Nidome no Jinsei wo Isekai de

Isekai was popularized around 2012 or so, so the genre has explored many different protagonists, some more abominable than others. Adapted from a web novel that was officially acquired as a light novel, the Nidome no Jinsei wo Isekai de manga is an excellent foray into the genre during the part of the isekai boom. The anime adaptation probably would have made the series one of the most popular of the late 2010s, but the whole franchise sank into obscurity due to a controversy that had nothing to with the quality of the story. Kunugi Renya has died, a 94-year-old man who passed on without anymajor regrets or attachments to the world. Then the goddess who creates and maintains the worlds in the universe (who takes the form of a little girl) drags him before her, declares he has the right to be reincarnated and makes fun of the fact he never once in his nearly-century of life ever had a girlfriend. Renya, understandably annoyed at the taunting and the fact he was not consulted over being brought back to life, tries to strangle the goddess. After a funny tsukkomi and boke bit, we get to the meat of the problem: one of the worlds, Eredora, has become so miserable that no one wants to be reborn in that world, seriously threatening its existence. The goddess wants Renya to accept being reborn so the world's balance can start being repaired. After the goddess tells him she can't fix the world without destroying it and everyone living there, Renya agrees to be reincarnated, provided he gets some stat bonuses and is otherwise not forced to take over the world or anything like that. Renya is an interesting protagonist. Because he's the straight man, a lot of the jokes in the manga land because of his reaction to them... which is usually some variant of the traditional manzai bonk on the head. While he lacks the memories of his first life, he still retains the knowledge of Earth. That means while he does not remember the details of who he was beyond incredibly intense flashbacks to specific moments due to emotional reaction, he retains his personality, all the knowledge he knew before death, and his habits... including the fact he is an old man who loves food. Really, he's perfectly normal. He's also the most dangerous blood knight to ever live, but he doesn't remember that, so it's fine. The art is great. The battle scenes are fantastic, with dynamic movements captured in masterful strokes. The occasional foray into fan service is also nice, with the ladies having some very nice curves. The reaction faces are also great, to the point you'd think it was a comedy manga instead of a shounen one. When it's time to fight, the mangaka does a great job of capturing Renya's expression when he's in his bloodthirster mode, excellent material. Also, since he's an old man on the inside, he has very different takes from the usual inexperienced isekai protagonist out of his teens, such as the time he says he'd have been seduced if not for the fact he's a 94-year-old man. Said while having the face of an 18-year-old. It's unfortunate, but now we have to deal with the controversy. To put everything in context, the 2010s were a time of escalating tension in eastern Asia as China began to aggressively expand its influence. Part of that involved a great deal of anti-Japanese sentiment, stirred up in real life and online due to ongoing grudges for Japanese war crimes from World War II. The online vitriol gained additional support from Koreans, who have their own grudges against Japan for similar reasons. Obviously, Japanese netizens fired back against their counterparts in China and Korea, and Mine (the author) was one of those opening fire with anti-Chinese and anti-Korean comments as nasty as the anti-Japanese comments they were launching. When this series got an anime adaptation, four or five years after Mine had put down his keyboard for the flame wars, people went digging for dirt on him. They found it, starting a cascade that led to the cancellation, in order, of the anime and then the light novel. For whatever reason, the manga was allowed to quietly continue for another four years (7 volumes). Pouring gasoline on the combustible mix, and leading directly to my comment about some protagonists being more abominable than others, is that Renya fought in the Sino-Japanese Wars and World War II. While he himself did not commit war crimes, he *did* kill thousands on the battlefield (and nowhere other than the battlefield) using just his sword. He also worked as an assassin for the underworld, killing thousands more. Of course, given how much anti-Japanese racism Chinese isekai and wuxia novels use as a matter of prose, it's more than a little hypocritical for them to cancel a Japanese author whose worst offense is nasty comments online. Summed up, this is an excellent adaptation, though I get the sense some of the changes are not completely accurate to the light novel. Even so, it's a good story with an interesting protagonist and with some unexpected plot twists as well as entertaining storylines. It's definitely worth reading and I strongly recommend it.