Bike's manga / #isekai(5)

Finished. Rushed ending. Pick up Volume 4, past midway of part 4 to see how the manhwa starts deviating from the novel. —- On Chapter 30. tl;dr Fun series with a potentially interesting overarching plot. But for now: It's cute! Fun game mechanics! Fun character dynamics! --- It's lighthearted and fun! Jerry is frankly an adorable character, and I'm always a sucker for isekai series with a relationship favorability meter. The ML's Ilya, which is not a surprise at this point, but I can't help but prefer Karyan as a character lmao. But I suppose there's already series like Villains are Destined to Die that can fill that void...anyway, I've enjoyed the character dynamics. Jerry's interactions with both Ilya and Karyan are rather sweet, and his dynamic with his mentor's pretty fun, as well. Therems the sense of an overarching plot given his affinity with magic, as well as the intheritance fued that's oriented around the two brothers, but nothing's been set as of now. Overall, I'm having a fun time with this series right now.

ML, this motherfucker, is too smug for his own good. Also an asshole, but at least he’s hot?? But he’s such an asshole! God damn, I think I get it, but that doesn’t stop me from getting upset. Even if it’s temporary, I’m just glad that MC has enough a spine to leave this dude, because good grief. Praying for some character development… …And we get it! Woohoo! The dynamic’s much sweeter now, and I can only hope I may be able to enjoy the rest of this ride.

Dude tries not to get involved; unfortunately, he gets involved. Proceeds shenanigans.

ch. 16 Dude tries out a game his friend made and he ends up reincarnation as a summoner. Dude can't escape until he beats the game. Blond guy's a hero he's summoned from the dead. Intriguing premise that's enhanced by world-building components and themes. Game's effectively a mobile-gatcha in IRL equivalence. However, there's ideas regarding life and death---talks about how heroes are summoned after having lived a past life in order to continue fighting for summoners. They fight while summoners simply stand by. They fight, as if alive, while summoners are idle, as if dead. MC's navigating this dynamic with his own hero as he sees everyone else treat their heroes like crap. Ironically by treating the fantasy world as a game (recording their stats, e.g. damage, range, move set, synchronisms), he provides much more care as a sorcerer compared to the other guys. Brings the question of the heroes' perspectives, how easily they're tossed to the side or simply work labor. Emphasized that guilds carry them in coffins whenever they're idle, denoting their ranks by the types of coffins they use. Treated like objects. MC's likely OP, but it's only been recently introduced where I'm at (ch.16), will probably be brought up more later.). Sweet dynamic between MC and ML. MC's a bit silly, so ML's earnestness/mysteriousness balances it out quite well. How they appear to genuinely enjoy each other's company (after initial qualms about ML's mere rank) is also nice. Interested to seeing more.