Skeleton Knight in Another World (骸骨騎士様、只今異世界へお出掛け中, Gaikotsu Kishi-sama, Tadaima Isekai e Odekake-chū) is a Japanese light novel series written by Ennki Hakari and illustrated by KeG. It began serialization online in October 2014 on the novel self-publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was later acquired by Overlap, who have published ten volumes since June 2015 under their Overlap Novels imprint. A manga adaptation with art by Akira Sawano has been serialized online via Overlap's Comic Gardo website since February 2017 and has been collected in eleven tankōbon volumes. Both the light novel and manga are licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. An anime television series adaptation by Studio Kai and Hornets aired from April to June 2022. A second season was announced in December 2024.
Synopsis[]
Upon awakening, an unnamed gamer finds himself in the avatar body and armor that he was using in his online game. Seeing his reflection in a river, he is shocked to discover that his appearance is that of a skeleton due to the special avatar skin『Skeleton』he used. In unfamiliar territory, the gamer decides that it would be best to hide his appearance by never removing his helmet and to search for inhabitants. He spies a band of bandits attacking a group at a distance and springs into action after seeing the bandits about to rape two women, killing the men. The women introduce themselves as Lauren, a noblewoman, and Rita Farren, her maid. Using his game name, the knight introduces himself as Arc and agrees to escort the two ladies to the town of Luvierte. While he refuses a reward (to avoid meeting Lauren's father Viscount Buckle du Luvierte, as it would cause complications should the noble ask to see his face), Rita gives him a copper passport to allow him easier passage through any city in the territory.
While dispatching a group of bandits using a cave as their hideout who had attacked him near the town of Diento, he discovers a wounded green-furred cottontailed fox ("ventu vulpis") being held in a cage. Freeing the creature, he heals its wound with magic and befriends it. The fox indicates that it wants to travel with him, and he names it "Ponta".
Later, Arc encounters a male elf outside Diento and learns from him about the human trade in capturing and enslaving elves. The elf is surprised that Ponta (which he refers to as a "spirit creature") is so attached to Arc and that Arc doesn't seem to share the fear and prejudice against elves that most humans in this world seem to have.
Some time afterwards, Arc stumbles across two elf soldiers, one male and one female, battling a band of human slavers; when their leader uses the captured elf children as hostages, the female elf seems ready to surrender when Arc intervenes and helps the elves wipe out the slavers. After Ponta's presence convinces the elves that Arc is a friend and the captured elves are freed and healed of their wounds by Arc's magic, the female elf, Ariane Glenys Maple, hires Arc to help her free other enslaved elves being held in Diento itself. Meeting up with Danka, another elf soldier who has been scouting inside Diento for information (and the one whom Arc had encountered earlier), the three invade the slave warehouse. During their initial search, Arc encounters a female cat-eared/tailed ninja, who gives him information about humans involved in the slave trade and about other captured elves being held in the local lord's castle. After freeing the captured elves, Arc uses Teleportation magic to get them all away from Diento, then he and Ariane head for the castle while Danka escorts the freed elves home. After they free the two female elves (who then "punish" their captor/tormentor in a particularly gruesome fashion) and escape, Ariane asks Arc to accompany her back to their lands. Arc is reluctant and shows why by removing his helmet, revealing his skeletal form. While initially shocked, Ariane realizes that, despite his appearance, Arc is not evil but under a curse, and promises that the elves will keep his secret.
At the elvish settlement of Lalatoya, Arc meets and is welcomed by Elder Dillan and his wife Glenys, who are also Ariane's parents. At a meeting of Elders, at which the information about human Nobles involved in the slave trade and the clear violation of the Elf-Human peace treaty is discussed, it is decided that while no direct retaliation against the humans will be made, the secret operations to free elf slaves will continue. Dillan offers to hire Arc to continue helping Ariane, and as payment provides him with information about a magic pool in Dragon Lord country that may lift his skeleton curse. Arc agrees, and he, Ariane and Ponta begin their quest to free the captured/enslaved elves and totally end the slave trade. They are joined in their mission by Chiyome,.the ninja Arc had previously encountered and member of the Jinshin Clan of beast people, who is engaged on a similar mission to free her fellow beast people who have also been captured and enslaved by humans.
Meanwhile in Olav, the capital city of the Rhoden Kingdom, King Karlon, who has learned of the possible involvement of nobility in the slave trade in elves thanks to the events in Diento, dispatches his daughter Yuriarna on a diplomatic mission to the Grand Duchy of Limbult (which trades with the elves and where his older daughter Seriarna is the ruler's wife) to arrange a meeting with the elves. However, her older brothers Sekt and Dakares both have ambitions to inherit the throne and are vying with other for power, and Yuriarna suspects Dakares of being involved in the slave trade and Sekt of knowing about it but trying to use it for his own advantage...and that both will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, even if it means destroying anyone in their way.
As Arc, Ariane and Chiyome's quest progresses and they gain friends and allies while traveling to the different kingdoms across the world, they learn that the slave trade is merely the tip of the iceberg and that the Holy East Revlon Kingdom, ruled by the ruthless Emperor Domitianus, and this world's main religion, the Holy Hilk Kingdom, may be behind all the evil they're fighting to overcome.
(Source: Wikipedia)
List of Published Books[]
Novels[]
The light novel series is written by Ennki Hakari with illustrations by KeG, and has been published by Overlap under Overlap Novels imprint since June 25, 2015. As of May 2021, the series is still ongoing with 10 volumes released. Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the series on September 20, 2018, and released the first volume on June 11, 2019.
| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital | Physical | ||||
| 1 | June 25, 2015 | 978-4-86-554054-3 | March 28, 2019 | June 11, 2019 | 978-1-64-275064-5 |
| 2 | October 25, 2015 | 978-4-86-554075-8 | June 20, 2019 | September 24, 2019 | 978-1-64-275129-1 |
| 3 | March 25, 2016 | 978-4-86-554109-0 | August 8, 2019 | October 15, 2019 | 978-1-64-275706-4 |
| 4 | July 25, 2016 | 978-4-86-554146-5 | November 14, 2019 | February 25, 2020 | 978-1-64-505195-4 |
| 5 | November 25, 2016 | 978-4-86-554169-4 | February 27, 2020 | August 18, 2020 | 978-1-64-505464-1 |
| 6 | April 25, 2017 | 978-4-86-554209-7 | June 4, 2020 | September 8, 2020 | 978-1-64-505725-3 |
| 7 | August 25, 2017 | 978-4-86-554249-3 | August 20, 2020 | December 1, 2020 | 978-1-64-505795-6 |
| 8 | March 25, 2018 | 978-4-86-554318-6 | November 5, 2020 | February 23, 2021 | 978-1-64-505977-6 |
| 9 | March 25, 2019 | 978-4-86-554432-9 | May 27, 2021 | August 3, 2021 | 978-1-64-827204-2 |
| 10 | March 25, 2022 | 978-4-86-554549-4 | February 9, 2023 | March 14, 2023 | 978-1-64-827264-6 |
| 11 | — | — | — | April 22, 2025 | 978-1-64-827337-7 |
Manga[]
In February 2017, the first chapter of the manga adaptation by Akira Sawano was published in Overlap's Comic Gardo; though Akira is the author of the manga series, character designs are credited to KeG. Overlap collected the individual chapters into tankōbon volumes; the first volume was released in August 2017. In September 2018, Seven Seas Entertainment announced its licensing of the manga series for localization in North America under the title Skeleton Knight in Another World.
| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | August 25, 2017 | 978-4-86-554252-3 | July 9, 2019 | 978-1-64-275065-2 |
| 2 | February 2, 2018 | 978-4-86-554322-3 | November 12, 2019 | 978-1-64-275729-3 |
| 3 | September 25, 2018 | 978-4-86-554398-8 | March 24, 2020 | 978-1-64-505224-1 |
| 4 | March 25, 2019 | 978-4-86-554468-8 | August 11, 2020 | 978-1-64-505643-0 |
| 5 | September 25, 2019 | 978-4-86-554552-4 | December 1, 2020 | 978-1-64-505814-4 |
| 6 | February 25, 2020 | 978-4-86-554619-4 | May 4, 2021 | 978-1-64-827214-1 |
| 7 | August 25, 2020 | 978-4-86-554733-7 | August 24, 2021 | 978-1-64-827315-5 |
| 8 | April 25, 2021 | 978-4-86-554904-1 | April 26, 2022 | 978-1-63858-226-7 |
| 9 | September 25, 2021 | 978-4-82-400011-8 | September 27, 2022 | 978-1-63858-666-1 |
| 10 | March 25, 2022 | 978-4-8240-0141-2 | May 30, 2023 | 978-1-68579-525-2 |
| 11 | July 25, 2022 | 978-4-8240-0254-9 | March 26, 2024 | 979-8-88843-381-2 |
| 12 | March 25, 2023 | 978-4-8240-0453-6 | — | — |
| 13 | April 25, 2024 | 978-4-8240-0813-8 | — | — |
Character[]
The Main Character who fell asleep during an online game and woke up in a different world similar to an online game, in the same appearance as his avatar. She has a mischievous and good-natured personality. Although it is in a complete skeleton state, it is possible to eat and drink. At first, he planned to hide the fact that there was a skeleton under his armor, but after he rescued the elves in the town of Dient, he revealed it to Ariane. At that time, it was not possible to call it a game character, so it was deceived as a curse. was found out, and a full-fledged way to break the curse was sought.
By touching or drinking the hot springs in the shrine that had a cursing effect, you can temporarily return to your physical form. When I returned, I was in a coma for a week. Since then, I have dealt with it by returning to the living body on a regular basis. When he returned to his flesh, he didn't look like a human, but rather as an avatar before he turned into a skeleton. According to the Dragon King, the original body is in a state in another world, and Ark himself is expected to remain in the original world.
Later, he became a member of the village of Raratoia and called himself Ark Raratoia. Although his own abilities are at the highest level, from the perspective of the other world, his common sense is slightly off, and what he does is out of the norm, and he often carelessly does outrageous things. Since he has no experience of fighting since he was just operating in an online game, he mainly fights by pushing with his inherent power and status. Because the technical side is low, it will struggle against opponents with high technology.
He is very dexterous with his hands, such as making his own furnace and baking pizza, and attaching a saddle that has a suspension function that uses the elasticity of wood to Shiden. He also has a wealth of knowledge, such as making soy sauce modoki using the Maillard reaction. The reason why I made the avatar a "whole body skeleton" was because I was making a setting in my brain that "I was originally a holy knight, but I was cursed and became a skeleton." The aforementioned deception is also based on this. By the way, my friends in the game said, "It's completely meaningless because you can't see it."
In addition, although the original human age is not mentioned at all, there was no particular reaction when the elf girl who rescued him from Udoran's elf hunt called him "Uncle ("Armored Uncle" in the anime)". It seems that he is about middle-aged because he was not suppressing it and was not even shocked in his heart).
Ponta (ポンタ)
 |
Abilities[]
"Now, Ruiner of Nations, you will go no further, and no know escape!!"
― Arc, said to the Hydra
Since the avatar of the game character is a "whole body skeleton", the flesh figure is the skeleton itself. Equipped with the strongest (Mythical Class) equipment in the game, 【Holy Armor of Belenus】, 【Overcoat of the Night Sky】, 【Holy Shield of Teutates】, and 【Sword of Holy Thunder (Caladbolg)】, and since the whole body is covered with armor, armor and helmet You can't tell it's a skeleton unless you take it off. Arc has incredible kinetic vision.
| Job: | 《Mage ➤ Magus/Sorcerer ➤ Summoner ➤ Holy Knight/Paladin》 《Warrior ➤ Knight ➤ Sacred Knight》 《Priest ➤ Bishop ➤ Pope/Monk》 |
Since his level (255) and stats (PARAMETER ) have been raised to the maximum ⬆⬆, he has an abnormal amount of power, and can use attack magic, transfer magic, summoning magic, recovery magic, and resurrection magic that he had learned up to the job set in the game, Holy Knight (All job skills are available). As an elf, he has the ability to see spiritual magic, though to a lesser degree.
| 《Equipment》 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Skills
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| ⇒ Summon Skill Every summoned beast or Knight only last 5 minutes.
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Spells
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| 《Gallery》 |
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TV Anime[]
An anime television series adaptation was announced on April 17, 2021. The series will be animated by Studio Kai and Hornets and directed by Katsumi Ono, with Takeshi Kikuchi supervising the series' scripts, Tōru Imanishi designing the characters, and eba and Tsubasa Ito composing the series' music. It aired from April 7 to June 23, 2022, on AT-X, Tokyo MX, SUN, and BS11. The opening theme song is "Aa, Waga Roman no Michi Yo" (嗚呼、我が浪漫の道よ, Ah, My Romantic Road) by PelleK, while the ending theme song is "Bokura ga Oroka da Nante Dare ga Itta" (僕らが愚かだなんて誰が言った, Who Called Us Fools?) by DIALOGUE+. Crunchyroll has licensed the series outside of Asia. Muse Communication announced the license for South and Southeast Asia the day after the anime announcement.
- Staff:
- Original Author - Ennki Hakari
- Character draft - KeG
- Original Comic - Akira Sawano
- Director - Katsumi Ono
- Assistant Director - Shigatsu Yoshikawa
- Series composition - Takeshi Kikuchi
- Character Design - Toru Imanishi
- Sub character design - Hideki Inoue
- Monster Design - Yoshiyoshi Nagamori
- Prop Design - Tomokazu Sugimura
- Color design - Chiho Nakamura
- Art Director - Kenta Tsuboi
- Art setting - Akihiro Hirasawa
- 3DCG Director - Norimitsu Hirosawa
- Cinematographer - Sei Yamamoto
- Editing - Yuji Kondo
- Acoustic Director - Satoshi Motoyama
- Music - eba, Tsubasa Ito
- Music Production - Pony Canyon
- Music Producer - Teppei Nojima
- Producers - Shohei Yoshida, Hisato Usui, Guoxiang Yang, Yuki Yamaoka, Kento Yoshida, Aya Iizuka, Teppei Nojima
- Production Producer - Yasuhiro Uema
- Animation Producer - Masanobu Hatta
- Animation production - Studio KAI × HORNETS
- Production - Skeleton Knight Production Committee (Overlap, Crunchyroll, MUSE, Docomo Anime Store, MAGNET, AT-X , Pony Canyon)
On April 11, 2022, Crunchyroll announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered on April 28.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Storyboarded by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Wandering Knight Sets Out to Make the World a Better Place" Transcription: "Rurō no Kishi, Yonaoshi Tabi nite Sōrō" (Japanese: 流浪の騎士、世直し旅にて候ふ) |
Shigatsu Yoshikawa | Takeshi Kikuchi | Katsumi Ono | April 7, 2022 |
| Two young girls in the forest are about to be raped by bandits when they are saved by a giant knight in silver armor. Hours previously the knight, really a gamer from Japan, had awoken in the body of his character, an 8 foot tall skeleton with the best armour and weapons and all his physical and magical skills. Knowing a skeleton would scare people and make him a target, he decides to keep his helmet on at all times and renames himself Arc, using his game character's name. He spots a female elf in the first city he finds, but she disappears. As he has no money, he attempts to become an adventurer but must earn his license by slaying three enemies. In the forest he slays a bull-boar and an orc, and while searching for a third enemy witnesses bandits attacking a coach. He wonders if he should risk getting involved until he sees two young ladies about to be raped and violently kills the bandits. The ladies are the noble Lauren Luvierte and her maid Rita. While they recover, Arc covertly loots all the bandits’ valuables before escorting them to town. With the bandits and orc slain, he obtains his license and his first meal (with the bandits' cash). Reasoning that he might be stuck in this new world permanently, Arc decides to have fun beginning his new life. | |||||
| 2 | "A First Job, a Girl's Wish, and an Approaching Shadow" Transcription: "Hatsu Shigoto, Shōjo no Negai to Shinobiyoru Kage" (Japanese: 初仕事、少女の願いと忍び寄る影) |
Shigatsu Yoshikawa | Takeshi Kikuchi | Shigatsu Yoshikawa | April 14, 2022 |
| Arc accepts a job protecting a young village girl named Marca as she collects medicinal herbs. Arc is curious about Marca's haste to begin, and Marca explains that she doesn’t want her mother Seona, who has become overprotective since Marca's father died, to find out. They come across an injured Kitsune which Arc heals; the creature decides it wants to stay with Arc, and he names it Ponta for its fluffy tail. Seona learns of Marca's leaving the village just as hunters arrive with news of an extra-dangerous monster in the forest. Marca leads Arc to a tree with valuable medicinal flowers, but finds the tree is now the territory of the monster, a Basilisk. Fortunately, Arc has fought them before in the game and kills it quickly; however, he asks Marca to keep this a secret for fear of drawing unwanted attention. He notices a magic ring on the basilisk, which shatters and disappears after the monster is killed. He returns Marca to Seona, along with a giant fanged boar for the villagers to feast on, and then departs. Later that night, soldiers kill another basilisk, then come across the much larger corpse of the basilisk Arc killed. They notice it was killed by a single strike with an extremely large sword and wonder who killed it, while back in town Arc and Ponta enjoy a feast. | |||||
| 3 | "An Austere Elf Dances for Her Comrades" Transcription: "Ririshiki Erufu wa Dōhō ga Tame ni Mau" (Japanese: 凛々しきエルフは同胞が為に舞う) |
Kei Miura | Takeshi Kikuchi | Taisuke Tsukuda | April 21, 2022 |
| Accepting a job, Arc deals with bandits hiding in a forest cave, taking their treasure as loot. Elsewhere, it is revealed the attack on Lauren Luvierte was a failed assassination ordered by Lord Tryton Diento, who was himself ordered by Prince Dakares to destabilize the kingdom in readiness for a war. Tryton is also furious that his son, Udolan, is putting himself at risk leading their illegal slave operation. Back in the forest, a female elf watches Arc emerging from the bandits' cave and attacks him, accusing him of kidnapping elf children, until she sees Ponta, which she recognizes as a forest spirit creature; since spirit creatures rarely trust mortals, she realizes Arc couldn’t be a kidnapper. Arc offers his assistance, but she refuses. Arc follows her and finds the kidnapped elves being tortured by Udolan and his men. The female elf kills most of the slavers, but is forced to surrender when Udolan threatens the children. Arc overpowers Udolan and protects the children, allowing the elf to kill the rest. Arc then frees the captives and magically heals their wounds, to the elf warrior's amazement. Refusing to believe that Arc is a simple adventurer but convinced of his trustworthiness, the elf introduces herself as Ariane Glenys Maple. Ariane receives a message that more enslaved elves have been located and hires Arc to help her. | |||||
| 4 | "Infiltrating the Slave Market! In Search of the World's Evil" Transcription: "Sennyū, Doreishō! Yo ni Habikoru Aku o Sagure" (Japanese: 潜入、奴隷商！世に蔓延る悪を探れ) |
Yukio Takahashi | Takeshi Kikuchi | Takumi Narita | April 28, 2022 |
| Arc and Ariane travel to the town of Diento where they meet Ariane's elf comrade Danka, who immediately mistrusts Arc, although he is surprised Arc can use teleportation magic and managed to earn both Ponta's and Ariane's trust. As their attack on the slavers' warehouse won’t be for hours, Arc leaves on "personal errands" (i.e., a meal in private). Ariane shares her perceived failure with Danka, as she was almost captured and had to be saved by Arc, and compares herself unfavorably to her older sister Eevin. Arc buys food for himself and Ponta and hides in a deserted alley so he can remove his helmet to eat. As Arc, Ariane and Danka depart on their mission, a shadowy figure watches from a rooftop. In the warehouse, Arc and the two elves find that all the slavers have already been expertly assassinated, and Arc is overcome with otaku enthusiasm when the assassin turns out to be a female ninja with cat ears. Seeing Ponta, she realizes that Arc is trustworthy and gives him documents she stole naming nobles who have already purchased elf slaves, as well as the location of slaves kept by Lord Tryton. Before departing, she also reveals that the elf slaves were not her goal, as her true target is not on the premises. After the trio free the elves, Danka becomes more amazed at Arc's magical skill but trusts him enough to let him and Ariane go alone to Tryton's palace. The female ninja is surprised that Arc even knew what a ninja was, and hopes to meet him again. | |||||
| 5 | "A Secret Revealed, and a Bond Forged" Transcription: "Akasareru Himitsu to Tsumugareru Kizuna" (Japanese: 明かされる秘密と紡がれる絆) |
Yoshinori Odaka | Takeshi Kikuchi | Katsumi Ono | May 5, 2022 |
| After their attempt to silently enter the castle goes somewhat awry, Arc and Ariane capture Tryton and Udolan, and the two female elf slaves (whom Tryton had been sexually molesting) take their revenge on Tryton while Arc discovers a hidden treasure which he loots for himself (telling Ariane that his taking the gold is simply to prevent the slavers from using it to rebuild their organization). The palace abruptly blows up, which Arc suspects was caused by the ninja. Ariane invites Arc to visit the Elf Lands so they can continue rescuing slaves, although they would need an Elder Elf’s permission for Arc to enter their lands. Afraid of being exposed while meeting the Elder, Arc removes his helmet, showing Ariane his skull face and telling her his appearance is the result of a curse. Ariane promises that all elves will keep his secret and hopes the Elder may know how to fix his appearance. In the capital city of Olav, the human King Karlon, his sons Sekt and Dakares and daughter Yuriarna decide to investigate the rumors of slavery, which violates the human/elf peace treaty. They decide to contact the elves, though it is clear both princes have their own hidden agendas. Yuriarna is certain Dakares is secretly involved in the slave trade and that Sekt has a plan to expose him, thereby strengthening his own claim to the throne. She decides to make sure that contacting the elves goes well and reaches out to her sister Seriarna, who married the ruler of the Limbult duchy, the only domain currently trading with the Elf Lands. Arc and Ariane reach Lalatoya, an enormous elf settlement deep in the forest. | |||||
| 6 | "Learning About the Darkness of This World at the Elf Village" Transcription: "Erufu no Sato de Fureru Isekai no Shin'en" (Japanese: エルフの里で触れる異世界の深淵) |
Arata Nishizuki | Toshizō Nemoto | Toshinori Fukushima | May 12, 2022 |
| Arc meets the Elder, Dillan, and his wife Glenys, who are also Ariane’s parents. Dillan is grateful that the slaves were rescued, but worries that their attack on Tryton's palace has proved problematic, and he and Ariane travel to the elven capital of Maple to informs his fellow Elders. Back in Lalatoya, Glenys spars with Arc to see if he is strong enough to keep Ariane safe and Arc is beaten by Glenys multiple times, making him realize that high combat stats do not necessarily equal skill. The Elders, unwilling to risk war, decide to continue rescuing slaves in secret. Ariane is surprised to learn that her older sister Eevin is getting married, as she had always sworn to never marry. Arc decides to have a bath, but when Ariane enters the bath naked, she sees Arc in full skeleton mode, panics and blasts him with explosions. Dillan officially hires Arc to help Ariane continue freeing slaves and as payment tells Arc of a magic pool that might cure his skeletal appearance, but which is only found near the Lord Crown, a spirit tree that grows in the territories of Dragon Lords, the most dangerous dragons in the world. Arc accepts the "payment", but when alone becomes curious to see if his appearance really is caused by a curse, and is shocked when, using a curse-breaking spell on himself, he gives himself a human right hand. | |||||
| 7 | "A Miracle for the High-Minded Princess" Transcription: "Risō ni Moyuru Ōjo ni Kiseki ga Maiorita" (Japanese: 理想に燃ゆる王女に奇跡が舞い降りた) |
Yoshinori Odaka | Toshizō Nemoto | Yoshinori Odaka | May 19, 2022 |
| Arc’s hand instantly returns to bone, but it confirms that Arc’s appearance is indeed cursed. He and Ariane set out for Olav, hunting the slave-owning nobles. They are warned by an innkeeper that Haunted Wolves have been attacking travelers. Yuriarna leaves Rhoden to travel to Limbult. Ariane considers hunting the wolves, as a bridal veil made from their tail fur would be an excellent wedding gift for Eevin. The wolves do attack, and Arc realizes the pack leader is wearing a magic ring like the basilisk. He destroys the ring, waking the pack leader from a trance; the leader then takes his pack and leaves peacefully. Arc is sure the rings are the reason monsters are acting strangely. While Ariane prepares the slain wolves' fur, Ponta senses danger and leads Arc to where Yuriarna's coach has been attacked and Yuriarna, her maid Ferna and her loyal guards have been killed by treacherous guards and assassins. The killers attack him, but Arc's armor proves invulnerable to their weapons and magic, and he kills most of them with unexpected assistance from the wolves. Using a powerful Rejuvenation spell, Arc resurrects Yuriarna, Ferna and several loyal guards before sneaking away. Seeing Arc while half-conscious, Yuriarna believes him to be an angel sent by God. Arc is unsure about the morality of a spell that can resurrect the dead and keeps what he did secret from Ariane. Reaching Olav, they witness a young woman expertly defeating thugs, and Arc recognizes her as the cat-eared ninja. | |||||
| 8 | "Allied! Dashing Through the Darkness With the Beastpeople!" Transcription: "Kyōtō! Jūjin no Tomo to Yamiyo o Kakeru" (Japanese: 共闘！獣人の友と闇夜を駆ける) |
Yukio Takahashi | Toshizō Nemoto | Minoru Ōhara | May 26, 2022 |
| The ninja, Chiyome of the Jinshin clan, is searching for members of her species enslaved by humans and asks Arc how he knows about ninja, since that word was created by their Great Founder, a human named Hanzo, whom Arc realizes must be another Japanese person who came to this world and founded a ninja clan centuries ago. Chiyome asks for their help and Ariane, as Arc's "employer", agrees. Dakares is furious the Haunted Wolves failed to kill Yuriana and, suspecting a revenge plot against him, is sent to a safe house by his subordinate Cetrion. Chiyome asks Arc and Ariane to attack Etzat Slave Market as obviously as possible, thereby distracting the city guards so that the ninja can infiltrate the other markets. Arc hides his unique armor under a cloak and tribal mask. Chiyome introduces Goemon, a fellow ninja, causing Arc to realize Hanzo named himself after Hattori Hanzō and used the names of other famous ninja as honorary titles (meaning Chiyome is named after Mochizuki Chiyome and Goemon after Ishikawa Goemon). As Goemon is a giant as tall and powerfully built as Arc, they instinctively challenge each other, then, realizing that they're evenly matched, become instant friends. Arc and Goemon attack the market guards and compete to outdo each other, but go overboard and accidentally bury themselves under rock as Chiyome and the exasperated Ariane watch. | |||||
| 9 | "The Capital in Chaos and a Maiden's Oath" Transcription: "Yureugoku Ōto to Otome no Chikai" (Japanese: 揺れ動く王都と乙女の誓い) |
Satoru Fujimoto | Toshizō Nemoto | Satoru Fujimoto | June 2, 2022 |
| Learning of the attack, Dakares sends soldiers to protect the slave markets. Ariane and Chiyome begin freeing slaves while dispatching the guards. Goemon sends Arc to join up with Ariane and Chiyome while he holds off arriving reinforcements. The beast people are easily freed, but Arc, Ariane and Chiyome also find a cell full of dead slaves killed or left to die for being unsellable as too old, injured or sick. Arc teleports the survivors to safety, then rejoins Goemon to massacre the soldiers and utterly destroy the market. After the destruction is completed, Arc and Goemon retrieve the dead slaves for a proper funeral and Chiyome swears to hone her skills to save even more people. Cetrion murders Dakares, revealing he was working for Sekt all along, and since Yuriarna has not been located Sekt frames Dakares for Yuriarna’s apparent murder, leaving him sole heir to the throne of Rhoden. Yuriarna arrives in Limbult and learns from Seriarna of Dakares' death, realizing Sekt probably plotted her murder as well, and decides to keep her survival a secret for the time being. Chiyome reveals to Ariane that Dakares was working for the Holy Revlon Empire and sent them many elf slaves. Ariane and Arc decide to travel there immediately. In Revlon, Emperor Domitianus is impressed that Sekt has eliminated both Dakares and Yuriarna, but is more surprised someone destroyed the rings he had sent Dakares to that control the wolves and basilisks. His subordinate confirms that Domitianus' agent, Fumba, is continuing to work to destabilize Rhoden. In the desert beyond Rhoden, a sneering Fumba watches as worm-like monsters erupting from the sands capture and devour flying wyverns. | |||||
| 10 | "Hope for the Future Found in the Desert" Transcription: "Sabaku de Mitsukeshi Asu e no Kibō" (Japanese: 砂漠で見つけし明日への希望) |
Shigatsu Yoshikawa | Takeshi Kikuchi | Shigatsu Yoshikawa | June 9, 2022 |
| After a rather electrifying encounter with a flock of wyverns, Arc and Ariane reach a village on the edge of the desert. Arc notices that Ariane is unusually nervous and learns that the slave trade in elves is legal in Revlon, so she is worried about travelling there. At the village tavern, an elf, Carcy Held, introduces himself and explains that he is able to coexist with the villagers and makes a living studying monsters. He asks for Arc’s help in catching difficult monsters, offering a map of Revlon as payment. Ariane struggles with the idea of coexistence, and over a cask of wine that evening in their room Arc unfortunately discovers that Ariane is both a lightweight and a bad drunk. The next morning, Ariane is furious to discover that her antics have caused the villagers to think that she and Arc had had sex all night (with Arc's comments not helping the situation much). Carcy plans to capture a Sand Worm using goblin carcasses as bait, while Ariane is still trying recover from her hangover plus travel motion sickness. Suddenly they are attacked by a worm that has grown far larger than natural, and only Arc is strong enough to defeat it. Another ring is seen on the Sand Worm, but shatters and disappears after the worm's defeat. Carcy tells Ariane that he also once hated humans but grew to care about them, and reveals that Lamburt, a town in Rhoden, is governed by a human lord and his elven wife, with whom he fell in love after rescuing her from slavery, and Ariane becomes more optimistic. The worms' unnatural growth is revealed to be caused by Fumba, who has been feeding them and other monsters slaves and kidnapped villagers, on behalf of Emperor Domitianus. | |||||
| 11 | "The Monster-Taming Barbarian Laughs in the Darkness" Transcription: "Banzoku no Majūtsukai wa Yami ni Warau" (Japanese: 蛮族の魔獣使いは闇に嗤う) |
Toshinori Fukushima | Takeshi Kikuchi | Minoru Ōhara | June 16, 2022 |
| Arc, Ariane and Ponta arrive at the border town of Kaysehk. In order to find the captured elves, they separate and Arc learns that strange cries have been heard late at night from a fortress to the east and that people have been mysteriously disappearing. On his way to meet up with Ariane, Arc rescues a "street girl" from three kidnappers (the girl being pretty and clinging gratefully to Arc doesn't sit well with Ariane). The failed kidnappers were working for Fumba to collect "food" for his controlled monsters, and Fumba punishes them by feeding them to his giant white tiger monster. Ariane has learned that captured elves had been brought to the fortress four months before and insists on investigating the fortress. Sneaking in and finding a secret passageway, they arrive at an underground chamber where they confront Fumba. Suddenly, Ariane attacks Arc, bewitched into believing she is training with her sister Eevin. Arc spots an imp hidden inside Ariane's cloak hood; Ponta rips it out and Arc destroys it, freeing Ariane from its control. Fumba reveals that he is a Rozombanya Monster Sorcerer who can make monsters obey him. Arc questions him about the elves, but Fumba tells him that most of the elves were used in the Empire's magic experiments while he used the remainder as "food" for his "pet". Enraged, Arc quickly kills the white tiger monster, and Fumba orders his other controlled monsters to attack. Arc is easily able to slay the monsters, but when an ogre attacks the unconscious Ariane, Chiyome appears and uses her Water ninjutsu to overcome it, telling Fumba that the other Jinshin ninja have already dealt with his other monsters. Suddenly the ground begins shaking and Fumba flees, saying his greatest monster has awoken. Arc teleports everyone outside, where they are confronted by a five-headed Hydra. | |||||
| 12 | "I Shall Cut Through the World's Evils!" Transcription: "Konoyo no Aku o Ware wa Kiru!" (Japanese: の悪を我は斬る！) |
Yukio Takahashi | Takeshi Kikuchi | Katsumi Ono | June 23, 2022 |
| The hydra attacks Arc, Ariane and Chiyome with its fiery breath, leading Fumba to believe they have been destroyed. Fumba sends the hydra to destroy Kaysehk, while a flashback reveals that Fumba's clan Elders believed him undisciplined and weak, leading him to take service with Emperor Domitianus. Arc uses his Holy Shield to protect everyone, and Ariane (who has been aware of everything Fumba previously said about the elves) vows to destroy him. They split up, with Ariane and Chiyome chasing after Fumba while Arc stays behind to deal with the hydra. Before the hydra can reach Kaysehk, Arc summons the Infernal Demon Ifrit to battle the hydra. Ariane and Chiyome catch up with Fumba, and Ariane taunts him with his personal weakness. When Fumba is goaded enough to attack her, Chiyome attacks him and damages the magical body markings that allow him to control monsters. Ariane's fiery sword destroys Fumba's whip and the flames consume him. With the hydra damaged by Ifrit's attack, Arc flings it into the air and Ifrit destroys it with its flames. Meanwhile, Princess Yuriarna meets with Elven Elders Dillan and Lord Fangas, and they agree that the Rhoden Kingdom will take responsibility for the crimes against the elves, locate the missing/enslaved elves and defend elven territories in exchange for the elves backing Yuriarna in her bid for succession to the Rhoden throne. After learning this news (via Danka's Whispering Fowl), which means Ariane's mission is now officially over, Ariane is uneasy and uncertain about the future, but Arc and Chiyome reassure her. Sekt is disturbed by the news of Yuriarna surviving the assassination attempt and successfully negotiating with the elves, Yuriarna ponders her destiny, Domitianus learns about the destruction of Fumba and his monsters, Chiyome sees Arc's unhelmeted face for the first time, and Arc decides to continue his travels with his friends. | |||||
A second season was announced at Overlap Bunko's 10th anniversary event on December 15, 2024.
Web Radio[]
The web radio "Skeleton Knight, now on the way to the radio" will be distributed monthly on Onsen from January 28, 2022. The personalities are Tomoaki Maeno, who plays the role of Ark, and Nene Hieda, who plays the role of Ponta.
Social Reputation[]
Volumes 2, 3, and 5 of the books were ranked as high as 7th in the light novel weekly ranking by Shosen Book Tower.
This light novel is amazing! In 2017, it was described as "I can't stop being excited about the activities of the good-natured Skeleton Knight, who will lend a hand if there is an incident. It's exhilarating to see how the swordsmanship and magic that you've trained in the game can defeat the villain".
Reception[]
Previews[]
The anime adaptation's first episode received generally negative reviews from Anime News Network's staff during the Spring 2022 season previews. Caitlin Moore found its "mishmash of isekai clichés" dull and "pretty inoffensive" and was immediately put off by the graphic rape scene in the beginning and Arc's comical antics during and after said scene, calling it "a bad narrative choice all around, and deserves to be criticized for that in addition to being crass." James Beckett found the sexual assault opening "lascivious and needlessly cruel" and felt that Arc comes across as a "genuine sociopath" when going through violent scenarios. Nicholas Dupree also criticized the rape sequence as "a lazy, shameless bit of shock-jock writing" that felt out of place and ruins Arc's introduction by seeing his perspective of said sequence and feels like a bad joke afterwards. Rebecca Silverman found the "opening salvo" as a cheap ploy to grab viewers' attention and called the rest of the episode "shockingly bland", concluding that "a combination of insipid and offensive doesn't leave this with a whole lot to recommend it." Conversely, Richard Eisenbeis was positive towards Arc's personality and felt the bandit scene gave him some "character development", concluding that: "All in all, despite the rough start, I really enjoyed this episode and can't wait to see where things go from here as he inevitably forms a party and answers the call to adventure."
Series Reception[]
Stig Høgset, writing for THEM Anime Reviews, criticized the moral alignment and violent aspects of the fantasy world and some "pretty cheap-looking segments" throughout the episodes, but gave praise to Arc's enthusiastic character and both Ariane and Chiyome's backstories making them "more fleshed-out characters" outside of their interactions with Arc, concluding that: "It's not a terribly complicated show, so it works more like a mid-level popcorn entertainment version of deeper or grimmer shows like Re:Zero or Overlord, but like I once said about other shows; sometimes, you just want to relax and have some fun. Skeleton Knight in Another World's got your back there."
External Links[]
- Skeleton Knight in Another World ─ Web novel at Shōsetsuka ni Narō (in Japanese)
- Skeleton Knight in Another World ─ Light novel official website (in Japanese)
- Skeleton Knight in Another World ─ Manga official website (in Japanese)
- TV Anime "Skeleton Knight in Another World" Official website (in Japanese)
- Skeleton Knight in Another World ─ Official (@gaikotsukishi)- Twitter
- Skeleton Knight in Another World ─ Wikipedia (in Japanese)
- Skeleton Knight in Another World ─ Wikipedia (in English)
See Also[]
- Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata: Senjou wo Kakeru Kaifuku Youin, Another light novel series with the same illustrator.
- Saiaku no Avalon: Game Saijaku no Akuyaku Debu ni Teni shita kedo, Ore dake "Yasereba Tsuyokute New Game" na Sekai Datta node, Saisoku Level Up & Hametsu Flag Kaihi de Kage no Eiyuu wo Mezashimasu, Another light novel series with the same illustrator.
Trivia[]
to be added,