Manga Review: The Brave-Tuber #1 story by Takahito Oosake, art by Ikuro
It has been over five thousand years since the Demon King Neidvin was destroyed, bringing an end to The War of Heaven’s Edge and ushering in an era of relative peace in Wizdaregidor. Now, it is said, the Demon King has been resurrected, or perhaps just been replaced, and the demonic armies are on the move again. But over the millennia, there have been changes in the world, most notably the creation of electronic media!
It is no longer enough to be strong and courageous to find fame in this brave new world. Aspiring heroes must produce the streaming video content the public desires! This is a bit of a problem for Zane, wielder of the Holy Sword Kuku Regil. He’s stupidly strong in combat, easily able to take down a Demon General without breaking a sweat. But he’s uncharismatic, has a boring combat style, and isn’t good at making cool speeches. Even though Kuku’s spirit acts as his videographer, there’s just not much appeal to his monster slaying videos.
He’s got only a handful of followers, mostly demons who have sworn vengeance for their fallen fellows, and the Demon King himself (no great accomplishment, the Demon King follows everyone.) Even the trolls consider Zane too boring to harass. Without Wiztube income, Zane has to have a day job to pay the bills. (Unlike in video games, it turns out demons and monsters don’t drop money when killed.)
Can Zane and Kuku Regil find the secret to making videos that attract viewers, sponsorships and cash money? Not in the first volume, they won’t!
This comedic fantasy manga is titled Haishin Yuusha in Japanese. It’s a parody of the stock Japanese Role Playing Game world many Japanese (and American) kids grew up playing. “Yuusha” is the stock title of the hero in such games, meaning roughly “one with courage”, so is often translated by Japanese shows and games as “Brave.”
Like many gag manga, the story runs on rule of funny, switching between stock RPG setting and modern social media trends whenever it suits the joke.
A number of things are tried: Zane attempts posing during battle, an “experiment” video where he attempts to create a slime (apparently Zane is illiterate), a “product testing” video that goes even more awry, and Kuku doing a solo “weet” that goes viral to the wrong people. Meanwhile, we see bits of more successful Wiztubers’ videos–presumably these folks will have bigger roles in future volumes.
As a small-time blogger with a tiny view count, I can sympathize with our protagonists, while also understanding that they’re stupid and make bad choices.
Because Kuku Regil looks like a little girl, Zane is sometimes suspected of being a kidnapper or other suspicious character.
These chapters are amusing, and the video parodies are a nice touch, but I don’t know if the concept has enough legs to go more than three or four volumes. Worth a look if you’re into comedic fantasy.
