Don't judge a book by its cover.

Official synopsis: A run-of-the-mill otaku collapses from stomach pain after tasting raw pig liver and wakes up in a whole new world—as a pig, of all things! He’s helplessly trapped in his pen until Jess, a girl who can read minds, comes along and rescues him. Our porcine hero will have to work to keep his boar-ish thoughts to himself, but sweet Jess isn’t deterred. In fact, she wants to spoil this little piggy rotten! By Jess’s side, it seems like life as a hog might not be so bad after all, yet there’s more to this strange fantasy world than meets the eye. Jess is a girl of many secrets, and she’s in danger. But what can a mere pig with no special powers do to protect her from her cruel fate? Will his modern knowledge, quick thinking, and sharp nose be enough to ham it up and save her?

First, the literal translation of the Japanese title should be "Heat Up the Pork Liver" or "Pork Liver Should be Thoroughly Cooked". I will explain why I brought this up in the Fun Fact paragraph at the end.

I just realised it's very hard to write a proper review without spoiling the story. Volume 1 ends with a huge plot twist and the real fun only begins from there. So, I will just write a post introducing some interesting features of this series so you can check if this interests you.

• It's a dialogue-heavy story. Since the protagonist is a pig, there isn't much he can do. Most of the time he is just chatting telepathically with Jess, the deuteragonist, also his love interest. Okay okay I will further elaborate on the romance a bit later before you scream "OMG is this bestiality?" Because of this, character building of both leads is done really well, delicate and beautiful, despite it is also plot-driven with lots of focus on action and adventure.

• It's full of ecchi humour. To be honest I am not a big fan of ecchi but can't deny the author has quite a wicked and witty sense of humour employing this. I guess I only find it despicable when a guy says lewd things to girls to humiliate them. But not in this series as Jess isn't a bit humiliated. On the contrary, she could say even lewder things to Mr Pig to make him feel ashamed! This dynamic reminded me a lot of Mai and Sakuta (Rascal Does Not Dream), as Mai often shuts Sakuta's mouth by saying lewd and nasty things. ? Coincidentally, another "Buta" series there.

• It's dark and gruesome. I guess this would be the most WTF reaction of new readers. The cover illustration and the synopsis might give you a cute and fluffy fairytale vibe, but they are all just baits. The main plot might remind you of these anime: From the New World, 86 EIGHTY-SIX, or Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I definitely wouldn't recommend this if you are looking for a lighthearted read. This series contains quite a lot of heavy drama and is a big tearjerker. I guess this might also be why I was okay with the ecchi contents, as they are really good comic relief.

About the romance, two things first: Beauty and the Beast is also a romance, and it's well-loved by a lot of people. Period. Also, they are in a sword and sorcery world where it's quite safe to assume they will be looking for some kind of magic spell or alchemy ritual which can turn an animal back to a human being? Kind of like Grimoire of Zero, right?

To be honest, I think the romance in this series is really well executed, at least it didn't feel weird reading. In fact, I think it's very touching and probably you might be crying over them if you get yourself immersed deep in their platonic relationship. And the big bonus is, romance begins right away in volume 1. You don't need to wait volumes after volumes for that to happen.

Fun Fact: If you have read The Detective is Already Dead, you should know the series title is actually a running joke. Almost every volume of the LN ends with this phrase, but depends on the story progression, the context of it might change. And so is this series! Almost every volume ends with "Heat Up the Pork Liver!" but its meaning could change drastically depends on the plot.

Last but not the least, I would really love to recommend everyone to at least give volume 1 a try. It has way more to offer than meets the eye. Despite it ending with a huge plot twist as I mentioned above, it also wrapped up the first arc nicely which you could just consider it a one-shot if you ended up not liking it.