Black Summoner (Japanese: 黒の召喚士, Hepburn: Kuro no Shōkanshi) is a Japanese light novel series written by Doufu Mayoi. It began publication online on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō novel posting website in October 2014. Overlap began publishing the series with illustrations by Kurogin under their Overlap Bunko imprint in June 2016. A manga adaptation with illustrations by Gin Ammo began serialization in Overlap's Comic Gardo website in January 2018. An anime television series adaptation produced by Satelight aired from July to September 2022.
Contents
Plot
Waking up in a strange new place with no memory of his past life, Kelvin learns that he's bartered away those very memories in exchange for powerful new abilities during his recent transmigration. Heading out into a whole new world as a Summoner—with his first Follower being the very goddess who brought him over. Kelvin begins his new life as an adventurer, and it isn't long before he discovers his hidden disposition as a battle junkie. From the Black Knight of the Ancient Castle of Evil Spirits to the demon within the Hidden Cave of the Sage, he revels in the fight against one foe after another.
Characters
Kelvin (ケルヴィン, Keruvin)
Voiced by: Koki Uchiyama (Japanese); Van Barr (English)
The main protagonist who is a reincarnated Summoner, the only S-rank summoner in the world. He bartered away his memories of his previous life to gain useful abilities; though only memory of himself, akin to amnesia. His current contracted servants are Clotho, Gerard, Melfina, and Sera. He is a "battle junkie", and gets extremely happy when fighting strong opponents, almost to a sadistic extent. This is proven when he orchestrated a full incident just to get a chance to fight the heroes. Despite that, he is very kind, training the heroes and helping people whenever he can. A natural chick magnet, Kelvin is in romantic relationships with Melfina, Efil, Sera and Ange.
Efil (エフィル, Efiru)
Voiced by: Manaka Iwami (Japanese); Bev Mageto (English)
Originally a slave, she is a Half-Elf, bought by Kelvin and trained to be a formidable Archer. She had a curse to set anybody she touches on fire, until Kelvin came and broke it. Like Melfina, she loves Kelvin and acts like the "second wife". She tends to be very possessive whenever a pretty woman hits on him. She is the perfect homemaker, even though they have maids, and is an excellent cook and seamstress.
Melfina (メルフィーナ, Merufīna)
Voiced by: Reina Ueda (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)
The Goddess of Reincarnation, she is the one responsible for giving Kelvin his powers in exchange for his memories. Kelvin [before losing his memories] was so infatuated with her, he convinced her to come with him to his new world. As she is a goddess, she has a very high level, over 100. She is so strong that Kelvin himself, an S-rank summoner, could not summon her when he entered the world. Her true form was hidden, appearing as an interactive game menu until creating an artificial body for herself which Kelvin can summon. In her artificial body, she is shown to look like a very beautiful angel, with wings, light purple hair, and a white dress. She calls herself Kelvin's fiance/wife. She is a glutton, who even sleep talks about food.
Media
Light novels
Written by Doufu Mayoi, the series was published online on Shōsetsuka ni Narō from October 6, 2014, to July 1, 2024. The series was later acquired by Overlap, who began publishing the series with illustrations by Kurogin (and DaiXt as of volume 7) under their Overlap Bunko imprint on June 25, 2016. As of March 2026, twenty-three volumes have been released. In July 2020, J-Novel Club announced they licensed the series for English publication. In August 2023, Yen Press announced that they would release print versions of the light novel.
Manga
A manga adaptation, illustrated by Gin Ammo, began serialization in Comic Gardo on January 11, 2018. As of June 2026, the individual chapters have been collected into twenty-five tankōbon volumes. J-Novel Club is also publishing the manga in English. During their panel at New York Comic Con 2023, Yen Press announced that they would start publishing the volumes in print in March 2024.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced on February 17, 2022. It is produced by Satelight and directed and scripted by Yoshimasa Hiraike, with Miwa Oshima designing the characters and Michiru and Yuria Miyazono composing the music. It aired from July 9 to September 24, 2022, on Tokyo MX. The opening theme song is "Atamannaka Dead End" (頭ん中DEAD END) by RetBear (unknown Vo:10fu), while the ending theme song is "Wherever" by Minori Suzuki. Crunchyroll has licensed the series, and has begun streaming an English dub starting on July 23, 2022. It also released the series on Blu-ray in August 2023. Medialink has licensed the series in Asian region and streaming on their YouTube channel Ani-One Asia.
Reception
As of May 2021, the series has over one million copies in circulation.