Doggone Academy Chapter 155 Discussion

This novel is one of my favorite novels. Well, to start with, this is a pure fantasy novel. There will be obsession, yandere, and harem, so if you don't like either of these tags, then this novel is not for you. This novel is also slow, and as of chapter 155, while quite a lot happened, the story is also in its early stage.

Before the proper start of the story, our MC, Damian, was abandoned by his mother, and he became an orphan. He was then taken into an orphanage, where he met with a heroine, Lisa. They grew up together and became very close. However, quite a lot happens that causes her to essentially 'abandon' the MC. However, it is not real abandonment in the sense of the word, (it is really well done in fact and does not come off as cringy) and while our MC doesn't hate her, he becomes a recluse after it and tends to hide his emotions. In essence, our MC is afraid of his past reoccurring and is traumatized; however, this traumatization doesn't stem from some over-arching tragedy. Hence, he does whatever his teacher, another heroine, tells him to do. However, he is not a pushover and doesn't listen to everyone's commands. As the story progresses, he begins to reveal his emotions more openly and becomes quite bold and steadfast. So our MC gets character development throughout the story.

The story officially begins after Damian obtains an extremely remarkable sword, one that is entirely made up of light. He begins to learn swordsmanship and other things from his teacher, Silverin, and joins Eternia Academy, the best academy in the world. He gets admitted to the best class, the master class. The catch is that MC's childhood friend is also studying in the same academy. He doesn't want to face her, as he is essentially afraid of facing his past; however, slowly but surely, the author is making the MC realize that he cannot always run away from his past. Throughout the story, it is continuously hinted that our MC is special, and the author does a great job of leaving hints scattered across different chapters.

There are many side characters, and considering the nature of Korean novels, most side characters are females, although, there are also a handful of male side characters. All male characters are not brain-dead villains that are only there to put the MC on a pedestal. On the contrary, such characters are few and far between. The large cast of side characters means that not all characters are super-developed. Nevertheless, each significant side character is distinct enough to remember them, even if you stop reading for about a month or so.

Now let's talk about the main heroine, the cover girl, Silverin. Her relationship with the MC starts purely as a teacher-student. However, as the chapters progress, they become closer. Later, she starts to become more affectionate and obsessed with him. This obsession somewhat comes out of nowhere, though, it partly makes sense considering she had a brother, who very likely died when he was around our MC's age Our MC is also reckless, hence, she is also worried about his safety. Their current relationship is ambiguous, not entirely like that of a teacher-student or siblings, yet also not like that of lovers. There is another heroine, an elementalist/spiritualist named Luna. She used to fear men due to trauma (cliche, I know). She gets into trouble, and the MC decides to help her, out of 'obligation'. This part was well done and added to Damian's mysteriousness and specialness. However, the best part about her is that she takes steps by herself to overcome her trauma. Afterward, their relationship progresses naturally, and currently, they can be said to be distant friends. Tbh, I like what the author did with her. I have high hopes that the author will do something similar with the trauma of other characters, mainly Damian.

The heroines themselves are not damsels-in-distress and cookie-cutter templates. They are distinct individuals with their own, unique thought processes and character; individuals who are able to think for themselves. However, I can see that the author might sometimes make them obsessed with the MC for no reason. So far, only Silverin is a bit obsessed without any particular reason. However, there is potential for the author to expand upon Silverin's character, using her deceased brother or other methods.

Lastly, world-building is great. There is no sudden info dump. Information about the world is introduced slowly, and it is done properly. The world also doesn't revolve around the MC. I am extremely satisfied with the character development and world-building in this novel.

I am not blind, this novel has its shortcomings, mainly the constant pov switch in the early chapters. Although, the author starts to reduce this in the later chapters. However, it also has its strengths, particularly its uniqueness. So for me, this would be a solid five-star. I recommend you to read this up to chapter 124 before giving any complete judgment about this novel.

I would also like to clarify the issues stated by OnePunchMan12. As stated above, MC's sword is extremely special. As a result, if others find out about it, they will try to take it through any means necessary, going as far as to kill him, even after knowing that he is an archmage's disciple. Therefore, MC needs to hide his identity only when using that sword. To do so, he wears a mask. The only ones who know that the masked individual and MC are the same are the principal, vice-principal, his teacher's friends, and the judges who were present during his administration exam. Aside from them, only two girls know about MC's alternate identity. No one who is not affiliated with the school knows about the special sword and MC's alternate identity. Although everyone knows that MC is a student of Silverin, they don't know about his special sword. In fact, all master class students have an alternate identity they can use when interacting with normal students and doing regular classes because they are essentially problem children. The MC, however, uses his original identity when doing regular classes and interacting with other students; and uses his mask when using that special sword (the complete opposite). Other master class students do not wear a mask but use other means to hide their identities. The author could have chosen other means for the MC too, however, he went with a mask (maybe to appear cool, I honestly don't know). Of course, students realize that a suspicious masked swordsman is running around, and they get curious about his identity. The reason outsiders don't know about the masked swordsman is that exams occur in closed environments. Even if MC uses his masked persona for the entire duration, the school authorities automatically assign an average score to the MC to make it seem that he normally participated in the exam. They also remove the masked swordsman's score from the leaderboards. That's why very few students know about the existence of the masked swordsman, considering how many students there are. It really is not that confusing if you read it slowly and take time to comprehend, though it can be hard to understand if you are reading mtl. Still, the author could have explained it better.

As for the yandere part, I don't know anything about that. Up to chapter 155, only MC's childhood friend is in love and obsessed with him. Of course, Silverin also shows obsession, but she is not in love with him. Let alone obsession, the other girls who don't even show proper affection towards him. One girl only shows playful affection. However, as I have stated, the author might arbitrarily make the heroines a yandere, which could ruin the story. I hope that doesn't happen.