Feel kind of disappointed to drop this about 2 parts into what is likely the final book in the series but I can't be bothered to read any more.

I couldn't quite understand why my interest in the series fell off a cliff in the last book but after returning to this series again I figured it out. We keep switching away from the PoV of characters I actually remember and care about (which is a tiny handful, there's way, way too many characters in this series), and instead we get the PoV of random people I don't remember at all and don't give the slightest shit about. Worst of all, half the time they're just faffing about rather than driving the plot in an interesting way.

I doubt I'm missing much. Olivia probably wins and I don't really care that much how she does it, the end.

I managed to get way behind on reading this, and now that volume 3 is starting, I figured it was a good time to get caught up. And I just had to drop in here and echo what others said about how much I loved the side story with Ariel at the end. Like others, I never would have expected it in a million years while reading volume 1, but in reality, people CAN change, and her change was made in a way that made it believable. Once she realized what she had done, she found she had a good role model for how to behave instead. And it was glorious.

And I wholeheartedly agree that I'm going to be disappointed if we don't get to see more of her in volume 3. :-)

@myskaros

Possibly mistake very early in vol. 1-
"After watching what ensued, however, the child would become convinced of this theory."

This sentence is a little weird- the however makes it seem like there will be a contradictory idea but it's not. I think the however could be removed so it flowed a bit better.

This volume was more down to earth compared to the few before, more personal with less action. There's a lot of "oblivious to romance" but it's cute and well written so that it doesn't drag. And it has a very strong side character game, as usual.

As a character, Noelle is a treasure. I love how she's at the same time the true hero and a comedic relief, at once being scary good at anything she tries but also a little pathetic. Though that's something that a lot of the characters share - being highly capable but also something of a disaster. But still, there's only one Noelle.

Just like during the international tournament arc, often when Noelle fights against or with someone, we get a glimpse into what makes them tick, and they usually turn out to be interesting people you can empathize with. Even her opponents don't have to be monsters (though some are). I really like that approach.

Also, that cliffhanger was downright evil.

@Abedeus The anime also changed up some content as well, like changing the culprits behind the rockmen puppets as Akaza and one of his underlings (instead of the jester man and the other fellow).

All references to Alisuin being a mole for Akatsuki were also removed from the finale.

I think i will go mad if i read Flio's easy going smile just one more time.

@nappingcub That's some good news!

On the flipside, we're coming up on the end of the year and that volume 7 that I mentioned a tweet about doesn't appear to even be announced yet. Granted, we have 3 months left, and it seems like sometimes announcements come literally days prior to release, so it's not impossible, but...

@LightningLeaf well to be fair that wasn't his first kiss either, he's kissed both Monica and Novem already back in volume 5

Is it just me, or do Beryl and Ficelle have similar speech patterns, succinct with occasional word elision but with inclusions of "Hmm" or "Mm" here and there?

@staylo67 v15 came out less than a year ago, and hasn't released v16 yet. I understand missing the series, but time frames are really worth keeping in mind. There's no major reason for JNC to try and rush the next volume out if it'd hurt the business relationship long term.

One would think that, at volume 26, readers would be familiar with the notion that values in isekai are different from Japan and summoned people need to adapt in order to survive. Yet, author always feel the need to explain the concept every time it appears in the story. But well, at volume 26 we are all well aware of what to expect from this series, the only thing we can do is vent some frustration for the author's endless rambling about unnecessary things while appreciating when the plot moves.

@groudonvert-own27br Please see our standard reply for this question here! https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/3478/future-volume-release-schedule

@GeorgeMTO thanks, good to know there will be more to read.

@Lex I'm expecting the next volume to skip over it completely tbh. Based on the wording there, it's likely to happen next on the date.

@swiggy1957

There will be a physical edition of Volume 14.

The listing should go live on all stores later this year. No public release date as of right now

Thank you

How is Zweit still alive? Getting an assassin on your back without any sort of protection means you're dead, no? If he realized he's under attack why the fuck didn't he activate the item given to him. Where are the birds? And how could whoever cast the barrier pinpoint him with such accuracy. How was Zelos planning to come to help without means to well, come to help?

This story is entertaining but runs on stupidity and stupidity only... and this time it is a bit too much.

@ultimatehaki said in The Boy Who Ruled the Monsters Vol. 1 Discussion!:

As I thought, Sol will acquire all 7 imprison entities. The dragon was just a pre-order bonus.

And the Elfen Queen will join his harem (probably).

@isekaitruckdriver Sorry for the late reply. First read-through of the series and I have to agree with like 98% of what you said. I understand the "moral high ground" argument of not murdering your opponents, but I think to be a "realistic" MC, you need to set aside absolutes and weigh it like "hey, these villains I keep let go instead of kill keep coming back and hurting the people I care about." It's like Batman/Joker, and why I hate that whole dynamic. He knows that Joker will always come back and hurt/kill people he cares about or random citizens, but refuses to kill him based on his morals. I agree with that concept about 1/100 times.
Also, even having binged the series in the past week or so, I doubt I'll remember most of the key plot points by the time volume 14 releases. The "drip feed" of history is so rough to memorize if you read literally anything else. I JUST read volume 8 a day or two ago and I had to pull it back up because I had completely forgotten the other elemental names that were mentioned. And yeah, the whole "oh Anna and Duchess Lebu (the fact that I can't remember her name despite being a pivotal character should be an indication, but the 'Comet') were all around during the dark war and instead of him just like....idk.....sitting down for 20 minutes and asking them questions, he's like "I MUST READ AN ENTIRE LIBRARY AND DECRYPT AN ANCIENT LANGUAGE FOR CLUES," so it gets to be....questionable and frustrating after a while. Alice also CLEARLY knows SO much about what's going on, but despite her and Allen's friendship, just is like "eh figure it out in the next 5 or so books, dude."
Rant for rant matched lol.

@saidahgilbert I read the first 20 odd vol of that and while I enjoyed it at first the mc and his non relationships with pretty much ever character that wasn't his annoying little sister just sucked all the enjoyment out of it.

I will give full marks to the Author though as apparently he didn't want any romance in the story, but he was writing to spec so when the publishers asked him to include it he made the MC an emotionless card board cut out and went the incest route out of spite. I suspect he found it less funny 20+ vol later when he's still writing it and having to deal with it due to the series being successful.