To start with the biggest negative (in my opinion), the main character has the personality of plain white bread. He's humble, diligent, competent and all that jazz without any rough edges or compelling flaws. His interactions with other characters always have him being polite and deferential even when challenged or provoked, and his internal thoughts are generally him thinking about game mechanics and planning for future events. In a way, he reminds me of one of those loyal, honourable sidekicks you'd see supporting an edgier MC in another webnovel.

Having read... more>> enough of these novels myself, I know that a bland protagonist is not always a fatal flaw. However, those looking for a protagonist who have more personal stakes in their circumstances or exhibits more varied emotional response to events may be disappointed with his characterisation.

That aside, there are quite a number of things I enjoy about the novel. Broadly speaking, the familiar tropes of this genre are, well, adequately if not decently executed. The protagonist's unique strength, defensive swordsmanship, is extremely powerful in its niche, but still leaves him with plenty of room to grow and opportunities for the narrative to challenge him. The academy setting has some semblance of curriculum and schedule to not appear entirely contrived, although details are fairly sparse. All in all, it is fairly run of the mill, but in a good way if you're looking for a familiar read.

For romantic relationships, all I will say is that the groundworks are there, and the protagonist has shown that he is (kinda?) capable of recognising that someone is interested in him.

Furthermore, there are almost no systems present from the character's point of view (aside from his ability to see attacks directed at him), no status window, no floating quest windows or indicators of event flags aside from his own memory of the original game. Skill are present, but acquiring and honing them feels a bit more organic that hitting arbitrary letter milestones on a stat sheet. (Not to throw shade on system-heavy novels, I like many of them too, but the numbers and letters don't mean much sometimes...)

So far, I have binged the all the chapters I have access to in one sitting and have enjoyed it enough to crave for more, but I'll acknowledge that nothing in this novel stands out from the rest in its genre. If you're already a fan of the genre, you'll probably have fun with this one too while you wait on other novels on your reading list to refresh. <<less

I initially didn't read this one because of a review that described the protagonist's personality as bland, but I ended up liking this one a lot. And my thoughts on the series can be described by the idea that if you can't make something original then make something well.

While the protagonist is very cordial and polite rather than a lack of characterisation he is just somewhat detached, and this is noticed by other characters.

The biggest highlight to me is that not everything falls into place. The protagonist makes arrangements and... more>> precautions for events that he knows are coming, sometimes they're helpful, other times they are not. Similarly, even the more random benefits that he acquires don't immediately become exactly what he needs in the next predicament. This to me is the biggest standout as even the greats in the academy genre suffer from over fixating on having Chekov's gun fire, it can be narratively more interesting if sometimes it misfires or breaks, as long as it's not forgotten.

The side characters are also very pleasant, they're good natured and kindhearted with individual flaws, I wouldn't say they're the most original or three dimensional but as of the current chapter their backstories and insecurities have only been hinted at and not fully explored so it is hard to say.

If you like the academy genre then you'll like this since but if you're looking for lots of depth and high stakes, then you probably don't like the academy genre anyway. <<less

So the MC is playing this game as a full defense character, and just as he is about to uncover some "record erasure" document he gets transported into the game.

Turns out that the family of the character he possesses was subject to record erasure and he must rebuild the family as the only remaining member. Good premise!

The author seems a bit confused on the heroine choice at first, because he first mentions one girl, then hints at developing multiple at once, but in the end chooses one and sticks to... more>> her. I just didn't like that she started behaving as if she was in heat all the time from that point onwards, and the MC is, uh, submissive. At least the novel doesn't go the harem route.

The MC is cool headed, and as is common among regressors and transmigrators he doesn't reveal outright what he knows. Unlike others, he doesn't seem to be moving a lot through the shadows and mainly tackles problems as they arise. <<less

So far this novel has been really fun and interesting, it had a bit of a slow start but has picked up pace. It has so far been one of the better academy novels, most have strong start, but fall off later, this gets better. MC is allright, he wants to go back to our world and was trying to speedrun, but the more he is in that world the more he seems to get attached to it and changing himself. There have been so many edgy or overly passive... more>> MC of late that this character stands out and the fact that MC grows gives this a lot of potential for the future, but as of now the way his character is made is not without flaws. The main selling point of this novel is the side- and supporting charecters. They are really fun and interactions they have with MC or each other are the highlights of this novel. And that part has been steadily getting also better and funnier. <<less

So MC creates a character that is a full defense build. He becomes that character, and if he wants to go back to Earth, he has to uncover the truth behind his family. He goes to the academy, and the princess takes a liking to him, and then her friends too. Basically just an academy and getting stronger novel in its essence.

Pros:

• I quite like the romance. I know that some thought that the romance was forced and unnatural. But the girl was mc's favorite character, and the girl likes people like MC. And for the ones that say "what happened to going back to earth?". We don't know what his situation is like on Earth, and what attachment he has. We don't get any family, friends, etc. Of his. For all we know, he could have no real connection back home. And let's be real, if you get to be with your favorite character, and you don't have like any responsibilities or connection back home, you'll do the same.
• No harem. Personally, generally, I am fine with harem. But not when the story isn't set up to be one. Like this story is one that we have a clear FL and ml, and no one else is in the picture. Fortunately, we don't have a "friends of second cutest" situation yet.
• The plot is pretty linear too. Author doesn't try to do stuff that come outta left field. Which usually works out decently well. Stick to what they know and are good at.
• Power scaling isn't the worse. Aside from mc's defensive capabilities, everything else is quite believable.
• The character interaction are pretty golden too.

Cons:

• One of the character hates MC, but the force is so unnatural and forced. They do get better and start behaving like a normal person. I don't even get why the author did it. I mean there are sum reasons, but there were so much other ways he could've gone about it.
• Some other stuff, but not that major to diminish my enjoyment while I was reading.

Overall, the story just flows smoothly. It doesn't try to do too much. Mc's getting stronger at a pretty sensible pace too. Also the mc's personality is a bit bland, but it's better than most other academy wn or just wns in generally.