The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?

Plot

Shingo Ichinomiya was once a single company worker until the day he fell asleep and woke up in a magical fantasy world as a little boy named Wendelin von Benno Baumeister, the eighth son of the noble Baumeister family. Due to his family being poor, Wendelin is unlikely to inherit anything from his father as the family's lord, wealth and possessions will go to his eldest brother Kurt while the rest of his brothers leave the succession to find income by other means. He looks through his father's library and finds a magic testing orb that glows with rainbow colors when he activates it, proving he has an ability to use magic. Alfred, a former court wizard turned restless undead, senses his presence and decides to secretly teach Wendelin everything he knows about magic. Thanks to Alfred, Wendelin becomes a skilled swordsman and mage, leading him to become a famous adventurer known throughout the kingdom. Although his talent could bring prosperity to his family, in his situation it only brought disaster.

Characters

Main characters

Wendelin (ヴェンデリン, Venderin/Vell)

Voiced by: Takuma Terashima (drama CD), Junya Enoki (anime), Shizuka Ishigami (young, anime) (Japanese); Benjamin Diskin (English)

Wendelin von Benno Baumeister is the main protagonist of the series. He was once a salaryman named Shingo Ichinomiya (一宮 慎吾, Ichinomiya Shingo) until he is transported into a highly aristocratic and polygamic (for the nobles) fantasy world as the eighth son of Artur von Benno Baumeister. Wendelin is at first worried about his well being since he is unlikely to inherit anything from his family as the youngest and 8th son until he discovers he has magic and meets Alfred Reinford, a former court wizard turned undead spirit who teaches him how to use his magic and makes him a skilled mage. As the series progress, he forms an adventurer party with his former classmates and friends and becomes famous not only for his powerful magic but also for finding lost magical ruins and defeating powerful monsters, especially dragons. Eventually, he is rewarded for his accomplishments by the King of Helmut who grants him the rank of Earl (Count in the anime and the web novel, which is the same thing) and his own lands to rule. Wendelin eventually marries five of his female companions and later his former sister-in-law, students and lovers, including Margrave Bleichröder's legitimized daughter.

Elise (エリーゼ, Erīse)

Voiced by: Saori Hayami (drama CD), Asuka Nishi (anime) (Japanese); Reba Buhr (English)

Elise Katharina von Hohenheim, is a priestess and one of Wendelin's party members. Nicknamed the "Saint" by the people due to her kindness, healing powers, and is the granddaughter of the Cardinal of the kingdom's church. Her grandfather arranges a political marriage between Elise and Wendelin, hoping to secure an alliance between the upcoming popular noble and the church. Despite their arranged engagement, Elise genuinely falls in love with Wendelin as they both understand the burden of being in the spotlight. She later marries Wendelin as the head wife of their family.

Erwin (エルヴィン, Eruvin/El)

Voiced by: Showtaro Morikubo (drama CD), Hiro Shimono (anime) (Japanese); Billy Kametz (English)

Supporting characters

Alfred Reinford (アルフレッド, Arufureddo)

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (anime) (Japanese); Kaiji Tang (English)

Alfred is a former court wizard and Wendelin's master. He was believed to have been killed during a failed campaign to exterminate dangerous monsters in the Enchanted Forest in the Baumeister domain. Still, he was revealed to have survived as a Whispering Dead, a sentient undead doomed to become a mindless zombie eventually. Sensing Wendelin's great potential, he made him his disciple and trained him for several weeks before peacefully passing away. Though their time together was short-lived he had the greatest impact on Wendelin's life. After Wendelin turned 12, he took Alfred's advice on how to make tuition to get into the adventure academy. Alfred's assets and wealth are later inherited by Wendelin as his successor.

Brantack Lyngstad (ブランターク・リングスタット, Burantāku Ringusutatto)

Voiced by: Yusaku Yara (anime) (Japanese); Patrick Seitz (English)

A retired adventurer and around 50 years old, Brantack is Alfred's former magic teacher and later mentor to Wendelin and his party. He is currently in the employ of Lord Bleichröder.

Klimt Kristoff von Armstrong (クリムト・クリストフ・フォン・アームストロング, Kurimuto Kurisutofu fon Āmusutorongu)

Voiced by: Masashi Yamane (anime) (Japanese); Matthew David Rudd (English)

The King's court wizard, proficient in physically enhancing magic, and Alfred Reinford's best friend. He later teaches Louise and Wendelin after the noble's tournament and becomes their guru. He is Elise's uncle.

Roderich (ローデリヒ, Rōderihi)

Voiced by: Tomohito Takatsuka (anime) (Japanese); Xander Mobus (English)

Baumeister Household

Kurt (クルト, Kuruto)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (anime) (Japanese); Chris Hackney (English)

Kurt Baumeister is Wendelin's eldest brother and heir to the Baumeister family. He is the least educated of all his brothers and is always paranoid about one of his brothers stealing his inheritance. Proud and arrogant of being the heir, he grows jealous of his youngest brother after Wendelin's fame as an adventurer grows. Due to his illiteracy, he is forced to rely heavily on his wife Amalie, and Klaus, the village chief. Wanting his brother's riches and assets, he joins a conspiracy with a group of nobles who are also jealous of Wendelin and want him assassinated (unaware Wendelin had submitted a will, and Kurt will get nothing but a bounty on his head). The conspiracy fails as Wendelin makes an offer to all of Kurt's accomplices, and is deceived into using a cursed flute to kill Wendelin, which kills Kurt in the process and Wendelin and Elise purify him. In his final moments, an entity that carries a fragment of his malice flies over to slaughter the one who had used him, Baron Rückner.

Artur von Benno Baumeister (アルトゥル・フォン・ベンノ・バウマイスター, Aruturu Fon Benno Baumaisutā)

Voiced by: Dai Matsumoto (Japanese); Kyle McCarley (English)

The current lord and Wendelin's father who rules a small farmland. He has eight sons from his wife Johanna and mistress Leila. His great-grandfather was a prince second-in-line of his household when he explored the territory had it to achieve the development of a portion of the monster-infested lands. He had a dark past towards women as he was known in the village as sleeping with married women and getting them pregnant. All this makes Wendelin unhappy and has a strained relationship with his father. Despite his poor education, Artur knew his eldest son Kurt was not suitable to be the next lord, but could not bring himself to deny Kurt the position as presumptive heir. When Kurt dies in an ill-fated attempt to assassinate Wendelin, Artur is forced to retire and officially passes the position to his second son Hermann.

Media

Light novels

The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? novels are written by Y.A. and illustrated by Fuzichoco and published by Media Factory under its MF Books imprint. Thirty one volumes have been released as of November 2025.

A spin-off series, titled Hachinan tte, Sore wa Nai Deshou! Misokkasu (八男って、それはないでしょう！みそっかす; 'The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? You good-for-nothing!'), is written by Y.A. and illustrated by Fuzichoco. The novels have been published by Media Factory, under its MF Books imprint. Four volumes have been released as of November 2025. The series is set in the past, depicting the childhood and early years of the primary characters prior to the events of the main story.

Manga

A manga adaptation with art by Hiroki Kusumoto has been published online by Kadokawa Shoten's ComicWalker since 2015. As of October 2025, its chapters have been collected in fourteen tankōbon volumes.

A second manga adaptation illustrated by Vanillabou, titled The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?: The Story Begins (八男って、それはないでしょう！ ～はじまりの物語～, Hachinan tte, Sore wa Nai Deshō! Hajimari no Monogatari), was serialized online on Kadokawa Shoten's ComicWalker from December 19, 2019 to October 21, 2020. The story depicts Wendelin's childhood, which wasn't adapted in the first manga adaptation. The individual chapters were compiled into two tankōbon volumes.

A manga adaptation of the spin-off light novels illustrated by Magawo, titled The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? You Good-For-Nothing! -Episode.Elise- (八男って、それはないでしょう！ みそっかす -episode.エリーゼ-, Hachinan tte, Sore wa Nai Deshou! Misokkasu -Episode.Erīze-), began serialization on Kadokawa's ComicWalker website on April 12, 2025. The individual chapters have been collected into a single tankōbon volume as of November 2025.

Anime

An anime adaptation of the series was announced by Media Factory on December 14, 2018. The anime was later confirmed to be a television series, which aired from April 2 to June 18, 2020, on Tokyo MX, BS11, and AT-X. The series is animated by Shin-Ei Animation, with assistance by SynergySP, and is directed by Tatsuo Miura, featuring series composition by Takeshi Miyamoto and character designs by Keiji Tanabe. Minako Sato is composing the series' music. The opening theme is "Jikū no Mayoi Hito" (時空の迷い人; "Space-Time of the Hesitant Person") performed by Demon Kakka and Arika Takarano, while the ending theme is "Tsukiakari Monologue" (月明りのMonologue; "Moonlight Monologue") performed by Akino Arai × AKINO from Bless4.