So not long ago I made a post about how some stories that are good, when translated to anime aren’t as good as before. The main topic I used was Death March To a Parallel World (Which I’ll just call Death march from this point on.) Death March after the anime was released, had been given a bad name, a shitty story. A story of a character who never faced any problems simply because he can max out any skill he learns due to having nearly infinite skill points. How can a story following a character who can solve anything be interesting?
I started reading death march quite a long time ago. I don’t remember when I got into it, but I remember finding the manga online and reading it. I got interested in the story and was curious as to how the story would develop. At the time the manga was being translated by a fan group, it was only a few chapters in and it was enough to spark my curiosity. Seeing that it was a web novel/night novel, I decided to give it a shot and ended up reading the web novel online. The result? I was really bored. The beginning was a bore fest that thankfully wasn’t brought into the anime as it was pretty much Satou walking forward looking for civilization as he learned new skills. It had only given me enough of a curiosity to keep on reading, though if I hadn’t read the manga ahead of time I probably would’ve given it up earlier… and managed to persevere… and I was rewarded!
The story follows a programmer who after staying up countless nights doing work, wakes up in an alternate world very similar to the one he was programming. He even had the cheat skill, meteor… which after using it is proven to be too overpowered and immediately levels up from 1 to 312. He then goes and finds a town and makes friends, before setting off in an adve- oh wait, it’s not an adventure… just a tour! A tour of this fantasy world!
The story isn’t an adventure story, but a sight seeing story as Satou is too powerful to really have any threat at all. How is that entertaining you might be asking? Well it’s in the same way as how Superman from DC comics is entertaining… it isn’t the struggle of Satou that is entertaining but how someone as godlike as him fits into this world. As he progresses, he gets more and more powerful, creating holy weapons as if they are nothing and even making his own alter-ego, the hero Nanashi. As the story goes on, we’re not expecting Satou to struggle, but were looking forward to how he’ll accomplish his goal.
Then there’s other points that well like… the cooking! There’s a joke in the community saying that the story is actually a cooking story… with the killing of world ending Demon Lords or final bosses simply being mere side quests. One of my favorite parts of the story is where Satou (in disguise as Nanashi) meets the hero, Hayato. As they are fighting a demon lord, giant flying space whales fly into the world and are destroying the city. Hayato looks up and is in panic, wondering how he can even hope to defeat these creatures. What about Satou? He looks up at them and merely thinks of them as a high level cooking ingredient. As he looks and sees the shocked face of Hayato, he isn’t surprised… he simply thinks Hayato is also thinking the same thing. This, although proves that there is nothing Satou can’t defeat, shows that this story isn’t one where you are left in suspense, but merely here to enjoy the ride.
Although the anime was pretty much a flop, only entertaining to those who actually read the novels, the novels are incredibly entertaining. That said, the beginning of the web novel is incredibly boring but if you can get through it, you can make it to the true meat of the story. I highly recommend you read a few chapters of the manga first, since it gets to the heart of the story faster than the web novel. If you think this is something for you after reading the first few manga chapters, give the novel a try! Just remember, this isn’t an adventure story, but simply an enjoyable vacation.
SKmuffin's Anime, Manga and Light Novel Reviews 