Holiday Review #14: MY [REPAIR] SKILL BECAME A VERSATILE CHEAT, SO I THINK I'LL OPEN A WEAPON SHOP

 The ongoing tsunami of fantasy light novel manga adaptations continued into 2022, although it started to take on a different quality.  Amidst the slave harems and the demon kings was a more low-key strain of stories.  These were about guys who wanted to leave the adventurer lifestyle behind, settle down, maybe start a business.

MY [REPAIR] SKILL BECAME A VERSATILE CHEAT, SO I THINK I'LL OPEN A WEAPON SHOP ("Shuufuku" Skill ga Bannou Cheat-ka shita node, Bukiya demo Hirakouka to Omoimasu), based on the light novel by Ginga Hoshikawa and character designs by Nemusuke, with art by Yukimi Enoki.  First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2022.

PLOT:

Luke has wanted to be an adventurer since he was a child, but he has no luck.  He's useless with weapons and his only magical skill is the ability to repair items.  Abandoned by his latest party and left to die, he's forced to find innovative new ways to use his skill just so he can get out.  In the process he strengthens his sword so much that he's able to slay a dragon, saving the samurai swordswoman Sakura and her companion Sylvia.  They vow to help him in return, and together they create a second-hand weapon shop where Luke can put his skill to the best possible use.

STORY:

While I'm thankful that for once there isn't the slightest trace of transportation or reincarnation, everything else about My Repair Skill (I am not writing that stupid, overly literal title out again, you cannot make me) is as by-the-book as they come.

Take Luke, for example.  He's a pleasant enough dude, but I feel like calling him a Potato-kun would be an insult to potatoes.  After all, potatoes have at least a little flavor and a notable texture, while Luke has absolutely none at all.  He is defined only by his congeniality and his repair skill, which true to genre form is seemingly weak but in truth is ultra-powerful in ways that no one else in-universe considered because they are gormless idiots.  

That means that Luke is the vessel for the most tedious part of the story: the endless explanations of Luke's magic.  I swear most of his internal monologue is consumed with explaining his repair spell in minute, technical detail.  This is a problem that is unfortunately common in modern light novels, a symptom of writers who either put all their effort into thinking up a magic system and are determined to show it off by any means or those desperate to pad word counts or lack the skill to write dialogue or descriptive text that might more naturally flesh out their worlds.  Either way, it's obnoxious because it is so blatantly wasting the reader's time.

Of course, Luke is surrounding by an ever-growing gaggle of equally anonymous girls defined more JRPG job types than anything else.  Their roles is mostly to serve as his cheerleaders, cooing at every little thing he does no matter how dull.  The only exception to this is Garnet, a lady knight who most exists to tick off a few more tropes, be a massive tsundere, and exposure her boobs as part of her accidental gender reveal.  Even then, she's just part of yet another scheme to show off just how amazing and wonderful Luke is, and I have so many other things to do with my time than read 200 or so pages celebrating the literary equivalent of a stale rice cake.

ART:

From what I can find of the light novel art, Enoki doesn't seem to taken much liberties with Nemusuke's art.  The characters look pretty much identical and the original designs themselves are okay, even if there's no real consistency in look.  I mean, how else do you explain everyone being dressed in a vaguely medieval fashion while you have a girl in hakama and another in a maid's outfit? 

Then there's the tits.  Boobs seem to have been Nemusuke's biggest priority as an artist, as every lady in this volume puts them on display at one point or another and range in size from 'moderately big' to 'puts the Sorceress from Dragon Crown to shame.'  Enoki in turn has preserved those ridiculous breasts, which stand out all the more because there is otherwise very little fanservice.  It's not like they have anything to offer themselves as an artist, as everything else about the art is as nondescript as they come.

RATING:

I guarantee you that there is practically nothing in My Repair Skill etc. that you could not find in half a dozen other isekai light novel adaptations in equal (if not better) quality.  It can't even muster up enough energy to be offensively horny.  It's just there, taking up space that could be taken up by countless other manga that don't suck.

This series is published by Seven Seas.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 4 volumes available.  2 volumes have been released and are currently in print.

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