Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary
Spoiler Warning: I do my best to be vague and avoid any spoilers of the story itself but there’s always the chance I miss something. Plus we all have different things we consider spoilers.
Content Warning: Blood, Violence, Sexual Content
Author: Mine Previous Works: [New Life+] Young Again in Another World
Artist: Araea Ikemiya Previous Works: None (As far as I could find, Area Ikemiya has not done art for any other series at this time, if this is wrong and you know of any please let me know!)
Character Design: peroshi Previous Works: Back to the Battlefield: The Veteran Heroes Return to the Fray! (Light Novel: Illustration, Manga: Original Character Design)
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy First Volume ISBN Digital: 9781648279492 (Barnes and Noble*: 2940156368884) Physical: 9781648274367
While the last review may not have been in my usual circle of genres this one definitely is. Fantasy is definitely my go-to, and usually just my “feel good” genre. Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary, it starts off with your typical fantasy opening. Main character explains their situation, what they’re doing, and if any, their goals. This is no exception but it serves as a nice intro point to all the important major information we need to know about. The story seems to be set up in a way where as you read, you know about as much as the MC does. The examples of long-winded explanations have only shown up when the MC is giving an answer, so we are being filled in on information we should have, or being told something they/we don’t know. With this though it’s only been the rather direct and needed information, it has yet to go overly detailed in providing information. So far this story is a bit different from most of the other Fantasy stories I’ve read in that it leans much more into the “real” aspect of things. To me it feels like Mine wants the characters to feel closer to how actual people would behave more so than how they need them to behave. It gives a unique feel to the story that has stuck out to me rather well and has left me wanting to see it continue. I’ve been enjoying the art for the series so far, but we haven’t seen much beyond the characters, small town scenery, and some standard fantasy monsters. I’m hoping we can see it on a bit of a larger scale soon, be it in a monster, the landscape, or even a city. It’s a style that to me is comfortable for a first read, but still lets me look deeper on second or third passes.
As far as comparisons go, I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World, and Goblin Slayer, spring to mind. The former because of the MCs general lack of knowledge as to what’s going on, and the latter more for the actual fantasy.
For the content warning, there so far has been some mild blood, violence, and sexual content (on this however nothing explicit only implied, and no nudity up to volume 3).
*If you want to buy this from BnN just be aware that for the manga listings, going from the physical to the ebook correctly links you between manga, but going from ebook to physical links you to the light novel. It’s a common issue but in my experience BnN doesn’t particularly care about broken links.