Holiday Review #12: THE GREAT CLERIC

 Don't worry - there were plenty of lazy, boring isekai manga released this year as well.  The only notable thing about this one is its publisher.

THE GREAT CLERIC (Seija Muso), based on the light novels by Broccoli Lion and character designs by sime, with art by Hiiro Akizake.  First published in 2017 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

One day, a hardworking salaryman was randomly shot.  An unknown goddess took pity on him, giving him a second chance as a teenager named Luciel.  He wants to make the most of his new life, so Luciel decides to become a healer.  This sets on him on a journey full of hard training, grateful patients, and pretty girls, all on his quest to become a great healer.

STORY:

Sometimes I wonder if light novel authors know how boring their works can be.

They can't be completely oblivious to it all.  Do they even know anymore why they give characters RPG-style character stats, long after 'trapped in a video game' stories ceased to be?  Do they really think that the best way to convey the complexity of their worlds and their magic system is to break it down into the most tedious, mechanical rules and steps for pages at a time?  Do they possess the slightest ambition to write something remotely creative, or are they merely content to regurgitate the same story over and over until the book publishers and bargain-bin anime studios come calling?

I was definitely wondering this and much more while reading The Great Cleric because there was nothing in the story itself to hold my attention.  Even by the low, low standards of isekai protagonists, Luciel is blander than most.  I'm hard-pressed to describe anything about him beyond his enthusiasm for doing menial busywork and paperwork.  Lucky for him, he gets to indulge in both by applying for two different magical guilds and does a lot of grinding and looking over his stat menus, both of which are shown in nigh-excruciating detail!  But what motivates Luciel?  Is is the desire to help others?  Did he work with medicine in his previous life?  Nope!  It's entirely because it's not dangerous and that doing so makes the pretty lady knight he met smile at him (along with every other girl who crosses his path).

I cannot stress just how devoid this manga is of originality.  There are beastmen there to serve as a clumsy metaphor for racism (along with a source for slightly more exotic pretty girls to smile at him).  There's an adventurer's guild (because there always is), and according to those who have read further ahead there's eventually slaves too!  There's no sense at any point that the author or the mangaka have any interest or goal here beyond ripping off everyone else's ideas to ride a thoroughly exhausted trend.

ART:

sime's original designs are nothing special, but there's at least a painterly quality to their cover art that lends the original light novel versions of The Great Cleric a touch of class.  Hiiro Akizake is not capable of replicating that, in no small part because he admits that this is his first professional manga ever.  His take on the character designs somehow makes them blander, with stiff elongated faces that barely seem to move.  They look like something out of those "How to Draw Manga" books, and you can tell he really struggles with anyone who is older, heavier, more chisled, or just anything beyond the default.  It's all very mechanical, which I guess makes it a perfect fit with the story.  The only thing he really adds is fanservice, and even then it's done entirely in the form of outfits that are more weirdly distracting than sexy.

RATING:

I cannot imagine why anyone would bother with The Great Cleric.  Even if you are someone who likes reading isekai stories, it has nothing original, attractive, or personal to offer.  It's not offensive, just offensively boring.  I also cannot imagine why Kodansha went to the effort of putting this out in print unless it was to tie in with the anime adaptation.  If that was the case, then it only served to double down on the waste.

This manga is published by Kodansha.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 12 volumes available.  6 volumes have been released and are currently in print.

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