Black na Kishidan no Dorei ga White na Boukensha Guild ni Hikinukarete S-Rank ni Narimashita

v1ad Mar 6, 2021

8

A new way to tell the classic story of the lost child in the S-rank forest. Clearly worth reading it.

nathandouglasdavis Aug 23, 2021

5

As a "proletariat" worker in a culture that is aggressively expansionistic, profitminded, and competitive, I can empathize with the dehumanizing and inconsiderate way that these Black Knight subordinates are being treated (though, obviously, my experiences aren't anywhere near as extreme as Zeid's). And I'm pretty sure this comparison to real-world companies that exploit and overwork their employees is something that the author was intending the readers to make. I mean, even the term "black knights" is a riff on the phrase "black companies." It comments on the ways that a sense of responsibility for those who rely on your paycheck and a sense of not abandoning your coworkers can be used to manipulate workers into falling in line and continuing to suffer under suboptimal working conditions. We see abuse of power and allusions to the fact that it's easy for bosses to get away with things by just denouncing workers' actions if they ever become public and it's an uphill battle for workers to be believed. But if we are intended to interpret this story as commenting on real-world working conditions, then there are a few problems. First of all, what is "adventuring" meant to be comparable in the real world? Independent contractors working odd jobs? Temp workers working single-day jobs and always on the lookout for new job postings? Whatever the parallel, it should be obvious that this type of job doesn't have job security or consistency. The manga itself even comments on how Zeid taking all the job postings disrupted everyone else's ability to work, but instead of using that as an opportunity to criticize the way the adventurer guild was set up it was just treated as though it was somehow Zeid who was in the wrong. Blaming the individual worker instead of blaming the system. Also, and perhaps more importantly, I think the implicit message that you should just need to be strong individually can be problematic, in the sense that's not how improvements actually happen in the real world. But of course I know why the story was written this way: a story about a group of people unionizing their workplace isn't nearly as "cool" as one about a singular hero swooping in and saving everyone from the evil bosses. I like most of the artwork. It feels loose and relaxing and the fight scenes feel appropriately dynamic. There are square and doubled lines. The backgrounds can be somewhat sparse at times, but it's not really an issue. The most distracting part is the flat and chin-jutting way that the faces are drawn when in profile. I liked the introductory chapters the most. The tone is nice and it lays out some commonplace fantasy story tropes but in a way that made it still feel fresh. But I realized a few chapters in that one of the main aspects of Zeid's personality that I appreciated was feir sleep deprivation. Once that aspect was gone (after chapter 3), then fe became just generically righteous and overpowered. And the knight leaders are honestly so ridiculously over-the-top in their villainy that it's pretty hard to take the story seriously. It still has some decent fight scenes--but I'm no longer hooked, so the climaxes aren't as emotionally satisfying as they're intended to be. The only reason I'm rating this as a 5/10 instead of a 4/10 (or even a 3/10) is because I liked the early chapters and I feel like there might still be some potential within the story to regain my investment. [Reviewed at chapter 10]