instant messenger. Also the Princess is apparently bi... or pan? Lesbian? I don't know, she just really wants to sleep with the demon lord, even after finding out that he is a she.
After that, we're introduced to a cast of characters whose only goal is to get the useless hero (he's like this because he's super cursed) to the demon lord.
Overall, it's not bad, but it is definitely something of a niche. It's a harem style fantasy adventure (including some modern technology) that got mixed with a gag series. Gag series are already polarizing (not all jokes will resonate with every reader) but a poorly written harem series (reverse or otherwise) can come off as purely fan service at best or offensively sexist at worst. This series is on the fan service side, but it's the hero's curse that has me the most curious. How did he get it? Can it be removed? Can he and the Demon Lord actually have a relationship?
Not expecting much, but I'm at least curious.
This series has 2 volumes.
After that, we're introduced to a cast of characters whose only goal is to get the useless hero (he's like this because he's super cursed) to the demon lord.
Overall, it's not bad, but it is definitely something of a niche. It's a harem style fantasy adventure (including some modern technology) that got mixed with a gag series. Gag series are already polarizing (not all jokes will resonate with every reader) but a poorly written harem series (reverse or otherwise) can come off as purely fan service at best or offensively sexist at worst. This series is on the fan service side, but it's the hero's curse that has me the most curious. How did he get it? Can it be removed? Can he and the Demon Lord actually have a relationship?
Not expecting much, but I'm at least curious.
This series has 2 volumes.
February 10, 2022
The premise of an rpg world having social media is fun. The main character, who goes by the name Hero, is called upon via text message to save the king's daughter, the princess, from the demon lord. Hero accepts the mission but immediately dies. He is resurrected and tries again but dies. He is resurrected again. He somehow communicates via text message with the princess and the demon lord. He assumed the demon lord was male but turns out the demon lord is female. Hero builds up a relationship via text with the demon lord who sends her minions to help him get to her castle. There's a lot of unnecessary perversion in this story. Without it it would have been better. The characters are not very well developed but it was sort of fun.
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