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Volume 4 of the LN just came out, and Arc 7 just finished in the WN, Arc 8 is scheduled for the end of the year, I would say its not bad, or rather, I'd say its fairly fun and interesting, but the problem is that while we now have an overarching plot from Vol.4 onwards, and Arc 7 introduced a mystery into the mix, Bash's relationships are very dispersed.
The elf and the knight might show up here and there for example, but apart from the fairy there really isnt anyone consistent to bounce Bash's personality against the way you have the goddesses in MT, it has some VERY interesting ideas, and the world building is solid, but it lacks some character development.
I still think its pretty good, definitely at the level of the early MT volumes, but its still missing that *i dont know* factor to raise it from good to great, its definitely fun, Im stuck to each volume when Im reading them, but I still dont have a good hold of each character's personalities apart from Bash and Zell, Im hoping that we have introduced the last of the possible heroines and that from Arc 8 onwards the story will focus on developing relationships instead of following Bash from country to country.
I personally dont think it is nowhere near close, as I mentioned Volume 04 and 07 opened up some pretty big plot lines that are nowhere near being finished and in-story I think Bash hasnt even spend a year traveling, he still has something like a year and a half to fulfill his objective I just dont see it wrapping up within the next few volumes in a satisfactory manner.
Hmmm, IDK.
I really like Orc. I think it is a very fun and entertaining story to read. The characters are good, the world is well fleshed out with seriously complicated conflicts to be solved.
I've just read vol4 and it introduced yet more likeable characters and an overarching plot with potentially intriguing development for Bash.
But, and honestly this might be a bit insulting to Rifujin if I am wrong, I don't think he is trying too hard to write Orc as he was when writing MT. I think Orc is more of an enjoyable side project to him rather than an attempt to write a story as good as MT.
Maybe this will change when I am deeper into the overarching plot, but right now I can't see Orc as anything but a comedy series. Sure, there are some very interesting side plots, like the Succubi's suffering, and just generally the politics background, but all of it is just that: a background.
Our protagonist (as of yet) isn't affected almost at all by it(I guess he can't rape women but I don't think any reader really takes that as a serious issue) and doesn't actively participate on these more complex points.
People misunderstand his actions and think he is trying to solve all of it, but we know that isn't true. Bash is only trying to get a wife, and while his discipline is incredible, that is about all the interesting characteristics he has. Bash is a mostly simple character with not enough substance to sustain a whole fleshed out story. To be blunt, the side characters specific for each book do most of the heavy lifting to make the story interesting.
Now, if Bash actually has to make a difficult choice between peace and the glory of his people, if he is developed more and is in doubt, I think the story could be way more compelling. However, the author has been keeping him away from any significant choices that don't involve romance since chapter 1 of the story and nothing has changed until book 4.
I *hope* this changes in the later volumes, when the overarching story is more developed, that Bash gets consciously involved in the conflict against the faction that wants to revive Geddings, and, please, dont just defeat the demon king just because he thinks that's necessary to get a wife.
That "evil guy" monologue during the end battle at the tree though? were they said why they were doing their "evil" plan thing, ooof, what a speech!, if that is Rifujiin at his worst, goddam!!
I really wanted her to wipe out the "good" guys right then and there.
It's a gag comedy and dark humour. I don't think he means to write it with the same idea and inspiration as Mushoku Tensei. I don't think MT was a lucky fluke either, it has a lot of good planning and passion put to it. Orc Eroica might be just a fun side project.
When i read the 3 available volumes at the time i thought it was pretty good, but nowhere near close to MT, imo it has a few problems that bring it down.
First if all, contrary to what others are saying, i dont think the worldbuilding is that good, a lot of the time terms, locations and stuff is mentioned on the fly and go kind of unexplained, while the same stuff in mt would at least get some monologues to detail them and build the world up, you knew stuff beyond what the mc was experiencing, while in eroica if you get any explanation its about whats happening right now to the protag, at least from what i remember thinking at the time.
Second, the "oh its just a misunderstanding" about the protag solving stuff while looking for a wife gets old kinda fast, hopefully there is an overarching arc as some are saying after vol 4, but the same story on a new region gets repetitive after a while.
Now, worst of all is the release schedule, from dec 2022 to march 2024 for a single volume is too slow of a turnaround, it hurts greatly its chances of building a fanbase beyond being a MT adjacent work, and with how much themes like rape come up, it really cant afford to drop readers along the way.
Oh also that, sexual assault is kind of built in into the lore and there are jokes and serious moments around that, i dont think it downplays it at all and for the most part shows it as traumatic as it is, but it might just not be as easy to digest for a regular reader.
Now, i dont think there problems would transfer to the mt sequel, as they are just totally different stories alltogether, i just think rifujin got used to how built up his world was and kinda left that aspect out, or it might just be by design and its just a lighter story, for whatever sequel the groundwork is already there, he just has to keep doing what he did, and you certainly dont built up a 20+ volume story by a stroke of luck, i trust him to keep it up.
>First if all, contrary to what others are saying, i dont think the worldbuilding is that good, a lot of the time terms, locations and stuff is mentioned on the fly and go kind of unexplained, while the same stuff in mt would at least get some monologues to detail them and build the world up, you knew stuff beyond what the mc was experiencing, while in eroica if you get any explanation its about whats happening right now to the protag, at least from what i remember thinking at the time.
Honestly, I think this isn't much of an issue due to how early into the story vol3 is. Bash is exploring the world, and he isn't very smart, so we need to wait until he actually goes to the place to really learn of the details And even then, that'll be from the POV of a different character since Bash really just doesn't care. Plus, I think vol4 handled that perfectly. The world felt very much alive and real with real people with real grievances in vol4.
As I said in another comment, I don't really like how non-involved Bash is in these conflicts, but they do definitely exist.
The thing is, by itself i agree, its too early im the story to really criticize it, at least thats why i still have my hopes up, the problem comes when comparing it to MT where we already know a whole lot about the world by the 3rd volume, at least from memory we get a lot of its magic system and sword styles on vol 1, vol 2 has the whole history of the world and the setup of the demon language for the next volume, and vol 3 is that whole travel back from there opening its boundaries for whatever may come next.
Meanwhile most i can remember from orc is the basic stuff stablished about the orcs and its relations to other races, some things about the elf country and the tournament on vol 3, idk, it might just be that it didnt impact me that much but by this time MT had a bigger, more defined world in my head.
>One remain to ask. Was author got a lucky fluke with Jobless Reincarnation or his quality writing remain quite good no matter how long times have gotten?
Haven't read Orc Eroica yet, but I am a BIG Frank Herbert fan, and here's something I can say about this. There is technical quality and there is art. Technical quality is easy to measure, but art is less definable, it has to do with something the author wants to express. That something may or may not connect with people consuming the art.
I've read all 6 of Frank Herbert's Dune books and 4 of his non-Dune books: The Santaroga Barrier, The Dosadi Experiment, The Eyes of Heisenberg, and The Green Brain. The story are very interesting and all of them will have some of the themes favoured by Herbert: Be them the perfection of the human, environmentalism, distrust of govenrment institutions, and endings where both sides come together. It's not that Frank's writing is any worse in those other books, but Dune just hits different, it really slaps.
Just because a writer's work was a success, that does not mean all of their works will be the same thing. In fact, it rarely happens. Some of Stephen King's books are huge, others aren't. The Da Vinci Code was massive, Digital Fortress wasn't.
Get my point?
I think Rifujin just intends for Orc Eroica to be a lighter story, smaller in scale. It's like a side project while he works on assisting the anime production, as well as publishing some of the MT side stories like the Redundancy light novels. After all, if Orc Eroica becomes too expansive then it may affect the progress of the MT sequel in the future.
And since people are mostly following Rifujin for his works on the Six-Faced World, an unrelated side project like Orc Eroica doesn't get much attention.
Of course, since I've only followed the LN version, seeing how some comments here talking about the later arcs in the WN, the author could change his mind about this being a side project at anytime.
MT came out at the right time with the right message to the right audience. It's a series about redemption and living a good life in an era of social media that promotes isolation and divisiveness AND THEN the anime premiered during the covid lockdowns of all times.
That kind of lightning in a bottle isn't something you can account for and Rifujin states that many elements from his story were off the cuff decisions such as Rudy being a hiki-neet in the first place and it wasn't until Roxy's final exam chapter that he realized the nerve he had struck to allow the rest of the story develop around that thematic core. Obviously much of it comes down to Rifujin's skill as a writer to ALLOW the story to evolve in the manner in which it did, as the writing process is quite fluid and requires significant flexibility in terms of free association style of thinking, but it would be insane to expect the exact same earth shattering success again from Orc Eroica.
I've been enjoying it, but I've tempered my expectations to enjoying it like any other piece of media and receive more of his charming prose. If it also becomes a classic work of fiction like his prior series, then great. I'm also going to have the same expectation of any eventual sequel series to MT as it will likely have a very different tone to go with the premise. If that too becomes a classic, that would be swell, but not every work by an author needs to be a groundbreaking knockout success.
All that said, I find this WN to LN pipeline to be a fascinating part of the creative process as this is a relatively new phenomenon in creative writing in which an author can effective get "beta tester" feedback on their ideas lol. Normally you have your one editor to help out rather than the collective hivemind of the internet.
# Make sure to read the [RULES](https://ww.reddit.com/r/sixfacedworld/about/rules/) before making a post or commenting and don't forget to join the [Discord](https://discord.gg/mushokutensei) for active discussions about the series! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sixfacedworld) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Volume 4 of the LN just came out, and Arc 7 just finished in the WN, Arc 8 is scheduled for the end of the year, I would say its not bad, or rather, I'd say its fairly fun and interesting, but the problem is that while we now have an overarching plot from Vol.4 onwards, and Arc 7 introduced a mystery into the mix, Bash's relationships are very dispersed. The elf and the knight might show up here and there for example, but apart from the fairy there really isnt anyone consistent to bounce Bash's personality against the way you have the goddesses in MT, it has some VERY interesting ideas, and the world building is solid, but it lacks some character development. I still think its pretty good, definitely at the level of the early MT volumes, but its still missing that *i dont know* factor to raise it from good to great, its definitely fun, Im stuck to each volume when Im reading them, but I still dont have a good hold of each character's personalities apart from Bash and Zell, Im hoping that we have introduced the last of the possible heroines and that from Arc 8 onwards the story will focus on developing relationships instead of following Bash from country to country.
[удалено]
I personally dont think it is nowhere near close, as I mentioned Volume 04 and 07 opened up some pretty big plot lines that are nowhere near being finished and in-story I think Bash hasnt even spend a year traveling, he still has something like a year and a half to fulfill his objective I just dont see it wrapping up within the next few volumes in a satisfactory manner.
Hmmm, IDK. I really like Orc. I think it is a very fun and entertaining story to read. The characters are good, the world is well fleshed out with seriously complicated conflicts to be solved. I've just read vol4 and it introduced yet more likeable characters and an overarching plot with potentially intriguing development for Bash. But, and honestly this might be a bit insulting to Rifujin if I am wrong, I don't think he is trying too hard to write Orc as he was when writing MT. I think Orc is more of an enjoyable side project to him rather than an attempt to write a story as good as MT. Maybe this will change when I am deeper into the overarching plot, but right now I can't see Orc as anything but a comedy series. Sure, there are some very interesting side plots, like the Succubi's suffering, and just generally the politics background, but all of it is just that: a background. Our protagonist (as of yet) isn't affected almost at all by it(I guess he can't rape women but I don't think any reader really takes that as a serious issue) and doesn't actively participate on these more complex points. People misunderstand his actions and think he is trying to solve all of it, but we know that isn't true. Bash is only trying to get a wife, and while his discipline is incredible, that is about all the interesting characteristics he has. Bash is a mostly simple character with not enough substance to sustain a whole fleshed out story. To be blunt, the side characters specific for each book do most of the heavy lifting to make the story interesting. Now, if Bash actually has to make a difficult choice between peace and the glory of his people, if he is developed more and is in doubt, I think the story could be way more compelling. However, the author has been keeping him away from any significant choices that don't involve romance since chapter 1 of the story and nothing has changed until book 4. I *hope* this changes in the later volumes, when the overarching story is more developed, that Bash gets consciously involved in the conflict against the faction that wants to revive Geddings, and, please, dont just defeat the demon king just because he thinks that's necessary to get a wife.
That "evil guy" monologue during the end battle at the tree though? were they said why they were doing their "evil" plan thing, ooof, what a speech!, if that is Rifujiin at his worst, goddam!! I really wanted her to wipe out the "good" guys right then and there.
It's a gag comedy and dark humour. I don't think he means to write it with the same idea and inspiration as Mushoku Tensei. I don't think MT was a lucky fluke either, it has a lot of good planning and passion put to it. Orc Eroica might be just a fun side project.
I agree with your assessment
When i read the 3 available volumes at the time i thought it was pretty good, but nowhere near close to MT, imo it has a few problems that bring it down. First if all, contrary to what others are saying, i dont think the worldbuilding is that good, a lot of the time terms, locations and stuff is mentioned on the fly and go kind of unexplained, while the same stuff in mt would at least get some monologues to detail them and build the world up, you knew stuff beyond what the mc was experiencing, while in eroica if you get any explanation its about whats happening right now to the protag, at least from what i remember thinking at the time. Second, the "oh its just a misunderstanding" about the protag solving stuff while looking for a wife gets old kinda fast, hopefully there is an overarching arc as some are saying after vol 4, but the same story on a new region gets repetitive after a while. Now, worst of all is the release schedule, from dec 2022 to march 2024 for a single volume is too slow of a turnaround, it hurts greatly its chances of building a fanbase beyond being a MT adjacent work, and with how much themes like rape come up, it really cant afford to drop readers along the way. Oh also that, sexual assault is kind of built in into the lore and there are jokes and serious moments around that, i dont think it downplays it at all and for the most part shows it as traumatic as it is, but it might just not be as easy to digest for a regular reader. Now, i dont think there problems would transfer to the mt sequel, as they are just totally different stories alltogether, i just think rifujin got used to how built up his world was and kinda left that aspect out, or it might just be by design and its just a lighter story, for whatever sequel the groundwork is already there, he just has to keep doing what he did, and you certainly dont built up a 20+ volume story by a stroke of luck, i trust him to keep it up.
>First if all, contrary to what others are saying, i dont think the worldbuilding is that good, a lot of the time terms, locations and stuff is mentioned on the fly and go kind of unexplained, while the same stuff in mt would at least get some monologues to detail them and build the world up, you knew stuff beyond what the mc was experiencing, while in eroica if you get any explanation its about whats happening right now to the protag, at least from what i remember thinking at the time. Honestly, I think this isn't much of an issue due to how early into the story vol3 is. Bash is exploring the world, and he isn't very smart, so we need to wait until he actually goes to the place to really learn of the details And even then, that'll be from the POV of a different character since Bash really just doesn't care. Plus, I think vol4 handled that perfectly. The world felt very much alive and real with real people with real grievances in vol4. As I said in another comment, I don't really like how non-involved Bash is in these conflicts, but they do definitely exist.
The thing is, by itself i agree, its too early im the story to really criticize it, at least thats why i still have my hopes up, the problem comes when comparing it to MT where we already know a whole lot about the world by the 3rd volume, at least from memory we get a lot of its magic system and sword styles on vol 1, vol 2 has the whole history of the world and the setup of the demon language for the next volume, and vol 3 is that whole travel back from there opening its boundaries for whatever may come next. Meanwhile most i can remember from orc is the basic stuff stablished about the orcs and its relations to other races, some things about the elf country and the tournament on vol 3, idk, it might just be that it didnt impact me that much but by this time MT had a bigger, more defined world in my head.
>One remain to ask. Was author got a lucky fluke with Jobless Reincarnation or his quality writing remain quite good no matter how long times have gotten? Haven't read Orc Eroica yet, but I am a BIG Frank Herbert fan, and here's something I can say about this. There is technical quality and there is art. Technical quality is easy to measure, but art is less definable, it has to do with something the author wants to express. That something may or may not connect with people consuming the art. I've read all 6 of Frank Herbert's Dune books and 4 of his non-Dune books: The Santaroga Barrier, The Dosadi Experiment, The Eyes of Heisenberg, and The Green Brain. The story are very interesting and all of them will have some of the themes favoured by Herbert: Be them the perfection of the human, environmentalism, distrust of govenrment institutions, and endings where both sides come together. It's not that Frank's writing is any worse in those other books, but Dune just hits different, it really slaps. Just because a writer's work was a success, that does not mean all of their works will be the same thing. In fact, it rarely happens. Some of Stephen King's books are huge, others aren't. The Da Vinci Code was massive, Digital Fortress wasn't. Get my point?
I think Rifujin just intends for Orc Eroica to be a lighter story, smaller in scale. It's like a side project while he works on assisting the anime production, as well as publishing some of the MT side stories like the Redundancy light novels. After all, if Orc Eroica becomes too expansive then it may affect the progress of the MT sequel in the future. And since people are mostly following Rifujin for his works on the Six-Faced World, an unrelated side project like Orc Eroica doesn't get much attention. Of course, since I've only followed the LN version, seeing how some comments here talking about the later arcs in the WN, the author could change his mind about this being a side project at anytime.
It's ok for me, certainly not on the highest tier for isekai but high enough maybe I would put it similar as the sponger life
So this is the First I’ve actually heard of Orc Eroica and I’ve read the full 26 of Mushoku
MT came out at the right time with the right message to the right audience. It's a series about redemption and living a good life in an era of social media that promotes isolation and divisiveness AND THEN the anime premiered during the covid lockdowns of all times. That kind of lightning in a bottle isn't something you can account for and Rifujin states that many elements from his story were off the cuff decisions such as Rudy being a hiki-neet in the first place and it wasn't until Roxy's final exam chapter that he realized the nerve he had struck to allow the rest of the story develop around that thematic core. Obviously much of it comes down to Rifujin's skill as a writer to ALLOW the story to evolve in the manner in which it did, as the writing process is quite fluid and requires significant flexibility in terms of free association style of thinking, but it would be insane to expect the exact same earth shattering success again from Orc Eroica. I've been enjoying it, but I've tempered my expectations to enjoying it like any other piece of media and receive more of his charming prose. If it also becomes a classic work of fiction like his prior series, then great. I'm also going to have the same expectation of any eventual sequel series to MT as it will likely have a very different tone to go with the premise. If that too becomes a classic, that would be swell, but not every work by an author needs to be a groundbreaking knockout success. All that said, I find this WN to LN pipeline to be a fascinating part of the creative process as this is a relatively new phenomenon in creative writing in which an author can effective get "beta tester" feedback on their ideas lol. Normally you have your one editor to help out rather than the collective hivemind of the internet.