- #1
So many people praised this made me had my hope up too much, and I'm now disappointed more than ever.TDLR: Don't read this if you don't play Blue Archive/don't know anything about Blue Archive. Read this if you want to self-insert yourself into Blue Archive I guess.From the other reviews, you can understand that it's basically a fanfic of Blue Archive but with a self-insert OC (original character).Well, here's the thing, if you know f*ck-all about Blue Archive like I do, you won't connect to this at all. Below is a list of reasons why I gave this 1*:
- The story feels very whimsical, things keep happening and explanation only happens after or during what's happening, and that's f*cking confusing. For example, the first chapter is literally a fight between MC and a super powerful character at the final of a competition. We got literally no info about who the MC is, what is this game/this world the MC is in, why is MC fighting. The first chapter genuinely read like the end of an entire arc, rather than the first chapter of a story, and the story doesn't get better from here.
- All the characters are introduced in a "I expect you to know and empathize/sympathize with this character already" way. I've read up to chapter 12, and basically there's only one chapter of backstory (or less) for each character so far (the backstories aren't even well-explained btw). The story/the author keeps writing in a way that assume the readers will feel/connect to the characters' situation immediately, but doesn't even bother to give more depth as to why we should feel for them.
- Also, since the game in the story is basically just Blue Archive, if you don't play Blue Archive, you won't really understand 90% of the story. The author literally just assumed you already have the background knowledge and keeps throwing you directly into the world without bothering to explain more. Like seriously, what is the point of these fighting schools, who funded them, and what for? Why is the school MC is in is basically in ruin with only him in it? Why the f*ck is this new girl destined/fated to go here??
- last and probably the worst thing is: this doesn't read like a Girl's Love at all. The MC only got filtered with what he said, but every actions and thoughts of his are very boyish, I can't think of him as a girl at all. He just feels like a convenient placeholder so male readers can self-insert into and feel good.
- a good story should introduce information clearly whenever needed. For example, when Eldest Sister started, we immediately got some basics information of the world of the game, and what role the MC plays. This one (Pink Airhead for short) only introduces the role MC plays, while literally all the fundamental information about the world is brushed aside/introduced much much later because the author assumed the readers will know it from Blue Archive.
- a good story should always give time for readers to familiarize with the characters. Eldest Sister always had at least one chapter to introduce the notable side-characters. Main characters usually have entire arcs dedicated to their backstories and how they will fit into the story with the MC. Meanwhile, Pink Airhead introduced about 4-5 important characters (with a f*ck ton of other side characters) in literally the first 12 chapters. Unless you know Blue Archive, it's unlikely you can remember all of them, or even care about their sob-stories.
- a good story should never assume any knowledge the readers may or may not have. Eldest Sister is a wuxian series about Chinese cultivation stuff, and most of the cultivation knowledge is common if you have read at least one wuxian story before. However, the author doesn't assume you will know it, and will try to introduce things as the story goes so that things can make sense. On the other hand, Pink Airhead kinds of assumes you already know which characters are strong based from the Blue Archive game, and the powerscale system is built up from there. Which again means that if you don't know Blue Archive, you will feel a bit confused, because the story starts literally with the strongest stuff (MC is basically OP) before introducing the basic levels.