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  

MobuSeka, not an average romance isekai story. Minor spoilers included.

Story 9/10
The series starts with a male protagonist, Leon, who gets reincarnated into an otome game. (a video game for females where they can have relationships with the opposite gender) He soon discovers that the world is messed up and that society functions with a caste system. To secure his safety, he ventures out on a small adventure to obtain an AI companion. (Luxion, a pay to win cheat item)

Conflicts throughout the story are initiated by uncivil nobility who are obsessed with power and wealth. As a matter of fact, many choose to involve themselves in ... the unfair treatment of others; of course, Leon joins forces with the AI for the sake of promoting justice and world peace.

Art 9/10
The illustrations in the first volume might have been a little crude. Otherwise, the visual appeal for this series is fantastic. Leon's intended mob type character works well with his given appearance; likewise, it complements his personality.

Character 8/10
Leon is a very interesting character. He does not care about how outsiders perceive him which gives him the audacity to reprimand those who usually can't be criticized. When it comes to the people he is close with, he is typically compassionate and perhaps sensitive to their opinions of him. He does not actively participate in creating a harem for himself. (respect) He has realistic expectations and tries not to get ahead of himself.
"An overpowered protagonist done right."

The individuals of his harem have their fair share of trouble. They have sweet personalities and most have good development.

Regarding the idiot side characters... maybe a change in perception maybe not
They contribute to the humor and side characters are not to be disregarded.

Enjoyment 10/10
This series is a thrill to read. The otome game setting has its arcs that are well introduced and not too fast-paced. The romantic development is nice, but so are the sweeping crises that arise volume after volume. When situations can not possibly get worse, they do. The attention to detail and events exceeded my expectations.

Overall 9/10
MobuSeka is a must-read for isekai enthusiasts. Don't worry about cliche, there are few. Happy reading!

I have not read the Web Novel, and this review will be regarding the first 5 volumes of the Light Novel.

To start from the conclusion, I can’t really recommend this novel in its present state. While I will admit that the quality did improve marginally around the 4th volume, even considering that improvement, it’s not exactly anything great. I’ll try and go into the details below, while avoiding any major spoilers.


Story (4/10):

By no means can I praise the start of this particular story. A world with glaring inconsistencies, very poor writing choices, and a disregard for the title and proposed theme of the work ... were what stood out to me from the very first volume.
To go into a bit more detail on this, the inconsistencies were regarding the setup of the world, where women have a higher status than men… Even though men are the ones that retain the inheritance rights. As for the poor writing choices, it comes down to a rather meaningless time-skip right after the protagonist gets Isekai-ed – there’s absolutely no point of having the guy reincarnate into a kid if the author isn’t even going into detail about the growth from there. Instead, he just skips 10 years or so without even filling in anything meaningful into that time. And lastly, for the thematic issue, the protagonist remains a powerless mob for a grand total of two chapters, after which he’s your typical overpowered harem boss with a bad attitude. Hence, he is neither a mob, not is life difficult for him in any way. There were also some very poor attempts at foreshadowing scattered in the story, which are obvious even at a casual glance.
As the story moves forward, some of these issues are addressed, such as the issue with the ‘world’, but for the most part, the story and the writing simply lack flow, and most of the events simply feel contrived. As of volume 5, the author has completely left the original theme of the work, and seems to be moving towards something else. While I can’t say I dislike the new direction, I can’t say that I am a huge fan of it either, so I’ll be on the fence for a while.
However, I haven’t quite given up on the story in this case, given how the author has also written Sevens, which also had a similarly rough start. So far, MobuSeka seems vastly inferior to Sevens, but whether it will improve or not remains to be seen.


Art (7/10):

Given how this is a light novel, the art is pretty minimal. It was relatively good, although it was often difficult to tell which character was being depicted, since the character art wasn’t exactly distinctive. Other than that, I don’t really have any complaints or praise in this category.


Character (3/10):

I’m sad to say that the characters are the biggest weakness of this novel so far, and they have some major issues.
First and foremost, we have Leon, the protagonist. Leon is an inconsistent and often irrational character, whose decisions may make sense on the surface, but if you look beyond that, it’s amply clear that he’s just a plot device. His actions and reasoning are often removed from logic, and he just seems to move in whatever way suits the story best. Rather than being an organic character that responds to the environment, he feels more like a puppet to the flow of the story.
Now, for the girls (identities would be spoiler territory, but it’s not necessary to give the names, since they’re all roughly the same). This is a harem story, and hence, there are multiple girls vying for Leon. In such cases, it’s usually a good idea to have each one stand out in different ways, so that they are easy to distinguish between and appeal to various types of readers. The girls in MobuSeka though, all seem like a copy-paste job with minor differences here and there – They are all pretty dull, lacking in character, and archetypal, even though the author somehow manages to make even those different archetypes seem and behave like a single one.
There are even a couple of girls that are introduced and hinted at, but they never really have any impact at all besides a couple of appearances. More often than not, I’d read some girl’s name and wonder who that even is, given how faint their presence was in the grand scheme of things.
As a special mention, the only character I actually liked in MobuSeka was the sassy robot. While occasionally inconsistent, he was pretty fun, and livened up most of the scenes he was in.


Enjoyment (6/10):

One thing I have to admit is that MobuSeka can be enjoyable at times. More often than not, it’s more of something that you’d enjoy if you ‘turn off your brain and read’, but that’s still enjoyment nonetheless. Many of the scenes where the author tries to build up hype do fall flat, but there are quite a few sequences where he succeeds as well. I did occasionally read an entire volume at a stretch, so that’s a success there.


Overall (5/10):

While a simple average gives a 5, a weighted average would’ve put the score closer to a 4. Either way, as I had stated at the start of this review, I can’t exactly bring myself to recommend this novel. It might be worth a read if you don’t have anything else to do, but if you want better novels with a similar setting, I would recommend ‘Falling in Love with the Villainess’ and ‘My Death Flags show no sign of ending’ over this one.
There is always the possibility that MobuSeka may improve along the way like Sevens did, but as it is now, it would be better to stay away from this novel. With this, I conclude.

This review will only come out because of the force of my hate and to remind myself never to read another LN & WN with an MC more DENSE than a bag of rocks!
-
Story ★★ - World-Building at the beginning is indeed interesting, how a Matriarchal society deals with men, and how they are treated in society and of course the consequences when a War occurs and their lack of "supply", but of course this is the first Arc , from then on it's just downhill, if the LN ends in the first arch, a 7/10 would even be a valid score, but no... The ... Author has to extend himself in the WORST possible way.
-
Character ★ - And here begins the DOWNHILL, our MC Leon at the beginning wants to be a Mob, he doesn't want to call attention to himself, but it's the cliché that the less attention he wants to have, the more attention he has, being a character who is always reacting to problems, the action moments are even OK and some even cool, the problem is the Romance, and why it exists in this work.... Is the character DENSE? He is denser than adamantium, I don't know why Japanese authors follow this cliché even more when the guy in question is a man in his 30s who was Isekai, it makes no sense, even more so when he has TWO BRIDES at the end of the first arc , there comes a later moment in the story that both want to sleep with him, the same thinking it's a shit test, takes MEDICINE TO SLEEP, did you imagine this scene in your head dear reader? Calm! BECAUSE WORSE, so cowardly, the two BRIDES start kissing at a certain moment (NTR), while our MC is rushing to solve a problem he set for himself, these events I told you are just the end and the middle of the Iceberg, unites its development that is NULL, with its cowardly side both in the romantic issue and in the battle (fear of killing), self-esteem on the ground even more after saving the Kingdom in which it lives, in short it is a COMPLETE PILE OF GARBAGE !
- Of course this is just the MC, what about the other characters? Apart from the quartet that is there for the comedy, which actually works, Maria is an OK character, the Harem girls are nice, but due to the lack of "action" by the MC themselves they turn into a pile of garbage, some characters sidekicks are BETTER than him in that regard.
-
Art - 10/10 is very good!
-
Enjoyment ★★ - As I said, the world-building is really cool in the beginning, the fights are even OK, what drags this into the abyss are the characters.
-
General ★ & 1/10 - Sincerity? Stay away, this LN is not worth wasting time with, because of it I started to hate DENSE characters with all my might, I always look for a review if the story contains romance, so as not to pass this anger and run away again, enough in one level that gives the reader agony, as you read the LN thinking REACT DAMN IT! LOOK AT THESE TWO BEAUTIFUL BLONDES WANTING TO BE WITH YOU AND YOU TAKING MEDICATION TO SLEEP FOR SUCH A COWARD YOU ARE! Anyway, this LN is INTRAGABLE, of course even after the V8 that's where I left off, something happens, the path is very painful and not worth your time.
-
If you read this review thank you very much and may God bless you!

First I just wanna say, if you're looking for a fresh take on the "reincarnated as the villainess" genre, then this light novel is for you. Magic, mechas, interesting MC, love interests, etc. go read it, it's surprisingly good. I think this might be a hidden gem.

That said, this is going to be a review of the recent volumes. I really enjoyed reading Mobu up until half of the Republic arc, but it felt like everything went downhill from there. I recommend reading this up until the Fanoss arc, then just imagine the story ended there.

Spoilers from this point on about the Republic arc.

Here's the ... reason why I don't recommend spending your time reading volume 4 onwards.

- Reading the Alzer Republic arc (volume 4 onwards), I started to feel like the author has run out of juice and is just gonna milk this story because the first 3 volumes were a total hooker. But I ignored it and kept reading anyway hoping that the author will do something fresh and exciting. I was wrong. The first half of the republic arc felt just like a rehash of the kingdom arc, where Leon (the MC) knocks some arrogant nobles off their high horse and saved the heroine. After that, Leon's character development hit a plateau and he became boring.

- Lelia the new reincarnate was a promise but failed to become a proper counter to Leon (having the same power level as the MC doesn't mean you're already his equal), rather she just feels annoying. A brat of an anti-hero wannabe.

- And what the heck is up with the (sort of) NTR undertones between Angie & Livia and Leila & Serge? It felt like I was hit by a truck hauling 10 tons of cringe out of nowhere.

- Worldbuilding just becomes messier and confusing, sometimes to the point of not making sense already. I'm really annoyed because to me it seems that the author thinks the stakes are raised just because he/she increased the power level of the antagonists (what is this, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker?!?).

- Because the cast got too many, some new characters' potential got wasted with many of them feeling flat and boring (Narcisse and Emile to note some).

- It seemed that the story tried to sell me the Great Tree as the real villain, but I never felt invested in that, and the characters that are positioned to be the villains are lackluster and doesn't feel threatening (I'm more threatened by the writer making Angie and Livia go full NTR on Leon);

- The surface villains' (Pierre, Loic, and Serge) reason for their villainy can be boiled down to just this: they wanna get the heroines' p*ssies. They are irritating at best and boring at worst (at least do justice to the decent antagonists of vol. 1-3!!!)

There are many more that I would want to point out but I'll just leave it here. These are just my opinion so if you can ignore all these, you might enjoy reading them. Otherwise, I highly recommend reading the Kingdom and Fanoss arcs (vol. 1-3) only, then just imagine that it ended there and the Republic arc (vol. 4 onwards) never happened.

Review based on the first 6 LN volumes:

First let me give my thoughts on what this series LACKS : meaningful or understandable romance, original setting, fleshed-out characters, any meaningful adherence to a plot.

Now looking at what I just had to say you may be wondering why I would give such a series a 7 and here's the answer : IT'S FUN.

In a way this series is truly a LIGHT novel, it's both light-hearted and casual without being deep or meaningfully dramatic, at least to me. Although it lacks all the things I noted earlier I think it trades those things for a simply ... fun read with some comedic moments that had me laugh a few times and enjoy myself.

The interactions between Leon and the rest of the cast are the best part of the series, I for one enjoy his relationship with Luxion and the King the most but the deeply antagonistic mentality of Leon are what make the series worth giving a try.

Art 5/10: Some good scenes but mostly mediocre mech art

Characters 7/10: The only reason the series is worth reading

Enjoyment 7/10: Light-hearted, casual, occasionally comedic, had fun reading

Conclusion: read if you're looking for something fun but don't go in thinking this is some "mold-breaking" isekai with a unique twist on the Otome genre (that whole "twist" is technically the main plot but it really just sits on the backburner to develop the characters)

Revenge porn isekai. First arc (1-3 vol.) is great and fun. Author sure can do revenge stuff good, but lack of skills in every other aspect of writing is visible.

Second arc (4-7 vol.) - as story develops, absence of ability to write decent romance is more and more evident. MC is stagnant in his development, his banter with AI become stale and repetitive after some time. Beside revenge porn there is no substance to story. Comical relief quintet receive too much abuse and absurd treatment, that it becomes dehumanizing and sad spectacle. In general, characters have minimum growth throughout story.

Absence of intermission between ... first and second arcs and rather fast build up of second arc conflict feels just bad. Attempt at relaxed storytelling after second arc (whole 8 vol.) leave a lot to be desired in terms of story quality.

Third ark (9,10,11,?) feels better than second one, story took turn from pure revenge porn to mix of politics and actual character development. Up until third arc protagonist was like an imbecile incapable of personal growth, which took away some enjoyment, now it actually feels like normal story.

First ark (1-3) - 10
Second ark (4-7) - 6
Intermission (8) - 4
Third ark (9-) - 7

It has been a journey, not going to denied this is a good read (I gave it a 7/10) however not a strong one (I can only gave it a 7/10). I believe to most of us light novel is an undiscovered gold mine and unlike amines there is no aging for literatures so there are plenty gems hidden in the depth of the light novel world. Thus, although "Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu" is good enough, the others are just better. If you decide to give it a try I highly recommend to read this novel accompany with its spin-off ... "Ano Otome Game wa Oretachi ni Kibishii Sekai desu"(IF: Mari line) to have a much full filled experience. Let me explain...
*When I mentioning earlier volume I am generally referring to Arc 1(first year) and first half of Arc 2(second year)

Character: The most important part for any story in my opinion, and in terms of characters this novel is semi-ok (very mid). For main characters, aside from the MC Leon, Mari, and Luxion got a sort of decent development the others are barley got any attention given to their characters especially the harm girls they are pretty boring and serve strictly as plot devices I think they take more of a side-liner supporting roles even compares to Mari's gang (the 5 idiots). On the other hand, the spin-off(IF: Mari line) introduces new perspectives to and from different characters while providing them space to be developed which makes their characters more dimensional than just flat harm girls. The actual side-liner supporting characters in this novel is positively ok, there are many characters were introduced through out the journey and they do affect the overall direction of the story and sort of memorable where I could recall their involvement of the story when their name appeared during the final finale but who is he/she still the first thing comes in my mind no one really stand out.

World building: The world building is quite 'loose' in the earlier volumes which you can tell the author was just thinking on the fly which also did get a confirm during epilogue. After the world building takes off majorly of the dots got connected and the world structure got expended, it is a pretty interesting world and personally I am satisficed.

Plot: "Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu" is a power fantasy with harm elements, cannot give much detail without spoiler but plot is where this novel shine. The MC is reincarnated in a dating sim with game knowledge but as a side character (duh as title suggested), so we can get a reality check of the clichés and tropes of the dating sim from a bystander's perspective where the simple fantasy clashes with complex social norm and expectation shifts with MC's perspectives when he is not the MC of the 'story'/dating sim which a lot twists and turns. The 'under dog actually overpowered' + 'bad guy is actually good' type of tropes was used a lot in the earlier volumes, and as a power fantasy the MC always overpower the norms and expectations to become the true MC of the 'story'. In the later volumes, it is just world saving power fantasy mixed with political dramas while more world building and random events keeps being introduce... To be honest I do prefer the earlier volumes but the later volumes also have their charms, which always makes me wondering what if the MC didn't get into the spot light due to the nature of the power fantasy and where the plot is heading if the MC stays in the shadow and makes different options? this is where the spin-off(IF: Mari line) comes in, if the "Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu" is the alternative-line(where the MC actively intervenes the 'story' of the dating sim) then the spin-off "Ano Otome Game wa Oretachi ni Kibishii Sekai desu" would be the side-line (where the MC intervenes much less? with the prior knowledge of the true ending/alternative-line it actually could be more) and follows more truly towards the game progression, however as we already knowledge in both parent and spin-off this world is much more complex than it seem and since the spin-off has been only been half way of the Arc 1 (web version goes further) there is no telling of which ending is going to be the better or worst yet...

To sum up, this is a quite good light novel to read if you decide to read it. Is it a mind-blowing masterpiece? no; Is there better reads out there? yes; Am I regretting to read it? NO!