Mukouda and Fel are still making their way through the world, one meal at a time. There’s the barest hint that a plot might occur at some point, but not for another few dinners yet, it seems.
Some books survive entirely on their ability to make you smile and this is one of them. The addition of Fel, the furry fenrir familiar who is nothing more than a violent killing machine cum food vacuum knocked my appreciation of the first book into orbit and he’s just as delightful here.
Having a creature that has very spurious morals and a talent for gluttony that’s only matched by how fast he can decide he wants to destroy everything in sight really makes this fun. He and Mukouda have a brilliant chemistry - Fel causes a lot of trouble simply by not caring enough about societal norms to know anything useful about them.
He also has zero use when it comes to concepts like ‘patience’ or ‘nurturing’. His solution to helping Mukouda train his magic is basically the ‘deep end of the pool’ philosophy, if the pool was full of sharks.
Mukouda himself is fine enough - he’s affable and that makes him less annoying than a lot of these ‘show up and upend the way things work’ stories. He’s got a bad habit of not thinking things through that often leads to trouble. Really the guy just wants to be safe and eat good things and that makes him eminently relatable to me.
Then there’s the food - it’s hard to not read this book and get hungry for something (despite Fel’s appetites it isn’t all meat, meat, and different meat). Mukouda whips up great looking food - it might not be the pure eye candy of a dedicated food manga, but it’s close and I still love the scratchy art style. Any time they show Fel jamming his snout into his bowl to chow down is just the best.
My only... beef... is going to sound incredibly stupid, but this is what happens when you know too much for your own good. It’s hard for me to watch Fel destroying entire forests worth of creatures and not wonder what it’s doing to the ecosystems he’s crushing.
I have a biology degree heavily focused in ecology, so you as reader probably won’t think twice about it (nor are you really supposed to), but, yes, the complete collapse of a fictional food chain disturbs me a little. Crass consumerism is crass, even coming from a giant grey wolf.
4 stars - I am unsure how long this book can just be these two oddballs eating the planet (although they do pick up a second companion and the previews imply things might take a plotwise turn next volume), but for now it’s more than enough to keep me thoroughly entertained. If every isekai was half this good, nobody would be complaining that the genre is played out.
Another relaxing read and Mukoda finding out more about the world. >spoiler< Even if he got slightly swindled. Yet, considering that it was valuable information for all the countries and how they worked plus the map...The price may have been a bit over, but perhaps you can see it as an added tip as well for the adventuring party.>/spoiler< I'm loving Fel more and more and Sui the slime has made an appearance at last. All in all, I am really enjoying and looking forward to what is to happen next.
Some really funny stuff like seeing Mukoda actually having to train his magic to just be somewhat decent which again is refreshing to see that in an Isekai style story. Also the newest member of the group is very adorable granted I am not the biggest fan of slimes but it was a nice addition and it will be interesting to see how they use this character. Also some nice touches on world building as we learn more about the other kingdoms and the status of nonhuman races.
I loved the first season of the anime and am loving the manga even more. I love that it’s low stakes but also feels like the plot is progressing nicely. Fel is a great companion!
I love the familiar trope in most eastern media, so far this is one of my favourites. The addition of the slime seems like its stealing a bit of Rimiru's thunder. I still love Sui though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.