Hero Without a Class: Who Even Needs Skills?! Volume 1

Review Date: 2024 September 06 14:41

Reviewed by: Joe

Released by: One Peace Books

Publishing Country: USA

Author: Written by Kuzu Shicio & Ueda Yumehito with manga by Akio Nanae. It is translated by Hengtee Lim.

Age Rating:

Page Count: 176

ISBN-13: 9781642733822

ISBN-10: 1642733822

Affilate Links:
 

Summary

In a world where everyone receives a Class and Skills at the age of ten, and where such revelations have a huge impact on one's life, Arel, the son of Sword Princess Farah and Archmage Leon, learns that he has... no class at all!

With no class, and no skills, all that's left for Arel is hard work. And so, he takes to training, utilizing wits and cunning to emerge as an all-new type of hero!

Review

Hero Without a Class: Who Even Needs Skills?! is a manga written by Kuzu Shicio & Ueda Yumehito with manga by Akio Nanae. It is translated by Hengtee Lim.

Set in a Europeanesque medieval RPG type fantasy world where at age 10 you're assigned a class, similar to a video game characteristic, such as Blacksmith or swordfighter and so on.

This manga tells the story of our hero Arel whose parents are advance classes of Sword Princess and Archmage. As classes can be inherited his family have high hopes for him. On the class blessing ceremony it's revealed that Arel doesn't have a class at all, he is as the title implies without a class. As a result he can't level up and unlock skills like his peers. However it does have one distinct advantage, he is not limited to the class system. Through hard work Arel can master skills without having to be confined to the restrictions of a particular skill tree.


There's some basic scene setting and surprisingly Arel isn't really bothered about not having a class. There's no reflection or sense of loss, he just gets on with life and starts his plans to level up. He's determined to learn and has a solid foundation of sword fighting thanks to his Mum.

Artwork is done to a consistent high standard, mainly close ups or the odd full body shot of characters. It has that clean computer drawn look. There some more detailed location setting panels, at the start of each scene, but the backgrounds in most panels are fairly blank with standard framing around characters where most of the artwork is focused. There's a good use of screen tone too.


The first volume sets up the scenario and introduces us to Arel and the other regular characters in his world. It is not a ground breaking idea for a manga series as the idea of a protagonist without the world's ability has been done before. However, it is well executed and enjoyable and I see this becoming a guilty pleasure. It is easy to read and the first volume is clearly laying the groundwork for some enjoyable story arcs in later volumes. I'll happily read a few more volumes of this to see where it goes.

The end of the volume also treats us to a mini chapter in light novel format, which is a pleasant bonus feature.

All in all Hero Without a Class: Who Even Needs Skills?! isn't a big hitter title, but it's a very enjoyable bit of RPG comfort manga.

Rating: 7/10

Links

Affilate Links:
Buy from Amazon.com
Buy from Amazon.co.uk