The “I’ve been summoned to another world” idea usually involves an anti-social protagonist or some boy or girl to go out into a new world and set off on adventures.
Mizuki Kousaka, however, just wants to live a mediocre life in a village and do little with her destructive magic powers.
Mysteriously summoned to another world after a lousy day in the real world, Mizuki’s quaint new life begins to change when she’s approached by a knight who needs her help. Despite all her refusals, she is eventually convinced to meet with the Second Prince of the Ilfena kingdom. This prince ends up introducing her to Rudolph, a king from a place called Sevrest who proposes a crazy idea: become his concubine and join his harem.
…Oh, and actually kill the harem completely.
See, due to family politics, Rudolph can’t formally get rid of the girls even as a king. So he tasks Mizuki to find out what they’re really up to and eventually end the harem. Whether it means he has other motivations, good or bad, from breaking this up doesn’t concern Mizuki, as she just wants to return to her normal life in the village.
And thus, she accepts the mission, and now she’s gotta find a way to deal with the ladies who won’t simply accept her being in their presence. And in that way, This Mage Desires Mediocrity is fun. From how Mizuki shows off her powers to her attitude, she’s a very likable character. I’ll be interesting to see how she manages to take them down, and some of it so far is fairly inventive (like she’s using a frog to spread a hoax about a ghost existing in the castle, with it carrying a mini projector). But at the rate she’s going she will be finishing that harem crushing in seconds. So I’m curious about where this manga will go after this.
The art so far is solid enough, from the character designs so they don’t always look the same, to especially Mizuki’s expressions when she’s annoyed or has to complete a task is nice. The battles, for now at least, are pretty brief though. We may not get something super lengthy, but the one-hit or one magic KO can be a bit boring so I can only hope that changes. Or it’s used creatively.
This Mage Desires Mediocrity is based off a light novel series, so the elements the manga pulls from it will be key. We can only hope it’ll continue to be shown in a positive way.