Loner Life in Another World (Japanese: ひとりぼっちの異世界攻略, Hepburn: Hitoribotchi no Isekai Kōryaku) is a Japanese light novel series written by Shoji Goji. The series originated on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website in October 2016, before being published in print with illustrations by Booota and Saku Enokimaru by Overlap beginning in January 2018. A manga adaptation, illustrated by Bibi, began serialization on the Comic Gardo website in January 2019. An anime television series adaptation produced by Hayabusa Film and Passione premiered in October 2024.
Plot
An entire classroom is summoned to another world by its god who selected them to become heroes. The god allowed each of the students to pick a special skill of their choice, but one of the students, Haruka, a lonely student, missed the selection ritual and god allowed him to keep all remaining skills the other students did not pick. Despite not having a single powerful skill, Haruka makes use of his multiple abilities to live a lonely and comfortable life in the other world, until his classmates start having trouble trying to deal with their new environment and conflicts between them, forcing him to take action and help them.
The main protagonist. Self-isolated in his class, he manages to thrive as a "loner" in his new world using the skills thrust upon him. After being transported to the other world, he refers to his former classmates via the cliques they had formed in their original world, e.g. "Mean Girls", "Nerds", "Delinquents", etc., either ignorant or uncaring of their actual names.
The class representative, she is responsible and reliable, always trying to keep the other students in line and is constantly worried about Haruka, whom she has feelings for despite his antics.
A female knight who was afflicted with a curse and became the final boss of a dungeon. After Haruka defeats her, he manages to turn her back and she becomes one of his closest friends. She also has feelings for Haruka.
Avid fans of anime and games, they are amongst the strongest students due to their previous knowledge of fantasy setup which allowed them to choose magic skills.
Written by Shoji Goji, the series began publication on the novel posting website Shōsetsuka ni Narō on October 12, 2016.[8] The series was later acquired by Overlap, who began publishing the series in print with illustrations by Booota and Saku Enokimaru on January 25, 2018.[9] As of October 2024, fifteen volumes have been released.[10]
A manga adaptation, illustrated by Bibi, began serialization on the Comic Gardo manga website on January 25, 2019.[36] As of October 2024, the manga's individual chapters have been collected into twenty-one tankōbon volumes.[37]
In March 2020, Kaiten Books announced that they had licensed the manga for English publication.[38]
An anime television series adaptation was announced during the second livestream for the "10th Anniversary Memorial Overlap Bunko All-Star Assemble Special" event on January 21, 2024.[2] It is produced by Hayabusa Film and Passione (in cooperation with Frontier Engine) and directed by Akio Kazumi, with scripts written by Kenta Ihara, characters designed by Keiya Nakano, and music composed by Shūji Katayama.[69] The series premiered on October 4, 2024, on Tokyo MX and BS Fuji.[3][7][a] The opening theme song is "ODD NUMBER" performed by Yoshino, while the ending theme song is "Hello and Good-bye" performed by Kujiraki.[6]Sentai Filmworks licensed the series in North America, Australia and British Isles for streaming on Hidive.[70]Muse Communication licensed the series in South and Southeast Asia.[71][72]
"Loner with the Worst Skills" Transliteration: "Bocchi to Baddo Sukiru" (Japanese: ぼっちとバッドスキル)
Yuta Kida
Kenta Ihara
Akio Kasumi
October 4, 2024 (2024-10-04)
Class loner Haruka categorises his classmates as Delinquents, Gals, Jocks, Nerds, Class Rep Followers and a few others. On a certain day a magic circle begins transporting everyone to an alternate world and Haruka ends up being the last person transported. A God informs him his classmates have already selected the best skills and equipment so Haruka's only choices are useless skills nobody else wanted. Tired by his complaining, God gives him all the useless skills and equipment left. Arriving in a forest Haruka applies all his available skill points to Luck and begins experimenting with the useless skills and equipment. He discovers a Loner skill that forces him to survive alone. He also relies heavily on Contact Lenses that give him appraisal abilities. Discovering a cave he sets up camp and discovers Loner keeps monsters away. Discovering some goblins he defeats them with the only weapons he can use, Wooden Staves. Realising he could live comfortably by upgrading the useless skills properly he sets about training and levelling up. On day five he detects his classmates wandering around in their various groups, including the Class Rep on whom he has a crush. In the end he avoids them so he can focus on living as an alternate world loner.
Haruka spies on the Delinquents but finds they are concerned only with seducing the girls. Satisfied they are mostly harmless, Haruka returns to levelling up, which has stalled at level 3 due to the useless skill Master of None. Next he encounters the Nerds, who have already reached level 16 as magicians and warriors due to their familiarity with Isekai media, but they are now leaving everyone behind. They explain the Delinquents attempted to use the skills Charm and Puppeteer to hypnotize the girls into a harem, so the Nerds used Magic Seal to prevent them using those skills, causing the Delinquents to destroy the camp. Inexplicably, everyone blamed the Nerds for provoking the Delinquents, and The Nerds voluntary left them. The Nerds say goodbye to Haruka and leave to start lives as Adventurers. Haruka visits the destroyed camp and finds the Gals regretting their actions and searching for the Nerds to apologize. Haruka advises them to learn to survive without the Nerds, and then find them to apologize. Harukz agrees to teach them, but accidentally activates his skill Subjugate, turning the Gals into mindless slaves. Haruka panics at what Class Rep will do to him if she finds out, only for Class Rep to suddenly appear. Elsewhere, the Delinquents plan to take the girls by force.
3
"Life With The Girls" Transliteration: "On'nanoko-tachi to no Seikatsu" (Japanese: 女の子たちとの生活)
Yū Yabuuchi
Kenta Ihara
Akio Kasumi
October 18, 2024 (2024-10-18)
Class Rep and the other girls are disgusted by Haruka's Subjugation, though luckily the effect soon wears off. Haruka admits his renovated cave is large enough to house everybody. They are amazed Haruka has built bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom. Haruka is horrified when everyone except Class Rep strips naked and takes over the bathroom. Class Rep admits to having failed as a leader, though Haruka assures her nobody could prepare for such an extreme situation. Haruka awakens the next morning and is elated the girls have cooked fish, which so far he has been unable to catch. He discovers his Packing skill, which can capture objects within a 3D space, can capture the girls magic and unlock it permanently as one of his own skills. The girls plan to leave to find a city, but Haruka decides to help them train first. One of the girls, whom Haruka dubs Fish Girl, develops a crush on him. After some difficulty, the girls learn how to fight monsters. Haruka looks forward to being alone once again, until Class Rep reveals he is coming with them to the city. Elsewhere, one of the delinquents is murdered by a hooded student.
4
"Onwards to the Town" Transliteration: "Machi o Mezashite" (Japanese: 街を目指して)
Ryo Yasumura
Kenta Ihara
Akio Kazumi
October 25, 2024 (2024-10-25)
While fighting Orcs along the way it becomes clear Haruka is stronger than he thought, having turned some useless skills into advanced magic; e.g. developing Fire Magic by training his Temperature Manipulation. They encounter the Jocks, who warn Haruka about the dangerous skill Hijack. As the Delinquents don't possess Hijack, it is possible one of the girls do. Having passed on the warning, the Jocks leave. Class Rep admits she possesses Hijack, which allows the stealing of another person’s skills via murder. Haruka is unconcerned as she is too kind to use it. Haruka combines more skills attempting to fly and invents Air Walk which allows him to walk on steps of air. At a distance Haruka spots people being attacked by wolves and decides to rescue them, getting there quickly with Air Walk. Defeating the wolves he meets Ofter and his adventuring party. The girls eventually catch up and everyone travels together to the nearest town of Omui, thrilling them to be back in civilisation. Elsewhere the Delinquents, being manipulated by Tanaka, decide to hunt down the Nerds to get back their Charm and Puppeteer skills before going after the girls. Spying on them, the Jocks are worried.
5
"Life in Town" Transliteration: "Machi de no Seikatsu" (Japanese: 街での生活)
Yusuke Onoda
Kenta Inohara
Ichizo Kobayashi
November 1, 2024 (2024-11-01)
Class Rep takes everyone to register at the Adventurer’s Guild. As they are all above level 30 the girls register without issue. Unfortunately new adventurers must be level 10 and in a party, so level 9 Haruka with his Loner skill is unable to register. Haruka attempts to sell monster crystals but has so many the guild runs out of money, so Guild Boss offers a down payment of 8 million. Haruka goes shopping and finds a Combine-Seven necklace that allows him to combine the effects of seven items onto 1 normal item. Unfortunately, he is startled by Class Rep and falls onto the display, combining items completely at random. The furious merchant demands payment for everything he combined. Penniless again and missing the forest Haruka quietly slips away using his cloak, now combined into an Invisibility Cloak. Unfortunately, he witnesses bandits attacking a carriage, whom he defeats with his new combined Fireball Staff. The carriage belongs to Merielle and while escorting her home Haruka complains about Omui, realising too late Merielle is daughter of the Lord of Omui. Insulted, she refuses to let him escape until she has proven Omui’s value. Elsewhere, the Jocks and Delinquents prepare to fight, but the hooded student suddenly appears and stabs a Delinquent in the back.
Reception
Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network praised the humor and illustrations, though she had mixed feelings on the character Haruka.[76] Demelza from Anime UK News praised the story, especially its action and comedy elements.[1]
The series has 1.9 million copies in circulation between its digital and print releases.[34]
See also
Higehiro: Light novel series illustrated by the illustrator of volume 1 and volume 2 of Loner Life in Another World's light novels.
Notes
^ abTokyo MX lists the series premiere on October 3, 2024, at 24:00, which is effectively October 4 at midnight JST.
^Episodes are released on ABEMA, HIDIVE and simulcast platforms by Muse a week before their televised airings.[75]
