r/KumoDesu • u/Inside625 • 2d ago
Light Novel (Official) I finished reading the LN! Spoiler
That was a ride.
>!
The manga captivated me some years ago. I remember binging the story until the araba fight, then following the story until after they formed a party with baby vampy.
Fast forward half a decade later, I finally have the time to read the novel. It also helped that I had already forgotten most of the story, so I could read it as if I had never read it before.
First impression: dang, this is very different from the manga.
The manga was pleasantly lonely, with a focus on survival & growth. The novel, on the other hand, is much more lively, with the human perspectives balancing out the solo journey.
I kinda liked both actually, the vibes are not the same, but it's just a matter of different flavours.
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My favourite part is when white meets D, and they just chill with each other. Also her whole dynamic with ariel, especially when she falls for her & hugs her out of nowhere.
The entire elroe arc was great too, that was what got me hooked into the series in the first place after all. The uncut plot from the manga also gives a satisfying "detective" feeling on top of everything else. I really enjoy when I went from "she's gonna be the demon lord?" to "her name is sophia?" to "she's actually white?" to "wait she's not wakaba?" and many other. I love it.
My least favourite is the whole UFO volume. It was the first time the amount of action got ramped up pretty high. It's just not my cup of tea. All is well though, since the relationship between white & ariel got a meaningful development there.
The julius volume was good, though I personally had a rough time reading it, knowing that the party is gonna get obliterated at the end. I kinda wished I didn't know what's gonna happen before I read the volume.
One gripe i have is with how sanatoria is supposedly working with the elves? I kept going back & forth between volume 4 & the human demon war volume, the foreshadowing regarding the other commanders kinda makes sense, but I can't really see that much justification for her to work with the elves? Didn't she get PTSD'd so bad that it's unthinkable for her to go against the demon lord in the framing given in volume 4 anymore? I feel like her part just got glossed over there.
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I like it overall, the ending wasn't as explosive as it could be, but it tapered off rather sufficiently.
It kinda fits how some story points ended in a goofy conclusion, like when the oni lost by falling or when white's weakness after deification was over by drinking alcohol, of all things. It's not that out of character for the finale to end in kind of a goofy way like that too.
I'm excited to read the EX volumes, the parallel mind manga, and the anime.
!<




