- #1
A novel that clearly has the wrong medium. If anything, this novel would only do itself justice by being a manga in the first place, seeing how utterly s*upid it is.It's essentially a happy-go-lucky cute girls doing cute things novel. Just that something like that never really works in novel format. Perhaps if you're very young, but any normal adult would find it a pain to read through, usually.If you're anything like a gamer who has ever taken games seriously, this novel will feel rather offensive. I was once a gamer and I grew up a gamer even though I barely play any games in recent years. I know everything there is to know about games and obviously have deep experience with that entertainment medium from my countless hours dedicated to it. This novel, sadly, feels like something of a slap to the face. I never expected realism or anything close to it, I knew it would be silly, but when you butcher the very basics of what makes something a game, especially a mmorpg, and then you dare to call it a vrmmorpg despite having nothing whatsoever that resembles a game, it's just painful to watch. Cringe moments everywhere, the feeling of wanting to facepalm every second of the way. While it doesn't try to be, it's nothing but a blatant insult how these morons gets gear, unbelievable skills and endless cheats while doing nothing but acting like bonafide idiots and fooling around.People who doesn't have a background as a serious gamer and/or mmorpg enthusiast wouldn't even begin to understand why this is so offensive and why so many people are offended by something that should, by all means, just be harmless fun with no ill intent. Just imagine someone taking a sh*t on your countless hours of effort for no reason, denying even basic resemblance of what makes a mmorpg yet still having the gall of telling you that this is possible.This, of course, doesn't make the novel unreadable for everyone. Some people just love the whole cute girls doing cute things and couldn't give even half a flying f*ck about if it's impossible or not. I always found that something is never funny if it fails to even be possible. Things can be unrealistic and random yet still be funny or be funny exactly for that reason. But if something is so impossible (see, impossible, not just unrealistic) that it simply can't happen under the story setting, it's not amusing, it's just annoying. Contrary to common belief, something needs to be relatable or believable to be amusing or interesting. It needs to resonate with you. As someone who was once an avid gamer, this novel couldn't be more out of place, it's a sore thumb sticking out. I know, by every fiber of my being, that this "vrmmorpg" is so utterly impossible that it wouldn't happen even as a joke. I can't stop thinking about it nor can I stop caring about how offensive it is to people who take games seriously. This story would've been better if placed in an isekai world instead of a game, because then we can reluctantly ignore these flaws and call them plausible instead of impossible. But I simply can't have someone shoving dog turds into my mouth while trying to deceive myself that it's chocolate.Then again, I won't be unfair and say that no one should read it. In fact, this might be the perfect novel for you. Do you love cute girls doing cute things? Do you want to read something that doesn't really make sense but is kinda heartwarming, in essence, fluff? Were you never a gamer, or at least not a mmorpg gamer that took things seriously? Do you feel like you can accept clear illogical story developments and s*upidity from the main characters? Can you completely suspend your disbelief and stop caring, just reading for fun? Then go ahead. But if a few of those things sound like something that wouldn't be your cup of tea, you'd do best to avoid this. It's going to be a 1/5 class novel for you.Also, the anime or manga might be better overall. One part of why this is so painful to read is because it's a novel and you have to spend a lot of time wading through the chapters, having plenty of time to notice and point out any flaws or parts you dislike. Things like that are way better when it comes to manga or anime, especially manga. You read so quickly that you won't need to think much and a lot of details are left out which leaves less annoying parts. The less you're exposed to them, the easier it is to swallow. This is also why cute girls doing cute things stories were never that good or prevalent in novel format. I personally picked up the anime and I'm currently watching it as background noise while reading something else which works pretty well, I still follow it but just half-heartedly. Anyway, that's a piece of my mind.