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Though Leon has years of training in swordsmanship, it's still not enough to defeat his rival at the royal academy, Lionel. That changes one day when the holy sword Elsyd appears and chooses Leon as its hero and new pupil. While Leon knew Elsyd’s guidance wouldn’t be easy, he didn’t expect it to include lessons on how to see. If Leon can endure this unusual training, will he finally become strong enough to defeat the privileged Lionel and secure his place in the world? Original Webtoon: KakaoPage, Daum. Official Translations: English, Japanese, French, Traditional Chinese.
The author seems to think that being the second-best at something counts at hardship. Which like, it just doesn't. If you have the second-best grades in your school you're doing pretty well for yourself.
Also the main character is framed as someone who has to work really hard and overcome the wall of talent through grit and discipline, and then in the first chapter is gifted the eponymous overpowered sword through no effort of his own which like, lol
SO yeah, as the title states, this is just some really good shounen. The MC is pretty much exactly what you want from a shounen title, who's an absolute determinator who works incredibly hard. He's not a genius, but most importantly, he's not a mindless idiot. I'm SO TIRED of having absolute idiots. That used to be an occasional feature of a shounen protag, not a requirement like it so often is these days. He's relatively intelligent, but instead of trying to get through situations via guile or cunning, he does it by hard work and determination. He also doens't have a 'cheat key' per se. He has a holy sword (which is admittedly OP) which includes a freebie mentor (lol), but it's not like he himself is in any way OP. He will have to work hard for every single ounce of progress he gets. He gets literally nothing except a sword - no instant aura, no stat boosts, no skills, NOTHING is given. He has to make everything his own manually.
The accompanying sword spirit is a good secondary character, not annoying, and has some charming quirks. Overall actually, the side characters are all really good! From a Bishop from the knight templar/inquisition analog (who's hilarious) to the gang leader to the bald mercenary leader, they're actually all really good characters. Also, most importantly (lol) there's an absolutely smoking waifu and some adorable lowkey romance.
The humor in the series is quite good, but is more of a side note. It's not comedy as a main genre for sure, and it doesn't intrude in serious moments, but it's a good way to unwind in the 'slice of life' non-action parts.
Overall, i was incredibly impressed (to be fair, mostly because I had zero expectations) on how above average this one is. Good MC, good action, superior side characters, and a great waifu means i rate this highly. I'm vaguely disappointed the overall rating is so low as of this review (7.5/7.1Bayesian). Considering that there's only season one so far (84 ch) I very much am waiting for more!