First impressions, new titles, Sept 2022

Libri Liberorum

There is a new collection of fresh titles. Use this topic to compare, contrast, criticize and/or convince others to read them.

The light novel new titles are

The Mythical Hero's Otherworld Chronicles
An Introvert's Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me!
Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole
Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want!
Reincarnated as an Apple: This Forbidden Fruit Is Forever Unblemished!
The Invincible Little Lady

And new manga titles are

Rebuild World
Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill: Sui’s Great Adventure

Based purely on the blurbs:

Mythical Hero: Fantasy, combination of isekai and legendary hero/demon lord returns
Introvert's Hookup: Present day high school romcom
Making Magic: RPG flavoured OP isekai
Peddler in Another World: "slow life" isekai with easy transit between two worlds.
Reincarnated Apple: OP isekai where the MC is a fruit.
Little Lady: OP isekai trying to be normal

The manga are both from JNC LN originals (although a spin-off for Sui's Adventure), so you'll likely know whether you like these by whether you like the original.

Libri Liberorum

So, I'll give all of them a few chapters at least. My thoughts, again so far based only on blurbs and tags:

Mythical Hero: Doesn't look like it is doing anything new. "OP" and "antihero" tags are worrying to me.

Hookup Hiccups: Fairly standard hot-girl-goes-for-introvert-guy, with the optional girl-is-introvert add-on.

Making Magic: RPG game elements, OP and easy life are all red flags to me, so I'm not terribly optimistic about this one.

Peddler: Again, "slow life" tag is a red flag.

Reincarnated Apple: A whole bunch of red flags, but I need to see how the apple aspect gets handled.

Little Lady: I'm not keen on the OP aspect, everything else might be OK.

Rebuild World: I'm still reading the LN, although it isn't a favourite, so I'll read this too. Curiously, given the LN, I don't see a "fan service" tag.

Sui's Adventure: I read a fair bit of Campfire Cooking on catchup a few years ago. It suffers the "slow life" problem of providing insufficient challenge to the MC. However, manga comes in small enough bites that I'll probably follow this one.

There is nothing which is grabbing me so far, but Minmax TRPG Build and Conquorer of Dying Kingdom have been good despite an uninspiring first appearance.

Drenok

Well I insta-skipped Fruit Isekai (because, like the vending machine one... this is too silly for my taste). I also will not even glance at Hookup Hiccup because it's a room-com. I might read a roomcom manga, but I have little interest with a LN on the subject. I am also not gonna read the Cooking manga because I am not interested by it.

As for the one that I gave at least a look:

Mythical Hero might be interesting. I'll at least keep at it for a few more chapters.

Making Magic: Looks to me like a new take on the "Immortal Witch did something silly and now she is absurdly powerful" -_-.

Peddler: This might have interesting implication, just HOW Japanese IRS will handle a guy essentially being a merchant in another world?

Little Lady: Superman is a little girl but with a Harem /s

Rebuild World: Well I am reading the LN already, so why not look at the Manga too...

kuali

So, I've read three of them so far. In no particular order:

Making Magic

So far, the in-thread consensus seems to be that it's basically Azusa from I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out my Level (though her first ally seems to be Flatorte rather than Laika), with a power analogous to those of Kaoru from I Shall Survive Using Potions or Chelsea from I'll Never Set Foot In That House Again (i.e. a 'make absolutely anything' power), and a writing style close to that of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear.

So much OP in that description...

It may be just because I'm reading it last, but it does feel a bit bland compared to the starts of the other series I compared it to. Plus its one of the series with a spoiler prologue, which might annoy you as much as it does me. All in all, if you like any of the series I mentioned (I've read at least 2 volumes of all 4, and I still read Slimes and Bear, so I definitely do) this seems like a decent read, but hasn't done anything truly memorable yet.

Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want!

This is Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, but the other world is accessed via magic wardrobe, Narnia-style. Except the protagonist is a man. And its not written by FUNA.

The protagonist can cheat at enough of the logistics of running a shop (thanks to being able to exchange money between the two worlds by magic, and having a magic inventory) that I suspect we're building up to a Quiet Blacksmith Life like series where the titular profession is basically just an excuse for how the MC acquires a harem. Still, its early days, and maybe the author will surprise me by doing something other than throwing hordes of women into the plot for random reasons.

The Invincible Little Lady

I've read... a few... OP Reincarnator stories before. Right now, this feels like... the protagonist of In the Land of Leadale (i.e. an ill girl who didn't have much she could do but play games in hospital) reincarnated into a world that will suddenly turn into a pseudo-Otome-game once the MC hits puberty, armed with special powers derived from exposure to our yellow sun...

(Okay, I made that last bit up. But it gives you an idea of the kind of power level she's playing with.)

That said, in the two parts so far we've seen a lot less of her being an unstoppable badass, and a lot more of her accidentally breaking crockery, so the OP-ness has mostly been played for comedy so far. That's good. I don't mind OP comedy.

piisfun

@Libri-Liberorum said in First impressions, new titles, Sept 2022:

So, I'll give all of them a few chapters at least. My thoughts, again so far based only on blurbs and tags:

Mythical Hero: Doesn't look like it is doing anything new. "OP" and "antihero" tags are worrying to me.

Hookup Hiccups: Fairly standard hot-girl-goes-for-introvert-guy, with the optional girl-is-introvert add-on.

Making Magic: RPG game elements, OP and easy life are all red flags to me, so I'm not terribly optimistic about this one.

Peddler: Again, "slow life" tag is a red flag.

Reincarnated Apple: A whole bunch of red flags, but I need to see how the apple aspect gets handled.

Little Lady: I'm not keen on the OP aspect, everything else might be OK.

Rebuild World: I'm still reading the LN, although it isn't a favourite, so I'll read this too. Curiously, given the LN, I don't see a "fan service" tag.

Sui's Adventure: I read a fair bit of Campfire Cooking on catchup a few years ago. It suffers the "slow life" problem of providing insufficient challenge to the MC. However, manga comes in small enough bites that I'll probably follow this one.

There is nothing which is grabbing me so far, but Minmax TRPG Build and Conquorer of Dying Kingdom have been good despite an uninspiring first appearance.

So, when dealing with excessively powerful characters (compared to their surroundings), the only way to make them interesting is to put them in situations where their extreme power is either not relevant or even detrimental to what they want to accomplish.

Mythical Hero should be viewed as a war series. If you like those, you might like it. If you you don't (like me), you won't like it.

Making Magic is not really RPG, it's more OP slow life than anything. It takes a while for the story to actually get anywhere... not what I care for.

Reincarnated Apple clearly started as a gag story… but like @Libri-Liberorum, I have to know where this is going…

HarmlessDave

@piisfun said in First impressions, new titles, Sept 2022:

So, when dealing with excessively powerful characters (compared to their surroundings), the only way to make them interesting is to put them in situations where their extreme power is either not relevant or even detrimental to what they want to accomplish.

Or where killing the demon lord is a reluctant side job that gets in the way of the tourist slow life fun, as in Death March. That might fit in your second category though.

@kuali said in First impressions, new titles, Sept 2022:

The Invincible Little Lady
I've read... a few... OP Reincarnator stories before. Right now, this feels like... the protagonist of In the Land of Leadale (i.e. an ill girl who didn't have much she could do but play games in hospital) reincarnated into a world that will suddenly turn into a pseudo-Otome-game once the MC hits puberty, armed with special powers derived from exposure to our yellow sun...

:) the MC seems a bit sweeter than Leadale's Cayna, who you really don't want to make angry. The smoking ruins of your country wouldn't like her when she's angry.

The first two parts were fun so I plan to keep reading it.

TheGrimLich

All right, time to do my traditional go-through of the ones I've read, in order of my reading them:

Sui's Great Adventure: I only just started reading the Campfire Cooking LN, but Sui is already one of my favorite characters in that. So... yeah, I'm interested in following this spinoff.
Rebuild World (manga): The art style isn't normally my thing, but it fits the post-apocalypse feel pretty well. As it's a manga adaptation of something I'm already reading, it'll probably stay on my reading list unless something major happens.
Making Magic: ...y'know, I wasn't sure what to expect with this series, but it's fun. I like how Teto acts like an overgrown puppy, except that she doesn't mind wearing clothes, and I'm interested in seeing where it goes from here. It looks like it'll be a light and fluffy series... and god damn if those two words aren't enough to pique my interest.
Peddler In Another World: ...I am hereby giving notice that I'm going to adopt Aina. She is just too cute. Plus Shiro's neat, and I think he and the mayor will probably wind up being an item (seriously, I can't see him leaving this town anytime soon, especially with how well they're treating him and how hot the mayor is in his eyes). Can't wait to see what he branches out into now that matches are such a hot item (no pun intended)...
Apple Reincarnation: ...this is almost as ridiculous as Boxxo. ...man, I want more adventures of Boxxo. Vending Machine needs a fourth volume! Anyway. I do think the tsundere World Tree Segment is an interesting twist, but she's a bit more jealous than I usually like. I'll keep up with this for now, but we'll see.
Invincible Little Lady: ...OK, I like Mary. She's great. And it's been a while since I've seen anything with a protagonist who's too strong. I also enjoy her commentary, so I'm hoping we'll see more of her later.
Hookup Hiccups: ...god dammit, Nanami Barato is precious and if you hurt her I will end you, Misumai. I'm interested in seeing how this plays out... especially since it seems one of Misumai's internet buddies is interested in him...
Mythical Hero: Hmm. On the one hand, it's a bit of a slow start, but on the other, there's plenty of foreshadowing that there's going to be several things going on with him. I just hope he's able to recover his memories sooner rather than later, since otherwise that flashback at the beginning is going to keep bugging me. I'm on the fence, but I'll keep reading for now.

Campbella

Making Magic: Not sold on the future prologue but since the beginning is pretty slow so far I don't hate it either. This is a we'll see how it goes

Peddler in Another World: sounds interesting from the blurb will probably check out

Reincarnated as an Apple: I want to read others thoughts before I attempt to read this one - I have a feeling it's not going to be my cup of tea but I'm curious

The Invincible Little Lady: So far interesting enough for me to keep reading. Curious what they do with the whole fragile to so OP seems fragile

Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill: Sui’s Great Adventure- I love Sui and have been hoping this would get licensed so I'm excited about this one.

Korppi

@kuali said in First impressions, new titles, Sept 2022:

The Invincible Little Lady

I've read... a few... OP Reincarnator stories before. Right now, this feels like... the protagonist of In the Land of Leadale (i.e. an ill girl who didn't have much she could do but play games in hospital) reincarnated into a world that will suddenly turn into a pseudo-Otome-game once the MC hits puberty, armed with special powers derived from exposure to our yellow sun...

I think that's unfair comparison, Leadale is very sedentary in comparison, while this is a lot more focused on comedy. Like if the former was rye bread, this would be cake...

I can't help but often mix this title up with Kenshi wo Mezashite Nyuugaku shita no ni Mahou Tekisei 9999 nan desu kedo!? (But My Magical Aptitude is 9999!? I Went to School to be a Swordswoman) when reading the manga versions, they have a lot in common except the latter is more geared toward slapstick(so instead of cake, perhaps ice cream?,...). It's already a lot for the two to share a lot of character tropes and types of scenes, but for some inexplicable reason those scenes and characters tend to match a lot plot timewise too (so if you read about a pitiful vampire in latest chapters of one, perhaps not be surprised so much if you happen to read about another pitiful vampire in the other one's latest too...)...

Shaun__

I have read some of the peddler’s manga and it was ok, so since the book is often better I will definitely give it a chance.

Making magic despite starting with huge stupid spoilers for the story seems worth giving a chance as well.

Apple boy is on thin ice, because most gag stories don’t appeal to me. I will give it a few more chapters to decide though.

The amnesia hero’s story doesn’t make any sense to me, so I doubt I will continue it.

I don’t read romance unless it is so perverted I would be embarrassed to be seen in public with it, so I completely skipped the romcom.

custodes

Bar the manga of pre existing licenses, I have only garnered interest in two. Mythical Hero and Invincible Lady.
So not bad, but the Apple, though sweet, just not my genre or style of literature.

Gamen

Apple Reincarnation is the only one I'm even giving a chance. My backlog is just too large, with only the gap that Vending Machine Reincarnation left available.

xdrfiredogx

Sui's Great Adventure would interest me, but having not read the original series I'm not sure that reading the spin-off is going to work that well.

Nothing anyone has said about any of the other series - to say nothing of their official blurbs - really encourages me to even try the first chapters. They all seem to fit pretty solidly in the "I hope they do well for J-Novel's sake but really aren't my cup of tea at all" category of titles. Which is what it is... they obviously appeal to the majority of readers or they wouldn't have gotten licensed!

I, however, will continue to await the licensing of titles that don't involve words like "iseaki" and "overpowered protagonist" so I can join in on these first impression discussions 😌

Though I guess the romcom does count. Not typically my thing, but I'm tempted to at least try it simply out of solidarity.

Valanduin

@piisfun said in First impressions, new titles, Sept 2022:

So, when dealing with excessively powerful characters (compared to their surroundings), the only way to make them interesting is to put them in situations where their extreme power is either not relevant or even detrimental to what they want to accomplish.

This isn't exactly a new concept, One Punch Man has been doing that for quite a while, but this one is distinct enough from OPM that it could have it's own niche. It seems interesting enough so far, I will probably at least read the first volume, which is more than I can say for most of the rest of this batch.

Windsagio

(Stole @TheGrimLich 's template so I could remember all the titles, thanks!)

Sui's Great Adventure: I had just been thinking someone should grab this, glad it was somewhere with a good cadence!
Rebuild World (manga): I stopped the book for various reasons, which means I won't follow this very far. I like the art style though.
Making Magic: I really really love series like this, the tone is my favorite for LN's probably. Teto's definitely a winner so far, and I like the evolution bit. I know some people were turned off by the flash-forward, but I'm not one of them. From the start of a book like this you nothing TOO terrible is gonna happen.
Peddler In Another World: Fun concept, fun enough characters, just enough mystery to keep things rolling along. Grandma ain't dead.
Apple Reincarnation: I had doubts about this one, being maybe just a step too far... but it's really fun, others have mentioned vending machine, and it's probably about that quality. Thing we haven't gotten to yet: He has infinite regeneration, and so is gonna get et
Invincible Little Lady: Fun, I like the "Benny Breakiron" element. Has some perfectly average "I didn't mean it like that!!!" energy which is fun too.
Hookup Hiccups: I just can't get into modern setting romance LN's so can't speak to this.
Mythical Hero: Especially the tags worry me about this one, I think it'll end up grimdank, which I'm not a fan of. So far though, the setting is interesting, and what they're doing specifically with the hints about reincarnation and the first (second?) emperor is gonna keep me in for a while.

Korppi

@Windsagio said in First impressions, new titles, Sept 2022:

(Stole @TheGrimLich 's template so I could remember all the titles, thanks!)

Apple Reincarnation: I had doubts about this one, being maybe just a step too far... but it's really fun, others have mentioned vending machine, and it's probably about that quality. Thing we haven't gotten to yet: He has infinite regeneration, and so is gonna get et

Eh, you mean, as in, in a pinch he'd be an infinite food supply?

Windsagio

@Korppi Yes!

Or he's gonna accidentally distract an orc by getting eaten, which is played totally seriously, and then is just... fine slightly later.

They could in theory go some interesting body horror things (having infinitely regenerating apple flesh inside you probably sucks), but I don't think this is that story.

FacelessOne

Finally finished all the new light novel titles' 2 parts. I won't include my impressions of the manga since they weren't really my thing.

The Mythical Hero's Otherworld Chronicles - Of all the new series, this is the one I'm having the most difficulty getting an impression of. It's still building up to something, with lots of foreshadowing and we still don't know what sort of abilities Hiro will have if any. Liz and Hiro have good chemistry, so I'll continue reading for now.
An Introvert's Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! - This series is a bit of me. A sickly sweet romcom willing me straight into that diabetic coma.
Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole - Wasn't sure where this series was going at first, but once they got the golem in tow it's looking to be a pretty nice slice-of-life series.
Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want! - I'd already read the manga beforehand, so I knew I'd like this series. A good slow-life series that seems to be going down a similar vein as My Quiet Blacksmith Life.
Reincarnated as an Apple: This Forbidden Fruit Is Forever Unblemished! - Whilst I'm enjoying this series, for now, it's probably the one where the joke could get old fast. As long as the author keeps adding things that make the series feel fresh it'll be alright. Also, apple x branch ship incoming!!!
The Invincible Little Lady - This was the series that most surprised me. Genuinely enjoy the fact that she's so OP that it's causing problems in her everyday life like just picking up cups can cause them to break. I was a little worried that it could turn into a reverse harem, however, it seems my worries will be unfounded.

Overall, I've enjoyed all the new series so far. Although with almost all the new series releasing on a Friday, I'm worried about how I'll be able to read them all!

jpwong

Well I'm interested in both manga titles, but that's more for the release consistency since I've already been following both manga series elsewhere.

The only LN of the batch I have any passing interest in is Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want! which I've seen in manga format and found it's ok. I'm not honestly sure I'm going to follow this one long term. I know I ended up giving up several series from the last license batch because I couldn't get into the series after a volume.

Hopefully the next batch of licenses will treat me better.

Geezer Weasalopes

Apple I'm into; it seems like my kind of silly. It is very silly. Take it with a grain of salt; apples are good with a grain of salt...

Peddler... The concept of low profile totally escapes this guy. If the Japanese equivalent of Inland Revenue or the US Treasury doesn't get wise to him I'll be forced to consider the author an idiot.
My fear is that it'll be another Blacksmith...with the same problems related to the title profession.

Hic! also seems like my kind of silly romcon so far; my initial commentary in the discussion topic is huge, but it's a good kind of huge; see Blacksmith for the bad kind of huge before I finally dropped it.

Sweet Witch [with Golems!] I'm one of those who really disliked the Chapter 0 endgame spoiler; it tells you tons concerning her situation 500 years down the line.
So the author needs to sell me on the story of how she gets there.
There is some decent humor, and the potential for Miaesque misinterpretations...and if so I'm willing to forgive a lot.

Mything Hero I'm pretty sure I read this far in a fan TL some years back; it's pretty hard to believe that something else would be so spot on in my recollection yet be something else. I don't remember why I dropped it; my suspicion is that it was due to other stuff going on in my life, and not the story, not that early into it.
We'll see.
It depends upon how they play the amnesia and the OPness and certain relationships; the setting itself has great potential, for good or bad depending upon the Author's skills.

The Invincible Little Lady OK, couldn't think of a glib alias for it. It's saving grace is that it's being played for the laughs. Can the author pull it off remains to be seen; her maid does seem to be a mix of Miaitis and Private Tutor's Maid Corp, at least in how she views her charge, so her PoV sections promise to be a hoot.

Sui: A Slime's Life Well, it's a slime. Need we say more? ...I guess I do.
It's more of a Rurii type slime than a Dahlia type slime.
Much more.
And thus, an amusing take upon the antics of the Humans and such.
Again, my kind of silly.

Rebuild World I'm still reading the LN, and feel the mangaka nails the gritty post-apocalyptic dystopian setting.
If looking for humor, look elsewhere.
Not everything in life is high comedy; this is such an instance.
I think it's very well done.

I guess that's it?
Four of them I'm very much into.
The rest...I'm still on the fence.
Nothing was an insta-drop on my part.
The translations seem high quality; any problems I have are with the story itself.