Warning: This book review contains spoilers for “My Room Is A Dungeon Rest Stop, Volume 1” by Tougoku Hudou and Takoya Kiyoshi. Do not read this review if you want to avoid spoilers!
Cover of “My Room Is A Dungeon Rest Stop, Volume 1” by Tougoku Hudou and Takoya Kiyoshi.I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reviewing the manga “My Room Is A Dungeon Rest Stop, Volume 1” by Tougoku Hudou and Takoya Kiyoshi! When I read the summary, I was very intrigued and just had to pick it up. Here’s the summary so you know what it’s about:
“A ROOM WITH A VIEW…TO A DUNGEON IN ANOTHER WORLD!
Suzuki Touru has just scored an amazingly cheap apartment–but the reason it’s so cheap is the front door opens up to a classic fantasy dungeon! Luckily, Touru has always wanted to explore a dungeon. But when he stumbles across Ria, a beautiful blonde knight, he may well have gotten more adventure than he bargained for!”
Worldbuilding Development: 4 out of 5 stars
The worldbuilding was my favourite part of this book. I love that Touru’s apartment is grounded in the real world, but he basically has access to the fantasy world (or, well, dungeon in this case) through the backdoor. I also enjoy how the distinctions between the real world and the fantasy world Ria comes from are established in both their conversations, as well their general reactions to being in each other’s worlds whenever they see anything new to them. I also think the concept of roleplaying-game (a.k.a RPGs for short) stats being accessed in the dungeon was a clever worldbuilding choice, too.
I’m interested in finding out why Ria can’t just leave the apartment through the normal door like Touru can. Perhaps there are worldbuilding restraints that don’t allow Ria to check out the rest of the ‘real world’ (thus restricting her to either the dungeon of her world and Touru’s apartment), but hopefully more will be discovered about that in the next volume.
Character Development: 5 out of 5 stars
Plot Development: 4 out of 5 stars
Touru is probably one of the smartest protagonists I’ve read in a fantasy manga. I love how he uses his knowledge of RPGs and applies it to both interact with Ria in a way that will make his world more accessible/understandable to her, essentially helping her get adjusted more quickly to his world, while he learns more about the world she lived and worked in before he found her. I also enjoy how he applies this fantasy knowledge when exploring the dungeon, as well as trying to figure out how the slimes work. He, admittedly, might be over his head trying to keep one as a pet without Ria knowing, and I’m interested in seeing the consequences of this.
I also enjoyed reading Ria and her sense of curiosity about the new world that she’s in. I also find it interesting how she sees things that would be considered ‘normal’ and ‘understandable’ in the real world to be completely foreign concepts (the showerhead included). Though most of the volume was spent with Touru helping Ria get adjusted to his world, I wonder if Ria will have opportunities in the next volume or so to help Touru physically investigate more of her own world, other than giving him straight-up explanations.
Overall, I enjoyed the plotline so far, but I think the pacing was a little slow overall, when it came to the main events that happened. Then again, this is the first volume in the series and it was needed to show off that the main characters are completely new to each other’s worlds, as well as establishing their current situation. I’m interested in seeing how the plotline with the slime Touru is secretly keeping will turn out in the next volume, as well.
Overall, I’m rating this manga 4.5 out of 5 stars!
Some of the artwork is a bit “fanservicey” to be showing to a younger audience, but any older teens/young adults that are into fantasy-based roleplaying games might get a kick out of reading this!
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This is a genre I don’t know much about. You did a great job explaining your review points so I was drawn in even though it’s all new to me. It sounds like an interesting story. I can’t imagine having a door that leads to another land!
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed reading this review. I find it hard to imagine having a door leading to another land (especially in your own apartment, of all places!) but it seems like a lot of fun.