It Turns Out, They Are the Protagonists Chapter 70 Discussion

The description is pretty clear but also kinda vague so here's a first review.

It reminds me of I Am The Fated Villain but with a pretty different execution. It's like a low-powered/low fantasy version. The main character, Mu Zhi'an solves his problems mostly with his high charisma-like ability to manipulate people and schemes. So this novel is more focused on character interactions and planning rather than trying to complete system missions, combat and cultivation. He doesn't have a powerful system and his biggest bonus is being the sole heir of one of the most powerful families in town. His cultivation is even lower than most of his peers and he usually lets other people do the fighting. He does seem to carry himself in a similar manner to Gu Changge (MC of IatFV) ; cold, a bit detached, teasing women flirtatiously, and generally treating the world like a game he wants to get the highest score in. The plot focus appears similar though even though he has less in his arsenal than Gu Changge; defeat the "protagonists/heaven's chosen" by subverting their relationships and taking their opportunities/items/legacies.

Mu Zhi'an is of course a transmigrator, and he has a system panel but I don't think it's given him any benefits so far aside from displaying his status. He's got the default wastrel debauched villain young master with a terrible reputation start. Aside from his family's resources all he's really got going for him is his own social + scheming skills and genre-savviness. So for the genre he's relatively underpowered which I dig.

The concept of the title, that the female leads are the protagonist has mostly been mentioned in jest when they excel and so far it has generally applied to one character who is presenting as his main squeeze. However he has found a powerful item that was originally meant to belong to a "protagonist" type heavens chosen character that he was unable to use because his destiny/luck is poor as a disposable side character. So maybe the intention is that he will raise a team of powerful female leads like Pokemon to gain benefits from/do the actual work for him?

70 chapters in and I have only encountered the one "protagonist" who is still in pretty solid shape after taking a few losses. There's one main female lead he's pretty involved with and two potential ones on the side. The "protagonist" enemy is stereotypical of the genre, a cultivation mu*derhobo with cheats so the schemes haven't really been too complex. The female characters have not exactly been putty in his hands but maybe less suspicious than they should be. They do seem like relatively well rounded characters with their own motivations though.

There is a fly in the ointment for me though; the writer's incessant thirsty description of female characters. I feel like it's at least once a chapter, often more. It's not even once per appearance expect to hear about a woman's heavy chest resting on a table or how her collar can barely conceal her lofty chest in random interactions or after you've been aware of her appearance for fifty plus chapters. We get it man, she's busty! I don't need a reminder every chapter. Do people actually get something out of these repeated descriptions or is the author just padding his word count?

I feel like that's a decent segue into the translation by dobytranslation. I'd say it's above average. Odd proper nouns and names are consistent typically with pronouns that aren't all over the place. So someone cares enough to at least give it a once over before posting which is always cool. I've noticed a few errors but nothing serious. The dialogue also is generally lucid and not awkward/stilted. I don't think I've had difficulty following as I went through chapters. The only particular niggle I have is I think they use the term "furnace" or sometimes maybe "cauldron" for what is typically described as a core or dantian but NBD.