Eroge no Akuyaku ni Tensei shita no de, Mob ni Naru koto ni Shita Vol 01 - Everyone is reincarnating here?
Eroge no Akuyaku ni Tensei shita no de, Mob ni Naru koto ni Shita (エロゲの悪役に転生したので、モブになることにした) is a light novel series written by Shigure Moyu (時雨 もゆ) and illustrated by Uiri. It currently has two volumes, and I read the first one just today after finding it on my subscription service.
The story follows an unnamed protagonist who gets reincarnated as Nishikouji Kaede, the antagonist in an eroge called Soshite Sekai wa Ai-iro ni. He had played this game previously and knew that the character risked being killed in almost all of the original routes and he's adamant in trying to survive.
He plans to stay by himself and become a "background character" (or Mob) without getting too involved in the heroines' stories. Unfortunately, his good nature clashes with the original character of Nishikouji, and he ends up intertwining his life with the various heroines.
To make the situation worse, it seems that the protagonist of the original game, Saita Kanade, is actually the reincarnated scenario writer of the game who wanted to deliver a different ending for the heroines. He appears frustrated by the fact that the original game simply brushes off the girls' issues and sweeps them under the rug with romance, rather than giving them actual closure.
Kanna is the "hot" girl of the series and doesn't shy away from using it.The main heroines are:
Hananoi Ayame
A girl with long white hair who is considered by everyone to be the most beautiful girl in school. She is quite shy, but she gets encouraged by the protagonist before the start of the school year. This leads her to become interested in him and want him to join the student council.
Sasaki Kanna
A girl with short black hair who works part-time in a maid cafe without having the school approval. She gets more involved with the protagonist after a photo of her with an older male is distributed around the school by an unknown party creating a small scandal.
She is a truly vulnerable girl who wanted someone to vent to online; she thought she was talking to another high school student, but it turned out to be an older man. She is the one who received the most attention overall in this volume and is already going in and out of the protagonist's house to help with his chores.
Asahina Natsuki
An energetic girl with a brown ponytail. She is the "sporty" type heroine who is not good at studying and feels like a great "partner-in-crime" for doing things together. She gets involved with the protagonist during a school outing where he ends up in her group.
The first volume serves as an introduction to the characters and the setting. It does not really go into depth explaining how the reincarnation happened or why the protagonist was chosen to take over the role of Nishikouji. We have roughly one chapter dedicated to each of the heroines, giving them reasons to become attached to him while slowly explaining their current situations.
Judging from how the volume ended, the next one will be centered more around Ayame and the student council election. I am sure there will be further development regarding the reincarnation aspect, especially considering the "scenario writer" angle, which has not really been explored much yet.
Natsuki has that "troublemaker" smile on her.I am honestly conflicted about this series. The premise is solid and the heroines are cute, but the delivery is a bit weak. This first volume was also considerably short (fewer than 250 pages), which compounded the issue that it felt somewhat "superficial". The only heroine who really packed enough of a punch to be memorable is Kanna. I am going to give the second volume a chance later on, however, and report back in another post about what happens.
