The Spring 2024 Manga Guide

The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases

What's It About? 

Stuck at a low level and lacking a god-given Gift, Allen is labeled a good-for-nothing and banished from the Duchy of Westfeldt. But little do they know, he's the reincarnation of a hero from another world with powers from his past life! Allen yearns for a quiet life after growing tired of heroics, so he takes his banishment in stride. Yet his trip to the remote Frontier is interrupted when an assassin attempts to take his former betrothed's life! What former hero worth his salt could stand idly by? So begins another unwanted chapter of excitement in Allen's saga!

The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases is a manga by Karasumaru, based on a light novel series of the same name written by Shin Kouduki with characters designed by Chocoan. English translation by bedi. This volume is lettered by Kai Kyou, and published by J-Novel Club; PublishDrive edition. (April 10, 2024)

Is It Worth Reading?

The Banished Former Hero is a volume that I think gets by on the merits of its character interactions. The art is simple, with next to no real action choreography, and backgrounds are as barren as the desert. I can't tell if the art style is going for something intentionally simplistic or if a more complex presentation just isn't possible. The volume doesn't look ugly, it's just not very memorable from a stylistic perspective outside of all the characters looking like they desperately need a good night's sleep.

While not getting pulled in by what I saw, what I read did. The dialogue between characters in The Banished Former Hero is very tight and engaging. There's much information conveyed with very few words that allow us to cover much ground without the book being bogged down with overly drawn-out explanations. The premise is simple, a former hero was reincarnated into a new life and a new family that ended up kicking him out because they don't think he is worthy of his status.

Now, the aimless hero seems to look for purpose while everybody else has an agenda. It does feel like the volume does pull a bit of a bait and switch with our protagonist getting all of this focus in the first chapter only for him to more or less turn into a background character by the end. However, I think it works for the story because it does feel like everybody else has this mission or objective to accomplish in this fantasy world while our protagonist has none. I think the story does a good job of making it unclear if our hero wants the simple life because he has life all figured out or if he's moving aimlessly because he has nothing else to do and is depressed.

In these types of stories, it's not so much the protagonist that goes through a change as much as everybody else goes through a change after experiencing the worldview of our protagonist. That's the kind of story we may be getting if I'm not giving this volume too much credit. We even have the perspective shift to a new character who does seem to fit the category of the more rambunctious hero and yet her experiences lead her to have a more humbled view of life. It's interesting in the “less is more” approach to fantasy storytelling, one that seems to appreciate the simpler moments. It's a sweet spot but I think it's just enough to be worth a read.

I took the unusual step (for me) of reading the manga before the light novel for this one, mostly as a question of expediency with the anime adaptation days away as of this writing. I now want to read the original a lot more, not because this was so good, but because it feels like so much of the story was left out. Allen, the eponymous former hero, spends an unfortunate amount of time telling rather than showing about pretty much everything – his former life as a hero, his fiancée Riese (who is a princess?), his skills, you name it. That wouldn't be so bad if major swathes of the plot also didn't feel ludicrously condensed; we go from Allen getting kicked out of his house to stumbling on Riese and her knight Beatrice fighting a monster to “ten days later…”. It makes for a very jarring reading experience where we barely know the characters or the story.

That's a shame because it's not without its strengths. Allen seems like a truly nice guy (and not a “Nice Guy”), and his past life didn't work out the way he had hoped. He was, in fact, a powerful hero, but something seemed to have gone wrong, and he died unhappy, wishing for a peaceful next life. Clearly that didn't work out, but he doesn't let being ill-used by the universe get him down. At one point, when Akira the Champion is fighting a dragon, he expresses dismay that it looks like he's stepping in at the last second to help because that wasn't his goal. He's a low-key guy, generous and kind without expecting anything in return.

I like that on several levels, one of which is that it's rarely fun to read about an asshole. But it also gives his increasing potential harem a reason to like him rather than him being the only thing with a penis in the vicinity. Allen is surrounded by at least four ladies throughout this book. The aforementioned three plus Noel the dwarf swordsmith in the final chapter. He only has eyes for Riese and the other women aren't trying to steal him away at this point, but that gender balance is still very noticeable. Fortunately, everyone is distinct in terms of character design, with Noel looking especially adorable, even if I question the wisdom of whoever decided that she should practice her craft in a mini skirt.

This isn't a terrible volume, but it could be better. It fails to impress largely by trying too hard to cover too much story.