Dec 3, 2016
tl;dr Probably not worth your time, other LN's like Overlord and The New Gate do the same thing as this but better. Might get something out of it but don't expect anything deep or interesting.
I've finished the first 2 volumes of the uselessno4 translation. Minor spoilers about the basics of the setting are ahead (but nothing that will impact your enjoyment).
Skeleton-sama is about a guy who wakes up as his max-level character from the MMO he was playing in a new world. Standard stuff for an isekai plot. The main draw to the plot is the fact that Arc, the main protagonist, is a skeleton
...
hidden inside his Holy Knight armor. Unfortunately, that's about the only main draw to this series, as they generally refrain from utilizing the isekai storytelling to its maximum possibilities (at least so far).
Story:
The story is, like I said before, standard for the isekai trope of these types of novels. However, the writer seems content with simply creating a standard fantasy world with nothing to truly distinguish it. "Villains" are one dimensional and fleeting in their appearances. A majority of the conflicts Arc's encountered have been almost identical in their execution, resulting in a repetitious plotline with very little sense of progress.
The one unique ability that transferred over from the game is his ability to teleport wherever he's looking, or to some place he remembers, which they abuse to the max. All other abilities are uninteresting and simply function as a way to show off how amazing Arc is compared to everyone else in the world ("Wow, you can cast Heal, the most basic healing spell!?)
Simply put, the story itself is boring. The first volume's first half suffers immensely from this, with Arc simply going around town doing the most mundane stuff an adventurer could possibly do. While I have a hard time thinking of things to praise for the story, it's not necessarily bad, it just feels lacking in creativity, which makes it feel average at best.
Art:
The art's good, nothing really to say about it (it's a light novel).
Characters:
The characters themselves also lack distinction in their personality. It's unclear exactly what type of person Arc is supposed to be. It almost feels like he's intentionally bland so that the reader can simply insert themselves into his position. There are fleeting moments where a character's personality might show, but due to the lack of dialog between the main characters, it's hard to pin down the exact personalities of the main cast.
Minor spoilers in this paragraph: Another problem I have with Arc is the fact that despite being a skeleton, it's never really brought up in the plot. In fact, literally nobody knows he is a skeleton until the end of the first novel. I could count the number of times he's taken off his helmet in front of people on one hand. It seems like a waste to make him a skeleton and not utilize it more, and I feel almost jipped due to me liking the idea of such a character.
The story also often spends a chapter or two every now and then from the perspective of a relavent political figure, showing how Arc's actions are causing waves behind the scenes. These might appeal to some readers, but due to the general complexity of the politics that they mention, I have a difficult time enjoying these portions. There's usually only a few sentence the reader will actually care about, and the rest will just be fluff. Again, these sections might appeal to you, but they didn't do it for me.
The cast of characters feels very very small. As of the end of volume 2, there's 3 "main" people that we care about. Everyone else we've only seen maybe a handfull of times, or have simply not interacted with Arc at all.
Enjoyment:
As a mindless story to read while trying to refrain from dozing off, it's not too bad. But if you're expecting something amazing to keep you hooked and wanting you to jump into the next volume, turn away now.
Overall:
The story itself is absolutely average, with nothing to really make it stand out from other novels of the sort. While novels like Overlord and The New Gate have a wide cast of characters in an interesting world, and are able to have interesting battles despite the main characters being OP, Skeleton-sama has none of that. Skeleton-sama has no friends, meaning very little actual character interaction. Skeleton-sama doesn't afraid of anything, so all battles are settled with him just smashing people's faces in. I don't see the story fixing these problems any time soon.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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