Title: Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol. 10
Author: Aya Megumu (Art), Hiro Ainana (Story), Shri (Character Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 164
Genre: Shonen, Fantasy
Publication Date: February 2, 2021
The Story
It’s been nine long months since the last volume has published! When we left off, Lady Karina and her artifact Raka joined the party as Satou took her to Muno city. When they get there, there is something amiss about the city. The city’s core had been cursed by Zen when he was still alive and nobody could get near it due to a paralyzing fear or a lifeforce drain that afflicted them the closer they got.
That was just one problem. There was a demon that had been using a doppelganger to possess the magistrate. Satou and company dealt with the demon first then warned the Lord Baron of an army of ten thousand goblins that looked to invade Muno City. Of course, the city went on the defensive as the true demon made his move.
After volume after volume after volume of just walking around, gathering stuff, cooking, and enjoying an isekai slice-of-life story, we finally get an entire volume dedicated to some action! After pretending to be poisoned and falling off the edge of a wall, Satou dons the guise of the “hero” and lays waste to the demon with his overpowered magic and holy sword. Satou acquired a ton of titles and skills in this battle to make him even more overpowered than he already is. Even though the Lord Baron didn’t know it was Satou who killed the demon, he still helped fortify the city’s defenses and was offered a reward.
One of the rewards was Lady Karina herself but, obviously, Satou turned it down. He settled for an official title that would make life a little easier on the road during his travels. In addition, he was tasked with spreading the word that Muno City is not a cursed place anymore so that more and more nobles could travel here and they can restore their reputation. Satou accepted the title and the duty and from there… our adventure will continue!
Characters
With this being an action-packed volume, there wasn’t much in the way of character development. In fact, thinking back… there wasn’t any at all. Satou was still overpowered and sneaking around to do things on his own, Tama, Pochi, Liz, Mia, and the rest of his harem didn’t change one bit or do anything that wasn’t expected of them. Even Karina just blended into the background and did menial tasks as all of the others did.
The only real interesting thing that happened was the setup for a yet-to-be-introduced character. Apparently, according to the demon, that a ritual is scheduled to revive a demon lord. If that’s not the setup for this series’ end game, then I don’t know what is. Outside of that, there isn’t much to be said about our characters here…
Unless you want to count Lord Baron overcoming his fear of the city’s core… but with Satou and gang moving away from this story arc, who knows when we’ll even see him again (if at all)?
Final Thoughts
I will say that this volume was a breath of fresh air. When this series isn’t focusing on being an isekai slice-of-life, it’s actually highly entertaining. The battle was pretty thrilling and it was great seeing everyone work together. Of course, Satou was completely overpowered; however, him being responsible for everyone else’s safety made it to where even his powers served as a hindrance. Having a caring conscience is a nice plot to balance out his abilities. Had he not had a conscience, I’d hate to see what would happen if he went full power with complete disregard for everything around him!
I did laugh a few times at some of the 4th wall jokes in here… especially when Satou was called a shota and Satou, himself, made reference to popular harem series characters by pretending to be oblivious when put on the spot about all of the girls he keeps with him. Jokes like that remind you that this is, indeed, an isekai and that Satou is from another world… even if most of this volume (or this series) makes you forget that from time to time. It’s good to have that reminder.
Solid edition of Death March. Let’s see if it can continue next volume as we head on to, presumably, a new story arc!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press