- #1
The protagonist was an ex-soldier with a heavy case of survivor's guilt. Now he was thrown into the world of a game he has once played while still holding these kinds of trauma.
[collapse]Because of this particular part of his past life, he is extremely infatuated with surviving until the last boss at the end of the scenario is defeated. This is the entire narrative of the main story.I will keep it short for the first theme that plays a big role to the story: politics. He had to assist with different allies to fight with different enemies to survive. The action scenes aren't that long, so it's mostly a battle of wits throughout the story to ensure that the scenario doesn't become a lost cause and the world ends up destroyed. I had a good time reading how he would survive and overcome every new obstacle with higher stakes.Romance is the second theme that plays a big role in the story, and on the contrary, wasn't fun to read. This is because I started reading with high expectations of romance first with other themes secondary. To start off, he attracts not only allies, but also girls to his side. There are a lot of romantic development for each of the girls of the harem. However, for readers who are reading this hoping for meaningful romantic progress of the harem will be let down. There is romantic development, but there is no romantic progress, simply because the protagonist wants nothing else but to "survive" before anything else. And I will be honest, this irritated me to no end throughout the main story. He uses the excuse of being dense when the girls make romantic advances to him, nonsensically putting them off until the main story ended while aware that many of the characters' personalities have deviated from the original scenario. It wouldn't have been a problem if he hasn't realized the deviation, but it was written that the protagonist is aware of the deviation and still tries to force actions on characters to follow an already beyond-saving scenario.Particularly for those who are reading this because they have seen the polygamy tag:SpoilerThere has been individual romantic development for respective girls, but there has been no progress whatsoever for the relationships with them that could warrant the polygamy tag from beginning to end of the main story. So don't expect any meaningful romantic progress of the harem in the main story. As of the latest chapter I've read after the main story, he has finally slept together with two girls so far: Janica Faylover and Lortelle. And the current arc is focusing on Lucy.
So I will at least say that you will be disappointed if you were looking for any significant progress not with individual girls, but the relationship with the harem as a whole during the main story. You will have to grind through and reach the extra chapters before you can see any semblance of romantic progress. Even after starting on the extra chapters thus far, it's hard to say that he is in a official relationship with any of the girls because he has yet to make an official declaration. It only goes as far as a mutual confession between themselves in a bedroom. Hence, it's still far from what I would call an open romantic relationship with multiple lovers.
[collapse]I will wait and see how far the extra chapters will go.