Arifureta

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest (ありふれた職業で世界最強) (lit. 'The world's strongest in a common job') is a Japanese light novel series written by Ryo Shirakome and illustrated by Takayaki. Originally a web novel, the series was published in print from June 2015 to September 2022. The series follows Hajime Nagumo, a bullied high school student who is transported to another world with the rest of his class and his school teacher to fight in a war against the demon race. After he is betrayed and left to die by one of his classmates, Hajime begins a journey to improve himself and find a way for everyone to return home. The novels are licensed in English by J-Novel Club, with Seven Seas Entertainment publishing them in print. The English translation of the light novel was done by Murtaza Burhan. A prequel light novel was published in 2017.

The series has received a manga adaptation, serialized on Overlap's Comic Gardo website since 2016, as well as a yonkoma comedy spinoff and a manga adaptation of the prequel novel, all three licensed by Seven Seas. An anime television series adaptation by White Fox and Asread aired from July to October 2019. A second season by Asread and Studio Mother aired from January to March 2022. A third season is set to premiere in October 2024.

Plot
High-schooler Hajime Nagumo is bullied by some of his classmates for his relationship with the class idol, Kaori. When he and the rest of his class are transported to a fantasy world, all of his classmates get powerful magical abilities, while Hajime only gains the basic alchemical magic to transmute solid materials, a common ability usually found in craftsmen and smiths. During a dungeon raid, he is betrayed by one of his classmates and dropped to the bottom of the dungeon. He survives the fall and creates weapons to escape the dungeon and become stronger. On his journey, he meets with the imprisoned vampire Yue, and later is joined by the bunny-eared Shea, the perverted dragon Tio, and others.

Publication
Ryo Shirakome originally published the series as a web novel on the user-submitted content site Shōsetsuka ni Narō. The main story ran for eight books from November 7, 2013, to October 31, 2015, and has been followed by three after-stories and an extra story since. The series was picked up for publication by Overlap, and they released the first light novel, with illustrations by Takayaki, under their Overlap Bunko imprint in June 2015. When the anime adaptation was announced to have been delayed until 2019, the eighth volume of the light novel was also delayed by a month, from March to April 2018. The series ended with the release of its thirteenth volume.

A prequel light novel series titled Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Zero (ありふれた職業で世界最強　零), or Arifureta Zero, was published from December 2017 to December 2021 in six volumes.

Digital publisher J-Novel Club licensed the series for an English release, and published the first chapter on February 21, 2017. During their panel at Anime Expo 2017, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they would publish a print version of the novels as part of their collaboration with J-Novel Club. J-Novel Club has also licensed Arifureta Zero, and the series was the publisher's first simultaneous publication.

Manga
A manga adaptation by RoGa has been published on Overlap's Comic Gardo website since its inception on December 22, 2016, and the first volume was published three days later on December 25 to coincide with the release of the fifth light novel. The series has been licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment.

A yonkoma comedy spinoff by Misaki Mori, titled Arifureta: I Heart Isekai (ありふれた日常で世界最強), began serialization on Overlap's Comic Gardo website on July 11, 2017. Seven Seas announced their license to the series on January 10, 2019.

An adaptation of the prequel light novel Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Zero by Ataru Kamichi began serialization on February 23, 2018, on the Comic Gardo website. Seven Seas announced their license to the series on January 10, 2019.

Audio drama
A series of two drama CDs were released with the seventh, eighth, and tenth volumes of the light novel on December 25, 2017, April 25, 2018, and June 25, 2019. The drama CDs share the same voice cast as the anime.

Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced on December 3, 2017. The series was initially intended to premiere in April 2018, but on January 15, 2018, its release was pushed back due to "various circumstances". Originally, the series would have been directed by Jun Kamiya and written by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu, with animation by studio White Fox and character designs by Atsuo Tobe, who also would have served as chief animation director. However, following the postponement, it was announced on April 29, 2018, that Kinji Yoshimoto would be taking over as director and studio Asread would be joining White Fox as animators. Additionally, Chika Kojima took over from Atsuo Tobe as character designer to adapt Takayaki's original designs, and Kazuyuki Fudeyasu left his position as scriptwriter, being replaced by Shoichi Sato and Kinji Yoshimoto. Ryō Takahashi composed the series' music. Void_Chords feat. LIO performed the series' opening theme "FLARE", while DracoVirgo performs the series' ending theme "First Song" (ハジメノウタ).

The series aired from July 8 to October 7, 2019, on AT-X, Tokyo MX, SUN, and BS11. It ran for 13 episodes. Two original video animations (OVA) were released with the second and third home video sets on December 25, 2019, and February 26, 2020.

Funimation had licensed the series for an English simulcast and SimulDub. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll.

After the first season's finale, it was announced that the series would receive a second season. Akira Iwanaga replaced Kinji Yoshimoto as director, and Studio Mother replaced White Fox as the secondary studio. The rest of the staff and cast returned to reprise their roles. It aired from January 13 to March 31, 2022, on AT-X, Tokyo MX, and BS11, and is available to watch on iQiyi. The opening theme is "Daylight" by MindaRyn, while the ending theme is "Gedō Sanka" (外道讃歌) by FantasticYouth. A two-part OVA was released on September 25, 2022 titled "The Miraculous Meeting and the Phantasmagorical Adventure" (幻の冒険と奇跡の邂逅).

On September 10, 2022, it was announced that a third season is in production. Asread is animating the season, with Akira Iwanaga, Shoichi Sato, and Chika Kojima returning as director, scriptwriter, and character designer, respectively. It is set to premiere in October 2024. The opening theme is "Unending Wish" by Void_Chords featuring MindaRyn.

Reception
The series was the 27th best-selling light novel series in the first half of 2017, with 84,372 copies sold.

Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network enjoyed the series, praising it for its central premise and how it was "good twist on the genre conventions" by making its hero have to work for his overpowered hero status instead of immediately gaining it like many light novel protagonists. She criticized the series for its depiction of the romantic relationship between Hajime and Yue, which she called "unhealthy", and also felt that the translation wasn't as good as some of J-Novel Club's other releases.

The anime adaptation was subjected to extremely sharp and negative criticism. Christopher Farris of the Anime News Network, cited manufacturing issues as the main causes of the series's failure. Farris points to the poor quality of the animation and the first episode missing most of the original source of the original novel.