Title: The Ossan Newbie Adventurer Vol. 1
Author: Kiraku Kishima (Story), Ken Ogino (Art), Tea (Characters)
Publisher: One Peace Books
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 144
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Publication Date: September 23, 2025
The Story
Ossan Newbie Adventurer is about a former guild receptionist named Rick. He always dreamed of becoming an adventurer, but when he turned 16 years old, he became a receptionist at the local guild and worked there until he was 30. That’s when he takes matters into his own hands and quits so that he can train to become an adventurer. The only issue is that he’s now well past his prime and will be competing with far younger adventurers.
That’s not a problem because the strongest party in the world takes Rick under their wing and brutally trains him for two years. Now a 32-year-old F rank adventurer, Rick takes his first big step by participating in a series of trials to be promoted to E rank. Unfortunately for the other adventurers, his two years of training in the mountains turned Rick into one of the strongest adventurers in the world. He just doesn’t know it yet because of his low confidence.
But readers will quickly see how powerful he is. In the very first chapter, he leaves a dent in the steel armor belonging to an A-rank adventurer using just his fist. Then, during his first trial, he obliterates a wall. Everyone around him is shocked at how powerful he is, and he quickly makes a few enemies.
Characters
Rick is a great protagonist for Ossan Newbie Adventurer. He doesn’t have any aptitude for magic, so he uses his brute strength to plow through his opponents. He’s also not that confident in his ability, despite being so strong. He spent two years training with the strongest party in the world, but he doesn’t really believe that his training amounted to much. Even though he becomes as strong as an S-rank adventurer, he’s been comparing himself to people who are much stronger than he is, and he begins to doubt himself. Rick is also very down-to-earth and relatable. He’s in his 30s, had a normal career, and is just very likable.
Next is Angelica. Her little brother Freed is one of the adventurer candidates who happens to be a prodigy. But when Rick outshines and offends him, she steps in and challenges Rick to a duel. There’s a decent bit of fan service during their fight, but those moments take a backseat to her simply being badass. Angelica has a cool design, and when compared to normal people, she’s super strong. On the surface, it seems like she might be a little annoying and maybe even a brat, but it’s shown that she cares a lot for her brother and has the potential to be a very interesting character.
The last of the characters who have a big role in the first volume is Reanette. She’s a dark elf and one of the members of the party that took Rick in. Like Angelica, she has a few subtle fan service moments, but she’s the polar opposite. Reanette is more formal, and she’s always cool and calm. She’s the only one from the party to travel with Rick to his trials, and she teaches him a lot about how adventuring works. She also appears to be very loyal to Rick, which means there will probably be a lot of backstory that’s explored in future volumes.
There are a few flashbacks to Rick’s training that reference the other members, but they aren’t actually there while Rick is doing his trials. That is, until the rest make an appearance at the end of the volume during a cliffhanger. That implies that volume two will go into much greater detail surrounding the rest of them.
Final Thoughts
Ossan Newbie Adventurer is a power fantasy right from the start, but I really like how there’s a valid reason for being a power fantasy. Most series I’ve read use power fantasy simply as a means of being cool. It’s the same here, but we’re aware that Rick spent two years training to reach his peak potential. It all happens before the story starts, but knowing the protagonist is what he is because he put in real effort is a nice change of pace.
But I did have one gripe with the story, and that was its believability. I know you’re supposed to enact some amount of suspension of disbelief when consuming fiction, but there was one part that bothered me. Throughout the volume, Rick is constantly learning about the mechanics of the world. He learns about the guild ranks, he learns about the order of the knights, and he’s trying to judge the strength of other adventurers. This is very important so that readers know how the world works, but it doesn’t make sense in the story.
Explaining everything to the protagonist works in Isekai because they’re new to the world. It also works in stories such as Wise Man’s Grandchild and Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town because the protagonist lived a sheltered life. But Rick was a guild receptionist for 14 years and worked directly with adventurers. I find it very hard to believe that he would just forget how the country worked because he went to live in the mountains for two years.
That’s just me, but it was tough to pay attention to the story when this disconnect was on display nearly every chapter. But other than that, it’s a very fun read. Get past the plot, and Ossan Newbie Adventurer becomes a very action and character-driven story. There are lots of fun moments where Rick is oblivious to how cool he is, and there are a lot of interesting characters.
The combo of Rick, Reanette, and Angelica was more than enough to keep me interested throughout the first volume. Overall, Ossan Newbie Adventurer is definitely worth checking out.
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This item was provided for review by One Peace Books.
