After 3 anime in a row, I decided it's time for a book. Of course, I'm cheating a little bit and killing two birds with one stone--anime and book. Why? Because I started this one in the manga form (remember: Manga are books too! ^_^) and when I learned that the anime was coming, I stopped reading and waited for Funimation to provide moving pictures.
When it comes to TV/Movie adaptations, the book is basically a spoiler. Rather than read ahead, I decided to stop with volume 3 and wait to let the story unfold on-screen. Of course, there are times when you will want to go back and read the manga instead of relying on the production studio to give you the all the deets...ahem, The Promised Neverland anyone?
Anyway...back to our hero. Kazuya is 19 years old and has no family left. In my opinion, this makes him better suited for the isekai style story because he doesn't really have anyone to miss him if he suddenly disappears. And hero summonings don't really ask for permission. You just get scooped up and plopped who knows where. In this case, our hero is lucky, well, sort-of. He was summoned as a way to help a poor kingdom pay its financial obligations to a larger one. Instead of being sold off like a bride in some period drama, he instead becomes the king and starts revolutionizing the kingdom.
He's basically the Kingdom of Elfrieden's most powerful civil servant. He clears up corruption, finds a way to feed the starving citizens and even fixes the supply and demand issues with crop production and trade.
I would classify this story as more of a slice of life type. I personally feel the action and adventure parts are secondary to the main focus of watching Souma Kazuya's mind and policies at work. The artwork is in my preferred style, so it gets 5 stars from me. Acting on both the subtitled and English sides also get 5 stars. Each actor was perfectly suited for the personality of the character portrayed. It was definitely a unique spin on the isekai hero summoning so I give execution of the idea 5 stars.
Also, we've been lucky enough that the studio decided not to stop with a 12-episode season, so the story is ongoing. This is one I will be adding to my personal collection. It's definitely one of the better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon.
For those of you without a Funimation subscription, you can find both the subs and dubs on Hulu. Keep in mind that TV won't answer all your burning questions so there's always the manga or the light novel to fill in the blanks.
Happy Reading!!
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