Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest: Volume 8

As always, impossible to put this book down. So good, and well written, Spoiler: I was absolutely shocked that he adds shea, he’s been so “one one one” the whole book, it almost felt like a betrayal of his character to open up and even say “i guess I’m going home with 4 girlfriends” also, his personality of “survival of the fittest” changing to such an open hearted warm welcome felt too drastic, I felt that his personality, and lack of caring for people he knows, and his harsh realism really set this series apart from other similar books, but it kinda seems to be changing into the classic “harem save the world” I love the books, and I’ll read every single one that’s made, but I thought this particular book was backpedaling on too many series defining traits.

This is the latest in a series I've loved for quite a while. I've eagerly awaited each new volume and even made an exception to my rule and pre-ordered this book. Only 14 hours after I got this, despite my college schedule, i finished this volume and am already waiting for the next one. I have nothing but praises for the author and offer my full support. Thankyou for this masterpiece of a series, and here's hoping it gets made into an anime at some point!

Okay, so I detracted my original review because I realized after the fact that most of it was pointless. Here is my opinion. The series is great. Volumes 1-7 (with the exception of somewhere in the middle of volume 3) are awesome. Volume 8 is awesome through about 70% or 80% through, but then the last part kills it, and it all boils down to unnatural character progression. There are SPOILERs, so be warned. Hajime has been shifting to his kinder, gentler self, and I support that. I like when he's capable of being soft with those that are precious to him yet ferocious to anyone declared to be his enemy, but the shift at the end of this one felt a bit too unnatural and forced. I think it just happened too much too fast, but I let it go, still worth 5 stars in my opinion. The killer of any established character profile was concerning Hajime and Shia. I'll begin by saying I saw their relationship coming. The series is building up to a harem-esk ending, and I'm okay with it, but the way it happened here felt so unnatural that I physically felt betrayed and couldn't enjoy the Extra Chapter at the end at all, even though I know it was pretty good at heart. Shia deserves her win and she deserves a portion of Hajime's heart (like Yue, but less), and the way things were going at the beginning of the novel were great. Hajime unconsciously reacts to Shia as precious and admits to himself that he feels a psuedo-love towards her (again similar to Yue, but less). He even treats her as precious. All thumbs up, albeit a bit contradictory to Hajime's character who's always been "Only Yue", but again, I'll let it slide. It's his, Hajime's, personality that felt like a betrayal. TLDR; I could go a million words into everything that urks me about the scene too, but I think I can sum it up in one notion. Hajime has never been the standard harem protagonist, and I saw something in this series when I though he never would be one. I kind of want the harem route, but I want it to feel so smooth that I hardly ever notice its happening. Not sudden, rushed, and forced as it is at the end of this volume. He's been so uncompromising up until now, only bending for those dearest to him, and to see him veer sharply away from his principles into a rushed confession and then a cringe-awkward relationship progression (again only in the latter half of the last chapter; the rest of the novel relationship progress is actually good) just felt like a complete betrayal of everything I ever expected of his character. REALLY TLDR; Again I think the biggest issue is just that it was too sudden a change and so unnatural feeling that I had a hard time buying it, and I made my verdict 1 star... But because the rest of the novel was sooo damn good, I had no choice but to give some stars back and settle on 3 for being awesome most of the way through. I hope the author makes the relationships with these women and Hajime feel more real to his character in later volumes because I really want to love this series, and I hope the next volume changes my mind back to 5 stars yet again (I know volume 4 did back when I disliked volume 3 so I know its possible). I look forward to Volume 9 giving me a change of heart.

Bottom line, easy reading, good plot, good character build out. Would certainly be a real challenge to build it in only one or two books. While not liking the carry through to multiple volumes, it is clear that this plot/story-line would be hard pressed to provide the level of entertainment this one does. What is perhaps the best is the harem build out for the MC. Especially the jealousy. As Humans, we all know it is possible to care as much for more than one person as you would for a single. In this case, the focus is on a 1x1 vs 1x4. I like the fact that at the very core of the MC, he remains faithful to his beloved Yue. (at this point any way). So, from the connection stand point, it is right in line and on-point. For the others in the harem, the constant competition appears to be right on point for the emotions w/in the female gender. Not was a put down in anyway. Only a statement that, while males tend to refrain from emotional display (perhaps to a level of determent) the ability of the female to use it to their advantage is huge. How? perhaps in their ability to recognize and act upon very subtle hints from others (mail or female) through only body language that males are very challenged to grasp and use. Women's intuition is a multitude of inputs that are observed through all five senses (known or unknown). Where this is going, is that the author captures that very well, then articulates in such a way as to be entertaining while also being informative. The other piece to this is simply the applied logic that the author includes with his tome. The underpinning of the story, while not always described as to "why" immediately, subsequent words, phrases and paragraphs provide the needed information to see those logical connections. There are a lot of "oh yea! why didn't I see that connection?" type responses from the reader at time.There is little in this entire series that fails to connect to another part in one form or another. Finally, the art work is superb. There are a number of similarities between this art work and other Anime, yet, the artist brings in the subtle (and not so subtle) personal craft that usually aligns perfectly to the story line. In other like novels where artwork plays a part, the disconnect between what is depicted and what is written is most often very noticeable. The connection is not always immediate, and may very well be a preview of sorts to other volumes, yet there is always a sense that the depicted artwork plays into the story line. Many kudos to both the Author and the Artist. I can hardly wait to see when the MC finally reaches his ultimate goal. Or, if he does not, then how the Author shall weave that into the story with such art and logic to make it perfectly fit with the overall work as all things current have done.

For the first time since volume one do we see the return of the old Hajime upon the discovery of the very clue he's been seeking in order to find a way home. It was a very sweet moment to see the monster drop his feral grin and showcase a genuine smile of pure happiness that swayed the hearts of all his party members, most important the loves of his life who see the human side of our resident otaku and are given hope to him being able to have a more normal life. Also, it was downright coma inducing sweetness for Shea to finally obtain was she has always wanted and for the monster to stop being so stubborn and just accept that he can love more than one person. I'm on the edge of my seat for what happens next after the reveal of what Ehit has in store to try and destroy the irregular who's spoiling his fun.

Another great book in this series. The author combines action scenes with comedy nicely and splendid. The characters are awesome and their development through the series have been remarkable. Not only the main characters but most of the characters introduced through the series have personality and you can see the author put a lot of effort creating them.

I love how all of the characters continue to evolve. Nothing about the book is boring and I plan on continuing through the rest of the series! If you’ve made it this far in the series, I highly recommend you don’t stop before this one!

I loved it! If you have been faithfully picking up each volume then this will not disappoint you at all! I can't wait till Vol 9!

if you like this kind of light novel you will enjoy this series, the main Hero goes thru some major trauma almost loses his humanity, but over time with the help of those around him he slowly regains it. A lot of action and a few funny parts well worth reading.

Made it to Volume 8 and was looking forward to finishing it when it disappeared from amazon. I have eye issues so i like reading stuff on the kindle where I can enlarge things to make it simpler to read. Now the only way to finish this series is to buy it in book from and for some reason the whole kindle series is gone.

As always, impossible to put this book down. So good, and well written, Spoiler: I was absolutely shocked that he adds shea, he’s been so “one one one” the whole book, it almost felt like a betrayal of his character to open up and even say “i guess I’m going home with 4 girlfriends” also, his personality of “survival of the fittest” changing to such an open hearted warm welcome felt too drastic, I felt that his personality, and lack of caring for people he knows, and his harsh realism really set this series apart from other similar books, but it kinda seems to be changing into the classic “harem save the world” I love the books, and I’ll read every single one that’s made, but I thought this particular book was backpedaling on too many series defining traits.

This is the latest in a series I've loved for quite a while. I've eagerly awaited each new volume and even made an exception to my rule and pre-ordered this book. Only 14 hours after I got this, despite my college schedule, i finished this volume and am already waiting for the next one. I have nothing but praises for the author and offer my full support. Thankyou for this masterpiece of a series, and here's hoping it gets made into an anime at some point!

Okay, so I detracted my original review because I realized after the fact that most of it was pointless. Here is my opinion. The series is great. Volumes 1-7 (with the exception of somewhere in the middle of volume 3) are awesome. Volume 8 is awesome through about 70% or 80% through, but then the last part kills it, and it all boils down to unnatural character progression. There are SPOILERs, so be warned. Hajime has been shifting to his kinder, gentler self, and I support that. I like when he's capable of being soft with those that are precious to him yet ferocious to anyone declared to be his enemy, but the shift at the end of this one felt a bit too unnatural and forced. I think it just happened too much too fast, but I let it go, still worth 5 stars in my opinion. The killer of any established character profile was concerning Hajime and Shia. I'll begin by saying I saw their relationship coming. The series is building up to a harem-esk ending, and I'm okay with it, but the way it happened here felt so unnatural that I physically felt betrayed and couldn't enjoy the Extra Chapter at the end at all, even though I know it was pretty good at heart. Shia deserves her win and she deserves a portion of Hajime's heart (like Yue, but less), and the way things were going at the beginning of the novel were great. Hajime unconsciously reacts to Shia as precious and admits to himself that he feels a psuedo-love towards her (again similar to Yue, but less). He even treats her as precious. All thumbs up, albeit a bit contradictory to Hajime's character who's always been "Only Yue", but again, I'll let it slide. It's his, Hajime's, personality that felt like a betrayal. TLDR; I could go a million words into everything that urks me about the scene too, but I think I can sum it up in one notion. Hajime has never been the standard harem protagonist, and I saw something in this series when I though he never would be one. I kind of want the harem route, but I want it to feel so smooth that I hardly ever notice its happening. Not sudden, rushed, and forced as it is at the end of this volume. He's been so uncompromising up until now, only bending for those dearest to him, and to see him veer sharply away from his principles into a rushed confession and then a cringe-awkward relationship progression (again only in the latter half of the last chapter; the rest of the novel relationship progress is actually good) just felt like a complete betrayal of everything I ever expected of his character. REALLY TLDR; Again I think the biggest issue is just that it was too sudden a change and so unnatural feeling that I had a hard time buying it, and I made my verdict 1 star... But because the rest of the novel was sooo damn good, I had no choice but to give some stars back and settle on 3 for being awesome most of the way through. I hope the author makes the relationships with these women and Hajime feel more real to his character in later volumes because I really want to love this series, and I hope the next volume changes my mind back to 5 stars yet again (I know volume 4 did back when I disliked volume 3 so I know its possible). I look forward to Volume 9 giving me a change of heart.

Bottom line, easy reading, good plot, good character build out. Would certainly be a real challenge to build it in only one or two books. While not liking the carry through to multiple volumes, it is clear that this plot/story-line would be hard pressed to provide the level of entertainment this one does. What is perhaps the best is the harem build out for the MC. Especially the jealousy. As Humans, we all know it is possible to care as much for more than one person as you would for a single. In this case, the focus is on a 1x1 vs 1x4. I like the fact that at the very core of the MC, he remains faithful to his beloved Yue. (at this point any way). So, from the connection stand point, it is right in line and on-point. For the others in the harem, the constant competition appears to be right on point for the emotions w/in the female gender. Not was a put down in anyway. Only a statement that, while males tend to refrain from emotional display (perhaps to a level of determent) the ability of the female to use it to their advantage is huge. How? perhaps in their ability to recognize and act upon very subtle hints from others (mail or female) through only body language that males are very challenged to grasp and use. Women's intuition is a multitude of inputs that are observed through all five senses (known or unknown). Where this is going, is that the author captures that very well, then articulates in such a way as to be entertaining while also being informative. The other piece to this is simply the applied logic that the author includes with his tome. The underpinning of the story, while not always described as to "why" immediately, subsequent words, phrases and paragraphs provide the needed information to see those logical connections. There are a lot of "oh yea! why didn't I see that connection?" type responses from the reader at time.There is little in this entire series that fails to connect to another part in one form or another. Finally, the art work is superb. There are a number of similarities between this art work and other Anime, yet, the artist brings in the subtle (and not so subtle) personal craft that usually aligns perfectly to the story line. In other like novels where artwork plays a part, the disconnect between what is depicted and what is written is most often very noticeable. The connection is not always immediate, and may very well be a preview of sorts to other volumes, yet there is always a sense that the depicted artwork plays into the story line. Many kudos to both the Author and the Artist. I can hardly wait to see when the MC finally reaches his ultimate goal. Or, if he does not, then how the Author shall weave that into the story with such art and logic to make it perfectly fit with the overall work as all things current have done.

For the first time since volume one do we see the return of the old Hajime upon the discovery of the very clue he's been seeking in order to find a way home. It was a very sweet moment to see the monster drop his feral grin and showcase a genuine smile of pure happiness that swayed the hearts of all his party members, most important the loves of his life who see the human side of our resident otaku and are given hope to him being able to have a more normal life. Also, it was downright coma inducing sweetness for Shea to finally obtain was she has always wanted and for the monster to stop being so stubborn and just accept that he can love more than one person. I'm on the edge of my seat for what happens next after the reveal of what Ehit has in store to try and destroy the irregular who's spoiling his fun.

Another great book in this series. The author combines action scenes with comedy nicely and splendid. The characters are awesome and their development through the series have been remarkable. Not only the main characters but most of the characters introduced through the series have personality and you can see the author put a lot of effort creating them.

I love how all of the characters continue to evolve. Nothing about the book is boring and I plan on continuing through the rest of the series! If you’ve made it this far in the series, I highly recommend you don’t stop before this one!

I loved it! If you have been faithfully picking up each volume then this will not disappoint you at all! I can't wait till Vol 9!

if you like this kind of light novel you will enjoy this series, the main Hero goes thru some major trauma almost loses his humanity, but over time with the help of those around him he slowly regains it. A lot of action and a few funny parts well worth reading.

Made it to Volume 8 and was looking forward to finishing it when it disappeared from amazon. I have eye issues so i like reading stuff on the kindle where I can enlarge things to make it simpler to read. Now the only way to finish this series is to buy it in book from and for some reason the whole kindle series is gone.

This volume took a break from the escalating power creep of the enemies to tell a different kind of story. The creativity of the author in making challenges for his characters was also on full display. It also displayed serious character and relationship growth not evident in every volume.

The character growth is coming around to the point that the character growth is really enjoyable. This book alone might make the entire series worth reading by itself.

I really liked all book i hope it going in away end that all the girl and little myu and her mom get to be with them in end of this his needed start thinking about stay in world his in now go back will be bad the power has now in this world and start thinking about them

Another book, another dungeon! Fun times are had by all! By this point, you should know what to expect. Thank you for your hard work Ryo!

This volume harks is back to our volume one memories. This labyrinth is more mental than Oscar's, but it's still good. The final boss made me shudder though.

If you like the others you will like this, if you havent read book 1, start there. Its a good series. If it even looks interesting just do it.

Otaku shunned by class become magic-user shunned by class in new world. His classmate tries to kill him and he is transformed and enrolled (against his will) in a battle against the gods of his new world. Fun.

I am very happy with the way this book went, very happy to see what happened with Shea, and made me feel good!!! as always great book, waiting on next one.

great book i love that shea got her reward and others will too.

The stoey just keeps getting better. Xant wait to start the next book. Hard to believe the anime got me hooked on Japanese light novel reading Just want the anime series to continue so the qorld comes to life.

There are some odd phrases and translations and the author has a habit of repeated things while saying things like ‘which is why Hajime etc.’ However the story itself is intriguing and seems to be building towards a pretty epic finale.

Best one since the first two

Love this story. Great character development and plot. Need more!

As one of my top 3 series for LN's the author does not disappoint! In this book you see the MC actually start to grow a bit more human, more accepting, and terrified of bugs. You are sure to enjoy this book.

Great Series

Cannot put this series down and I am always excited for the next issue

I like the action scenes, the plot is riveting and it draws you into the action.

Big fan of the series started reading after the anime dropped and really enjoyed the book. Allready bought the next one

Pretty good and enjoyable continuation of the story. Also the the fun conclusion of the amazing adventures of the Vorpal Bunny tribe, I mean Haulia.

Loved the added romance!!! Just wondering if our main character lost his edge I sure hope not!! I think it will be an amazing finish

He chandged and that's all you have to know. Better to read the book if you want to understand what i mean.

Another great addition to the series cant wait for the next book

Is so good that I read it all thank you for making this it's my favorite series out of all the lns on amazon

I'll start by saying while this is my favorite LN series that I'm currently reading, the last vol.(#7) was a let down, for the most part. This volume more than made up for it. The MC enters the most difficult labyrinth yet and it pushes the cast to the limit in more ways than one. Can't wait for the next volume.

Great book so far its my favorite one of the series

My granddaughter loves these books. She can’t wait for the last three to get here and make her collection complete.

This one certainly doesn't disappoint at all, I greatly enjoyed reading about their progression what other characters had been up to as well, seeing the relationship of Hajime and his harem develop was also lovely to see looking forward to reading more.

Great casual read. This series is very similar to its webnovel; few changes. Once the main story wraps up its still only 40% through thanks to the afterstory, this is a great series

This book has many themes coming together to produce quite the story this time. There are some very nice character developments and dungeon antics so thoroughly enjoyable.

My son will love it. Another for his collection. Can't wait to get more.

As always an excellent read. This is still in my top 5 book series of all time. Every book is great but I'm also sad when ever I finish reading one as it brings me closer to the end of the series and I stop having new and fantastic reads.