beta
okay genuinely you can consider me the biggest hater of harems and the most misogynistic person (/j) when it comes to fantasy female characters because i drop a comic with any semblance of that. but this book genuinely managed to grasp my collar and drag me along despite the overwhelming amount of women.
ill be saying mindless stuff and basically say everything i like about this since i read it in one setting but point number 1: the relationships.
i honestly dont find it annoying. because in this case the girls actually have SUBSTANCE and are not just eye candy with big tits, and hes truly friends with them. they have their own stories and they dont exist to love rein. reinhart is honestly just a peoples person. not a girls girl, just a people person. the reason why hes so nasty with men is because they provoke him first, pick fights, and aside from cliffman everyone else has a massive ego, but honestly put him in class b and we would probably get a different image of him being the social butterfly, in some weird way. he could be close with the smart guy but then again, he just doesnt have the same class with him.
setting that aside the 'most cliche' relationship he has is with harriett, obviously meant to be the tsundere but even then, i truly dont hate her or their dynamic. in fact im pretty fond of it since one of my past friendships was like that, except i was on rein's end. i had a friend i liked to tease since it was genuinely so fun irking her (not genuinely, but bothering her in little ways like saying ill be her boyfriend (we are both women, dont misunderstand), pretending to kiss her, hugging her when shes not really too big on physical affection, not too much to genuinely annoy her, but just enough for her to play a cat and mouse game with me). i can also understand the hate to friend relationship since like it or not some people do genuinely become friends even when they hated each others guts before.
second is charlotte. no explaining needed. angst, fluff, yearning, its done all so well. having to lie, being aware, having your heart broken, the stares from behind. im pretty ellen biased but to be honest charlotte has probably the heaviest relationship with rein lore wise. entangled in so many ways but him having no choice but to pretend theyre somewhat severed. magnificent.
third, my most favorite candidate, ellen. to be honest i love her the most since shes obviously meant to be reins mirror. the successors of people they dont want to follow. they have such a genuine friendship that it lays out the base for a stronger relationship, if ever. sorry for those who will understand the terms i use, not to bring chemistry into this, but they're exactly like enatiomers. mirror images, but not superimposable. alike enough to understand each other the most but different enough to feel a wall between them. them eating and hanging out together in general is always going to be my favorite parts. their little moment when rein admits he wants her to be alive and share more meals gets me. rein reminding her of her brother, while could be taken as a platonic twist can also be taken as her loving someone again, to that degree, so much, that shes scared of it — or scared to be in love.
as a bonus, ill mention olivia, who by the way, her derealization and loss of faith is accurate (speaking from experience), and i dont even mind the sudden relationship per se. some people just like to tease others. me with my previous friend, except ill be on the end of my friend. i also dont mind since rein is an older man originally, and olivia is older, much older, so i dont mind.
second point: the realistic pacing of the story. honestly i will say i am a pretty hot headed and impatient woman. but this book manages to balance everything nicely. the lore is set, not long enough to be a bore, but just enough to know whats important and what the relationships are. rein's struggles, the slow rise of his stats, him not being a gary sue but still doing his best and having hard work pay off, all balanced, all enough. truly enough. lukewarm. i am pleased.
third point: his relationship with class a. starting on bad terms, but being able to bond with the people in it. cliffmans little interaction with him was something i loved so much no matter how small. a small nod of 'do your best' between men. a bro code, if you will. i dont even mind all the stuff between him and bertus because even with the mind games, they still managed to build a genuine connection. all the small things like being kids, living a little. i treasure that.
fourth point: the flow of the story GENUINELY being changed. some manhwas, im not gonna drop names, just slap the reincarnator on the og protags story and call it a day. which is very lazy storytelling to me. but this mc is the one by far that managed to genuinely get a different result from what hes going through. he wasnt slapped on the og protags place. the og protag is with his classmates, has his own thing. the mc is changing the story but still has a unique role. i like that.
am i biased? yes. am i blowing too much smoke up the authors ass? maybe. this manhwa definitely wont be for everyone. harem is just not some peoples thing and i respect that. but in my opinion, this is one of the manhwas that does it right. yeah, they could fix some things. for instance harriett and her predictable character, as well as her lacking background story because cmon give us something more than her being the spoilt child of a duke. but she had development and genuinely began to care about her classmates, even tried to comfort ellen. and i respect that a lot, given that she didnt even talk to commoners until recently.
overall... i dont care if people say im not accurate. 10/10, for me at least.