Tags: Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life, Isekai

A Doting Father’s Surprise Visit!

Our favourite giant dog slice-of-life fantasy series is back and after successfully rescuing a Fenrir pup named Cherie, Takumi and the Libert households lives are about to get a whole lot busier.

The series’ second volume starts with a surprise visit from Claire’s father, Duke Eckenhart. Alongside a mountain of potential suitors, Eckenhart’s interest in Takumi has him pick up swordplay. Meanwhile, Takumi’s herb cultivation business finally takes off as he has the opportunity to sell his products as part of the Libert’s store in Ractos.

Unlike the first volume, the second volume is more plotted toward slice-of-life events, yet thankfully still manages to feel action-packed. This is helped largely due to the arrival of the Duke, which creates apprehension in both Claire and Tilura and has the entire mansion preparing for his visit.

Eckenhart himself is a larger-than-life character, very un noble-like, he very much makes up for it in battle prowess and love for his daughters. The Libert sisters, however, haven’t been looking forward to his visit due to his persistence in searching for a partner for them. Having it all be a good-natured mistake, it isn’t long before the duke instead turns his attention toward Takumi and his silver Fenrir, Leo.

After seeing Takumi’s gift, the duke is quick to sign a business contract solidifying Takumi’s place within the world and giving him a good reason to stay with the Libert family. Moreover, Eckenhart sees potential in Takumi learning swordplay which he’ll use for protecting himself and his business, although I suspect that his reasons have more to do with his daughter.

More pronounced than in the previous volume, the potential romance between Takumi and Claire seems to be gaining traction. With everyone at the mansion seemingly in the know other than Takumi, I can only hope that some catalyst moves their relationship forward rather than the author constantly falling back on the protagonist’s denseness.

Finally, the last chapter has Takumi set up his business in town only to fall foul of a bandit’s revenge act. This is the only part of the novel I disliked, it felt too much like repeating from the first volume and only served to open a potential plot line for the next volume.

To conclude, Even Dogs Go to Other Worlds’ second volume moves at a better pace than the first. Focusing on several slice-of-life plots that genuinely serve to better the world-building and main cast of characters is a boon that I hope the author will continue as we move into a more scheme-centric third volume.