Despite defeating a dragon in 27.42 seconds, the strongest sage has seen enough. With the potential strength of monsters from outer space to worry about, and feeling with his weak crest that he can’t get any stronger than this, he decides to reincarnate in order to not only gain a stronger crest, but also form a group strong enough to become his allies. When he does reincarnate at some point in the future, he awakens as 6-year-old Matthias Hildesheimer, the third son of a minor noble house…and indeed obtains the strongest crest! Now all he has to do is learn this current timeline’s language and structure, then get strong enough to truly become the strongest sage.
…The problem? Overturning untold years of lies, as his strongest crest is now considered the weakest!
In the vein of Dead Mount Death Play — just minus the fact it’s not a villain — here’s a tale where we follow someone with a vague back story with an equally vague goal who decides to reincarnate himself into another world. Basically, it’s an isekai with a minor twist, and throughout this two volume read, you’ll likely catch many similar beats, such as:
- An overpowered protagonist
- Said protagonist starting to overturn what should be obsolete formulas with better versions
- Cute girls joining his party (more on this later)
- And yes, the audience understanding the real threat in the world he’s reincarnated in.
So, all of the little differences that make up The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest have to be enough to make it an enjoyable read…and it does. It will depend on if you can tolerate Matthias’ personality, where his confidence and actions at times can be annoying. At least for me his type of traits are much better than someone bland. My only issue with him is his goals. He ends up aiming to become strong enough to be the strongest sage, but comes to the conclusion that he can’t be any stronger due to having the Crest of Creation, which is considered the weakest in his time. Ok, fine. He then decides to reincarnate because it’s less about the current monsters he deals with, but about the monsters that can come from outer space.
Ummmmm???
Does he even know when they’re supposed to be coming? No. And does he expect to be alive that long? So yes, the logic is bizarre for me to not only believe, but also believe we’ll see at some point in this manga.
Despite that, the story thankfully puts that aside and builds things up. As mentioned earlier, in Matthias’ original timeline his crest was considered weak, but, after reincarnating, he now has the Crest of Close Combat, which he believes is the strongest. His problem is in this future he’s in, it’s now considered the weakest. Why? Because the level of magic and teaching has deteriorated. In general, certain structures and ways of life have been altered to a point where not even the strongest warriors are not as strong as Matthias has seen. So Matthias — as we see him grow up from a 6-year-old to a 12-year-old, kicking the butt of one arrogant and mediocre noble to training another noble to also dunk on said arrogant and mediocre noble along the way — he sets off to school!
This is where, towards the end of the first volume and into the second volume, he not only begins to understand why people attempt to use chanting skills instead of wordless magic, but he also meets his new party members — Lurie Abendroth, a cute girl who comes across as shy but strong and weirdly likes Matthias on first sight (?!), and Alma Lepucius, a spunky girl who is totally shipping those two together for whatever reason. Lurie and Alma are in the same academy Matthias eventually joins, and after their first unexpected encounter, they form a party. While the relationship aspect is a question (he even begins wondering as on the outside he’s the same age as them but of course, he’s an adult), he ends up using his knowledge to make them stronger, and the chemistry between the three does kind of work. Alma does prove she has the best personality out of the three though.
The art for the most part gets the job done. It’s at its best when we see the usual comedic expressions of bafflement (which is basically every time our strongest sage uses his powers or when Lurie and Alma worry about doing something extremely new or challenging) and when we see other characters or certain monsters. The battles don’t seem to be this manga’s strong suit though. While Matthias does do some cool things with magic, it doesn’t come across well if it stretches to multiple pages. Oh, we see Alma eventually using a bow to kill two monsters at the same time? Good. A battle between two teams with a shocking reveal? Not quite as good or crisp as it could’ve been. The reveal is basically where it’s at, honestly.
Overall though, two volumes of this and it’s clear this manga’s a solid read. There’s fun to be had with the characters, the overall way the crest system is set up and how it’s been broken down over time is interesting, and the way the world is currently set up is worth looking into. With the two girls continuing to get stronger and the appearance of the real threat in this series, it’s certainly worth checking out if you’re in need of another isekai to read.