The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest Volume 6 Review

In Volume 5 of The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest, we saw Matthias get dragon companion Iris accepted into Second Academy. But now the demon invasion is closer than ever and our protagonist must prepare both the kingdom and his companions to fight off the great evil approaching. 

Before the demons arrive, Matthias puts Iris through some special training to ensure she’s fully capable of handling herself in the battle to come. He also teaches Lurie how to create weapons with special enchantments on them, as well as arrows for Alma to use. In the end, Matthias creates a new sword for Lurie, a bow for Alma and a spear for Iris and takes them down to the dungeon to test them out. 

Naturally, the weapons Matthias has created for his companions are completely overpowered, but since they’re going up against demons later in the book their power more or less balances out with the strength of the enemies. 

Of course, the demon invasion is the real highlight of this instalment of the series as Matthias begins the Great Barrier Plan. The plan is to finally put a defensive wall up around the kingdom now that all the materials are in place but while this is happening, Matthias won’t be able to defend the people and instead has to rely on his party members and the other students of the Second Academy to fight off any demons who appear. 

While Matthias has been the star of the last few volumes, this time around we finally get to see Lurie and Alma show off in some impressive fight scenes all of their own. They have confidence in their abilities now and even facing off against a powerful demon doesn’t concern them the way it would have at the beginning of the series. 

It’s refreshing to have Matthias sidelined for a bit so the other characters can take centre stage. There has yet to be an enemy that Matthias can’t defeat and that’s fine since the premise of the book is that he’s the strongest, but sometimes it’s nice to have a high stakes battle and letting Alma and Lurie fight finally offers us that. 

The other benefit of not having Matthias be the focal point for a battle means the art can shine in new ways. Where our protagonist is usually a close-range fighter, Alma instead wields a bow and arrow, meaning her battles normally take place over a long range. I like how these battles play out since there is more room for double-page spreads where arrows fly across from Alma to the enemy.  

The other nice thing about Volume 6 is that it’s bringing an end to the ongoing demon invasion storyline that started back in Volume 3. While I’ve enjoyed this arc and certainly had fun reading it, I’m also eager to see what’s next for our heroes and maybe we’ll even get to see them set out on a journey away from the kingdom they’ve been in since the beginning of the series. 

The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest Volume 6 comes to the West thanks to Square Enix Manga and continues to be translated by Caleb D. Cook. The translation reads well with no issues to note. As with previous releases, there is a bonus short story at the end of the book which focuses on the difficulties of Iris having to get up early for school. It’s an entertaining addition that is sure to put a smile on your face. Volume 7 of the series is currently scheduled for a release in March, so we’ll have a bit of a wait until the next one. 

Overall, The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest Volume 6 has our protagonist take a backseat to let the secondary characters take to the stage for some excellent battles of their own. The future certainly looks bright for this series if it continues to offer instalments like this.

A free preview can be found on the publisher’s website here.