I Couldn’t Afford to Buy Mana, so I Started Streaming Chapter 60 Discussion

Overall, I was surprised to find myself somewhat enjoying this one.

I wasn't too optimistic at the beginning due to the emphasis on streaming, but I thought I might as well give it a shot. I still wish the author would've just gotten rid of the streaming aspect (or at least streaming games) entirely. I feel this work has (had?) a lot of potential if not for those parts.

I feel the synopsis was pretty confusingly written so I'll try to explain it without spoiling anything. Basically the MC used to be a mostly ordinary person (1st life, male) in what is probably equivalent to modern day Earth. They died then reincarnated (2nd life, female) as a person who was mistaken to be a villain/Demon King in a fantasy setting with abundant magic. After going through a lot (and I mean a LOT, read the side stories) in their second life, they then die once more. The main story primarily focuses on the 2nd reincarnation (3rd life, female) which is set in a futuristic society with VR and limited magic involvement. In this world, due to the somewhat more complex issues with mana availability compared to the previous world, people have to pay taxes if they use magic above a certain tier. That's the premise behind the whole invoice thing in the synopsis.

Firstly, I'd like to focus on the Gender Bender aspect first. As typical with the livestreaming + GB combo, I have no idea why it was even necessary in the first place for it to be a GB work. In this work, even more so. In their second life, the MC was already genderswapped so by the point they reincarnated in their 3rd life, there's no trace of the discrepancy or identity crisis you'd expect from someone genderswapped. Even the glimpses we do get of the 2nd life through some lines in the main story and a lot from the side stories, that doesn't seem to be present. Why couldn't the MC have just been female from the beginning from their first life...? It makes me wonder with these authors sometimes.

Putting my rant about unnecessary GB aside, the whole initial segment with VR LoL was rubbish imo. Later on in the story, the game being focused on is a sorts of RPG with multiplayer compatibility that allows the MC to utilise and showcase their knowledge in magic acquired during their second life which imo is a solid concept that isn't half-bad at all. Why was the whole VR LoL in the beginning necessary? Author could've just gone with the other game from the beginning and it would've made the early chapters much more bearable as the theory behind mana in this story is actually quite interesting. Instead readers have to sit through many paragraphs of LoL buzzwords and nonsense that add nothing to the story in the first 30 or so chapters. Simply, a waste of space.

One last brief thing I'd like to touch on is the introduction of characters. It feels like characters are being introduced constantly with no clear indication of how important any of them actually are.

Spoiler

One example is the girl our MC befriended when she was at the orphanage. She got introduced, had some nice scenes with the MC bonding as friends, got adopted and pretty much removed from the story. They promised to play together, but 30+ chapters later she wasn't mentioned once.

Similarly, the person who actually saves her from her living nightmare of being trapped in a VR capsule was also promptly introduced and then forgotten about for like 40 chapters before randomly making a cameo. This despite him being her saviour as she put it. Heck, it feels like the cameo he made was only to tie up that loose end so that MC could show she was grateful to him and then he'll likely be forgotten about again.

There are also a lot of names mentioned pertaining to the MC's second life that we have little to no context about, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt and say they'll be introduced more thoroughly in side stories later on. It just feels like there's constantly new names being thrown in for no real good reason at all.

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Now that my rant about the negatives of the novel is done with, I'll go over what I did like from the novel. Firstly, the emotional moments of the novel are really well written imo. The novel does go over some slightly darker themes and our MC clearly suffers from some mental trauma and other psychological issues, but it's not overly angsty. There are nice, heartwarming moments in there too. The MC's wounds from their past are slowly healed from the positive experiences of their 3rd life after two very unfortunate lives. The delicate balance is well maintained so the feelings do hit when they are supposed to hit.

Apart from that, as mentioned earlier, the theory behind magic/mana is actually quite interesting in this world. There is an actual science to it with equations and/or formulae and complex theories which, while I might not 100% grasp as my brain is on power saving mode while reading novels, is pretty cool. The further into the story you get, more it is expanded upon as well and it gets introduced more extensively in the second game that is being focused on (mostly starting around chapter 55 or so).

Spoiler

I also really enjoy the dynamic between the MC and her foster father/the professor. The fact that most of their discussion surrounds magic and magic theories is great; it reminds me somewhat of Conan Edogawa and Professor Agasa from Detective Conan lol. Her foster father is also a great guardian towarss her. He genuinely cares for her but doesn't step over any personal boundaries or anything but does somewhat dote on her. It's a cute relationship and I'm all for it, especially after our MC's terrible luck with parental figures in her current and past lives.

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I liked the bit when she was streaming doing homework questions that people sent in. I think I would be more interested in investing more time reading this work if that was the focus instead of game livestreams. Even with the RPG title instead of LoL, I just can't help but be disinterested in reading it because game livestreams in text form are just a poor read imo.

One thing that I'm not so sure how to feel about is the slight identity crisis this novel seems to have at times. It kind of wants to be too many things at once it feels at times. Obviously there's a large emphasis on magical theory and livestreaming. However, there's also a lot dedicated to MC's school life.

Spoiler

which, honestly, why does she even have to attend at all? Isn't her identity somewhat ambiguous due to her history? She shouldn't have to attend compulsory education at all. Besides, her knowledge level easily matches that of well known academics like her foster father. She is also at a much higher mental age than her school peers so it just makes no sense for her to attend elementary school. It really does remind me of Detective Conan in some ways lol but at least in Conan's case it somewhat makes sense he would want to blend in as a school kid to hide from the Black Organization/his love interest. In this story? Not so much.

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The MC's 2nd life experiences should explain why her magical theory knowledge is so advanced, but she also shows unusual knowledge depth in unexpected places like clinical medicinal knowledge which doesn't make sense based on her past lives (maybe stretching it by saying she learned of it in her first life because we know very little of it so far) It just feels like the author wanted to write about all these things but couldn't justify making separate works so ended up just writing it into this story somehow, sometimes forcibly. It's not necessarily bad per se, just a little off putting at times.

Tl;dr - GB fans expect to be disappointed by lack of GB content. Beginning is rough and confusing, especially for people who don't play LoL. It gets better later on though (ch7+) with highlights being MC healing from past trauma and learning to enjoy life while simultaneously diving into the very interesting magical theory of this world. Rating overall would be around 3.7/5.