In a world where humans are considered the lesser race, a boy with what he thought was a completely useless gift of being able to summon random gacha, vows revenge on the guild of non-human villains who abused and tried to kill him!
Okay so, work with me here. Japan is known for having all sorts of strange fads, some that last for decades and spawn a whole new subculture of fans, and this is where the term gacha actually comes from. The term refers to the fandom of capsule toys from vending machines, known as gachapon (“gacha” meaning crank and the “pon” drop sound), and inspires collectors of all ages to come together in appreciation of this phenomenon, which has technically been a Thing since the 1960’s. Capsule toys range from miniatures, tourist souvenirs, quirky furniture, food items, unique art, and so many hard-to-find collectibles, and so much more. So with this curious bit of Japanese culture absorbed, let us return to the anime at hand.
This particular world is inhabited by nine Tribes: demons, dragonutes, dwarves, ghouls, beast men, centaurs, elves and dark elves, and oh yeah, the lowest of the low, humans. Despite their very-low world status, one out of every ten or so humans receive a special power they call a “gift”, once they reach the age of ten.
Our protag-antag-let’s just call him the lead, Light, is a young adventurer whose “gift” allows him to summon random gacha, including Pokemon-like playing cards, to help his fellow adventurers. But thus far the only thing his gift has brought Light is ridicule from his fellow adventurers, even the human ones. So when Light is recruited into a guild known as the Concord of Tribes, featuring one representative of each race as their members, bringing Light on as the proposed human rep they’re currently missing, it must have been an absolute dream come true.
But reality comes crashing down all too soon, when, after taking Light to this worlds most dangerous dungeon known as the “Abyss”, the Concord of Tribes reveals that their humanitarian actions were for a far more nefarious purpose. Apparently the Concord was tasked with observing Light in various adventurer scenarios, looking for signs of him being what they call a potential “master” candidate. The non-humanoid races all have a legend about this mythical “master”, a being of immense power that can overrule the world and destroy the current human-hating civilization, so of course they all have a vested interest in not seeing such things come to pass. And after observing Light for awhile, the Concord has all mutually decided his gift isn’t any kind of threat and neither is he, so here in the scariest, deepest part of the most perilous dungeon in the world, they’re all going to spit the real truth at Light and then take him out. Slowly, and painfully too.
Poor Light has done absolutely zero to earn all this vitriol being spewed at him. He can’t help that he was born human, with a worthless gift to boot. But, as is often with real life pathetically, it’s far easier and faster to go along with the crowd and hate what they hate, rather than putting in the effort to talk, and help one-another. Light just wanted to be useful to his guild-mates, to find some way to contribute despite all his setbacks, and here are a bunch of racist jerkwads, dealing him blow after terrible blow with the full intent of his murder. Light only manages to save himself somehow, by accidentally setting off a teleport trap, which does indeed take him away from the Concord villains, but he’s still somewhere in the Abyss, alone and bleeding out.
Here, then, Light makes what he thinks is his final stand, and in desperation summons his gacha one last time. Only to be absolutely amazed when his gift deposits on him the seeker maid Mei, a Super Ultra Rare or SUR Card, who promptly defeats the monsters, heals him up, and begins answering his questions about WTH just happened with alacrity.
Mei explains to Light that his gift gets stronger the more concentration of mana in the air there is, which is why his gift works so poorly on the surface, and more like a blazing sun here in the deepest darkest parts of the Abyss dungeon. And now, after she healed Light and got the story of the betrayal of the Concord guild, Mei asks him, what does Light want to do now?
It wouldn’t be an anime, if Light just said, oh, I forgive them, I want to go live an ordinary untroubled life as a human adventurer. Not that that would happen, as a human in the world Light finds himself in anyway. Light, filled to the brim and overflowing with all the hate directed at humans in his world, vows to take revenge on those who betrayed him. And loyal Mei immediately offers to help and support her Master Light, in all things.
Thus does Light spend the next three years hidden deep away in the Abyss dungeon, summoning allies of immense level and power, mostly clad in the skins of human women, and building his power base and plan of ultimate revenge. Mei controls access to her master in most things with a steel grip, as he is the drooling desire of every last female serving in this ridiculously huge estate, despite the fact that Light has taken steps to ensure he remains at least physically the same age he was when he was betrayed and nearly killed. Light has managed to summon a male card or two as well, mostly for weapons and combat training, but the Auric Knight known as Gold, with his easygoing manner when dealing with Light, also serves as a welcome breath of fresh, not-so-worshipful testosterone-filled air.
And now, armed with a zealots confidence, friends and servants who would gladly kill and die for him, and an unquenchable thirst for payback, Light prepares to leave his estate in the Abyss and go execute the members of the Concord and get his revenge!
You can cheer on the card-brandishing punisher of the enemies of humanity in My Gift Level 9999 Unlimited Gacha: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon. I’m Out For Revenge! on HIDIVE now!
Reviewed by Alicia Glass