The Forsaken Hero Returns From Death to be the Demon King (Suterareta Yuusha no Eiyuutan)
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The Forsaken Hero
捨てられた勇者は魔王となりて死に戻る
https://bookwalker.jp/de5947e026-4ed1-4dff-948d-fe7d19447349/?acode=WpfPW3yk
Synopsis of the published versions from NU:
Synopsis of the Web Novel version:
What's the deal with the two listings on NU?
So, the web novel went 4 volumes back in 2015, and apparently the writer wrote himself into some issues with the plot and failing to establish his characters. Fast forward to late 2017, and it gets picked up as a published novel with presumably better editing + focus. There's a recent comment on NU I saw that said the original volume 4 is non-canon, that that part of the story in particular may be very different from web novel to novel.
What are people saying about it?
People are calling it an "Arifureta ripoff". Don't know if that's enough to dismiss it, but yes, it sounds like it may be a bit of a highschooler taking a revenge trip in an Isekai story. Some say the MC loses his sanity a bit more than Arifureta's MC and makes more rash actions + warped logic potentially? I guess we'll see how that works.
People say it does have a harem element, but I'll be curious to see how that's established and how "true" the harem is. I'm not a huge harem fan, but if the romance is strong, I might not have much to complain about.
Why do you want it?
Spoiler related a bit as I looked at the inserts for volume 1 and
How many volumes?
- The last release was October 2018.
Publisher?
Futabasha. Monster Bunko.
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@terrence I remember this one, it is a less obvious slave harem isekai.
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The first volume is literally a direct ripoff of the first volume of Arifureta, with the only notable difference being that the protagonist's classmates are MUCH crueler to him than Hajime's were. After the first volume, they diverge.
The series is basically "What if you took Arifureta, but the protagonist enslaved his harem with brainwashing against their will instead, and also was much more obsessed with getting revenge?"
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@guspaz said in The Forsaken Hero Returns From Death to be the Demon King (Suterareta Yuusha no Eiyuutan):
"brainwashing against their will instead"
The girls all look so happy on the covers though. T_T
It does sound like from comments that while he does control them, it's so they can be a part of his squad or something? Like, they specifically point out this is not an "R" fantasy, him brainwashing people to be his sex partners or something like many revenge tales have these days. Not that this wipes out enslavement as a point of negative contention, but... it could be worse? I guess we'll see. xC
I think I'll try reading the Japanese V1 at some point to look into it.
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The girls hate his guts, absolutely loathe him, so he murders them and then resurrects them as his slaves. I guess some of them are sex slaves?
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@guspaz if I remember correctly most of the girls loathe him just for existing.
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Ah, I'll have to check it out to see how bad / offensive the content may be (and maybe I'll check out the WN too to see what they changed? Idk). I got volume 1 since it was on sale on Bookwalker.
The illustrator for the series is the same as that Demon Lord Orphanage one Sol Press picked up. Probably why I like the color art for volume 1.
https://bookwalker.jp/author/100865/?acode=WpfPW3yk
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@galactuskahn24 The author never makes any attempt to justify the hate. In Arifureta, you're provided with the reasons behind the hate. In Forsaken Hero, there is no reason, his schoolmates simply beat him to near death on a regular basis for no particular reason other than that they hate him for existing.
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@guspaz I mean is no reason better than the cliche of main character is an otaku?
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Maybe I'm misremembering, but did they even give that as a reason? I don't remember there being any reason given whatsoever.
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@guspaz I'm agreeing with you that there was no reason given. But in a lot of isekai the main character was beaten up back home for being an otaku.
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The published LN's prologue starts with talking about him being an Otaku who got beaten up for his weight + lack of exercise, his interests in romance games, and his gloominess.
When he tries to counter these opinions ("I am trying to exercise, you just don't know; I'm a no friend gloomy loser because of you guys") they ignore his pleas.
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That's something that they fixed in the LN versus the WN, then, I suppose. I don't remember the WN giving those reasons, and their treatment of him goes beyond bullying with them regularly beating him to near the point of death.
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Sounds like somebody remembered to read his official saiyan handbook...
Anyhow, now I kinda want to read it just for the heck of seeing what he will do with that OP ability.
