Pick Me Up!

Don't get me wrong, is just too good, but one advice:

Don't get attached with any of the characters, because… well, they could be dead in the next chapter.

up to ch 89

it's not the absolute best in the genre and almost everything everyone else says is true, but it's a really fun read lul. the art is great and the fights r clean with cool side characters and a slightly less cool mc (He's really edgy.... but if that floats ur boat then super)

there's a bit of worldbuilding if u r interested in that too, but the lore hasn't been relevant in a hot minute (We are currently in the nth training arc!). i suspect it'll be more prominent in the future though

can't say there's nothing wrong with it since a good amnt of the side characters are ass kissers but uk how it is... and they're still interesting so go figure 🤞

[As of c.89]

This is very well made. The world is very interesting, the difficult levels/battles are always difficult and the tension is always high. This isn't Gantz, so it isn't like everyone including the MC are going to die, but some of the characters you know and like can and do die. Because characters heal magically if they survive to the end, the fights themselves can get very brutal.

The pacing excellent, which is rare. Art is good to very good.

Another extremely specific, but I think representative example of why I like this series is fire spells are extremely well depicted. They take a long time to cast, which is a huge burden, but they really pack a punch. A terrain changing kind of a attack that is very rare in this world. Very satisfying.

Considering action focused manhwas, this is at the very top.

I think there is an interesting story, but not too much of it was revealed. The world is very well built though.

Gamer gets put in a game he knows in-and-out as one of the top players in the world. Does he use that knowledge to benefit himself or the people around him...? Nope. There's next to no mention of his being familiar with stages, systems, etc such that he could get an advantage. Instead he just trains harder than anyone else, tells people what to do, and gets lucky. He has no interest in exploring the world around him or exploring potential flaws, and instead acts as a cog in the game. He never tries to communicate with the player and barely tries to communicate with the guide fairy. Heck, even after finding out she can communicate with the player and access the web he barely thinks to use her. Very disappointing.

Also, he's a miserable asshole. He has no concept of carrot and stick. He is rude all the time to the people around him, even when it is actively detrimental to their teamwork or ability to function as units. He has no interest in explaining even the most basic mechanics to others despite having loads of free time. Heck, he only has to explain it to one person and then they can explain it to the others but he doesn't even do that most of the time! The narrative doesn't call him out for it either, instead it rewards him and treats him as though he is being a harsh but fair leader.

Now, that all might be excusable if there were other characters to pay attention to and follow... but there aren't. Sure, they have names, they have faces, but they don't have voices. Basically every single other character is unable to have any agency or effect on the plot outside of effects they have on the mc. When they die, it is about the effect it has on him, or to prop up how great he is for not dying. When they grow, it is to show how the mc got them there. Utterly ridiculous -- the whole premise is "All your gacha characters are real people" but you treat all of them but one as NPCs. A pity it turned out this way, as the premise was good.

N/A

A really well made manhwa.

Not a spoiler: I'm rereading this. 22/12/23

Ignore tigerstar186's review, he probably wrote the first two paragraphs half asleep. The last part is true, though.

Lol @ the spear vs sword comment by the other review. Yeah the author really thought a sword is better than a spear, but that doesn't take away from the overall story.

Interesting premise (game world that's actually a game, not some random rpg with rpg menus). It does suffer a bit in the dialogue but it's passable for an action/adventure.

We are hinted early that MC will meet/reunite with someone eventually, but so far we have not been updated at all on that plot thread.

I'm a bit torn. The levels are "randomized" for each account mainly so that MC doesn't instant clear them, at the same time it means MC can't do any planning in advance or have some overall strategy other than training constantly.

UPDATE: a user sent me a message telling me that the stupid part of the manhwa (saying sword beats spear)

was written not by the author but by the art studio (REDICE), which must which must be run by crazy people since they think not only swords but even daggers(??) can beat spears. In the original novel there isn't a single statement about swords being better or spears being bad. The only thing the author really said about this weapon matchup is that spear had the advantage of a longer reach that made it hard for Velkist to approach Aaron.
If you want to check over the part of the novel that mentions Aaron and Velkist's spear vs sword duel to confirm things for yourself, it's in chapter 72 of the novel.

My original review:

IM SO ANGRY BECAUSE THE AUTHOR GOT THE SPEAR VS SWORD THING WRONG IN CHAPTER 63.

In Chapter 63 the author said that sword usually beats spear in 1v1 but that's completely false!!!

Spear always has the advantage vs sword UNLESS the spear is super duper long (which was not the case in that situation) OR they're fighting in a super confined spot like a corridor (again, not the case, they were fighting in an arena) OR they start off really close (again, not the case, they start off separated).

Go look up any respectable source on the spear vs sword. Spear always has advantage due to reach. Even if swordsman gets inside the range, spearman can still whack the swordsman with his spear. ONLY way swordsman gets an advantage is if he gets a shield which was not the case in that situation and the author didn't even mention this.

URGH I'M SO ANNOYED AND FRUSTRATED THAT THE AUTHOR DIDN'T EVEN DO THE MOST CURSORY OF RESEARCH BEFORE WRITING THIS INTO THIS MANGA. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY!!!!!

I gave it a 6/10 because that's the maximum possible rating that I can give to a manga that has such an egregious factual error. I liked how brutal chapter 57 was, that's the only reason I'm giving this a 6.