Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts Chapter 350 Discussion

'Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts' has quickly grown to become one of my favorite novels within the Romance and Slice of life genre, as it proves to be a genuinely sweet story about second chances and what it is like to fall in love with those that had accompanied you throughout your entire life.

The basic synopsis for this novel surrounds the reincarnation (time travel?) of our main character, Mei Fang, into the midst of his early childhood, where he conceives the prospect of living a new and fulfilling life, a wish informed by the regrets he has harbored during his first life and emboldened by his newfound friendship with two childhood friends that he had come to forgotten during his first life, Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi. This idea is nothing new, as plenty of other second chance stories has tackled similar ideas within their premises, however what makes this premise unique is how seriously it takes this idea of Mei Fang seeking to live a second life. Usually, with most other second chance novels, the whole entire idea of the main character aiming to live a better life never goes beyond the basic introduction and would eventually devolve into a basic power fantasy, only being vaguely mentioned or explored especially in the Urban Reincarnation subgenre. 'Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts' on the other hand completely commits to this idea, and actively have Mei Fang encounter things from his past life that informs his future growth in this new life. Spoiler:

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One example of this can be seen in Mei Fang's passion towards making video games, as in his previous life he never had the opportunity to create the games he had wanted to create due to his status within his company, a status that forced him into acquiescing to the games that are the most profitable as opposed to those are the most engaging. Therefore, a large portion of the first hundred chapters surrounds this idea of Mei Fang dedicating his childhood towards learning and improving his game developmental skills, occasionally ripping off of the IPs he knows would be successful in order to get the funds necessary to fuel his ventures, and eventually paying off with him forming his own very game studio.

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I greatly love this element of the story in the earlier chapters, since it establishes a clear direction for Mei Fang as the protagonist while also characterizing him through his individual hobbies, passions and regrets, humanizing him further as a result. Essentially, Mei Fang isn't your standard overpowered reincarnated protagonist one would expect from this genre, as he doesn't have any special privileges beyond the knowledge he has of the future, with everything he achieves solely coming from his own effort and dedication to this goal of living this newfound life to the fullest.

Now on to the meat of the story, the relationship between the three main characters. Throughout the first hundred chapters of the novel, the author is primarily focused with developing the friendship between Mei Fang and his two childhood sweethearts. As other reviewers have mentioned, there really isn't any romance during those moments since the characters are still underaged, with Mei Fang largely seeing them as children. While there certainly are some offhand and inappropriate comments made in regards to Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi like apsisodia mention, they are often rather few and the focus of the relationship still remains largely platonic within those first couple chapters. If you are worried about the story being overly perverse towards underaged characters, I would say not to worry all that much since the worse it gets is Spoiler

Xia Yuan saying she wants Mei Fang babies without understanding the implications during a news interview

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With those concerns aside, I greatly love this approach that the author takes to the earlier portions of the story, as it is rare to see a story take its time with developing its characters all the way from their childhood to adulthood. To illustrate the pace of this novel, it is only around the 300 chapter mark, halfway into the entire novel, that the main cast had finally turned 18. Through this rather slow pace, the author is able to realistically flesh out their characters and their own development to great effect. One of the best instances of this would be the character of Lin Youxi, as without spoiling too much, at the start of the novel she is shown to be someone who is closed off from others due to the troubled nature of her home life, a beginning that is contrasted with her steady growth into an independent and strong-willed individual incited by the friendship she forms with Xia Yuan and Mei Fang. The growth in maturity that the author is able to illustrate into the characters is what makes this novel so gratifying, as the characters and growth they experience are always grounded and justified within their own experiences. The only other novel that I would say does this extremely well would be 'Kidnapped Dragons', even if it is greatly more dramatic.

The romance itself in my opinion is also well earned due to it's portrayal within the entire series, as Mei Fang is someone who is self aware and receptive to the feelings of others, allowing him to notice when the relationship does inevitably advance towards such a direction. This recognition of feelings could have easily went into a different more sinister direction where Mei Fang could have exploited these developments for his own self interests, however it never goes into that direction. Instead, Mei Fang realizes such feelings are only ever the result of puppy love, a type of youthful naivety rather than anything actually genuine. As a result, Mei Fang always seeks to maintain a sense of distance in order to ensure that the relationship they form never goes into such a direction, with his attitude towards love being that of a life-changing decision that one should make when they are adults. I love this element of Mei Fang's character, as while some may call it 'cowardly', it instead illustrates self-awareness in the issues that could arise from the relationship that the author writes, a maturity that other authors seldom acknowledge into the romance that they write.

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Even when the novel goes into the harem direction, a large emphasis is directed towards its feasibilities within the modern world. Questions surrounding parental approval and conflict of emotions are a constant element in the three-fold relationship of Mei Fang, Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that the main goal of these three characters towards the latter half of the novel is to make sure that such a relationship can work, as they are all unwilling to abandon one another for the sake of their own feelings.

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All of this eventually accumulates into a genuinely enjoyable romance that is both mature and sweet. Built on the foundations of a childhood friendship, the author is able to effectively escalate the relationship while also maintaining a sense of realism. While Mei Fang seeks to maintain a sense of friendship between him and Lin Youxi and Xia Yuan, there is a sense of tension as both girls seek to earn his affection through increasingly bold behavior. The struggles that they face in their relationship are realistic and grounded, their interactions humorous and lighthearted, and development natural and satisfying. I have never been one to like harem novels or harem endings, but this novel is one of the few occasions where I genuinely love the relationship conceived within the main cast and is in support of a harem ending. (300+ Spoilers) Spoiler

Another thing I find noteworthy in mentioning is that the author has written an If storyline where Mei Fang has never died in the first place and then reincarnated, with the storyline itself surrounding the reunion of Mei Fang and Lin Youxi within their adult years where they don't know each-other as they never shared a childhood together. I love this storyline for the reasons why I love 'Hurt Comfort' in fanfictions and other novels, as while the subject and context of the storyline prove quite dark, it is still heartwarming to see Mei Fang help a Lin Youxi who never got past her childhood trauma and issues through their shared dedication towards game development.

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Overall, I love this novel and would greatly recommend it to anyone who wants a semi-fluff romance story about second chances with the occasional drama.