When the demon lord kidnaps the princess, the kingdom turns to the hero to save the day. But when you introduce text messaging to the situation, things can get weird with the standard fantasy journey. Like suddenly e-dating the demon lord weird. If the RPG World Had Social Media is naturally all for combining RPG gimmicks and internet culture to see what happens. And the results can be pretty funny.
The translated title here is a bit misleading since they only text, but that alone injected into a fantasy world can give you fun results. Our silent protagonist can finally express himself. The hero can even fall for the demon lord, who turns out to be a cordial girl. Before you know it, his journey to save the princess is actually a quest to meet his crush. But his journey won’t be easy, since he’s also stuck with 108 curses that heavily decrease his stats. Permanently stuck at level one with his health reduced to one, the hero learns quickly that even basic slimes can kill him. Fortunately he can be revived with a spell, but it’s an annoying process.
If the RPG World Had Social Media is a fun long-distance romance fantasy adventure with phones
In order to travel the dangerous areas, our hero ends up with a party of demon generals. All of which are, of course, quirky overpowered demon girls. Their various personalities carry most of the comedy in the story, with constant masochist outbursts, tsundere attitudes, and so much more. The character banter is enough to keep you interested in their adventure. And as it continues, what started as a generic RPG world slowly gains its own identity.
If the RPG World Had Social Media can be a tough read in the beginning through its use of simple jokes about being “left on read” or LMAO Castle existing. The phone jokes are pretty limited here, but the technology itself makes for an interesting spin on the fantasy story. Once you push past the cheap laughs and whiplash premise shift, you’re invested in the distant romance and fun times with crazy demon girls.
Apparently the original light novel manages to tell the story through chat logs alone. While that idea sounds interesting, the amazing manga art seems to help a lot with expressing the characters. So if you have to choose, the manga might be the better choice here.
Check out the If the RPG World Had Social Media manga, available now!
Title: If the RPG World Had Social Media…, Vol. 1
Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: June 22nd, 2021
Type: Manga
Author: Sato Kamegoya
Original Story: Yusuke Nitta
Character Design: LOL, Yukinatsu Amekaze
Translation: Luke Hutton
Lettering: Phil Christie
