I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time Vol. 1 Review

Tags: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance

Sub-Tags: Dungeons, Strong Lead, OP

Synopsis:

Take a Hammer to Overwork!

Alina Clover signed up to be a receptionist for the Adventurers Guildthinking it would be her ticket to the good life—stable pay, regular hours, and safe workplace conditions. Unfortunately, her dream gig turns into a nightmare of endless paper work and overtime whenever the adventurers she helps coordinate get stuck clearing a dungeon. But people aren’t made to grind forever, so Alina sneaks off at night to give the monsters holding things up a beatdown, courtesy of her massive war hammer. Keeping this all under wraps to avoid violating her office’s ban on second jobs is difficult, especially when the tales of her exploits start to spread, but Alina somehow manages to keep her identity safe…until the leader of the strongest party in the guild catches her defeating a boss one fateful night! Does Alina have what it takes to stop her life from going topsy-turvy?! (Source: Yen Press)

Overpowered to Avoid Overtime!

The Girl’s Almighty Hammer

A work-life balance can be difficult to maintain. Work and commitments can always find a way to hamper your leisure time. Now, imagine how difficult finding a work-life balance would be in a fantasy world filled with dungeons and monsters. That is exactly what the protagonist in my latest series up for review, I May Be a Guild Receptionist, is trying to achieve.

This latest series up for review stars Alina, a seemingly ordinary guild receptionist who’ll do anything to go home on time. In a world filled with strong monsters and weak adventurers, however, this isn’t always possible, and sometimes, she has to give these processes a helping hand. Whenever things get too tough, Alina dons her secret identity as the Executioner, an overwhelmingly powerful adventurer who can solo any boss no matter its level.

In this series, Alina is truly the star of the show and ends up having to do a lot of the heavy lifting when the plot begins to slack. Alina will go to any lengths necessary to protect her stable career, and woe (in the form of a big hammer) befalls anyone who tries to get in her way. Her one-track mind to avoid overtime constantly rewards its readers with plenty of laughs.

Anything to Hide Her Identity

Unlike Alina, the series’ shining star, the main plot is a mixed affair. Revolving around several characters discovering Alina’s secret identity, the first volume follows Alina as she tries to stop them from making her an adventurer.

This plot gets off to a rough start with Jade, a high-level adventurer and the first to discover her identity. Upon making this discovery, Jade proceeds with a campaign of badgering and harassment to get Alina to join his party, which clearly makes Alina uncomfortable. Whilst there is a method to the author’s madness here, it fails in the execution. Jade is written without the suave attitude necessary to pull his campaign off.

Thankfully, the plot does improve towards the halfway mark with the introduction of the guildmaster, the second character to discover Alina’s identity. His approach to Alina is built on tact and negotiation. In exchange for less overtime, Alina agrees to a secret dungeon quest.

The secret dungeon quest overall makes for a good climax to the volume. Whilst there are a few confusing moments over a rival party, these scenes help mellow Jade’s character. We get to see some of his few good sides as he takes the tank role in the party.

Furthermore, during the final battle against the dungeon boss, Alina’s character is given more dimensions. As it turns out, Alina’s motivations don’t just hang on to the notion of going home on time. She’s also motivated by the fact that she doesn’t want to lose anyone again.

Whilst the main plot of I May Be a Guild Receptionist gets off to a rocky start, there are still plenty of things to love about the series.

Alina is the star of the show, and the comedy surrounding her one-track mind almost always pays off. Moreover, there are some great moments towards the end of the volume as the series focuses on dungeon raiding. These sections allow otherwise annoying characters to fall into place and give much-needed extra dimensions to the main character.

The series may not have been perfect, but I’ll be giving the second volume a try.

I May Be a Guild Receptionist Vol. 1

My Rating: 7/10

If you like what you read and what I do, why not consider supporting me through Ko-Fi. Any donation helps keep this site up and keep me writing.

You can read the first volume of this series digitally and physically through the list of distributors found on the Yen Press website.