Sekai Saikyou no Assassin, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei Suru

[tonie]

@SymmbolZ anime can be seen as more mainstream than manga. The bigger the audience, the less things is allowed for so it's no wonder.
But brainwashing is just a term that the translator decided on, other translator can call it persuasion which will be less offensive.

 

[Szerwonyskarabeusz17]

Brainwashing is nothing wrong, there is many things that people do and that we Will never know about

 

[ngoctnq]

I sure hope this backstory building phase ends soon.

 

[Yoten]

You know, whenever I see one of these assassin-themed titles, I can’t help but get excited in anticipation. In fact, these things always hype me up and disappoint me. Which isn’t really anyone’s problem other than mine, but you’re reading this anyway.

There is one thing I consider necessary to save Isekai - a DOOM isekai. Now, one other thing that would be a cherry on top would be a proper assassin Isekai. I don’t mean John Wick style, all motorcycles and knives flying and heads blasting into bits (although it is pretty great). I mean like a Dishonored Isekai. Or a Hitman Isekai.

There is so much that can be done with a magic assassin. In fact, even if you factor out the “magic” part, a hired gunman (or in this case, a hired blade) would be incredibly interesting. How do they feel about continuing to kill in their second life, or about killing potentially innocent people if they were a corporate slave in their past life instead of an assassin?

If you add magic to the mix, you get enough content to milk for ages. Every new skill or magic spell the protagonist learns is another way to kill someone. Something that seems useless can turn out to be extremely handy in the right situation, like a JoJo-styled isekai.

Going back to Dishonored, it’s all about creativity. Like when you possess someone and pop out, pushing them into the electric gate, or when you throw a disembodied head at a guard to distract him and he triggers one of those blade-landmine thingies. Imagine how it could play out in a story, where the characters’ actions aren’t determined by their AI and scripts.

Our daring protagonist throws a severed head at his target from the rooftops and ducks down before anyone could notice them. The target stumbles pack, paralyzed in fear, and gets a bit too close to one of his bodyguards. This very specific bodyguard had a drinking problem and would often get drunk in the middle of the day. All the protagonist had to do was slip a proximity rune (specifically made to react to their target’s magic wavelength) etched into a piece of paper into their pocket while they were drunk, and wait for the fireworks. Unfortunately, the target does not like to get close to that guard, as they reek of alcohol on occasion, so the protagonist has to give him a little more motivation to get within the range of the magic rune. Namely through launching a severed head at them.

As the target gets a bit too close, the area is lit up with a small explosion that rips the target and their entourage to bits. The lack of evidence against our protagonist enables them to have a clean getaway, considering the evidence was destroyed. By the time the authorities arrive, all traces of his magic will have long been vaporized. In fact, they could very well blame the drunken guard and label them as a suicide bomber who had gotten their hands on explosives. I wouldn’t imagine investigators in the Middle Ages would be all that thorough.

With each kill, the protagonist has to come up with some way to not point fingers at themselves, or simply make it spectacular to send a message across. At the scene of every death, it takes some incredible mental gymnastics to even determine that the deed was done by our protagonist. And it doesn’t even have to be all about assassination. Characters are complex, so the protagonist could also embark on a journey to become stronger, revealing their personal thoughts about killing to the reader while making new friends along the way. Maybe they’ll go through a boss rush type story arc, where they are inevitably marked as a target for assassination when they have a dispute with their main employer and have to defeat a bunch of other powerful magic assassins with similar levels of creativity in a battle of wits.

And I get it - Lugh is also a proper assassin gearing up to throwdown with the hero. But the type of story I’m talking about is one where the protagonist plans out his kills and tracks down his targets, intending to take them out stealthily. The story we have with Lugh is more of a John Wick styled story, with all the breaking into places and saving the loli in distress. And I know, all of this prep work posing as someone’s genius son and selling lotion is a front he puts up to get close to his true target. But the type of story I’m talking about is like one with a man on a mission. He gets his target and he kills them in a creative manner before the year is over, like in video games.

Frick why did I type this I just looked it over and it’s so long

 

[bpounciecarr]

@Yoten, ngl...that would be AWESOME!!!

 

[sam9501]

Best Assassin, yet he hasn't assassinated anyone. I don't understand. Backstory is fine and all, but the least one could do is showcase his abilities or something in a montage or some sort of pre-trial or something.

 

[Kurbo]

"Brainwashing Techniques"

 

[DatOneGuy]

I was thrown off by the word "brainwashing" in the manga because considering his inner dialogue and actions it's really just like a normal MC, finding a useful ally and providing for them.
Like his "brainwashing" is really: "I know your pain, and I'm going to take advantage of you by... caring for you, providing for you, and taking care of you based on your individual needs so that when I need something, you'll willingly do it cause we close like dat". I mean... yes?...

 

[chojinra]

So, Musho Tensei, but with a competent Protag that wasn't a piece of shit previously? Got it.

 

[Solipsist]

@chojinra
What the hell are you babbling about, this is nothing like Mushoku Tensei. Even the premise not is the same.
Might as well compare Tensei to every other isekai while you're at it.

 

[ninjajim]

Yet Another Hiera- er trashy isekai, but this one doesn't even update quickly enough for me to revel in the guilty pleasure of a monthly trash binge. Instead it's more like a slow trickle of trash into my eyes

 

[ShortBarrelRaifu]

@Yoten :
That's a glorious way to execute an assasination story telling ... Would love to see it popped up more in manga rather than 'Going Hot, Guns/Sword Blazing' kind of story.

 

[cooltapwater]

Can't we just time skip and go to an arc or something and also, stop introducing boring characters like God, why?

Anyways, thanks for translating.

 

[Ddraig213]

DatOneGuy What he is doing is technically brainwashing, but ironically, it wasn't very malicious. Yes, he is caring for them, but at the same time, he's completely warped their morals. Both find joy in doing something like torture just so they can impress him. Now, in the hands of an evil person, you'd get the stereotypical supervillain, but Lugh isn't evil in the classical sense. He is a ruthless assassin, but he is more interested in creating stability in his home nation then greed. Even in his past life, considering that fighter jets were scrambled to kill him, he was most likely in a black ops unit.

 

[Allyzaaajoy]

This is nice, im totally hooked. Im an avid reader of romance, and Im new to this kind of genre. If u dont mind, please recommend me some stories similar to this. Thank you! Dont forget to mention me so ill be notified 🤧💛

 

[chojinra]

@Solipsist Hence, the COMPETENT part. Reading is fundamental. Also, this is from the first few chapters which felt similar to me.

 

[Jzc136]

This manga is great, not only is it interesting, the mc is a believable character.

 

[Moonwolf287]

Really great manga. The MC is believable and well written. The stories progression and timing is done well.

I also like that it does not focus heavily on skill and stat displays and comparing them to the opponents but rather writes them in a natural flow.

 

[f0xhunt]

The start is great but everything afterwards is decent. It's heavy handed and cliche like all other isekai. It's a fun read thought.

 

[konzolmester]

Too much unnecessary explanation in this manga... I find myself skipping pages of it.
Elements are also similar to "Jobless reincarnation" like reborn as a baby, being trained by a cute magician ect...
So it has a mediocre start and I assume it will only get worse later on, already getting boring after 5 chapters ... not very promising...