100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatteiru review

PaiYuri11
Apr 05, 2021
A bit of a foreword: At the time of writing, only six chapters are available through fan scanlations. Kodansha is publishing it digitally in English fortunately, and hopefully they continue to, so seek those out if you want to read. The review is somewhat short. But it’s only for the first 29 chapters. Through this review, I just wanted to introduce others because this doesn’t to seem be very popular.

This is one of the better-planned and well-written “transported to another world” manga (not exactly isekai, though they too are included in any comparisons I make). No doubt about it. Fan of that genre? Go ahead and read it. If you’ve lost trust after reading the countless other sad excuses of shitpiles that infest the manga world right now, this one might just be the saving grace of the genre for you.

Without going into spoiler territory, essentially, heroes are repeatedly summoned and returned from ‘another’ world after progressively difficult rounds with the party size incrementing each round and the peace of their own world (city?) dependent on their success. The systems of summoning, leveling, revival, jobs, and the flow of time are somewhat unique. I did feel that a plot device was used only once, but it is easy to see the extent of thought the author (it’s an author/artist combo) put into this story of his. The afterwords are always worth a read, no matter how wordy they are. While throughout the first volume the system seems somewhat shallow, and certain elements unexplained, it gets sufficiently fleshed out gradually, sometimes through those afterwords. The main characters themselves are also somewhat more bearable than your typical tropes and from what I can tell, it is likely that they will grow out of their base molds in future volumes completely. That still doesn’t mean they can’t be infuriating though. Especially one bespectacled JK I’d rather not focus too much on.

While I implied that the characters can be somewhat trope-y, the MC is anything but. I can’t quite put my finger on his personality yet, but he’s somewhat conflicting in nature (which can/may be good). At one point, you’ll see him declaring himself a misanthrope, and then later on you’ll see him behave absolutely buddy-buddy with his countryside hometown friends. It is stated early on that his beef is somewhat only with city people, but then his ‘I despise humans’ doesn’t make much sense. It isn’t angst though, and the MC is definitely likable and his logic understandable, if a bit confused. Regardless, I’m interested in seeing how the author deals with him coming to terms with saving the people he hates in future volumes. We haven’t seen as much of the other characters yet but they also exhibit such potential in terms of depth. The interactions between the main party more often than not are really good, though, and I increasingly feel it’s an innate flaw of the medium itself, sometimes I did find it generic.

The ‘NPCs’ also have some good characterization and, surprisingly, growth that is partially forced by the accelerated flow of time in the other world. Said flow also leads to some interesting world building and character choice consequences as well. Like I said, well-planned and well-written. In terms of romance, there is nothing between the main party yet, but it’s funny that our ‘misanthropic’ hero manages to make two NPC girls fall in love with him. It is definitely sad realizing that their love for MC will never pan out but it is treated satisfactorily (I am hopeful that some romance eventually develops between the main two. Can’t see it yet tho). And I use the term NPC for ease here, not to say they feel any less real and the term doesn't do them justice. There are quite a few such side characters who I think are better than one or two of the actual main cast. Now that can be good or bad depending on the way you look at it.

While at first blush the art is not very pretty, it definitely flows well. The actions sequences are really good with some heavy gore. Character designs, especially enemies, are varied which is enough for me to say that the art is good.

So there, it’s a good story, with a good mc, good side characters (except one out of many) and is very enjoyable. I binge read it in a single night and what do you know, its 6 AM in the morning (thankfully, on a Sunday). There is absolutely no reason you shouldn’t give this a try. It might not be breaking grounds, but it is definitely very good at what it is and a welcome breath of fresh air in a very saturated genre.
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