Tags: Fantasy, Adventure, Slice of Life, Harem, Isekai

The Reincarnated Blacksmith and the Tiger (Beastgirl) Who Came to Tea!

(This review will contain spoilers)

From J-Novel Club’s latest round of license announcements, My Quiet Blacksmith Life, offers readers a really comfy “switch off your brain” slice of life series following a reincarnated blacksmith, a tiger beastgirl and a dwarf apprentice.

The series sees our protagonist, Eizo, reincarnated with a blacksmithing cheat skill so that he can achieve his dream of living a quiet life in the forest. Soon after arriving however, he ends up rescuing a Tiger Beastgirl named Samya who’d been injured in a bear attack. From here, the story sets out to show their day to day life. Numerous wholesome and comfy scenes ensue from dining table conversations, observations on the growth of Eizo’s blacksmithing skills and a looking into how Beast people hunt in the forest. Through these activities, Samya gains a great appreciation of her friendship with Eizo and the benefits of family and a stable home, leading to her permanent residence at Chez Eizo.

Their daily lives eventually lead to them venturing beyond the forest in order to sell Eizo’s prime blacksmithing wears. Both characters have a separate yet equal role to play here, Eizo will sell wears and make connections with the townsfolk, adding to the overall vibrancy of the world, whilst Samya acts as his bodyguard through the forest and against any suspicious characters they may meet in town. As they visit town more and more often, Eizo manages to gain a reputation for good quality products, which allows the novel to move towards a smooth transition of adding the next main character into the series, Rike (Lieke).

Rike, a dwarf, has come to town in search of a master in order to apprentice blacksmithing, fulfilling a dwarfs role to bring back new types of techniques to their family. This novel sets out a fantastic look into the culture of dwarfs within this novel, we learn about how they live and how they manage to develop some of their well known blacksmithing abilities, all of which add towards the overall world building. The author, Tamamaru, spends some time developing the character dynamics of this new family unit in the subsequent chapters. Rike gets to know both Eizo and Samya either through spending quality apprenticeship time in the workshop or by helping with bringing hunted food back to the cabin. A good friendship blossoms between Samya and Rike owing to them sharing a bedroom together and helping in the construction of extra rooms for the cabin. Whilst this series may lean towards a haremesque nature it seems that Rike’s interest in Eizo only stems to wanting to learn his craft. Even if Rike doesn’t end up having feelings for Eizo in future volumes, she’ll certainly have an important role to play. She’s good at reading other peoples emotions and can clearly see the feelings Samya has for Eizo and will likely be a catalyst towards resolving the feelings between the two characters in later volumes.

The end of the main section of the novel introduces the reader to Helen, a strong female mercenary who came to the forest log cabin in order to have a personalised sword created. As a natural warrior, she senses that Eizo has more to his ability than just blacksmithing, something which is proven through a duel. It seems the God that put Eizo in the world doesn’t quite know the meaning of average. Rounding out the main part of the novel, Eizo ends up fighting against a bear similar to the one that injured Samya. This could have been done better, having Samya go against what she fears most, finally getting the better of a bear and her fear but it seems the author wanted to showcase the MC’s cheat abilities. However, this does lead me to question why exactly is this needed given that the latter method would have gone some way into developing Samya as a character. Perhaps the author intends for this to happen in a later volume.

My favourite parts of this novel occur within the prologue, epilogue and extra stories. These have been written in the style of an epic or an odyssey and firmly place the protagonists lasting effect on the world. In the future, his actions and blacksmithing skills have made him a hero to the point where journalists are clamouring to get any sort of interview with those who have spent time with him. The extra stories provide some wonderful background information on the life of dwarfs and into Rike’s thinking and also into Helen’s past and the adversities of becoming a female mercenary.

Now, you’re probably wondering why I haven’t mentioned the elephant in the room, the descriptions of blacksmithing and the techniques. The fact is, that part of the novel is not great and not even remotely correct and enjoyment of these section will really depend on whether you have little interest in blacksmithing or can put it out of your mind. For me, this type of incorrect information didn’t bother me too much, I came here for the slice of life aspects and the nice family time they spend together, but I can see why some would be put off by this. Some may also be put off by the fact that Eizo’s cheat power can do anything to points in the latter half of the novel where some of the main cast have less of a purpose.

Overall, this novel is for those who won’t think too hard about certain aspects of the story and just want something that they can switch off their brain too. If you are looking for some comfy slice of life action and wholesome family time then this novel is for you.

You can read the prepub version of this series through a subscription at J-Novel Club. The digital version of this volume will be released February 16th.