Kuro no Maou

Description

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Kurono Maou is a high school student who is sensitive of his sharp eyes and bad expression. No girlfriend but gifted with friends in his own way, he had been living a peaceful life.

But one day, without any reason, Kurono was attacked by a mysterious headache while in the literature clubroom and fainted. When he finally awoke…Swords & magic, filled with monsters, an orthodox different world summoning.

Associated Names
One entry per line
KNM
The Black Demon King
黒の魔王
Related Series
Jujutsushi Wa Yuusha Ni Narenai (Shared Universe)
Recommendations
Pivot of the Sky (4)
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (WN) (4)
Mushoku Tensei (WN) (3)
Sevens (2)
Jujutsushi Wa Yuusha Ni Narenai (2)
Nigoru Hitomi de Nani wo Negau (2)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Not masterpieces, but enjoyable enough.
  2. Yandere female leads
  3. The best novel that I've ever read
  4. sad life
  5. Yandere Harems/ Yanderes/ Harems that have a Yande...

Latest Release

Date Group Release
12/11/23 Asian Hobbyist c545.3
12/01/23 Asian Hobbyist c544
11/15/23 Asian Hobbyist c543
11/13/23 Asian Hobbyist c542
10/06/23 Asian Hobbyist c541
10/06/23 Asian Hobbyist c540
09/12/23 Asian Hobbyist c539
09/12/23 Asian Hobbyist c538
08/16/23 Asian Hobbyist c537
08/14/23 Asian Hobbyist c536
07/10/23 Asian Hobbyist c535
07/07/23 Asian Hobbyist c534
06/13/23 Asian Hobbyist c533
06/01/23 Asian Hobbyist c532
05/15/23 Asian Hobbyist c531
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91 Reviews sorted by


PercherTM
PercherTM rated it
July 27, 2017
Status: c520
Spoiler

It went BL, alot despite the author saying "wont happen again", I swear he likes toying with us

The MC is s*upid, all I can say, S T U P I D, sure he likes acting badass but he got tortured/controlled/had everyone he came to care about die/have everyone he was gonna protect die. Yet he still chose to be naive as hell while his harem members are actually the only reason he isnt dead yet, still dont get why the angel fell in love

Everything above would have still gotten this 3 stars atleast considering the writing is awesome and the story is unique just that

he gets honeytrapped into working for the god damn church and betray the demons who f**king helped him so much. Literally honetrapped, hes like "oh lets just forget the torture and stuff they put me through since this girl let me go and seems nice so ill be on her side" and oh the harem members separate cause of the sadistic author implying they are MIA, I like reality but. This is just the world going out of its way or rather the MC going out of his way to get f**ked

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Spike Speigel
Spike Speigel rated it
May 7, 2019
Status: c416
I f***ing love this novel! The action scenes are fantastic! The action is gritty and bloody, it actually feels like the main characters are fighting for their lives instead of walking through battlefields as if they were a field of daisies.

The side characters are really fleshed out and have their own personalities.

The main character is not a beta like so many other isekai's...

... more>> The story actually has proper world building, and the author is good at balancing action and comedy and drama so it doesnt get boring.

Im not a fan of harem genre in general, but Kuro No Maou is an exception. The yandere's following the main character turn the whole harem genre on its head, its actually fun to read...

On a side note, Asian Hobbyist is currently translating this, they are only pumping out one chapter every month and a half, and when they do they split it into 3 and pretend they translated 3 chapters. Asian hobbyist translates like 50 novels at a time with a team that gets paid from ad revenue, so any novel that is translated by them will take literally years to translate. Hopefully some awesome translater thats bored and wants to translate a bad*** dark fantasy will see this and answer my prayers...

Also, id take "slimeholders" review with a grain of salt, that person thinks "Danmachi" is a "masterpiece" and rated it 5 stars, so their sense of taste is highly suspect. <<less
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darthpsykoz
darthpsykoz rated it
March 5, 2016
Status: --
Too slow... hate the random slice of life sh*t & povs that keeps happening.. MC keeps thinking he should get stronger but remains weak.
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Emiyamanu
Emiyamanu rated it
December 7, 2018
Status: c405
Good story. Not boring. Realistis. Gore but no problem because he have yandere heroine. Plot progess is good. Carakter build from weak to strong is good. Not "goug goug" "go*ku" because if he to be dead he not mad go to strong in instant. If you like sweet story. Go away
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payixe6979
payixe6979 rated it
June 6, 2020
Status: c500
This is one of the best novel you will ever read!

First of all the MC is not Beta. The MC is a normal person that grows steadily to overcome his adversaries. This isn't even a dark novel. This is a novel that portrays true struggle when you are going against the people that were favoured by god. World Building is also detailed, and each heroines and side characters are fleshed out.

Character development of the Heroines are actually well done, also the side characters have their own personalities. This novel is... more>> far from s*upid, this is way better than Arifureta, Death March or any Harem Novel out there with Mary sue MC

Now the negative reviews here are extremely exaggerated it seems like these people who gave one star to these novel expects an MC with OP powers killing everyone that annoys him. THIS IS NOT a SHOUNEN with a happy go lucky MC. This is a novel where the MC has realistic personality and work hard to gain strength.

There are even lies mixed in the negative reviews which is unfair to this novel because this novel deserves way better. If you want an MC that doesn't struggle with OP powers and has no tension then go read Isekai Smartphone.

To the Current Translator (Asian Hobbyist), who is ruining this novel.

Spoiler

Asian Hobbyist completely ruining this novel I suggest other translator to take this up, rather than leave the translation to them. The Current translation are actually at Chapter 429 not at 464.

Asian Hobbyist cuts every chapter in half and label it as a whole chapter.

this translator only release 4 chapters a month, but in reality they are only releasing 2 chapters a month, since they cut chapters in half and label them as a whole chapter.

They are milking this series to the last drop which is ruining this novel because who would want to read a novel that has only 2 or 1 chapters per month, that is why many readers can't get into the story because the translator is completely ruining it. Seriously someone take this novel from them.

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Leafron
Leafron rated it
November 15, 2018
Status: --
Horrid. Dark fantasy should never mix with a happy harem. The author needs to decide on one or another theme. These two genres don't mix well. Furthermore, the reader would absolutely feel frustrated when reading this novel, considering how regardless of what happens, the MC will only lose out more than his enemies would.

The initial setting of the novel wasn't all too bad until it devolves into a typical Japanese novel; indecisive main lead, the creation of a harem, MULTIPLE POVs (really, who cares about what the enemies are thinking... more>> about? No need to go on and on about their thoughts) and so on..

All in all, would not recommend this novel unless you are absolutely bored with nothing better to do. <<less
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dicloniuslord
dicloniuslord rated it
July 8, 2020
Status: c28
Premise begins fine, but once he escapes it turns to shit. MC has no real indication of the trauma he endures, especially mentally. He also acts like a typical isekai MC with his personality, which again doesnt make much sense due to the trauma. I doubt any of the editors or translators can read/write/speak english fluently, as a large portion of the sentences are written awkwardly, and some even in broken english. On the author's part there is also sudden tense and POV changes, as well as either boringly long... more>> explanations about simple things, or little to no explanation about important things. Overall, the story itself isnt all that good, but could be a lot better with a proper translator and editor. <<less
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oire2113
oire2113 rated it
June 17, 2020
Status: c467
Read all 400+ chapters in 3 days. That's something.

Excessive multiple POV with repeated information is pretty annoying.

The MC progression is actually pretty great. You always feel he can be killed by someone stronger throughout the story no matter how many upgrades he got. It makes the fight kinda intense.

Yandere girls might be a turn off for some people but I rather have that rather than a tsundere. Much more exciting.
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SineNomine
SineNomine rated it
June 13, 2020
Status: c400
Probably the dumbest MC I've seen, at least top 3. Author has some pretty weird fetishes that come out of nowhere like
Spoiler

borderline yaoi & tentacle r*pe on little boys.

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I'm pretty sure the author is only capable of writing yandere girls too. Since that's literally all you'll find here, a bunch of extremely s*upid female characters.
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Phoenix110
Phoenix110 rated it
March 18, 2020
Status: c458
It's just disappointing, I don't want to use extreme words that would put people off. This story showed great promise at the beginning and it just keeps going downhill

The MC is clueless and downright ret*rded sometimes. Before he got sent to the other world he seemed somewhat intelligent but it's like he's just getting dumber and dumber now

The story is just too slow and wordy. Too much time is spent describing things that aren't relevant, even while a large scale battle or a simple fight is going on you see... more>> very little action compared to the amount of words used. It's just an endless description that drowns out the fight and makes it boring. <<less
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Leinyl
Leinyl rated it
August 16, 2019
Status: c650
This novel has many flaws but I still find myself enjoying the hell out of it at times that I even endured in reading machine translated chapters.

What I like about this:

  1. Yandere Harem - haha, this just needs to be here since I rarely think having this in the story can keep me entertained. Also because his harem are cruel and manipulative who won't hesitate to do things out their morality, it kinda balances the MC being too idealistic at times.
  2. The Battle tension - the battles here were made to say that the enemies aren't going down just because the MC managed to outsmart or bring out countermeasures against them, they can also think of proper strategies despite not having a propped up intelligent character among them. Also because the main cast may be powerful but enemies are pretty much equal or stronger than them at times.
  3. World building - the setting in the story was thoroughly explored with the lore, situation and power system in the world leaving me to question very little about it.
What threw me off:

  1. The MC is gets careless at times when it is not a major battle which is pretty annoying considering how many battles he had fought in
    Spoiler

    the serious offenses here was when he got his arm reduced to a bloody mass since he couldn't control his striking power and underestimated his target, and the time he caused an avalanche since he wanted to fire off a flashy attack despite knowing they are in a goddamn snowy mountain

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  2. Only a few battles had gotten me tense because of what the author said in one of the chapters
    Spoiler

    So basically he said that he won't try any NTR or death of heroine situations, I'm happy that he mentioned the former but the latter is just s*upid when there are arcs when the main consequence of failing the death of a heroine, that just made all the tense atmosphere you made in the arc worthless by mentioning that

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  3. There are times when things are just way too drawn out, sure there are instances where an ample amount of chapters are needed to properly tell of the circumstances but some times I feel lengthening the arc is just unnecessary
    Spoiler

    For example, that time when all 3 of the main cast was subjected to some kind of hypnosis magic that lets them dream about their ideal world and it took several chapters for the MC to break free from it in which most of those chapters only explained their ideal world

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  4. I would have seriously wished there was a better way for the MC to have gained power
    Spoiler

    He basically gained an upgrade only because a God suddenly appeared out of nowhere to test him, and what's worse is that it was even called with a cheesy name of "The Power of Protection" despite it never having to do anything about protection and more about the seven deadly sins really

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I could probably point out more good and bad things I found about this series but these are what struck me the most.
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talosparoxi
talosparoxi rated it
April 16, 2018
Status: c381
Okay I'm gonna get a bet of a preamble before my main thoughts on this story. The reason this has so many low reviews I think is less due to it's actual quality and more the massive changes in tone it goes through. There are people who just want to read a light hearted story or one with a complete OP badass MC that get turned off by the tragedy and losses early on, and there are those that are only interested in the suffering and gore that get turned... more>> off by the slow moments, especially after chapter 150 where it slows down a lot and the MC stops just getting set up for bigger and bigger losses. So if you want a story that has a completely OP MC and/or is always happy-go-lucky or always tragic and gory then this isn't for you.

I feel that this is a really good story for people who like chinese style storytelling. Specifically this novel reminds me of things like "Against the Gods" or "Ancient Strengthening technique" at a lot of points. It walks the fine line of having enjoyable and happy characters who do thinks that are morally wrong if they need to. It also showcases how horrible people can be and how easily things can go wrong or how wrong your ideas of things you believe to be absolute truth can be.

Many characters in this series have strong personalities and actions and it's interesting seeing how their actions will quite often remain similar even if their outlooks on life and their values have changed drastically. Really I think this has a more realistic, if morbid, view of love than most series. Storybook love where you only want what is best for the person does exist but even if the person tells themselves that it is generally only their self conceit. Love is greedy and angry, always looking to monopolize it's target to remain yours and yours alone. It is merely that the best way to do this is to make them happy.

In short this series has really good characters, character growth, and an interesting story progression, just don't get too put off by the more tragic aspects as there is plenty of fun and joy to be had. <<less
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XellossMetallium
XellossMetallium rated it
October 14, 2015
Status: c190
Story-wise I like Kuro no Maou.

Albeit the character of the protagonist feels quite common and overused it should be noted that (words of the translator) Kuro no Maou is older than a good chunk of other famous web/light novels (i.e. Arifureta).

The main protagonists (and antagonists) are all quite likeable (and hateful, where needed), the pacing is steady and no part of the story feels too strained, forced or like a filler.

Another main point of this novel is

... more>>
Spoiler

the “Game of Thrones” atmosphere. Everyone can die, and usually they will. Right now I cannot say if the author is going to abuse this trope as a tool to “change scenary” without dealing with the aftermath of the previous arc or it will be used prudently and only if truly needed.. This we will see in the future.

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Stylistically there are issues, since the author constantly jumps from the third person POV to the first person. Usually is only thanks to the kind work of the translator that the story is easy to follow (they point the POV changes and the speaker for some sentences). <<less
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thenewattacker
thenewattacker rated it
June 25, 2022
Status: c432
The storytelling is intriguing and grounded in consequences, but the grounded nature is also what makes it hard to read. The MC's powerlevel is objectively above average, but when his sworn enemy is a competent and already-winning "Christian-ish" war machine, his strength keeps falling short. Seeing the MC try so hard yet making little progress is hard to stomach.

In addition, I feel the author's world is too large for him to handle because he spends a lot of words and time describing the MC's every move and allocates time for... more>> side-character. However, the worldbuilding comes at the cost of entire chapters full of 'fluff' and glacial plot progression. It is also made worse since not all side-characters are important to MC's journey.

Overall, this is a 'good-enough' story containing dark emotions, strong female characters, and an evolving world, but the act of actually reading this story isn't fun for me. I've repeatedly try to come back when I recall the good story beats, only stop reading when I remember the reasons why I stopped reading in the first place.

Edit: Borrowing the words of fellow reviewer DotDotDot, "The novel isn't complete dribbling garbage but personally I did no like it." <<less
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Luvid
Luvid
August 29, 2020
Status: c416
Is the novel worth reading?
Yes! It’s rare for novels to show realistic tragedy and suffering, many just gloss over it or someone overpowered conveniently comes in just in time to save the day. In this novel the “villains” don’t just wait for the MC to get super strong or make s*upid mistakes that are too unrealistic, the decisions they make match their overall shown personalities.
I feel that the author tries to keep the rawness and dangerous atmosphere of this world. The battle scenes are somewhat interesting, and how... more>> the stories develops is somewhat surprising.

What I don’t like about the novel (and this is a common occurrence in many Japanese novels) is that the author tries to portray a somewhat strategist feel to MC, but later on portrays him to be extremely dense. I feel that if someone is capable of making critical decisions on the battlefield, then that character should be able to have a semblance of common sense.
I don’t know if the author writes these scenes for the comedic content in between the violence or if he’s just bad in portraying romance, but it reaches a level where I feel that all of the main heroines are starting to act the same. Many of the heroines act a certain a certain type of way when introduced (they have calm, cute, or strong personalities) but when they interact long enough with the MC they all turn manipulative and yandere like (to be clear I appreciate a good yandere), but they basically control almost all of the social circle of the MC and keep making decisions for him behind his back. They surely want to protect him but I don’t think they trust him enough to show him their true selves (While you keep reading you’ll notice that each of the heroines has a kind of “hidden quirk”, to say the least, that they keep hidden from the mc), they only show the parts they want him to see. Honestly some of these romantic scenes make the MC seem beta as hell, It feels like the author forces him to be dense so he can prolong the tension.

It reaches a point where the only way for the MC to see that his partners are romantically interested in him is if they straight up say it CLEARLY to his face, because I’m sure that if they just say that they like him and are interested in him he’ll just misunderstand. It’s laughable that when they invite him on dates with very romantic settings he thinks that they just want to be close friends with him.
I really hope this gets better and he stops being so beta.

All of this is just my opinion and everyone should at least read a few chapter before making a decision, ignoring the cliched romance it’s not that bad. <<less
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pditf4me
pditf4me rated it
March 15, 2019
Status: c407
Just saw this novel was updated after randomly looking it up today. Wow! Totally forgot how interesting a story can be with yanderes. If anyone knows any novels with yanderes like this one please recommend them to me.

P.s. Love this story and the characters and the world they live in. Fantastic writing.
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martinalus
martinalus rated it
November 12, 2018
Status: c404
Solid story and characters.

Very dark and refreshing story but the pazing is way too slow and this story has too many haphazard POV changes.

the first 120 chapters or so are very slow but once you get through those things really starts picking up character, story and worldbuilding wise.

Recommended!
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sakirol
sakirol rated it
November 23, 2016
Status: v1 prologue
Kuro No Mao starts off with a good, dark premise. A high school is warped to another world and forced into experimentation to develop decent, disposable foot soldiers. Not amazingly original, but we've had dozens of light and airy isekai novels, so it's good to see such a dark start to one. It picks good elements to base the story around, but the execution is lacking.

The author just CANNOT write in a serious tone, and it's incredibly jarring. The MC does not feel any different between the first time... more>> he is subjected to brutal experimentation and the time he escapes. His dialogues feel naive and boyish and reflect none of the agony that he went through nor any sense of vengeance. We slip into a daily routine of slice-of-life follow his escape, and it's as if we were reading another isekai novel where the MC had not experienced any hardship yet!!

Similarly, all the notable characters lack depth. They all experience enough events. We know their past. It's just that they aren't characterized very well.

The other thing is that naming and world conventions breaks the immersion. It's very awkward that this novel takes random parts of the this world and tosses it into the fantasy world while completely ignoring most of the elements of this world.

Examples:
The people of this new world (in the Arc continent) speak Arabic or at least the novel uses Arabic letters. MC, as a modern teenage boy from at least the 2000s, can't recognize Arabic and is bewildered by it. It would've been less jarring if they replaced the Arabic letters with X's or something.

virg*nia is a colony in the Pandora Continent. It is a port city located on the EAST coast of the Pandora Continent. The Arc Continent sent an expedition to the West on the Pandora Continent in order to establish control and take over the Pandora Continent......... <<less
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OfficePony
OfficePony rated it
August 21, 2016
Status: c44
Grammar: 2.5/5 (formerly 3.5/5)
Story: 3.5/5 (same)
Writing: 2/5 (formerly 3.5/5)

(Updated ch44:

Yeah, it devolved quickly into a very confused piece of work. Author very clumsily swaps between perspectives and people. There is no indication as to when the changes happen so it can get a bit frustrating jumping around with no one view point really completed. The translation team seems to be having a hard time making this readable at this point, and honestly I can't blame them, it's the authors fault for using really unstable... more>> view points. I was Enjoying it immensely until about chapter 40, then things just started getting messy. I don't mind when things stagnate in a story, I just push through, but when things get messy I just give up. I'm hear to enjoy a story not a puzzle.)

Far from the worst thing I've read, but far from the best. The grammar is tolerable, though awkward phrasing and wording is almost guaranteed to be found in each chapter. Not really a problem with the author, but a blip from the translation team. Still, a decent job and nothing the really detracts from the reading experience except for the momentary pause wondering what would be a better way to phrase or word something.

As far as the story goes, it's nice, but not anything new or ground breaking thus far. Can't really say anything else on this, seriously.

The writing is fairly well done, nothing is dragged through the mud with too much detail, nor is it really explained enough. The descriptive scenes could use some more flavor, but it's understandably difficult to do that with a translated work. Over all I'd rate this at a 3.5/5, with some hope for the future. Once I've read the entire thing I'll probably come back to finish this review. <<less
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ninthlite
ninthlite rated it
March 13, 2016
Status: --
This is a fairly good novel. There are no cliches so far so it is an fairly interesting read, I personally dislike the normal beta japanese MC thats all on the rage. The main character gathers a harem of yanderes of all flavors, which is probably the most interesting part about this novel. The main character's powers as a dark magician warrior is fairly interesting as well. However this novel suffers from some set backs which would probably be fixed by an editor if it ever became a light novel.... more>> This novel has dry periods where the plot crawls as slow as a snail, also the author likes to have multiple chapters dedicated to side characters which are probably the most boring portions of the novel. I feel like the author has no idea to write at times so he just writes himself into a circle.

I would rate this series 4/5. Its interesting enough to read whenever its update however I would never constantly refresh the page and stay up for hours to wait for a chapter. <<less
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