Behold the Childhood Friend Romance
27-year-old Hotta Youta was a virgin, a high-school dropout and a former hikikomori working in a metalworking factory. His life has been a living hell from childhood on, and on his way home from work one night, he is stabbed to death by a drug addict. Youta is reborn in a fantasy world as a baby named Lute, but with the memories of his life in modern Japan. Upon learning about a rare magic tool called "Magic Liquid Metal", he puts his knowledge of guns and metalworking to work in creating guns for himself and his childhood friend Snow in order to survive in this new world.
Gun-ota ga Mahou Sekai ni Tensei Shitara, Gendai Heiki de Guntai Harem o Tsukucchaimashita!? ("When a Gun Nerd is Reincarnated to a World of Magic, He Established a Harem Army with Modern Weapons!?") is a series of Light Novels written by Shisui Meikyou and illustrated by Suzuri, which was published for twelve volumes from 2014 to 2017. It has a manga adaptation which was serialized in Dragon Age from 2015 to 2023 and compiled into 15 volumes.
Associated Tropes:
- Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: To date, female beast-men tend to be mostly human with only animal ears, and maybe a tail. Male beast-men tend to be more beast than man.
- Book Ends: the first gun that Lute created is a whole revolver that doesn't work; the final weapon he made to defeat his friend Kouji is a fully working Peacemaker Revolver in one piece.
- Card-Carrying Villain: The vast, vast majority of antagonists are quite proud of their villainy and happily advertise it. They get away with it because they can usually bulldoze their way past any resistance, either by physical strength, political clout, or both.
- Chekhov's Hobby: Combined with Workplace-Acquired Abilities. Lute, before reincarnating in the new world, was a gun otaku and found a job in a metalworking facility. This allows him to craft modern firearms, after a bit of trial-and-error. With them, he's able to go toe to toe with monsters way above his level, even when he was just a child!
- Childhood Friend Romance: Lute's first, and primary, love interest has been with him since they were both infants.
- Doorstop Baby: Lute and Snow were abandoned at an orphanage door. Neither of them know if their parents are even alive.
- Fantastic Racism: Mostly averted, as all races are equal in the eyes of the law, except for the high elves. The vast majority of them honestly believe that the rest of the races on the planet were put there purely to wait on them, hand and foot.
- Fantasy Gun Control: Enforced, but Defied. Arthurius the leader of "Origin" tried to negotiate with Lute in regards to Peacemaker's ability to fight without magic. Arthurius tried to convince Lute and in extension the Peacemaker to join Origin in an effort to control Peacemaker's potential ability to possibly arm anyone that can easily kill a magician and monsters without any magic power. Lute meanwhile was savvy enough that Origin just wants their armory so they can expand their power and influence more than ever. This cause Lute to literally shoot him down and his offer in the face.
- Little Bit Beastly: The Beast Man races are all mostly human with only minor animal traits, like tails and animal ears, like Snow on the page image.
- Morality Kitchen Sink: All flavors of morality, good, bad, indifferent, and ugly, are shown.
- Our Demons Are Different: The "Demon" race is merely another sentient race, but in the origin story for this new world, there were evil demon gods that corrupted and twisted the work of the gods of creation, and are responsible for the Always Chaotic Evil monster races.
- Polyamory: Lute winds up getting married to not one but two girls, and they propose to him!
- Reincarnate in Another World: Lute reincarnates in a new world with memories of his life in modern Japan. There's evidence he's not alone. And later averted, as it turns out the world that Youta reincarnated into is not another world, but rather, the future of our world, and he has no idea at all.
- Running Gag: Lute's intense fanaticsm with modern toilets. Later it helped him develop a tank.
- School Bullying Is Harmless: Defied with a vengeance. Lute and a childhood friend were bullied relentlessly, until Lute was transferred to another class, and his friend was Driven to Suicide. The bully ringleader blamed Lute for his life being destroyed by the consequences, chased him down, and stabbed him to death with a knife.
- Shown Their Work: The author goes into exquisite detail explaining the firearms that Lute builds, and how they work, even providing on-screen schematics of the parts.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Being kidnapped and sold into slavery is an ever-present threat. Lute learns this the hard way at the start of his adventuring career, because the orphanage director, who advised him to take up adventuring to pursue his dream, neglected to warn him. This is actually rather odd considering she's been quite kind and conscientious in raising him, and genuinely wanted him to succeed.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Peacemaker's quick rise to their fame and reputation by defeating their opponents with advanced weaponry and tactics might be nice in paper but defeating a Gold Class Legion one-sidely and exterminating monsters with ease without magic automatically puts them in crosshairs of the Orihalcum Class "Origin". It goes to a point that their leader Arthurius wanted the Peacemaker so Origin can control their weaponry.
- Villains Want Mercy: Almost all the villains beg, cower, and plead for their lives when they're on the receiving end of a beatdown. This includes those with a history of sadism and cruelty, who've boasted about enjoying the pleas of their victims. Lute, for his part, does not oblige if he has the final say on it.
