The current state of the virus causing everyone to quarantine themselves has had a huge effect on businesses of all shapes and sizes worldwide. Unfortunately, this also means that a lot of media releases halted as production had to be paused on virtually everything with the exception of things that are accomplishable from home.
Those who have been disgruntled by the halt in any comics or manga titles will be delighted to know that Yen Press is happy to help. To provide readers with content they may not have experienced before, the publisher has shared some of their titles with us to review and recommend for those bored at home.
This particular review explores the first volume of Combatants Will Be Dispatched. I was thrilled to discover that this title is written by Natsume Akatsuki, who is responsible for one of my favorite Japanese intellectual properties, Konosuba.
Fans of Konosuba are missing out if they haven't checked out Combatants Will Be Dispatched. I honestly could almost view it as a sister series as they both contain similar themes and a male main character leading a party supported by all women.
Getting into the story, it follows Agent Six, who works for an evil corporation called Kisaragi. Throughout his career as an evil minion, Six brought numerous superheroes to their knees. At the roll of a dice, however, he is thrust headfirst into a fantasy world alongside his android companion Alice.
Hiding their true nature by saying that Six has amnesia, the two are able to successfuly infiltrate the planet, gaining the trust of their new party members. Those would be Snow, the Captain of the Royal Guard who refuses to face her feelings for Six, a Battle Chimera named Rose who gains new abilities by eating monsters, and an Archbishop named Grimm who has the unfortunate power of potentially casting any hex on herself rather than her target.
Each of the characters' personalities makes them drastically different than the others yet hilarious in their own ways. It's fun to see Alice put down Six, the child-like Rose with all of her different body parts, the reviving Grimm, and the reluctant Snow.
Though the characters are vastly different, together they make up a party that is a force to be reconed with. Agent Six leads the ragtag group into battle against multiple of the Demon Lords that make up the Elite Four, and they manage to survive each encounter as he continues proving himself on the new planet.
Combatants Will Be Dispatched Volume One is very fun and worth a read for fans of Role Playing Games as well as fantasy lovers. Due to the strong story and potential spoilers, we won't go into detail about the story beats, but as we have expressed, the characters, the theme, and the action are all worth checking the book out for.
Manga readers that enjoy fantasy worlds and thrilling battles will realize what they've been missing mere pages into the first volume of Combatants Will Be Dispatched. Containing all of the best aspects of Konosuba, Akatsuki has managed to replicate the magic of the beloved series in an entirely new world, giving fans a bevy of new adventures to dive into. - Five out of five.
After a career spent slapping down superheroes as an evil minion of the Kisaragi Corporation, Agent Six has his next assignment-invade a fantasy world! With his plucky new partner, the "pretty-girl android" Alice, Agent Six sets out to bring his target planet to heel. What better way to accomplish that than by partnering with the locals?!
Alongside Royal Guard Captain Snow, Battle Chimera Rose, and Archbishop Grimm, Alice and Six will square off against demon hordes-even if it's just a means of taking down the competition! Let the battle to be baddest begin!
Combatants Will Be Dispatched Volume One is available on digital and paperback and can be purchased here.