At the start the premise was great and all but the main problem for me with this novel is, how MC acts as an overly righteous person. And literally don't think ill of any of his superiors or saves characters who are full of sh*t / who behave rudely/torture the MC both mentally and physically. He don't KILL people

Reincarnating in a DARK jp period he is overly sympathetic to not kill humans even if it means it will come to bite him down later

I would say MC has close to... more>> 0 backbone when dealing with his superiors and is an overly edgy self loathing hypocrite. And always cries about how he is getting what he deserves. I don't hate righteous people but this MC is a total idiot when degrading his pride and his shitty non killing ideal. He absolutely HATES youkais but at the same time he saved a mercenary who attempted to r*pe his comrade girl from a youkai when he was at the verge of death because he pitied him and he can't see a human die 😑😑😑and guess what? Got betrayed the next second. Overly goody two shoes is just pathetic. He is hypocrite through and through <<less

9/10 for NU standards, which due to how unfairly others have graded this, I brought up to 10/10. What is the mark of a good story? Well, obviously, it's complicated. Victory? A character who rises above the challenges of life? An upwards growth, where the protagonist's quality of life increases, where we can genuinely say that the situation has improved for the world, or for him at least? None of that is remotely necessary, or even to be encouraged, given the deluge of works where characters have everything handed over to them, where growth is not only rapid, but even more inexcusably, constant. Life doesn't work like that, and fiction needn't always change that. Where's the appreciation for just a good piece of fiction, with complex and interesting characters, a balanced and self-consistent work with a well planned out setting and plot? Why must every protagonist be doomed to rise above it all, like some messiah figure who, becoming the center of the world, incinerates every lesson that could have been taught, shielding us forever from the darker, more interesting pieces of the setting's mythos? Loss is important. Loss is interesting. Loss is much less explored. Here, in the world of "Firefly of the dark night, " our protagonist by the name of Tomobe, struggles to survive. Life is hard, cruel and short for all, its vicissitudes and trials constant and unrelenting; the scars of suffering, struggle and cruelty are visible on each and every character, both the protagonist, and all the many supporting characters. Setting

That is the kind of world we are talking about, and boy is it a crapsack one. Our protagonist is a weak servant, with very little spiritual power, and no real way to improve his station. His masters see him as utterly disposable, yet bind him to their service in almost every way imaginable, leaving him no visible window for freedom. His every acquaintance, both past, present and future, with their minds scarred by a life with constant social stratification, where they are constantly at risk of dying, where survival means taking from those lesser than you and putting your life on the line to fight man-eating demons. Where defeat can mean a gruesome and long death, or worse, endless torture, monsterization, turning your very body into a human b**by trap, being eaten slowly, piece by piece, as your friends and family around you are butchered and possibly r*ped by hordes of monsters. Where the monsters themselves are killed whenever they are seen, both children and mature, with no concept of childhood, love or mercy. Where the few demons who have helped have in turn been betrayed and tormented by the leaders of the human faction, and those few who have survived now trying desperately to destroy humanity in revenge. Where disobedience, weakness, unpreparedness, lack of information, the improper specialization, mean death. That's what he goes through, and yet, despite it all, he is kind. Tomobe, our main character, endures torture and indignity and avoidable suffering to save those he is close with, and even those with whom he is not. He saves many girls, who in turn grow to see him as more important than their very own lives, yet can do little to help him, themselves being prisoners of their own station and struggles, who despite being far stronger than he is struggle all the same. He struggles so hard, is abused by his superiors, is tormented by youkai far stronger than he is that he can rarely hope to defeat yet must vanquish, survives mostly through sheer luck, and cannot ever seem to see any possibility for real improvement to his situation. Why does he fight? Why hasn't he offed himself already, in this place where life is crueler than death? Because he doesn't want others to suffer, doesn't want to abandon those he could help in the future. It's a beautiful world, with an intricate setting and clearly planned out power system, with no cheats, where everyone plays and suffers by the same rules. People should write this kind of stuff more often. It does appear mtl'd, or at least translated by someone with a shaky grasp of English, but the writing and story come through easily enough it, and I am content with it.

Edit: I'll be tr*shing on some reviews here and the typical isekai novels below.

I don't usually write reviews on stuff I read due to multiple, although redundant in this particular case, reasons. But once it just so happens to be so disappointed by something I do have to cool myself down somewhat, so here we are. But, first and foremost I do need to clarify this is not a hate review, as much as it would seem like it since I'll be complaining the entire time.

Now, onto the review itself. I do love the premise of it. Just reading the summary (and by... more>> that I mean the title, since from quite a while ago already, the titles of jap novels became the summary in itself) was enough to get me hooked. A gritty, cruel, depresive world with monsters (cough youkai) everywhere, and the MC just a truly average man trying to survive in it, with no cheats or systems or other bull like that? Oh, boy, sign me in.

Unfortunately, as much as the ideea of it sounds more than promising, the execution of it is lackluster at best. My first complaint is that it gets wrong what, to my overwhelming surprise, most other garbage tier Isekai got right all this time, without me even knowing it. It keeps reminding you it's a game. Again. And again. And yet again. My short term memory is lackluster at best, but even so I don't think there was 1 chapter up till now where it didn't remind you of it. Followed then by more info dumping about it being a game, and the backstory of it. Which ties to the second complaint. Info dumps every chapter. I don't mind them in general, but when you read the 7th time about that same place, or thing, or the fact it's a game, with about 50-80% what you already knew before, you get tired of it. You most probably know about that saying "show, don't tell". Well, this novel tells you so much your ears will drop dead from hearing all of it. Coupled together, those 2 are already enough to ruin my immersion in the world, no matter how much it's premise hooked me.

Then, there is the MC itself. Which is, quite frankly, a canon fodder s*ave, but it's called a servant because it makes it sound more acceptable. My problem with it is, other than the overly exaggerated narration about the game (and it must have gotten to me as well since it's the 3rd time im mentioning it), surprisingly not the fact he's meek and servile. I mean, it's hard to be another way when you're basically a s*ave, and a bullied one at that. One many people wouldn't blink an eye if he cough ascended, or rather some would even welcome it. But where I draw the line is the cliche goody 2 shoes type of guy. The "innocent hero" archetype, so commonly seen as the staple of japanese MC. No desires (other than being a hero, oh, well, surviving in this particular case). No negative feelings towards other people (not even suppressed at that, even with all the bullshitery that happens to him). No personality. Don't get me wrong now, I don't especially want an evil, borderline psychotic, selfish MC, like the kinds of, let's say, Fang Yuan from RI, but picture me this: dark, gritty world, normal people are literally food for youkai, stuck as a s*ave for a family where scheming against each other seems like an everyday occurrence and, more often that not, it's other servants like him who play the price for it. And yet, the MC is the basic, soulless, goody 2 shoes japanese protagonist. What a way to shatter all your suspension of disbelief, ain't it? The only thing that lacks is him buying s*aves, like in every other garbage self insert Isekai (altho he can't do so when he is one himself), or start praising about the power of friendship and whatnot.

And, last, but not least, the author tries to make the novel more "inteligent" than it actually is, but fails miserably, it only manages to complicate everything and highlight my earlier points even more. The fact the translation is readable at best, looking like only 1and a half steps above MTL, surely doesn't do it justice either. But oh, well, that's not something I should complain about when my knowledge of japanese is non-existent, although, still, the quality of it doesn't make the experience more pleasant. But I should stop here before this "review" becomes a novel itself.

Final note? 5 tears out of sadness and disappointment (out of 10), cuz it could have been so much more, and yet the end result can't be called anything but average, and missed potential. But since I can't vote a 2.5* here (or I'm a noob and don't know how, especially on mobile), I'll generously round it up to a 3. And hope it won't get worse as I continue reading it when more chapters become available. <<less

I think I should clarify a few detail as many low star reviews keep forgetting.

1. MC is in a world with like a 70 percent or higher mortality rate if you are not rich, an exorcist, or live in the capital.

2. MC does feel frustration and anger towards his situation but can't express it. While also understanding the personalities of every character that is why he is so passive because he already knows thats their way of being

3. MC is pathetically weak. He could be killed in an instant the... more>> second he shows any negative emotions toward the Family. He also has not ability to get stronger with no proper teacher or even time to develop his skills. You cab see this through the constant mention of him being uneducated.

4. As a servant he has been brainwashed in order to not show rebellion towards the family. (But it looks like it doesn't work on him so idk)

5. Everyone in the review keep saying classic goody two shoe MC thats bland a boring but its clear theat they didn't read it properly because everything he does is for his own survival. He even feels bad for manipulating shiro in several instances and feels almost no positive feelings for most of heroin's mainly pity because he knows their fates and only wants to stop them for his own satisfaction or survival. The best way to describe it is if you had read a super depressing novel and wanted to change it and then got put into it. Wouldn't you want to make it less depressing.

All in all, the story is not great but its not bad either. There is too many info dumps and there were some instances where the MC could of shown some emotions but never did. Objectively 3 stars but personally 4 stars because I have read a lot worse. <<less

The translator who does this story did a great job on translation.

The story a someone who is reincarnated into a game with a bunch of heroines that are all yondras. I followed this author on several other stories and they do extremely good job translating the stories. As well as staying consistent with updates for their translated works. It seems like so far this novel Stars young kid was regancarnated into a world that has yokai. And as a servant of a powerful exorcist family is surrounded by a bunch... more>> of crazy women who seem to have taken notice of his unique personality since he's someone who's played the game that he's been reincarnated into. It looks interesting so far in the first two chapters I highly recommend that you check it out. <<less

I was almost turned off by the copious amount of low-rated written reviews, but looking at the overall rating, I tried reading it. What I got in return was a well-thought-out story with a lot more depth for a harem light novel. The arcs also play out really well and really shows why the main character is driven by his morals and that he really is one unlucky guy.

Goody 2 shoe proto in bad environment. He didn't get cheats but he still is always concerned about everyone but him. Don't get fooled by comments saying that he is special. He isn't, author fools you by him doing everything for his 'survival' but look on how he is always concerned about even minimal deceptions, how he is afraid of killing humans (who cares about murdering in mass self conscious youkai, they are just mobs), how he can become nice friend with his torturer. He does necessary things but that's... more>> true for other standard MCs as well. Personal growth? None. He gets new powers (youkai and divine) but as a standard japanese proto doesn't acknowledge them. However even after 90 ch he is yet to grow some balls.

Descriptive way of writing is boring. It's nice to learn about world but it shouldn't be 80% of the novel

World is unrealistic. It's fine when world is unrealistic in easy light hearted novel but this piece pretends to be serious and thought through. 2 princesses can't even take one servant for themselves - why? Why plebs are not afraid of servants? I understand why they might hate them but servants are still few times stronger than plebs and also are a property of very influential families. Why 'smart' youkai just don't attack individual villages? They would destroy this country in a year this way. Why they build villages in unsuitable places? Why everyone borderlines ignores both ridiculous risks and achievements of tomobe?

Story itself is pretty good and there a lot of nice ideas. But it's boring and MC is rather bland <<less

This series gets better as it goes IMO.

While MC is still quite weak compared to everyone around him, the way in which he becomes more powerful is very interesting.

Still has me hooked, looking forward to more!

This novel is about a really depressing, gory game, and a transmigration of a guy into this game. The world is actually pretty great, with explicit details about the yokais, the history about how humans came to beat them, and how a world would work with only a few bloodlines of exorcists that can defeat them. This ends up showing one of the most crucial setting of the story, classism. People are divided into a few classes, and the top ones are families with the strongest bloodlines, as they become... more>> the strongest exorcists. However, they also have to go against equally strong monsters, that will deceive and constantly break people down mentally. This is probably why exorcists are also usually mentally unwell. At least, I have not seen any powerful exorcists in this novel that is not cold hearted.

Then comes in our protagonist who is pretty unsuited to this world. He is relatively weak in power, yet has a heroic personality. This difference between his power and his personality leads him into many troubles since he gets himself into much trouble although he cannot afford to. However, this does make him popular with the girls, but these girls are mostly powerful exorcists, and powerful exorcists are mentally unstable, or the girls are powerful yokai, who are all monsters. Then, it would be no surprise that he obtains a harem of yanderes follow his heroic sacrifices.

Now, onto my personal feelings about this novel. I don't really mind the harem, and the setting itself is fantastic. However, I can't seem to feel that there is any character progression. The protagonist is so weak, and the world is too strong that it is way too unbelievable that he hasn't died or gone insane, even with the protection of his heroines. Yet, it never feels like he has gotten stronger from those incidents. He has gotten power ups, and unique strengths sure, but he gets tortured mentally and physically all the time with little to no rest. Despite all of that, he will do anything to save other people. The heroines will always be crazy for him, lets him do as he wishes and won't help till the last moment despite all of them being way stronger. And they won't change unless the hero becomes strong enough, but that seems impossible the way this story is going. That is why this story feels like such a slog to go through to me, nothing will change unless the protagonist becomes strong, but everything is always stronger than him so nothing ever changes. The story will always be grim, the hero will always be weak, and the heroines will always be crazy. <<less

I don´t tend to write reviews for novels so I am going to be simple. I like it, for 4 reasons: the character has to fight for his life and, in the process, becomes stronger (he isn´t OP) ; second, the world-building is good even though sometimes there is a lot of text it helps me get a better picture of the world, society, traditions, etc.; third, the secondary characters have their own personality and motives and they´re not plain, so just for that I am happy (most harem novels... more>> have a terrible dialogue between the MC and his love interests). Finally, the description of the fight scenes is good. Overall, it has been an enjoyable read and quite different. <<less

The author's writing skills are poor, with a confusing back and forth narrative that is hard to follow. The main character's moral compass is unrealistic and their thought processes are flawed. The story is full of unnecessary subplots and cliches, making it uninteresting and tedious to read. The author's insistence on incorporating complex novel systems only adds to the boredom and lack of originality. The plot flow is also reminiscent of stereotypical Japanese novels, which only adds to the lack of excitement and interest. Overall, it is a disappointment.

This novel suffer from too much tell and not a lot of show.

It is not too annoying for my taste but it is noticable enough that if its continue it would be get tiring quickly. Most of it came from the MC prespective in the shape of his monologue. From what I see the way the writer makes the monologue is to help the reader to quickly learn various background settings from the characters, place, and timeline while also makes the reader understand how the main character is feeling about... more>> being stuck in this new world. With how low the chapter number is, I would expect that the amount of monologue would become lesser in the future as the 'introduction' phase has ended.

This is the story of the main character starting from the bottom and maybe reaching to the top and as a reader I am interested enough to see how far the writer would write how this story would go. <<less

It's quite a promising start, tho the route ahead, the end goal, seems unclear.
I quite enjoy this setting, a dark old Japan world of Yokai and Monsters, of fighting and sacrifice. Our protagonist is weak. He is raised to be insignificant. It will be quite fun to see him struggle in this world.
I hope that he does not get anything to unfairly power him up, at least for another dozen chapters. The author seems to also wish to keep such a weak protagonist, given what I've read so... more>> far.
to sum it up, I like it, the setting and MC seems promising, writing style is smooth and descriptive, I hope that it rises to my hopes. <<less

The premise of the story is pretty good, the execution is, sadly, sorely lacking. The characters are one-dimensional and the flow of the story is abysmal.

If you want to kill some time, can overlook a lot of translation errors and not get bored out of your mind by rants about completely boring and unnecessary stuff like this: ... more>>

Spoiler

The sweet-potato yokan (Japanese confection) is similar to, but not the same as, normal yokan (from red bean paste). To be more precise, although sweet potato yokan is a derivative of the normal yokan, its quality as confectionery is far inferior to that of normal yokan.

If anyone is familiar with historical novels and dramas of the past, it goes without saying that jelly was a highly prized luxury item in pre-modern times.

This Japanese confectionery, a mass of sugar and red beans, was a coveted sweet in an age when people were starved for sweetness. In the Edo period, especially in the first half of the Edo period, it was an unspoken agreement that even if it was served to guests as tea cakes, the guests were never to eat it, and since it lasted for a long time, it was used over and over again until it was just before it went bad when the owner could finally taste it. Even before and during the war, when the shogunate was replaced by the imperial government and time had progressed further, yokan was the envy of soldiers in the army as the most popular sweet.

And the substitute for this yokan is sweet-potato yokan. It is said that it started by reusing sweet potatoes, which were a relief crop instead of expensive red beans, and which were classified as discarded sweet potatoes. It is said that not a few common people ate sweet potato yokan instead of red bean yokan because it did not last long and was cheaper than red bean yokan.

... By the way, the sweet potatoes of modern Japan of the previous generation are sweet and tasty thanks to improved cultivation, but those of the Edo period and during the war were produced with an emphasis on production volume and the taste was of secondary importance, so do not expect the same taste from the low-quality wastes of those countries. The same applies to vegetables and other grains. This is where the stereotyped images of old people hating potatoes, believing in white rice, and thinking that carrots and green peppers are bitter and tasteless come from. The development of civilization is great, isn't it?

Well, I have disgraced sweet potato yokan with such a scathing remark, but of course, it is relative. Sweet things are sweet, although they are lower in quality than red bean yokan, and if I did not live in an age when sugar was available everywhere and anytime, even sweet potato yokan would be highly valued enough to be impressed by it. And even more so for those who know sweetness only in the form of fruits. What I am trying to say is...

[collapse]

you can give it a read. Just don't expect too much. It often felt more of a chore to get through the chapters than anything else. <<less

Interesting and enjoyable read. Though, the novel seems to be too distracted in exposition and expansion rather than building on what it has brick by brick. The reincarnated protag also suffers from 'I better not do anything to make things bad for me, better go change the timeline of the story then so it becomes wildly unpredictable, hehe', among other s*upid decisions such as at some moments where he intentionally triggers flags with the yanderes and claiming he's a Mob character only to immediately do a heroic spotlight just because... more>> he didn't like a Sengoku Rance moment, though admittedly it didn't seem to affect much change with said yandere's whimsical nature. Overall, the author understands yandere character, but seems to be struggling to keep the story alive on it's own merits. This novel is fun and keeps you reading, but it's doesn't have a godhood quality to it. Hopefully he can tie things down, stop with the adding harem shenanigans, gets character development going and stops having the protagonist be a fake mob character by introducing the real hero and some competition or just admit he's the good hero protagonist now and avoid 100+ chapters of eye rolling predictable story telling actions. <<less

Truth be told, I am a little bit disappointed with the novel's main plotline.

The plot focused on Youkai and fight scenes too much and there are no actual development for MC. MC was beaten like a punching bag because of his master but MC was pathetic every time and his master (lord) wiped out his ass or new heroines appeared, saved him and instantly fell in love with MC.

Of course, each heroines have distant personalities which made the novel very interesting plot but the author neglected the heroine's parts and... more>> left MC to become a punching bag again and again.

The actual plotline of the game is gore and depressing as f@ck and MC saved the heroines from the depressing paths. So like your usual novels but with more interesting heroines and better writings.

My problem with this novel is the 'lack of Heroines' Yandere movements. Yandere novel but the author forgot about Yandere. Just wrote Youkai verse MC and it would be a better story. <<less

The setting of the world intrigued me. I like this kind of story lately. Isekai mob with no cheats but knowledge of the world yada yada all that. Dark depressing world setting like any other isekai. To me any isekai with monsters whether it be fantasy or any other genre it is a depressing world actually. It is more depend on whose view. If the MC is bottom of the tier, we can see the depressing world view but if the MC is someone strong and up there then it... more>> might be some generic isekai.

My first thought of the MC is he is not human enough. He does not feel like a human. There is no relatability between me as a reader and the MC. Not like a life long servant relatability like that but as a person. He is toyed with people around him but there is no anger. He is not mad at the game itself. He just like this is depressing game world blah blah unnecessary information not contribute to the progression of the story and then he be like I just trying to survive. Then go kill the bad guy. Don't just be like I still have morals. I don't know why but when reading the MC dialogue I can't imagine the emotion he is having. Especially the monologue is not a monologue most of the time but more like info dump.

The info dump not contributing to the story progression itself. Half of the most chapters is describing unnecessary things. If you want to tell a character background, tell them just that. No need for the reasons why her background is like that. The story itself is becoming monotonous. MC get into some big event beyond his abilities, he fought with tricks and yada yada, he got very serious injuries that could kill him, he won but then he lose then FML come to the rescue and one shot everything, MC fainted, woke up and talking and volume ends all the while most of the female leads know what is happening to him and the reasons because they want him to be worthy of them yada yada.I actually don't like how the author remind the reader that the MC isekaid into depressing dark game many many times.

The fighting scene is not that bad because I can imagine and see how most of the fighting scene with move to move description of the fight. The description of characters is sufficient enough. But there is something I thought lacking in the fight itself. This is a story of youkai and exorcist but where is the talisman technique in the fight? I don't know if this is because I'm still early into the story but I hope it will appear further into it. Well 3 stars from.

The story is so-so at best for me. <<less

Ignore the low score reviews.. Those are reviews of edgy teenagers thinking u can just do whatever u want in the world with no status, power or money (morons!)..

MC here is interesting - low status, low capability, minimal funds - a servant who has to do what he's commanded or he gets killed.. Settings is an ultraviolent environment with a strict caste system.. I'm glad this is not another stupendous OP MC..

1. 1. In the terms of comparison with other novels in this site this is truly something above them. The novel has a dedicated plot, a MC who is actually weak and doesn't have any cheats and has to work through his teeth to get stronger. Although the main character has memories of his previous life, they are mostly useless in almost all the situations except to give exposition which doesn't seem forced at all. The harem is sometimes annoying but isn't useless at all. All in all It's a pretty solid one.

1. 1. The writing is done perfectly down to the last bit. The author knows how to make situations tense, dramatic and climatic. Each chapter during the major event leaves you asking for more.i wish some light was shed upon... more>> more on the male characters in this work. I know this a harem and all but barely anything is given about the males.

1. 1. This novel isn't perfect by any means. There are problems present. The author likes to use the trope damsel in distress a lot. I think about 3 heroines fell in love with him because he saved them at the utmost last moment of despair. Gets a little bit repetitive, but it's still fine till now.

1. 1. The author has tried to portray MC as pure hearted individual, who will even in the face of death would still hesitate to kill a human being whether they are good or bad. Nothing wrong with that. The problem is that the author hasn't given the audience much to work out with the MCs character at the start of the work. Sure we still get a lot more clues in the future and then it confirms the MCs character, but it still feels inconsistent. I think the main reason is that the MC has actually reincarnated into the new world. Which means he was fully fledged adult or atleast someone in their 20s in the previous life. And I just personally find myself unable to believe that someone like him could exist or let alone act like him. Also there are barely any moments alone with him to light shade upon the MCs personality.

1. 1. The novel is readable. Not grammatically accurate all the times but much more better then your average mtl. I would advice you to read it. And bear through the Kappa war arc in the 40s or 50s. That part of the novel is pretty boring that's what I'm gonna say. But it still has one of the coolest moments present in it. So try to bear through it . I promise you you're not going to regrets reading it.

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It's astonishing how a main heroine can start off so unpleasant, yet continually get worse and worse with each volume.

This is the story of a man who does his best to survive while working as a s*ave for the people who took everyone and everything he ever cared about from him. No more, no less.

I was going to write a long review about each aspect of the novel and why they're objectively flawed or weak, but the real issue is that there's no hope among the tragedy. There's no light... more>> at the end of the tunnel. The protagonist has no dreams for the future, and possesses nothing he wants to protect. Nothing good happens to him along the way. Or to anyone else. Novels don't need to be happy, but after a certain amount of chapters of unrelenting misery it just gets boring and tiring to read.

The first volume or two were pretty interesting, though. The novel just needed any contrast at all to the grimdark, and it failed abjectly. <<less