Ore dake Haireru Kakushi Dungeon: Kossori Kitaete Sekai Saikyou
The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

[Note: The anime sucks. Please do not judge the books from that horrible adaption!!] This story is not very original, but it's written in such a way that I simply can't dislike it..

Story: It's not isekai. *yaaay* It is, however, just like every other fantasy / harem stories you might've read. Dungeons, adventurer's guild, overpowered protagonist, it's all here. But even then, this story feels really refreshing. The protagonist has a power that is "recharged" by interacting with the opposite sex (kissing, hugs etc), eating strange but delicious food, and more. So the protagonist has a very convenient way to be physical with girls without ... being perceived as a pervert. The "strange yet overpowered" skill is very easy to understand and makes for an interesting tool to move forward the plot. So overall, the author has made a great story, while still making it mainstream and unoriginal. That's impressive, in a way.

About the plot though, as of volume 2, there is not really a main plot(yet?). It's still in the world building and training phase. The arcs that we've been given has kept a pretty good balance between "dramatic back-story" and "character introductions". But right now, I personally want to know what to expect in the future. Demon Kings? A lost brother that is actually an evil wizard? We know that something will eventually pop up. I just hope it's not too typical. PS: in the story they do mention "summoned people from different worlds", though it was just a chef that revolutionized the culinary arts. Maybe that was a hint for something!? Probably not, probably not...

Art: The girls are all very beautiful, and there is plenty of different types so that every guy can find a favorite girl! And the protagonist? He looks like every other anime teenager from japan... Which feels like a missed opportunity, because this protagonist was born in a fantasy world! He could have blond hair like Naruto, or pink / red like Natsu. Instead he looks like the japan-born guy, like Kirito, Naofumi, Kazuma etc...

Character: Personality wise, the characters are all saints that wants to save everyone, the standard copy-paste thing, more or less. If there is something different from most stories, it's that the girls are looser here. They can kiss a guy without beating him half to death. So, that's pretty nice. The family members are all likable, almost more so than the protagonist himself. Luckily, while there might not be any perfect characters, there is no horrible characters either. I can dislike a few of them, yes, but it's still nothing too extreme.

Overall, if you like fantasy with harems you might wanna give this story a chance. For me, it might be due to the corona lockdown making me bored, but I am liking this story because it's so familiar, but still new. The author is great at taking ideas like "Adventurers Guild" and changing it slightly to make it feel new. So even though I don't like harems I can still enjoy this story. The question is for how long. Let's hope that an Antagonist will show up before I finally give up and move to a different series'.

(Currently, read 2 of the light novels. Halfway through the third currently)

The Hidden Dungeon that only I can enter is best described as combining a children’s story or fairy tale with ecchi. It's not bad, in fact the writing is solid, it's just that there is nothing compelling or particularly special about the story that makes you think, “I really like this”. The first book follows the fairy tale diagram and plot points to a tee, simplistic yet still interesting in nature.
 
As someone who came in with tempered expectations after hearing about the anime, the first book was a pleasant surprise. Nothing amazing, but ... nothing poor either. The Hidden Dungeon that only I can enter follows our main protagonist who is part of an extremely poor family. After finding out that his job is no longer accepting him and his life generally sucks, he decides to go questing to a dungeon, where he stumbles upon a woman in a dungeon who grants him her powers. This is the light at the end of the tunnel and realizing he can become an adventurer, he applies for the hero school, and it follows him there and through a larger plot point later. It’s a light, and rather average read, akin to a book you would read in year 5 in terms of writing quality. However, unlike those stories that contained implausibilities upon reread, these are not found, and instead just a rather solid and childish book in nature.  Again I must compare it to a fairy tale with how the dialogue and the story flows. 

The only issue with the franchise lies in the continuations, the books following the first story. Lacking a larger plot each book is quite literally an entirely different book, and while the first book had a rather decent plot, the other books feel both unnecessary and have no convincing plot nor reason to enjoy. Similar to Geronimo Stilton where each book was a one-off, it lacks in what made Geronimo Stilton successful, the inclusion of different worlds. Geronimo stilton in each book would recreate the world and his beginning issues with its introduction, before exploring an entirely new world or part of their world, before coming back and solving these issues. However the Hidden Dungeon that Only I can Enter, simply takes the fairy tale ending of everything being successful, and then explores mostly the same areas with a minor event happening midway through acting as the plot, before transforming into a slice of life. However it also lacks what makes slice-of-life stories work, interesting/new character interactions creating a literal slice of someone’s easy life, with no serious conflict. 

However the story isn’t bad, just a simple and light read. The first book is quite good, and the rest is readable, never painful, but at times grueling to read. Furthermore, the first book wraps up everything quite nicely, allowing you to read the first book with really good closure.