As a new coming writer I've read a number of different mediums of fiction to get a better understanding of how to write a world. I always felt a little intimidated by writers like George R. R. Martin, J.K. Rowling, and J. R. R. Tolkien with their eloquent writing and ingenious world building. Then I read Re: Monster and realized how truly far you lower the bar and still make a profit.
The premise of the story falls flat. A human born as a goblin that lives among a species that is weaker and dumber than other species. They live a life secluded in caves with little in terms of technology, possessing a brief lifespan of twenty years. This could possess a challenge for the main character if goblins didn't have potential to be the most overpowered species in the setting! They mature to adults within days, meaning they easily replenish their numbers. They also apparently have their esophagus hooked up to their brain as all they have to do is chow down on something to gain their abilities, even improbable ones like being able to triple strike with a single swing or suddenly being able to spin webs even though he doesn't have the proper biology to do it. Even the weaknesses of the species doesn't matter as they can transform into any species just by randomly killing stuff. The MC changes species just by randomly killing stuff within a weeks of his birth. Its a wonder how goblins' lifespans could possibly be measured given how easy it is to become a more powerful creature. How has this species not already dominated the setting?
Our "hero", Rou isn't exactly a prize himself. He's a human enhanced by surgery from a futuristic world who was murdered by a yandere childhood friend when she thought he was sleeping with another woman.
You get all that?
What does this belated back story have to do with the setting at all? It's like having a character that was once a press secretary for the UN suddenly kidnapped to fight aliens on Pluto. It has no impact on the plot or his personality (what little there is). The rest of his character is standard light novel fare. Quickly adapts to his setting, forgets all his connections to his past life (friends, family), leaps at the chance to utterly dominate the setting with his cheat powers and superior intellect. Its pretty much the Mighty Whitey trope from Avatar except he used to be Japanese.Can we for once have a Trapped in a Another World story that does not devolve into some juvenile power fantasy?
Morality in this series is defined by Rou being relatively better than a worse alternative. Rou is eating the flesh of raped dead women, one of whom could be his mother but at least he didn't eat them when he was alive. Rou's profiting off the slave labor of human prisoners but at least he stopping them from being raped ...by his fellow goblins. Rou's torturing people for fun but its okay because he's doing it to make a point. As with most bad fantasy series, Rou is surrounded by sycophants that worship him like a god while everyone who opposes him is some irredeemable bastard he kills to make himself more badass. Sadly, said villains turn out to be less evil than Rou as he steadily becomes more and more of an asshole.
Romance (if you could call it that) is stale. I've read fanfiction that has more believable relationships. And sex scenes. If I see one more sex scene involving the words "tentacle dick", I'm going to throw up The captive human women that his fellow goblins kidnapped to rape, all simultaneously fall for Rou because he stood up for them. He didn't care enough to help them return home but the story overlooks details like that.They all lack individuality and seem to be behave to whatever job was assigned to them. The story cares so little for them outside of being Rou's personal sex toys, that they are simply named by their titles. My favorite is younger sister cook because its not enough that you are only defined by your cooking but you need to associated with a relative to further dampen your individuality. Within weeks after being kidnapped they jump into Rou's bed to have nightly orgies because apparently nothing makes women more horny than almost being raped.
Still I cannot help but envy the writer because he spun this shit and turned it into gold. He found a publisher who would buy his Dragon Quest fanfiction and an out of work hentai artist to draw a scene for every 25 pages of the novel so it could be distributed 14 year old boys everywhere. So thank you Re: Monster, you have truly proven that anyone can be a successfully author. Now pardon me, while I fly to Japan. I'm fairly certain someone there will buy the Power Rangers story I wrote in middle school.
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