Here you have a pretty standard isekai trope at this point of the overworked business man suddenly dying and being reincarnated due to the power of a currently unnamed goddess. This stories twist is that the reincarnated man is a powerful Fenrirlike wolf named Routa.
Before I get into the substance of the story I want to point out that so far 12 chapters have been translated and not much beyond the first story arc which begins at Chapter 9.
Nothing about this story stands out at the forefront. The actual action doesnt take place until chapter 9 where it begins to become a real story. The family Routa lives with his fairly clueless as too why this dog is the size of a horse all except the swordswoman who lives there named Zenofia who is the most engaging character except for maybe Hakate the witch who is purposely being shrouded in mystery for the sake of the plot. To me it feels as if the story is now beginning to pick up speed and the characters havent have time to become more fleshed out. We get hints at their struggles and insecurities but instead of diving into them the story becomes sidetracked with pointless humor and more reliant on tropeish stereotypes. If we had more chapters we could begin to dive into these personalities that are buried within the characters but so far we not that fortunate. Zenofia is the most prominent example of this. She strives to prove her worth to the family she servers but we dont know why. She wants to be strong but is emotional about her failings and we dont know why. We dont know anything about her background besides shes incredibly strong fast and a bit a moron. So far her entire character basically serves as a friendenemy to Routa since she is the only human who apparently recognize he is not a dog.
Zenofia comes into her own in the later story when the plot begins to actually becomes a story and they actually have to do something remarkable. Something else remarkable almost happens when Routa meets the other wolves who serve as his connection to the animal side of his character. The story tried to do something remarkable but then fizzled out quickly and in an anticlimactic manner. This feels like the author was trying to go against the more traditional conflict and enemies to friends trope but by doing so managed to not do anything at all which was worse.
The stories biggest problems stems from the obvious fact that Routa cant communicate with the humans. Strangely enough they have no problem interrupting what he is saying or at least can accurately assume what he is trying to communicate. This limits the character interaction to cheap humor and questionable interactions. The second issue is Routas own reluctance to perform the actions required of him. Normally this leads to humorous situations but at times makes him come off as pathetic and selfish. He reluctantly does what his required of someone of his power which begs the question of why did he have to hesitate at all other than to force internal conflict. The third issue is the dogness of his character. The plot is driven from the idea that he has to pretend to be a normal dog. This leads to him basically making a fool of himself which while intended to humorous is actually wasteful and pointless. That is not to say that the premise itself is bad but it is mishandled. A better method of story telling would for him to suck it up and take on the role of an OP guard dog which would make his character stronger and improve the story. Keep the desire to live the luxurious life as a pet but earn his keep which in his defense he does BUT reluctantly mainly due to the vague backstory of working to death at black company and his own laziness. Compared to something like So Im a Spider or Reincarnated as a Slime where the characters are reluctant to progress through the plots but still do so in a manner that is fitting for an isekai protagonist. Another problem is that it is a secret that Routas not a real dog which feels like a mistake. Each time the plot or characters have a chance to improve or grow it is hindered by the fact that theyre not supposed to be aware that Routa is not a real dog despite it pretty obvious to everyone but they dont want to admit it for plot reasons. The final major problem is a common one which is the use dirty fetish humor which isnt is this story compared to others but still included despite not being needed at all.
The art work itself is fine. Its nothing impressive but does the job. The problem comes from Routas own design. On the cover he looks like this impressive beast but 90 of the time he takes on a cartoonish form that to me seems more lazy than anything and clashes with the better drawn humans. It becomes unpleasant quickly and hinders the artistic nature of the story. The times when we see his full power and true form the cover its so much better and more badass.
All in all its a fair story that is hindered by the fact its trying to be a sliceoflife relaxing escapist fantasy when it could be that and so much more if the plot loses some of its baggage and begins to do more plotworthy things which might farther down the line. Its going to be hard to shed whats already been established in the story.
61
/100