"Just Your Average Day at Magical Highschool in Another World"
"I forgot to teach him common sense!"
— Merlin Walford about his grandson, Shin
Before reincarnating to this fantasy world, Shin Walford was a hardworking employee back in his original world until he got hit by a truck. Reincarnating as a baby in the fantasy world, Shin's biological family in said world were murdered by some monsters during their travel in the forest. Fortunately, Shin was adopted by an old wanderer who reveals himself to be Merlin Walford, one of the Living Legends from Earlsheid Kingdom who defeated a rampaging demon.
Shin grew up to be a talented young boy due to both Merlin and his ex-wife, Melida, treating Shin well until his 15th birthday. He learns all kinds of powerful magic from his grandfather and seemingly masters some pretty powerful spells by himself to the point he even surpasses his grandfather.
However, there are two things that Merlin forgot to teach: "common sense and social skills" so that Shin could adapt to society. Fortunately, Merlin's friend, King Diseum von Earlsheid, enrolls Shin into a prestigious magic academy not only for learning how Shin's skills are different compared to other magic users, but also to help Shin fit into society and make friends.
Wise Man's Grandchild (Kenja no Mago) is a Web Serial Novel written by Tsuyoshi Yoshioka, which was originally released on the site Shousetsuka ni Narou from 2015 to 2022. The web novel was later published under the Famitsu Bunko imprint as a series of Light Novels beginning in July 2015, with illustrations by Seiji Kikuchi, and it also has a manga adaptation illustrated by Shunsuke Ogata which began serialization in the seinen magazine Young Ace UP in 2016. An anime adaptation by SILVER LINK. was broadcast on April 10, 2019, and ran for 12 episodes.
Tropes for this series include:
- Aerith and Bob: Shin, the reincarnating protagonist, who is surrounded by more of a medieval fantasy world where just about everyone has more western and exotic names. His adoptive grandfather, by comparison? Merlin.
- Asshole Victim: The nobility of the Bluesphere Empire end up mauled by Schtrom's demonized beasts or lynched by their own vengeful peasants. Considering what we see and hear of them (especially in flashbacks), it's a little hard to be sympathetic.
- Atrocious Alias: Due to Shin being put on the spot in front of a crowd, he names the team the Ultimate Magicians to the embarrassment of most of them, with him immediately regretting it as well.
- Bears Are Bad News: Merlin takes Shin out demon hunting when he's 10 years old, the demon in question turning out to be one of these. However, Shin acts so quickly that Merlin is unable to assist, and his classmates are in shock that he's killed one already, even though he didn't think it was such a big deal.
- Berserk Button: Played for laughs, as Shin seemingly dislikes his shoulder getting patted by someone else. Played straight with Sicily being put in danger.
- Beta Couple: A whole bunch of them, which is really rare for this sort of LNs. The first introduced is between Mark Bean and Olivia Stone, with subtle allusions their relationship is sexually active. The second revealed is between August von Earlsheid and Elizabeth von Coral, who were royally betrothed from childhood.
- Cool Old Guy: Merlin, who was one of the first people to take down a demonized human who had wreaked havoc on a town and killed lots of people before he arrived.
- The Corruptor: Kurt was a self-confident but otherwise normal student until he met Professor Schtrom. Whether his new attitude stemmed from an impressionable mind, magical manipulation, or a combination of the two, it becomes fairly obvious that Kurt was deliberately molded into the kind of person we meet in the story.
- Dandere: Sicily von Claude is a rather shy and timid girl who is rather soft-spoken and polite towards other people. She also goes on an outburst when it comes to embarrassing situations.
- Demon of Human Origin: Humans with magic ability become demons when they go berserk. Individuals who are already demons, such as Oliver Schtrom, can also turn others into one as well, like what he did to Kurt.
- Downer Beginning: Like many Isekai protagonists, Shin was hit by a truck and died while on his way home from work, back on his original homeworld. Then when he gets reincarnated, his new family is massacred by monsters. Fortunately, an old wanderer named Merlin adopts him and raises him as a grandson.
- Everyone Can See It: It's pretty obvious to their friends that Shin and Sicily are into each other. But Shin doesn't quite get the significance of his attraction to her, and Sicily is too shy to make a move on her own.
- Full-Circle Revolution: The once-corrupt Bluesphere Empire is now ruled by demons born from its formerly-oppressed commoners.
- Gorn: When the going gets rough, the manga isn't afraid to show the results of people being blown in half, torn apart, or otherwise, entrails included.
- Grumpy Old Man: A female version. Melida Bowen often nags if Shin does something careless.
- Happily Adopted: Shin is truly happy when he gets adopted as a grandson of Merlin Walford, despite his grandfather telling him the truth: that he is adopted and his parents were killed. This is due to both his adoptive grandfather and grandmother taking good care of him.
- Knight of Cerebus: The emergence of the Demon nation. It completely flips the entire world's priorities on their heads when they aren't facing conflict amongst themselves and immediately shifts the tone of the storyline into something much, much darker.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to the original light novel and the manga adaptation, the anime not only softens up character designs, but also focuses more on the Slice of Life elements of the storyline first and foremost, compared to how dark the series could get previously. The manga is definitively Darker and Edgier in comparison.
- Living Legend: Both Merlin Walford and his wife Melida Bowen were hailed as the legendary heroes of Earlsheid Kingdom after they defeated a legendary demon in the past, and are still living today as Shin's adoptive grandparents.
- Loophole Abuse: Shin is told that he's not allowed to change the enchantments on his school uniform. When he asks if it was okay if his grandmother Melida did it instead, the instructor says it should be okay. Shin then goes about enchanting his uniform on his own, giving it some massive upgrades such as auto-healing. He does at least allow Melida to check his handiwork afterwards, though she seems to approve of it.
- Love at First Sight: Both Shin and Sicily at each other. Sicily after Shin rescues her, Shin after mesmerized by Sicily's appearance.
- Magical Incantation: Double Subverted. At first Shin is relieved that you don't have to cast magic without an incantation, as he finds that kind of thing embarrassing. Only to find out later that most people do need it; it's only due to his Grandfather and his own skill, that they can skip that step and just use pure willpower to cast their spells.
- Oblivious to Love: Shin is obviously attracted to Sicily, but doesn't realize it (or that she likes him back) until she accidentally blurts out a desire to have his children. Granted, Shin is oblivious to a lot, socially speaking.
- Official Couple: Shin and Sicily are officially engaged by the end of Vol. 2 of the novels.
- Off with His Head!: Shin does this to a demon bear, and later is forced to do the same to a demonized Kurt.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Just about anyone else, compared to Shin. During the school entrance exams, he's shocked by how weak the other students' spells are. When it's his turn, he tries to hold back, but still winds up destroying all the targets that the other students barely even scratched.
- Our Demons Are Different: Demons are creatures that have lost control of their magic, vastly enhancing their physical abilities but also driving them berserk. While this mostly applies to animals, humans are not exempt from this, either.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: When Sicily rejects Kurt's engagement proposal, Kurt ends up snapping and calling her a whore while saying that women's only job is to obey and please their men.
- Power Perversion Potential: Shin makes a necklace for Sicily with a "Prevent Foreign Intrusion" enchantment on it. He made it to protect her from poisons and diseases, however Melida quickly figures out that it can also be used as a contraceptive. When he gives out copies to his teammates, Tony immediately asks for another one.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Diseum von Earlsheid is the current king of Earlsheid Kingdom. He has a pretty relaxed personality towards Shin and sees him as his own nephew. He's also the person who enrolls Shin into the Magic Academy so that he can assess how different Shin is compared to other magically gifted people. It is also revealed that when Earlsheid Kingdom were attacked by a demon in the past, Diseum tried his best to participate in the battle to reduce the casualties.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: All demonized individuals, whether beasts or humans, have bright red sclera to their eyes. Schtrom initially hides his behind an opaque visor, up until it is destroyed and his nature outed.
- Reincarnate in Another World: Shin dies in a truck accident before being reincarnated with his memories intact.
- Rescue Romance: Sicily falls in love with Shin after he saves her and Melissa from some Demon Hunters who were aggressively hitting on them.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The demonized citizens of the former Bluesphere Empire sought to control the world by attacking many kingdoms, making them no different, if not worse than the once-corrupt empire itself.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: When Kurt starts trying to throw his high social status around to boss or intimidate other students, Prince August shows up and reminds him that social standing has no sway in the school. And if Kurt really insisted on going that route, he would pull his rank as the prince to stop him.
- Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Shin's level of magical abilities is probably on par with his grandfather Merlin. However, due to his complete lack of social interaction, partly due to Merlin never taking him into town early on, he lacks many basic socialization skills when he first interacts with others around his age.
- Schizo Tech: The world and technology level Shin is reborn in seems to be around the late Middle Ages. However, their uniforms and outfits wouldn't look too out of place in a modern day setting.
- Secret Test of Character: When Shin offers to enchant Sicily's uniform to have much stronger protections in case she gets attacked by someone, Melida, suspecting Sicily may be using him, starts asking her if she really feels worthy of it. The pressure gets to Sicily, causing her to break down in tears, saying she wasn't worthy of it. She tries to run out of the room, but is stopped by Melida, who thanks her for her truthfulness, and tells her that had she truly of only wanted to use him, she would've kicked her out of the house.
- Shipper on Deck: Pretty much all their friends and families support Shin and Sicily getting together.
- Shout-Out: In the manga, Shin taught his friends the Gate Spell by opening one to his house bathroom occupied with a flustered Merlin, mimicking Nobita's tendency to open the Everywhere Door to Shizuka's bathroom.
- Stalker with a Crush: Both Melissa and Sicily view Kurt von Rietsbug as one, due to his crush on Sicily. Kurt tries to stalk Sicily so that she can become engaged to him.
- Starter Villain: Kurt unintentionally acts as one, acting rather rude and snobbish towards Shin during their first encounter. His anger towards Shin is later exploited, turning him into a demon in the process.
- Start My Own: The other S-class students in Shin's class suggest they start a club to master various different magics on par with his. Their teacher even offers to step in as the adviser, which further excites them. The only one who isn't interested is Shin, which doesn't stop them from forming one anyway.
- Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: One of the reasons Shin's magic is so powerful is because he understands basic scientific principles like combustion. Instead of imagining just fire, he imagines a dangerous mixture of gases that explode with far more force than what anyone else can produce.
- These Hands Have Killed: Shin is visibly disturbed after he's forced to kill a demonized Kurt, who was otherwise going to use an explosion to take out at least half of the school.
- Tim Taylor Technology: The more magic used in a spell, the more effective it is. However, each individual spellcaster can only harness so much magic before it literally blows up in their face. Much like strength training, it is possible to increase that limit by slowly pushing past it.
- Vibroweapon: Shin has an enchantment on his sword to make it this. It's otherwise a perfectly ordinary blade.
- The Von Trope Family: A good portion of the cast comes from nobility and has this as part of their names.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The demonized people that took over Bluesphere want the lands free from the oppression of nobility and machinations of violence, as they're all victims of these very things. The problem is that they're willing to manipulate and commit genocide in order to achieve these goals, creating turmoil among them. Schtrom himself believes that Utopia Justifies the Means, taking this trope to the highest extent of the main antagonists.
- Wizarding School: The Earlsheid Magic Academy. Diseum suggests Shin be enrolled here to learn about society, make friends, and see the difference between him and other magicians.
