Never underestimate trouble … especially when she has pointed ears.
Creative Staff:
Original Story: Kisetsu Morita
Art: Yuskue Shiba
Character Design: Benio
Translation: Jasmine Bernhardt
Lettering: Katie Blakeslee
What They Say:
The slime-slaying, max-leveled, immortal witch Azusa’s main goal in reincarnation is to live a laid-back life with her new family of four. But trouble comes knocking on her door when the elf Halkara arrives, seeking sanctuary from the demon Beelzebub … Will Azusa ever find peace?!
Content (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As Azusa and Laika joyously watched the newest additions to their family indulge themselves within the spacious backyard, a knock interrupts this happy memory, causing Aizawa to answer the door herself. After cautiously opening the barrier, this wary woman looked outside to see a very voluptuous elf with an anguished look on her face, asking to be saved from Beelzebub. But upon hearing that name, Azusa slowly backed away and began to close the door, which caused the desperate woman to attempt to bar this action, imploring for the Witch of the Highlands to help in her hour of need. However, as this miserable protester plead to be heard, Azusa continued her attempt to reject this request for help, knowing from her three hundred years of experience the high ranked demon in question was not someone who should be taken lightly. However as the blonde sylvan begged to be heard, and the owner of the house continued her comical efforts to push her out, it seemingly hopeless until the curvaceous elf confessed between her whimpers that she was likely to be killed. Only after hearing this stunning announcement did Azusa finally release pressure on the door, allowing the pitiful visitor to come inside, but only after telling her to clean up the excessive tears and an unpleasant excess of nasal mucus before allowing the others to see this anguished woman.
After finally cleaning off her forgivable emotional secretions and calming down, the busty elf finally introduced herself as Halkara, an apothecary from the neighboring elven province of Hrant and creator of the restorative tonic Nutri-Spirits. However as the reputation of this energy drink spread outside her small country, it gained the attention of a certain high ranking demon named Beelzebub, and while these creatures are highly intelligent, apparently her all natural analeptic is not suited to their physiology and caused the poor woman to collapse soon after drinking it, and she has been on the run ever since. With this explanation, the suffering fugitive pulled out a wanted poster which was written in the demonic language, and thanks to Shalsha’s help the insightful girl read its essential contents: Find the woman who makes Nutri-Spirits – generous reward offered. Thanks to this distressing declaration, all of the workers in Halkara’s factory ran off and the people of her village chased her away, leaving the unfortunate elf with no place to go and a bounty on her head. Upon hearing the sad completion of her story, Laika, Falfa and Shalsha could not turn this pitiful girl away, and due to the peer pressure of her family, Azusa gave in to this mournful plea, submitting and declaring they should hide this elf in the house and if any one asks, Halkara is the Witch of the Highland’s Second Apprentice.
In Summary:
Even after adapting to the chibi visuals of this overly comical adaptation, loyal fans may still have some difficulty in believing this book as the same narrative, especially once they witness this second half of the premier light novel. With the introduction of Halkara, mangaka Shiba-sensei’s attempt to graphically communicating her clumsiness may be effective within the opening scenes, but to constantly insult the elven apothecary so as to reflect her as incompetent contradicts Azusa’s assessment from the original – whereby she sees her as a determined and resourceful entrepreneur, if a bit scatterbrained at times. If you did not read Morita-sensei’s wondrously moving story, this fact would have been glossed over, resulting in a delightful role which while providing some comic relief, at the same time shows her as someone who later is reliable when the occasional moment requires her much needed assistance.
Lastly, while the greyscale format of mangas may be standard for this Japanese import, sadly when we finally witness the wedding of Laika’s older sister, this layout works against the presentation of these powerful creatures, especially when the surprise guests arrive. After this First Apprentice introduced herself in the light novel, she made it abundantly clear she was a member of the red dragon race, and to reaffirm her status, emphasized she was the strongest among her clan. However when the family finally arrives at Mount Rokko to witness Leila’s ceremony, everyone is in their dragon form, which is explained within the story, but it becomes more complicated after the party crashers arrive – blue dragons. Thanks to drab color generalization and no differentiation in dragon design, all of these incredible beasts look almost the same, aside from a slightly lighter tone for the latter guests; therefore, within this frenetic action packed scene, unless the reader is paying attention, one might not notice this variation and think the heroes are attacking their own allies. Thus, while for Shiba-sensei may attempt to create a spectacular climax for the finale of the first novel, it quickly collapses within a confused clash of indecipherable chaos.
The manga I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level still struggles with its overcompensation of presenting the light novel as an absolute comedy, instead of a balance of melodrama injected with welcomed awkward moments, made especially humorous once Halkara joins the Azusa’s group. This clumsy attempt is made clear within this second volume, pushing forth a narrative of an elf who seems too clumsy for her own good, contradicting how she survived the perilous path to the house in the highlands. With more honorary family members joining with each book, hopefully we will see future adaptations with a more serious tone, and yet with the pacing of the current story, this desire seems highly unlikely.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: May 26, 2020
MSRP: $13.00
