Danica Davidson
December 26, 2024 
I Was Sold Dirt Cheap But My Power Level Is Off the Charts is a fun isekai manga involving mecha. Since the first day of school, Yuta has been waiting for the annual class trip to reveal his feelings to the girl he likes. That’s enough to make anyone nervous, but then the day goes into a completely unexpected direction. Everyone in the class trip is summoned into another world where they’re referred to as “Earthlings.” And now the Earthlings are going to be slaves.
In this other world, the people have magic suits from ancient civilizations, and the suits sync with humans. Humans have a special energy known as “Ludea Rate” which is what works with the magic suits. The higher your Ludea Rate, the better.
For instance, the girl Yuta likes gets a Ludea Rate of 36,000. Yuta gets a Ludea Rate of 2. Ouch. He’s so worthless that someone buys him with just a couple fruits.
The classmates are sold off and go to different places, though the teacher is still determined to get everyone back together and back to earth.
Yuta, now a slave, befriends a girl who was sold into slavery by her mother. He also starts to meet other interesting characters, because you’re going to need interesting characters for an isekai adventure like this. And of course it won’t be long before the manga starts getting into the magic suits talked about at the beginning.
Yuta might have scored low on his Ludea Rate test, but he’s a kind, likable character, which surely should score some kind of points for him. The other characters he meets show promise as well, though we don’t get to know them the way we get to know Yuta. I Was Sold Dirt Cheap But My Power Level Is Off the Charts isn’t exactly breaking ground in the isekai genre, but it’s not meant to. It’s meant to be a laidback (while fast-paced) isekai with a good main character and some quirks, and that’s what it is. It flows well, it’s easygoing, and it’s a good read if you want to escape your world for another world for a while.
Original Story: RYOMA
Manga: Cambria Bakuhatsu Tarou
Publisher: One Peace Books
Translator: Jameson Taber
____
Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
