By Minato Minato and Tsukito. Released in Japan as “Makikomarete Shoukan Sareta Genkai OL, Guild Shozoku no [Mamono Kaitai Jou] toshite Funtouchuu ~Dragon desu ka? Mochiron Sabakemasu!~” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.
I mean, it’s FINE, I guess. I enjoyed reading it. I’ll read more. The main characters are all likeable enough. But god, I do not think I have ever come across a light novel with as little originality as this one, a LN that feels like someone completed a Mad Libs for Isekai and wrote the book based on the results. There’s an office lady so ground down from overwork that the only surprise is that it’s a normal summoning and not “dead from work”. There’s her opposite number, a saint who seemingly ticks all the “evil” boxes from the moment she opens her mouth. We get an awkward dorky guy who clearly likes her, and a cool but distant guy who clearly likes her, and one of these is very clearly far ahead of the other. Sorry, dorky guy. There’s an adorable pet monster. And there’s Sachi herself, OP as hell and plucky as all git out.
Sachi Hasumi is 21 years old. Her parents are dead. She dreamed of inheriting her grandfather’s restaurant, but he told her to go to college and work a nice job. Then it turned out the restaurant was about to go under. Then he died. Now she’s working for a black company, pulling triple all-nighters for no extra pay. No boyfriend, no friends. Then, as she walks home one night, she is summoned to another world! Or rather,.. the girl next to her is. The other girl is the Saint. Sachi is a “mincemaster”. She’s essentially left forgotten by the side of the magic circle. Oh, and of course, one way trip, no returning home. Then she meets the vice-chairman of the adventurer’s guild, who thinks her mincemaster talent is just what they need, given they’re drowning in monsters adventurers have brought back.
Now that I’ve gotten the bad out of the way, this is perfectly fine, it’s just the most unoriginal thing ever. Things I enjoyed: Sachi’s growing realization that she now has a job where people appreciate her work, she has normal hours and days off, and she’s paid well. There’s no doubt this is partly written as an OL fantasy of getting out of your hellish job, and it works just fine there. I also did appreciate, even if I wish we’d seen it at the start, the brief side story showing the saint, months later, on the road, desperately trying to level up her miserable saint powers, and discovering most of her arrogant bravado came from sheer relief at being away from her Education Parents who say she will be a doctor or she will be disowned. I expect she will still be a bitch when she sees how well Sachi is doing, but at least she has a REASON to be one. Oh yes, and Sachi’s receptionist friend Ann is great fun, especially when she mocks the fact that Sachi is 100% oblivious to the two hotties hitting on her.
This does have a Volume 2, so we will get more. I expect it will remain a coloring book that does not step outside the lines, but it is… pleasant.
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