Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu
Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Disclaimer: This review is based on both the manga and the LN, with the LN up to volume 5, chapter 138.

On the surface, Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu, seems to bring yet another generic Otome Isekei genre into the hundreds that have existed. Yet, the prose and execution is near perfection. The story will force a wide range of emotions, from anger, indignation, disgust, pity to anticipation, joy and satisfaction. You will feel anger from the setting that the characters have been put into, the indignation, or more aptly, desire for justice to those who are "evil". You will feel the ... disgust of the unfortunate circumstances that has befell the MC. Yet, you will also pity some of those "evil", antagonists with reasonable cause, that has done harm on the MC. You will feel more than enough satisfaction how the author has delivered the hand of justice to those who have done harm to the MC. Finally you will feel the joy how the MC has made it out of his predicament in the end of each arc, albeit be it as a blessing or a curse, the game must continue and the MC must trudge through a seemingly endless journey.

The story and setting itself is rather simple, the MC "Leon Foe Bartford", was a former Japanese salary man who died from overplaying an otome game that his younger sister blackmailed him to play. However, he reincarnated into the same otome game he was playing as the second son of a countryside feudal lord in the Hohlfahrt Kingdom, the country that the otome game's setting is in. Yet, one major thing is that Leon was quick to realize is the country he lives in is an unfair matriarchal hierarchy, with women dominating the social order and men unable to defy this order. Through this setting, we see Leon navigate the treacherous waters of a society where women, at every angle, takes the chance to abuse the male nobility.

As a self declared "mob" character to live a peaceful life, Leon sets out to complete the objective of the unbalanced otome game, to get the female protagonist, Olivia or 'Livia', to declare their love for one or all of the five male capture targets. To fail this objective would mean a world-ending scenario as the monsters and evilness would destroy everything, and ruin the hopes of Leon's so called "peaceful life".

However, this work is not as simple as it seems, as the author's unexpected twists would not make everything as easy as it seems, especially for a reincarnated who already completed the game. From the inevitable setting of the game, Leon will face multiple moments of despair, a forlorn future that Leon has to make it through. But from the wits, experience, and reliance of his cheat item Luxion, Leon will make it through the smallest slither of success even when the reader believes all hope is lost. For those who have done evil, karma will be delivered more satisfactory than the reader can imagine. Because of these points, Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu, is an amazing piece of work that encapsulate all these feelings.

As a work that is centered around an "otome game", there isn't as much emphasis on romance as one might expect. From my understanding, the author focuses way more attention on world building, drama, and relationship building (not just romantically but more specifically on a range of the different types of relations from political disputes, diplomacy, to sibling and parental disputes). As a manga-reader who primary reads romance, if one were to look for romance here, the author gives just enough to satisfy ones desire for this development. One should also expect drama to occur as this is not a completely happy and fluffy life that Leon will experience.

The story, the lowest score I have given, has one downside: it may feel that the author is rushing the story without fleshing out some of the points. This is most apparent in the first otome game as the reader is thrown all the details of the world. The plot advances relatively quickly compared to other similar genres, and one might be very confused at first. However after finishing the two arcs, I believe this is necessary as, rather than to add in non-consequential "fillers" to the story, readers will forget the major plot points early on in the arc that will be necessary to understand the conclusion of each arc.

[For the manga] The art is very nicely drawn with a large amounts of details give to backgrounds, which is important in creating a sci-fi otome game. The characters are also drawn exceptionally also with great details to their facial expression to understand how they feel. Although the LN directly states the feelings of what some of these characters feel, it is important to have that indirectly expressed in manga, which this artist does.

In the end I give a 10/10 enjoyment, which I do not give unless it fits the requirement of a "masterpiece". Although I may give more generous scores than other reviewers, I guarantee that this work will not disappoint you if you are interested in an isekei/romance-ish/harem/sci-fi battles/comedy/drama genre.

Of course, one of the unique hidden messages that is largely left out of other similar genres is that: harems are bad mkay.

Despite a strong start it's already getting into the genres tropes it was poking fun of at earlier.

Story 7/10
The world is pretty interesting, the progression of the plot makes sense, and the MCs goal is unique and fun. A lot of the humour actually lands, instead of just being 'misunderstanding, scream, punch'. The way characters are acting in the current arc is dragging and tropey, however. The beast slave shit is such a weird thing to add and hardly ever acknowledge.

Art 6/10
Everything looks good/great for the most part, but the artist really struggles in the action. It's pretty much impossible to follow, with very similar ... looking mechs and a problem conveying movement.

Characters 7/10
The MC is a cunt and he knows it, which is a nice change of pace. He has some decent character moments and works well to build the story around. The 'targets' are ridiculous, but I guess that's the point cause they were written that way in the game, but hopefully some of them grow. The MCs girls so far are pretty generic and nothing special, but they have time to develop. The queen is pretty great though.

Enjoyment 6/10
Good but not great, but has potential to be better. Hopefully the doomsaying about the WN is unsubstantiated.

6.0/10

Minor plot spoilers, but I don’t wanna get flagged :P

I was debating on whether to make this review or not because of how long I have stuck and loved this manga, as I can even recall when someone asked me four years ago, “Hey, what is your favorite manga,” and I answered with this long-ass title. As a warning, this review will be LONG and a bit “nostalgic,” so if I sound like a “back in my day…” kinda guy, then you can see where I’m coming from, as this manga has truly fallen from great heights, at least in my eyes.

I guess I’ll ... talk about the good: This manga really was unique and special; well, at least back in the day, another manga (Villager A Wants To Save The Villainess No Matter What!) has surfaced with this exact same concept with a little less sci-fi, etc, and I must say, it’s so much better than how this manga turned out due to one word: progression.

Time after time, this manga continues to disappoint in the plot development — instead of the plot progressing smoothly with its humor, which I’ll get into the comedy later, the plot is so sporadic and disorderly. Random events happen for absolutely no reason other than filler, and the same concept is for some reason repeated over and over again — so much that I can’t tell if I’m reading the same chapter I’ve seen before. Of course, there are also some of the “satisfying” moments in the plot where the mc power-plays everyone else, but it has gotten so jarring, since it has happened dozens of times.

I really want to emphasize how bad the plot is — at this point, the story seems to be getting dragged out for no reason other than to have conflict with some humor tied in, but it’s just so disappointing each time. The plot has gotten repetitive, and all of its events seem like a “white-knight” story where the mc comes in and saves the day. At this point (chapter 62), I have absolutely no idea what is going on in the story anymore, and I want to give this manga the benefit of the doubt that it’s because I’ve taken breaks here and there.

Now, if you know me and my reviews, I absolutely love stories with romance or a romantic subplot, so when I say the romance of this story SUCKS, it really speaks volumes to how much I hated the entire experience. Really, you’d think “bad” romcom protagonists are some of the most logical men when encountering love interests compared to how the mc acts. I’ve put up with a lot of crappy, drawn-out romantic developments in my reading career, but this is just horrible — every scenario is drawn-out, and the romance is such a mess with how the author continues to create random drama and scenarios to annoy every single reader out there.

I briefly touched on the main character, but he becomes virtually unbearable later on in chapters due to his indecisiveness and cowardice, which if you told me four years ago, then I would’ve called you a fool and quit dogging on my “favorite character…” Oh, how far you have fallen — the main character has ZERO progression to this day; he continues to act like a child in every event or encounter even when his life is on the line, and he never steps up until HIS ENTIRE LIVELIHOOD IS AT STAKE FOR THE 500TH TIME. You’d think he’d learn, but he continues to live by the good-guy mantra or “I shall not kill…” which, can I say, is absolutely stupid and ridiculous due to how the opposing party acts. Spoiler alert, author, NO ONE enjoys a main character who can’t muster up the courage to kill or even harm other people who put their values at stake. Instead, the mc continues to laugh off every matter and “humiliates” the opponent, but like I said before, the same-old repetitive actions just get boring, so they appear weak.

As for the side characters, I know they’re made with the intent of them being dumb and sacrificial for the main character to have his “hee-hee-ha-ha” moment against, but there’s a limit to how stupendous they should act in order to have an engaging and logical story.

The last part I’ll note on is the comedy — truly, I once found this manga absolutely hilarious with each “different” or “unique” plot development with how silly and goofy the mc acts, but unlike this story, people change and get used to the same jokes. If your friend made one great joke one day, but he keeps on saying it every other day, then would you not tell him to “shut the __ up?” Well, that’s how I feel about this humor — even with some attempts at newer jokes, they just fall incredibly flat due to how uninteresting the story is.

Somewhere along the way, this manga lost its identity and concept; because of this, I can only look at this manga with regrets and sorrows due to how this manga, “Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu,” has become nothing but an “I used to enjoy that.” This was one of the first manga I read, and it pains me to say this, but this has become nothing but a big waste of time.


Reading Rankings (Portnoy inspired + A Huang-Teizan Original)
10 - God’s penmanship
9 - Must-read. Drop everything else.
8 - Instant bookmark
7 - Entertaining
6 - Good to pass time
5 - Why are you reading this?
4 - Bad.
3 - Typical garbage.
2 - My head hurts.
1 - Retirement is a thought.
0 - “Did they even give you a story?!”