The Strongest Female Teachers

 

Another amusing fantasy manga with an absurdly long title; The Strongest Female Teachers Who Are Trying to Make Me Succeed, which I’ll shorten to The Strongest Female Teachers (Saikyou Onna Shishou). The series blends a variety of familiar tropes, echoing elements of The Tale of Genji, DanMachi and History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi into a comedic fantasy setting built around “raising” rather than “finding” strength.

The premise follows three S-rank adventurers: a fighter, a mage, and a dark priestess. All three are frustrated by their inability to find a male partner who meets their standards. Instead of continuing to search, they decide to raise one themselves. They discover a 14-year-old boy who initially appears weak, but is revealed to have exceptional latent potential. They take him in and begin training him to become the strongest adventurer.

What follows is a series of comedic and adventurous situations, where the three women act as teachers while also becoming rivals in their own subtle ways. At the same time, various outside competitors are drawn to the boy’s untapped potential, creating additional tension and romantic comedy dynamics that drive the story forward.

Saikyou Onna Shishou had a somewhat rocky start, but it improves in its later arcs. In particular, the confrontation involving the so-called “fourth thief teacher” stands out as one of the more entertaining highlights. The manga is currently ongoing on a monthly release schedule. As long as it maintains a consistent balance of fantasy and romcom, it has the potential to run for quite a while.

The Alexis Empire Chronicle

 

A low-fantasy manga I started a few years ago and only recently managed to finish, Alexis Empire Chronicle ultimately turned out to be a relatively weak entry in the genre,  unfortunately one that was also cut short before it could fully develop, in a manner similar to Hinowa ga Crush!.

The story follows a fairly standard premise: a young noble rises through the ranks of an empire through virtue, skill, and determination. As the narrative progresses, he begins to carve out his own domain, ultimately seeking to reclaim the lands once held by his mentor and establish a dominion of his own.

Much of the manga revolves around low-fantasy political and military conflicts between noble houses within the empire. This culminates in a confrontation with the protagonist’s estranged half-sibling, who becomes corrupted by jealousy and unchecked ambition.

Unfortunately, the series was ultimately discontinued, and its narrative shortcomings likely contributed to that outcome. The story feels underdeveloped and somewhat conflicted in its genre direction, resulting in a half-baked execution that weakens its identity as a fantasy work. While the artwork remains consistently strong and is arguably the series’ main highlight, it is ultimately not enough to compensate for the lack of narrative depth.

The character writing is especially lacking. Most of the cast is forgettable, and the heroine’s design feels overly reliant on generic fanservice tropes commonly seen in other fantasy manga. The antagonists are similarly one-dimensional, which is a significant weakness for a story that attempts to build itself around political and noble conflicts.

Overall, Alexis Empire Chronicle feels like a simplified version of series such as Suikoden or Fire Emblem, but without the narrative depth or character complexity that makes those works memorable. Even compared to stronger entries in the genre, such as Realist Hero.

Ultimately, the series demonstrates that high-quality illustration alone is not enough to sustain a compelling long-running fantasy narrative. While it is based on a light novel that continued slightly longer than the manga adaptation, it is difficult to imagine the source material delivering a significantly more satisfying conclusion.

Pick Me Up, Infinite Gacha

 

The title might sound strange at first, but Pick Me Up, Infinite Gacha is a surprisingly strong specimen in the fantasy manhwa scene. Ever since finishing The Greatest Real Estate Developer, I’ve been searching for a worthy replacement and I finally found one.

At its core, Pick Me Up, Infinite Gacha uses the familiar trope of a pro gamer isekai’d into their own game, but it builds something much darker and more compelling. The protagonist is transported into a brutal hyperspace battleground where countless people are summoned to fight monstrous creatures. Failure means real, permanent death, and survival hangs on strategy, synergy, and luck.

If Ainz Ooal Gown from Overlord suddenly decided to start over and roleplay as a clueless newbie, you’d get something close to this series. The main character is strong, but not because he’s a lazy overpowered Mary Sue. Instead, he relies on deep knowledge of game mechanics to navigate overwhelming challenges—many of which remain lethal even with his advantage. The story doesn’t pull punches: casualties are common, and even major party members are not safe.

Despite its harsh world, Pick Me Up, Infinite Gacha delivers a well-paced progression system rooted in its gacha mechanics. Watching the MC build, lose, and rebuild his team feels both strategic and narratively meaningful.

The overarching plot is also engaging. In some ways, it fills the void left by long-hiatus titles like Doom Slayer. There’s even a princess-damsel element woven into the storyline, giving the MC someone to protect amidst the chaos without feeling cliché.

Overall, Pick Me Up, Infinite Gacha is a solid, ongoing fantasy manhwa with enough darkness, strategy, and worldbuilding to scratch the itch for fans of series like The Greatest Real Estate Developer. If you’re craving a new fantasy manhwa with real stakes and strong progression, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Peter Grill and Philosopher's time

 
 One of the fanservicey Seinen fantasy manga has come to an end! I followed this manga not really for the fanservice but for the absurd humor instead. Apparently this manga have finished its run last year but only has the complete fan translation recently.

Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time centers on Peter Grill, an adventurer renowned as the strongest man alive. Despite his unmatched combat prowess and being engaged to the love of his life—the pride of his guild—Peter’s life is far from peaceful. His strength has made him the target of countless beautiful women from various races, including demi-humans, all seeking to bear strong offspring. This leads to a series of misadventures that constantly test Peter’s vow of fidelity to his fiancée. Though he desperately tries to remain loyal, he continually finds himself ensnared in compromising situations with alluring women—ogres, elves, beastfolk, and more. What might seem like a blessing to other men is, for Peter Grill, a never-ending curse.

Throughout its run, Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time delivers a hilarious seinen fantasy that borders on smutty, yet never crosses into explicit territory like many modern R-18 fantasy or isekai manga. It’s almost as if a blonde-haired Achilles from Fate/Grand Order were thrown into a fantasy world and effortlessly ended up with a top-tier harem. While the ending feels rushed—likely due to the series being cut short after overstaying its welcome—Peter Grill never fails to make viewers laugh with its absurd and self-aware brand of fantasy comedy. It’s highly recommended if you’re looking for a unique and cheeky take on the seinen fantasy genre.

Exiled Heavy Knight knows how to game the system

 
 Japanese Isekai fantasy genre are filled with many powercreep trope that reflects poor writing but there is a good specimen that I came across 2 months ago. As usual it comes with unnecessarily lengthy name which I will just shorten as Exiled Heavy Knight. This one features powerful main protagonist not being simply using a mary sue trope but owed to Clairvoyance EX skill and thrive in his fantasy adventure by using his wits to create the right opportunity.

Exiled Heavy Knight follows the story of a protagonist who is abandoned by his noble family after obtaining the role of a Heavy Knight in his class selection—a role typically considered a weak tank unit with low DPS and little chance of making progress. However, the main character understands the hidden potential of his class to become the strongest unit. He perseveres in situations where failure is expected and consistently rises to the top, forming a partnership with a Jester who is also an outcast but secretly overpowered. 

Exiled Heavy Knight strength lies in its solid RPG mechanics that makes the combat and storyline overall interesting and cut ahead compared to its typical peers and you will feel the struggle of the protagonist profoundly in this one. The protagonist might have skill that overturn overall disadvantage he had to deal with but he constantly have to teeter between life and death with the unfair challenges that he faced and earn his way to come up on top. Despite this manga is unfinished so far, I believe Exiled Heavy Knight could remain as top specimen of Fantasy Isekai genre. 

I awakened to EX Skill "Fixed Damage" and I become invincible

 Edgy Fantasy manga with betrayal trope are relatively common subgenre in Japanese anime and many aspiring Mangaka attempted to make something out of this niche. Recently I encountered one of these series with yet another of those convoluted title which I will just call Awakenend to EX Skill which is a mediocre manga but still got interesting set piece that make me look into the series.

Just like many other revenge fantasy manga, Awakened to EX Skill features an adventurer protagonist who somehow got revived and suddenly wield Immense Power after being betrayed by his Party member as a Sacrifice. Fueled with revenge to settle the score with his former party members, the protagonist sets forth on a quest of vengeance to give the worst kind of miseries toward his betrayers which become the main selling point of the series.

Awakened to EX Skill manga peaked at the chapter where the Protagonist dealt with his former lover who is a power-hungry Priestess who used her promiscuity to climb through the ranks, unbecoming of the person of her station. The manga unfortunately doesn’t make proper use of this chapter which could have extended the longevity of the series. Awakened to EX Skill ended up descending through rinse and repeat cycle without proper build up and concluded in lackluster ending.

Nonetheless if you want some revenge fantasy manga but something shorter than Redo of Healer or Rise of Shield Hero, Awakened to EX Skill might fill the gap. But just don’t expect it is anything at the level of Berserk or Ubel Blatt

Wizardry (OVA)

 Wizardry is a Legendary RPG series that cannot be understated for its immense influence in Japan. This series is essentially one of the main pillar of JRPG genre that was well known for its brutal and unforgiving Fantasy Dungeon Crawling experience. Due to my recent encounter with Wizardry Variants Daphne, I end up came across the OVA anime of this 40 Years Old Classic simply dubbed as Wizardry.

Based on Wizardry 1: Proving Grounds of Mad Overlord, Wizardry OVA is a short and intense Fantasy adventure. The OVA is a hack and slash fantasy rollercoaster with a basic premise where a Group of experienced adventurers for various reasons decide to challenge the Mad Wizard Werdna who tried to unleash Evil Power from an Amulet stolen from his former friend in the deepest part of the dungeon he created.

As a Fantasy Anime, Wizardry OVA is very fast paced and goes straight to the meat of Fantasy Adventure and did it well, which is quite a rarity for Japanese anime as they usually tend to prefer their weakling protagonist went through some character development first. Even a DnD fan will enjoy this Wizardry OVA because it is a good depiction of Level 5-8 DnD Campaign where the Adventurers are somewhat experienced but still very vulnerable against the threat that a Dungeon had and will have to rely on their wits to survive the challenge presented to them. 

If you like Fantasy Anime, you won't have nothing to lose to give this Wizardry OVA a watch just to show a glimpse what Japanese were capable of back in the Golden Age of their economy. I will definitely discuss Wizardry Variants Daphne in near future which make me got into this old yet venerable Classic RPG series.

Tensei Colosseum

 Over past few years, Fantasy Isekai or Tensei manga are quite bountiful. Most of them are relatively forgettable utilizing R18 fanservice as a bait. But from time to time there are handful that are actually good like this Tensei Colosseum.

Just like many Isekai Manga, Tensei colosseum had a protagonist from a modern life setting transported into Fantasy world. Instead of getting the typical Hero welcome, deemed worthless by the summoner, the main protagonist instead are sent to fight in Colosseum against fighters where the winner had their way with the loser's body just like many R18 Visual Novel. Sharing the look of  Devil Survivor 2/ Persona 3 protagonist, the main character is an Avid gamer who surprisingly not a betamax guy. Only possessing copycat skill and gifted with his Video Game knowledge, the main protagonist surprisingly thrived in the colosseum, defeating several beautiful female fighters who kept falling for him after he had his way with them.

For a R18 Fantasy Manga, Isekai Colosseum is surprisingly a very good Battle manga for its type. So any Shuumatsu no Valkyrie fan would easily take a liking with this one because the battle parts is done pretty well and the story is interesting enough. It appears that Isekai Colosseum mangaka had extensive experience in Doujin scene before he made this series because you won't get a Quality R18 fantasy battle mangaka before gaining some extensive experience. To be frank Isekai Colosseum content is decent enough that it can survive without relying on the R18 contents. However the mangaka is just that generous to let the reader enjoy some good fanservice while looking at what Isekai Colosseum could offer. If anyone interested to look further into this genre, you can look at Toushin Toshi which had similar setups with this manga especially on the latter part.

Chippoke Ralph no Daibouken - Great Adventure of Little Ralph

 Settling my old debt once again with a PSX game that I played as a kid. There was this PSX Platformer that features the main protagonist got cursed by the enemy into a Child who sets for a journey of Hack and Slash adventure. When I had my Vita, I just got to know that particular game name was Chippoke no Ralph which was a Japan exclusive PSX game released back in 1999. Though good thing that I didn't purchase it on PSN back then. Recently I just got time to give my full attention for this game and I was in for a rude awakening because Chippoke no Ralph is definitely one of the more brutal Platformer on modern consoles. To save everyone's misery of playing this Retro Difficulty game, I will impart everything on my journey in This article.

Record of Lodoss War Nendoroid Deedlit

 It has been more than 30 years since Record of Lodoss war OVA aired but it is never too late that we are getting any yet another new product! By the courtesy of GSC, This time we are getting a Nendoroid for the first popular Elf Waifu, Deedlit! Scheduled for December 2024, Nendoroid Deedlit will be sold for 6800 Yen.

Deedlit may not be the first Elf character in Japanese anime, but this High Elf is the one who popularize the whole Elf waifu thing through her adventure with Parn. She is pretty much responsible for making the Elf niche thrived to this day despite at times become the short end of Degenerate contents. If Deedlit is popular enough, I am confident that other popular Lodoss characters would join in as well whether it is Parn, Ashram or Pirotess. Perhaps in near future I will pay a visit on the Lodoss metroidvania game which happen to be the latest installment for Lodoss series.

S-Rank Boukensha de aru Ore no Musume Tachi

 One interesting Fantasy Manga that I read recently and this is another one that is slightly cut above among those many powercreep fantasy. If you have Princess Maker and Genji Monogatari mixed into one manga, then S-Rank Boukensha de aru Ore no Musume Tachi or My Daughters are S-Rank Adventurers is the end result! The premise of this series is about a former Top Adventurer who retired after failing to save a settlement from Ancient Dragon and then devoted his life to raise 3 Baby girls who were the sole survivor from the disaster. Few years passed and these Daughters grew up and turns out prodigies in their respective fields and obviously they are Head over Heels toward their foster father. And this manga is a slice of life of a perfect Dad Adventurer with his talented daughters.

 Usually Isekai or recent fantasy manga tend to have Teen Protagonist but S-Rank Musume tachi had a perfect specimen of Early-Middle Age male as the main character. This is certainly a treat for Semi-boomer audiences who actually have some spending power compared to younger audience and the manga do make sure to put the momentum into good use as the niche is largely untapped at this point. If executed properly, S-Rank Musume Tachi will be easily a popular series when the anime came out. Personally I am rooting for Kaiser's former redhead companion as the main waifu but the key of this series success will be in its ability in maintaining the romcom as the thirsty Three Daughters will have to contend with ever increasing number of women who fall for their father.

Verndio - Surreal Sword Saga

 

 Happy New Year 2024 and starting out this Blog's first post of the year with another Fantasy series Manga! Created by the Author of Helck, Verndio Sword Saga is another promising fantasy series. Probably taken on the same universe but different timeline with Helck, Verndio is a story of former Mercenary accompanied by a mysterious Demihuman waifu trying to make a place called home for himself and his companions in war-torn world where Powerful weapon artifacts known as Surreal Swords are wielded by ambitious Individual who seek to carve out their own Kingdoms.

Just like Helck, Verndio is a very good manga if you seek a wholesome Fantasy Series in not so peaceful settings and apparently the Protagonist will face the same adversary that Helck faced at some point. Given the recent resurgence of Helck popularity with the Anime adaptation, I decided to give this series a run after I finished reading Helck. Overall Verndio is a very solid manga which had the same flaw with  Helck with pacing issues on the moments that mattered. So far Verndio ran for 53 Chapters for its First cour storyline as the Mangaka took a break due to health issues. Thus you can see what this manga able to offer as it stops at the right moment for the cliffhanger. I do hope the Mangaka can recover well before setting out on Verndio once again since this series had what it takes to surpass its predecessor.