Game of Familia: Kazoku Senki
Game of Familia

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*This review may contain some spoilers*

Game Obu Familia- Family Senki, or Game of Familia- Kazoku Senki is by far one of the better story-based isekai manga out there right now, mainly due in part to the author of said manga, Yamaguchi Mikoto, who has produced many other very intriguing stories, such as Dead Tube, Saiteihen no Otoko, which, if you haven't read them, are incredible Horror/Mystery stories. As far as the isekai concept goes, it's pretty played out at this point, there are so many other isekai based manga, that it's not even funny. Game of Familia- Kazoku Senki however, doesn't take the generic isekai ... route. There's a lot of betrayal, a lot of psychological warfare, and just the right amount of ecchi.

The story: As I've already stated, the isekai concept is basically played out, so as far as the isekai factor goes, that was a bit lacking. However, what sold me was the backstory, which you'll come to understand as you read with baited breath. I don't want to divulge too much, so I won't, but the moment you see for yourself just how devious the main character is, you'll start to think that the main character is actually the bad guy, even though he's actually the good guy just trying to make sure his family stays safe. Sasae Hatsushima and his family, new stepmom Kanae, stepsisters(technichally step-aunts, but lets not debate semantics) Manako and Hinana are summoned to another world to fight the Dead Mell, undead monsters tormenting the northern half of the continent. In order to fight, Sasae and his family must form a familia, a group of 4 people with them being the swordmaster that uses the holy sword, the guardian that uses the power of earth to protect, the healer that uses the power of water to heal, and the black mage that uses the power of fire to destroy.
The role of the guardian, the mage and the healer is to support the swordmaster that can only kill the monsters.But to use magic powers one must offer part of your being as a sacrifice to form a contract with spirits, and the higher the sacrifice, the higher the power. Now they must choose who are the 3 that need to sacrifice part of their bodies to gain power and who will wield the holy sword.

The Art: the visual styles that you see in this manga at first glance you would think that there would be much left to be desired, but the more you read, the less important the art becomes, because the story becomes way more important. The main plot pieces (the women) have pretty big bonkhonagahoos, but that's to be expected. The better parts come a little bit later, when you start to see what kind of monsters the main characters are going up against, and not just the Dead Mell. So, that is why I give the art a 6.

Characters: Every character other than Sasae is pretty much played out, Manako is your typical justice crusader, you know, fight injustice wherever it may happen, whenever it may happen. Kanae is a little better, being a single mom businesswoman archetype. Hinana is the loli supergenius that was gonna be able to go to college in grade 6. Pretty typical characters, but the saving grace is Sasae, who as I stated before, has a pretty big secret that only Hinana knows, and that's mainly in part because the only other person that is aware of the secret is Sasae's father, who has already passed away by the time the story starts. So, well the majority of the characters are pretty generic, it could be a lot worse, especially when you see how far the main character is willing to go for his family. So, characters is gonna be a 6 as well.

As far as enjoyment goes, this story might not be preferable to some people, as there are rape elements, along with some pretty intense cucking orchestrated by the MC (yes, he is the one that does the cucking) but if you can get past that and look at the quality of the psychological war games, and the incredible silver tongue that this snake ass bastard of a main character has, you might just find yourself reading a pretty damn good manga that will keep you on the edge of your seat, eagerly reading and/or waiting for the next chapter.



I sincerely hope you have taken my review into account when you decide to read this manga!

Chapter 37 update: still bad.

Well, it's not good. That's my 3-chapter review. Thanks for reading.

To expand a bit more, it sucks. A lot. Wow. Bad isekai? Who coulda seen this coming.

Art is mid. It's not especially good, but it's serviceable. Whenever your eyes aren't drawn to the revealing outfits and lots of ecchi you'll be noticing the horrible proportions and bone-breaking ankles.

Character is poor. About as good as you can get when its a harem story which is obviously setting up for the 3 step-aunts to get with the MC, their brother/son/nephew. The 3 girls theoretically have a personality, but the only one where it's ... shown is the martial artist. Our MC claims to be 'normal person' in the first chapter, and then becomes a super mage, super spy, and super everything else. It's utterly lacking in any character development, reasoning, or like, good character traits.

Story is not good. Uh. Specifically, it sucks. The monsters are just here to rape and kill, per exposition, which is a bad explanation for the gratuitous ecchi rape scenes we get. Apparently they can't communicate, yet we see them talking. Beyond that, there are random pig-investors which just exist for more rape/molestation fantasy... WHY!?!?

Enjoyment: I hated it. I have an appreciation for good ecchi, and this shit ain't it, dude. Unnecessary gratuitous rape/nudity, no thought put into plot/worldbuilding, and no character development whatsoever.

Story: 1
Ar: 5
Character: 3
Enjoyment: 1
Overall: 2

An incredulously edgy, blatantly misogynistic, story masquerading as a meaningful dark fantasy tale. The truth is, this isn't really Berserk. The protagonist does many 'edgy' things claiming that he is happy being in the background, giving his other family members the platform to bask in the light. But the way the manga develops and tells its story constantly puts the protagonist front and centre in every single one of its conflicts makes it hard to take what he says seriously. Also, what is with the gratuitous sexual violence and activity in this manga? Why is sex the only way to 'conquer' and get a female ... character on the protagonist's side? Why are all the characters so blatantly horny, with rape being the no.1 activity in the manga to signal to viewers that a character is antagonistic? Hell, sometimes the use of sexual violence and seduction of women isn't at all necessary to the progression of the story, or the development of the characters.

But aside from the edgy elements, I think one of the worst things in this manga is its poor characters. The characters aside from the main protagonist and his family are barely fleshed out at all (Though honestly, the female family members are also not very well characterised and often play out as cliches). The female characters especially, making them sometimes feel like meat puppets made to parade around the protagonist. The most egregious thing is how the manga constantly flips antagonists into his companions. It is forced and a little nonsensical when you bring in the context of their actions before they became an 'ally'. These antagonistic characters don't have a strong motivation to change their allegiance at all! But it's forced in there anyway to serve the fantastical narrative that the protagonist is some alpha that bathes in the darkness, converting all morally grey-black characters into allies to do his bidding.

Still, I think there are some interesting ideas in this manga. For one, the manga does fulfil the promise of a 'ruthless' and intelligent protagonist who uses his glib tongue and scheming to his advantage. In fact, some of the schemes that the protagonist pulls are interesting and kind of well thought out. It's just a shame that most of the conflict just falls down to pure firepower, making much of the scheming feel rather unnecessary. Still, while the manga explores its themes in the most juvenile and thoughtless way, the art is quite nice, and some action sequences are really good.

After reading 5 volumes (24 chapters), I can say this manga is really good.

First of all don't judge this manga on its first 40 pages. I had been disappointed and I had left it aside. It's by seeing very positive reviews that I gave the manga a chance again. So I read the whole volume 1 (4 chapters) and I loved it.

There are 4 main characters but the real protagonist is Sasae Hatsushima: an anti-hero who presents himself as an ordinary young man unlike his sisters-in-law and his mother-in-law. But in fact it is a facade because he will quickly reveal himself as a Machiavellian ... genius. We could compare him to Light Yagami (Death Note), Lelouch (Code Geass), Griffith (Berserk) etc... but as different as they are from each other. Sasae loves his "family" (not related by blood tho)

The beginning of the story is a common Dark Fantasy isekai, there is violence, sex, rape and rampage. Some hideous monsters that must be faced by those who have summoned the Hatsushima family. And it is in this scenery that the Sasae will rise.

The drawings are also very beautiful. Really a nice surprise.



Excuse my english.

A deconstruction of classic Isekai settings and the protagonist who inhabit them.

Game of Familia is a dumpster fire that seems nothing special at first. Edgy MC, cliche and overused fantasy isekai setting, secondly main characters who are little more than underdeveloped character stereotypes. But looking past all of that, I sincerely think this premise is something that has a chance at growing into something good.

We have a colorful cast of characters, a morale ambiguous main character who relies on big brain IQ plays to prevail against all the odds against him, a kind and amicable motherly figure oneesan, a martial arts genius and morally perfect ... gyaru oneesan, and finally the logical genius loli oneesan. At first the three sisters seem to be little more than stereotypical tropes but as the plot progresses you see them question their beliefs now that they've found themselves in a world drastically more different and complex than the one they once lived in.

Due to the other reviews, I went in with low expectations and found myself pleasantly surprised. The graphic erotica elements of this story is nothing like Redo of Healer, somewhat more tame and tasteful, with a mild amount of fanserivce mixed in. All around, this was a story worthy of truly being called "mediocre". Nothing amazing but nothing horrible either.