This Hero Is Invincible but Too Cautious - Reviews

, it’s a better story than most Isekai out there.

Mainly because the main character (MC) has an actual personality, even if he’s a bit of a douchebag. That’s still better than the typical Isekai protagonist who is essentially just a self-insert with a Japanese name. At the very least, you’ll remember this guy.

The key thing to remember is that this is definitely a comedic Isekai. The entire plot is built around punchlines and jokes, so if you’re not into that kind of humor, you might want to skip it.

I heard it’s also getting an anime, and so far the manga is pretty decent too. Honestly, those adaptations will probably be better than the current translations, though we should be grateful that someone picked this up in the first place.

"The best Japanese novel currently being written. As a famous anime YouTuber once said, it feels like it's written by the author of Konosuba. If you enjoyed Konosuba and would like to see the hero actually save worlds and face dangerous threats, with a mature and slightly crazy tone, supported by intriguing characters, this is the novel for you. It also had a fantastic anime adaptation."

This is an amazing novel with excellent writing and intriguing characters. The plot is a thrilling rollercoaster ride, filled with moments of humor and sadness. I particularly enjoy how the author unexpectedly introduces twists when the characters are at their happiest or the atmosphere is too calm. , I find this novel to be truly unique. I hope we get to see it through to its conclusion.

As far as the concept goes, it's incredibly ingenious to craft a story where the protagonist in an isekai setting is overly cautious. This breaks multiple layers of common isekai tropes, showing a level of self-awareness by making comments like choosing Japanese characters because they adapt quickly, or having the demons give the MC no time to train or prepare, which might be the most logically constructed antagonists ever. The MC, despite having higher stats, runs away when faced with an enemy who is even slightly more powerful, which is not typical behavior for an isekai or shounen protagonist.

However, the MC comes across as more logical than "overly cautious." It wouldn't be surprising to call the title a bit of clickbait. Despite being labeled as a comedy, this series is actually a lot darker than you might expect. There are scenes or elements that make you wonder, "Wait, I thought this was a comedy isekai, so why am I seeing stuff that belongs in *Berserk*?!" Some scenes are even more explicit than necessary, with lactation, full nudity, pubic hair, and potential NTR if you ship the goddess and Seiya together. The God of Death, or whoever that character is with the chains for clothes, dresses like someone straight out of a hentai. Imagine covering only the nipples and the crotch—that’s how she dresses. I was skeptical at first when I read the description in the light novel, but seeing her in the anime opening confirmed my expectations.

Regarding the Goddess... Well, she’s certainly too emotional and annoying, often serving as the punchline to the comedy while Seiya, with his stoic demeanor, delivers the jokes with lines like "facts don't care about your feelings." People often compare her to Aqua from *Konosuba*, and it’s easy to see why.

Moreover, Seiya, our stoic hero, isn’t the main protagonist of this story. If you disagree, I’d be willing to hear your argument, but consider this: the story is told from the Goddess’s point of view, and Seiya has no inner monologue. Typically, a protagonist would have more inner monologues than any other character, but not here. Even during his training, we only see what happens if the Goddess is present. The series might be breaking the trope of making the MC the hero by instead making the goddess the central figure, the one who summoned the hero from another world.

In summary, calling this an "overly cautious hero" comedy series doesn’t quite fit the bill. It’s a comedy, but with excessive violence, perversion, and dark themes, it’s more of a borderline comedy/horribly fascinating (in a good way) series.

Do I hate this series because of that? Not at all. In fact, I enjoyed it a lot. I binged through half of Volume 1 and took a break for a few weeks, but I came back to finish the entire thing.

I highly recommend checking out the manga as well. The manga is funnier than both the anime adaptation and the light novel. The comedic visuals in the manga are exceptional, making it the best version of the series. If you didn’t enjoy the series based on the light novel alone, trust me, give the manga a try. For the anime, the voice acting and occasional animation quality add to the experience, but the manga is still superior.

I was introduced to this novel through its anime adaptation. The anime was good; what I enjoyed most was its comedy, which sparked my interest in finding the original novel to stay ahead of the anime. I’m an impatient person and often read the novels when I like an anime.

Now, regarding the novel, I must say that while it has potential, it ultimately disappointed me. It’s just not the novel for me.

The novel begins with the typical setup of the main character (MC) being summoned to save the world, but with a twist: the MC is overly cautious. While the title suggests something intriguing, the story doesn’t live up to its promise. Powerful characters lose their significance as the narrative progresses, while initially unimportant characters gain more value. The scale of the world-saving operation and the actions of the gods and goddesses don’t align well with the MC’s involvement. For example, it’s like a historical multi-trillion-dollar company with centuries of background, where the original founders and managers are still in charge, but when the MC is involved, these seasoned leaders are reduced to toddlers who can’t even suck their thumbs without his help.

If the story had taken a different direction—such as the MC being summoned to save the world without any direct interaction with the gods or the god realm, and without a love interest at the very beginning—it might have been a more compelling read. The concept of a cautious MC is promising, but its execution in this story was a disaster.

First, only read this if you're in the mood for an anti-cliché webnovel. If you’re not that kind of reader, you might find this novel disappointing.

Second, overall, the web novel is quite good. It creates a coherent world with its own set of rules, avoiding many plot holes. The plot is well thought out, featuring an intriguing duo who are complete opposites on a quest to save the world in the most challenging way possible. This setup breaks many tropes, especially compared to typical isekai stories where the main character (MC) lives an easy life in another world due to being overpowered.

The issue arises with the execution. The jokes and interactions start to feel repetitive around Chapter 15, which might bore some readers. Even if you manage to push through, there’s another problem: character development. Instead of improving over time, the characters often regress. This is a significant reason why many readers give it a one-star rating—nobody wants to follow a story where the characters become worse. While the execution of character development has its merits, it’s not without flaws. It might work for me, but it could annoy many others.

**Spoiler**

The hero isn’t just cautious; he’s a control freak. Imagine making an extreme control freak your protagonist—it’s that bad. Conversely, the goddess is excessively carefree. This imbalance often leads to dangerous situations, exacerbating the hero’s controlling tendencies. The goddess never learns from her mistakes, which makes her frustrating, especially since she is also an MC. If this pattern continues, the control freak might reach his breaking point, leading to a dramatic explosion in later chapters. At this point, it becomes very difficult to continue reading because both MCs are problematic. While side characters help balance the atmosphere and tone, the poor execution of the main characters leaves a bad taste in the reader's mouth, explaining why many people abandon the novel.

Fourth, the interactions within the world are well done. However, the novel’s anti-trope approach and consistently strong, harsh tone can sometimes make these interactions feel too extreme in various situations.

In summary, if you’re looking for a novel with its own unique identity, a slightly slower pace, and an anti-trope narrative, this might pique your interest. But only if you can tolerate the character development issues first.

Edit: Many people rate the novel poorly because they find the goddess annoying, calling her names like "b*tch" or "dumb." This is understandable, given that their attitudes are often extreme, and without any characters to balance the story’s tone, they can become very irritating.

Seeing the top review here as overtly negative really got under my skin as someone who loves this novel, so I wanted to write a review to encourage anyone who is interested.

First off, regarding the racist comment the author made, yes, it is in the novel and it is indeed quite racist. This cannot be ignored. However, if you can move past that, this novel is a comedic and fun ride.

The highlight of this series is our titular hero, Seiya, the overly cautious hero. Much of the comedic moments stem from his serious and extreme reactions to everything, even seemingly normal conversations. "If anything can be a threat, it is a threat." Seiya wastes no time in training himself to the max and learning all sorts of overpowered moves from various gods to completely overpower his enemies. He does this because most of the threats he encounters never play fair and will pull out the big guns when they get the chance. Seiya is the heart of this series, and you always want to see him go all out and prepare for every single possibility.

Ristarte, the narrator of our series, is the butt of all the jokes. She's clumsy, overshadowed by normal healing items, naive, and has an obvious crush on Seiya's six-pack abs. As the narrator, you'll hear a lot from her, including some unsavory things, ridiculous comments, and a whole lot of perverted humor. The author comes up with the most creatively perverted jokes, each one topping the last. If you're not a fan of that and prefer clean humor, you might not enjoy this series. It's okay to be a Goofy Goober; there's no shame in that.

The story is straightforward, a typical isekai setting with a goddess and hero duo where chaos ensues. What sets it apart is Seiya's overtly cautious nature. If you've thought of a possible solution for a problem, Seiya has likely thought of 25 more. As the series progresses and the challenges become harder, just relying on overpowered techniques isn't enough. One thing to praise about the series is this aspect. There are also some emotional moments sprinkled throughout, allowing you to get attached to our dysfunctional duo.

It's sad to see that the comments with the most likes in this review section are unsavory and narrow-minded. Don't let that deter you from the series, though. It's a wonderful and unique series that stands out from the usual isekai harem power fantasy comedy—because it's actually funny.

The first two volumes were quite entertaining. However, the series takes a significant nosedive during the Ixphoria arc (Volumes 3-4).

Spoiler: The main character returns to the world he previously failed to save and died in, with the goal of liberating it from the demon lord’s control. You’d expect this to be an emotionally charged arc, given that the main character’s entire party was slaughtered and his pregnant fiancée was killed right before his eyes, especially for Ristarte, who is the reincarnation of his fiancée. However, it turns into a very bland story where Ristarte is treated as a joke and there is no character development whatsoever. Due to the disappointment of Volumes 3 and 4, it has become my head canon that the story ended at the conclusion of Volume 2.

The series is good. Yes, the author praises Japanese people in a very... err... straightforward way, but who cares? People tend to love their own country (every people does; just read some novels from other countries) and it is only done in chapter 0. But if you read and think about it, the author might not necessarily be "actually" praising (is being an otaku all about praising?? lol and it's hurting me too ☹). This is corrected in the anime, so check it out—it's very funny and, in my opinion, one of the best anime series of this season (although only one episode is out now, I'm already hooked).

The main character is super cool. Some may say he is overly cautious (well, he is, but it's better than those overly hot-blooded types). Spoiler: well... he too was a hot-headed person, but something happened that changed him. If you don't understand, just read the damn novel.

For the Fish-man fans out there (if you read the novel, you'll understand), that damn Fish-man deserves it!! (I love Fish-men too, ya know ❤️❤️, but the Fish-man is annoying and very irritating, so yeah, Seiya does the right thing, and it’s cute that way... maybe it's the sadistic side of me? lol)

Anyways, the series is good and worth a shot (just my opinion).

Damn, I still have 49 chapters into volume 2 to read, but I'll say it now...

The anime volume 1 and volume 2 pick up right where they left off. If you don't feel like reading the first 50 chapters, you can jump straight to volume 2.

However, don't think of volume 2 as all fun and games. While I still find many scenes funny, the darker elements of the series really pick up. If you are not comfortable with scenes where humans are treated like livestock or tortured for sport, this may not be for you.

Other than that, it's pretty much business as usual. Volume 2 is obviously an SS-difficulty world, so it's more difficult to conquer. The challenges have increased significantly. Ristarte is faced with dealing with her previous human life through the eyes of a goddess. She doesn't seem to feel anything in particular yet, but she has started to show some signs of sympathy. I assume this arc will focus more on the serious side of the story and the inner turmoil told from Ristarte's perspective. If you were to remove the comedy aspect, it does make for a more compelling story.

I couldn't get past chapter 2. The author’s praise for Japanese people was so overt that it put me off.

"I decided to summon a Japanese person because they are brave... the second time I summoned an Indigenous person from South Africa. It took about a full month for him to understand how this system works."

The first sentence alone is enough to give you an idea of what kind of novel this is.

While I’m not from South Africa, this quote perpetuates harmful stereotypes about African people, implying they lack intelligence.

, I’m sure the story has a great plot and concept, but for me, the biases are just too much to overlook.

So, praising Japan for this is a misunderstanding, I believe. Lista mentions she prefers selecting individuals from Japan because the country is teeming with otaku, and informing them that they have been summoned to a new world with magic and such isn't a novel concept to them. It's similar to making a non-gamer play a new video game. If you gave your mom an Xbox controller and asked her to play, she would have no clue what to do and it would take time just to get used to the controls. However, if you gave it to a gamer, they would instantly adapt, eliminating the learning curve.

Telling a Japanese otaku that they've been summoned to a new world versus telling a regular person from South Africa is the same idea. While I'm not from South Africa, if I were a betting person, I'd wager that they don't read as many isekai novels as Japanese people do.