The Spring 2023 Manga Guide

Quality Assurance in Another World

What's It About? 

Nikola is a village girl, living a quiet life in the countryside. Then, one day, a dragon shows up and everything changes -- not because of the fire-breathing serpent, but because of Haga, the man who shows up and "debugs" the situation. He's a part of an elite society called the "Seekers," created to address a series of maladies plaguing the usually peaceful world. Could it be that your life is nothing like what you thought? And what, exactly, is "QA?" Nobody's getting reincarnated here!

Quality Assurance in Another World has story and art by Masamichi Sato, with English translation by Jacqueline Fung, and lettering by Jamil Stewart. Kodansha Comics released the first volume digitally in June 2021 and released the physical version on April 4.

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

I wouldn't precisely call it a novel twist on the old trapped-in-a-VR-game genre (which, if you're wondering, dates back further than you might think; the first one I remember is Vivian Vande Velde's User Unfriendly from 1990), but it's something a little different. Quality Assurance in Another World makes unsavory business practices the basis of its isekai adventure when groups of debuggers discover they can't log out. Unlike SAO, the goal isn't just to beat the game; it's to successfully debug it, something very few people are keen to continue doing after a year of living in-game.

Haga, our protagonist, is one of the exceptions. When we meet him, he has been refusing to use debugger privileges, grinding away, and faithfully sending reports back to the devs. We know they are still out there monitoring things because, in the last chapter, we see them implementing fixes based on Haga's reports. So, the whole "unscrupulous business model" angle is still alive, which means that Haga and the other debuggers are deliberately stuck rather than an apocalyptic event happening back in the real world. This adds a sense of desperation to Haga's work because there's a goal that the devs want him to fulfill before they'll let him out. At this point, I'm not sure that anyone who stopped working will be granted the same boon.

Our entry point to the story is via Nikola, a young NPC, which is different enough to make it interesting. Nikola is the excuse for Haga to explain various elements as she learns about the world as a starry-eyed young girl, creating an engaging juxtaposition with the saddened and world-weary Haga. Nikola's ability to join him on his journey also raises an interesting question about in-game AI versus the developers because it's not entirely clear which of the two tinkered with her backstory to allow her to leave her village to follow him.

Long story short, I enjoyed this far more than I expected. It isn't quite an old tale in a new skin, but it's just different enough (and, admittedly, similar to Vande Velde's novels, which I liked) to stand out. Additionally, Nikola's nicely detailed costume design adds to the appeal. This series might be worth giving a second volume.

Jean-Karlo Lemus

Rating:

Well, credit to the manga, the idea is actually pretty novel: like a bizarro Sword Art Online, Haga and his friends are trapped in a full-dive VR game and all Haga can do is just continue to log bug reports in the hopes that it helps him escape the game world. There are even some stakes at play: we see two of his friends who've been stuck in game-breaking loops because of their misuse of the Debug mode. There are also other stakes in the form of rival debuggers who've decided to make the game world their own little fiefdom, abusing the NPCs at their leisure. There's a bit of humor to be had, such as when Haga spends a day bashing against a town's walls to check for geometry clips or happening upon a town where everyone is T-posing; it helps add a bit of character to the series. Haga himself is a bit dry as a character, but the diligence with which he pursues his mission of bug testing is admirable. He's not the deepest or the coolest guy, but he's a good guy. Given the otherwise low-key feel of the manga, that's enough.

Quality Assurance in Another World might not be the prettiest manga or even the most original, but it's got charms in spades, and that does help make up for things. It's creative enough to land it a solid recommendation.