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.

... Last updated on March 7th, 2015, 10:25pm

easy to answer that. If you read the light novel, then you would know some r-rated scenes are about to come making this into one of those normal harem mangas. Thats my guess at least

Random and boring tales about a teen/ young adult who falls into a fantasy RPG and lives out a male power fantasy have been blight upon the land thank to .hack, Sword Art Online or something equally lame for a decade and i usually drop them after chapter 2 but Re:Monster proved to be a special case. This series may be another power fantasy with even a harem present but it is way better if admittedly simple then it´s peers. All the designs are clean, the action scenes have clear direction, genre conventions get used to interesting effects at times and the manga is further highly blatant that it is a big boy´s wet dream as Kanata becomes an unstoppable force of nature crazy fast while every female in the land crawls into his bed willingly just after the first meeting. Gotta Bang 'Em All!
I am not crazy about the rape subplot (female goblins exist and through how many village women can these level 1 monsters really burn through for example) but it is not completely mishandled and proper villains are needed too.
Who knows how long i can read about Garry Stu´s big adventure in (kind off) R-rated Dragon Quest-Land but i will stick around for a bit. At least this telling of the same old song has personality but act 3 is destined to be complete nonsense thanks to the real world connection. I also reviewed World Customize Creator (8/10) which is a better version of the tale so read it first and go for The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor (8,5/10) next.
Update: The manga final killed itself during chapter 15-17 as the protagonist now gets everything handed to him, has an (of screen) gangbang with all his women at one, then gets even more out of control superpowers, proceeds to revel in torture and starts running rape dungeons. Thus Rou finally achieved Garry Stu status and i ain't reading that.

... Last updated on October 23rd, 2015, 1:59pm

As far as I understand, this manga charm is its simplicity. It feed on the whoa factor that main character now reach new height and can do much more cool things. I'm aware many readers can only enjoy simple stories due to stress in other facet of their life. If they can spare more mind energy (I don't know what to call that stuff, I think they're called concentration or focus), wouldn't slightly complex story be more enjoyable?

But, man, isn't this one is damn too simple?

It goes on like what Rou done today, what he eats, what he become, what others close to him have became and what good stuff he came accross. And due to RPG game background setting, the possibility is endless! Without some sort of restriction, won't it be tiring? In this same vein I also bewildered with crowd's fascination to RPG-ey manga (adapted from their respective novels) like Tate Yuusha Nariagari, The New Gate, and Overlord. (I personally hate Nariagari for the lack of finesse and look forward to New Gate as it seems to bring new things to the table) In the past I also see (not read) Yureka, .hack, Btoom, 1/2 Prince, The Gamer, and I don't know what else. One or two title as genre exploration is fine, but exploitation seems to imply readers need something to stroke their proverbial genital.

If this manga is the first or second RPG-ey manga you came accross, it's fine and it's actually well executed. But if this is the umpteenth, don't you have enough?

I read this and lol.... it seemed like just a narration of how this one dude gets a bunch of girls because he is strong

Alright, granted, this story is unique in a very typical way. Who wouldn't want to reincarnate in a "fantasy" world where you have an advantage that everyone don't? The premise of the story is very rare in any type of media since it's complex to formulate an intrigue storyline out of it.

The main character, who is a goblin incarnated, has a very very haxed based power once you listen to his narration, which are aloooooot. In the most common term, he has the power of assimilation through consumption. Basically, eat this steel sword, your body will be steel like. Eat this magical stone and you can do magic. Eat guide book and you'll gain knowledge. Even godlike character don't have that kind of powers because the potential for such thing is unlimited.

Conflict... what conflict? There are zero conflict whatsoever beside inner struggles on doing the right thing which are heroic virtue. That is, don't kill for fun, don't pillage for the heck of it, don't rape other people because it's wrong.... and don't abuse your powers unless the other guys is worst than you. Meh, I hate stereotypical heroes. Ahem... the MC never loses a battle, but considering the world he in, if you lose a battle... it most like you will die or worse. Yes, there are more worst thing than death in a dark world. His powers constantly grow in a short span of time with great leap and bound. It will accelerated to absurd level very quickly. There are shit load of girls of various classes, but I don't seem to care for any of them. Their background was not told in depth. The same with the MC so the characterization seemed very shallow.

This is basically a Marty Stu story that the author want to stroke his own desire and ego of having power overwhelming and unlimited harem in a magical world where damsel in distress only at a walking distance.

Yep, that summed it up. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good story for pleasure read, but in all seriousness, it's nothing you haven't seen before. After a few first chapter with the awesome fantasy element featuring evolution chain and abilities, it gets old very quickly since none of the ability seemed to be touched on more than a honorable mentioned. I'm actually more interested in the world building aspect of it than the MC. He's just not that interesting at all, and the only reason he cared for human than his own race because the author wanted him to be relateable to us (humans), which actually seemed to contradict the small glimpses of his own background. Same reason for him being good even though it would be much better if he was a dark hero instead.

This works pretty well as a manga so far. The art is good, the pacing is appropriate and the story has potential. That said, I am not to certain about the story's future.



... Last updated on November 24th, 2014, 12:17pm

well, I like overpower MC and non-romance plot, so I like this manga. However, I violently hate the rape related, the older goblins' reaction to human women is extremely disgusting -"-
err, i changed my mind, this one is going to get the harem romance tag, i fed up with overpowered MC+harem+sexual actions

... Last updated on December 13th, 2014, 11:27am

You may be right about his past life not being explained fully but in japan there isn't really a need for bulletproof vests because guns are next to nonexistent in japan. To get a gun license you have to take safety classes, pass a written exam, take a shooting test(sometimes), get a psychological evaluation, apply for a license, get a background check, and have a public survey done on you to see if people would trust you with a gun. you have to do all of this every 3 years if you want a gun in japan. (not to mention the fees)
^that is why he was stabbed by a special knife and not shot. how was he to know that someone might try to murder him in the future?

... Last updated on September 26th, 2014, 7:46pm

When a manga needs too much narrating, something is amiss. And this manga is completely driven by narration.

The MC just gain skills and powers for no particular reason or use. There is no character growth.

His background was briefly shown but never ventured upon. His base power seems to be just a convenience thing And not really thought through "yeah I was modified to gain powers by eating"... If he'd eaten a Kevlar vest, this manga would not even have to start because he wouldn't have died then..

Nah, might as well skip this one.