The harem has officially been destroyed! Embarrassed! Decimated!
Mizuki, after being tasked by King Rudolph of Sevrest to become his concubine alongside his harem but kill it from the inside, did what she was asked to do. Now it’s time to go back to her mediocre life back at the village. She wishes! The Second Prince of Ilfena, Elusion, grants her many rewards, and one of them involves being engaged to…two knights. For various reasons, she’ll still have to work with the Second Prince to handle threatening political schemes, which starts with her meeting a fellow otherworlder to a plot where some third-rate noble somehow has the backing of a powerful figure. But Mizuki aims to crack who that figure truly is…while at a ball!
This Mage Desires Mediocrity has an interesting character with a no-nonsense and strong attitude, but what she’s doing is not always interesting. In Chapter 4 she used a creative trick due to her otaku knowledge in order to ruin her enemies. Throughout most of chapters 5-19 she’s just using her aggression and foe’s stupidity to a tee. There are aspects of it that are fun, but not always engaging. Combine that with very little fights shown, it’ll ultimately come down to vibing with anything Mizuki does.
The plot elements are interesting, but some of it feels lacking in information. We have Mizuki not only crushing the harem but also sniffing out a traitor in her group; multiple otherworlders that range from a seemingly pure and naive princess to a dude who actually was in Mizuki’s guild in one of the games they’ve played; and a plot where a certain family aims to sully a young maiden any way they possibly can. In reading it everything seems fine, but it’s rarely rewarding. This feels like there were some light novel elements that just couldn’t make it into the adaptation and backstory that could’ve been useful.
Also, Mizuki being a step ahead of everyone else is great, but it still feels off. Maybe it’s because of how everyone gets she’s from another world or her otaku backstory is not covered often enough — like the manga doesn’t play it up enough — but it feels like there’s no real threat that can actually challenge her. The characters around her are not very memorable (aside from Charlene, who’s just fantastic), and it’s fun to see some of these evil people get what’s coming to them, but it’s all about the same. This makes it no different from other isekai that do the same thing.
All in all, This Mage Desires Mediocrity is engaging to read. Mizuki’s passion and desires, and what she does to some of these fools is neat, and the manga so far has put together some nice stories that are intriguing. But it feels like it’s missing additional elements, and maybe a better art style, to be totally enjoyable. At least it does enough to make me wonder how the light novel is like.