Goddess Cultivation Plan Chapter 55 Discussion

What the heck!? Nobody reading this series has given it a review yet? Fine, I'll do it myself.

The tldr version of this review, is if you are someone who enjoys genderswap stories, and/or character focused stories, there is a good chance you will enjoy this one. I have read quite a lot of series, and this one is quite unique and interesting. The series generally embodies the phrase "caught between a rock and a hard place", "lose lose situation", and "doomed if you do, doomed if you dont". As a man, I do not envy the main character in the slightest. It would be a nightmare, like a goosebumps choose your adventure where there is no good choices. This is the genderswap story equivalent to slowly pulling the bandaid off, rather than the usual rip it off and getting it over with.

The translation quality is done well, it's very readable with no obvious glaring issues. And the translator is awesome, frequently doing new chapters.

This series does share some loose similarities with Reborn as a Transcendent, but currently without the vr game, supernatural cultivation and fighting elements. Interactions with "System sister" and the gradual transformation of the MC in that story are most analogous with this story.

The gist is the main character Lin Jin is a dude from the boonies living in the city for college. He goes with his roommates to see a movie in theater for the first time in his life. On the way there he buys a comb from a street vendor since he lost his old one. He has a good time. But he soon discovers the comb was not ordinary, and his phone is basically self infected itself with a malware-like app (Goddess Cultivation Program) that he could not remove. Curious about the new app he can't remove, he opens it and learns that it has a sentient cat living in it.

The cat informs him that he has been selected in the Goddess Cultivation Program, noting that even though Lin Jin is a man, it's not a problem. After all, it can just make Lin Jin into a woman, like he has done before.

(Note: at the current point in the story Goddess cultivation seems more like Supermodel Transformation than it does a actual supernatural goddess, or martial arts cultivation. Though that could change since clearly supernatural things are occuring)

Lin Jin is understandably confused and has no interest. Sure he may not have a lot of muscle, and he may not have a very masculine face (and been teased before), but he has zero interest in cross dressing or becoming a woman. But it's late, and he dismisses it as nothing. Until after he wakes up, and discovers Spoiler

little Lin Jin has shrunk a bit

[collapse]. And he notices the app now has a progress bar: Feminization progress = 5%.

He then learns he has a beginner/tutorial task as well: (directly copied from the story)

Spoiler

Congratulations on gaining feminization progress +5%, complete hair loss.

[collapse]

Spoiler

Accepting the beginner's task: Admirer.

[collapse]

Spoiler

As a goddess in training, you should have a male admirer. [Note: Must be heterosexual.]

[collapse]

Spoiler

Rewards: Feminization progress +5%, basic facial transformation.

[collapse]

Spoiler

Punishment: One day of a female voice.

[collapse]

Lin Jin later discovers after waking that Spoiler

his bit of facial hair falls out, and then the rest of his body hair does the same (see reward granted of complete hair loss).

[collapse] It is at this point he realizes he wasn't just exhausted and delusional, and the grim reality of his situation sets in.

From here, the story continues. And Lin Jin has to balance making the best choice (to complete the tasks, or just accept the punishment for failing), while doing his best to try to find a way to stop the destined end result. Even worse, if he half-asses the tasks or tries to complete them on technicalities, or just tries to ignore them completely, the cat will assign him even worse tasks as punishment (ones he cannot ignore). Worse still, as a goddess in training, Lin Jin is restricted in how he can appropriately behave (such as no cursing, smoking, etc) as a goddess would not do those things. If he does those things, he gets penalized for it. And if he pisses off the cat by getting hostile with it, the cat can arbitrarily assign him tasks in revenge.

That doesn't mean everything going on is bad (though the tasks increasingly get more terrible with ever worse punishments for failure). The cat clearly cares in some capacity and often sets up smaller tasks to help him complete the main ones. Goes easy on him when things are rough. Even sets up some tasks that are very enticing, like significant monetary rewards (so Lin Jin can buy a expensive gift for his younger brother). But the cat has a job to do, so it tends to offer carrots on a stick.

One completely unexpected delight of the story, is the side characters. It's not always easy to keep up with the names, but his roommates in general are genuine bro's. They have a good repetoire and healthy masculine teasing each other, but all generally care about each other in a healthy way. Even in a future point, where Lin Jin fails a task and Spoiler

becomes a woman for a week (and also has a period of course)

[collapse] They don't get weird about it at all.

Note: at the present time, Lin Jin has not shared the app or what it is doing to him with another person.

Even other characters like the guy Spoiler

Lin Jin scammed into buying him tons of league of legends skins

[collapse]

In my experience reading series like this there are the following types generally:

• Wish fulfillment, self insert- typically written by or for Trans people (or where a character basically always wanted to be the other gender for various reason/s). Where a characters s*x is swapped, and they get to live as/discover their true selves. A lot of native English webnovels fall in this category.
• Technically not yuri- written where generally the genderswap has minimal impact on the story other than being used at the beginning to set up yuri. Insert "show me the difference" office meme comparing genderswap series and series where the character always was that gender from the start. (no difference)
• Psychological- actually uses the genderswap elements in the plot and explores them a little more deeply, or places a little more focus on the internal parts of the character as they have to accept their new reality. I became a ghost in a horror game is a good example. (highy recommend). Bitter Change manga is another example.
• Comedy- where the genderswap is used primarily for comedic purposes. Reincarnated as a knockout beauty manga/anime is a good example.
• Drama- where the genderswap is used for added drama to a story, either as a supplement alongside the main drama or as the driving source of drama.
• tr*sh- it might be a bit rude, but frankly some stuff is just so bad it deserves to be called tr*sh. While it could be its own category, for me I place hentai in this genre here.

I personally don't read the first or last category much as they dont interest me. I don't have time (or want) to read tr*sh, and the self insert I have come across tend to be excessively written for the particular audience (I don't care to read a series where it is stated with every single gendered action that it feels right/natural, and how horrible it was with the old body before, and how happy everything is now that they can live fully as their true self) (it's about as appealing as watching the same exact hallmark movie plot repackaged 1000 different times..... not very appealing for me)

I read this genre for the same reason I read Animorphs and trapped in my teachers body series as a kid and I read reincarnated as a slime/spider/vending machine/etc. Because it can add more to a story and be interesting as characters deal with unexpected and unwanted things beyond their control. It's entertaining when the reader knows more, and when what is expected is different in reality. It's the basis comedy typically builds off of, as "a rabbi and a priest go to a bar" plays on what people expect about rabbis and priests and bars. A similar concept is found with why tsunderes, gap moe, etc can be appealing to people.

My long winded point here is just giving a bit of context on my perspective and to define what this series is. This series currently is clearly in the drama category, with a little more dark comedy, and likely to head more into the psychological camp as things continue to escalate.

It is very unique and so far pretty well written. I read dozens, hundreds perhaps of stories in this genre, and thousands perhaps tens of thousands of stories in novel/manga/webtoon/manwha/manhua. This is one story that stands out amongst others in its category, a story that I can remember on the top of my head. It's interesting, and painful to try to empathize with (as it would suck to be in the situation MC is in).

I don't know how it will progress. Whether it will decline and get worse, or keep going the same trajectory. All I know is I gave it a fair shake, and it surprised me by being unexpectedly interesting.

Give it a go yourself, and you may find it unexpectedly interesting as well. Or you may hate stories like this. Everyone has different tastes.