Der Werwolf
Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight
Yet another isekai series. This one is very decent with a clear ending. This review contains spoilers for first two volumes.
Veight is a reincarnated werewolf in the demon army where he leads a werewolf tribe. He is the leader of the tribe. Werewolves in general are known to lack intellect and are very short tempered, making them unsuitable for almost all administrative tasks.
However, Veight is an exception to that general trend. He is highly intelligent and is even capable of casting magic although severely limited to few fields. He has, thus, been given a nickname: The weremage.
The story
The story begins as Veight and his gang infiltrates the city of Ryunheit. Werewolves by nature are able to transform into human appearances. Thus, sneaking in is a piece of cake.
Soon enough, with ease, Veight conquers Ryunheit by capturing Airia Lutt Aindorf, the Viceroy. Veight is continued to be placed in charge of handling Ryunheit which eventually becomes the demon capital later on.
The demon army as whole is attempting to secure lands for themselves. While at it, they are also planning to co-exist with humans which is something unthinkable for most of humans as well as demons. However, the demon lord (another reincarnated person) has convinced the demons that their only way of future is coexistence with humans.
However, the demon lord isn’t soft. He aims his ideal of coexistence with humans by conquering them with might and force them to submit. His army is divided into basically two forces, one that tackles the Northern cities. The other that tackles the Southern. Veight belongs to the Southern force which continues to see success while the Northern demon army ultimately fails and withdraws during which the demon lord is slayed by a hero.
Gomoviroa (left), Friedensrichter (center, 1st demon lord), Veight (Right)
Upon appointing a new demon lord Gomoviroa (a loli ex-human undead necromancer), a new policy is chosen. They would no longer tackle the Northern cities and will unite the Southern cities under demons. With Ryunheit as their new capital, Veight leads the charge.
Why the Northern force failed
The Northern force used brute force and showed no mercy, leveling cities and killing any humans that resisted. This initially worked in their favor but they were unable to occupy any settlements, leading supply shortages and stronger resistance overall. And their brutal actions resulted birth of a hero ultimately and cost their own demon lord.
The Southern force employed a different policy of peacefully occupying cities, aiming to coexist with humans. This wasn’t actually their original idea, but Southern forces were led by Veight, an intelligence ex-human werewolf, and a vampire lady.
A vampire’s best weapon is turning humans into vampires. Basically, the vampire army turned a viceroy into a vampire. The now vampire viceroy would lead his city as usual but under a demon’s banner.
In Veight’s case, he wasn’t a violent werewolf to begin with and always hoped to coexist with humans. This ultimately meant peaceful occupation. Since peaceful occupation worked far better than brutal conquest, they wisely chose to stick with peaceful occupation.
A bit late but why the conquest?
The demons have predominantly stayed within the demon forest with Grenschtat castle as their HQ. But occasional human invasions for expansions and whatnot has always threatened them. While the demons are powerful, their number is limited.
When Friedensrichter became a demon lord, he unified demons and roused them for a conquest for their own nation. The motive for the conquest is rarely mentioned however.
A solid story
Each stage of the story is very well thought-out, leaving very little plot holes. I also like that the MC, Veight is already a complete character from the beginning.
There are A LOT of characters. Only Veight appears the most frequently. Thankfully, you won’t get confused about who is who because the author has done a very good job giving unique features to each characters. Well, about half of them are not humans to begin with which makes it easier to distinguish who is who.
There are 16 volumes total. For me, my interest in this started to wane after volume 9 due to the plot being repetitive but the rest of the story was still readable.
In the end…
Give this novel a shot. It starts off strong but cools off a bit later on. It sill holds its charge throughout the end unlike many novels where it struggles to reach the finish line.
There is manga but no anime. There are two manga by two different mangaka. The first mangaka dropped out early on. The second mangaka picked up, but the manga is fairly disappointing due to three factors.
One, the manga focuses needlessly on Veight and Airia. In the novel, there is barely any interactions between them early on. It is MUCH later that those two begin to get to know each other.
Two, the manga attempts to emphasize Veight’s ideals too much as soon as the story starts. Again, it is later that his ideals are considered.
Finally, I can’t get behind its art style.
You are better off ignoring manga and just stick with the novel.
