Rokka no Yuusha (Braves of the Six Flowers) Vol. 1 Review – bonutzuu’s Light Novel Archives

Six Braves were chosen to defeat the Majin, however, seven people showed up. Which one of them is a spy sent by the demons?

Rokka is a blend of mystery/fantasy that gives something new to the redundant heroes vs demon lord(+isekai) stories. The book has really good pace, and it’s never boring reading the world building description..

The novel comes off as more of a thriller than a ‘the wolf among us’ kind of story. The main thing may be to find out who the seventh is, but the characters are always running around fighting each other and Adlet never had much time to just sit and ponder. That part makes Rokka so fun to read, and really highlights Adlet’s character.

I said it’s more of the thriller because the mystery part is lacking. Sure, everyone has a reason to be suspected, but not many of them holds much weight. I mean, they trusted Chamo because she didn’t seem like the type to come up with such elaborate plans. Nobody gave a second thought about Nashetania and Goldoff, the latter being that guy who takes care of the suspects. Adlet has the most reason to be suspected, but if they would think about it, there is no way that guy smart enough to evade them for days would dig his own grave by spewing out what he did.

The seventh actually gets to narrate multiple times in the book, and that felt sort of useless, since it gave nothing away. Maybe it’s just for suspense.

The anime, surprisingly, was more of a mystery than a thriller. The book and anime has pros and cons. That scene where Adlet kicks Nashetania in the face is nowhere as satisfying in the book as it was in the anime, but Hans is a lot more charming in the book. Chamo isn’t as annoying either.

Reading the novel illuminates some problems of the anime. The anime is a direct, almost paragraph-by-paragraph adaptation, and although Rokka’s narrative works well as a novel, it does not work well as an animation. Good adaptations more often than not has to deviate from the original material, which is what the Rokka anime did not do, and sadly was why it was not as great as it should be. Although with the time constraint, I think the director and writers have done their best.

You know what would be better? A movie. Rokka no Yuusha would work better as a movie.

Volume 2 summary is here. I wrote what happened in it.

That’s all, guys. Thanks for reading.