is a Japanese

light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...

series written by Kaitō and illustrated by Almic. It began serialization online in April 2019 on the user-generated novel publishing website

Shōsetsuka ni Narō is a Japanese novel self-publishing website created by . It was launched on April 2, 2004. Users can upload their novels free of charge and the novels are also free to read. As of December 2022, the site hosts close to 1,000,000 novels, has over ...

. It was later acquired by

Hobby Japan is a Japanese publishing company known for publishing and releasing books, magazines, light novels, games, and collectibles. Founded in 1969, the company owns and distributes such publications as the eponymous ''Hobby Japan EX'' magazine, as w ...

, who have published eleven volumes since July 2021 under their

HJ Bunko is a publishing label affiliated with the Japanese publishing company Hobby Japan. It was established in July 2006 and is a light novel label that is aimed at a young adult male readership. Hobby Japan publishes a bimonthly light novel magazine ti ...

imprint. A

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

adaptation with art by Terio Teri has been serialized in

Akita Shoten is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Teio Akita in 1948. As of May 2023, the company's president is Shigeru Higuchi. The company is known for publishing the manga magazine '' Weekly Shōnen Champ ...

's ''seinen'' manga web magazine ''Dokodemo Young Champion'' since August 2021 and has been collected in five ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' volumes. An

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series adaptation produced by Gekkō aired from July to September 2024.

Characters

; : : Main protagonist of the story and a low level adventurer that remains on the first floor after hearing his two male friends from school explain how they quit after running into a goblin on the second floor. He remains happy on the first floor killing slimes and makes it up to 999 slimes. His 1,000th slime is a golden slime that drops a summoning card for a Valkyrie. He later finds and defeats a silver slime that rewards him a Demon. ; : : A Valkyrie that is rewarded to Kaito after killing his 1,000th slime and earning him the title Slime Slayer. She is a short statured young woman that resembles an older child. She wears silver armor and she has blue hair with blue eyes. Her main skills are offensive lightning and a defensive barrier that she can create. She often shows jealousy to Luceria and is very sensitive and encouraging to Kaito. Kaito eventually gives her the nickname Syl. ; : : A childhood friend and neighbor to Kaito. She often discourages Kaito from going to the local dungeon. Her father helped to inspire Kaito to go down to the dungeon and become an explorer. ; : : A demon summon rewarded to Kaito after killing a silver slime. Unlike the more reserved and nurturing Syl, Luceria is blunt and at first bemoans being the summon of Kaito. Like other summons, she requires the crystals dropped by monsters, but she has a habit of always asking for more crystals despite her workload. Her character has dark hair and also resembles an older child. Kaito eventually gives her the nickname Luce. Her skills involve strong fire magic and disintegrating ability. ; : : A female adventurer that Kaito meets in the dungeon along with her two female party members. She uses a naginata and has trained in her family dojo to use it as she dreams of becoming a hero. This dream is one she shares with Kaito. Eventually Kaito joins her party so they can clear more levels in the dungeon. She is a first year in college and attends the college that is the first choice for Katsuragi. She becomes infatuated with Kaito the more time she spends with him. ; : : ; : :

Media

Light novel

Written by Kaitō, ''A Nobody's Way Up to an Exploration Hero'' began serialization on the user-generated novel publishing website

on April 9, 2019. It was later acquired by

who began releasing it under their

imprint with illustrations by Almic in July 2021. Eleven volumes have been released as of March 1, 2025.

Manga

adaptation illustrated by Terio Teri began serialization in

's ''seinen'' manga web magazine ''Dokodemo Young Champion'' on August 24, 2021. Its chapters have been collected into five ''

'' volumes as of March 2025.

Anime

television series adaptation was announced in December 2023. It is produced by Gekkō and directed by

Tomoki Kobayashi is a Japanese anime director. Anime involved with *'' A Nobody's Way Up to an Exploration Hero'': Director *''Akame ga Kill!'': Director, Storyboard (eps 1, 24), Episode Director (eps 1, 24) *''Amagami SS+ plus'': Director, Storyboard (ep 3) *''F ...

, with

Kazuyuki Fudeyasu is a Japanese anime screenwriter. He debuted in 1997 and has worked on numerous series since, including ''Black Clover'', ''That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime'', and ''By the Grace of the Gods''. Fudeyasu usually spells his name with kanji. ...

handling series composition, Shoko Yasuda designing the characters, and Keiji Inai composing the music. The series aired from July 6 to September 21, 2024, on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV (channel 9), branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent station, independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city and parts ...

and other networks. The opening theme song is "Up Start" performed by

Amatsuki is a manga series by Shinobu Takayama, serialized in ''Monthly Comic Zero Sum''. A 13 episode anime adaptation produced by Studio Deen premiered on April 4, 2008. Plot Tokidoki is a Japanese high school student who, when he fails his history ...

, while the ending theme song is performed by

May'n , better known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer from Nagoya. Aspiring to become a singer since childhood, she began her music activities in 2003 upon passing an audition held by talent agency Horipro International. She made her major de ...

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

streamed the series.

Muse Communication Muse Communication Co., Ltd. (also known simply as Muse) is a Taiwanese distributor and licensor that specializes in the distribution of Japanese animation. Based in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, the company also distributes Asian and E ...

licensed the series in Southeast Asia.

Episodes

Notes

References

External links

* at

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nobody's Way Up to an Exploration Hero, A 2021 Japanese novels Akita Shoten manga Anime and manga based on light novels Crunchyroll anime Fantasy anime and manga Gekkō (studio) Japanese fantasy novels Japanese webcomics HJ Bunko Light novels Light novels first published online Muse Communication Seinen manga Shōsetsuka ni Narō Tokyo MX original programming Webcomics in print