Japanese Title: 女神の勇者を倒すゲスな方法 -- “Megami no Yuusha wo Taosu Gesu na Houhou”
Author: Sakuma Sasaki – 笹木さくま
Illustrator: Asagi Tosaka – 遠坂あさぎ
Translator: Jordan Taylor
Genre: Comedy, Isekai, Fantasy
Original Run: January 2017 – December 2018
English Run: July 2019 – ongoing
Japanese Publisher: Famitsu Bunko (Enterbrain)
English Publisher: Yen On (Yen Press)

The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’s Heroes is an isekai comedy series that looks to differentiate itself from numerous others by having its hero summoned by a Demon Lord to help defeat heroes!

Shinichi Sotoyama is your typical Japanese high schooler. Until he finds himself summoned to another world by a Demon Lord who asks Shinichi to do him a favor–get rid of the heroes who keep trying to start a fight! As it turns out, the Demon Lord is only in the human world to get good food for his sweet little daughter. He’s not interested in fighting or conquest. But humans keep attacking and he’s getting sick of it. Not to mention it makes it near impossible to find the aforementioned good eats! Can Shinichi figure out a way to deal with these chosen heroes of the Goddess?

First off, this one succeeds at being pretty funny. Shinichi actually relishes his role as advisor to the Demon Lord. As it turns out, he’s one of those characters who loves to unleash his inner-bastard online. And now, in a world where no one knows him and his only friends are demons who value strength and winning above all else, he’s allowed to behave that way in the physical world. How he dispatches his first set of heroes gave me a good laugh.

With the introduction of the hero Arian, this book takes a turn for the sweeter. Shinichi befriends Arian as he plans to destroy her from a place of friendship. But as they get to know each other, their relationship grows and Shinichi decides there’s a way to help the Demons and turn his twisted nature toward some truly deserving targets that will also aid Arian.

This book is one of those simple pleasures. The plot is pretty straight ahead and the humans are made to look so corrupt you never really question why Shinichi sides with the demons. The setup allows for a character who operates in some very dark grey areas, but because of the behavior of the humans and heroes (aside from Arian) you never feel like Shinichi is much more than a troll being allowed to live his “best” life. Even his end goal is something most decent people can support without much reservation. It also helps that Shinichi is actually quite clever. His plans, especially his grander scheme toward the end of this volume, demonstrate not only well-thought out ideas, but also insight into human nature. I liked that he was able to identify flaws in his plan and that much of it hinged on a few elements of luck.

Arian also ends up being a major component in the enjoyment of this one. Initially, she is setup as an exceedingly happy, kind, and naive young girl. During this time, when we had yet to learn of her full story, Shinichi’s designs on her did seem creepy. But the truth about her goes a long way to make the character more relatable. Not to mention it also changes Shinichi’s plan as well (less creepy! Yeah!).

In addition to our main characters, we have a demon maid who is about as tsundere as you can get and the venom she spits at Shinichi often gave me cause to chuckle. The Demon Lord is just this decent, doting dad, who is OP and knows it. And his sweet daughter, who looks like a cute, young human girl, provides the “little sister” support character Shinichi needs to inspire him.

The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’s Heroes can be silly fun. It fails to make use of a cool concept by making Shinichi’s loyalty to the demons the more morally correct choice. But fun characters with decent chemistry and some good laughs make it an enjoyable read.

You can purchase this light novel at the following retailers:

Amazon -- Barnes and Noble -- Book Depository -- RightStuf

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